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 86
Cordelia felt a pang in her chest. Something wasn't right. In fact, something was terribly wrong. She pulled Erin closer to her, sensing that her child could also tell something was not right.
"Something is wrong." Cordelia looked over at Fred and Lorne who were both standing next to her, shielding the rain from their eyes.
"What do you mean?" Fred asked.
"Something happened. I can feel it. Something happened to Angel or Jessica or Connor." Cordelia said.
"How do you know that?" Fred asked, concern filling her voice.
"I just do." Cordelia snapped, her eyes roaming the battle below. She was panicking.
"Relax, princess." Lorne placed a hand on Cordelia's shoulder. "Fred is just trying to understand what you are saying."
"I'm saying something bad happened to someone in my family!" Cordelia insisted. "I don't know how I know, it's just a feeling I have. I know something is wrong."
"Alright, alright, calm down." Lorne could tell Cordelia was not kidding. Something must have happened in the battle below to one of the members of the Angel family.
"We have to go. Now." Cordelia told Fred and Lorne. "We have to go down there and see what happened."
"Hold on, Cordelia." Fred said. "If something bad did happen to Angel or Jess or Connor do we really want to go down there and see it?"
Cordelia didn't even have to think to answer that question. "Hell yes. That's my family down there." She pointed to the skirmish below as she took a step forward.
"We should stay here, Cordelia." Lorne warned her, as his arm held her back. "Whatever happened down there, it's already too late for us to do anything about it."
Cordelia snorted. "So? We just let something horrible happen to the people who mean the world to me? That's the plan?"
"You know Angel would want you to stay safe, Cordelia." Fred reminded the seer. "And anyway, it's just a feeling you are having. It doesn't mean it's right. Nothing could be wrong at all."
Cordelia grew silent, looking down at Erin in her arms. The immortal mother knew Fred was wrong, she knew something had happened to either her husband or one of her children, or all three of them, she just wasn't sure what it was. She had no idea that Angel had just been dusted in the alley below her moments earlier.
Wesley smiled to himself. The hole to hell was completely closed up. No more demons would ever crawl out of it. There was a chance Angel Investigations would win. He then turned, his eyes still watching the remaining demons in the alley. He could tell the evil creatures were all nervous now that the crack they had seeped out of was gone.
"Now, I need to find everyone else." Wesley said to himself as he spoke of Angel, Jess, Connor, Spike, and Gunn. He knew he needed to find some of them, if not all of them so that the members of Angel Investigations that were fighting in the alley could be reunited.
Wesley then quickly made his way down the street, hugging the huge buildings to stay in the protection of their shadows and out of any of the demons direct sight of vision.
Connor, Spike, and Gunn all stood on top of the building looking down at the alley below in complete shock. They had all just watched Angel take a stake to the heart for Jessica and none of them could believe it.
"What just happened?" Connor asked, his voice flat. He was stunned.
"Angel just…he's dead." Gunn looked at Spike and Connor.
Spike nodded, his eyes still on the spot Angel had been standing in moments ago. "He did it for Jessica." His head snapped back up, his eyes glancing between Gunn and Connor. "He died to protect his daughter. He died a hero. We have to finish what he started."
"What? Finish this battle?" Connor was fighting back tears. "It's over. We lost. My dad just died and he is the champion!" Connor was angry now, as he let the tears flow freely down his face. "How can we win anything if we don't have a damn champion?"
"I wasn't talking about the bloody battle!" Spike seemed to have some bitterness in his voice. "I was talking about saving your damn sister."
Connor looked back down at the street below to see that Jess was still standing there, still holding Angel's leather jacket, still in shock at what her father had just done for her, and still surrounded by demons. He looked back at Gunn and Spike. "We have to save her."
Spike nodded. "We do." He turned to Gunn. "Are you in?"
Gunn nodded. "If Angel is willing to die for this then so am I. This place has gone to hell anyway, and without Angel we aren't going to be able to win anymore. Let's just get Jess and get the hell out of this city while we can."
"Alright. Sounds like the first plan we have had all night." Spike said, and with that he turned to the stairs that led to the roof, leading Gunn and Connor back down them and onto the dark, rain covered alleyway that was still infested with demons. He knew they had a slim chance of getting to Jessica, but they had to try. He had to try. Jessica meant too much for him not to try and save her.
Jessica stood, still in complete shock that her father had just turned into a pile of dust right before her eyes. She was still clinging onto his leather duster, the only part of him that she had been able to get a hold of. It was Jessica's turn to feel the pain of not being able to save her family member. Angel had lost her to Holtz when she was an infant, and now she had lost him to the Senior Partner's evil army. She had not been able to save him, just like Angel had not been able to save her.
Jess looked up at the demons that were still crowded around her. There were so many of them and they would all pay. Each and every one of them would pay for taking her father from her, even if it meant she would have to die in the process of taking them all out.
And then, just as Jessica took a step toward the demons, a bright, blinding light bolted out from the middle of the alleyway, causing Jess to shield her eyes. She heard a rumble, and then silence followed.
Jess could feel the sun on her skin almost immediately, causing her to look back up to see an empty alleyway and a bright blue sky above her. It was as if the demons had never even existed, and Jessica might have even believed the events of the past few days had just been a bad dream except for the fact that the buildings surrounding the alleyway were completely in ruins.
"What the hell happened?" Jess asked herself, looking around the deserted alley.
"You know, I asked the same thing." Angel's voice came from behind Jessica.
Jess turned on her heel quickly to see her father standing behind her, a huge smile on his face as he stood in the bright sunlight.
Cordelia, with Erin in her arms, Fred, and Lorne had seen the flash of light in the alleyway below, and were now all standing in astonishment as the heat of the sun sent chills up their arms.
"What just happened?" Fred's eyes darted between Lorne and Cordelia, hoping one of them had an explanation.
"I'm not sure." Lorne said, his eyes wide. "Something good I would assume?"
Cordelia smiled, looking down at Erin who was grinning back up at her mother. The mother and daughter's smiles matched identically.
"The sun's back. That has to be good." Cordelia said, her eyes shifting from her daughter to the bright blue sky above her.
Lorne nodded, smiling as well. "The Powers must have had something to do with this."
"And look…" Fred pointed down to the alleyway below. "The demons, they are all gone."
Cordelia and Lorne both looked down at the alley to see it desolate; the buildings surrounding it ready to topple over at any minute. This sight alone wiped the smile off of Cordelia's face.
"Nothing is left down there." Cordelia seemed to whisper.
Lorne and Fred both looked at each other, understanding where Cordelia's thoughts were.
"Cordy, I'm sure everyone is fine down there." Fred lied. She wasn't sure; in fact she knew the chances of any member of the Fang Gang that had gone down into that alley being alive were slim to none. She just needed to hear herself say everyone was fine. She wanted to believe so badly that Wesley was okay. She thought saying it out loud would make it real. Except it didn't, it made Fred realize even more that there was a chance Wesley wasn't coming back. A huge chance.
"If they were fine, we would see them." Cordelia closed her eyes tightly as she spoke. "There's nothing there. No one. We lost."
"You don't know that, princess." Lorne tried to comfort the immortal seer.
Erin let out a soft cry, forcing Cordelia to open her eyes and look down at her child. No, her and Angel's child; probably all she had left of the man she loved. Cordelia could see it in Erin's eyes. The child seemed to know that something had gone wrong in the alley below.
Cordelia hushed Erin, bouncing the baby softly, and kissing her daughter lightly on the forehead before she slowly sank to the ground, sitting on the wet road, her gaze on the direction in which the apocalyptic battle had taken place. Silence fell around Cordelia, Fred, and Lorne, their thoughts all somewhere else.
Spike swung open the door to the building that he, Connor, and Gunn had been standing on the roof off for most of the battle. He was about to take a step out onto the street when suddenly he realized the street was no longer dark and crowded with demons. Instead, light was steaming down onto the concrete and there was not a demon in sight.
"Bloody hell…" Spike was amazed at the sight in front of him.
"What is it?" Connor asked, from behind Spike.
Spike moved to show both Connor and Gunn the broad daylight and the empty street.
"Okay, it wasn't like this out here five minutes ago, right?" Gunn was shocked by the sight in front of him.
"No. It wasn't." Spike said.
"So the sun's back, there's no demons…did we win?" Connor asked.
"Not sure." Spike's eyes searched the sun-drenched street in front of him.
"We should find Jess." Connor said, moving past Spike and out onto the street.
"Yeah." Gunn followed Connor.
Both Connor and Gunn looked back at Spike who was still standing in the doorway of the building.
"I can't bloody come. Vampire, remember?" Spike pointed to himself. "I go out there and I fry." He pointed to the sunbathed street in front of him.
"She should be right around the corner." Connor told Spike. "Hug the buildings and you'll stay out of direct sunlight."
"Fine." Spike said, stepping into the shadow of the building. "But if I burn up, I'm blaming you." He pointed at Gunn and Connor.
"Whatever. Let's just get to Jess." Gunn said, leading Connor and Spike in the direction they had last seen Jessica in.
All three men moved silently down the bright street, hoping that when they turned the corner ahead of them they would still find Jessica, alive and breathing. None of them could bear the thought of not finding her. They had already lost Angel.
Wesley smiled as he gazed up at the sun in the sky above him. He couldn't help the feeling he was getting. He knew deep down that Angel Investigations had just won. They had overcome the greatest evil L.A. had ever seen, and he hoped that they were all going to walk away from it together.
"Where is everyone?" Wesley asked himself out loud as he walked down the abandoned streets. He was looking for any sign of any of the members of the Fang Gang. Then he saw Jessica and Angel up in the distance. From where he was, it appeared to Wesley that Angel was standing in broad daylight.
"Impossible." Wesley said as he picked up his pace and began jogging toward Angel and Jessica. He was so relieved to find that Angel and Jessica had survived. It gave the Englishman so much reason to believe the rest of Angel Investigations had survived. After all, Angel and Jessica were the real targets in the apocalypse all along and if they had lived through it then everyone else should have too.
Jessica stood with her mouth opened wide, starring at her father who was standing in front of her. For once in her life, the girl was speechless, which did not happen often considering she was Cordelia's offspring.
Angel smiled as he watched Jessica try to absorb the fact that he was standing before of her. He could tell she was completely shocked. After a moment he waved a hand in front her. "Jess?"
Jess looked up at her father. "You…you're alive."
Angel nodded. "Yeah."
"No, I mean you're really alive." Jessica took a step toward Angel. "You're standing in the sunlight, and you're not on fire."
Angel nodded again. "Yeah, I know."
"And…" Jessica's eyes grew wide. She could hear it. "You have a heartbeat."
Angel nodded another time, a smile on his lips. "I know."
"But how?" Jessica's mind was racing a million miles a minute. "I mean, you were staked right in front of me. You died. I have you're jacket." Jessica' held up Angel's duster.
"I couldn't tell you how. One minute I was a vampire, the next I was a pile of dust, and the next I'm standing in front of you, and I am human." Angel told her.
Jessica smiled, knowing her father knew exactly what had happened to him. "You shanshued."
Angel nodded. "I guess. I'm not sure why or how but…"
Just then, Connor, Spike, and Gunn turned the corner. Spike was in the shadows of the building, but Connor and Gunn were on the street. All three of them were shocked to see Angel standing there.
"Jess we expected to find, but we saw you die." Gunn pointed to Angel.
"I did." Angel said.
"But…" Connor was so confused.
"He's bloody standing in the sunlight!" Spike realized, pointing at Angel. "And he's not burning up!"
Angel took a deep breath, nodding, his smile never leaving his face. "I am."
"So you're….you're…." Connor couldn't get all his thoughts together quickly enough.
"He shanshued." Wesley's voice came over the crowd of his friends.
"Wesley?" Gunn turned to the ex-watcher. "You're alive!"
Wesley nodded. "We all seem to be." He looked at Angel.
"Well, except me." Spike said from the shadows.
"And me…" Jessica raised her hand. "I mean, I am more alive then Spike, but still immortal."
"So we won?" Connor asked the group.
Angel looked around the group, nodding slowly. "For now."
"But you…" Spike pointed at Angel. "Wasn't that Shanshu crap only if you made it through so many apocalypses, were a champion and blah blah blah…" Spike rolled his eyes to show just how unenthused he was about Angel turning human.
"He made his sacrifice." Wesley spoke slowly.
"What do you mean?" Jess eyed Wesley up. "And don't give me any of that cryptic crap of yours because I'm just not in the mood for it." She gave the ex-watcher a sly grin causing Wesley to smile back at her.
"I mean he gave the ultimate sacrifice." Wesley repeated himself. "I heard you and Jessica talking earlier, Angel. You gave your life up for hers, didn't you? You jumped in front of her to save her and in turn got staked yourself?"
Angel nodded. "But I didn't do it to get a reward. I just…" He looked over at Jessica, trying to imagine his life without her and he couldn't. He had lived over 200 years and yet it still seemed like his life had only truly begun the day Cordelia had given birth to Jessica, only five years earlier.
"You did it because you love your daughter, Angel." Wesley told the vampire. "Love itself is not the sacrifice, but what we do for love has been and always will be the ultimate sacrifice. Love is the one thing people will do anything for."
"So, because he loved me and he gave up his life for me he…" Jess looked up at her father who had a smile plastered to his lips.
"I get to start a new life." Angel finished his daughter's sentence.
"Well, a human one anyway." Gunn joked. "Can't say mine is much different then yours was when you were a vampire, and I am human."
"Which means yours won't change much, Dad." Connor smiled at Angel.
Angel nodded, laughing as he took a deep, needed breath. "I guess that's just something I'll have to deal with." Angel pulled Jessica and Connor close to him, holding both of his children as tight and lovingly as he had held them the first day they were each born.
Lorne and Fred exchanged glances as they both stood over Cordelia who was still sitting on the wet road with Erin in her arms. Both were afraid to say anything but both knew they would have to get Cordelia up soon. They were afraid she would lose it if they didn't; especially now since it seemed like a strong reality that Angel, Jessica, Connor, Spike, Wesley and Gunn were not coming back.
Cordelia was numb though, and that was how she liked it. She knew that Lorne and Fred were trying to find the right words to say to comfort her, and she knew that when either did finally speak to her, their words would fail miserably. Nothing could comfort the immortal seer; she was alone.
Then Cordelia felt Erin wiggle in her arms. She looked down at the baby she was holding and realized she was not alone, she never would be again. She would always have Erin, and in Erin, Cordelia could see everything that had ever meant something to her. She could see Angel, and Jessica, and Connor and all the sacrifices and battles her family had gone through.
Cordelia pulled Erin close to her, kissing the child on the forehead. "It's me and you now, baby, but I promise you that your father and your sister and your brother are always going to be here with us." A tear escaped Cordelia's eye as she continued to speak to her five-month old daughter. "They loved you very much and they just wanted to keep you safe."
Fred looked away from Lorne as Cordelia continued to speak to Erin. It was too much for the Texan to handle. Cordelia's words were cutting her like a knife, all she could think about was Wesley.
Lorne stood there, digging his hands in his pockets as he watched both Cordelia and Fred slowly be beaten by the pain of losing the people they loved. The demon had no words for the two women in front of him. They were two of the strongest people he knew, and here they were, breaking down as he watched them. Luckily, he didn't have to say anything as Cordelia slowly stood, gathering Erin in her arms and turning her back to the alleyway below.
"We should go back to the hotel." Cordelia said, wiping her eye with her free hand and still balancing Erin in the other. "We don't want to catch a cold out here." She forced a fake smile onto her face.
Lorne nodded, realizing that Cordelia could not stomach being anywhere near the place her family had lost their lives. She just wanted to get away from the alleyway. Lorne gave her a week before she left L.A. completely.
"So that's it?" Fred turned to Cordelia and Lorne. "We just leave now?"
"What do you want us to do, Fred?" Lorne asked her.
"I don't know. Go down there." Fred pointed to the alleyway. "Look for them? Do something."
"There's nothing to look for." Cordelia said coldly. "Everything that we care about in that alley is gone." Cordelia could not hold her tears back anymore, she let them flow freely. "And nothing you say or do can change that, Fred. We lost everything that was important because of this stupid mission and the stupid Powers That Be!"
"Cordelia, calm down…" Lorne said soothingly. "Yelling isn't going to change this."
"That's right! It won't! Because the Powers That Be don't listen! They never listen!" Cordelia looked up at the sky. "And I'm done working for them!"
"Well, that's a relief, because I didn't know how to tell you I didn't need a seer anymore." Angel's voice broke over Cordelia's.
Cordelia, Fred, and Lorne all looked up at once, completely shocked to see Angel, Connor, Wesley, and Gunn making their way over the crest of the hill.
"You're alive!" Cordelia rushed forward to Angel, tears flowing down her face as she felt him pick both her and Erin up and pull them in for a huge.
"You really think that you could get rid of them that easily?" Angel asked Cordelia as he twirled her in the air.
Cordelia kissed Angel, and when he finally pulled away she was confused.
Angel saw the look of confusion on his wife's face and placed her down on the ground to explain. "Sorry, I needed to catch my breath." He took a deep breath.
The huge smile that was already written on Cordelia's lips grew even wider as she realized Angel was breathing and standing in the sunlight with her. "You Shanshued."
"Damn right he did." Connor patted his father on the back.
Cordelia smiled, pulling Connor in for a hug. "You're okay?"
Connor nodded, grinning. "Yes, I am fine. Don't worry about me."
"That's my job." Cordelia tilted her head at Connor; smiling at the boy she called her son.
"Well, my job is to sleep for about a week now. I am tired as hell." Gunn said.
"You and I both." Wesley agreed with Gunn, as he held onto Fred, glad to be with her again.
"So we won?" Fred asked Wesley.
"We did." Angel nodded, wrapping his arm around Cordelia's waist as he gave Erin a kiss on the forehead. "As a team."
"No." Lorne said sadly. "Not as a team."
"What do you mean? We did it together." Gunn told the demon.
"We aren't all here." Lorne said as he realized Spike and Jessica were both missing.
Cordelia's smile faded as she looked up at Angel. "Where's Jess?"
Angel looked behind him and then back at Cordelia, clearly confused. "I…she…"
"What happened to her?" Cordelia began to panic. "What? You Shanshued and she died?"
"What?" Angel was taken back. "No. She…"
"Is right here." Jess said as she and Spike emerged from the crest of the hill, walking in the shadows of the building. "I figured I'd take a nice walk in the shadows with Spike since he and I will be spending eternity together."
Spike nodded, smiling at Jessica. "Sucks being immortal. But if I'm going to be stuck with someone forever, I've had worse company…"
Spike and Jessica exchanged a look that made Angel cringe. He knew that Spike cared deeply for his daughter and that Jessica cared about Spike, but he would never be entirely comfortable with the idea of his daughter dating Spike. After all, he had spent many years with the blonde vampire.
"Jessica Lynn!" Cordelia handed Erin to Angel and then marched over to Jessica.
Jessica's eyes grew wide as she looked over at Angel and Connor. She thought she was in trouble. "Yeah?"
Cordelia threw her arms around her daughter, surprising Jess. "You're safe. I can't tell you how worried I was about not seeing you again."
"Yeah, like I'd let you off the hook that easily." Jessica relaxed in her mother's arms for the first time in days. "You still got a lot of mommying to give me."
Cordelia smiled down at her daughter. "I thought you were all grown up."
"I decided, being immortal and all, and now the only champion of the Powers…" Jessica glanced over at her father. "That there is plenty of time for me to grow up, so feel free to make me dinner and do my laundry and buy me a car…" Jess continued walking with Spike back toward the hotel.
Connor, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne soon followed Spike and Jessica, leaving Cordelia and Angel with Erin to think about all that Jessica had just said.
"A car?" Angel raised an eyebrow, but Jessica was too far ahead to answer him. He looked down at Cordelia. "Can we afford to buy her a car?"
"Depends…" Cordelia smiled up at Angel.
"Really? On what?" Angel smiled back at Cordelia.
"If you want to try for another baby like we talked about before this apocalypse started." Cordelia waited for Angel's reaction.
Angel grinned, scooping Cordelia up as she held onto Erin tightly. "I think Erin needs a sibling around her age. After all, Jess and Connor have each other, so I think it's only right that we have another baby."
Cordelia smiled, leaning into Angel and kissing him passionately. Neither of them were immortal anymore but they still had the rest of their lives to grow old with each other and love one another, and one day, when those lives were up, they knew they would be together forever.
Not just Angel and Cordelia. They knew that they would be joined by Fred, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne and eventually Connor and Erin and any other children who came along one day. For even death could not separate the members of Angel Investigations. Death could never separate a family. Sure, Jessica and Spike would still walk the earth, fighting the good fight, but someone had to stay behind, and even then they would all be with each other, in their hearts and minds.
But Cordelia and Angel were not worried about any of that as they made their way back to the Hyperion Hotel. One day they would have to worry, but they knew it was not in the present, and right now that's all Cordelia and Angel were focused on; the present. After all, they had to be ready to expect the unexpected. Especially with the kinds of lives they led.
THE END