Uncursed

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 & Angel Season 3 A.U.

Chapter Three:

Fred looked up from the book she was reading and adjusted her glasses. She was sitting on the circular chair in the middle of the lobby. "Is anybody finding anything?"

Wesley, Gunn, and Lorne shook their heads. "Man, how are we supposed to research something that doesn't exist in any of the books we have?" Gunn said.

"That's a very good question, considering we've never gone up against anything like this 'Beast' before," Wesley replied. "All we had was the information Wolfram & Hart retrieved from Lorne's mind that Angel got from Lilah."

"Yeah, I still have the bump to prove it," Lorne rubbed the sore spot on his forehead.

"But Wolfram & Hart stole all of that," Fred said.

"So we're back at square one," Gunn said, "Completely in the dark."

"Except now we've got Buffy and her child to worry about too. Plus whatever was in Lorne's reading that was so terrible could come after us and Buffy could make it significantly more difficult to defend ourselves," Wesley said. Fred nodded nervously.

"I knew it!"Cordelia said, smirking. "I knew the minute she walked in here!"

"Knew what?" Gunn said.

"The minute Hurricane Buffy walked into this hotel, our lives were doomed," Cordelia said. Not just my life, but my love life, she thought.

"Don't be too quick to put blondie up there down," Lorne said, "She's had it rough the past ten months."

Cordelia sniggered, "Give me a break! Little miss 'My life is so horrible so I'm going to make everyone else's hell'!"

"Cordelia, are you okay?" Wesley said.

"I'm fine! Why does everyone keep asking me that!" Cordelia shouted.

"No reason," Fred said, "It's just, you seem a little . . ."

"I'm not jealous!" Cordelia snapped.

"I was gonna say stressed, but now that you mention it, yes. You do," Fred nodded.

"I'm not jealous!" Cordelia repeated.

"Whether you are or not, we have a situation going on. Now, somebody should go up and check on Angel, Buffy, and the baby," Wesley said.

"I'm certainly not going!" Cordelia said.

"I'll go," Lorne volunteered, going toward the stairs. The phone rang as he went up.

"Cordelia, why don't you get that?" Wesley said. "Only, try not to snap at whomever is on the phone."

~*~

The baby was still crying! No matter what Angel did, she just wouldn't stop! "What's wrong with you? I feed you, you cry. I hold you, you cry. I rock you, you cry. You're more stubborn than Connor ever was!" He sat down on the rocking chair in the corner of Connor's old nursery. He held the baby in front of him. Her little legs rested on his knees.

Buffy was still asleep in Angel's bed. He had never been so angry at her before. Actually, he hadn't been angry at her. He was angry at himself because he hadn't been able to protect her or her child. If he had just called Sunnydale for . . . well, anything he would have found out that she wasn't there. Then he would have gone to find her.

The baby's cries brought him out of his thoughts. He sighed, "Okay, this didn't work on Connor, but maybe it'll work on you . . ." he started to sing one of the old Irish lullabies he knew.

While he was singing, the door opened and Lorne came in, "Well, if this isn't deja vu or what?"

"Tell me about it," Angel mumbled. The baby continued to cry.

"Sleeping beauty's still out, huh?" Lorne said. Angel nodded and gestured toward his room. "She'll wake up when she's ready."

"When are you going to tell me what you saw when you read her?" Angel said.

"Sorry, Angelcakes. You'll just have to wait til blondie wakes up for that. As for you, my friend, I think cupid's hit you where you've already been struck." Lorne said.

"Huh?" Angel said, bouncing the baby on his knee.

Lorne sat down in the recliner across from Angel, "I'm talking about Buffy. The love you have for her is still there. Always has been, always will be. And nothing you say is going to change that. No matter how much you avoid each other or how far away from each other you are. That love is not going away. Whether you two like it or not."

"That still doesn't change the fact that if I get too happy, I turn into a soulless vampire who can kill all of you with blinking. Yes, I still love you her. Which is why I'm going to stay out of her life and let *her* be happy just like I've done for the past four years," Angel said.

"Don't you think it's a little late for that?" Lorne said, "She's here, in your bed, in your life . . . dragging all those old feelings back to the surface."

"So?" Angel said.

"'So'. What are you going to do about it?" Lorne said.

Angel looked up at the green empath-demon, actually stumped. "Ah, um, I-ah–Is this why you came up here? To play matchmaker?"

"No, but it's working," Lorne said, "Anyway, the reason I really came up here was to check on you three."

"Did you find anything about the prophecies?" Angel asked. Lorne shook his head, "I'm going to go check on Connor. Would you watch them?"

"Sure," Lorne said as Angel handed him the baby. Within seconds he was gone out the door. "Yeah, leave me with the crying baby and the sleeping Slayer." He got up and went to Angel's room. He jumped when he saw a teen standing there. The teenager turned to face Lorne.

"Who is she?" Connor asked, indicating toward the Slayer. He was completely entranced by her.

"Well, kid. She's someone your dad cares about very much," Lorne said.

"Is she sick?" Connor asked.

"No, but–Actually, we're not sure. She hasn't told us what's wrong with her. What are you doing here? Angel's looking for you." Lorne asked.

"I was out, patrolling the streets, and caught a scent. It was so familiar, so I followed it. It brought me here, to her. What's her name?" Connor said.

"Buffy. She's a Slayer," Lorne said.

"Holtz told me about them," Connor said, "He said they were special. That they had gifts that used them to kill vampires and other bad things. Does she have gifts?"

Lorne nodded. "She's really strong, has super-fast healing, and agility."

"Wow," Connor said. He just stared at Buffy as if in a trance, "She's so beautiful."

Lorne chuckled, "You really are your father's son."

Connor's entranced expression became confused. "Huh?"

"Exactly," Lorne said, smiling. He bounced the little baby up and down.

"Is that a . . . a baby?" Connor said.

"Why, yes. You just noticed her now?" Lorne said. Connor opened his mouth to speak, but Lorne cut him off. "Don't answer that."

"Who does she belong too?" Connor asked.

"Buffy," Lorne said. "Why don't you sit by Buffy for a while, see if you can't get her to wake up."

Connor nodded and sat down in the chair beside the bed Buffy was on. Lorne chuckled again and went back into the old nursery. He looked at the little baby, "Now, let's get you to stop crying. You don't want your mommy to wake up and have to deal with a crabby little baby, do you?" A wail of protest gave Lorne his answer. "Guess so. What's it gonna take? A little Patty Labelle, Barbara Streisand, or even Barry Manilow?"

~*~

Lilah Morgan sat at her desk in her office at Wolfram & Hart. Her high-heeled pumps were off and she rested her bare feet on her desk. It had been a long and busy day of keeping her bosses and clients happy. The smoozing, the ass-kissing, ritual sacrifices, spells . . . the usual.

Also, a project she'd been working on for almost a year was causing problems. She'd had the subject of the project in custody several times but the woman kept escaping despite Lilah's best efforts. This girl was important to the Senior Partners so of course she was important to Lilah.

Since learning about the woman coming to town, Lilah had brushed up her knowledge of Sunnydale, California's history from the past seven years. Also, the woman's entire life history. From the first tooth she lost, to the first time she went ice skating, past boyfriends, parents, little sister, daughter, friends, school records, college application, job transcripts, run-ins with the law, medical history, patrol schedule, estimated number of vampires and demons she'd killed, apocalypses she'd averted, how many times she'd died, past enemies . . . everything.

This woman, this Slayer, was beginning to be quite the pain in Lilah's ass. And Buffy Summers wasn't even close to where the Senior Partners wanted her to be. Now all Lilah had to do was find the Slayer and take her back into Wolfram & Hart's custody. Then she'd get the biggest promotion any Wolfram & Hart employee had ever dreamed of.

And as a bonus . . . the Slayer her little brat would be dead . . .

To Be Continued . . .