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 79Angel and Wesley entered back into the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel from the garage to find Jess and Spike sitting at the counter, Gunn and Connor on the couch, and Lorne leaning against the counter. The room was silent, and not one person would meet Angel or Wesley's eyes. The truth was, they were afraid to. Afraid that if their gaze fell upon Angel or Wesley they would feel all the pain the vampire and ex-watcher felt. They were afraid they would truly feel the effects of Cordelia, Erin, and Fred's departure, and that was a burden that none of them wanted to bear.
"Okay, enough with the brooding." Angel said with no emotion in his voice. His emotions had left with Cordelia and Erin. He was better off without them anyway, emotions that it, they would only hurt him in the fight, and he didn't have time for all the pain he felt, right now he had a battle to prepare for.
"Right." Spike was the first to agree with Angel. Maybe because he understood where the older vampire was coming from. He knew the pain that Angel felt because Cordelia had left, but he also understood why Angel made Cordelia leave, and why it was so important that all off their focus be on the battle ahead of them.
"So, what's the plan then?" Jess was the next to snap out of her brooding mode. Although she took after Angel in the simple fact that she did brood, she was also able to change her mood around completely. Just like Cordelia, Jess could go from zero to bitch in the blink of an eye if she had to, and likewise, she could go from upset to focused before it would even register in most people's minds.
"I want everyone to gather as much weaponry as they can carry without slowing them down. I want us to be able to move as quickly as possible once we get out on the streets, but I also want us to be as safe as we can be. So we need to grab what we can." Angel explained.
"Right now?" Connor asked, a look of shock on his face. He knew they were going to begin the fight soon, he just didn't expect it to be so immediate.
Angel checked the clock that hung over the counter. "No. We still have a good hour or so."
"Well, when we do leave, are we going in a group or what?" Gunn asked. "Do we even know what we are dealing with here?"
"From the research, the battle should occur in the alleyway by Wolfram and Hart. It's where hell can be torn open and Wolfram and Hart's army can be released." Wesley explained.
"What about Lindsey and Eve?" Jess asked, not about to forget the two lawyers at Wolfram and Hart who were basically responsible for the whole apocalypse that had fallen upon L.A.
"I'll deal with them separately." Angel told his daughter.
"By yourself, no way." Jess said simply. "I wanna smash their heads in just as much as you do."
"Fine." Angel was not about to argue. He didn't have the time or patience, and he realized it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to have Jess come with him when he went after Lindsey and Eve. They had done her wrong as many times as they had him. She deserved a chance to get back at them as well.
"Fine." Jess nodded, glad she had won the lack of an argument their had been between her and her father.
"What about the rest of us?" Spike asked.
"I want you and Wesley to come in from the east." Angel pointed to Spike and Wesley. "And I want Gunn and Connor to come in from the south. I only want to split us up incase something happens on the way over there, so at least some of us make it. Once you all get to the alley, meet in the back of it, by the fence. Hopefully, Jess and me will meet you there."
"And then what?" Gunn asked. "We just fight a huge oncoming army of demons?"
"That's the plan." Angel said simply.
"Hell of a plan." Spike said sarcastically.
"Do you have a better idea?" Angel snapped. "Because I'm listening."
Spike thought from a moment. "No."
"Then my plan is it." Angel said.
"Not to knock your plan or anything, but what about me?" Lorne asked. "What do you want me to do?"
"You're going to stay here." Angel told the green demon. "I want you to wait for Cordelia's call, and call back your friend if things get bad around here. Tell him to get Cordy, Erin, and Fred somewhere safe. And I want you here for our sake. Incase any of us get separated, or survive; I want you to be here to get their phone calls, or get them out of the city if things get bad. Get it?"
"Sounds like I am running home base." Lorne said.
"Basically." Angel said.
Lorne nodded. "I can do that."
"I wasn't really asking you. It was more of a command." Angel said with a bitter lack of passion as he made his way into his office to go over the information about the battle they were about to face and to make sure he didn't forget anything vital.
Cordelia had been driving for two hours, and had gotten out of L.A. only a half hour ago. She had driven as fast as she could around the destruction of the city, sickened by the disaster zone Los Angeles had become, and surprised that not one creature had tried to even stop her car. All the vampires and demons were too involved in themselves, waiting for the real evil to rise in L.A.
The minute they had gotten out of L.A., the sun began to beat down on Angel's car, and Cordelia was tempted to put the top down, to feel the rays on her face, but she was worried about what the sun and wind would do to Erin's soft skin, so she had decided against it.
Cordelia and Fred hadn't talked most of the ride so far. Neither had much to say. Both had too much on their minds.
But lucky for the two women, Erin awoke from her nap, screaming her head off.
Cordelia looked in the rearview mirror at Erin's tearstained face. "Sweetie, don't cry. Mommy's right here."
Erin's cries softened as Cordelia's voice sounded through the car, but her cries did not stop.
"Maybe I should pull over for a minute, just to get her relaxed." Cordelia said.
Fred shook her head, reaching over the seat, and rubbing Erin's belly, trying to quiet the baby down. "Angel said to go directly to Vegas. We shouldn't stop."
"It will only be for a minute." Cordelia said.
"Cordy…" Fred's voice was caring but stern. She understood why Cordelia wanted to stop, because she wanted to take care of her daughter, but Fred also knew they had to get as far away from Los Angeles as possible which meant Cordelia had no time to pull the car over, even for a minute.
Luckily, Erin's cries slowly stopped as the baby became interested in the buckle on her car seat.
"See?" Fred faced front in her seat. "Erin's all better."
Cordelia looked in her rearview mirror at her daughter who was no longer crying, and then nodded slowly, agreeing with Fred.
Silence followed.
After a moment, Fred turned to Cordelia. "Cordy, I know this is hard…"
Cordelia shrugged, not looking at Fred as she continued to drive. "What is?"
"Cordelia, I didn't want to leave L.A. anymore then you did, but we did what we had to." Fred told her, not liking the fact that Cordelia was acting like leaving Angel and her two oldest children behind, plus the rest of Angel Investigations meant nothing. "I know you're upset and worried and scared. I am too. But everything will be okay."
Cordelia shook her head, sadly. "You don't know that. Things could go to hell back in that city and we wouldn't know."
"You really think the Powers would let something happen in L.A. and not let us know about it?" Fred asked.
"I don't really think the Powers are watching us too much anymore." Cordelia sighed.
"Why would you say that?" Fred was confused. "They have to be. Angel and Jess are their champions, and Connor and Erin, and you're their seer."
"Who hasn't had a vision in a few weeks…" Cordelia added. "Remember?"
"Cordy…" Fred started.
"Fred, if they were worried about us, I mean really worried, don't you think they would have let me know what was coming, or how to defeat it. You know, send me a vision or two or twenty." Cordelia explained to Fred why she felt the Powers That Be had abandoned her and her family and their mission.
"Maybe they don't know how to win this one…" Fred said sadly, as he gaze fell off of Cordelia and onto the road ahead of them.
"Well, I hope someone does." Cordelia said half-sarcastically, and half-wishfully, as her gaze again fell on the rearview mirror and Erin in the backseat who was busy trying to get her hands around her entire car seat buckle. She hoped that the apocalypse would be over soon, and that everything would work out for her. For her family. For the five month old in the back seat who still had her whole life ahead of her.
Lindsey and Eve smiled as they made their way into the main lobby of Wolfram and Hart. Almost every employee that had worked for them had left the city, working in other firms until L.A. was back under Wolfram and Hart control completely, the way it had been before Angel Investigations had sprung up.
The lobby was dark except for the light over Harmony's desk. The blonde vampire was busy typing away on the computer and chewing a huge wade of gum.
"Harmony." Lindsey called out.
The vampire looked up when she heard her name, smiling brightly. "Hi boss."
"Is everything in order?" Lindsey asked.
Harmony nodded. "The army will be rising in an hour and a half on the dot." The blonde vampire looked at her watch to ensure the time. "And all the Senior Partners need is your signatures." Harmony handed both Eve and Lindsey a piece of paper to sign.
"And this seals the deal?" Eve asked, as her scribbled her name down.
Harmony nodded. "That's what I got out of it anyway."
Lindsey handed the papers back to Harmony. "So that's it? The Senior Partners are going to bring the army onto the city?"
Harmony nodded, her smile never fading. "That's it."
"And we can…" Eve pointed up the stairs toward her and Lindsey's penthouse. "We don't have to be around here, do we?"
Harmony shook her head. "Nope."
Lindsey smiled, kissing Eve on the cheek. "So we can watch the show from our balcony."
"We do have a pretty good view of the alley." Eve smiled back.
Lindsey nodded, leading Eve up the stairs and to their penthouse where they would watch the Senior Partner's army destroy Angel Investigations. Lindsey had waited years to observe Angel's final fall, and he felt like the next few hours would bring just that. He could not wait.
Angel sighed, taking one last look at the clock that hung above the counter before looking around the lobby at his fellow comrades. Lorne was sitting on the couch with a magazine in one hand and a sea breeze in the other. Gunn was tossing a small axe up in the air and catching it, while Wesley asked him to not do that anymore. Spike was smoking by the window, and Connor was lying on the couch, trying to rest. Jess sat on the steps by the weapons cabinet, her legs fidgeting, and her mind clearly somewhere else, as she gazed into space.
Angel hated to disturb them. Hated to make them move, but he had to, so he stood. "We need to get moving soon."
Jessica's gaze snapped up at the clock hanging over her father's head, nodding. "Yeah. We don't have a lot of time."
"No, we don't." Angel agreed. "We need to get going. Gather the weapons."
Everyone moved toward the weapons cabinet, except Lorne who moved over to the counter, taking a seat next to the phone. It was where he would be spending the next few hours.
"So, the plans the same right?" Gunn spoke up as he swung a crossbow over his shoulder. "Me and Connor are sticking together, and Wes and Spike are working together?"
Angel nodded. "Get to the alley. Me and Jess will meet you there."
"Not to sound negative, but what if some of us don't make it to the alley?" Wesley asked.
"The remaining ones fight." Angel said simply, looking around at the fearful and gloomy faces of his family members. "This isn't going to be easy."
"We know." Connor said.
"Might not even make it out, right?" Spike tried to joke.
"We need to fight with everything we've got." Angel told them. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you this will be simple. I'm not going to say it will be painless, because the truth is, I'm positive there will be a lot of pain. We might not make it through, but that's the price we have to pay for being who we are. We have to do things that others wouldn't. I don't doubt for a second that there is a reason we were all brought together. And if this battle was the reason, well I say we do what we have to, and fight as hard as we can, because if this is it, I want to go out swinging."
Everyone was silent for a moment, taking in Angel's words.
Then Jess spoke up. "I want to come back swinging." She grinned. "We're not done yet, not even close. This is just one of the many battle's we are going to have to fight. Because, lets face it, we are the good guys, and the good guys always win."
"Damn right they do." Spike smiled at Jess.
"Well said, girl." Gunn nodded at the girl he considered his niece.
Angel nodded at his daughter as well, proud of her. "We should all get moving."
"We will see you there then." Gunn said, moving to the door. "Come on, Connor."
Connor nodded, taking one last look around the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel before following Gunn out the front door.
"Be careful." Spike told Jessica, steeling a quick kiss from her, and then avoiding eye contact with Angel as he quickly made his way out the door.
Angel looked at Wesley, and then at Jess. "Wes, make sure you let Spike know he and I are going to have a talk when we get back."
Wesley nodded, understanding that Angel was not to clear on the whole situation between Spike and his daughter, and that the dark-haired vampire was not at all comfortable with Spike kissing his daughter. "I will."
"Good." Angel nodded as he watched Wesley exit the lobby. He then turned to face Lorne. "Make sure everything is okay with Cordelia, and promise me you will make sure she and Erin are safe no matter what."
Lorne nodded. "Believe me. I will. The first sign of trouble and I will get Drewer to get Cordelia and Erin to the other side of the globe."
"Thanks, Lorne." Angel said.
"No problem, boss." Lorne gave Angel a wave. "You two be careful."
"We will try our best." Jess grinned, before swinging her sword so it rested on her shoulder. "Come on, Dad, we should go."
Angel nodded, gathering his own weapons up, and following Jessica out the front door, and down the sunless street toward the Wolfram and Hart building. Before he fought any demon armies, he wanted to take care of Lindsey and Eve, once and for all.
Cordelia pulled Angel's car over into a little rest station. She wasn't sure how long she had been driving for, she hadn't bothered to keep track, all she knew was that both she and Fred needed to stretch out their legs badly.
When Cordelia parked the car, she noticed just how empty the rest stop was. There was not another car in the parking lot, not another person around. "Looks like everyone wanted to get as far away from L.A. as possible."
Fred nodded in agreement. "You saw the news reports though, I'm sure people got scared."
"Yeah." Cordelia said as she moved around the car to unbuckle a very squirmy Erin.
Once Erin was in Cordelia's arms, the baby wrapped her hand around Cordelia's neck, resting her head on her mother's shoulder as she sucked her thumb.
Cordelia sighed, running a hand through Erin's hair. "This one seems tired."
"She was a good girl in the car." Fred cooed at the baby.
After watching Fred for a moment, Erin closed her eyes, nuzzling close to Cordelia's neck.
Cordelia closed her eyes, inhaling the soft scent of Erin's baby powder. The mother tried her best to hold back her tears as she thought about how much of a chance their was that Erin would grow up without a father or sister or brother in her life. It wasn't fair to the baby at all.
"Cordy…" Fred broke the immortal seers train of thought. "We should really get going again if we want to make it to Vegas anytime soon."
Cordelia nodded, placing a now sleeping Erin back in her car seat, and then giving her legs one more good stretch before getting back in the car with Fred, and taking off down the desolate highway that would lead her only farther from Los Angeles and her family.
Angel and Jessica made their way up the steps of Wolfram and Hart. It had not been too hard for either of them to make it to the building unharmed. They both put on their vampire faces, and simply walked down the street. The other demons and vampires who were out there did not even bother to give the father and daughter a second glance.
As they approached the doors, Jess stopped her father. "You think anyone is in there?"
"You mean like security or something?" Angel asked.
Jess nodded, as she slipped out of her vampire visage. "Yeah. Like someone who could give us a problem?"
"The only problems in this building are Lindsey and Eve. I'm positive everyone else left. Harmony, and a few other vampires might still be hanging around, but that's only because Los Angeles is on permanent nighttime. It's a vampires dream." Angel told her as he too, took off his vampire appearance and put back on his human face.
"Alright, then let's do this." Jess said as she opened the door to the building she used to work at.
Angel moved in the building after Jessica, and just like he had suspected, it was abandoned. "Let's go up to the lobby." He then made his way over to the elevator.
Jess followed, hitting the button in the elevator to the lobby. When the elevator doors opened again, Angel and Jessica entered the dark lobby of Wolfram and Hart. There was not a single light on, not a single sign of life.
But there was the undead.
Jessica knew it was her before they stepped off the elevator. Jess knew expensive perfume when she smelled it, and she knew the vampire who would be wearing it.
"Harmony, where are you?" Jess called into the dark lobby.
"You're not supposed to be in here." Harmony's head popped up from her dark desk.
"No crap." Jess said as she pulled her sword out from its holder on her back. "But since when do we do what we are supposed to?"
"Look. I don't want any trouble." Harmony said, eyeing Jessica's sword. "I was actually on my way out of here."
"Well, looks like you will be hanging around for a little then." Angel told her, also pulling his own sword out.
"Don't hurt me!" Harmony squealed as she put her hands up in defense. "I didn't do anything."
"You didn't do anything?" Jess snorted in a way that reminded Angel of Cordelia. "How about one, you're a vampire, two, your evil, three, you are working for the enemy, and four, your hair color is so unnatural. No one is that blonde." Jess pointed to Harmony's hair.
Angel smiled at his daughter. At times, Jess was a spitting image of her mother, and this was one of those times. Angel could almost hear Cordelia saying the things Jess had just said to Harmony.
Cordelia. Angel missed her so much, as well as Erin. He hoped they were both safe, and he hoped he would get the chance to see them again.
"My hair is not fake!" Harmony was appalled at Jessica's accusation.
"Where's Lindsey and Eve?" Jess slide the question in, trying to catch Harmony off guard because she knew the blonde vampire would never willingly give up Eve and Lindsey's location.
"Upstairs in their penthouse, and don't you ever say my hair isn't a real color again. It is so real! I don't even have roots! How could it be fake?" Harmony rambled on.
"You're right. You are a blonde." Jess said flatly. "It was nice talking to you, Harm."
And with that Jess made her way to the stairs that led to what had once been her family's penthouse, with Angel a step behind her. They could still hear Harmony mumbling about how her hair was not dyed. Clearly, the blonde vampire down in the lobby had no idea she had just given up her bosses hiding spot to Angel and Jessica.
Spike and Wesley carefully made their way around a street corner. Spike had no problem walking around the vampire and demon infested streets. After all, he was a demon, even if he had a soul. Wesley had been the problem. It seemed like the city had run out of humans, and every vampire and demon had been after Wesley since he stepped on the street. Spike had to fight off a number of vampires already, telling them that Wesley was his food.
"This is ridiculous." Wesley whispered to Spike. "We aren't even going to make it to the alley in one piece to fight. I probably won't anyway."
"Relax, we've done okay so far." Spike told him.
"How much further?" Wesley asked, looking around.
"About two blocks." Spike told him.
Wesley nodded and silently followed the blonde haired vampire in front of him. About five minutes later they made their way down the alley they were supposed to meet Angel, Jess, Connor, and Gunn in. They were the first to arrive.
"I hope Gunn and Connor make it here all right." Wesley said. "Because you and I won't be able to hold off a demon army by ourselves."
"Well, lucky for you then that Connor and Gunn are here." Gunn's voice filled the alleyway as he and Connor made their way down it.
Both Connor and Gunn were bruised and bloody.
"What in the bloody hell happened to you two?" Spike asked the ex-lawyer and half-breed.
"We ran into some vampires." Connor said, wiping blood up from his cheek. "We won, but they did a job on us."
"You don't look well." Wesley told them.
"Thanks, Wes." Gunn tried to joke, but winced in pain, holding his arm. He was bleeding.
"Maybe you guys should go back to the hotel." Wesley said. "You're already hurt."
"You need us to help fight." Connor said. "My dad and sister need us."
"You won't last very long." Spike said bluntly. "We know the magnitude of this thing, and it's going to be bad. You guys are already hurt, I don't know if you've got much of a chance of getting out of here."
"Well, I guess we'll have to find out won't we?" Gunn smiled the best he could.
Spike nodded. "I guess we will."
"Where's my dad and sister?" Connor asked.
"Not here yet." Wesley said.
"But they better get here damn soon. I can feel it. The heat is rising. Its…" Spike started.
"Hells getting ready to unleash its army." Gunn said. He too could feel the heat now, and he was human. Things were going to get bad and they were going to get bad fast, he suddenly realized.
Spike nodded. "Yeah."
"Well, I'm sure Angel and Jessica will be here soon." Wesley tried to assure the four members of Angel Investigations, and he prayed his words were right. He knew they would need Angel and Jessica more then ever now. The world needed its two champions to win this battle. The good fight needed them to win this battle.
Jessica and Angel stealthy and silently made their way up to their old penthouse. Both decided it would be a better idea to just beat the door down, rather then knock and wait for Lindsey or Eve to answer. They thought it seemed for fitting, so they did.
In one quick blow, Jessica and Angel had taken the door off the hinges, and made their way into their old home, to find Lindsey and Eve out on the balcony, overlooking the alleyway that the Senior Partner's army was supposed to rise in.
Neither Lindsey or Eve had any idea that Jessica and Angel were behind them. Angel was glad that he and Jess were both able to sneak up on people without a problem. It made their job so much easier.
"Boo. Guess who?" Jess said smugly, causing Lindsey and Eve to both jump and face Jess and Angel.
"How did you…" Lindsey's eyes grew wide. He was at a loss of words.
"What? Get in here?" Angel asked. "Your secretary just let us come up." He leaned closer to Lindsey, smiling at the lawyer. "You really should get better security."
"You're wasting time here, Angel." Lindsey stepped forward. "You're fight is no longer with me and Eve, its with Wolfram and Hart. It's with the Senior Partners."
Angel shook his head, smiling slightly. "Wolfram and Hart is just the name of a company. You give it too much credit. And the Senior Partner's have no face. They hide behind their name, their armies, and their employees. They hide behind you. So, I guess the only way to hurt them would be to hurt you."
Lindsey laughed nervously. "So? You kill Eve and me? Big deal. In the scheme of things, you'd only hurt yourself, because by the time you two killed us, your friends would have already been killed by the army that is coming to destroy you." Lindsey motioned to the alleyway that Spike, Connor, Wesley, and Gunn were waiting in.
"I guess we'll have to just kill you fast then." Jess said with her famous grin makings its way onto her lips. "Because I've got this theory that it won't take a hell of a lot of time to rip either one of your throats out."
"This wouldn't even be a fair fight, Angel." Lindsey said, trying to save his and Eve's lives. "We don't have weapons, and you do."
"Yeah, it wouldn't be the thing for a champion to do. You know, killing unarmed people." Eve added. "Or killing people in general. Isn't that like a big no-no with the Powers That Be?"
"And if the Powers cared at all about me and my family they probably wouldn't have allowed any of this to happen, and yet the world is going to hell, and they aren't doing a thing about it. So I really don't care if this is against what they stand for." Angel said as he took a step forward, his jaw clenched, and his eyes black.
Cordelia was getting tired of driving. It had been a long day; the sun had set about an hour ago. The immortal seer looked in the seat next to her to see Fred all curled up in a ball, sleeping. She then looked in the backseat to see Erin sleeping as well, her head off to one side of the car seat. Cordelia couldn't help but notice just how much Erin was beginning to look like Jessica. Cordelia decided that when she got back to the hotel, she would dig out Jessica's baby pictures just to show the resemblance between her two daughters.
Cordelia rolled her window down, deciding she needed some fresh air. The breeze must have bothered Fred because the young physicist sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"Sorry, Fred." Cordelia whispered so she did not wake Erin up. "Did the wind wake you?"
Fred shrugged, looking at Cordelia's open window. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep anyway." She whispered back. "You should have some company while you're driving."
"Doesn't matter." Cordelia said, keeping her eyes on the road ahead of her. Something didn't feel right, she just wasn't sure what.
"Well, I'm up now, so if you want to rest I could drive." Fred offered.
"Its okay, Fred. I don't mind." Cordelia said, unable to shake the sudden feeling that something was terribly wrong.
Fred's eyes narrowed at Cordelia. She could tell something was off with the immortal seer. Sure, a lot of things could have been bothering Cordelia. A lot of obvious things; like her husband and two oldest children fighting for their lives back in L.A., like having to leave her home behind, like knowing their was a chance she would never see her family again. But that wasn't it, something else was bothering Cordelia, Fred just couldn't put her finger on it. "Cordy, are you alright?"
Cordelia laughed at Fred's question. She had no idea how to answer it. "I don't know how I could be, Fred. My whole life is falling apart with every mile we put between ourselves and L.A." Cordelia's eyes drifted to the backseat where Erin was still asleep.
"Cordy…I know things look really bad now." Fred said. "But everything is going to be fine. You know that right?"
"I don't know anything anymore." Cordelia said sadly.
"Cordy…" Fred started again.
Suddenly, Cordelia let out a gasp, and Angel's car swerved to a halt on the side of the road. The jerk of the car had woken up Erin, and the baby was now crying. When the car stopped, Fred looked over at Cordelia, worried.
"Cordelia, what's wrong?" Fred asked.
Cordelia let out another gasp, and closed her eyes as she began glowing. She was having a vision. It was of Angel. He was fighting for his life in an alleyway. It was raining. Jess was there. She was fighting as well. So were Connor and Spike. Gunn was in the corner of the alley, bloody, beaten, barely breathing, and Wesley…he wasn't there. Wesley wasn't even in Cordelia's vision. She was scared to know what had happened to him, what was going to happen to him if she didn't get back to L.A.
When Cordelia thought the vision was about to end, another one came on. This one was more specific then the last. It was of Jessica, bleeding and soaked in the flooding alleyway. The rain hit her face, causing her blood to smear. She was fighting for her life. She was surrounded by demons and creatures and it appeared as though Jessica had no way out, and she knew it. In Cordelia's vision Jess lowered her sword, as if she was about to give up. Then someone jumped down, in a long black leather jacket. Cordelia couldn't tell who it was, but the jacket looked so much like Angel's and whoever they were they said something to Jess that caused her to stand suddenly, fighting side by side with the man in the leather coat. Suddenly, Jessica's facial expression turned from rage to horror as a demon drove a stake into the man in the coats back, and the man turned to dust, leaving behind only his leather duster, that Jessica seemed to catch. Then the vision ended.
Cordelia jumped up as all of what she had just seen came crashing down on her. The Powers had sent her a vision of what was going to happen in L.A. The first vision showed Cordelia that there was a chance her family would die. A great chance. The second one made Cordelia's head swirl. It had showed Jessica struggling for her life, all alone. And then someone had saved Jessica, or attempted to, but had been staked, turned to dust. They had been a vampire in a long leather duster. Cordelia was certain it had been Angel. Angel was going to die.
"Cordy?" Fred's voice broke through Cordelia's concentration. "Cordelia, are you okay?"
Cordelia looked at Fred, shaken by the images the Powers That Be had just shown her. "Fred, we need to go."
"What?" Fred was confused. "Cordelia, what do you mean?"
Cordelia didn't say anything else, as she turned to Erin, reaching over the back seat, and giving her youngest daughter a kiss on the forehead that seemed to calm the baby down. Cordelia then turned Angel's car in a complete circle, heading back in the direction they had just come from. Heading back to L.A.
"Cordelia, what are you doing?" Fred seemed to panic. "We can't go back! Angel said not to!"
"Angel will be dead if we don't!" Cordelia cried, tears streaming down her face from the images she had seen. "They all will be if we don't go back!"
And that was all Cordelia had to say to get Fred on her side. The young woman had seen the fear and concern in the immortal seers eyes, and would not argue with Cordelia anymore. If the Powers had sent Cordelia a vision of their family dieing, then Fred knew they only had a matter of time to get back to L.A. and try and save the people they loved. She just hoped Cordelia could drive fast enough.