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: Angel and Spike get a chance to get back the people that meant the most to them after the battle against Wolfram and Hart. But can they keep the real past a secret from the only people they want to share it with? A/C S/B

CHAPTER 13

Angel awoke to find Cordelia curled up in his arms. She had fallen asleep on the way home from Caritas and so he had carried her straight up to his room, not wanting to disturb her.

Angel leaned on his arm, studying the sleeping brunette next to him. She looked like an angel, her infamous smile gently gracing her lips as she slept. Angel liked Cordelia like this. When she was asleep he could imagine he was laying next to the version of Cordelia that remembered him, the one who used to spike his blood with cinnamon, the one who had accused him of being a dork on quite a few occasions, the one who had stolen his heart and never given it back.

Angel sighed which caused Cordelia to wake up.

"Good morning…" Cordelia stretched and grinned at Angel.

Angel smiled back at her. Even now, his heart belonged to her, but he could feel it slowly being taken apart, piece-by-piece, every time he had to explain something, such as vampires, demons, or Lorne to her. Those were things she should have already known. He didn't know how much longer he could take her not remembering anything. "Hey."

Cordelia sat up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Angel nodded, taking her hand to reassure her "Why?"

"You don't seem right." Cordelia told him. She might not have remembered him, but she still had the talent of reading him like a book. "It seems like something's bothering you."

"Just thinking about some things." Angel told her honestly.

"Like what?" Cordelia pried.

"Stuff." Angel stood. "Listen, do you want to go do something today?"

"Sure." Cordelia smiled up at him. "What are we going to do?"

"Well, I wanted to actually spin by the police station." Angel told her.

"For what?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow at the idea.

"I want to see if there have been any attacks reported that could be linked to the vampires sudden return." Angel said. "Last night, Lorne agreed that some sort of balance shift might have brought them back."

Cordelia nodded. "Sure, I'll go." She stood. "And by the way, Lorne was a really nice dresser. I didn't think demons could pick clothes like that." Cordelia made her way to the bathroom to get ready.

Angel smiled back at the door. Sometimes, when Cordelia spoke, he felt like he was back in the old reality because her words would flow the same way he remembered them too. This was one of those times. He continued to smile, as he got ready to head down to the police station. Lorne had said they needed to dig a little deeper, and he was hoping the police station was the place to start.

Buffy made her way down the hall of Sunnydale High. She was tired from her late night out with Spike and vampire hunting. She made it to her locker and fumbled with the combination just in time to have a fist slam it shut on her. She looked up to argue when she saw Xander towering over her.

"Have you heard from Cordelia yet?" Xander asked.

"I told you. No." Buffy was not afraid of him at all.

"Well, she will contact you. You're her best friend. And when she does, let her know she has less then forty-eight hours before we all go looking for her. And when we find her, Angel will rot in a cell for having kidnapped her." Xander told Buffy.

"You know he didn't do that." Buffy defended Angel.

"I don't know anything." Xander said, as Spike approached.

"Something wrong?" Spike asked Xander, wrapping his arm defensively around Buffy.

"Nothing." Xander grinned. "You two have a nice day." He then walked away.

"What was his bloody problem?" Spike asked.

"He was going off on how they are going to start looking for Cordelia soon, and how Angel will be arrested when they find her." Buffy told him.

"Well, there's nothing to worry about. Everything in regards to that will work out. It has to." Spike told her.

"The best part is, I should be worried about Angel and Cordelia, but we have bigger problems right now." Buffy said.

"Like vampires." Spike knew what she was talking about.

"Yeah, like vampires." Buffy sighed. "We should go talk to Giles, see if the Council found anything."

Spike nodded, as Buffy grabbed his hand and led him down the hall to the library where they knew they could find Giles. Spike was hoping that Giles had an explanation for the vampires' sudden return, but he had a feeling Giles, and the Watcher's Council, had no idea why the vampires were back. Spike had no idea why they were back either.

Angel and Cordelia descended the stairs of the Hyperion Hotel to find Gunn and Wesley already in the lobby. Both men were sitting at the counter, drinking coffee, and looked up as the ex-vampire and ex-seer walked down the stairs.

"What are you too doing all dressed up?" Gunn asked, seeing that both Cordelia and Angel were dressed for the day. He and Wesley were both in sweatpants.

"We were going to head over to the police station." Angel informed them.

"For what?" Gunn asked.

"See if there have been anymore attacks like the one on your sister. Maybe they can lead us to something on the vampires return." Angel said.

"That's a good idea." Wesley said. "Do you want us to come with you?"

Angel shrugged. "If you want."

"Better idea." Cordelia butted in. "Wesley and Gunn should stay here and look some things up online, see if they can find anything relating to the attacks here. Maybe they are happening in other places too."

Angel was impressed by how smart Cordelia's train of thought was. He had never considered her dumb, but usually he was the one who came up with ideas like that.

"Sounds good, girl." Gunn agreed as he made his way around the counter, turning on what had once been Cordelia's computer.

Angel nodded, taking Cordelia by the hand. When she looked up at him, Angel realized her eyes were telling him something. He felt as though she wanted to talk to him, but just couldn't find the words. He leaned in, whispering in her ear. "Is everything alright?"

Cordelia nodded. "I'll talk to you about it later."

Angel nodded. "Sure." He then waved to Gunn and Wesley and led her out of the hotel and toward his car. He helped her in and then got in himself, pulling out onto the street. He waited for her to begin talking, but she never did, which was so unlike Cordelia. Angel had known her for eight years, and been close with her for five, and one thing was certain, Cordelia Chase was never quiet.

"So…" Angel finally broke the silence. "What did you want to talk about?"

Cordelia turned toward Angel, her mind clearly somewhere else, she had not heard him. "Huh?"

"In the hotel. You said you'd talk to me later." Angel reminded her. "What about?"

"Nothing." Cordelia lied.

"You're lying." Angel knew her so well.

Cordelia sighed. "I've just been thinking a lot, since this whole vampire thing started."

"And?" Angel pressed.

"And it only seemed to start happening after you and I became close. After I left Xander." Cordelia told him. "And it's weird, because up until a few weeks ago, I couldn't see myself with anyone but Xander, and I would have never been able to wrap my mind around the idea of vampires."

Angel remained silent. He wasn't sure what Cordelia was getting at.

"But now, all I want is to get to know you better, and discussing vampires, especially with you, doesn't really bother me in the slightest, which only makes things weirder for me." Cordelia told him.

"Why?" Angel was really confused now.

"Because! I'm comfortable with you, more then I have ever been with anyone. And I feel like I knew all along about vampires, and I feel like I've known you all along." Cordelia told him. "I feel like I've known Gunn, and Wesley, and last night when we walked into that club it felt familiar to me. Everything here in L.A. feels like home to me."

Angel didn't know what to say. He didn't know what Cordelia wanted to hear. He wasn't sure how, but he knew now they somewhere in the back of her mind, Cordelia remembered her past. "Cordelia…"

"I feel like you're keeping something from me." Cordelia finally said. "And I don't know why."

Angel's eyes grew wide. "I…well…"

Cordelia laughed as he stuttered on his words. "But then again, I know you aren't. You couldn't be keeping something from me because we've only been friends for like five weeks."

"Five years." Angel corrected her without thinking.

"What?" Cordelia turned to him, confused.

Angel backtracked. "I meant, yeah, five weeks."

"You said years." Cordelia raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't matter." Angel laughed nervously as he pulled up to the police station. "We're here." He jumped out of the car quickly, leaving a very suspicious and confused Cordelia in the car behind him. After a moment, she followed the ex-vampire into the police station.

Spike and Buffy entered the library to find Giles, sitting at the table with his head down and books spread out all around him. The librarian was clearly asleep, as his snores filled the quiet room.

"Well, I guess it's safe to say he was working hard." Spike whispered as he picked one of the books up that was next to Giles. It was all about vampires and demons.

"Maybe he found something." Buffy said.

"Maybe we should find out." Spike told her.

Buffy nodded in agreement, and suddenly gave Giles a quick tape on the back. "Good Morning, Giles."

Giles jolted forward, clearly surprised by Buffy. "What…who?" He turned to see the Slayer and Spike behind him. "Buffy! Spike! You scared me."

"Sorry." Buffy took a seat next to Giles. "But I didn't think they paid you to sleep on the job."

Giles straightened out his glasses. "I must have nodded off for a moment."

"Well, that's peachy." Spike sat on the table. "Did you find anything in these bloody books of yours?"

Giles shook his head. "Not really. None of them explain why the vampires would be brought back. It makes no sense. They were all destroyed."

"Are we sure about that?" Buffy asked. "I mean, it would only take one to make the population grow."

"True." Giles agreed. "But it has been a fact for centuries. The vampires are all gone."

"And now they are all bloody back." Spike told him. "And these books, and the Council won't solve anything. If we are going to figure this out we have to do it on our own."

"And how are we going to do that?" Buffy asked.

"We need Angel's help." Spike said.

"What is Angel going to do?" Buffy asked again. "He knows nothing more then we do."

Spike wanted to shake her and inform her that she was terribly wrong, but he couldn't. Not without exposing the truth to her. Not without having her remember her past. He sighed, lying through his teeth. "I guess you're right."

Just then the bell to first period rang.

"You two should head off to class. I am going to go through these books again and then call the council. Come back here during your lunch." Giles told them.

Buffy and Spike both nodded as they made their way out of the library and to their first period class. Neither of them felt as if Giles would find anything, but they would not say that to each other. For some reason, they didn't want the other to lose hope. Spike didn't want to expose Buffy to the truth and pain of her past, and it seemed as though Buffy didn't want to be exposed to it either. Spike could tell she remembered bits and pieces of it, but on the whole she was blocking it out. She wouldn't let her past in, and Spike couldn't blame her. Her true past had held only painful memories for the Slayer.

Angel entered the police station with Cordelia trailing quietly behind him. He was familiar with the office; he had visited Kate there many times before she was fired. As Angel made his way up to the main desk he half hoped to find Kate there, after all, it was a new reality, and all she had ever wanted to do was be a police officer. He couldn't see why she wouldn't be.

Angel looked over the desk to the man sitting at it.

"Can I help you sir?" The receptionist asked.

"I'm looking for Detective Kate Lockley." Angel said.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow at Angel for two reasons. One, she wanted to know how Angel knew a female detective in L.A., and two because the name seemed familiar to her.

Before the man at the front desk could answer Angel, another voice caught Angel's attention.

"She was fired last year." Connor seemed to step out of nowhere catching both Angel and Cordelia by surprise. Connor turned to the man at the front desk, a small grin on his face. "I'll take it from here, Robbie. You've got real work to do back there."

The man at the front desk nodded at Connor. "Thanks, Connor."

Connor then turned back to Angel and Cordelia, offering his hand to Angel as his eyes glanced Cordelia over a few times. "I'm Connor Angel."

"Liam Angel." Angel shook Connor's hand, and then motioned to Cordelia. "And this is Cordelia Chase."

"Nice last name." Connor said to Angel.

"You too." Angel agreed.

"So what? Are you guys related or something?" Cordelia asked.

Angel looked at Connor, and wanted to let the world know they were indeed related, they were father and son, but he remained silent.

"No." Connor said simply, and then studied Angel hard. "So what are you doing here, Mr. Angel?"

"Call me Angel." Angel told his son. The son that would not remember him. "And I'm actually here investigating something."

"So, you're a detective?" Connor asked.

"Yes." Angel said instantly, and then backtracked. He wasn't a detective, not anymore. "No. I mean, I'm not a detective, I am just looking into a case."

"And I'd assume that's why you were looking for Kate?" Connor asked.

"Well, I thought she could help." Angel said truthfully.

"Well not anymore she can't." Connor said.

"Why was she fired?" Angel asked. He was curious.

Connor shrugged. "The details were never really released on it. Doesn't matter, she is gone now."

"Well, I guess I won't be getting the help I need." Angel dug his hands into his pockets.

"Well, what did you need?" Connor asked.

"My friends and I were looking into some attacks that have been occurring. Most have been listed as animal attacks but we aren't exactly sure. We wanted to have a closer look. My one friend, his sister was killed. Last name, Gunn." Angel explained.

Connor nodded. "Yeah, I know the case, and what you're talking about. There's a whole file of cases like that."

"And you know this how?" Cordelia asked. "I mean, no offense, but you look a little young to be doing police work."

Connor laughed, nodding. "That's true. I am young, and no I'm not a detective. I'm going to school for it. I come in here for the hands on part of the job."

"So you have connections to this place?" Angel asked.

Connor nodded.

"Do you think you can get us those files?" Angel asked.

"Depends." Connor said. "I don't exactly know who you are."

"Liam Angel. I own the Hyperion Hotel…" Angel went to continue, but Connor cut him off.

"Angel. As in Angel Investigations?" Connor seemed surprised.

Angel was surprised by Connor's words, but found himself nodding his head slowly. "Yeah…"

"Wow. I can't believe it." Connor was shocked.

Neither could Angel. How did Angel Investigations even exist in this world? There was no remains of it at the hotel, no flyers, no clients, and most importantly there was no Angel. Not anymore. Angel was not the heroic vampire he had once been, he was now just an ordinary guy with an extraordinary past.

"Me either." Cordelia gave Angel a nudge to the gut. "What the heck is Angel Investigations?"

Before Angel could think of a good answer, Connor cut in.

"It was a detective agency that ran out of the Hyperion Hotel a few years ago. It shut down though. That's what the records indicate anyway. No one seems to have ever heard of it." Connor said.

"Then how have you?" Angel asked.

"I was filing the records one day, and I found some cases against the place, and a few ran by Lockley that seemed to indicate the agency fought for the good of the people." Connor explained. "I think it actually her affiliation with the place might have been the reason she was finally fired."

Angel nodded slowly, it all made sense and yet it didn't. Somehow there were records of Angel Investigations still floating around the police station. Maybe balances were shifting and people were starting to remember things. Angel had to know for sure now.

"It's a family business." Angel told Connor. He wasn't lying; Angel Investigations had been all about family. "I'm thinking of opening it up again."

Cordelia raised an eyebrow at Angel. "When were you going to tell me this?"

"I'm still not sure about it." Angel told her, and then turned back to Connor. "So about those case files, do you think you can get them to me?"

"Sure." Connor told him. "They'll never miss them here. I'll take them over to my college and get the librarian to make some copies of them, she'll make everything look official."

"Fred Burkle?" Angel asked.

Connor nodded. "You know her?"

"Kind of. I ran into her one day on campus." Angel explained.

Connor nodded. "Were you the guy looking for me?"

Angel nodded. "I just found it funny we both had the same last name." He lied.

Connor seemed to buy it. "Well, I'll bring the files over to the Hyperion sometime tonight, if that's okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Angel shook Connor's hand and then took Cordelia's hand and led her out of the building. When they got back to his car, Cordelia ripped her hand away from his.

"What the hell is going on with you?" Cordelia seemed angry. "You aren't making any sense. Since when do you do detective work and since when are you opening your own agency?"

"It's just an idea I've been playing with." Angel lied to her.

Cordelia shook her head, and Angel realized she was not really upset with the idea of the agency. "Angel, something weird is going on."

"What do you mean?" Angel asked her.

"Just everything. Detective Lockley's name, that Connor kid, Angel Investigations…it all seems to familiar to me. I've heard it all before, I've met Connor before, I know I have." Cordelia told him.

Angel swallowed hard as he took in what Cordelia was saying. "Cordelia…"

"I know. I know." Cordelia seemed to laugh bitterly at herself. "I couldn't know any of it right?" She took Angel's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I know I sound crazy, but I swear to you, I know all of this somehow. The people, these places, all of it. Like I was telling you in the car before."

Angel remained silent, unsure of what to say.

Cordelia took Angel's silence as an accusation. "Angel, I am not crazy."

"I know you're not." Angel told her, kissing her on the forehead for reassurance. "We will figure it all out. Let's just get back to the hotel, okay? After Connor comes by with the files, we'll go over it, and then you and I will talk. Sound good?"

Cordelia nodded and allowed Angel to help her into the car. Angel then got in the driver's seat and took off down the road, his mind racing a million miles a minute. Everything the new reality was made off seemed to be crashing. Whether she was supposed to remember or not, Cordelia's memory was coming back. He wondered if the others were gaining their memories back as well.

Buffy and Spike made their way back into the library on their lunch break as Giles had asked them to. They found Giles in the same seat he had been in that morning with the same books scattered around him, only this time he was not sleeping.

"Find anything yet?" Buffy asked.

"Not exactly…" Giles stood. "But maybe."

"What do you bloody mean?" Spike asked. "Either you did or you didn't. End of story."

"The Council has been looking into things, they have better materials then I do…" Giles started.

"Obviously…" Buffy slumped into a chair. "They are the ones in charge of all of it."

"Well, at any rate they came across something speaking of a balance. One that keeps the vampires out of this world." Giles stated.

"So someone messed with the balance." Buffy concluded.

"Or something." Giles told her. "It is unclear what or who could cause such a shift, but if it has, I don't think there is much chance of stopping it."

Spike took all that Giles was saying in, his mind racing. Only after his and Angel's return had the vampires began to appear. Did he and Angel cause the balance to shift? It would seem so, but it didn't make sense. Why would the Powers That Be allow that to happen if they had created this world to give everyone a second chance? He knew now that he needed to talk to Angel as soon as possible.

Connor entered the library on his college campus to find Fred exactly where he expected her to be, behind the library desk, typing away on the computer while working physic equations in her head.

"Hey Fred, I need a favor." Connor said, leaning against the desk with the stack of case files in his hand.

"Sure, what's up?" Fred asked the younger man in front of her.

"I need you to make copies of these." He handed her the files. "Make them look official."

Fred thumbed through the files and then looked back up at Connor. "Are you sure I can do that? These are official police files."

"I'm actually pretty sure you can't do it, but that's not the point. I need them." Connor told her.

Fred sighed, raising an eyebrow at Connor. "You know I'll help you Connor, I just need to know what it's for." Fred didn't know why, but ever since the first day Connor had walked into the library, she had felt a connection with him, as if she had already known him. Now, he seemed like a little brother to her.

"Well, remember you said some guy named Angel came looking for me a few days ago? Well, I ran into him at the station today, turns out his family owned a detective agency. He is starting up a case, but he needs some of these files to look at. The station won't miss them, so I figured I'd help him out." Connor told her.

Fred smiled at Connor. "You think he will let you help with the case, don't you?"

Connor smiled back at her. She knew him pretty well. "I am hoping."

"Fine, I'll make some copies." Fred told him. "But you have to let me come with you when you drop them off to him."

"What? Why?" Connor asked as he followed Fred into the copy room.

"Because. Maybe I want to be a part of this." Fred smiled. She didn't know why, but the name Angel Investigations rang a bell to her, and made her smile. She wanted to be a part of it.

"You don't even like detective work." Connor told her.

"Maybe I do, and you don't know it." Fred dangled the file over the copier. "Either I can copy it for you or I cannot. You're choice."

Connor sighed. "Fine, you can come."

"Good." Fred smiled back at him, feeling like she had won a battle. She then quickly moved on the copier, making copies of the case files that looked so authentic Connor could not tell the different between the real ones and the fake ones when she was done.

Angel and Cordelia arrived back at the hotel to find Gunn tossing a small ball up as he laid on the couch, and Wesley over a stack of papers at the counter. Lorne had arrived at some point to, because he was sitting next to Wesley with a sea breeze in his hand. Wesley and Gunn looked up when they heard the front door open.

"You're back?" Wesley asked.

Angel nodded, and looked at the green demon next to Wesley. "Hey Lorne."

"Angel." Lorne tipped his glass at the ex-vampire.

"Get anything?" Gunn sat up.

"A bunch." Cordelia told him. "Starting with how we are a detective agency now."

"What?" Wesley inquired.

"Yeah, Angel told some kid who could get us the files that we needed that we are some detective agency. Angel Investigations…" Cordelia threw her arms up. "We help the helpless…isn't that right Angel?"

Angel was in shocked, and looked over at Lorne to see the green demon was equally surprised. He had never used their motto in the police station once. "Cordelia, I never said that."

Cordelia thought for a moment, her eyes widening. "You're right, you didn't."

"But it sounded right." Gunn told her. "Like it belonged."

Cordelia nodded slowly.

"Anyway…" Angel cut in. Something was definitely going on with Cordelia's memory, but he wanted to deal with the cases Connor was bringing over before he dealt with that. "I've got a kid coming over with a few files that have to do with what I think are vampires. We will look them over when he gets here."

"Sounds good." Gunn nodded.

"Good." Angel then looked at Lorne. He knew he needed to talk to Lorne about what Cordelia had been saying all day. He knew her memory was coming back and he wanted to see what the demon thought of it. He also wanted to tell Lorne about Connor and the records of Angel Investigations. "Lorne, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." Lorne nodded, clearly also wanting to talk to Angel.

Angel nodded, and led Lorne into what was his old office, then Wesley's office, then his again. He shut the doors behind them and then turned to the demon. "Some weird stuff is going on."

"You mean like the princess reciting our famous company motto?" Lorne pointed out the window to Cordelia.

"Exactly." Angel leaned against the desk, crossing his arms across his broad chest.

"Believe me, I know. I sat here with Wesley and Gunn all afternoon." Lorne told his friend.

Angel raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Gunn and Wesley were both saying some things. I mean, they were discussing something on the computer and all of the sudden Gunn starts speaking in huge terms and words, like his lawyer talk back at Wolfram and Hart. He had no idea where he had gotten it from." Lorne said. "And then Wesley made a crack about you singing Manilow, but he had no idea how he knew that."

Angel shook his head. "Well, besides Cordelia throwing out our motto a few minutes ago she has been saying some stuff too. The whole car ride over to the police station she talked about feeling like she has known me and about vampires forever. She said that L.A. felt like home to her, and that she felt like she knew Wesley and Gunn and your club. And then we ran into Connor and she told me after that she seemed to know him, and the name Angel Investigations, and she remembered Kate Lockley's name."

"Something is definitely going on. It's like the worlds and colliding into each other." Lorne said. "Except no one can seem to get their mind around it fast enough."

Angel nodded. "I know."

"You said you ran into Connor?" Lorne asked.

Angel nodded again. "He's going to school to be a detective. He was down at the police station and we got around to talking to him. He told me that Angel Investigations had existed here a while ago, right out of this hotel. There's reports with Kate having worked cases with the agency as well."

"You're kidding right?" Lorne asked.

Angel shook his head. "I don't know what's going on here, but it's something bigger then us."

"You need to go see the Powers." Lorne said. "You need to figure out what the hell is happening here, Angelcakes."

Angel nodded. "I know." He looked back into the lobby to see Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley all over papers at the desk. "Once Connor gets here to drop the files off, I'll figure out how to get to the Powers."

"Getting there should be the least of your problems. What you need to worry about is getting the answers you want." Lorne told the ex-vampire.