Chapter 14
Wesley went upstairs to try and get some more sleep before the battle began. On the fifth floor balcony Dr. Martin had been waiting for everyone to go back into their rooms. Giles had come back up to their bed thirty minutes ago and was now sleeping.
As the last light was turned off and she heard Wesley's door close she started walking downstairs instead of taking the elevator. It took a long time since she was taking one step at a time but she didn't want anyone to know that she was up.
Dr. Martin had been working hard at her physical therapy and was now able to use her left arm and hand to do simple tasks such as buttering her own bread. She could dress herself as long as she didn't have to raise her arm higher than her shoulder. Giles still had to help her to brush her hair and braid it or even put it into a pony tail. Difficult movements such as tying a bow, was still beyond her abilities yet.
Her memory had also improved dramatically. Both Hunter and Fred had been drilling her on anything to do with medicine. She practiced her reading and writing while reading books to Kathleen. Cordelia introduced Kathleen to writing while giving Dr. Martin the chance to practice as well. In helping Kathleen to learn to write she was helping herself to remember, what used to be to her, a simple task.
Dr. Martin still had a problem walking but was able to do it without having to hold on to anyone. She knew, better than anyone else, that the few weeks she spent with her son in her head helped her more than any thing else.
She made her way down the dimly lit basement stairs and held on tightly to the rail as she lowered herself down each step. When she reached the bottom of the steps she looked around and listened carefully. At first she didn't hear anything then she heard Angel moaning in his sleep.
Dr. Martin carefully walked over to the side of the basement where they had previously chained Angel up so that she could talk to Angelus. She hesitantly came closer to Angel. Her eyes wandered over his body as she checked his physical condition. She could see the evidence of their torture in his face. His skin was dry and had a gray cast to it. His cheek bones protruded under the skin and his eyes were more deep set then usual. She could see that he had tightened his belt to the last hole in order to keep his pants from falling off. The odor coming from Angel told her that he hadn't been allowed to take a shower in the five weeks since he had been gone. She looked over by the table that they used for folding clothes and saw a pile of Angels freshly cleaned clothes, a wash cloth, towel, and a bucket that she could put warm water in. As she gathered everything up she heard the basement door open and close. She watched to see who it was.
Cordelia came down the steps quietly. Some how neither woman was surprised to see the other. "You've come just in time Cordelia. You can help me bathe him and put some fresh clothes on him." Cordelia smiled at her then went to get the bucket and filled it with warm water then found a fresh bar of soap on the supply shelves. While Cordelia was getting the water Dr. Martin was taking Angels clothes off. She didn't want to take the chains off of him so she cut away the rest of the t-shirt. She laid several towels under him so that they wouldn't get the mattress wet.
As they started to bathe him Dr. Martin made note of all of the bruises and burn marks. As Cordelia started to clean his genitals she saw a deep red mark going through his scrotum. She called Dr. Martin to get her attention. "Mom, look at this." Dr. Martin looked carefully and manipulated the testicles. Angel moaned in his sleep it clearly caused him pain as she examined them. "I can't say for sure Cordelia but I would say that it's a good thing you're pregnant already because I think there is a good chance that Angel's boys were injured beyond repair. Let's not say anything to him though. Men take this kind of thing very hard." As they continued to clean him they found that the bottom of his feet had been burned to the point that the skin was peeling as the result of 2nd degree burns. When they turned him over they found more half healed burn marks. When they were almost done cleaning him he opened his eyes and stared at them then closed them again after a few minutes. It was apparent that he was still sleeping. They quickly finished then dressed him.
When they were done and Cordelia had either thrown away or put clothes into the washing machine she came back over to Angel and Dr. Martin.
"Mom I have to go back upstairs to be with Kathleen. She panics if she doesn't see or hear me when she wakes up now." "Okay Cordelia, I'm going to stay here with Angel until the morning." Cordelia came and gave her husband a kiss. "Thank you God for returning him to me." She hugged Dr. Martin also and gave her a kiss then went upstairs.
Dr. Martin grabbed a blanket then she lay down beside Angel and covered him. When Angel felt her body next to him he turned over in his sleep and put his arm around her waist and rested his head on her chest. Dr. Martin pulled the covers over herself then and put her hand on his head. "Rest now my son the next 5 or 6 days will be very hard on you and you won't get much sleep."
The next morning Giles came downstairs to the basement looking for his wife. He found her exactly where he thought he would find her. Angel still slept with his head on his mothers' chest but Giles could see that he was starting to crave his next fix. His head was starting to form sweat and it was soaking his hair. Giles went over to Dr. Martin and shook her shoulder gently. She opened her eyes and saw him.
"Good morning my dear." Dr. Martin said when the sleep cleared from her eyes.
"My dear, what happened to stud muffin?" Giles asked with a smile. Dr. Martin smiled back at him. "Not in front of Angel." She said quickly and put her hand over his ear. "Time for you to get up from here my dear. Angel is starting to go through withdrawals." Dr. Martin looked at him and could see the sweat soaking his hair. She figured it had been a good 12 hours since his last shot. As Giles helped her to get up she looked back at Angel and saw him curl up into a fetal position. They went upstairs then to get some breakfast.
Everyone was downstairs and having breakfast when Angel started yelling for Connor. Wesley and Cordelia were the first ones down the stairs. Cordelia went to Angel and held him. She looked into his eyes after she kissed him. He had a wild look in his eyes. He couldn't stand to look at her. He pushed her away from him.
"Get away from me Cordy, get away from me. I can't bear for you to see me like this. Wesley please take her upstairs and don't let her come down until I am done with this." Wesley went to Cordelia and took her arm. "Let's go Cordelia. It hurts him too much for you to see him like this." She resisted at first but then she went back upstairs without any more argument.
"Giles please take Mom upstairs also, the only woman I want down here is Hunter." Dr. Martin started to resist his order when Giles took her hand. Without warning Angel jumped to his feet and pulled the chains to their limit as he approached her. "I don't want you down here to see me like this. You know as well as I do that it is going to get worse. Now go and do as I said." Angel yelled at her then went back to the mattress and curled up. Dr. Martin had jumped up and was leaning against Giles when Angel yelled at her. Without further resistance she went with Giles up stairs. Tara and Willow followed them upstairs also.
When the women left Wesley and Gunn went to Angel. They each sat on either side of him. Angel looked at Gunn and grabbed him by his shirt. "Gunn you know where you can get me some heroin don't you. If you don't then one of your boys must know. I just need a little to help me withdraw a little at a time." Gunn pulled his hands off of his shirt. "You know that will never happen, Angel. You know as well as I do, I throw anyone that I catch doing drugs out of the group."
Wesley put his hand on Angels shoulder. "We'll be here for you Angel but the only thing we are going to give you is food and water. I'm going upstairs to get you some blood. Most likely you'll throw it up but at least you'll get some of it into your system." When Wesley got up and left Connor took his place. Angel lay down and put his head in his son's lap. Connor put his arm around his father. "I'm here Dad; I won't leave your side until you're done with it." Connor hugged his father closer then he started to cry. Connor thought of the time that he had wanted to make his Dad suffer when he thought he had killed Holtz. He remembered chaining him up in a coffin like box and throwing it into the ocean where it laid for three months until Wesley found it.
Wesley came down with a large jar of blood and approached the group. Connor straightened up and wiped the tears away when he heard Wesley. "Angel, sit up so you can drink this. It's just plain blood. I didn't think you could stomach any of the spicy stuff." Angel took it from Wesley and drank it greedily. "I want some more." Angel said as he gave him back the glass. "You better not have anymore for now. I'll get you some more in a couple of hours. Don't forget that they've been starving you for the past five weeks and your system isn't used to food of neither the liquid or solid kind."
Angel threw the jar at the wall. "That's all I've been hearing is no you can't have any more Angel. We want to keep you alive Angel but not too alive. So they starved me for five weeks Wesley. Well they're not controlling me anymore. I told you I want more so get it." Gunn and Connor had jumped up when Angel threw the glass at the wall. "I'll get you some more Dad. I'll be back in a minute."
As Angel sat back down again he started to scratch at the site on his skin where they gave him the shots full of drugs. He continued to scratch until he was bleeding. Connor came down with more blood and a sandwich for his father. Angel consumed both eagerly. He had been hungry, it seemed like, forever. Towards the end he was so hungry the thought of taking the blood of his guard entered his mind. But he pushed it down so that it was in the cage with Angelus.
As he paced back and forth he started to become more and more nervous. The pacing was supposed to help him consume the nervous energy that he felt, instead it fed it. As he paced back and forth he started to see ants all over the floor. He moved away from them but they followed him. "There are ants all over the floor guys. Get some poison to kill them." Angel shouted as he tried to back away from them. The further away he tried to get the more they followed him until he couldn't go any further. He tripped over something on the floor and fell backwards. He could see the ants advancing on him by the thousands. He tried brushing them off of his legs but there were too many. They were starting to bite his skin now. "Help me Wesley, help me. They're crawling all over me and biting. Help me get them off."
Wesley went over to Angel. He looked all over the floor. There were no ants.
"Angel there isn't any ants." When Angel remained agitated Wesley slapped him hard to get his attention. "Angel look at me." Wesley was holding his arms and shaking him. Angel's eyes wandered all over the place looking for ants. "Angel it's a hallucination. There are no ants."
Angel looked at Wesley then at the floor. As he stared at the floor he absentmindedly started to scratch his leg where he could feel the ants had bitten him. As he was looking for the ants the blood and sandwich Connor had given him started to come back up. He got to the bucket just in time.
Connor gave his father a glass of water to wash his mouth out. He took the bucket away when Angel was done and gave him an ice cold wash cloth to clean his face with.
Angel laid down for a while and slept. Connor sat beside him while Wesley and Gunn took a break.
When Angel woke up, it started again.
Angel sat quietly for awhile. That quiet lasted for about 26 minutes. Then Angel couldn't stand to sit any longer. He felt like he was going to jump out of his skin he was so nervous. He got up and started pacing back and forth. As he paced back and forth he started scratching at the site where they gave him the shots of heroin. For the next several hours he walked the same path as far as the chains would allow him. At one point he finally stopped, fell to his knees and doubled over in pain.
Connor jumped up and grabbed the bucket again. He got it to Angel just in time for him to vomit what was left of the blood in his stomach. Wesley grabbed a wash rag and wiped his face and mouth with it. Gunn gave him a bottle of water to rinse his mouth out with and Angel lay down for an hour then and slept peacefully. While he slept Gunn, Wesley, and Connor took the time to take a break themselves.
It was 3 in the afternoon when they went upstairs. Connor as usual was hungry so he started to make himself a roast beef sandwich. He grabbed a bag of chips and a glass of milk and went upstairs for a while to be with Toby. When Toby saw him for the first time when he came home he got so excited that he peed all over the floor like he did when he was a puppy. Connor didn't mind though because he was just as happy to see him as Toby was to see Connor. He spent as much time with him as he could now.
Gunn made a sandwich for himself and took a beer and chips upstairs to his rooms also. Wesley went up stairs to be with his family for a while.
Later in the evening they gathered again to check on Angel. As they were about to go downstairs Hunter and Mike came in. Mike had a bag of human blood and Hunter had a bag full of junk food. Most of it was Hershey chocolate bars though.
"How is he doing?" Mike asked. "As well as can be expected I guess. You can come down and see him if you want Hunter. You're the only one of the women that he will allow to see him. He didn't even want Dr. Martin down there." Wesley said.
They followed Wesley down to the basement. It was the first time for Hunter and Mike to see Angel. Hunter gasped when she saw his emaciated condition. They stood by the stairs where they could talk without disturbing him.
"Why is he so thin?" Hunter asked no one in particular. "They were only giving him 12 ounces of blood a day and nothing else. When he asked for more the guard said that was all he was going to get. He said they wanted to keep him alive but not too alive. It doesn't do much good to give him blood now because he just vomits most of it back up." Connor told them.
"What symptoms has he displayed so far?" Mike asked. "He's real nervous to the point that he can't sit still for long. He paces back and forth a lot and scratches at the site on his arm where I presume they gave him his shots. Earlier in the afternoon he was hallucinating and thinking that he saw ants crawling all over the floor and him. As you can see he is perspiring heavily but doesn't seem to have a fever. At least he didn't when we left him for awhile. I had given him some blood and when he demanded more Connor made him a sandwich and gave him more blood. He's very hungry but he can't keep anything down it just comes back up within just a few minutes. After that he goes to sleep. We were just coming to sit with him again when you two came in. Then of course as you can see we have him chained up. He has already tried to get Gunn to get him some heroin." Wesley said. He took them the rest of the way in and Angel looked up at them.
"Hunter is that you?" "Yes Angel it's me and Mike is here also. We brought you some candy. It will help to take the edge off of the withdrawals." "Hunter I am so hungry. They wouldn't give me more than 12 ounces of blood each day." "Angel I would let you have some of mine but you would just throw it up. Here eat some of the Hershey chocolate bars. It's all yours, and I promise that you don't have to share it with Cordelia." She tore the wrapping off and gave it to him. He took a bite then started to wolf down the whole bar. He grabbed another one from the bag and had that one eaten within seconds. He doubled over in pain then and grabbed at his stomach. He reached for the bucket and the candy bars came right back up.
Angel stood up and started pulling at the chains, he grunted with the strain on his weakened muscles. Connor was surprised when they actually saw the loop in the cement starting to move. That had taken everything that he had in him though and he collapsed on the floor, breathing hard. He didn't look at anyone when he opened his eyes. He just crawled over to the mattress and pulled the blanket around him and lay down. He was shaking so bad you could hear the chain links clinking against each other.
For the next four days Angel endured the withdrawals from the heroin. He had tried several times to pull the chains out of the floor loop and each time the cement gave way a little but to everyone's relief the cement kept a firm hold on the loop. At the height of his withdrawal he started to experience hallucinations again and attacked Connor, thinking he was a demon that was attacking him. After that Connor, Gunn, and Wesley stayed with him almost around the clock. On the forth and fifth day Angel had seizures. It took all three of them to hold him down when he was going through one of them. By the end of the fifth day his suffering seemed to be at an end. He was able to hold down the human blood that Mike had brought and was asking for more.
On the morning of the sixth day Angel woke up after sleeping for 12 hours straight and called out to Wesley. "Wesley, Wesley wake up." All of the men started to move.
"What's wrong." Wesley asked through half closed eyes. "I want to go to my room and see my wife and daughter after I take a bath. I know I stink like a skunk. I need for you to remove these chains though and someone to help me upstairs. I want to go to room 412 to take a bath. I don't want them to see or smell me like this." Wesley rubbed his eyes and woke the others up. "Come on guys, our patient wants to go upstairs to 412 and take a bath."
Connor and Gunn rubbed the sleep from their eyes and helped Angel upstairs after Wesley removed the chains. To their surprise Cordelia was already up there and had the bathtub going. She had put some of her bubble bath soap in the water and the scent was already permeating the moisture laden air in the bathroom. Connor and Gunn took Angel into the bathroom then left and waited in the room. Wesley helped Angel to continue standing while Cordelia took his clothes off. Angel sat on the edge of the bathtub while holding onto Wesley. He was so weak that his legs couldn't hold him up for long without assistance. He swung his legs over into the tub and sat down.
"Thank you Wesley, I'll call you when I'm done bathing him." Cordelia said. Wesley left then and closed the door behind him. While they waited for them the men went back to sleep. They hadn't been able to sleep very much for the past five days and their sleep deprivation was starting to catch up with them.
As soon as Wesley had closed the door Cordelia started to wash Angels hair. She hadn't made a move to kiss him and he was wondering why. When she was done bathing him she proceeded to shave him. When she was done he dunked his head below the water and rinsed his head and face. When he came up Cordelia put her arms around him and kissed him. She didn't let go of him for a good five minutes.
"Why didn't you want to kiss me when you first saw me?" "Because sir you were stinky. Wait here and I'll bring you a glass of blood." When Cordelia came back she had a large glass of warm blood and a bunch of pills for him to take. "What are those?" "Mom didn't think you would want to have a shot again for awhile so she gave me pills that she wants you to take. She said they're various vitamins and Iron to help you to start building your blood back up again. Now be a good boy and take these, then drink your blood." Angel took the pills then drank the blood in almost one gulp.
"Would you tell Wesley that I would like to get out now." "Sure baby." She gave him a kiss then and called out to Wesley. Connor had brought the wheel chair up while they were waiting for Cordelia to finish bathing Angel. Wesley let Angel hold onto him while Cordelia dried him off and dressed him.
"Do you think you could stand a proper meal now?" Cordelia asked. "Madam I think I could eat a horse right now."
Angel sat in the wheel chair and Connor pushed him downstairs and to the dinning room. Everyone else was waiting for them to come down before they started having breakfast. Lou had brought Kathleen down with her and placed her in her highchair. Today was going to be the first time that she would see her Daddy since he had been kidnapped.
As soon as the elevator opened and they all came to the dinning room table Kathleen started calling to Angel. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." She screamed and started crying. Angel reached for her and pulled her out of the highchair. He held her in his arms and hugged her as tightly as he dared. "Where have you been Daddy? I was so scared that those bad people were hurting you. Mommy and I cried almost every night Daddy, we missed you so much. Don't ever leave me again Daddy, promise that you'll never leave me again." "Daddy will do his best never to leave his little princes again. I missed you so much." Angel looked around at the table and saw that Tara and Willow were still here.
"Willow would you do Kathleen and I a favor please?" "Sure Angel, if I can do it I will." "I told Kathleen that when she was born her Mommy took a piece of her and placed it in my heart and because of that tiny piece of her she would always have a place in my heart and I would always love her. Now she said that she wanted a piece of me to be placed in her heart so she would always have a place in her heart for me. I told her we would have to ask Aunt Willow to see if you could do it. Can you think of a way to do that?" Willow acted like she was concentrating on the problem. "I'll be right back Kathleen; I have to look it up in one of my books."
When she came back Willow went to Angel and took Kathleen from his arms and put a chair between Angel and Cordelia. She sat down and put Kathleen on the table. "You know Kathleen you already have a piece of your Daddy in you." Kathleen lifted her shirt and looked at her tummy. "Where, I don't see it." "What are you looking for?" Willow asked. "I don't see an Owie like Daddy has." Willow still didn't understand. "She means a scar like mine." Angel pulled his shirt to the side so he could show Willow the scar over his heart.
"Yeah like Daddy's" "Oh, well the way your Daddy put a part of himself inside of you is different. You can't see where he put himself inside of you because he is all over inside of you. He is here and here and here and all over." Willow pointed to different parts of Kathleen's body. "How did he get inside of me?" "Well one night your Daddy loved your Mommy so much that a part of him came out and your Mommy loved your Daddy so much that a part of her came out." Willow said a few words and she made it look like a tiny golden sparkle of light came out of Angel then she did the same to Cordelia.
"Then the two lights joined together and they made a baby." Willow made the two lights join together.
"Then God touched the light and a little girl called Mary Kathleen Martin was created." Willow made the light burn brighter as though God had touched it. "Then the light went back into your Mommies tummy and stayed there for 9 months until you were done growing and you could breath on your own. Then when you couldn't get any prettier you came out to meet everyone and your Mommy held you in her arms and said 'Mary Kathleen Martin I want to introduce you to your Daddy' then your Daddy took you in his arms. He hugged you and said 'Hi Mary Kathleen I'm your Daddy.'"
"Is that why Mommy has that white light around her?" "Yes, can you see the white light?" "Uh huh, it sticks out all over Mommy." "Yes that's very good. Now do you understand why I don't have to take a piece of your Daddy and put it inside of you?" "Yes cause I already have Daddy inside of me. He's here and here and here and here and all over inside of me." "Yes that's right." Willow was proud of herself. She had explained to Kathleen where she had come from and she had accepted it. At least she thought she was done, but Kathleen was still looking at her.
"I still want an Owie like Daddy has." "Okay I'll give you an Owie. It's going to hurt now and you may cry, do you still want it?" Kathleen took a moment to think about it. "Yes, I can take it cause us Martin women are strong. That's what Mommy and Grandma say anyway." Willow smiled. Cordelia and Angel were so proud of their daughter. She had said it so clearly.
"Okay then here goes." Willow took Angels hand and made it look like she was poking his hand with a knife but in actuality she was poking her own finger. She showed Kathleen the blood. With her other hand she lifted up Kathleen's shirt and placed her finger against her chest. Then as Kathleen watched it the blood seemed to melt into her skin and in its place was the name DADDY." Kathleen looked at it carefully. "See Daddy and I didn't cry at all. Thank you Aunt Willow." "You're welcome Kathleen."
Willow put Kathleen back into her highchair and went back to her own seat next to Tara. "That was very well done Willow." Dr. Martin said. She had spoken with such clarity that it drew everyone's attention. Especially Angels. There was no trace of the previously paralyzed muscles on her face. She gave everyone a big smile. Giles reached for her hand and kissed it.
"When did this miracle happen?" Wesley asked. Without hesitation Dr. Martin said, "This morning when I woke up and went into the bathroom I looked in the mirror and there staring back at me was this." She pointed to her face and smiled. "When I looked at my calendar and counted the days I realized that it was exactly 40 days since Angel, Connor, and Kathleen had been kidnapped." Dr. Martin looked down at the other end of the table and at her son.
Angel carefully rose from his chair and by hanging onto each chair as he walked down to the other end he was able to make it without anyone's assistance. When he came to his mothers chair he went down to his knees and put his arms around her waist and hugged her. Dr. Martin put her hands on his head and began to stroke it as she quoted the Bible,
"Jesus said, 'For greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends'."
With tears in her eyes Dr. Martin looked up at the rest. "Now that the forty days of Angels suffering are over I don't think that he will mind my telling all of you why he didn't want anyone to come looking for him. When they picked me up from the hospital Angel took me to Fr. Barris's church. He told Rupert to hypnotize me and put me into a deep sleep. While I slept Angel put me on the altar and for the next 3 hours he knelt before it and prayed that God would heal me. After 2 hours and 45 minutes Sr. Margaret came to him and explained to him why this was happening to me and that God would only grant a partial healing if Angel would agree to suffer for my sins. Of course, Angel being who he is, agreed to this. He was told that his suffering would last for 40 days and 40 nights. Last night marked an end to his suffering." Angel looked up into his mothers face. "No woman could ask for a better son." Dr. Martin said as she hugged Angel.
After a few minutes they let go of each other and Angel made his way back to his own chair. He sat down heavily as though he was very tired. "How did you know that I had asked God to heal you?" He asked his mother. "Sr. Margaret snitched on you." His mother answered with a smile.
Cordelia brought Angels breakfast to him. She had cooked a steak and six eggs. Since he had been starved while he was being tortured his stomach had shrunk and he couldn't eat very much before he was full.
After they all finished their breakfast Wesley was the first to speak up. "Do you want to do anything about what they did to you and Connor, Angel?" "No but I do want to talk to Lila. Do you think you could get her on the phone then put her on the speaker?" "I'll see what I can do." Wesley went to his office and called Lila. To his surprise she answered on the second ring.
"Lila this is Wesley." "Yes Wes I've been expecting your call." "I am going to put you on a speaker Lila so hold on." Wesley made the appropriate switches and set up the speaker in front of Angel. "Go ahead Angel she is on the speaker."
"Hello Angel, I take it your withdrawal from the drugs is over now. I hope it wasn't too hard on you." "It was everything you hoped for, I'm sure, Lila." "Oh come now Angel you know that this was just part of the war between us. Did Connor tell you what I had said to him." "No Connor and I have not had a chance yet to speak privately." "Let me save you some time. I told him about what we had found out about you during our, shall we say, questioning. I told him that you feel pain more intensely and that you don't seem to recover from it as fast as you used to. We believe Angel that you are becoming more human than we previously thought. It was hardly worth torturing you. It wasn't as fun as it usually is."
"Maybe these last 40 days didn't do much for you Lila but it provided me with everything that I needed from you." "What could we have possibly given you Angel? We had you restrained so tightly that you couldn't have taken a pee unless we took some of the bindings off."
"You gave me something Lila that only you could possibly give. Connor is being groomed to take over Angel Investigation. He has never had to deal with you before and he hasn't had first hand knowledge as to how evil you people are. You kept him from going to his regular collage classes Lila but you provided him with the collage course that only you could teach. You taught him what kind of people run Wolfram & Hart. You taught him about the Senior Partners and who your god is. You taught him what true evil is Lila and I have to thank you for that." It was silent on the other side of the line for a few minutes.
"My pleasure Angel, if I can help you in any other way just let me know. After all we still have your sons to test after they are born." Lila hung up then and Angel did the same on his side. He was quiet for awhile. Then he pulled Cordelia to him and put his ear against her stomach. He listened carefully for a while. I can hear their heartbeats now. It's noisy inside. Cordelia put her hand on Angels head and closed her eyes and concentrated. Thru the link they shared she could hear their heart beat. It was soft but distinct.
The moment was broken then by Dr. Martins physical therapist coming in. Giles asked him to come to the table. "Come over here Manuel, I don't believe you have met Dr. Martin's son and grandson. They've been away on a case." Giles knew that Angel was too tired to walk over to them so he guided Manuel over to them.
Angel stood up as they approached him. "Manuel this is Dr. Martin's son Angel Martin and the owner of Angel Investigation, and this is his son Connor. Angel and Connor this is Mary's physical therapist, Manuel Martinez." Manuel shook hands with Angel and Connor.
"How is she doing Mr. Martinez? Is she being a good girl and following your instructions?" "Oh yes, she is very dedicated to getting better and returning to her usual self. I am almost positive that before the year is over she will have full control over her left side again. I noticed that she is no longer paralyzed on the left side of her face. When did this miracle occur?"
"I woke up this morning and it was back to normal. To tell you the truth though I think that it was the medicine that Kathleen was giving me three times a day." "And what kind of medicine was that?" Manuel asked. "It's called Three Kisses a Day medicine."
"I am so happy you are doing so much better Mary but let's go downstairs now and work on the rest of you." "Yes Sir." Giles gave her his arm and they went downstairs then.
"Let's go Angel it's time for you to rest now." Cordelia said as she got up and reached for his arm. "I think your right Mommy. Do you think she is right Kathleen?" "Yes Daddy, time for you nap." Kathleen stood up in her highchair and reached for her mother and said "Down Mommy, I want down." "I don't hear the magic word." Cordelia said. "Pleeease." Kathleen said. "That's better." Cordelia put her down on the floor and Kathleen walked to the wheelchair and tried to push it over to her Daddy. Connor came and helped her with the chair.
"Come on Daddy sit down." Kathleen grabbed Angels hand and pulled him over to the chair. Angel cooperated and sat down in the chair as she said. Kathleen then went to the back of the chair and tried to push it. After a while she gave up and went to the front of the chair and climbed up in her Daddy's lap. "You're too big for me Daddy. Connor is going to push you okay?" "Okay, I think that would be a good idea." Connor started to push the wheelchair forward then.
When they arrived upstairs and in the room Connor collapsed on the floor. "Whew, you guys are too heavy for me. I think I need a nap also." Toby had followed them upstairs so he came over and laid down next to Connor and put his head on his stomach. Angel got out of the chair and pulled his shoes, shirt, and pants off then crawled under the covers. While Cordelia was changing Kathleen Connor took his shoes off and laid on the bed next to Angel then he called Toby to lay beside him. When Cordelia was done with Kathleen she stood next to the bed with her daughter.
"There isn't any room for us now baby. Connor and Toby took up our side of the bed." "Yes there is Mommy. I'll show you, put me down please Mommy." Kathleen patted the bottom of the bed and called Toby. "Toby come here and lay down." Toby did as she said then Kathleen took his place and patted the bed. "Come on Mommy lay down here." Cordelia did as her daughter said. Kathleen lay down also. This peaceful scene lasted for about two minutes.
Kathleen sat up then crawled over Connor and pushed him away from Angel and squirmed her way in between them. "Hey he's my Daddy too you know. In fact he was my Daddy before he was yours." Connor picked Kathleen up and put her on his other side then lay down again. When Kathleen started to climb over him again he put his arm over Angel's chest and laid his head on his arm. The more Kathleen pulled at his arm or head the more Connor held on. Kathleen finally gave up. Connor and Angel were pretending to be sleeping but in actuality they had their eyes open a tiny bit.
Cordelia was talking to her daughter through the link they shared. Kathleen had a look on her face that let them know she was concentrating as though she was dumping a load of nuclear waste. Connor noticed that Toby wasn't reacting though so he knew it wasn't that.
"Connor please get up. You've had Daddy all to yourself for five weeks and I didn't get to see him at all. I missed him so much." That did it, she made her brother feel like a worm. Connor sat up then and scooted down to the end of the bed and held his little sister. "Your right Kathleen I was just playing a joke on you. You deserve to be with Daddy I know he missed you also. I'm sorry my little sister." He gave her a kiss then put her in between Angel and Cordelia. When he closed the door behind him Kathleen turned to her Mommy and giggled.
Angel turned over then and looked at them. "You told her what to do didn't you?" "Well I just helped her a little. Besides I have to start training her early on how to control men. She is going to have a lot of men to take care of and it's important that she know how to make them do what ever she wants." "Yeah I knew that was the way it was done. Poor Connor he doesn't stand a chance with you teaching 'both' Kathleen and Lou."
Angel leaned over Kathleen and made like he was knocking on Cordelia's stomach. "My boys are you listening to your Mommy. She's teaching your sister how to control you. Be forewarned." "Who are you talking to Daddy?" "I'm talking to your brothers. They're in your Mommy's tummy. Come here and see if you can hear them. Listen very carefully and don't say anything. You should hear their hearts beating." Kathleen put her ear to her Mothers stomach and listened very carefully. It took her awhile but she finally heard them and smiled." "What did you hear?" Kathleen sat up. "It goes thump, thump, thump, thump." She said real fast. Cordelia pulled her blouse down and said, "Okay it's time for Daddy to take a nap. You lay down also, after all you did push Connor out of the bed so you could sleep next to your Daddy." They all laid down then and took a nap. Angel went to sleep then and slept a deep restful sleep for the next four hours.
As Angel slept the nightmare of the past five weeks invaded his dreams. He dreamt that he was hanging from the ceiling. The guards were repeatedly hitting him with cattle prods on various parts of his body. Every time he screamed it brought forth a round of laughter from his tormentors. When the cattle prod was aimed at his genitals Angel screamed and continued screaming as he woke up.
Cordelia and Kathleen had awakened and gone downstairs two hours ago but when she heard Angel she ran up stairs. "Angel what's wrong?" She found him sitting up in bed and bending over as though he was in pain. She could see that the sheets were wet with his sweat. He didn't say anything in answer so she just went and sat beside him and put her arm around him. He finally turned his head and looked at her.
"Is Mike here?" "Yes, I believe they just came in and are in their rooms." "Would you get Mike and Hunter? Ask them to come here then leave us okay?" Cordelia looked at him carefully as though trying to read his thoughts. She kneeled down in front of him and pulled his head up. "Angel you know that there is nothing that you can't tell me. Whatever it is we can get through this together." Angel looked at her with so much love in his heart that it felt like it was going to burst at the seams.
"I'll talk to you after I talk to Mike okay?" "Okay Angel." Cordelia stood than and left. A few minutes later Mike and Hunter were knocking at the door. "Come in Mike and Hunter." Angel said.
"Cordelia said you wanted to see us." "Yes, I need your help. I don't want to bother Mom with this. When they were torturing me they were using cattle prods. Do you know what those are?" "Yeah, those are used to make the cattle move forward aren't they?" "Yes exactly but some people like using them on people to inflict pain and that is exactly what they wanted to do to me. Mike they hit me right near my boys and right now they are hurting real bad. I need for you to check them because they feel like they were fried."
"Okay Angel lay down." Mike told him. Hunter helped Angel to lie down and take his pants and shorts off. Mike put some gloves on that he had brought with him and proceeded to examine Angel. He could see how much it hurt him every time he manipulated his testicles. "Okay Angel I'm done." Angel pulled his clothes back up and sat up on the side of the bed. Mike was washing his hands then pulled over a chair in front of him.
"Well what do you think, have my boys given up the ghost or have they survived?" "This isn't my specialty Angel but I'm pretty sure that I felt scar tissue. I would say that your boys have been laid to rest for the rest of your existence. I couldn't feel anything else so I would say that Junior should function normally. A man doesn't need his testicles to have sex. All they do is provide sperm and that is their only function as far as sex goes. You shouldn't have any problem in making yourself and Cordelia happy. As for the pain I suggest that you take aspirin when they are hurting. If they start hurting to the point that it's always making itself known then I am going to suggest that you see a urologist. Okay?" "Okay Mike and thank you."
When they left Cordelia came in. "Well?" "Well what?" "Angel you know what I'm talking about." "If you get me 2 or 3 Tylenol and some warmed blood I'll tell you." Cordelia did as he asked then sat down next to him. Angel told her the same thing that he had told Mike and Hunter and he also told her what Mike had found.
"So in other words it will just take you some time to heal and I need to give you lots of babying." Cordelia said as she kissed him.
"Yes that is about the size of it." Angel turned to her and smiled. "I've been thinking of myself all of this time and haven't asked you how you and the boys are doing? Since you aren't having a problem with morning sickness I haven't been concerned with our pregnancy. How have you been feeling lately?"
"Oh as well as can be expected I guess. I thank God a lot for letting me get by without morning sickness. My clothes are already starting to get tight. I brought out all of my old maternity clothes and washed them yesterday. They're sitting down stairs right now waiting for me to iron them. You want to come down stairs with me and keep me company while I iron our clothes?" "Sure, I haven't anything else that's more important right now." Cordelia helped him to get dressed then he sat in the wheelchair and she pushed him to the elevator then over to the basement door. He had to walk the rest of the way.
When Mike and Hunter left Angels room they returned to there own. As soon as the door closed Hunter turned to Mike. "Why didn't you tell him the rest Mike?" "I told him as much as he needs to know right now. If Angelus gives him what he wants then it will be a moot point. If Angelus doesn't give him what he needs then perhaps the rest of the organs that provide a small amount of testosterone will step up their production. Either way he will either loose that which makes him Angel or he will continue as normal. For a normal human male this wouldn't be a problem but for Angel it could be the difference between night and day. I'm going to talk to Mary about this and I think that she will agree with me. You know as well as I do Mickey, that which makes a man a man is mostly in his head. If we tell Angel that he may have lost his primary provider of testosterone then he may start thinking like less of a man and it's important that he continue to think of himself as the Alpha male." "Okay Mike I'll bow to your expertise in this particular situation. I just hope and pray that Angelus is able to heal him as time goes by."
Later that evening at supper Wesley was able to give Connor some good news. "Connor I have some good news for you. Today I met with your Professors and explained that you had been kidnapped, along with your father, by a client's enemy. I told them that we had just been able to obtain your release. I explained to them how important it was that you complete your education as soon as possible. So they have agreed to give you one week to catch up on what you missed and to take the tests you missed. Do you think you can do it?" Connor was quiet for a few minutes while he thought about it.
"Yes I think I can if you help me. I only took three classes this semester because I knew that I would be working with Toby and I didn't want to push him too much. Since I can talk to him like Kathleen does it's been real easy for him so he won't be a problem. I guess I better get started on the studying part then." Connor stood up then and grabbed a couple of Tortillas. He hadn't finished his supper so he made a couple of burritos out of the Tortillas and what was left in his plate and headed for the stairs. He turned at the stairs though and when he saw that Wesley wasn't looking he made a face that told Angel that he was cussing Wesley out under his breath. Angel started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Wesley asked.
"I don't think he truly appreciated you working so hard in talking his Professors into letting him have a chance to pass his classes. He was at the stairs making weird faces at you."
The PTB's chose that time to send Cordelia a vision. Everyone saw her bending over and grabbing her head. "Okay guys The Powers That Be have decided that play time is over. Here is an address where you'll find a couple of young girl being chased by a couple of Vamps. Be careful though because I think the girls are heading for 3 others that are waiting for them." Cordelia quickly wrote down an address and handed it over to Wesley.
"Anyone else want to go play?" Wesley asked. They heard Connor come running down the stairs and yelling, "I want to play". "Your only job right now is studying mister." Wesley told Connor. Connor took the stairs one at a time going back up, his head hanging low. Gunn, Hunter and Lou got up to go with Wesley. Lou had been helping a lot with the clients and this was going to be only the second time that she would help with one of Cordelia's visions.
When they left Angel took his daughter out of her highchair and started walking upstairs. "Goodnight everyone." He said as he walked over to the elevator without saying anything else. Everyone knew how bad he felt when he couldn't go with them.
"I'll be up in a few minutes Angel." Cordelia called to him. "Okay." Angel answered then the elevator doors closed.
"How is he doing Cordelia?" Dr. Martin asked. "Not to bad. Right now he is resting a lot and eating. I think he understands how hard this was on his body and that he won't ever be able to heal and bounce back as fast as he used to. I think it is finally sinking in that this is what it is like to be human and he is accepting his new limitations. He hasn't fought me at all whenever I tell him to eat or take a nap. Well I guess I better be going before he starts calling for me. Before she went to her bedroom she went downstairs to get the clothes she had ironed that afternoon. Then she stopped to talk to Connie.
"Connie, would you leave out a small steak to thaw out? I'll be preparing it for Angel to eat later tonight. Thank you and goodnight." Cordelia said goodnight to the rest then went upstairs. She headed up to the third floor first to leave Lou's clothes on her door. Then she went to Connors room and gave him his then she was finally able to go to her own room. She found her husband sitting on the floor and playing with Kathleen.
Cordelia put their clothes away then joined Kathleen and Angel on the floor. Since Cordelia was there to play with Kathleen Angel drew back and leaned against the bed. Kathleen went over to the little book stand they kept for her books. She pulled one out and pretended to read. Cordelia went over to the bed and sat next to Angel.
"What's wrong Angel? You seem so tired and depressed." "I am. I feel so tired that it's a major effort for me to even lift my arm. Cordy, I want to get away for awhile but I feel to vulnerable right now." "You know what I think Angel?" "What do you think Dr. Cordy?" Angel said as he flashed a smile at her. "I think you are picking up on how I feel and that's on top of how you are feeling as you recover. Right now I am doing what Mom told me to do when I was pregnant with Kathleen and feeling depressed. Remember she told me to keep myself busy."
"You know Dr. Cordy I think you are right. My problem right now though is for me to rest and regain my strength. I think I am going to lie down and take a nap. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel more like working out a little. If I don't start exercising soon I'll lose these magnificent muscles that you like to look at." Cordelia pulled his head down to hers and kissed him gently. "I would try for more but I think you have to regain some of your strength or it would turn into a very short, unproductive sexual encounter. Because when I finally judge you to be strong enough our first sexual encounter since you were kidnapped will be a memorable one." Cordelia stood up then and pulled Angel up also. "Let's go out onto the balcony and say the Rosary. We haven't done it together in a long time and I've been teaching our daughter the prayers." "How is she doing?" "Not to bad, she has the Glory Be memorized and now she is working on the Hail Mary."
"That sounds like our little princes." Angel said as he picked Kathleen up and walked outside to the balcony. It took them longer than usual to do their prayers that night since they were going very slow to accommodate Kathleen. When they were done they looked at Kathleen. She was sitting between them, leaning against her mother's leg and sucking on her two fingers. Angel picked her up and prepared her for bed while Cordelia jumped in the shower. As he put Kathleen in the crib he noticed that someone had fixed the broken post in the rail. "Well at least our little escape artist can't get out in the morning."
Angel went to the bed and laid down for what he thought was just a few minutes while he waited for Cordelia. When Cordelia came out she had to pull his shoes and pants off since he was sound asleep and already snoring. She went around the room and turned everything off except the TV then she set her alarm for 2 a.m. so that she could get up and prepare the steak for him.
For the next two months this was how Angels day and night went. Each day he went down to the basement and slowly started a routine of exercises. As he became stronger he added on more difficult exercises. Each night Cordelia made a small snack or steak for him to eat. At the end of the two months she had him back up to his original weight and he was feeling a lot stronger.
Cordelia was now five months pregnant and had started wearing maternity clothes at four months. With two babies inside of her it was getting more and more difficult for her to bend over. She had started to potty train Kathleen and was being met with a lot of resistance from both Kathleen and her sons inside her. Connie had already potty trained Junior and Cordelia thought for sure that Kathleen would stop resisting once she saw Junior go to use his potty chair. It didn't seem to bother her one bit though that she had a diaper on and he didn't. One day after having to clean her daughter up after a particularly nasty nuclear deposit she asked Angel to help convince their daughter of using the potty.
"Sorry but Kathleen, in this instance, is yours. I think you'll agree that I don't have the right equipment. Connor and I will train the boys. Why don't you ask Connie how she got Junior to use the potty instead of his diapers?" "I did and she said the same thing as you did, more or less. She said that Joaquin did the training." "Didn't Joaquin say that he has a sister?" "Yes he does which means that Joaquin's mother had to potty train her. I'll be back in a few minutes." Cordelia left the room in search of Mrs. Sanchez.
Angel had energy to spare now and yet they didn't have any clients right now and Cordelia hadn't had a vision in the past 2 weeks. He looked at his daughter. "Let's go and see what kind of mischief we can get into Kathleen."
Angel picked up his daughter and put her on his neck. First he approached Gunn's room and listened. He knew Cylinda was off today. He didn't hear anything even though he knew they were in there. He knocked on the door. "No ones home." Gunn answered. "Hey Cylinda, can Gunn come out to play?" "No he's busy right now." "Oh well lets see if Uncle Wesley is busy." They went across the hall to the Price's. Angel knocked on the door. He could hear someone coming to open the door. Fred opened the door and came out into the hallway and closed the door. "Shhhh, the boys are teething and they've kept us awake all night. I just got them both to go to sleep. Wesley is sleeping also and I was just about to lie down also. So is this something important." "No I was just going to see if Wesley had something for me to do. Go get some rest while you can Fred. I'm sorry I disturbed you. Bye." Fred went back in then and Angel took off back to his room.
"Well there is only one thing left for us to do Princes. Let's go see if we can visit the Morgan's I bet they have swings for their little girl." Angel put his daughter down on the bed and called the Morgan residence.
"Morgan residence." The butler answered. "Hi this is Angel is David or Marissa busy?" "Yes Mr. Martin Mrs. Morgan is right here. One moment please." "Hi Angel." "Hi Marissa do you mind having at least two visitors, maybe three?" "Sure Angel come on over anytime you want. I'll let David know your coming." "Thanks Marissa we'll be over as soon as I can gather up my girls. Bye."
Angel called to Cordelia through the link they shared and told her about going over to the Morgan's. Within 30 minutes they were on their way. Cordelia left a note on there door and one in the kitchen for Connie telling everyone where they went.
By now the guards at the gate knew Angel and they waved him through. Marissa greeted them at the front door. "Hello and welcome." As usual Marissa curtsied to Angel and hugged Cordelia and Kathleen.
"Come in, come in. David will be back in a few minutes. He is having a meeting with his guards. Come out here on the patio. I have Stacy in her playpen out here." As they sat down Marissa noticed that Cordelia was wearing maternity clothes.
"Cordelia you're pregnant. Why didn't you tell me?" "I'm sorry Marissa but we've been so busy at home with one thing after the other happening I guess I just forgot to call you and let you know, but I'm 5 months along now with twins." "But you're wearing maternity clothes already. I didn't have to start wearing them until I was almost 6 months along. Any morning sickness this time?" "Thank heavens no." Cordelia said and Angel said the same thing.
"Oh yes I bet your happy about that Angel. David got sick right along with me poor baby." She winked at Cordelia and they both laughed.
"You women are sadistic you know that." Angel said with a smile. "Do you mind if I use your swing out here?" He asked Marissa. "Oh yes, please do." Angel took Kathleen outside to the fancy wooden swing set. He had put her down and let her walk over to the set to see what she wanted to do. Kathleen bypassed the swing and went right for the little house that she had to climb up to.
Cordelia and Marissa were watching them when David walked outside. He greeted Cordelia and called out to Angel and waved. The sun was still too high for him to go outside so he had a seat with the ladies.
"So what do we owe this visit to? Don't tell me Angel just wanted to use Stacy's swing set." "I think that was part of it, believe it or not, but also I think he has a lot of pent up energy and we don't have any clients right now and I haven't had any visions lately. I think he is hoping that you will let him play with some of your guards. Since Spike and Buffy aren't here he doesn't have anyone that he can test himself against. Connor has been busy with his summer classes and Hunter has been busy working with Mike."
"When are those two going to get married?" Marissa asked. "Oh, they were married last month. They didn't want a big wedding so Fr. Barris came over and performed a private wedding in our chapel and only a few people that they work with were invited." "We'll have to send them something. Have they had their Honeymoon yet?" David asked. "No, David had 4 women that were due the following weeks. Oh and guess what, they're going to have a baby. You've met Willow and Tara right?" "Yes we've met a couple of times. They are the witches aren't they?" Marissa asked. "Yes, well anyway I knew that Hunter and Mike would often talk about adopting a baby so I suggested to Mike that since Hunter was so thin she may have stopped having a period because she didn't have enough fat content in her body but her ovaries may still be producing eggs. I told him that even though Hunters body is to cold to sustain a pregnancy that Willow or Tara might be willing to carry it for them. So to make a long story short Mike tested Hunter and she is still producing eggs, they talked to Willow and Tara and they agreed to both try. Mike implanted 5 fertilized eggs in each Willow and Tara and Tara's took but Willows didn't. Isn't that wonderful, I am so happy for them."
"You mean Tara is expecting 5 babies?" David asked. Like Angel and Spike David had gone through his wife's pregnancy right along with her. The thought of how bad it would be with five babies almost made him feint. "It's okay dear you don't have to worry I doubt it if I would ever have 5 at one time." Marissa patted her husbands hand when she saw him space out for a second. Cordelia was laughing. She remembered Angel passing out when the women were talking about her future delivery. She never found out that it was an act that Angel had put on.
"The sun is starting to go down now so why don't you take Stacy and go play with Angel and Kathleen." Marissa told him to get his mind off of what it would be like to have five babies at once.
It was like watching 2 kids playing with their dolls. "I bet the next thing they are going to do is start competing as to who can dress their dolls the prettiest." Cordelia said.
"Hey, do you think you guys would like to come to a Pow Wow my tribe is having in two weeks? It's going to take place in Bakersfield this year." "That sounds like it would be interesting. Let me ask the rest and I'll get back with you. What goes on at a Pow Wow?" Cordelia asked excitedly. She had never been to a Pow Wow but she had heard of them when she had gone to New Mexico for a dressage competition.
"I guess you could call it a town meeting except it's a tribe meeting. We discuss problems people may be having or prospective business or existing business that the whole tribe owns. Then there are always a lot of games to play, sometimes we have a rodeo, then there are always the dances. My father will be coming to the Pow Wow this year and it will be the first time that he will get to see his granddaughter. Try to make your decision as soon as possible so that we can make arrangements for hotel rooms or if there aren't any available then we stay in T-Pees which are fancy tents or we can rent trailers to stay in. Please say you'll come Cordelia it will be so much fun." "Like I said Marissa I'll have to talk it over with the rest. We have four babies at home now and it's a big deal to have them all come. I'll try to get you an answer by tomorrow though."
Angel and David came in with the girls. "Did we have fun?" Cordelia asked. Of course David and Angel thought she was talking to the girls. "They had lots of fun. We went real high in the air didn't we?" Angel asked Kathleen. "Daddy made me go so high I thought I was going to fly Mommy. Then we played in the house and Daddy helped me go down the slide over and over again. Then we played horsy. I got on Daddy's shoulders and Stacy got on her Daddy's shoulders and we raced around the yard." "Who won the race?" Cordelia asked. "We did." Kathleen told her Mommy as she raised her hands up in the air.
David was sitting with his daughter next to Marissa when Kathleen was telling her Mommy what they had been doing. "We let them win didn't we Stacy." "Cause Kateen's Daddy is old so Daddy went slow." The adults all laughed. They knew that David had to come up with some excuse.
"Well Angel, Cordelia tells me that you would like to play with some of my guards now. Are you sure you can take it? Most of my guards are young men and vampires. I wouldn't want them to hurt you and then Cordelia to get mad at me." David said with a grin.
"Ha, ha, very funny. Yes I need to see if I can still do what I used to. You probably heard that Connor and I were kidnapped by Wolfram & Hart. They starved me and had fun torturing me. They kept me under control by getting me hooked on drugs for more than a month. It took me two months to recover from their one month of fun."
"Yes I heard. Angel don't you want to retaliate?" David asked. "I have to be very careful with them David. They have a lot of power on there side and access to a lot of magic that is all evil. Plus they have people planted all over. They even know that Cordelia is pregnant with twins. The last time they messed with me David I let Darla and Drusilla kill all of the senior staff. I could have stopped them but I didn't. They let only two of the staff live. Believe me David when I say sooner or later the opportunity will present itself right now though I would like to work out with some of your guards."
"How many do you want to take on?" "Give me five at first. If I do okay you can add on one at a time until they have me pinned. I want to work out with Richards first if he's here." "Okay follow me and well go to the gym. Do you need some sweat pants?" David asked as they started for the gym. "No I brought some. Cordelia I think we better leave Kathleen here to play with Stacy if that's okay with Marissa." "Sure, we can take them up to the nursery and our Nanny will watch over them. I'll bring Cordelia over after we deposit them." The ladies took the two girls upstairs while David and Angel continued on to the gym. When they arrived they found, conveniently, 5 guards working out. Three were vampires and the other two were human. The three vampires, of course worked out with each other since the humans couldn't offer any worth while competition.
David and Angel walked over to the 5 guards. "Men we have a guest. Angel here would like to work out with you for awhile." The guards all stopped what they were doing and looked at Angel. They all knew who and what he was. Especially that he was a Master Vampire. But they also trusted and respected him. "Sure Mr. Morgan, are you going to join us also?" "No I am just going to watch today. If I see you need help though I just might join you. You can change in that room over there Angel." David pointed to a door on the right side of the room that led to a room with lockers and showers. Angel had taken his sweat pants out of the diaper bag before Cordelia went upstairs with Kathleen so he went right in and changed.
"Fred, do you know where Richards is?" David asked one of the guards. "Yes Mr. Morgan, he's off today and went into town to visit his girlfriend." "Thanks." David said then he turned around when he heard Cordelia and Marissa coming in.
"Come on in ladies and have a seat. The show should start in a few minutes." David pointed to some seats that were lined up along the wall by the entrance. He joined them while they waited for Angel to come out. In a few minutes Angel came out dressed in a sleeveless t-shirt and sweat pants. He walked over to the mat and did a few stretching exercises to warm up. When he was done he stood up and the guards introduced themselves.
"Fred, which one of you is the most experienced in the martial arts?" Angel asked. "That would be me." Fred said. "Okay Fred I'll take the other two on first then you. If you see me winning then jump in. Don't hold yourselves back men and I'll try not to hurt you." Angel smiled as he said that.
The other two vampires stayed on the mat while everyone else stood to the side. Angel and the two guards bowed to each other then the exercise began. At first Angel hardly broke a sweat but as the two guards lost their fear of him they began to be more aggressive which is what Angel wanted. While one of the vampires pulled his attention towards himself the other came up behind Angel and attacked him with a kick to his head but at the last split second Angel turned and caught his attacker in mid air and hit him in his inner thigh. The other guard used the opportunity to kick Angel's legs out from under him and attacked him while he was on the ground.
Twenty minutes into the session Angel started to breathe heavily and was having a hard time catching his breath but he wouldn't give up. Cordelia was watching and thought it was time to call an end to it. She didn't want to make Angel look like he couldn't take it so she told her daughter, through the link they shared, to start crying and tell the Nanny that she wanted her Mommy and Daddy.
Fifteen minutes later Kathleen was brought in by the Nanny screaming and crying at the top of her lungs. Fortunately Angel was on the ground and still fighting with the two guards. When Kathleen saw her Daddy being kicked and hit repeatedly she wiggled out of the Nanny's grasp and went running to Angel. "You leave my Daddy alone, leave my Daddy alone." Kathleen grabbed onto the arm of the Vampire that was on the floor with Angel and bit it. Cordelia ran to get her daughter, putting on a terrific act I might add, while Angel grabbed her away from the Guard.
"Are you alright Daddy? That bad man was hurting you Daddy so I bit him to make him stop." Kathleen was crying all of the time and hugging her Daddy. Angel hugged his daughter and kissed her over and over again. "My brave little girl saved Daddy from the bad man." Angel looked at the guard and winked at him to let him know it was an act. The guard smiled back. "Now that you stopped the bad man Daddy and Mommy can take you home as soon as I take a shower and change okay?" Kathleen was sniffling and wiping the tears from her eyes. "Okay Daddy, but if you need me again you just call me okay?" "Okay my hero I will do just that." Angel got up and took Kathleen over to her Mommy. Cordelia stood up and took Kathleen from Angel.
"Did I do good Mommy?" Angel heard Kathleen and he asked Cordelia, "What did she do good Mommy?" Cordelia just smiled at him and just continued to comfort Kathleen. She waited to answer her daughter until Angel left to take a shower.
"You did real good, Mommy is so proud of you but you can't tell Daddy that we planned that okay? It has to be our little secret okay?" "Okay Mommy. We won't tell Daddy because it's a secret." Cordelia gave her a kiss then wiped her face to clean away the dirt and tears that left Kathleen's face dirty looking. "Honey stay here with Marissa okay. I am going to go over and talk to the guard okay?" "Okay Mommy."
Cordelia talked to the guard and told him that it was all an act for Kathleen. She asked him if he would go over to Kathleen and say that he was sorry for hurting her Daddy. The guards name was Jim and he said that he was used to things like this because of Stacy, Mr. Morgan's daughter. Cordelia backed up then and yelled at Jim and slapped his shoulder. "Now you go over to Kathleen and tell her you're sorry for hurting her Daddy." "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Jim said then he walked over to Kathleen with his head down. He had a towel in his hand and was playing with it as he stood in front of her.
"I'm very sorry for hurting your Daddy Kathleen. Please forgive me." Kathleen didn't know what to do. No one had ever said they were sorry for something they did. So she said the only thing she knew because her Daddy and Mommy were always saying it to her. "I forgive you but don't ever do that again, okay?" "Okay I promise." "Did she make you bleed Jim?" Mr. Morgan asked. Jim knew why he was asking. "No Mr. Morgan but I could have sworn she was a little Vampire from the way she bit me." Jim showed him where Kathleen had bit him. They could all see where her teeth marks still left an imprint but, thankfully, there was no sign of blood.
Angel came out of the dressing room and went over to the guards. Jim had rejoined them after apologizing to Kathleen. "Thanks guys for letting me work out with you. You gave me a good run for my money. This little session has shown me that I still need to build up my endurance. This becoming human again is very hard when your used to almost 300 years of strength and endurance being yours without even thinking about it. When I think I'm ready I'll be back. Thank you." Angel returned to Cordelia. "Let's get my hero back home Mommy."
Cordelia called Kathleen to her. She had been playing with a huge exercise ball. "I think it's time to get you home now. Did we have an accident with your new pull up pants?" Kathleen came over to her mother and bent over. "See Mommy they're dry. Daddy took me to the big potty in the back by the pool. Then Stacy's Nanny let me use her potty." Cordelia felt it then congratulated her. "I guess you're a big girl now. Now thank Mr. and Mrs. Morgan for letting you play in their back yard." "Thank you for letting me play on your swing set and with Stacy." "Your welcome Kathleen and you can come over and play anytime you want to." "Thank Marissa and David for letting you come over to play Angel." "Thank you Marissa and David." "You're welcome Angel." They had a good laugh as they walked to the front door. "If we didn't accomplish anything else today David at least we know we gave your guards a good laugh." "Yeah I heard them laughing at us making complete fools out of ourselves." "Anything for our little Princesses." Angel said as he threw Kathleen up then caught her. They said goodbye then left for home.
Kathleen was already sleeping when they arrived home. The Hotel was dark and quiet as they entered. Cordelia had called ahead and asked Connor to shut off the security. She had called Connor instead of Wesley because the Price boys were teething and the family wasn't getting much sleep. They didn't want to wake any of them up with a phone call. Sleep was hard to come by for Fred and Wesley these days.
Angel was tired so he climbed into bed after getting his daughter ready for bed. Cordelia had jumped into the shower as soon as they went into their rooms. As he fell asleep he was thinking 'I'm sure glad Cordelia hasn't felt like having sex since she became pregnant.' As Cordelia was drying her hair she was thinking, 'I wonder if Angel is too tired to have sex tonight. We haven't had it since before he was kidnapped'.
As she walked into the bedroom she could hear him snoring away. She just looked at him. "We're like an old married couple already." She walked over to the crib and checked on Kathleen then took her bathrobe off and crawled into bed and cuddled up to her husband.
She laid there for awhile thinking. 'I think it's time for the princes to have a bedroom of her own, starting tomorrow. I wonder who is going to cry more, Kathleen or Angel.' Cordelia went to sleep then knowing that it would be rough tomorrow.
TBC…………………………………………………….