Jacob wasn't used to feeling fear. But these people gave him his power. Could they take it away? He shook off the fear. They told him the spell that bonded him to his daughter could not be reversed.

"You've got nerve barging into my house and claiming you'll fix my mistakes," Jacob stated stubbornly.

"Under your watch, she's gone missing and apparently she's learned your weakness," Lilah pointed out.

Jacob looked at them in surprise and said quickly, "She hasn't learned anything."

Lindsey took a sheet out of his briefcase and said, "You've been to the emergency room twice in the last few days. Why would an invincible man need medical care?"

"That doesn't mean she knows anything," Jacob said realizing they had him cornered. "Those were accidents. She hasn't figured out a thing."

"Well, how do you intend to resolve your screw up," Lindsey asked clearly not believing that Jacob knew what he was doing.

"Where is Anna, Jacob?" Lilah said in a darkly confident tone.

"Look, all I have to do is corner her friends, and she'll give in to save them. She won't be able to help it. I don't need your inference with my daughter," Jacob replied irritated that he was close to pleading.

"What friends?" Lindsey asked.

"It doesn't matter," Jacob said. "They'll be eliminated when this is done."

"If you're so certain you have things in hand than you won't mind our sticking around and making sure things go smoothly," Lilah said.

Jacob forced himself to appear confident and said, "I'm more powerful than anything you've see before. You can't touch me."

Lindsey smiled and said, "Maybe not, but the Senior Partners..."

He didn't bother finishing the sentence. They all knew how powerful and how far the Partners reach could be.

--

Nothing had been resolved. Anna still insisted on fighting and the others had refused to allow it. The only thing they could agree on was that leaving the mansion was the right idea. It was settled that they would all head to Cordelia's house. They were waiting until sunset to allow both Angels to come along in the transfer. If Jacob came on them while they were in transit, they would need all the help they could get.

Tired of all the tension the group broke up. Wesley sat in the living room debating various texts with Giles. Anna had gone upstairs with Willow. Angel had gone down to the basement to train. And Cordelia had taken the moment of quiet to go outside and try calling her parents' lawyer.

Gus watched Cordelia from the window. She paced outside while talking to someone on the cell phone. She was clearly unhappy and Gus had to assume she still hadn't gotten through to her parents yet. It amazed him that they could just leave Cordelia to be blind sided by the news that the IRS was closing in on everything. How could they just flee without a word to her? Gus realized that although he and Cordelia had become friends over the past few days he knew too little about her. Like the others he'd assumed she had a charmed life.

"Angel," Buffy said coming to stand beside Gus at the window.

She'd noticed they way he seemed to be watching Cordelia, and it worried her. Gus turned to look at Buffy and asked, "Any word from Faith and Xander?"

She nodded her head and replied, "Xander called and said he and Faith were on their way."

Gus was distracted by Cordelia re-entering the room and going to sit with Wesley on the couch. He didn't like the way she frowned. He returned his attention to Buffy who looked at him hard. Gus could see she was worried and wrapped his arm around her.

Things between them were far from perfect but now Buffy knew it was worse than she thought. She knew now that if things got bad enough he would leave her. Seeing the future version of Angel taught her that her belief that Angel would always be there was a false one. She wondered if Cordelia ending up in LA was some sort of coincidence or if Cordelia and Angel left together. Was this friendship with Cordelia the beginning of the end for them?

"What's going on with Cordelia?" Buffy asked.

"We already talked about this, Buffy," Gus said.

"And you didn't tell me anything," Buffy said. "Maybe it's stuff like this that sends you to LA and leaves me in Sunnydale. You don't tell me things Angel. I always have to guess."

"You could just ask me," Gus replied.

"I just did," Buffy said.

"Not about Cordelia but about anything else you want to know," Gus said.

Buffy opened her mouth to speak but hesitated. She and Gus exchanged a look, but he couldn't read her expression. There were a lot of things she wanted ask him but the possible answers terrified her.

"Are you going to leave me, Angel?" she asked.

His first instinct was to say that he would never leave, but they both knew that wasn't true.

"I don't want to leave you, Buffy," Gus said instead.

"That isn't a promise to stay," Buffy pointed out.

"I don't want to lie to you," Gus replied.

"So no lies?" Buffy asked pulling away from him. "Is there more than friendship between you and Cordy?"

"No," Gus answered honestly. He knew his future self was most likely in love with Cordy but now what he felt for Cordelia was friendship and a growing need to protect her. He knew that could be the beginning of something more, but he wasn't ready to deal with that.

Buffy wanted to believe him but couldn't. She knew that there was too much left unsaid.

The tense moment between them was broken by the sound of Cordelia laughing with Wesley. He'd been filling her in on stories about the future. Giles frowned at him, but Wesley knew the pact to keep the future a secret had already been broken.

"So you actually fooled them into thinking you were Angel?" Cordelia laughed. "You'd probably look hot in the duster."

"That's what Virginia thought," Wesley replied. "But that's all I can tell you."

"You, Cordy, and Angel are such teases about the future," Cordelia replied. Hearing about the future soothed her worry a bit. It reminded her that she was going to be all right.

Cordelia looked over her shoulder at Gus and Buffy as if to share the joke with them. Gus returned the smile, but Buffy just watched Gus.

"I should get out of here," Cordelia said needing to just get some space from everyone.

"It isn't sunset," Gus said not wanting her to go.

"I've got to get my house ready for when you guys come over," Cordelia said walking towards the front doors. She couldn't help noting the way Angel frowned at her.

"Call when you get to the house," Gus said.

Cordy nodded and said, "I'll be fine."

"We'll see you after sunset," Giles promised.

"Well duh, Giles. That's kinda the whole point," Cordelia said.

"Be careful," Gus warned. "Jacob could be anywhere right now."

Cordelia said, "Yes Dad, see you guys later."

Gus watched Cordelia walk out the doors. He wanted to help her with her parents gone, but he knew she'd resist it. He noticed that she'd left the envelope with money on his coffee table. How was she going to get by if she wasn't willing to take a loan?

Sensing Buffy's eyes on him and needing to avoid more of their conversation, Gus said, "I'm going to see if Angel needs a sparring partner."

It made Buffy sad when she realized she was relieved to see him walk down to the basement. She promised herself that she wouldn't discuss the future with Gus again. She would simply do everything she could to prevent it. Frustrated Buffy went upstairs to talk to Willow.

--

Faith and Xander stood outside the mansion doors.

"They're not going to be happy we did this," Xander said.

"We didn't do anything," Faith said stubbornly. "You spotted me grabbing the text and kept Giles occupied. I'm the one who pulled the switch."

"Yeah well, I let you do it. I could have ratted you out to Giles and the others," Xander pointed out. "I just wanted to tell you that I think it was the right thing to do even if they rake us over the coals for it."

"Us?" Faith said derisively. She figured she was the one people were going to be mad at.

"Don't hog the blame," Xander said walking ahead of her.

Faith's mouth twitched as she fought a smile.

"It might not have even worked," Xander continued.

Faith followed Xander towards the mansion doors holding the stolen texts in her hands. It was a surprise when they bumped into Giles as he was about to exit the mansion. Faith dropped the texts.

As Giles bent down to help her pick them up, he said, "You got here just in time we're getting ready to move to a safer location. Someone..."

He stopped speaking when he realized the books he picked up were his stolen texts and notes. He looked at Faith and Xander and said, "You did this. You switched Anna and Cordy."

"So it worked?" Xander said sounding relieved.

"Cordy was planning to get herself killed," Faith said.

Xander quickly added, "This way Anna can just go on the run. Leave Sunnyhell."

"You've made a bad situation worse," Giles said.

"What is it?" Buffy said noticing the brewing argument.

"Faith and Xander are responsible for switching Cordy and Anna," Giles explained.

"Go ahead and burn us for it," Faith said defiantly. She had no regrets and was used to being the outsider among them.

Wesley stared at Faith and Xander for a moment and said, "I can't be angry at you for saving Cordy's life. I know she would've put herself in danger if we'd let her. So thank you for that but..."

Faith was unprepared for gratitude and snapped, "Yeah well she had too much nerve for her own good."

"So when are you taking Anna and getting out of Sunnydale?" Xander asked.

Giles and Wesley frowned and exchanged a look.

"Unfortunately, Cordy and Anna came to the same conclusion," Giles said.

"Anna can't be thinking of fighting Jacob?" Xander said. "That's crazy."

"She's insisting on it," Wesley said.

Faith realized she made an error. Even though Cordy facing Jacob was a serious risk, at least Cordy knew what she was doing. Anna was a complete novice.

"She'll never defeat him," Faith concluded realizing she might be the one responsible for getting Anna killed.

Wesley saw the horror in Faith eyes and said, "We won't let her die."

"What's the plan?" Faith asked.

"First, we're changing locations," Giles said.

"We're still going now that we know Jacob isn't responsible for the switch?" Wesley asked surprised.

"I think it's better to just keep moving," Giles advised.

--

2002

Buffy watched as Cordy spoke on the phone to Fred and Gunn. She held the phone between her head and shoulder which allowed her to have her hands free to hold and feed Connor.

"It's so weird," Buffy said turning to Willow.

She shook her head and said, "I never really pictured Cordy as the mothering type."

"But she adores Connor. He adores her right back," Buffy observed and frowned. "She referred to herself as Connor's mother earlier."

"Well, with Darla gone Cordy's probably the woman who spends the most time with him," Willow said.

They'd been pretty much taking turns taking care of Connor in shifts since Angel left but once Cordy returned she'd taken over. It was amazing the way Cordy just took charge of the baby. Buffy was surprised that Lorne seemed to expect Cordy's take over. It must be the routine in LA.

"Cordy's a mommy," Buffy said. "I never thought I'd see it."

"She isn't his mother though," Willow reassured Buffy.

"Neither am I," Buffy pointed out.

"But that could change," Willow said. "It's up to you and Angel."

"It's not that simple," Buffy said.

"No, it isn't," Willow said. "But Connor existing is proof that things with you and Angel aren't as impossible as you thought. You just have to make up your mind over what you want to do about it."

As Buffy watched Cordy rock Connor to sleep in her arms, Buffy considered her options. She and Angel were going to have a long talk when he returned whether they liked it or not.

Cordy finished her call with Gunn feeling a little better to know that everyone was fine in LA. She couldn't believe Groo had returned, but she couldn't really spare him much thought at the moment. As much as she'd wanted to be back in her own body, she hated being on the sidelines. She had no idea what was going on with Angel, Wesley, and the others. The fact that Angel and Wesley still hadn't returned from the past meant that things were not going smoothly and all Cordy could do was sit in Buffy's living room and wait filled with worry.

Looking at Connor, Cordy said, "I promise that if your Daddy and Uncle Wes return okay I'll won't kick their asses too hard for making me wait and worry like this."

Upstairs Lorne sat on his bed worrying not just about Angel and Wesley but Anna as well.

"You better keep your promise," Lorne muttered to himself. He hoped Anna really would come and visit him like she said she would. He didn't want to consider that she might not survive, but he knew something was seriously wrong because Angel and Wesley still hadn't returned.