I own none of the characters of Angel.

Angel's POV

"Well look at that." Connor said smugly. "I believe that you landed on Park Place and I believe that's a hotel. Wow. You owe me a lot of money. Hand it over dad."

Chase, Connor, Wesley, Gunn and David were all over at my house having a guys night in that included beer and pizza for the guys, blood for me and an intense game of Monopoly that I was quickly losing. Cordy, Catherine, Ciara, Fred and Ali were having a girls outing, which meant they were out shopping at the mall.

"Chase…I'm uhh…I'm a little short." I told him counting out my pitiful stack of Monopoly dollars.

"You know what that means." Chase responded with a grin. He was enjoying this way too much. Chase was a ruthless Monopoly player and he usually kicked all of our asses.

"Come on Chase. Cut me some slack." He shook his head.

"I can give you a loan sir." David told me. I really did like the kid. He was very polite; pleasant to be around and most importantly he really cared for my daughter. I could tell that as far as David was concerned the sun rose and set around my daughter.

"That's a great attempt to get on my dad's good side but one of the rules are no loans." Connor said.

"I appreciate the offer David but I'm going to have to mortgage my Electric company. If you haven't already realized this is a ruthless game and all of the players are very serious."

"The longest game took twenty-two hours." Connor told him.

"But who won that game?" I asked him.

"Dad we have been playing for years and that game has been the only one you've one." My oldest son smirked.

"I let you kids win. It's my job as your dad to build your self-esteem and by letting you win a few games I was able to accomplish that." Everyone but David burst out laughing.

"Bullshit dad." Chase quipped. "You suck at Monopoly. We've only been playing for an hour and a half and you are already broke. Face it dad you suck."

"Can we get back to the game please? Wes it's your turn." I really wanted to get off the subject of how badly I suck at Monopoly.

"Usually the winner is Wesley or Chase." Gunn explained. "But over the years all of us but Angel have won a few games."

"Can we please move on?" I begged.

"Fine." Everyone agreed.

We played in serious silence for the next twenty minutes. I actually was starting to win back some money when Connor and Chase started arguing, a normal occurrence during these game nights.

"You moved seven instead of six places." Chase accused.

"Whatever. I moved six." Connor defended

"No you didn't. I watched you and counted. I know how to count Connor."

"Every time we play you pull this stunt Chase. Is cheating the only way you know how to win?"

"Shut up Connor." Chase shouted standing up.

"Why don't you come over here and make me?" In two steps they were standing nose to nose next to the table. I quickly stood in between them.

"Seriously you two? Every time we play you two fight. We have a guest and you're going to end up scaring him away and I don't want to deal with Catherine if that happens and God help you both if you get blood on the new carpet. Cordelia will kill both of you."

"He's cheating." Both of my grown sons shouted.

"For God's sake how old are you two? Knock it off and sit your asses down so we can finish the damn game." With one final glare at each other Chase and Connor sat back down and we continued our game.

Fifteen minutes later I had just hit the jackpot in Free Parking when the house started to shake. Pictures fell off the walls, books fell off the shelves, and plates crashed to the floor.

"Earthquake." I shouted. "Everyone get to a doorway." I grabbed David and practically drug him to the doorway between the living room and kitchen. I watched as Gunn, Wesley, Connor and Chase all made it safely to other doorways.

It seemed to take forever for the earth to stop shaking but in reality it was only a few minutes. "Is everyone okay?" I asked and I heard numerous "yeses" throughout the room.

"That was a bad one." Gunn commented and we all thought of the women in our lives that were out shopping. At the same time we all grabbed our phones and tried to reach them. I received busy signals when I attempted to reach Cordy and Catherine.

"Has anyone reached any of them?" I asked.

"No." Came the answer.

"The cell towers probably were damaged during the quake." Wesley said. He was always the logical one but I had a bad feeling.

Thankfully we still had electric so Chase turned the T.V. and there was already coverage of the damage on all of the stations. We all sat in silence watching the news and trying unsuccessfully to reach our loved ones. Suddenly the news went to a live broadcast of the local mall where the girls were shopping. It was practically flattened.

"Dad." Chase whispered.

"I'm going after them."

"So am I." Everyone replied.

"David maybe you should wait here." I knew that Connor, Chase, Wes and Gunn could handle themselves but I didn't know if David could handle himself and I wasn't willing to risk his life.

"With all due respect sir, I love Catherine and I want to help find her."

"It will be dangerous."

"I'm going to be a nurse in a couple of months. If any of them are hurt I can help. It's not always about the strength." At that moment David earned my total respect. Not many people would stand up to me but he did and I really respected that.

"Let's go."

Cordy's POV

I opened my eyes and everything came rushing back. We were walking in the mall, laughing and talking when the building started to shake. People started running and the screaming…there was so much screaming. We all linked hands and tried to run for cover but the building started to crash around us and that's the last thing that I remember.

Once my eyes focused I wish that they hadn't. We were surrounded by large pieces of the building and I could still hear screaming but it wasn't as loud as before. They were the screams of the dying. I wanted to help them, my friends and daughter. "Catherine." I called out but she didn't respond. "CATHERINE." This time I shouted but I still got no response so I began to panic and cry. I struggled to stand up but my leg was pinned beneath a piece of the building. "God Dammit." I cried. "Catherine…please…where are you?" I tried to lift the large piece of cement off my leg but it wouldn't budge. "Ali, Ciara, Fred can you guys hear me?" After a few minutes of silence, someone close to me moaned. "Catherine?"

"It's me." Fred groaned.

"Fred are you hurt?"

"I'm just sore. I don't think that anything is broken. What about you?"

"My leg is stuck. I can't get move. Is Catherine Ciara or Ali anywhere around you? Catherine won't answer me." I said tearfully. I was terrified for Ciara, Ali and Catherine. I heard Fred moving around next to me.

"I can see Ciara."

"Is she…alive?"

"I can feel a pulse."

"Thank god but where is Ali and Cat? Fred I can't find my daughter or my son's girlfriend who is like a daughter to me." I started to sob.

"Cordy calm down. From where I'm standing I can see Ali. She is to your left unconscious." I tried desperately to reach her but I couldn't.

"Fred can you come and check her?"

"I can't sweetie. I'm surrounded by debris."

"Catherine…where the hell is Catherine."

"Mom…relax." Catherine's voice rose from behind me. "I'm fine."

"Oh thank god. Are you all right sweetheart?"

"I'm fine mom." She repeated but I wouldn't relax until I could see for myself. "What about you mom…are you okay?"

"My leg is pinned so I can't move." I chose not to mention the fact that it was probably broke. Catherine would freak out if she knew. "Which is why I can't get to Ali. Please baby go make sure Ali is okay."

"What about Ciara?"

"She's unconscious but she still has a pulse. I can't get close enough to evaluate her condition."

"Okay, I'm going to try to move some of this and see if I can get us all together." Catherine said.

"Be careful honey." I begged her.

"I will mommy." I sat there very impatiently while Catherine started large pieces of the building around. I was always glad that she inherited her father's strength, especially when she was fighting vampires or demons but I never truly appreciated it until right now because it never directly affected me until now. Before I knew it she had cleared a path and was carrying a lifeless Ali over to me.

"I checked all over and I don't see any major outward injuries." Catherine told me laying Ali down on the floor next to me. "Just a few cuts and bruises."

"She could have some internal injuries." Fred commented, not easing my apprehension.

"That's what I thought." Catherine said and then she got back to work.

"Come on Ali honey." I whispered. "You need to wake up. If I know Chase he is on his way over here to find you so you need to be awake when he gets here." I continued to whisper to her until Catherine had cleared a path and brought Ciara over to me who was still unconscious.

"I need to get this off of you." Catherine panted.

"You need to take a break sweetie." I told her. She was exhausted and sweating profusely. I was worried that she was going to dehydrate herself.

"I'll take a break when I get this off of you." She grunted as she attempted to lift the large piece of cement off of my leg. "Aunt Fred can you help me?" Fred left Ciara's side and joined Catherine.

"Cat honey it's too heavy." Fred said.

"Look I can't move it but I think that I can lift it enough that you can pull it out."

"Just leave it sweetheart until the rescue workers get here." I begged my daughter

"No mom. I've been helping David study and I know that if thing stays on your leg too long you could lose your leg and I'm not going to let that happen."

"Catherine you're over reacting." I snapped.

"I can save total strangers lives so I damned well am going to save yours." She positioned herself. "Aunt Fred get ready to pull when I say." She demanded. Sighing Fred went behind me and placed her hands under my arms. I watched helplessly as my daughter struggled to free me of my confines. "NOW.' She shouted.

"Arrrgh." I screamed as Fred yanked me out. My leg felt like it was on fire.

"This does not look good." Fred said while she examined my leg. "It's a good thing we got you out when we did. Cordy you're leg is crushed in at least two places." She took her jacket off and placed it over one of the largest gash.

"GOD DAMMIT." Catherine shouted.

"Catherine Suzanne. You need to calm down." I told her.

"I can't move these. They are too heavy." She snapped. "I have to move these. I have to get you, Ali and Ciara out of here. I have to get you help. I won't let you guys die." I nodded at Fred who went over to Catherine, placed an arm around her shoulder and led her over to me. As soon as she was on the floor next to me I replaced Fred's arm with my own.

"Baby girl you did all that you can do." I told her softly. "You saved my leg. Now all we have to do is wait for the rescue workers or your father to find us."

"Mommy I'm scared." She whispered tearfully. "I don't want to die in here."

"Catherine listen to me." I told her sternly. "We are NOT going to die in here. I know that your dad and brothers are somewhere in this fallen down building looking for us and they WILL find us. Your dad has never let me down and I know that he will not start now."

"Promise?"

"I promise sweetheart."

Angel's POV

We arrived at the crumbled down mall just as the sun fell. There were hundreds of rescue workers milling around and thankfully I saw them bringing out survivors. Even though Gunn was worried sick about he used his D.A. position and was able to access the list of survivors and dead that had been pulled from the building. I saw his hand shake as he read the list and then I saw his body relax slightly when he didn't find Ali, Cordy, Fred, Catherine or Ciara's name on either list but all that meant was they were still inside and they could possibly be dead. He motioned us over the officer in charge.

"These are some friends of mine that I was with when the quake occurred. We heard that you needed all the man power you could get so we are here to volunteer." Gunn told us not to mention the fact that our wives, children and girlfriends were trapped inside because if they knew that we wouldn't be allowed in.

The guy in charge eagerly accepted our help and began giving instructions, which I wasn't listening to. My only thoughts were getting the hell inside the wreckage and find my family. I knew they were still alive. Cordy and I are so connected that I would know if she were gone and since I wasn't feeling her death I knew she was alive and therefore keeping everyone else alive.

"Dad come on." Connor said putting a hardhat on my head, like I would need it.

"I don't need this." I mumbled taking it off.

"If you want in that building you will put the damn hat on." He snapped.

"Fine." I placed the hat on my head and we all slowly walked in.

We made it five feet into the wreckage when it hit me. "Oh God." I mumbled. The blood…human blood…I could smell it. It was everywhere and it was so strong. I was suddenly very hungry and pig's blood would cut it. I haven't had a craving like this in years, not since Wolfram & Hart fed me Connor's blood.

"Dad what's wrong?" Chase asked. I had stopped moving because every step I took made me hungrier.

"Blood." Wesley said. "He can smell the human blood."

"It's so strong." I whispered.

"What's the big deal? You smell blood all the time." Chase asked.

"Never this much. A vampire's nature is too feed on humans and your dad hasn't fed on a human in years. He has been able to keep his craving under control but seeing and smelling this much blood is making him very hungry right now, right?" Wesley asked and I nodded weakly.

"Dad you need to get it out of your mind; the smell, the thought of feeding, all of it get it out of your mind and focus." Connor told me. "Dad your best friend's wife is trapped. Your other best friend's daughter who is also your son's girlfriend is trapped and along with them is my wife, your daughter and wife. They need you dad. They need you to focus and help them. You can do this."

"You're right. Let's go." I focused my mind on my family and got to work.

We carefully made our way through the wreckage moving pieces of the building as we went. Connor, Chase and I were on fire, picking up the pieces and moving them like they were feathers. Some of the other rescue workers were sending us the weirdest looks but we ignored them. We were on a mission and no amount of weird looks were going to stop us.

"Wait do you hear that?" I shouted. I was hearing crying.

"I got nothing Angel. You're the only one with super sonic hearing." Gunn smarted.

"I can hear it. It's over to the right." Chase said. We all headed to the right and dug out a family of four. I felt my body stiffen when I saw the blood covering them. Wesley reached over and placed an encouraging hand on my shoulder.

"We need to get them help." David said.

"I'll get dad, Chase, Connor you guys can get mom and one of the twins and Gunn, Wes, you two grab the other twin and David you wait here so we can find our way back."

"Dad can you handle it. There's a lot of blood." Chase asked me.

"I'll be fine." They all stood around and stared at me. "These people are helpless and that's a thing that I do. I help the helpless. Now let's get them some help so we can find the girls."

--

We spent the next few hours moving ahead a few feet before we would find some alive, some dead and we would take them all outside so their families would have some answers good or bad.

"Are we sure that they are here?" Chase asked.

"They always come to this mall." Wesley answered.

"We would have heard from them if they weren't here. Ciara wouldn't want me to worry." Connor said.

"They're here. I can smell Cordy and Catherine. At one point they walked through here when the mall was still in one piece." I told them.

"What about Ali, Ciara and Fred? Were they with them?" Wes asked.

"I can't smell them."

"Then maybe they aren't here." Gunn said hopefully.

"They're here. There are familiar scents mixed in with Cordy and Catherine's that probably belong to one or all of the girls but because of all of the blood I can't pinpoint exactly what I'm smelling."

"You can smell Catherine?" David asked me is awe as we continued forward.

"As a vampire I have heightened senses. I can pick up any scent in non-populated areas but places like malls are a lot harder because of the human traffic. In places like this the scents that I can pinpoint are those of Cordy, my kids or grandkids. I think Cordy's scent is prevalent to me because we are in love. I can smell the kids or grandkids because we are connected by blood. My blood is mixed with theirs so in a way I'm smelling myself."

"Wow. That must really come in handy."

"It does especially right now because their smell is getting stronger." I pointed to a wall of debris. "I think that they are behind that wall. Their scent is contained in this area and since I can't see them they must me behind that mess. CORDY." I screamed. I thought I heard a response but I couldn't be sure because of all of the chitchat that was going on behind me. "Will you please shut up? I can't hear." I snapped and it immediately became quiet. "Cordy. Are you here?" I yelled and tears sprung to my eyes when I heard her beautiful voice. I turned around and faced the guys. "They're here. They are all here.'

Cordy's POV

We had been sitting and waiting for hours for the rescue workers or Angel to come for us. About every fifteen minutes Catherine would try unsuccessfully to move some of the debris. Every time she was unable to move a piece she got all pissed off and would start kicking the debris and yelling. Fred had managed to temporarily control the bleeding on my leg but that was hours ago and now it was bleeding again and I know that I didn't have much time left before I passed out. I could feel myself growing weaker by the minute.

"How is Ciara?" I asked Fred weakly.

"The same. It's been an hour since she last opened her eyes. What about Ali?"

"Nothing."

"Cordelia if they are bleeding internally and we don't get them out of here…"

"I know."

"He's here." Catherine spoke up suddenly.

"What?" I asked her.

"Daddy's here. I can hear him yelling."

"ANGEL" I screamed. Catherine stood and walked over to the wall.

"He's yelling for you again."

"Angel we're all here." I yelled as loud as I could.

"They're coming. They're going to get us out of here." Tears of relief fell from my eyes.

"Yeah daddy we're all away from it." I heard her say. I hated that I couldn't hear what Angel was saying.

"Catherine get away from that and get over here right now." I told her when the wall of debris started moving.

"I'm trying to help." I didn't know if she was talking to me or to her father.

"If one piece goes the wrong way it can hurt you. Now get over here."

"Fine." She stormed over and sat next to me.

"You're dad said the same thing didn't he?" I smirked and she nodded.

An hour ago, sitting in this dark hole of what used to be the mall I never thought that I would see my husband's or son's face again but when a piece of the debris was moved and Angel poked his head through I started crying.

"Cordy are you okay?" He asked, his voice full of worry and I was crying so hard that all I could do was nod. "Catherine what's everyone status in there?"

"I'm fine and so is Aunt Fred. Ciara and Ali are unconscious. They have been since the building came down. Aunt Fred thinks that they may be bleeding internally." I heard gasping from the other side of the wall. "Mom's leg was crushed from a large piece debris that fell on her. We were able to pull her out but she's lost a lot of blood."

"Cordy hang in there babe. I'm going to get you out in a few minutes." I nodded as he got back to work. I had just closed my eyes when Fred screamed.

"Angel stop." She shouted and Angel poked his head back in. "You can't move anymore. If you do the whole place will come down around us."

"I have to get you out."

"If you move one more piece we will be crushed to death." As if on cue the building started to shake and large pieces of cement began to fall. The last thing I remember was hearing Catherine's screams as she threw her body over Ali and I, protecting us.

Thanks for reading. Reviews are appreciated and encouraged. :)