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 82Cordelia's eyes grew wide as she starred at the gun in Eve's shaking hand that was pointed directly at her chest. The immortal seer knew the situation she was now in was not a good one. Eve was clearly ready to do something drastic, and she was running out of time to warn Angel and her children about her vision.
"Eve, just think about this for a minute." Cordelia said as calmly as she could, but even then her voice came out shaky.
"Think about what?" Eve snapped. "What is there to think about? I have nothing left and this city is going to hell!" Eve waved around her free hand, acknowledging the battle going on in the alley between Wolfram and Hart's army and the members of Angel Investigations.
"Eve…" Cordelia put her hands up slowly in her own defense. "Please…"
"Shut up!" Eve cried out. "Just shut up!"
"Okay." Cordelia nodded, swallowing hard and trying to keep Eve calm.
"Sit down!" Eve ordered.
Cordelia did as she was told, slowly sinking against the wall of the penthouse. Her mind racing a million miles an hour. There was a chance she was going to die up on that balcony, but that wasn't what scared her. She had lived a good life, and if it was her time then so be it. The thing that bothered Cordelia the most was that she might not get the chance to warn her family of her vision and the thought of Erin growing up without a mother. Those two thoughts alone were what kept the immortal mother as calm as she could be in the situation she was in. She had to live through it because she had to get to her family and back to Erin.
Connor and Wesley made their way to the back of the alley, which was the last place they had seen Angel, Jessica, Spike or Gunn. They hoped they would be able to find at least one other member of Angel Investigations, but neither of them were sure how good their chances of that were.
"Do you see anyone?" Connor asked as he and Wesley approached the fence at the back of the alley.
Wesley looked around, wiping the rainwater from his face. He could see the army of demons still making their way toward himself and Connor, but he could not see any members of the Fang Gang.
"No." Wesley responded. "Do you?"
Connor bit his lip, and then quickly jumped onto the back fence, scaling it until he could see above the army of demons. He looked for any sign of his father, his sister, Spike or Gunn but he could see nothing. Not one of them. He jumped down from the fence, landing on his feet. "I can't see them."
"Well, I assume it would be hard to see them in all the troops of demons." Wesley said, trying to think of a logical explanation for why Connor was unable to see any of the people they considered to be their family.
Suddenly a loud thumping sound came rushing toward Connor and Wesley, causing both the ex-watcher and demon spawn to jump, and turn to find a horse racing toward them with Angel, Jess, Spike, and Gunn on its back.
"What the hell are you doing?" Connor asked as Spike directed the horse to a halt.
"Pretty sweet, huh?" Gunn asked, patting the horse. "Me and Spike stole it."
"We thought we saw you on the fence, Connor." Jess said, jumping off the horse and smiling, glad to see her brother was still alive.
Connor nodded. "Wes and me decided to come look for you guys."
"We thought we needed to regroup." Wesley said.
"So did we." Angel told him. "But first…" He turned back toward the army of demons coming toward them. "We need to figure out a way to stop them."
"And close that damn hole they keep coming out of." Jess added. "Because, hey, if you close that, no more can come out."
Jessica shrugged to emphasize the fact that she was stated the obvious and yet no one else had thought of it before her. It reminded Angel of Cordelia, and it caused the vampire to smile for a brief moment. He missed Cordelia, but was glad he had talked her into leaving L.A. with Erin and Fred before the battle with Wolfram and Hart had really begun. He couldn't imagine them having stayed in L.A., not after all he had seen in this war already.
"We need to figure something out." Angel said.
"Damn right." Spike agreed as he shot a flaming arrow into the crowd of demons. "And fast."
Angel nodded, looking around at the other members of Angel Investigation who were dripping wet and beaten to the bone. He admired them for their courage and their strength and most of all, their loyalty, not only to him but also to each other and to the mission. He knew they would figure something out in the end, and he hoped that they would all make it through.
Lorne and Fred moved underneath an overhang of what had once been an ice cream shop to take cover from the rain. Fred had Erin wrapped in the raincoat Cordelia had left the child in, and was holding the five month old close to her chest to keep the baby warm.
Fred found it harder and harder to look at Erin as each minute passed. She felt like every time she did, she was starring at Cordelia. Erin had the same big hazel eyes as her mother, and Fred felt as though she was starring at a ghost, afraid she would never see Cordelia again, but more afraid that Erin would never see her mother again.
"Cordelia will be fine." Lorne said, as if he could read Fred's mind.
Fred looked at Lorne, studying the demons face and realizing that he also was worried about the immortal seer. "You think?"
"Sure." Lorne ran a hand over Erin's head, causing the baby to pull herself closer to Fred. "Cordy is a strong woman and a good mother. She would never leave this one." He motioned to Erin.
Erin seemed to shutter as Lorne spoke, as if she could understand everything the demon was saying about her mother. Erin wasn't stupid, and both Lorne and Fred knew that. Erin had a connection to the Powers That Be, and she definitely sensed that pure madness had taken over the world around her.
Cordelia leaned against the outside wall of the penthouse as Eve paced in front of her waving the gun in her hand back and forth. It was clear Eve had no true plan, and Cordelia knew she was losing time. If she wanted to warn her family about the vision she had, she had to do it soon, and she knew Eve was not going to allow that.
Cordelia contemplating drawing Eve's attention back t her, when it was apparent the ex-lawyer's thoughts were not on the seer at all, but Cordelia knew it was her only chance of being able to warn her family of her vision. "Eve…" She spoke cautiously.
Eve turned her head slowly, starring down at Cordelia as the rain hit her. "What?"
"Whatever happened up here with Lindsey, whatever it was, I can't fix it." Cordelia was surprised at how calm her voice came out. "And I won't try. But don't do this. Don't take me away from my family like Lindsey was taken away from you."
Eve's eyes seemed to stare right through Cordelia, as if the immortal mother was not even there. She said nothing, just pointed the gun back at Cordelia and then continued pacing.
Cordelia sighed, slumping back against the wall. She was running out of time and options. She needed to figure out a way to warn her family, so she decided to try again. Queen C was never one to not get her way, so why would she start making exceptions now?
"Eve." Cordelia's voice was filled with much more confidence then earlier.
Eve stopped pacing again and turned to face Cordelia, her expression angry. "What now?"
Cordelia stood, face to face with Eve. "If you're going to kill me then just get it over with already. I don't have time to sit here and watch the world go to hell because of you. And I won't watch the people I care about lose their lives because you're keeping me up here."
Eve glared at Cordelia, clearly accepting the seer's challenge, but not saying anything. Instead she went toe-to-toe with Cordelia smirking at the seer and gently pressing the barrel of the gun against Cordelia's stomach, causing Cordelia to close her eyes, and clench her jaw slightly, contemplating the situation she had just gotten herself into.
Angel, Jess, Spike, Wesley, Connor, and Gunn all stood in the back of the alley, trying to figure out a way to fend off the oncoming demons and close the hole they were crawling out of. So far, Wesley had been able to use the bit of magic he had to keep the demons away from the members of Angel Investigations, but in the long run Angel knew that would not be enough to stop Wolfram and Hart's army.
"We gotta get a plan going." Jess said. She and Angel thought so much alike.
Angel nodded in agreement. "Any suggestions?"
"Something other then me fending off the whole army." Wesley said as he let out another ball of energy from his hand. He was tired, and all of his energy seemed to be going into making the energy bombs. He wouldn't last much longer.
"I agree with him." Spike said. "We need to do something."
"How?" Gunn asked, putting pressure on a laceration that ran from his wrist to his elbow. "We've got no manpower, no weapons, no plan."
"Hey!" Angel broke in before Gunn could say another thing. It was clear that everyone was on edge. They were all tired and hurt and losing faith in everything. Angel knew if they had a chance of walking out of that alley alive then they needed to stick together. "We just need to think."
Jess nodded in agreement, looking over at the demons that Wesley was managing to keep away from the group. "We are a hell of a lot smarter then those damn demons. Who cares if there are more of them then us?"
Connor raised his hand. "I do." He seemed so tired, and so young. Jess realized now that he was not the same boy she had grown up in Quortoth with. That boy had died a long time ago. Connor now, although he remembered Quortoth and the hell his childhood had been, had become more humanized and filled with so much less anger. Jess could see that parts of her brother had died because of Wolfram and Hart's spell, even if it had worn off, and those parts were the ones Connor needed right now if he was going to continue to fight.
"All we have to do is figure out a way to close that damn hole up." Jess said. "If we can outsmart them and do that then we can probably win this."
"All that will do is buy us time." Gunn said. "We cut off the hole no more can come out but we've still got to deal with the ones that are up here already."
"But we can beat the ones up here." Jess said, suddenly feeling her hope flow back into her body. She wanted to live through this. She wanted to win. "We've already taken out so many and we are all still standing. That's got to mean something."
"She's right." Angel agreed with his daughter, also wanted to keep the groups' morale up. "We've killed a lot of demons and they haven't touched us."
"So? That could be luck." Wesley shrugged, trying to keep his magic flowing.
"Or that the Powers are banking on us winning this." Angel said.
"The Powers That Be don't care about us!" Gunn said. "If they did don't you think they would help us out a little bit?"
"We're all still alive, aren't we?" Angel asked.
"Doesn't mean bloody anything." Spike spoke up. "Gunn's right. If the Powers That Be gave two about us, we wouldn't be in this damn mess."
"They're testing us." Jess supported her father's views. She did not like how things were going. Suddenly it seemed like it was Angel and her vs. Spike, Wesley, Gunn, and Connor.
"What test?" Gunn asked. "This isn't a damn test, it's a death march!"
"I told you to leave if you didn't think this was worth fighting for!" Angel snapped suddenly. "And you stayed. All of you stayed."
"Well, you gave us a choice but you really didn't." Gunn shoved back at Angel. "It's not like we could have just left like Cordelia and you would have been okay with it."
"Don't bring Cordelia into this!" Angel growled. "This has nothing to do with her!"
Jessica looked up to the dark sky, and then back at her angry father, something behind him catching her eye. She took a step forward, squinting her eyes.
"Hey, he's right!" Spike agreed with Gunn. "Cordelia, you made her leave, she didn't get a choice in staying. Bloody, she even wanted to and you wouldn't let her!"
"Because she has Erin to take care of!" Angel was furious.
"Well, maybe if you would have stopped boning her for a damn second and realized that having a baby with her wasn't the best idea, she wouldn't have had Erin and then she could have stayed and bloody fought." Spike shot back at the dark-haired vampire.
"Don't be a jackass! Erin has nothing to do with this!" Connor suddenly yelled. "She's just a baby."
"Who shouldn't exist." Wesley added. "Technically neither should you or Jessica."
Jessica was ignoring the argument between all of the men completely. Her eyes were focused on something else. The building of Wolfram and Hart.
"But my kids do exist, so leave them out of this." Angel clenched his jaw.
"Maybe they are the reason this is all happening!" Gunn suggested. He loved Jess, Erin, and Connor like they were his own, but he was so angry he didn't realize what he was saying anymore, none of them did.
"Its not me!" Connor yelled back. "It's probably dad and Spike! They shouldn't exist! Vampires with souls? That isn't normal."
"Hey! It's not me you poof!" Spike shot back at Connor.
Jessica was glad she had vampire vision; otherwise it would have been impossible for her to see all the way up the Wolfram and Hart building in the dark. But she could. She could see perfectly on the eighteenth floor two people facing each other. Two women. One seemed to be waving a gun in the air
"No, it ain't!" Gunn agreed. "It's Angel. He's the reason we got in this mess in the first place! Bringing us all together for his damn redemption."
"Well, Jess was the one who got us all involved in Wolfram and Hart." Wesley reminded the group.
"Damn right!" Gunn said. "It's her fault!"
Jess studied the two women out on the balcony she and Lindsey had fallen from. The one with the gun was definitely Eve, but who was the other one? And why was Eve waving a gun in her face? Jessica studied the other woman for a second, and suddenly a sickening feeling settled in her stomach.
"You want to blame someone, then blame me!" Angel yelled at Gunn. "But don't blame my daughter! It wasn't Jessica's fault!"
"Well, who cares?" Spike asked. "I'm not sitting around here and waiting to die! I'm out of here!" He turned and made his way to the fence, ready to climb it.
"Me too." Gunn agreed.
Wesley and Connor looked at each other, contemplating their next moves while Angel stood glaring at Spike and Gunn.
"Go on, leave." Angel told Wesley and Connor. "I know you want to. It won't mean a thing anymore. I don't need people who won't fight for what is right."
"Nothing is right!" Spike turned around to Angel. "It's all perspective. And you don't care about anybody but-"
"Mom…" Jessica's voice was soft and panicky.
"Right." Spike nodded. "Cordelia's all you care about."
"Mom!" Jess yelled it now. "Mom! Mom!"
Angel, Spike, Connor, Gunn, and Wesley all looked at Jessica now, seeing that she was starring up at the Wolfram and Hart building with wide eyes.
"Jess?" Angel questioned.
"Mom!" Jess yelled one more time. She realized that Cordelia was the other woman on the balcony with Eve; the woman who Eve was pointing the gun at. Nothing mattered to Jessica at that moment, no argument, no battle, not even her own life. All that mattered was her mother, and getting to her before Eve did something. That was the only thought Jessica had as she took off running into the crowd of oncoming demons that stood between her and the Wolfram and Hart building.
"Jess!" Angel yelled after his daughter.
"Where is she going?" Connor panicked.
"I don't know." Angel was frantic.
"There!" Spike pointed to Eve and Cordelia up on the balcony of Wolfram and Hart.
Angel's eyes focused on the scene on the balcony, and suddenly he too began running full force into the army of demons the same way Jessica had. He had no idea why Cordelia was in L.A. let alone on the balcony of Wolfram and Hart with Eve who was waving a gun around, but he didn't care either. All that mattered was getting to Jess and Cordelia before either of them got hurt.
Cordelia felt the barrel of the gun leaning against her stomach and she held her breath, unable to look down at the gun, afraid of what Eve was going to do. A single tear rolled down Cordelia's face and she heard Eve let out a small laugh, and she turned to face the ex-lawyer.
"You're pathetic." Eve told her. "You stand up to me, and act so tough, but you're not."
"I'm still standing, aren't I?" Cordelia asked, her voice cold.
"And crying." Eve said, taking the gun and tracing Cordelia's tear with the barrel.
"I'm not crying because you're holding a gun to my gut." Cordelia told her. "I'm crying because I just realized how selfish I was in coming up here. I just possibly left my youngest daughter to be raised by my friends because there is a good chance her father and brother and sister are already dead, and that I will be at the end of this too. Because of you."
Eve contemplated Cordelia's word about Erin, studying the seers face for a second before shrugging and driving the barrel of the gun into Cordelia's stomach, knocking the wind out of her, and forcing Cordelia to the floor. Eve towered over her. "Isn't that a shame?"
Cordelia looked up at Eve, holding her stomach in the spot Eve had just hit her. Cordelia's eyes gleamed with anger, but the seer knew better. If she had a chance in hell of warning Angel, Jess, Connor, Spike, Gunn, and Wesley about her vision then she had to be smart. She had to keep herself alive, and get herself away from Eve. She needed a plan.
Spike, Connor, Gunn, and Wesley all stood at the back of the alley, starring in the direction Jess and Angel had taken off in, and the oncoming army of demons. They were all silent, trying to absorb what had just happened.
"They just took off, right?" Connor asked, absentmindedly. "My dad and sister just ran into the demons?"
Gunn nodded, also shocked. "Yeah."
"Why?" Connor turned to Spike.
Spike pointed up to the balcony Cordelia and Eve were still on. "Your mother. She's up there."
"Cordelia?" Wesley asked.
Spike nodded, turning to the group. "And Eve. I think Eve is holding her there or something."
"Why is Cordelia back here?" Gunn asked.
Spike shrugged. "How the bloody hell do I know?"
"Fred." Wesley said, his eyes growing wide.
"No. Not Fred. Cordelia's up there." Spike told Wesley.
"I know." Wesley said. "But if Cordelia is here, that means Fred is back in L.A. as well." He turned back to the fence. "I've got to find her."
"What?" Gunn asked. "And leave us here?"
Wesley turned back to Gunn. "It's Fred." And that was all Wesley had to say. No one stopped him as he climbed the fence of the back of the alley and left Spike, Connor, and Gunn there to fend off the massive army coming after them.
When Wesley was out of sight, Spike turned back to Gunn and Connor. "Well we've got three choices now. We either run like hell out of here, try and find Angel and Jess or come up with our own damn plan to stop these demons."
"I thought we were all quitting this battle?" Connor asked. "Weren't we all just fighting about it? Weren't you about to leave?"
Spike snorted. "And let Angel save the day again. Not a chance in hell. You can leave if you want."
Connor thought for a moment and shook his head. "No. We came in this as a team and we are leaving it as a team."
"Alright then." Gunn said. "No one leaves. But if we are going to stay then no more fighting with each other."
"Deal." Spike said, looking around and then at the demons still coming at them. "So about those three options?"
Connor looked around the alley at the boxes and crates leaning against the back fence and tall buildings surrounding the alley. A small smile crept across his face. "I've got an idea." He turned back to Spike and Gunn, looking at them for approval.
Gunn shrugged. "I've got no plan so whatever you've got works, kid."
Spike nodded in agreement, looking at the demons that were getting even close to them. He hoped that whatever plan Connor had would be good enough to keep them all alive, at least until Angel, Jess, and Wesley made it back, if they ever did. He knew they all had good reasons for taking off because he knew how much Angel and Jess cared about Cordelia and how much Wesley loved Fred. He just hoped that at the end of it all everyone would see each other again.
Wesley took off running once he had gotten away from the alley the battle was taking place in. The rain was still coming down hard and the sky was still black, but he would not let either factor slow him down. He had to find Fred. The only problem was he had no idea where to start looking for her.
He decided to make his way back to the hotel, hoping Lorne had seen Cordelia and Fred when they had returned to L.A. He quickly hustled down the street, his mind racing.
At first he thought he was imagining things. He had heard Fred's voice calling his name, but he knew his luck was not good enough for her to just be somewhere on the dark street that he happened to be making his way down so he continued.
Then he heard his name again. And again. And again.
Finally, Wesley stopped running and looked around. He couldn't see anything in the dark, but then he felt a hand grab his wrist. He turned to find himself face to face with Fred, who had Erin in her arms. A few feet behind her stood Lorne.
"Fred?" Wesley couldn't help but smile. He didn't think he would ever see her again.
Fred nodded, pulling Wesley in for a long kiss. When they finally broke apart, she looked up at him. "Where is everyone else?"
"Still fighting." Wesley told her. "Why are you back here? I thought you and Cordelia left."
"We did." Fred told him. "But Cordy had a vision about the battle and you guys losing. We had to come back."
"That's why Cordelia's at Wolfram and Hart..." Wesley realized.
"She found you guys?" Lorne asked, hopeful.
Wesley shook his head. "No. Jess spotted her on the balcony. I'm not really sure. Jess and Angel went to go get her."
"What are you doing here then?" Fred asked.
"Looking for you." Wesley said. "Connor, Gunn, and Spike are still in the alley fighting. I needed to come find you though."
Fred nodded, falling into Wesley and allowing him to hold her. "This isn't over yet, is it?"
Wesley shook his head sadly. "No. Not yet."
"What are we going to do?" Lorne asked.
Wesley released Fred and realized Erin was shivering in her arms. "We should get Erin back to the hotel. She'll get sick out here. And I think the only way we are going to win this fight is if we can stop it completely in one shot. If I can close that hole up that the demons are coming out of, we have a good chance of coming out of this."
"How are we going to do that?" Lorne asked.
"I need to research." Wesley said, taking Fred by the hand. "I need to go back to the hotel."
Lorne nodded, following Wesley and Fred as the quickly made their way back to the Hyperion Hotel. The green demon was glad to hear that everyone was still alive and even happier that Wesley had not lost hope yet. He could feel it in Wesley's aura. The ex-watcher still had faith in his family members and the mission, and that was enough to give Lorne hope.