Disclaimer: All characters and things from ANGEL and BUFFY belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. If they aren't on the show they belong to me.
Summary: A different turn of events after Season 1 Episode 12 "Expecting" A/C pairing
CHAPTER 75Angel, Jessica, Connor, and Spike all stood as still as statues would as they watched Eve and Lindsey move into the room, their crossbows still aimed at the four members of Angel Investigations.
"Back up against the wall." Lindsey ordered the two vampires and two half breeds that had broken into Wolfram and Hart.
"Okay…" Angel put his hands up in defense as he backed up with Jess, Connor, and Spike beside him.
Lindsey smirked, looking over at Eve, and then back at Angel. "Honestly, Angel, I thought you would have put up a little more of a fight then that when we came in here."
"I don't want anyone to get hurt." Angel told him.
"You do realize you're all going to die, don't you?" Eve asked.
"Not tonight." Jess said slyly as she slipped all the papers she had printed out of the computer into the pocket of her black-hooded zip up sweatshirt.
"You do realize I'm holding the crossbow, right?" Lindsey asked, a little annoyed at Jessica's cocky attitude.
"You do realize that the crossbow alone won't kill me, right?" Jess asked, giving Lindsey her infamous grin.
"Well, it will kill everyone else." Lindsey pointed at Angel, Spike, and Connor with one of his crossbows. "You wouldn't want to have to be the one to bring home the bad news of your family's deaths to Momma Cordelia. Wouldn't want to get that bitch upset."
"Cordelia's not a bitch." Angel growled. "Don't ever call her that again."
"Well, what do you prefer I call her when I'm watching my employees rip her apart?" Lindsey asked with an evil laugh.
"You don't touch her, or Erin. I'll kill you before…" Angel started.
"Did you forget who's holding the crossbow?" Eve asked. "You're in no position to be making threats."
"Well, personally I'm getting bloody sick of listening you threaten us, so either kill us or move out of our damn way." Spike said smugly. He was trying to keep his cool long enough to throw Lindsey and Eve off for a second so he, Angel, Jess, and Connor could make a run for it.
Lindsey moved swiftly, cracking Spike across the face with his crossbow.
Connor took the opportunity of Lindsey being so close to him, and grabbed Lindsey's arm, struggling to get the crossbow out of the lawyer's hand.
"You son of a…" Lindsey said, as he shot Connor in the leg with the crossbow in his other hand.
"Connor!" Jess screamed as she watched her brother fall over in pain. She then leaped at Lindsey, knocking him to the ground.
Eve shot her crossbows off at Jessica, but missed the young girl both times.
While Jess struggled to keep Lindsey in her grasp, Connor managed to pull the arrow out of his leg. He looked up to see his father and Spike moving toward Eve.
"Dad, Spike, duck!" Connor yelled.
Angel and Spike complied with Connor's voice, crouching down as Connor threw the arrow from his leg at Eve. The arrow grazed Eve's shoulder, causing a slice in her skin, and her to fall to her knees in pain.
Jess gave Lindsey a few more good punches across the face, causing him to slump over, unconscious. She then looked up at Spike, Angel, and Connor. "We need to get out of here."
Angel nodded, moving toward Connor. "Connor, can you walk?"
Connor nodded, ignoring the pain that was shooting up his body from his leg. "I'll be fine, lets just get out of here."
Angel nodded as he led Jessica, Spike, and Connor out of the room, closing the door on Eve and Lindsey. He then helped Connor down the hall as swiftly as he could, hoping they would be able to make it back to the hotel before Lindsey or Eve caught back up with them.
Cordelia sat on the couch with Erin in her lap, as the baby tried to grab at her own feet. After a few minutes, Erin giggled, falling back against Cordelia. Cordelia smiled down at the child in her lap, running her hand over Erin's head to try and smooth down her daughter's dark hair that was standing up in all directions.
"She definitely takes after Angel with her hair." Gunn said about Erin from his seat on the steps.
"I know…" Cordelia said about Erin's hair. "But I can't get it to stay flat. No matter what I do, Erin's hair just likes to stick up."
Erin looked up at her mother with big hazel eyes, as if they baby knew she was being talked about.
"Well…" Fred took a deep breath as she walked out of the office followed by Wesley, who had a stack of papers in his hands. "We found pretty much every spell that could be used to block out the sun."
"Really?" Cordelia looked up.
Wesley nodded. "There are over sixty-seven different spells."
"Sixty-seven?" Lorne asked as he entered from the kitchen with half a sea breeze in his hand.
"Yes." Wesley nodded.
Lorne eyed his sea breeze and then turned on his heel, back into the kitchen. "I'm going to need a bigger drink then…"
Cordelia sighed, looking at her watch, and then pulling Erin up so that the baby could rest her head on Cordelia's shoulder. Cordelia was really starting to get worried about Angel and her children. She was even worried about Spike at this point. They had been gone for seven hours now, and Cordelia couldn't help the feeling she kept getting that something was wrong.
Fred picked up on Cordelia's distress, and she felt sorry for the immortal mother. Cordelia never seemed to get a break. Someone in her family was always being threatened. "Angel and everyone are fine, Cordelia." Fred said.
Cordelia looked up, surprised that Fred actually knew what was going on in her head. "I…" Cordelia took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. "Let's not worry about that right now. We should be worried about that…" She pointed out to the black sky. "Getting the sun back."
Gunn checked his watch. "We should get out there and patrol soon."
Wesley nodded in agreement. "If Angel and the rest of them don't come back soon you and I will go out, Gunn."
"Well, hold your bloody horses then." Spike said as he entered from the basement, followed by Angel and Jessica who were supporting a wounded Connor in between them.
"You're back!" Cordelia leapt up from the couch, causing Erin to jolt her head up at her mother's sudden enthusiasm. Cordelia ran toward her family, but stopped short when she saw the shape Connor was in. "What happened?" Cordelia's eyes grew wide as she gazed over her son.
"Lindsey shot him." Angel said as he and Jessica moved Connor to the couch. "He took the arrow out, but we need to patch him up."
Cordelia nodded, handing Erin to Jessica and then darting to the closet to get the first aid kit. She returned a minute later, kneeling down next to Angel who was sitting on the floor beside Connor. "Here, let me see, Connor." She moved her son's leg so she could clean and patch his wound.
About five minutes later, Cordelia stood, scrubbing her hands with a wipe, as Lorne entered back into the room, a full sea breeze in his hand.
"Done?" Connor asked his mother.
Cordelia nodded, and then turned to Angel, Spike, and Jess. "Anyone else hurt?"
"Nope." Jess said as Erin grabbed at the strings on Jessica's sweatshirt. "The rest of us are alright."
"So what did you find out then?" Wesley asked.
"This…" Jess handed Erin back to Cordelia and then reached into her pocket, pulling out the papers she had printed from Wolfram and Hart.
"What's that?" Fred asked.
"The command the Senior Partners sent at the same time the sun was blotted out." Jess said. "We are pretty sure it was what was used to block the sun. We didn't get a chance to read it all yet."
"Well, Fred and I will get on it." Wesley said.
"Wes, before you do." Angel took a deep unneeded breath. "There's something you should know. Something you should all know."
"What is it?" Cordelia asked, apprehension filling her voice. She could tell by the way Angel was acting that something was wrong.
"The file that we printed." Angel pointed to the papers in Wesley's hand. "Well, the name of the file was Operation Eliminate Angel Investigations."
Silence fell over the room for what seemed like an eternity, finally Cordelia broke it.
"What do you mean?" Cordelia asked in almost a whisper.
"He means that if that file is the one that the Senior Partner's used to initiate permanent darkness, then the sun being out probably has something to do with the Senior Partner's hating us." Jess told her mother.
"We should get on this right away then." Wesley said as he held up the papers Jessica had gotten from Wolfram and Hart and led Fred into the office.
Cordelia's eyes grew wide as she let her oldest daughter's words sink in. If Jessica was right then that meant Wolfram and Hart did truly want her family dead and they were going to stop at nothing to reach their goal. Cordelia wanted to crawl up in a ball and cry, and go after Lindsey and Eve and set Wolfram and Hart on fire all at once. The immortal seer's emotions were all jumbled up, and she couldn't help the knot that seemed to form in her stomach as the weight of what was actually going on came crashing down on her.
Lindsey grunted as his eyes slowly opened. His head was throbbing, and he could feel his nose swelling. He looked around to find himself on the couch of Eve's penthouse. Eve was nowhere in sight, but he heard some pots and pans crash in the kitchen.
Lindsey slowly stood; making his way into the kitchen to find Eve gathering up the pots she had dropped. He noticed instantly the bandage on her shoulder.
"What happened?" Lindsey asked.
Eve whipped around on her heel. "Sorry, did I wake you?"
"No. I was up." Lindsey told her as he took a seat at the table. He then repeated his question. "What happened?"
"Angel and his two little bizarre offspring, not to mention Spike, got the best of us." Eve told him.
"They escaped?" Lindsey asked, remembering what had happened in the log room before he was knocked unconscious.
Eve nodded. "They took something too."
"What?"
"They printed out a file."
"What file?" Lindsey was trying to remain calm, but inside he was panicking. He had a feeling he knew what file Angel Investigations had printed out.
"To be honest, I'm not sure." Eve told him. "That little brat, Jessica, closed out of whatever they were looking at before I could check the computer."
"Well, we have to go back into the memory, because if they printed out the file that I think they did, they will know our plan, and then everything will go to hell." Lindsey stood, leading Eve out of the penthouse and down the hall.
Cordelia was trying to keep busy by fixing everyone something to eat in the kitchen, when Angel entered. He moved swiftly and silently into the kitchen, and no human would have heard him come in. But Cordelia was not all human anymore, she was part demon; she sensed Angel the minute he opened the door.
"What?" Cordelia asked tiredly, not bothering to look up from the sandwiches she was making.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked her, leaning against the counter.
"Sure, I'm fine." Cordelia threw on her fake smile. "In fact, I couldn't be better."
"You're being sarcastic." Angel said.
"Pftt…" Cordelia rolled her eyes. "You think?"
"Cordy…" Angel started.
"Where's Erin?" Cordelia cut her husband off, not sure if she really wanted to deal with everything right now.
"Jess has her." Angel said, and then tried again. "Cordy…"
"Angel?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow as she went back to finishing up everyone's sandwiches.
"Stop."
"Stop what?"
"Avoiding this!" Angel was getting annoyed now. "We need to talk about what we found out at Wolfram and Hart."
Cordelia sighed, turning toward Angel. "You guys didn't find anything, just a file."
"A file that had our name on it, and happened to be accessed the same time the sun was blocked out." Angel told her.
"What do you want me to say, Angel?" Cordelia asked after a moment.
"I want you to promise me that if we find something bad in those files. Something too big, and too strong, and too horrible for us to handle, that you will take Erin and get the hell out of L.A." Angel told her.
Cordelia could not believe what she was hearing. "And leave you and Jess and Connor and everyone else here to die?"
"No. I want Fred to go with you." Angel said.
"No. I'm not leaving you or my kids or my family behind." Cordelia told him, turning back to finish the sandwiches. As far as she was concerned the conversation she was having with Angel was over.
Angel placed his hand over Cordelia's to stop her from working on everyone's meal. "I'm not asking you, Cordelia. I'm telling you."
"But your not." Cordelia held her ground. "You can't boss me around and tell me when I can help protect my family and when I can't."
"Cordy, Erin's just a baby. She can't take care of herself. She needs you. And that means she needs you alive." Angel tried to reason. "And if things in that file point to everything falling apart in L.A. then I want you and Erin out of here, and safe somewhere. So Erin can grow up."
"And when she does, what do I tell her? That her father was bossy as hell and made me take her and leave L.A. so that's why she and I are alive and her father and brother and sister and and uncles are dead?" Cordelia asked. "Angel, I'm not leaving."
"You might not have to." Angel told her. "It depends on that file. Once Wesley finishes going over it and we figure out Wolfram and Hart's plan is we will talk, but right now I need you to understand what might happen. Do you get what I'm telling you?" He cupped her cheek in his hand, gently stroking her soft skin with his finger.
After a moment, Cordelia nodded her head. She understood that Angel was trying to keep her and Erin safe, she just hoped it didn't come to that.
Jessica stood from her seat on the couch across from Connor as Erin clung to her shoulder. She had been keeping an eye on her brother while everyone else was busy around the hotel, but now Connor was asleep, and Jess wanted to see how everything else was going so she made her way into Wesley's office to find Wesley and Fred sitting at the desk while Lorne, Spike, and Gunn sat on the couch under the window that looked into the lobby.
"How's everything going?" Jess asked as Erin clamped her little hands around her older sister's neck.
Wesley took a deep breath. "I wish we had better news…"
"But you do have some news, right?" Jess asked.
"Well, we found some stuff alright." Gunn sighed. "Can't say its all good."
"Actually, none of it is good, cupcake." Lorne said.
"What do you mean?" Jessica asked.
"We mean we finished going through these files." Fred said. "It took awhile, we had to cross reference it with some demon languages but we've gotten everything out of the file."
"And?" Jess asked.
"And we should round up everyone." Wesley stood. "Let your mother and father know what we are dealing with." He then led Fred, Lorne, and Gunn out the door.
Jess moved to follow Wesley, but stopped short when she felt Spike's hand grab onto her shoulder. She turned to face the blonde vampire, shifting Erin in her arms.
"I'm under the impression…" Spike started. "Well, I mean, I think things are going to get bad around here."
"I think they already are." Jess nodded toward the sunless sky out the window.
"You know what I mean." Spike's eyes locked with Jessica's.
For a moment, Jessica felt like she was at a loss of words. Spike had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. She was broken out of her trance, however, when Erin slammed her head down rather hard against Jessica's bruised collarbone. "Ouch! Erin!" Jess warned her baby sister.
"Here. Let me see her." Spike took Erin out of Jessica's arms.
"Thanks." Jess massaged her swollen shoulder, and looked over at Erin to see the baby resting her head on Spike's shoulder and giggling slightly at her older sister.
"Look." Spike took Jessica's hand in his. He didn't care what anyone else had to say about his feelings for Angel's offspring anymore. He wasn't even sure if his feelings were completely true, but he would not deny it anymore, something was going on between him and Jessica. And if things were going to get as bad as Wesley thought they were going to from those files then Spike wanted to make the most out of the time there was left. "I won't lose this."
"Lose what?" Jessica searched Spike's eyes.
"This." Spike said. "Whatever is going on between us, Jess."
"What are you talking about?" Jessica tried to play if off as if she had no idea what Spike was talking about. But she did. She too thought there was a chance she had feelings for Spike, but she wasn't sure. She had a feeling, however, from the vibe she had picked up when she entered Wesley's office and the way Spike was acting, that she wouldn't have time to sort her feelings out either.
"Don't act like you don't know…" Spike lifted Jessica's chin with the hand he wasn't using to hold onto Erin. "I know you do."
"Just shut up…" Jess seemed to whisper.
"What?" Spike was confused.
"I can't kiss you if you keep talking…" Jess whispered again as she leaned in and felt her lips connect with Spike's.
Eve and Lindsey made their way into the room that they had fought Angel, Jessica, Spike, and Connor in earlier. The room was a mess, files, and papers were all over the place, and Lindsey's blood was still splattered on the floor from when Jessica had beaten his face into the ground.
"This place will take weeks to clean up." Eve sighed.
"Lets just worry about figuring out which file they printed." Lindsey said as he moved toward the computer Jessica had been using.
"I tried just going back in the memory, it didn't work." Eve said as she stood over Lindsey's shoulder.
"Well, Jess wasn't stupid." Lindsey said after a few minutes. "She made sure to delete the computers history as she went along through the files…fortunately for us, she didn't have time to delete the printers memory…." Lindsey hit a few buttons and a minute or so later the file Jessica had printed out popped up on screen.
"Did you get it?" Eve asked.
Lindsey nodded, clenching his jaw. "Damn it."
"What?" Eve asked as she watched Lindsey stand and make his way out into the dark hallway. She quickly followed him. "Lindsey? What is it?"
"The file." Lindsey turned to face his girlfriend. "The one that Angel's bitch of a daughter printed out! It was the file that held all the plans for this apocalypse! All the plans to destroy Angel Investigations!"
"Okay…" Eve rushed up to Lindsey. "Lindsey, just relax. We will figure this all out."
"Relax?" Lindsey spat. "How can I relax? Angel knows what we are going to do! They know the plan!"
"And do you think them knowing it means they can stop it?" Eve asked. "No, they can't! This plan is too well thought out, too deep. There are too many things going against them. They will never make it out of this city alive, whether they know our plan or not."
Lindsey thought for a moment. Even if Angel Investigations did figure out Wolfram and Hart's plan, it didn't mean they would be able to stop it. Wolfram and Hart's plan was far too complex for Angel and his little team to ever figure out a way to stop it. The only thing that the members of Angel Investigations had gained from stealing the file from Wolfram and Hart was the realization that they would never win. Wolfram and Hart would crush them in the end.
Wesley entered into the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel followed by Fred, Gunn, and Lorne. He quickly moved, shaking Connor to wake the young man up.
"What?" Connor asked grumpily.
"We all need to talk, wake up." Wesley said.
Connor complied, sitting up, and rubbing his eyes. He was still tired.
"Angel? Cordelia?" Wesley called out. "Come out here."
The door to the kitchen then swung open and Cordelia and Angel rushed into the lobby.
"What is it?" Cordelia asked quickly. "Did you find anything?'
"Unfortunately…" Fred said.
"What do you mean, unfortunately?" Angel raised an eyebrow.
"We uh…" Wesley started, looking around the room, and noticing two people and a baby were missing. "Where's Spike and Jess?"
At the sound of their names, Spike and Jess submerged from the office, thankful for their vampire hearing. Jessica was now carrying Erin who was busy grabbing at her older sister's ponytail.
"Right here." Spike said trying to keep his voice from cracking. He was still in awe from the kiss he had just shared with Jessica.
"What's up?" Jess took a deep breath as Cordelia moved to gather Erin up from her arms.
"We went over the files." Wesley started. "And it seems that Wolfram and Hart has started an apocalypse. First they blocked out the sun. The next phase is allowing the streets to be overrun with vampires and demons from this dimension. Once there is enough evil energy in L.A. the dimensional hotspots will begin to tear open, allowing other evil creatures from other dimensions to pour into our city. Then, the final stage is initiated when the Senior Partner's open up their own personal dimension of hell, allowing their army to explode onto our streets."
Everyone was silent for a moment, all taking in what Wesley had just said. Then Angel spoke.
"Is that all?" Angel asked, hoping Wesley had nothing else to say.
"No." Wesley seemed to say sadly. "There's one other thing." The ex-watcher took a deep breath. "This apocalypse was designed specifically to destroy us. To destroy Angel Investigations."
Everyone stood in shock, all stunned by Wesley's words. Everything that was going on in L.A., the lack of sun, the thousands of demons roaming the streets, was happening because of them; Because Wolfram and Hart wanted every member of the Fang Gang dead.