Disclaimer- these characters are not mine! All belongs to Joss.

No content warnings, set around end of season 1 Angel-ish, doesn't really follow cannon but doesn't need to.

The Plague

Wesley hung up the phone, he took a deep breath, vampires being wiped out by some strange illness, this was new. This was exciting. No more vampires. The world was going to be so much safer, so many people would now not die, this was exciting, liberating, magical. But he was devastated, given it would undoubtedly come to their door.

Luckily thanks to the sunnydale connection, he now knew it was coming, but not how to protect Angel from it. He took a moment to think through what Giles had told him about spike, then started down the stairs to Angel's apartment. He had seen Angel just a few hours before and he was fine, and he hadn't noticed any vampire suffering with anything, although he wasn't really the one out in the field, so there was hope, maybe it was restricted to sunnydale, for now.

Angel was doing the dishes from their dinner when Wesley came down the stairs, Wesley heard him sniff, his hands were in the hot bubbly water so he wiped his nose on his sleeve and continued to wash pots, pans and plates. He sniffed again, wiped his forehead with his arm. Then he yawned. Wesley's face fell, he was already too late.

Wesley was going to slip away and tell him tomorrow but Angel heard him turn "hey Wes, what's up?"

Wesley signed, "are you ok" he asked

"Yeah" Angel said obliviously, he sniffed again and Wesley noticed blood on his nostril , just a little spot of blood, but it was enough to confirm he was infected. Wesley may as well tell him.

"Giles called" Angel turned around immediately "are they ok?"

"Yes, rather, something has happened"

"What?" Angel dried his hands on the towel that had been over his shoulder.

When Wesley didn't talk he pressed him "do I need to call Giles?"

Wesley handed Angel a tissue, "your nose is bleeding" he said softly, Angel looked at him a little confused then pressed the tissue to his nose.

"spike is dead" Wesley continued, Angel said nothing for a second, processing the information, there was a moment of sadness, lost family, but he knew it was good news, one less monster in the world.

"That's good news Wesley" Angel said quietly lifting the tissue from his nose, surprised that as Wesley had said, his nose was bleeding.

"He died of some kind of vampire flu" right on cue Angel sniffed again "what is vampire flu?"

"A mysterious illness that the vampires of sunnydale seem to have been wiped out by."

"There are no vampires left in sunnydale?" This was indeed news.

"Not one" confirmed Wesley

"Well this is great news!"

Wesley looked at Angel closely, while he could understand this reaction, he didn't like it "Well it is… unless you are a vampire" wesley watched Angel process the information, he certainly was not sad, which Wesley was not surprised by, but angels lack of sadness, made him sad. Angel looked at the concern in Wesley's face and explained,

"No this is great Wesley - you guys can live normal lives!"

Wesley nodded, but was still sad.

"Angel, you will die" he said sadly

"That's a good thing to" Angel seen the sadness on Wesley's face at his reaction.

"Wes, listen, I've had more life than anyone deserves, this means I get to go knowing you guys will be alright" he hesitated "that Buffy will be alright"

"But you will be dead" Wesley stated matter of factly, as if he wasn't sure Angel realised that.

"I'm already dead Wesley"

Angel told Wesley to go home and get some sleep and they would talk about it tomorrow, Wesley needed to talk to Cordelia, so he agreed to go but went to her house instead.

Cordelia sat with her mouth hanging open "vampire flu?" Wesley nodded

"How long does he have?"

"Giles said that Spike was unwell for a few days, they have noticed some vampires have lasted longer, all with the same thing"

"And you think Angel already has it?"

"His nose was bleeding" Wesley shrugged. "He wasn't concerned though."

Cordelia huffed, "no, he probably said this was a good thing did he?"

Wesley nodded

"How do they die?"

"Giles said just like flu, cold, sickness, then they die"

Cordelia wiped a tear from her eye

"He doesn't deserve this"

Angel needed to go kill something. Wesley's words about vampire flu ran around in his head. He remembered two days ago he fought a vampire who was coughing, and he so easily was able to stake it, he assumed it was just not use to the fight, maybe not. Another a few days ago had vomit on it, and it had brazenly asked him to kill it. He had without hesitation, perhaps this is why.

He walked along the street, hands in his pockets, should he call Buffy? And say what? Congratulations? What are you going to do with your life now? Goodbye? Then again, she hadn't called him, giles had called Wesley, if she wanted to talk to him she would of called. And she hadn't. He couldn't read to much into it, he left to give her a better life. If she had moved on that was a good thing. Especially now he was going to die.

A vampire dropped down in front of Angel giving him the fight he thought he needed. It was a hard fight, this vampire was strong and suddenly Angel was coughing and the vampire was getting in hard punches making Angel loose ground. Quickly the vampire had Angel on the concrete path, his own stake pointed at his heart, and he suddenly thought this was quicker, faster than being unwell for days and suffering. He stopped fighting and the stake broke his flesh, before it got to his heart the vampire above him turned to dust, when the dust cleared Buffy stood above him.

Angel rolled over coughing, his head spun, Buffy was there, he had some kind of mystical vampire flu and was dying, was just nearly killed by his own stake. Buffy was there, unless he imagined her. He pushed himself up to his knees once the coughing stopped. Buffy walked around to face him and threw her arms around him "Angel" she said softly into his neck. She took him by surprise, but the familiar feeling of her body pressed against his, her hands in his hair, her warm skin on his, it only took a moment to return his arms around her and savour the moment.

"You know what we should do?"

"What?"

"We should just go have sex, we could have really great sex, then you can kill me after, or actually you could just leave him to die in his own vomit instead of me"

"That's not a bad plan" Buffy said smiling at him, he laughed which set off the coughing again. Once he stopped she helped him up and they went back to his home, hand in hand.

"Do you think you would still go bad?" She asked on the walk, resting her head on his arm.

"One hundred percent"

"Why?"

"Coz it's you" she moved her head away from him "yeah" she agreed "coz it's you to"

"Where the hell have you been… Buffy! What are you doing here?"

"Saving lives" she smiled at Angel who returned it. Wesley eyed the small wound in his chest while Cordelia observed their hands entwined together.

"Are you alright?" Wesley asked with real concern.

"This cough threw me off. Nearly staked with my own stake, luckily Buffy saved me"

"Cough?" Cordelia looked like she was going to cry.

"Yeah"

Angel let go of buffy and walked up to Cordelia "look, I know it's not great but this gives you guys all your lives back. No more vampires, you can go on to your inevitable stardom now without the worry of monsters around every corner"

"And without my best friend" she reached out and hugged him, a few tears falling. Angel hugged her back without speaking. He had it easy really, he was out, done, he could go with the plague. The rest of them had to pick up the pieces and decide what they were now. For him the answer was clear.

Buffy hadn't realised how close Angel and Cordelia were now, best friends, that was nice for him. She had come worrying he was going to die alone, it looked like between Wesley and Cordelia, they would take good care of him.

"Let's go out for dinner, the four of us" Angel looked at Buffy to make sure she knew she was included. "You know, last supper?"

Cordelia was still upset but she placated him and smiled, "can I choose where?"

"Of course" her smile grew to a grin

"Buffy, I hope you brought something nice to wear"

While the girls got dressed Wesley stayed with Angel. Wesley was still in shock over the whole situation, vampires would be no more, this really was a dream, but he also felt very sad that Angel would die to. He genuinely had not done as much good as he had since joining Angel and Cordelia in LA, it all just didn't seem fair.

Angel coughed roughly, chocked back something

"Are you ok?" Wesley realised the irony of this. Clearly he wasn't ok, but he didn't know what else to say.

"I'm a little tired, but I'm fine" Angel answered mostly honestly.

"Should we cancel this dinner?"

"No" Angel looked at Wesley "I'm fine"

"Wesley" Angel considered his words carefully. "Will you take care of her once I'm gone?"

"Buffy?" Wesley said surprised

"No Cordelia" Wesley smiled

"She might act brave but she needs someone to be there for her"

"Of course" he said quietly.

The restaurant Cordelia picked was beautiful, the conversation was easy and Buffy found herself really enjoying her evening, despite her previous experience of Angel's friends. Part of her enjoyment came from seeing how much lighter he seemed, happier and comfortable with people. They clearly had a system, Cordelia ordered for Angel and herself, once she had eaten her food she swapped their plates and started on the next meal, without a word. She smiled at how in sync they were. He drank the wine and was polite to the staff and laughed along with their stories, told a few of his own, and listened intently to Buffy when she spoke. His slight cough, ever in the background, a gentle reminder of what was to come.

Puddings arrived and the three of them tucked in. Angel coughed a little more forcefully than before. He sipped his drink which made him cough more, "excuse me" he said quietly getting up to leave the table. A gut wrenching pain swept over him and he doubled over. He tried to hold it in but couldn't stop the expulsion of blood pouring out of his mouth. The other people there looked horrified, but not as horrified as Wesley and Cordelia, buffy had first hand experience of this with spike, so it wasn't unexpected, it was still awful though.

He gagged and coughed, he wasn't sure what was worse, the texture, the smell, the taste. Or the painful burn of it coming out. He was definitely up for being staked right now. A waiter rushed to the table as Wesley got up grabbing napkins to help, "dear god" the waiter covered his nose for the smell, He turned to another waiter approaching them, "call an ambulance" Buffy jumped in,

"I am so sorry for this, no need to call anyone our car is outside" she grabbed the napkins and antibacterial spray from another waiter and quickly cleaned up the mess, Wesley took Angel to the bathroom to get cleaned and Cordelia helped buffy clean up, they were out of there as quickly as they could. Wesley left a large tip.

From the bar Lilah Morgan peered over her shoulder at the scene. She flipped up her mobile and spoke quickly "he's infected, send the retrieval team" then she flipped down the phone. She purposely passed the mens toilet as Wesley and Angel walked out, reminiscence of the blood vomit down his shirt. "oh dear Angel, you have something on your shirt" she said as she sauntered by, smirking as she went. "Who was that?" Buffy asked as she approached them, Angel rolled his eyes, "someone I won't miss"

They got out on to the street and Angel was fully embarrassed "I'm sorry I ruined your night guys" he said quietly to the group, "I know the car is here but I think I might just walk back"

"Want some company?" Buffy asked

"Sure" he laughed a little "we should of stuck to our sex plan"

"You mean your sex plan" she laughed to and took his hand.

"What sex plan" Cordelia interrupted. Angel laughed again

"It was a much better plan than ruining a restaurant, they are never gonna get that smell out of there"

"True" Buffy smiled

"I think I'll walk to" Cordelia said eying Buffy and Angel, even if he was dying there would be no perfect happiness on her watch.

"Guess I'll get the car then" Wesley said wandering to the valet.

They started down the street and a man pushed passed them, separating Angel and Buffy, sending Buffy stumbling into Cordelia, they heard a loud pop "that was rude!" Cordelia turned and yelled at the guy, as she did three more approached and grabbed Angel as he passed out and dragged him into a silver van that sped away before anyone could react. "Angel" Buffy screamed, Wesley screeched the car to a halt next to them begging them to jump in then they went off in the direction of the van.

"Who the hell would do this" Buffy asked

Wesley and Cordelia looked at each other "Lilah" they said in unison. Not being able to find the van, they returned to the offices.

Angel woke up in a dark room, there was a quiet whurring noice in the background, he tried to move but couldn't.

"Hello sleepy head" Lilah's voice echoed in the room

"What's happening?" He asked her, not sure where she was

"We are going to cure you" she said smugly. Angel felt disappointment run through him

"What… no…" he felt so sleepy but his mind raced, if they were curing him they had cured others, his friends weren't safe, Buffy wasn't safe.

Another voice came into the room, he recognised but wasn't sure who it was

"Angel, you should rest now, let the cure work" his arm felt strange, pressure and pain but it felt away in the distance, then he felt warm, and dizzy

"No… I… I want… to go. Want to go" was all he managed before he fell into a warm, dark embrace.

"Why does he always have to be so damn noble"

"Noble?" Holland questioned looking at her "wanting to die rather than continue to fight? That's pretty selfish if you ask me"

Lilah smiled "hope for him yet then?"

"Maybe" Holland said looking at the man laying in the hospital bed.

"Where would they take him" Buffy demanded

Wesley shook his head, "I have no idea. Angel helped one of them, we could try him?"

"He went back to them though Wesley" Cordelia reminded him

"It's all we've got" Wesley said

"Angel probably only has a day or so left" Buffy said sadly, "once the sickness started, Spike didn't last long"

All three were lost on that thought for a moment

"Locator spell, Do you have a phone?" Buffy asked, Wesley pushed the landline towards her and she quickly dialled

"Willow, hey…. can you do a locator spell? Um, something of his….. yeah….. in my top right draw, I have a book… you will know which one, it has a red leather cover, it's french…. I have no idea…. Ok…. Thanks" she hung up the phone, "she will get a location for us, we need to figure out what they would want with him"

Minutes seemed like hours and hours seemed like days. Willow called back to say that the spell did not work, he couldn't be found. Did this mean he was dead already? That Buffy's fear of him dying alone had come true? She thought about when they first met, how lonely he was, and how much he understood the isolation of her situation. He was the only one she could open up to, could share her vulnerability with, feel safe with. She connected him to the world, helped him find his path, and now he was gone and they would never have a chance. It broke her heart that he would of died alone, despite how far he had come.

Cordelia cried when willow called, she clung on to Wesley and he held her until her tears stopped, it was so sad to watch, Buffy felt their loss but couldn't cry. Not yet.

They were downstairs in his apartment while Wesley and Cordelia tried to find an address for Lilah, she held the key to finding out what happened to Angel. There was commotion upstairs and Buffy ran up the stairs closely followed by the others.

There was Lilah, with three heavies and Angel, handcuffed and unconscious, but alive, he was there. The men dumped him on the sofa near the door and Lilah threw Buffy a set of keys. She smiled, "you must be Buffy, it's a pleasure to meet you"

Buffy was stuck between shock that he was back and anger that they had taken time away from them "what's this?" She managed.

"For the cuffs" Lilah said walking towards her. "You also need this" she handed Buffy a brown file

She opened the file as Lilah retreated

"Medical records, he's immunosuppressed, he will need some medication that you can pick up from the address in that file."

"What" Buffy asked in shock?

"What are you talking about Lilah?" Cordelia almost shouted.

"You will also have to make sure he's careful on his digestive system, there is a meal plan there, you can't put him straight on solids he needs to start on fluids and build up from there. There's a doctors number in there. He needs anything you give them a call"

"Have you hit your head? He's a….."

Wesley stopped Cordelia mid sentence "Cordy, he's breathing"

Buffy felt numb.

Lilah looked at Wesley "I always knew you were the clever one" she smiled. "Your welcome sweetheart" she said looking at Buffy. She turned to leave "remember, he needs to get that medication, it's all in the file, but if he needs anything call the doctor, he will look after him"

She left. Wesley ran to where they had left Angel propped up on the sofa. He took his wrist and felt his pulse pounding away in a regular rhythm. His breaths were even but laboured, they sounded painful. His arm was bruised, badly.

"Buffy, keys?" Wesley called.

Buffy stood shocked, she couldn't move. Angel was alive. Angel was alive.

Cordelia snatched the keys from Buffy as she stood in shocked silence and marched over to Wesley and handed them over "is he ok?" She asked him, tears falling

"I really don't know".

They got him downstairs and to his bed, they really weren't sure when he would wake up and what would happen when he did. Wesley took the brown file and began to go through it. Buffy waited impatiently for details.

"It's all here" he said eventually "medical records, scans, x-rays, new birth certificate, passport, drivers licence. According to this he is seriously immune-suppressed. There is a vaccination schedule, they have started some doses, there are follow up appointments booked to finish the courses, medication he needs. I say we go talk to this doctor?"

Buffy was still in shock, she picked up the birth certificate laying on the table "Liam Patrick Micheal Connors" she never knew his name. Spike had called him Liam once, but she didn't make the connection until now. He had a date of birth, obviously not correct but it was here just the same, 15th of December 1974. He had a birthday. Buffy looked to Cordelia, "you will look after him, while we are gone?"

"Of course" Cordelia replied.

The doctor was just a normal doctor. He didn't know that Angel was a vampire. He told them he was perfectly healthy but had no immune system. He would pick up every illness, cough and cold like a newborn baby would. He told them of the vaccination schedule and about coma patients who needed to be slowly introduced to solid foods again. He told them he would be fine.

In the car Buffy cried, unsure how this was possible. There were no more monsters and Angel was alive. Wesley sat in shock. The ringing of his phone startled him out of his revive.

"He's awake, he's totally freaking out, you need to get here" was all Cordelia said. Wesley floored the accelerator.

By the time Wesley and Buffy got back Cordelia had Angel sitting on the floor, back against the wall breathing into a paper bag. He looked awful, he was so pale, visibly shaking and his eyes were full of tears. Wesley and Buffy ran over, "what happened"

Angel looked at them but looked away quickly as his breathing got out of control again, Cordelia was holding his hand, she stroked his arm, "calm down, you're ok" she kept saying in a rhythmic pattern and he looked down, his breathing beginning to regulate again. Buffy sat next to him and touched his shoulder, she smiled when he looked at her in surprise "hi" she said softly. He couldn't speak, he just sat and stared at her, breathing with the bag.

Cordelia squeezed his hand and told him she was going to talk to Wesley, that Buffy would stay with him and that he was ok. He didn't take his eyes off Buffy. She got up and left the two of them sitting on the floor.

He kept breathing with the bag for a few more minutes then slowly took it away from his face. Buffy realised she was holding his wrist, feeling his pulse beating under her fingers, seeing the blue and purple and red bruise she was holding she let go. "How you doing?" She asked him quietly.

He shook his head like he couldn't answer but if he could it would not be good. "It will get better" she promised him, she kissed him gently on the cheek. She couldn't help it. Their eyes locked together, and before she knew it she was kissing his lips. And he was warm. It was a shock at first. It was so strangely familiar yet very wrong. After a moment he roughly pulled away "sorry" he breathed out before using the paper bag again. "You have nothing to be sorry for" she said honestly. His voice sounded horse and painful. She squeezed his hand. She was desperate to tell him she loved him, but not yet. He needed time. He might be over it, he had a whole world of options now he never had when it was them before. She needed to get used to him being warm. But then he said not to long ago she would still make him go bad, so he still felt the love then, she could hold on to that for now.

"So it's for real? He's human and he's ok?" Cordelia demanded of Wesley

"As far as I can tell"

"What are we going to do?"

"Remain friends" Wesley answered honestly. He sat down to work his way through the file again. Why would they do this? How did they do it? Was it permanent? It certainly seemed so, why would they give him an identity if this wasn't going to last? Why would they give him vaccinations and medication to take care of him? There were so many whys, Wesley rubbed his head. As soon as Angel was in a better mental state he would be asking why to. Wesley needed to talk to Lilah.

"I'm going to see what I can find out"

"Can I join you?" Cordelia looked towards the pair on the floor and rolled her eyes, "I can't stay with sexual tension over there". Wesley smiled, "they need to be careful" he said quietly, "did you see the sperm count results?"

"Yack, I don't want to know" Cordelia covered her ears, Wesley laughed. He got up and walked over to the couple.

"How we doing?"

Angel looked up at Wesley, he looked so tired, his voice was horse and raspy, Wesley ran him a cup of water "you should try to drink this and get some sleep" Angel nodded.

"Cordelia and I are going to go out and talk to a few people, will you two be ok?" He looked pointedly at Buffy.

"Yeah sure"

Angel woke up in his bed, it was warm and, smelly. He needed a shower. This being warm thing was a problem. He lay for a while feeling his heartbeat, yesterday he had been terrified, today he was strangely comforted. He got up, walked to the kitchen where the file was still on the table, he looked through a few pages, Liam. That name was on it all. That's not who I am he thought, pushing the file away and going to the shower.

Once he was dressed he actually did feel hungry, all he could find was bread and eggs so he made do. He was sat at the table eating eggs and toast when Buffy, Cordelia and Wesley returned. Buffy couldn't help but smile seeing him there eating away, Cordelia either, Wesley on the other hand

"Angel you cannot eat that!" He scolded

"Excuse me?" Angel's voice was still pained but getting better

"Liquids only for now!" Wesley went to take the plate away

"Wesley" Angel defended his plate "I'm fine"

"They did say you should be careful" Buffy supported Wesley

"And we are trusting these people?" Angel asked quietly

"We still don't know why they did this and how long it's going to last"

"That's not true" Cordelia piped up, Angel looked at her

"It's permanent"

"What?" Angel looked at her in surprise

"Yep, this is your life now Liam"

"Don't call me that"

She rolled her eyes, "change it via depol, this is you now"

"Why?"

"Contract" Wesley stated matter of factly "they had a contract to ensure you survived the vampire plague, the only way to do that was to turn you human, and it's done."

"So that's it?"

Cordelia nodded, "I had a vision" she said and he looked at her, seriously dreading a reenactment of the last time this happened, "it was my last one, and it was you, out in the sun, happy, so please be happy"

Angel was wide eyed, bemused

"My stomach is killing"

They all laughed, and joined him for breakfast.

Cordelia's vision was like nothing she had ever experienced before. It was years in the future. It brought no pain, that was replaced by love, happiness and an overwhelming sense of safety. Gentle spring sun warmed her face and on the beach in front of her she could see in the distance Buffy and Angel, sitting in the sand about 6 feet apart, Buffy held hands with her daughter as Angel encouraged the little girl to walk towards him. Tentatively she took a step, and another, Buffy releasing her hands. Cordelia felt a wave of joy and excitement as the child took another few steps before sitting in the sand. Buffy and Angel celebrated the achievement with huge smiles filled with pride, claps and cuddles. Cordelia had never felt so much love and happiness, and she knew they were all alright.