Time and Time Again

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Four: Father and Daughter

The silence that fell down upon them was deafening. Not a single sound could be plucked out of the lobby, save for the cars that were going by outside and the crickets coming from the gardens. If someone had dropped a pen, it would've sounded like a bomb. Every so often, someone would open their mouth as though to say something, but apparently couldn't think of anything to say, because they closed it too quickly.

It was Cordelia who finally broke the silence, causing everyone in the vicinity to jump at the shattered silence. "Sorry, could you maybe repeat that one more time?" she requested.

Katie cocked an eyebrow from where she was standing next to the desk. "What exactly was unclear?"

"The part where you said that you were Angel's kid," she replied, folding her arms across her chest, looking completely bewildered. Angel himself hadn't moved from where he had been standing when Katie had revealed the secret that was her heritage. He looked like a statue, just staring at her as though he had never seen anything quite like her. "I mean, you couldn't be, because . . . because it's just not possible. Wesley, back me up here, it's not possible, right?" she demanded, whirling around to look at the ex-Watcher, who hesitated, choosing his words carefully before he spoke.

"Well, no . . . no, it's not possible, but . . ."

"But what?" Cordelia demanded, throwing up her hands. "Are you telling me that we're just going to believe Future Girl over here just because she shows up with this whole sad story about how horrible the future's gonna be and wants to completely change it? Am I the only one seeing sense? Vampires can't have children, am I right?"

"No," Katie said, shaking her head. "Are you telling me that you have never once heard of dhampirs?"

The blank look that Cordelia gave her told her the answer to that question and Katie sighed. "Dhampirs are half-vampire children that are born to a human mother. It can't work with two vampires for instance or with a human father. It only works with a male vampire and a female human—or Slayer, in my case," she amended.

"They're only a legend," Wesley said automatically. "There's never actually been proof—at least, that the Watchers' Council knows about—that dhampirs actually exist."

Katie gave him a nice smile. "You're looking at the proof," she told him, her eyes looking back to her father, who hadn't moved out of his frozen position, just staring right at her like he hadn't really understood what she had just told him. "Dad?" she whispered, using the precious word that she hadn't been able to use since she was twelve.

She had been twelve and she still remembered when she had stumbled upon her dead parents. Her mother, lying bloody in the middle of the battlefield with a pile of ashes that left no doubt in anybody's mind that it was the remains of her father. Especially since there was a Claddagh ring lying right next to it, her father's Claddagh ring.

Angel jolted as though he had been electrocuted when she called him that and he stumbled, steadying himself carefully as he continued to stare at her, his brown eyes still wide and shocked and his face still paler than his usual vampiric pale. Katie swallowed, biting her lip as she stared at him, her breath quavering.

"Daddy?" she whispered, anxiety starting to rise through her. What if he decided that he didn't want her? What if he decided that he didn't want to have a daughter? What if decided not to get back together with her mother? Granted, that wasn't supposed to happen for years, but still . . . what if it never happened? Then she'd never be born . . .

As her body began to tremble with trepidation and anxiety, her father slowly began to move, taking a hesitant step towards her, so slow that she felt like he was moving in slow motion. After what felt like an eternity, Angel was standing right in front of her, his eyes filled with tears. Tears of sadness, tears of joy? Katie had no way of knowing as she just stared up at him as his hand reached out for her, finally touching her cheek and he lifting her chin so he could look at her more closely.

What he was searching for, Katie didn't know, but the disbelief in his eyes began to fade away and astonishment began to take its place.

"My god," he breathed, finally looking at her in the eyes. "Your eyes . . ."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Katie said with a trace of sarcasm. "I've got my mother's eyes." She managed a small, weak smile at him. "You don't know how many times I've heard that. Gets a bit tiring after awhile."

Angel chuckled as the first true smile that she had seen on him since she had gotten here spread across her face.

"I don't believe it," he whispered, still staring at her right in the face. "It couldn't be possible, but . . . you're here, you're real." He chuckled again, shaking his head in complete disbelief. "You really are my daughter," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "Mine and . . . mine and Buffy's." Angel said her name as though one would their deity. "You're our daughter."

Katie nodded, tears starting to fall down her cheeks as Angel pulled her into a tight hug and she held him back. She'd never thought that she would be here again, in her father's protective arms, where no evil could ever get to her, try as it may.

"Daddy," she whispered, burying her face into his coat and sobs racked her body as she let the tears that she had been holding back for five years, ever since the war had started, finally break through. And he held her, comforted her, as only a father could.

Wesley, Gunn, even Cordelia must have been tactful enough to leave, because when her tears had finally subsided, none of them were anywhere to be seen, having left father and daughter alone in the room.

Katie brushed her tears away, a small, weak chuckle escaping from her as she looked up at Angel, whose expression still mirrored one of complete shock, as though he weren't sure as this were entirely real. "Sorry," she apologised.

"It's okay," he assured her. "Really, it's okay. It's just . . . I can't believe that this is really happening."

With a nod, Katie looked down at her shoes, then back up at her father. "Believe me, I know. You don't know how strange it is to be talking to you—and Mom, when I see her."

"Buffy . . ." he whispered, shaking his head, running his hand through his already messy hair, pacing back and forth across the lobby floor, trying to think. "She is really going to freak out when she hears this. I should call her," he said suddenly, alarm going through him. "She needs to know what's going on, Katie, with you and Glory."

"And tell her what, exactly, Dad?" Katie demanded as his hand reached for the phone. He paused, hesitating. "That your future daughter is here, trying to prevent her death against Glory? Even if she were to believe you, it's not exactly the kind of thing that you tell someone over the phone. And even if it were, we need to get to Sunnydale to help Mom protect Aunt Dawn and stop Glory from kidnapping her."

"Right . . ." Angel said distractedly. He released a sigh. "You're right. I just . . . this is unreal."

Katie managed a small smile. "Believe me, I get the surreal part of it, Dad," she assured him. He chuckled slightly, shaking his head, a grin spreading across his face again.

"I don't think that I'm ever going to get used to that," he mused. "Someone calling me Dad and meaning their biological father, not just their creator." He shook his head. "Do—do you have any brothers or sisters or is it just you?"

"It's just me," Katie admitted, looking mournful. "I always wanted brothers and sisters, but Mom wasn't willing to bring any more kids into a world that was already being torn apart by war."

"That sounds like Buffy," he said softly, his expression softening at the mention of his soul mate. "Can you tell me anything else or is it too risky?"

Katie smiled mysteriously as she sat down on the couch, giving him an impish smile. "What do you want to know?" she questioned.

It was hours into the night that they stayed up talking about everything and anything underneath the sun, about what her favourite colours were, about her friends, her love life—he hadn't been thrilled when she told him that her boyfriend was a demon, but when she told him about Sam and what he'd done to get away from his father, he relented, admitting that Sam seemed like a nice enough guy. They had just gotten into the subject of Alex and Hope when Angel noticed her hiding a yawn behind her hand and stopped.

"We can talk more tomorrow," he told her reassuringly. "Come on, let's get you to bed."

Apparently, she was more tired than she had thought, because the moment that her head hit the pillow, she was out. She had forgotten just how soft a real bed was and it sent her into a deeper sleep than she was used to and by the time that she woke up, she could smell her father's cooking coming from downstairs.

For a moment, she forgot where she was and was instantly on her feet, wide-awake and alert as her eyes found her surroundings and she slowly let out a breath as everything came rushing back. She was in the past and her father knew everything.

Katie let out a slow sigh, visibly relaxing as she found some fresh clothes lying on the chair next to the bed, picking them up curiously. They looked like they might be a little big on her, but they were clean.

With a small smile, Katie headed into the bathroom, stepping into the shower and letting the water rush everything off of her. The war, the famine, the daily fighting, the hundreds of people getting plucked off of the street, the fear of losing the few people that were left that she cared about . . . all of slipped away and moved down the drain, but was replaced with the fear that she might fail in her mission. She could fail and then there was nothing to stop the future that was headed their way.

When she finished showering, Katie stepped out, drying herself, and quickly donning the clothes that she had found and headed downstairs to find Angel Investigations already in the kitchen, talking quietly until she cleared her throat to announce her presence.

"Hey, sleepyhead," Angel teased and Katie chuckled, giving her father a sideways grin.

"How long was I out?"

"About sixteen hours," he answered, shrugging. Katie's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "I figured that you needed the sleep. I was just about to come and wake you. Are you . . ." He paused, looking at her quickly. "You do eat, right?" he wanted to know.

Katie snorted. "Yes, Dad, I eat regular food," she assured him. They had never tested her feeding off of blood and Katie had never particularly wanted to, not wanting to know what the side effects would be if she did.

"Good." Angel sounded pleased as he set a plate of food in front of her. "Then eat up."

As she ate, Katie could feel every single one of the A.I. members watching her every move. Suppressing a sigh, she glanced at them. "You guys can look at me all you want and it's not going to change anything," she informed them. Angel chuckled and she shook her head, turning at him. "So, when we leaving?"

"Leaving?" Cordelia echoed, her eyebrows shooting up. "Leaving for where?"

"Sunnydale," Angel answered, looking around at his team. "Look, we all heard Katie's story and we need to do whatever's possible to prevent her future from happening. The only way that that's gonna happen is if we stop Buffy's death from happening."

"And we can't very well do that here in L.A.," Katie said with a sigh. "And I can't do this on my own; I need your help."

"Look," Angel said, holding up his hands before any of them could say anything. "I know how badly I've been messing things up lately and I'm really sorry for that. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. And if you don't want to come with us to Sunnydale, then I'll understand. But it's Buffy," he said softly. "And more importantly, it's saving the future from becoming completely decimated. Anybody who wants to stay here can; I won't force you to go."

Wesley, Cordelia, and Gunn all looked around at each other, then towards Angel again. Wesley stood up.

"Buffy may not be my Slayer anymore, but I do care about what happens to her," he said, his tone extremely sympathetic. "And more importantly, she means a great deal to you, my friend. And more important than that, I do not want to see this future that you come from, Katie. I will do anything that I can to prevent it."

"So will I," Gunn chimed it. "Besides, if Sunnydale is anything like you three say it is, it sounds like it's worth checking out." Katie grinned at him before she looked at Cordelia.

"Cordy?" Angel prompted.

She sighed, glancing at him, then at Katie. "And here we go, off to save Miss Slays a Lot," she complained, shaking her head before getting to her feet, looking at Angel straight in the eye. "I don't like this; I never wanted to go back to Sunnydale ever again. But . . . I don't want to see that future either, so . . . so I guess I'm in."

Katie grinned happily, a sigh of relief escaping from her. "All right, then let's go," she said.

"Uh . . . Katie?" Angel said weakly. She turned around to face her father and he pointed towards the gardens, where the sunlight was clearly streaming into. She winced.

"Oh. Okay," she said, shrugging. "We'll go tonight."

"And in the meantime, we'll be packing up weapons and making a few calls," Angel said, but was pulling out his credit card, handing it over, to her astonishment, to Cordelia. "You two are going and getting you some stuff. I noticed you didn't bring anything," he added to Katie, who shrugged.

"What I brought with me is all that I own," she told him. "Well, that and a car, which I'm still learning how to drive," she added lamely.

Angel looked alarmed. "Not my classic," he protested. Katie gave him an awkward smile, then looked quickly at Cordelia.

"Okay, I think we should go," she said quickly.

"Good idea," Cordelia said with a laugh as they headed out the door. "So, I'm guessing the malls are wrecked in your time?" she asked. Katie stared at her. "That's just wrong."

Katie shook her head before looking at her father. "Man, you really didn't exaggerate about her," she told him. Angel chuckled.

"Cordelia needs no embellishment."

"I'm beginning to learn that."