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 76After the initial shock from the plans that Wolfram and Hart had devised to control the apocalypse and destroy Angel Investigation had worn off, the members of the Fang Gang had made themselves busy around the hotel.
Wesley and Fred had gone back into Wesley's office to figure out a way to bring the sun back. Lorne had continued to call contacts to see if any dimension hotspots had opened yet that would allow more demons to arrive in L.A. and Wolfram and Harts plan to continue while Gunn and Connor had begun taking an inventory of all the weapons they could find in the hotel, and, at the same time, Jess and Spike had gone out onto the streets to patrol a little.
Cordelia had served everyone their sandwiches and was now cleaning up the kitchen. Erin was sitting in her highchair, watching her mother, when Angel entered the kitchen.
"Cordy…" Angel said gently as he closed the door behind him.
"Don't even start with me, Angel!" Cordelia snapped at her husband. "I'm not leaving you or my kids or L.A., understand? I don't care what we talked about before, it isn't happening!"
Erin seemed startled by her mother's sudden outburst, because the baby began crying.
Angel moved quickly, gathering Erin in his arms and kissing her gently on the forehead. Erin buried her head into Angel's chest and relaxed. Once Angel was sure Erin was okay, he turned back to Cordelia. "Cordy, I didn't come in here to talk to you about that exactly…"
"Then what, exactly?" Cordelia threw her arms out, trying to hold back tears. She was drained from the past few days and just wanted a minute to breathe.
Angel moved toward Cordelia, wrapping his arm that Erin wasn't balancing in around his wife. "We have time still, Cordy. Now that we know what Wolfram and Hart has planned there is a good chance we can stop it. Then you and Erin won't have to go anywhere."
"But if we can't…" Cordelia knew where Angel was going with his earlier statement.
"Cordy…" Angel looked into her hazel eyes. "I need you to promise me you will get out of here, keep Erin and Fred both safe. I need your word, because if everything goes to hell, Erin needs to survive it. She's a champion for the Powers just like you and me and Jess and Connor, and at least one of us needs to make it through this, which means you need to keep Erin safe."
"Angel…I can't." Cordelia shook her head. "We're a family, we should face everything together."
"Cordelia, promise me, that if I tell you to leave, you'll do it." Angel avoided Cordelia's last statement knowing it made sense. They should stay together, as a family, but he would not lead her or his youngest daughter down a road of death and destruction. "Just please promise me that much."
Cordelia nodded, sighing into Angel's chest. "If we have no other choice, then I promise you, I'll get Erin and Fred out of L.A. safe."
"Thank you." Angel said as he kissed Cordelia on the head. "And remember, its only a precaution, there's a good chance that we can still beat Wolfram and Hart and then you won't have to leave at all."
Cordelia nodded, taking Erin from Angel's arms. "I know."
"Come on. Let's go see what everyone else is up to." Angel took Cordelia by the hand and led her out into the lobby to see if there was anything else they could do to get their mind off of Wolfram and Hart, the apocalypse, and the possibility that Cordelia and Fred might have to take Erin and flee L.A. to insure that at least one of the Powers' champions lived on.
Jess and Spike turned down an alley that was about a mile away from the Hyperion Hotel. They had been out patrolling for close to an hour, and had already fought and killed over twice as many demons and vampire as they had last time they had patrolled. Things were getting bad on the sunless streets of L.A.
"Well, I bloody think we can say the second phase of Wolfram and Harts plan is underway." Spike said, catching the breath he didn't need to survive.
As Jessica turned to answer Spike, a vampire jumped down from the roof of the building they were leaning on, and onto Jessica. Jess tossed the vampire over her shoulder effortlessly, and then gave him two good kicks across the face before staking him. She then looked over at Spike. "And what phase of the plan would that be?"
"The part where all the demons in this world realize that L.A. is a lovely little playground for them to frolic in." Spike rolled his eyes.
Jess nodded, looking out the alley to all the demons that passed by, fighting humans and one another. "If you wanna call that frolicking." She motioned to the street.
"Maybe we should head back to the hotel." Spike said. "I don't think there is much more we can do out here."
"Spike, there's still innocent people running around out here. We can't give up on them." Jess said as another vampire jumped from the roof, this time at Spike.
Spike was knocked down by the vampire, but jumped back to his feet, circling the other demon. Jess waited until the other vampire's back was to her, and then she chucked a stake clear through his chest, turning the vampire into dust. Spike caught the stake as it came flying through the cloud of particles. He then tossed it back to Jessica, giving her a look.
"I'm not saying, give up on them, I'm just saying that I don't know how much more we can do for them." Spike explained. "It seems like every time we kill one vampire or demon, four more take its place."
Jess nodded after a moment, understanding. "Too many for us to fight."
"Right…" Spike said fixing his leather jacket. "Damn, it's getting bloody hot out here."
Jess nodded, also feeling a heat wave. "Weird since it's like…" She checked her watch. "Six-thirty in the morning."
"Plus there's no sun." Spike pointed up to the black sky.
"Yeah." Jess agreed.
"We should get back to the hotel, focus on figuring out a way to keep all the dimensional hotspots…well, cold." Spike said.
"You think we can?" Jess asked.
Spike took Jessica by the hand, grinning slightly at her. "Well, I don't plan on dying anytime soon, so we better be able to."
Jess smiled back at him, as she felt her heart pick up its pace when she stared down at her hand entwined with Spike's.
"Come on." Spike pulled her swiftly toward the end of the alley. "Stay close and be careful. I wanna get back to the hotel in one piece."
Jessica rolled her eyes, taking off ahead of him. She was much faster then Spike and, seeing as how the streets of Los Angeles were a nightmare, Jessica wanted to make it back to the hotel as rapidly as she and Spike possibly could, so they could avoid as many injuries as possible.
Lindsey was sitting on the couch, watching the morning news that was continuously showing the disaster zone L.A. had become when the door to the penthouse opened and Eve walked in.
"Hey." Eve was smiling as she bent down to give Lindsey a kiss.
"You look happy." Lindsey noticed.
Eve nodded. "I just got out of that meeting with the Senior Partners."
"And…" Lindsey wanted to know what Eve was getting at.
"And they said it's a good time to start opening up the dimensional hotspots." Eve grinned at him.
"I thought they opened up on their own."
"Well, they need a little push from us."
Lindsey nodded, grinning. "And the Senior Partner's want to give that push?"
"The city is already overrun with demons and vampires. The numbers have almost tripled since the sun first was blocked out."
"Wow…"
Eve nodded. "The Senior Partner's feel that Angel Investigations is growing weaker and weaker every minute. Obviously they haven't been able to stop our plan yet so I guess the feeling is we should kick them while they are down."
Lindsey stood, kissing Eve. "I love this plan." And he meant it. He was so glad that the Senior Partner's were backing his arrangements to destroy Angel Investigations because he knew he would have never been able to devise something as big as the apocalypse that they were throwing at the Fang Gang on his own. He didn't know how much longer he could wait to watch Angel Investigations crumble.
Cordelia and Angel were sitting on the floor, playing with Erin who was trying to roll over. The two parents were trying their best to keep their minds off of the pending apocalypse. Connor and Gunn were watching Erin from their spots in front of the weapons cabinets where they were just finishing putting away all of the artillery.
"She's getting good at it." Connor motioned toward Erin who had almost rolled over completely. He too was trying to keep his mind off of the apocalypse.
Cordelia nodded, scooping Erin up and pulling the baby close to her. "Yeah, she is."
"If she keeps practicing she will have it down by next week." Angel said as he grinned at Erin, tickling the baby softly. She would be able to roll over by next week and he would be around to see it, Angel hoped. He wasn't going to let anything happen to his family. He would keep everyone safe if it was the last thing he did.
"Assuming there is a next week." Wesley's words seemed to shatter the false sense of hope that was in the room, as he and Fred entered.
"What do you mean?" Cordelia picked Erin up, bouncing the baby in her arms.
"We can't be sure but we have a feeling the dimensional hotspots are starting to open up. Portals might be opening." Wesley said.
"Do we have proof?" Angel asked, not wanting to jump to conclusions about anything.
"Well, not yet. Not solid proof, anyway." Fred said. "We have Lorne making some calls now."
"What for?" Gunn asked, putting away the last sword.
"Because Lorne knows dimensional hotspots." Wesley explained.
"Isn't his club one?" Angel asked. "Well, what used to be his club? Didn't we use it to open the portal to Pylea to save Cordy and Jess?"
"That's right." Lorne entered from Wesley's office.
"Find anything?" Cordelia asked, taking a seat on the couch.
"Not so much." Lorne sighed. "Most of my connections were out of L.A. about five seconds after the sun left, but from what I could gather, there's a good chance that things are leading up to the dimensional hotspots opening."
"Why would you say that?" Angel asked.
"Because it's getting bloody hot out there." Spike said as he staggered into the hotel, bruised and battered with Jessica stumbling in after him, also bloody and beaten.
"Are you guys alright?" Cordelia asked, looking up from her spot on the couch.
Jess nodded, wiping up the blood from the corner of her mouth as she slowly made her way over to the couch, lying down and resting her head on Cordelia's leg.
Cordelia placed a stray piece of Jessica's hair behind the girl's ear as she took in the shape of her daughter.
"Things are bad out there." Spike said. "More demons and vampires then last time we went out."
"And they are getting more violent." Jess patted Erin's foot. "Its like they are running out of people to attack so they are starting to attack each other."
"What did you mean that it was getting hot out there?" Angel asked, looking at Spike and then at Jessica.
"The heat." Jess said, closing her eyes. She was tired as hell.
"We can feel it." Spike explained. "Like Hell itself is getting ready to open up."
"The dimensional hotspots are growing stronger." Wesley concluded.
"That's not good." Cordelia looked around the room.
"No." Fred shook her head, almost sadly. "It's not."
"But we might be able to close them, right?" Connor asked.
"We're not sure." Wesley said slowly.
"Well, we better get sure." Angel seemed to growl. "Because we are not losing this fight."
"We could try some spells. Maybe stop the portals from opening before they start." Fred offered.
"If they haven't started already." Gunn said.
"Even if they have, we can close up some of them." Fred said. "I think anyway." She looked at Wesley. "Right?"
Wesley nodded. "We should get on it."
"We'll all help." Angel offered. "It's not like we can do anything else anymore." He looked over at Jessica and Spike, taking in the shape of the vampire and half-breed. "We can't go out on the streets anymore and fight. It's too dangerous."
"Dad!" Jess lifted her head off of Cordelia's leg slightly, in protest. "There's innocent people out on those streets. We can't leave them out there."
"It's getting too dangerous." Angel told his first-born. "I mean, look at you and Spike. You guys look like you've been through complete hell. The only way we are going to be able to save this city is if we stop whatever is coming next. If things can't get any worse then they can only get better."
"But…" Jess started, but stopped when she felt Cordelia's hand on her shoulder.
"Now, I want Jess and Spike to rest. Everyone else, lets start working here. We need to stop this apocalypse right now. Cut it off here, understand?" Angel looked around the room to see everyone nodded back at him. "Good, let's go."
Everyone began moving around as Angel made his way into the office, followed by Wesley and Fred.
Lorne, Gunn, and Connor gathered phone numbers and all the books that had been left around the lobby before also following Angel into the office.
Cordelia moved and placed Erin in her portable crib. She then took a seat on the couch, next to Jessica and opposite the one Spike had gotten comfortable on. She handed Jess her water bottle, and then pulled her oldest daughter up close to her, tracing lines on Jessica's bruised up face. She couldn't believe what was going on, or how bruised up Jessica and Spike had gotten. Cordelia decided she would keep an eye on Jess and Spike, while everyone else researched, to make sure they were both really okay, because neither of them looked like they were in the best shape.
Angel sat behind the desk in the office, going through books while Wesley and Fred sat across from him, also looking through scrolls and books. Lorne sat on the couch in the corner, still making phone calls, and Gunn and Connor were busy organizing any information Wesley, Angel, or Fred had been able to pull out of the books. So far, Gunn and Connor's pile of papers was rather thin.
"I don't think there is anything else in these books." Wesley sighed as he closed the one he was looking through.
"Or these scrolls." Fred said, tossing the last one in a pile with the others she had already read.
Angel nodded, closing his book as well. "We did get some information on these dimensional hotspots, right?"
"Yeah…" Fred nodded over to the pile of papers by Connor and Gunn. "Not a lot."
"We will just have to try everything." Angel said. "What do those papers say?"
"Here." Connor handed the papers to his father.
Angel looked the papers over and, after a moment, sighed. "There's not a whole lot we can do about these hotspots, is there?"
"Well, what do the papers say?" Gunn asked.
"Not enough to do anything with." Angel was frustrated as he ran a hand through his spiky hair. He felt like they were always a step behind Wolfram and Hart in this apocalypse. He wasn't even sure if they would be able to save Los Angeles anymore.
"Dimension Hotspots are tricky." Lorne said as he hung up the phone, checking off the last name on his list. "And from what I got, and my own experience, the only way to close them is to let them open."
"And then what?" Fred asked.
"And then each one has to be closed individually." Lorne said.
"That could take hours." Wesley said.
"If we even know where they all are." Connor added. "Which we don't."
"He's got a point there." Gunn took a deep breath. "We can't stop these portal from opening."
"Well, we have to try." Angel said.
"And if we can't do it then what?" Gunn asked. "We sit around here and wait for all the demons to crawl out of whatever hellhole world they came from?"
"We fight." Angel said. Even though he wasn't sure they would be able to win, he would not allow the rest of the group to see his uncertainty. They needed to believe he had faith they would make it through.
"And then when we lose, what?" Gunn asked.
"We won't lose." Angel told him quickly, trying to convince himself as well as the other members of Angel Investigations that the words he spoke were completely true.
"Gunn's right, Angel." Wesley said to the vampire. "We need to start thinking about what happens if we can't control this apocalypse."
Angel sighed. "I know, and I have a plan for that. I just…I don't want to have to think about it right now."
"Well, we better start thinking because there is no way we can close these dimensional hotspots." Fred said as she threw the papers from Connor and Gunn's pile on the floor. "And these portals are going to start opening up. Soon."
Angel thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Do we know when?"
"Through our calculations that we made using the information we got from Wolfram and Hart, I'd give it a good twenty-four hours." Wesley said.
Angel nodded again. "Then we need to talk." He then stood, making his way out of the office and into the lobby with Connor, Gunn, Lorne, Wesley, and Fred trailing behind him.
Cordelia watched as Jessica and Spike both drifted in and out of sleep. They were both tired and bruised so badly that she was amazed they had managed to stay awake as long as they had. She stood, and made her way over to Erin's portable crib, surprised to see the five month old still up. She scooped Erin up in her arms, just as Angel, Wesley, Fred, Gunn, Connor, and Lorne made there way back into the lobby.
"We need to talk." Angel said.
Jess and Spike both shot up at the sound of Angel's voice. The vampire hearing they both possessed allowed them to hear everything crystal clear. They both relaxed when they realized it was only the other members of the fang gang.
"Well, now that you woke everyone up…" Cordelia narrowed her eyes at Angel. She had wanted to let Jess and Spike rest for a little. They deserved it.
"It's important." Angel seemed to apologize to Cordelia through the look he gave her.
Cordelia nodded, sitting down next to Jessica and rubbing Erin's back as the baby nestled her head in the crook of Cordelia's neck. It was as if Cordelia knew something was wrong.
"Well, lets get bloody talking if you woke us up." Spike motioned to himself and Jessica. He was rather angry to be awakened.
"We don't think we can close the dimensional hotspots." Fred blurted out before Angel had the chance.
Angel turned to Fred, giving her a tight-lipped smile. "Thank you, Fred."
"Sorry…" Fred seemed to shrug a little.
"What do you mean we can't close them?" Cordelia asked.
"The only way to do it is to close each one individually. We haven't the time for that." Wesley explained.
"Not to mention the fact that we don't know where they all are." Gunn added.
"So what now?" Jess asked, perking up at the information being passed around the room. Things did not sound as if they were getting any better.
"We have about twenty four hours before all the dimensional hotspots open." Angel said, checking his watch. "So, I guess it would be tomorrow afternoon, if its afternoon right now…" He looked out at the black sky. "I can't tell."
"It is." Connor told his father. "I was watching the morning news a few hours ago."
Angel nodded. "Once those hotspots open, it's only a matter of time before Wolfram and Hart releases its own army. After that, things are going to get bad around here fast."
"And do we have a plan for that?" Spike asked.
Angel looked over at Cordelia who was starring tensely at him as Erin began falling asleep against her. She knew Angel's plan and she didn't like it at all.
"We do have a plan, but we all need to agree on it." Angel looked around the room at the people he considered his family. "I would never expect any of you to do something you didn't want to."
"Cut the crap, Angel." Cordelia told her husband. She didn't want him to sugarcoat anything. She wanted him to be straightforward with the entire plan. "Tell us what we are dealing with, and how we are dealing with it."
Angel nodded, giving Cordelia a small smile. That was one thing he had always loved about Cordelia, even when he wasn't sure how to take her back in Sunnydale. She had always gotten directly to the point with anything that she deemed important. "Well, if things start to get as bad as we think they are going to we need to make some decisions."
"What kind of decisions?" Spike was curious about Angel's plan.
"We need to…well you all need to decide if you are going to stick around and help me fight or get out of L.A." Angel looked around the room. "I'm not going to push any of you to do something you don't want to so I need to know right now if you are all willing to be apart of this or if you don't think you can."
"If we stay around here after the apocalypse starts we could die." Connor stated.
"I think there's a good chance we will." Jess said, locking eyes with her father. She knew what Angel was going to ask of them next, and she was behind him one hundred percent.
Angel nodded. "For whoever is going to stay, we are going to fight Wolfram and Hart and their army until the last one of them, or the last of us falls. Cordelia and Fred are going to leave L.A. and take Erin with them because someone has to survive this, and the rest of us are going to stay here, fight until the end. I need to know if you are all behind me in this, because I understand if you aren't. There's a good chance we aren't going to make it out of here, but we need to fight this. We need to stand by each other."
"Well count me the hell in." Spike said.
"Me too." Jess agreed instantly. She understood why they needed to fight this battle, even if they wouldn't win it.
Angel looked around the room at the other members of Team Angel. He needed to know if he had their support or not.
Wesley was the next to respond. "I'm in."
"I was never out." Gunn said slyly.
Connor looked back and forth between Jessica and Angel. He took a deep breath. He knew what he had to do. "I'm staying."
Lorne laughed nervously as all eyes fell on him. "I want to help, I do, but bloodshed was never my department."
Angel nodded, understanding. Lorne had never been a fighter. "I get it, Lorne."
"But I want to help." Lorne said. "I'll stay, I'll do whatever you need, but when that final battle call sounds, don't expect me to come running with a sword in my hand."
"It's okay, Lorne." Angel said, and he meant it. He understood where Lorne was coming from.
"Why are Cordy and me leaving?" Fred asked. "We should stay and help."
"Erin needs to be kept safe." Angel explained. "The Powers have plans for her, I know it. She needs to grow up so she can figure out what those plans are." Angel looked at Cordelia. He knew she wanted to scream at him for what he was saying. He knew she wanted to stay around and fight, but he also knew that he had made her promise to keep Erin safe.
"I hate this plan." Cordelia mumbled as she stroked Erin's cheek.
Angel heard her. "Cordy…"
Cordelia looked back up at Angel, and realized it was now or never. "Angel, this is stupid. If you want to keep Erin safe, then we should all leave L.A. together. There is nothing else we can do here. You just said it. There's a good chance you guys won't make it out of here alive, so why stay? We could all leave, together, as a family."
"And Wolfram and Hart will just follow us." Jess looked at her mother. "They're after us, not L.A."
"If we left now, it would buy us time." Cordelia argued. "We could figure out how to stop this, or at least how to keep ourselves safe."
"And just keep running?" Angel asked his wife. The fact that he might never see her again after the next day was killing him inside, but he needed to remain strong. He needed her to understand why they had to fight Wolfram and Hart. "We can't run forever, Cordelia. We have to fight."
Cordelia looked around the room to see that no one else was going to agree with her. "Fine, if that's what everyone wants, then fine." She snorted. "It looks like Fred and I should start packing."
"Cordy…" Angel moved toward his wife, cupping her cheek in his hand, and noticing that she looked like she was going to cry any moment. "We still have time."
After a beat, Cordelia nodded, burying her head in Angel's chest. "Why don't I make everyone something to eat?" She tried to smile, but the fact that she might be getting ready to cook the last meal her family ever had together made the immortal seers stomach turn into knots.