Anna looked around the unfamiliar room, "What year is it?"

"1999," Gus said.

"So I'm back and Cordy's back in her right time," Anna said with a smile. "Thank goodness. The others will be so happy."

"How's Connor?" Angel asked concerned.

"Good. He misses his Mom and Dad though. At least Cordy's with him now until you get back," Anna said.

Gus looked at Angel in shock. Did Anna just refer to Angel as the father of Cordy's son?

Angel ignored Gus' pointed look and said, "And the others?"

"Lorne's doing fine," Anna said, missing her first true friend already. "I spoke with Fred this morning and things have been okay in LA. Everyone in Sunnydale's been great. They were worried about you guys though. My father?"

Angel frowned and said, "Still a problem, but we're getting you out of town."

"I'm beginning to think waiting for sunset is too risky," Gus said.

Angel nodded, "I think a change of plan is necessary now."

Someone had knew enough about what was going on to switch Anna and Cordy. Whether this person was an enemy or friend wasn't clear. Either way Anna was more vulnerable now.

--

February 6, 2002

"What happened?" Buffy asked running into the room.

She knelt on the floor in front of an unconscious Cordelia.

"I don't know," Lorne said panicking. "We were talking, and she just fell to the floor."

Willow ran into the room just as Cordy's eyes opened.

"Anna?" Buffy said.

"Cordy," she corrected and sat up.

Lorne hugged her and said, "It's good to have you back."

He felt a pang at the loss of Anna in spite of his great joy at seeing Cordy return. He helped Cordy stand up on her own.

"Connor?" Cordy asked and then spotted the playpen.

She took the baby in her arms and kissed his forehead.

"Hey kiddo, Momma's home," Cordy said thrilled to be holding her son again. Things had gotten so tense that she'd started to believe she was never going to see him again.

"Momma?" Buffy repeated looking at Cordy.

Cordy didn't notice as she held Conner. She gently rocked the little one in her arms.

"Fuck!" Cordy muttered to herself. It suddenly hit her that something had to have gone wrong if she was back in 2002.

"Are you okay?" Willow asked.

"I'm going to kill him," Cordy told Lorne.

"Who?" Buffy asked.

"He couldn't just let me handle things my way. He had to go behind my back," Cordy said pacing and running through the scenario in her mind. She paused for a moment remembering that she'd planned to go behind his back. Angel must have known what she was up to. But maybe it wasn't Angel. He or any of the others might have stepped in to make the switch.

"Cordy!" Lorne snapped to get her attention.

"Did you guys do the switch?" Cordy had to ask.

"No. We were clueless about how the fix the spell," Willow said.

"So it was someone from the past," Cordy said. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to get rid of Jacob and make it safe for Anna to return."

"Why not just report Anna's father to the police for the abuse?" Lorne asked. "Why would you have to get rid of Jacob yourself?"

"There some things about Jacob that you don't know about," Cordy began.

--

February 6, 1999

Cordelia walked into the mansion and said, "So I'm standing on line at the airport and I get this SOS from Buffy to come right back here. What's up?"

She noted that everyone had gathered in Angel's living room. She wasn't the only one who'd been asked to return. The only ones missing from the bunch were Faith and Xander.

"There's been a change in plans," Angel said.

"Someone switched Cordy and Anna again," Gus explained.

Cordelia looked at Anna and said, "So you're Anna?"

Anna nodded and Cordelia said, "Getting out of town still sounds like the best bet."

"She's right," Willow said. "Anna's even more vulnerable now that Cordy's gone back home."

"Someone who knew about us stole that book and my notes," Giles said. "Who's to say they don't know about the airport plan?"

"Who's to say they don't know we're all here and are just waiting for an opportunity to attack?" Wesley countered. "Staying here longer is not an option."

"Exactly," Cordelia agreed.

"Maybe we won't do the plane thing anymore," Buffy said. "But there's the bus or you can just use the car."

"We considered that," Angel said. "But Gus had an idea."

"Why not just take Anna back to the future with Wes and Angel," Gus said.

"That could do considerable damage to the time line," Giles warned.

"Us being here is already changing the time line," Angel said.

"If we truly wanted to preserve the time line, we'd just hand Anna over to Jacob and let that obituary come true," Wesley said. "Taking Anna out of Jacob's grasp may be the best solution."

"But what will Jacob do with Anna gone?" Willow asked.

"He's not just going to stop hunting for her," Buffy said.

"So we still have to find a way to eliminate Jacob," Giles said, thinking it over.

"No, you don't," Anna said. "From what you've told me, I'm the only one who can hurt him. Jacob is a bigger threat to you than to me. I should face him."

"We already went through this with Cordy," Buffy said. "Running is a better option than risking your life."

"But isn't that what all of you do? What Cordy does in LA? You risk your lives," Anna said. "Jacob is going to hurt people if he doesn't get his way."

Angel stared at Anna hard. She was different. The Anna he knew never would have offered to face Jacob. She would have run away.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Angel asked harshly. He knew that about Anna. That there was a part of her that wanted things to be over more than anything else. Even if that meant her death.

Gus watched the way Angel looked at Anna. There was anger there. Anger he didn't understand. What had Anna done to make Angel nearly hate her?

"I can't let you risk your life for me," Anna said staring back at Angel. He'd given her a look that made her want to flinch, but she kept staring him down. "I owe you. I owe Cordy. I won't be responsible for her losing you in a battle with my father. Cordy was willing to face Jacob. Why not me?"

"Cordy knows how to fight," Gus pointed out. "There's no time to train you."

Anna said, "As long as he's around, I will never have peace. I want this over. I want to fight. I've earned that right."

"We don't want you to die," Angel said.

It meant a lot to Anna that after everything that happened, Angel didn't hate her enough to want her gone. He would risk his life for her. As terrified as she was of Jacob, she couldn't continue to hide. The waiting and the fear for the lives of others around her was too much for her.

"Jacob wasn't a threat to anyone but me until I did a spell and brought all of you into the middle of my problem," Anna said.

"How do we know that Jacob is only a threat to you?" Wes pointed out.

"Anna, you don't really know what he's been up to all these years," Giles agreed. "He's amassed a great deal of power. I can't imagine he hasn't been using it all this time."

Anna had to admit she didn't know what her father was up to. Up until today she'd thought he was just an ordinary human who was a monster to her. Now she knew he had powers. That he was almost invincible. But it gave her strength to discover she was his weakness.

"What has Jacob Smith been doing in Sunnydale all these years?" Angel asked all of them.

"That's what we have to find out," Buffy said looking at Willow.

"It's like I said before when I did a background check on Jacob he just came off as this ordinary man," Willow said.

Giles sighed and said, "We must continue researching but until we do agree on a solution I think we can all agree that we can't stay here any longer."

--

Jacob entered his house and wasn't entirely surprised to find the pair sitting in his living room as if it were their house and he the guest.

"Look, I don't need your input. I know where she is. I'm handling the situation," Jacob said. He just had to figure out how to get Anna off her guard. The friends she surrounded herself with weren't a problem. They were like flies he could swat whenever he wished, but Anna had somehow learned to fight back. Jacob had to correct Anna's false idea that she had to right to defy him. She would have to pay. It was just a question of when and how.

"You're handling of the situation has just been fantastic so far," Lilah said sarcastically.

"The Senior Partners aren't happy, Jacob," Lindsey said and then he smiled. "Lucky for you we're here to fix your mistakes."