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 19
Angel and Cordelia entered the Hyperion Hotel hand in hand to find Gunn, Wesley, Fred, and Connor all staring up at them in shock, while Lorne smiled up at the couple from the counter.
"You're back." Lorne moved to give Angel a handshake, and Cordelia a hug. He held onto Cordelia a little longer then he normally would have. He was just so happy that she was back, completely, memory and all.
Angel nodded. "Yeah."
"How?" Connor asked, no emotion in his voice really.
"I told the truth and someone actually listened." Cordelia told Connor. She was not angry with the boy, just a little annoyed that he hadn't listened to her earlier, and a little uncomfortable around him. She wanted to apologize to him for what Jasmine had done, but it wouldn't matter. He didn't remember.
"Sorry about that." Connor looked between Angel and Cordelia.
"It's fine." Angel said. "It's not important anymore, anyway."
Cordelia nodded in agreement; looking out at the people she considered her family. She missed them all so much, and she couldn't fight the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing none of them remembered her as being a part of their lives. "Like what's coming next."
"What do you mean?" Fred asked. "We're not safe?" She seemed to panic, going into her famous babbling-mode. "Are the police still after you two? Or are they coming after us for helping you? Or is it the vampires or the end of the world?" She looked up, her eyes huge. "This is the end, isn't it? It's the end!"
"Easy there, Fred." Angel had to smile at her. She had always had a way of putting him at ease, especially when she jabbered on and on. "It's not the end."
"Not yet anyway." Cordelia rolled her eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Gunn eyed the ex-cheerleader up.
Cordelia looked at Gunn, realizing he seemed the same in this reality as he had when she first met him. He had the same undertone of anger and impatience in his voice. That had only gotten him into trouble in the past and she was sure it would again.
"She means that the vampires might not be our only problem." Angel answered for Cordelia. "We think something else might be happening."
"Really?" Wesley was intrigued. "Like what?"
Angel took a deep breath, looking at Cordelia and then back at Wesley. "Well, we think that the balance of this reality might be shifting."
"What the hell does that mean?" Gunn asked.
"It means that there is a good chance things are going to get a little crazy around here." Cordelia said.
"Well, this is interesting." Wesley pondered. "We should start looking into it."
Angel nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. Wesley, why don't you start going through the books we have. Fred, you could look some things up online, and Connor and Gunn…" Angel thought for a moment. He knew he had a job for them, but he wasn't sure if they could handle it without their memories.
"Yeah?" Connor asked.
"Well…" Angel looked at Cordelia and could tell she knew what he was thinking. She shrugged at him. "Maybe you two could take some of my stakes and go out. Make sure there are no vampires?"
"You mean like hunt them down?" Gunn seemed to perk up at this idea.
"Yeah." Angel nodded. "Patrol the nearby neighborhoods."
"I'm down." Gunn said. "Whatever we can do to help."
"Yeah." Connor agreed.
"Alright." Angel moved to his weapons cabinet, tossing Gunn and Connor two stakes each. "Now, what you're going to do with these is…"
"We know the drill. Give them a shot in the heart and bam! Dusted." Gunn jabbed his stake at the air.
Angel nodded. "That's about it."
"Alright." Gunn motioned to Connor. "Come on, kid. Let's go."
Connor nodded, following Gunn out of the Hyperion Hotel as Wesley moved to the books sitting on the counter and Fred moved to her laptop set up on the counter.
"Angel? Cordelia?" Lorne looked over at the other two members of the Fang Gang that actually remembered being part of the Fang Gang.
"Yeah?" Angel asked the green demon.
"Can we talk?" Lorne pointed into the office. "I've got some stuff I think you should hear." He wanted to tell Angel and Cordelia about what Connor had said in his sleep.
"We need to tell you some things too." Cordelia told Lorne, referring to the fact that Angel and Spike were gaining their vampire strength back, and that she had apparently never lost her demon powers. She also assumed that if anyone knew how to get everyone else's memories back it was Lorne.
"Alright, lets talk." Angel said, taking Cordelia by the hand and leading her into his old office with Lorne trailing behind them. Once all three of them were in the office, Angel looked out to make sure Wesley and Fred were both busy working and would not bother them. When he was sure of that, he closed the door to the office and sat down in his old chair, knowing he, Cordelia, and Lorne had a lot of catching up to do.
Faith pulled up the Chase mansion and quickly ran to the front door, grateful to find it open because she had already decided on the way over that there was no way she was going to break into the house. She was sure she would be locked away for a year for that, even if she explained to the Chases that she was trying to get Xander out of their basement.
Faith entered the mansion and immediately rushed down the hall. "Xander?"
"Faith! Down here!" Xander's voice echoed from the kitchen.
"Coming!" Faith ran into the kitchen where she found the door leading to the basement. She quickly unlocked in and found Xander sitting on the steps.
"Took you long enough." Xander said, moving up the stairs and past Faith. It was evident he was angry.
"Sorry." Faith apologized.
"It's not important right now." Xander turned to her. "We've got to get moving."
"For what?" Faith asked.
Xander gave a devilish grin. "So I can deal with Cordelia. I'll explain everything to you later." He then took Faith by the hand and led her out of the Chase mansion and down to their cars. He had a plan to get back at Cordelia for leaving him, and he was counting on Faith would help him with it.
Buffy, Spike, and Giles sat at Giles' kitchen table over a few cups of tea that Giles had brewed for them. It was already late and Spike knew that the vampires were probably out. He also knew that in the old reality Buffy would have already been out patrolling for hours now. In this reality she did not have that aspiration though.
"Do you think Angel or Cordelia will call you once they get settled back in L.A.?" Giles asked.
"They might." Spike said. "They have other things to deal with there though. That watcher that lives with them? I'm pretty sure they are looking into the vampire's coming back as well."
"Well, I'm not sure how smart that is." Giles said. "They don't know what they are dealing with. They could get hurt."
Spike had to stifle a laugh at Giles' comment. He was sure Angel, Cordelia, and the rest of the gang in L.A. could handle themselves. "I'm sure they will be fine."
"What about Xander and Cordelia's parents?" Giles asked.
"Well, at least this time they can't say she ran away." Buffy said. "They know she left, but that also means they know where they can find her."
"Do you really think they would continue to chase after her?" Giles asked. "She is old enough to be on her own, they don't get much say in the matter."
"That's not the point. They want to make her feel like they control her. It's a power thing." Buffy said. "Between her parents and Xander I'm surprised her ego wasn't crushed long ago."
"Well, Cordelia is…extraordinary." Spike thought the word fit her. He had not been in her company long, but when she had come back while they were at Wolfram and Hart, she was spunky and lively, and she had brought the fire back into Angel's eyes. She brought something else with her that day as well, something Spike had not seen the Fang Gang have the whole time he had been in Wolfram and Hart. Cordelia brought heart back into that group.
"Hey, watch it with the complements about her." Buffy teased. "I already lost Angel to her, I'm not losing you too."
Spike smiled back at Buffy. "You don't need to worry about that."
"We do need to worry about Xander and the Chases' however." Giles butted in. "If they are going to chase after Cordelia like you think they will, Buffy, then we cannot speak to them. They know that we are the only ones in Sunnydale who truly know where Cordelia is. They will try and get the information from us."
"Well, not you." Buffy told her watcher. "They have no idea you know anything."
"You and Spike must be careful with what you say around any of them." Giles warned.
"We will be." Spike said, checking his watch. "We should get going. Get some sleep tonight and talk about this and the vampire situation in the morning."
Buffy nodded in agreement. "He's right. It's late."
Giles nodded, standing and making his way to the door with Buffy and Spike. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Sounds good." Buffy gave Giles a wave before she and Spike made their way out his door and down his driveway. They would have to walk to their homes since Spike had left his bike in Cordelia's driveway when they had gone to the police station to free Angel.
Angel and Cordelia relaxed in Angel's old office as they prepared to listen to whatever it was Lorne had to tell them. Angel had taken a seat in his old chair and Cordelia had made herself comfortable on Angel's lap. Lorne had taken a seat across the desk, in a chair clients used to sit in back when Angel Investigations was at its peak.
"Alright, Lorne." Angel said, stroking Cordelia's back with his index finger. "What's up?"
"I know a lot has been going on." Lorne said. "I'm sure with you guys too."
"Big time." Cordelia said, thinking about how she, Angel, and Spike had gained their abilities back. "Angel and Spike are gaining their strength back, and apparently my demon powers are back as well."
"What?" Lorne was surprised and looked at Angel. "But I thought you were going to be a real boy this time."
"So did I." Angel said. "Whatever is happening to me and Spike and Cordy, I think it has to do with the vampires being back."
"I don't get it." Lorne said.
"We don't think the good fight is over just yet." Cordelia explained. "We think the Powers That Be still have some kind of plans for us."
"I'd say so." Lorne agreed.
"Not sure if we are excited about that yet…" Cordelia had personally had enough of the Powers That Be. They had been the ones, after all, to allow Skip to take her to the higher plane without any warning, and one of them had possessed her and eventually killed her. She didn't feel as though she owed them a damn thing anymore.
"Well, that would explain what happened today." Lorne thought about what Connor had said when he was sleeping.
"What happened?" Angel asked.
"It has to do with Connor, actually." Lorne said. "Connor fell asleep before on the couch and I was sitting across from him and, well, he started talking in his sleep."
"What did he say?" Angel was glad to hear about his son, even if Connor couldn't remember him being his father.
"Well…" Lorne took a deep breath. "He said Angelus."
"What?" Cordelia reacted quicker to Angel. "He said what?"
"Angelus." Lorne repeated himself. "Twice. Then he said Angel."
"What? But how would he…" Angel couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that his son knew the name of the monster he had once been. "Angelus never even existed in this reality."
"Don't I know it, honey." Lorne said. "But somehow, in his sleep, he remembered."
Angel shook his head. "This doesn't make sense. He shouldn't remember."
"Right. Just like me and Lorne shouldn't." Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Obviously whatever the Powers did to erase our memories isn't working very well."
"Not necessarily." Lorne said. "I did some thinking while you two were away, and I think I might know why our memories came back."
"I think I might too." Angel said. "I had a lot of time to think in jail, and when Cordelia and I kissed before the police took me away, I felt something. I don't know what it was but it was like a part of me went into her, it just clicked."
Cordelia nodded recalling the kiss. "Yeah, and then everything just came rushing back. Sunnydale, vampires, moving to L.A., Doyle, Angel Investigations, Skip, Connor, that thing that took me over, and…" Cordelia looked down at her hands, and then back up at Lorne, a slight shimmer of a tear glistening in her eye. "Dying. I remember dying too."
Angel stroked Cordelia's back gently, feeling her tense up as she spoke of her death. He wanted more then anything to take the pain away that that experience had caused her.
"Well, it seems like that thing you felt was the two of you connecting." Lorne said. "Like, Angel gave a piece of himself to you."
"That's what I was thinking." Angel agreed with Lorne. "I did it with you too, right? When I let you read me?"
Lorne nodded. "You let me in, you let me see your past."
"So all he had to do was let me in to get my memory back?" Cordelia turned and looked at Angel hard. "Why did it take you so long to do that? I thought we had this trust thing going on." Cordelia seemed annoyed.
"Well…I…" Angel stammered.
Lorne saved the ex-vampire from Cordelia's glare. "It probably wasn't easy for him. Knowing you didn't remember him or anything the two of you had shared." Lorne explained. "And believe me, that was a lot of things shared. I told you two long ago you were meant to be together."
Angel and Cordelia both smiled at each other.
"So, the question is, how do we get everyone else's memories back?" Cordelia asked. "Angel can't go around kissing everyone."
"I'm not so sure if it is Angel so much as desire." Lorne said.
"What?" Angel asked.
"Well, it was my desire to read you." Lorne said.
"Desire?" Angel raised an eyebrow; he wasn't sure how he felt about Lorne using that word about him.
"Well, my passion. I enjoy my work very much." Lorne explained. "I wanted to get in, to set you on your path and I ended up retracing mine."
"Makes sense for you then." Cordelia said. "But what about me? Why did I get my memory back?"
"Because, your desire, subconsciously, was to be with Angel. And his desire has always been to be with you." Lorne said. "In a moment of desperation, the slightest chance you wouldn't get to be together, you were able to break any spell over your mind because love is the most powerful force there is."
"So because Angel and I…we…" Cordelia looked at Angel, she wasn't sure if she should say the word that sat on the tip of her tongue like a lead weight. She wanted to say it more then anything, but she didn't know how Angel felt.
"Because we are in love." Angel smiled at her, finishing her sentence.
Cordelia smiled back, glad that he seemed to feel the same as her. It had taken them five years to finally get it right, but yet here they were. "Right. So since we are in love, and the police could have separated us we freaked out and ended up breaking the spell thingy that is on us all?"
"That's my theory anyway." Lorne nodded.
"So if we can figure out everyone else's desires or passions we can maybe get everyone back?" Angel asked.
"I think so." Lorne said.
"It's worth a shot." Cordelia said. "Because I think we are going to need everyone back."
Angel nodded in agreement, moving Cordelia off his lap as he stood. "I should call Spike, let him know. Maybe there is a way he can do it so Buffy as well."
Lorne nodded. "Good idea."
Cordelia, Angel, and Lorne then exited the office, making their way back into the lobby, where they found Wesley and Fred both working busily. Angel smiled at the sight, and for a slight moment, felt as though he was back in his old life, until Cordelia squeeze his hand. He looked over to see a sad look in her eyes; clearly the scene of Wesley and Fred working brought the same memories up in her mind.
Connor and Gunn circled around the corner of a building. They had been out patrolling for a good hour and had still not seen one vampire. Although neither man could explain why, or said it to each other, they both were disappointed that their search had not brought them into the presence of one vampire. They wanted to fight, and neither knew why, neither realized that in they're past they had both been excellent demon hunters.
"This is pointless." Gunn sighed, tossing his stake up in the air and catching it. "There ain't nothing out here."
Connor looked around, raising an eyebrow at the building across the street. He smelled something unfamiliar and yet memorable all at once. "Do you smell that?"
"Smell what?" Gunn said.
"I'm not sure." Connor said, studying the building across the street.
Gunn looked at Connor and then at the building Connor was staring at and then back at Connor, waving a hand in front of the young man's face. "Hello? You in there, man?"
"Something is in there." Connor nodded toward the building he was staring at.
"Well, I would bet people live in there." Gunn said.
Connor shook his head. "Not people. Something else." He took off across the street and toward the building. He didn't know why, but he felt something in his gut pulling him toward the building. And the scent that burned in his nostrils was driving him toward the building at a speed unnatural for a human, and unusual to him.
Gunn followed Connor into the building, not sure how Connor had moved to quickly.
"Up there." Connor pointed up the stairs of the dark corridor to the building. Clearly the building had been abandoned sometime ago.
"Up there what?" Gunn asked.
"Something is up there." Connor said, moving cautiously up the stairs, his stake out in front of him.
Gunn followed, also raising his stake. "Be careful, man."
Connor smirked, reaching the top of the stairs. The smell hit him full force now, burning through his nose and setting all of his senses on fire. He moved toward a door and nodded toward Gunn.
Gunn nodded back, walking up and kicking the door down. He and Connor both rushed into the room to find three vampires feasting on a man in a nice business suit.
The vampires looked up at the intruders and that's when Connor realized what the familiar smell was. Blood.
"Alright. I don't know how the hell you knew these things were in here, but good job." Gunn told Connor before moving forward, kicking one of the oncoming vampires square in the chest, and ducking before another hit him. He didn't know why, but the moves he was using felt natural to him, as though he had fought many vampires before. He had no memory that he had.
Connor moved to, as only Angel's offspring would. Knocking out two vampires before staking them both, and looking over to Gunn who was just finishing off the third vampire, hitting the creature square in the heart with his stake.
"Damn!" Gunn smiled, wiping the blood from the corner off his mouth. One of the vampires had gotten a punch in before Gunn could stop him and his bloody mouth was what he had to show for it. "That was insane."
Connor nodded in agreement. "Nice moves."
"You too." Gunn told him, and then his smile faded as he looked at the man's body on the floor. "What are we going to do with him?"
"Nothing." Connor said emotionally. "Let the police find him. We've got to get back to the hotel."
Gunn nodded, following Connor back out of the building and down the street toward the Hyperion Hotel. The walk back was silent. Gunn, trying to wrap his mind around his new found fighting skills, and Connor unsure of how he had been able to tell there were vampires in the building they had gone into, or how his senses had perked up so much that he could smell the blood in the room from across the street. His thoughts also raced about how he had moved across that street. So fast, so inhuman. It didn't make sense to him, and yet, somewhere in the back of his mind, it all made perfect sense, it all fit.
The phone in what had once been Angel's mansion began ringing, causing Spike to fumble out of his bed and into the kitchen, where the phone was hooked up to the wall. It was late and he was wondering who would be calling him at that time.
"Hello?" Spike answered groggily.
"Spike? It's Angel." Angel's voice rang through the phone.
"What's up?" Spike asked, still half asleep.
"We might have figured out a way to get Buffy back." Angel said.
Spike immediately woke up. "What the bloody hell do you mean?"
"Lorne thinks that if we can awake her past desires or passions then the memory spell on her will break." Angel explained. "All you would have to do is get the one thing she cares about more then anything and either use it or take it from her."
"How?" Spike asked.
"Well, the fact that Cordelia and I had the chance of losing each other again the other night was enough to make Cordelia get her memory back." Angel said.
"So something the Slayer cares about?" Spike asked. "And take it from her?"
"Well, maybe not take it from her, just help her remember why it was so important." Angel said.
"Ok, but what bloody matters to her that much?" Spike asked. "Besides you?"
"What?" Angel asked.
"Oh come on now." Spike said. "You're all she ever really cared about."
"That's not true, Spike." Angel said. "She cared about you."
"But she loved you." Spike said. He hated admitting it, but he didn't think he had Buffy would ever have what Buffy and Angel had once had.
"She loved you too." Angel told Spike. "Just in a different way. Trust me, Spike. You'll figure out how to get her back."
Spike nodded, although Angel couldn't see it. "Well, I'll let you know if it works."
"Yeah." Angel agreed with Spike before hanging up the phone.
Spike heard Angel's end of the line click and then he hung up his own. He turned out of the kitchen and made his way back to bed with a sigh. He would start working on Buffy's memory tomorrow, and was hoping he would have her back soon enough, although he wasn't even sure if he would be able to keep her if he got her back. He decided that didn't matter though. He'd rather have the old Buffy back and not be able to be with her then have the new, mind-numbing Buffy stick around any longer.
Xander and Faith arrived at the gas station on the edge of Sunnydale. Faith was unsure of what she and Xander were going to do to Angel and Cordelia still. Xander had been very quiet on the ride out of town and only told her he would tell her soon.
When the car was full of gas, Xander took off, passing the sign that let people know they were leaving Sunnydale. Then he spoke up.
"Alright." Xander started. "So the plan."
"Yeah." Faith looked at Xander. "What is it?"
"It's simple." Xander said. "But before I tell you, I need you to promise me that you'll help me."
"I can't do that unless I know what the hell you want me to do." Faith said.
Xander stopped the car short, turning and grabbing Faith's leg fiercely. "I need your word." He said through gritted teeth.
Faith nodded, her eyes wide, shocked by Xander's temper. "Fine. You have my word. I'll help you."
"Good." Xander relaxed, pushing the gas pedal again. He needed revenge, and the fact that he didn't know why scared him. He wasn't sure what he was avenging, but he felt in the back of his mind that he needed to right the fact that he had lost someone dear to him. What he didn't understand was that the person that he had cared about and had gone astray was not Cordelia, he was just confusing her with the one he had loved because he could no longer remember his true love. And that confusion was the reason Angel and Cordelia would have to pay.
"So, what's the plan?" Faith asked.
Xander turned to her, a disturbing and blank look in his eye. "We kill Angel."
Faith's eyes grew wide as she heard the word's Xander had just said. "What? I can't do that!"
"Why the hell not?" Xander was furiously.
"Because I'm not a murderer!" Faith said, but the minute the words slipped out of her mouth, she felt otherwise about them. Somehow, she felt as though she was a murder, as though someone else's life had once been in her hands and she had snatched it away from them. That feeling made her want to throw up as Xander continued to drive toward Los Angeles.