I own none of the characters of Angel.

After my giant screw up, Cordy stayed around and I did the best that I could to keep her happy. I didn't work much so I could spend more time with the woman I love. It wasn't like I could take a ghost that only I could see out on a date so I brought her flowers and jewelry, which she loved, but she said what would really make her happy would be just spending time with me talking and making love, which I was easily able to do. I really did love making love to her.

Illyria stuck around Wolfram and Hart. In a way, she was lost and had nowhere else to go. At first it was very hard for Wesley to see her everyday because every time he looked at he saw his Fred. We knew that she was strong a hell so we figured that she could be an asset to our team. The best part of allowing Illyria to join our team was the fact that we had to discover what her strengths and weaknesses were and to do that we needed someone from our side to fight with her and who better then Spike. I loved it because he was getting his ass kicked multiple times a day.

"I think I know why my vision didn't come in time to save Fred." She told me softly one night after we made love.

"Okay, why?"

"I think that she will be able to help you fight in the next apocalypse."

"Great, another apocalypse." I muttered.

"I had another vision Angel and if it comes true it will end the world."

"Can we stop it?" I asked softly

"Sure if we can figure out who is involved."

"Sounds easy enough." I said simply.

"It's not. You are being watched like a hawk. Every room is this joint is bugged and you are being followed constantly. There are bugs all over you and everyone else that works for you, their cars, their offices and even their homes. They record your phone calls, they've put GPS monitor's on your guys' cars."

"How do you know that?"

"I'm vision girl remember?" I pulled myself up to a sitting position, pulling her up with me.

"If this room is bugged then how can we have this conversation?"

"You're the only one who can see me and whenever we are together and you're having a conversation with me you appear to be sleeping to the rest of the world so as far as Wolfram and Hart are concerned you have been sleeping a lot."

"Great. So now what the hell do I do?"

"You become one of them."

"One of who?"

"One of The Circle of the Black Thorn."

"The Circle of the what?"

"The Circle of the Black Thorn. They are the who's who in the upcoming apocalypse."

"How do I become one of them? I'm sure it's not a club with an open door policy."

"It's not."

"So what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Use Fred's death to your advantage." She said softly

"That's wrong Cor. That is so wrong. Fred deserves better from me."

"It's only a façade Angel. This is what Fred would want. She would want her death to mean something and this way it can. Her death can help save the world."

"I don't like it."

"I didn't think that you would but it's the only way."

"What do I do?" I asked her. I knew she had plan forming in her beautiful head.

"You lie to your friends, make them lose their trust in you, become a killer, essentially you will become a different vampire. Everyone must believe that you have turned evil."

"Great. Where do I sign up?" I muttered.

"I know this horrible and you don't want to do it but it's not real. You'll have to remember that. You won't be able to get through it unless you keep telling yourself that."

"I don't know if I can do it Cor. I don't know if I can lie to our friends."

"By lying you will save the world Angel. Isn't it worth it?" I slowly nodded.

"What if they don't forgive me?"

"I know our friends Angel and I know once they realize why you did what you did they will forgive you."

"I don't know Cor." I mumbled.

"Yes you do Angel. You know what you need to do. You are a champion. You help the helpless."

"You're right. I know exactly what I need to do." I said pulling her to me and pressing my lips to hers.

"Angel…" She giggled pulling away from me. "I'm not helpless."

"I'll start tomorrow. There is nothing I can do tonight expect for you of course." I pulled her onto my chest and ran my tongue up the side of neck.

"Angel…I…ohh….we…have…to…" She sighed as my tongue landed inside of her ear. "plan…we…have…to form…a…plan." I gently lifted her up and slid her on top of my erection. "Son…of…a…bitch." She gasped. Placing my hand on the back of her neck I pulled her face to mine and kissed her. Using my tongue I forced her mouth open and shoved it inside of her mouth, tasting every part of her mouth. She moved very slowly on top of me while I just concentrated on kissing her mouth, her ears, her lips and her breasts. As always we reached our climax at the same time, with me gripping her hips and her raking her nails down my back but I didn't feel the pain. The only thing I felt was euphoric bliss, the same thing I always felt whenever I was making love to Cordy.

"That was low Angel." She accused me once her breathing returned to normal.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I said with a grin.

"We need to come up with a plan to save the world." She said as she planted kisses on my neck.

"I know that." I responded rubbing my hands up and down her naked back. "But as long as you are kissing my neck and sitting on top of me I can't think of anything but being inside of you and what I want to do with you."

"Fine then." She quickly pulled herself off of me and snuggled up next to me.

"So vision girl. What's the plan?"

By the time the sun rose the next morning Cordy and I hammered out a plan, a plan that I hated. I was going to have to start lying to my friends. I was going to have to convince strangers, the spy's at Wolfram and Hart and my friends that I had turned to the dark side. It was going to be hard but I knew as long as I had Cordy by my side, I could pull this off, possibly live through this and save the world.

"Cordy is it worth it? Is saving the world worth risking everyone's lives?" I asked her miserably.

"That's not your choice to make Angel. You're going to have to let them decide for themselves if they are willing to fight with you cause it's going to be dangerous. You can't force anyone to fight this fight with you but you can't do it alone either."

"I've never forced anyone to fight with me." I mumbled

"Maybe not exactly but you have a very powerful way of convincing people of doing what you want." She told me from experience.

"I won't force anyone." I told her as I finally pulled myself out bed, threw on my boxers and went to stand by the window. Neither of us said anything until she came up in front of me, placed my arms around her waist and she leaned back into my chest.

"Angel I know that you aren't comfortable with this plan, lying to your friends, becoming fake evil, but look outside. Look at all of the innocent people that you are going to save, the mothers, the fathers, the kids, the grandparents, the aunts, the uncles, the cousins, the nieces, the nephews, the cousins, the friends and the lovers. Take a long hard look and ask yourself if it's worth it?" She instructed me softly.

I spent the next five minutes doing as she instructed. Although I was so high up that I couldn't actually see the people because they all looked like ants but I got the point that she was trying to make. I got it loud and clear. I knew what I had to do.

"Yeah, Cordelia. It's worth it." I told her tightening my arms around her waist.

--

Over the next few weeks I made my friends distrust me and I managed to spin Fred's death to my advantage, which I hated. As soon as rumors started to fly that I had something to do with Fred's death The Circle contacted me. I was hoping that as soon as I was contacted I was hoping that I could identify the members but nothing is ever that easy. The few times that I met with them, they all had masks so that meant that I had to kill a fighter of good. I was sick to my stomach at the thought of having to kill an innocent being, but I guess since I would ultimately save the world it was worth it, or at least that what I kept telling myself.

Once I completed my "death" mission all of their faces were revealed to me and I would like to say that I was shocked by the faces that I saw but I wasn't. I knew who everyone of them were, they were clients of Wolfram & Hart. There was still one sacrifice they needed from me, one more proof of loyalty; they wanted me to sign away my humanity with blood. I didn't think twice about it. What they hell is the point of being human anymore? The woman I love is dying, my son has a new family and he is finally happy and all of my friends were probably going to die in the next few days so I had no need or desire to become human anymore. Now all I had to do was wait for my friends to confront me, confirming The Circle's belief that they no longer trusted me. As soon as that occurred I would let them know the truth and I would hope like hell that they would help me.

Cordy had another vision. She saw Wesley, Gunn, Lorne and Spike confronting me. I had gotten my hands on a glamour jewel, which would let my biggest spy, Hamilton think he was seeing my friends confronting me when I was filling them in on my plan minus Cordy giving me the vision. When it actually happened I told them that since Cordy was out of commission, in a coma, The Powers sent me the vision of The Circle. When I spun my whole story they were understandably angry with me and weren't sure that they could trust me but in the end they all agreed to help even though they might not make it through. They were willing to do whatever necessary to keep the world safe, even die. These men, that I worked with were champions in their own right, expect for Spike. He was just an ass.

I laid out my plan for them in crucial detail, what each would so, who they would be killing, where to find their "victims" and where to meet when all was said and done. I also told them to spend the day of the battle as if it was their last because it probably would be. I really wanted to know how they would spend their time since known of them had anyone special in their lives but it wasn't my business so I didn't ask. As Lorne left he told me that if he made it through tonight he was leaving and I wouldn't see him again. I hated to lose Lorne but I knew this wasn't what he signed up for. He was just a demon that wanted to sing and help people with get on the right path. Losing Fred had hit him hard and I knew it wouldn't be long until he took off. I was really going to miss him.

I of course wanted to spend my last day with Cordy but I needed to see Connor first. His new parents had brought him in to Wolfram & Hart when he was hit by a van and didn't get a scratch on him. At first I didn't want to help him but eventually I gave in because he was my son after all, and I didn't want him hurt. I caught up to him as he and his family was being attacked by demons. I knew he could fight but he didn't have the memory of how to fight so he couldn't really defend himself. By the end of the next day he had his memories returned but he didn't come right out and say anything to me about it except one little comment that gave me some hope. He said that he understood that a father would do anything necessary to protect his family. I think he was talking about me.

I found Connor at the student center writing a resume. Cordy went with me and smiled the whole time we were together. He had become such a great young man, no thanks to me. He told me that he knew that I was his father and he understood why I did what I did. He told me that he wasn't angry with me but that he wanted to keep things as they are now with his family and I could hardly blame the kid. His words meant so much to me. My boy didn't hate me. I had tears in my eyes when I left, knowing I would probably never see him again but at the same time I knew that he would okay.

By the time I returned to my penthouse I was sobbing. The reality of the choices that I made for myself, my friends and my son came washing over me. Even though we were going to save the world it still felt so wrong that so many of us were going to die in process and the souls of the world would be none the wiser. Cordy held me in her arms and reminded me that I was doing the right thing.

"Angel I am so proud of you." She told me lovingly as she kissed my tears away.

"For what?"

"For saving the world. For being willing to sacrifice yourself to save others." I couldn't respond. I just held her tightly to my chest, never wanting to let go. "You have made me so happy Angel. I'm so glad that we given this second chance."

"You've made me happy too Cor, happier then I ever deserved."

"I love you so much." She said to me, with tears running down her face, causing my own to return. I knew this was her way of saying goodbye without actually coming out and saying it, in case I don't make it through.

"I love you my sweet Cordelia." I gently lifted her face to mine and we kissed gently. I slowly removed her clothes and she removed mine. I pushed her back onto the bed and kissed every available piece of skin I could find. Since this will probably be the last time that we will make love, I was going to make it count. I slowly sheathed myself into her and moved very slowly, making the most of this final time. By the time we both reached our orgasms we both had tears streaming down our faces.

"Where will you be during this?" I softly asked her, as we got dressed.

"I'll be watching." I nodded and we finished dressing in silence.

"Angel it's time." She told me. I had been holding her in my arms for the past ten minutes.

"I know." I made no attempt to release her.

"Angel." I reluctantly pulled away.

"Cordy I…" She placed a finger to my lips.

"No words. We have already said everything that we need to say." I smiled at her through my tears and kissed her passionately. When I pulled away she returned the smile and disappeared from my arms. I knew that it was time.

My plan was to deal with Hamilton myself. He was my biggest pain in the ass. I knew that my gang could handle the rest. I set Harmony up because I knew she couldn't keep her mouth shut. I may have let it slip about my plan and I knew she would betray me and tell him everything, which is exactly what I wanted so it wasn't exactly a betrayal. When Hamilton found me in my penthouse he easily threw me through a window, through a skylight and I landed with a thud, a very painful thud on the floor of the lobby. Okay, so far the fight wasn't off to such a great start. I accused Harmony of betrayal and sent her on her way with a letter of recommendation. I wanted to be alone with my replacement liaison to the senior partners. I hit him in the chest as hard as I could and it didn't even faze him and I knew I was in trouble. He returned the punch and I went flying up the stairs and landed hard into a wall. This continued on for a while, Hamilton punching me, me landing into a wall, desk or a pillar, until I saw him standing over me with a stake. I saw my life flash before my eyes, Cordy, Connor, Fred, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne, and just before the stake was plunged into my heart Hamilton went flying across the room. I looked up and saw my son standing there. He reached down and pulled me to my feet.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked him

"You drop by for a cup of coffee and the world's not ending. Yeah right." I smiled quickly and we both began trying to pulverize Hamilton. I thought that we were making some progress until he threw Connor against an elevator and he didn't get up. As I struggled to pick myself up off of the stairs I heard him mumbling about how strong he was, how strong Wolfram & Hart was, how I would never win because their power was running through his blood and it suddenly hit me how I could beat him. Reenergized I stood from my spot on the steps.

"Do you realize the one word that you shouldn't have said?" I smiled, vamped out and before he could react I leapt from the steps and sank my teeth into his neck. I had never tasted blood like this before. I could feel myself gaining power as the blood slid down my throat. I viciously ripped my teeth from his neck, leaving a nice gash, pulled a really cool vampire move and flipped backwards. "You really are full of it." I said licking my lips. I suddenly felt very powerful and I jumped down and proceeded to pummel the shit out of Hamilton. I had never hit anyone or thing so hard before in my life. I continued to punch him until I felt and heard his neck snap. I felt a thrill of confidence surge through me when it happened. Connor was slowing pulling himself to his feet when the building started to shake.

I was able to quickly convince him to go home. I wouldn't be able to fight what was coming if I had to worry about him. I shot him a loving glance and watched him hobble out of the building. I quickly followed after him but when he turned right I turned left and headed for the alley behind The Hyperion. I thought I was the first to arrive but Spike came out of the shadows and told me the baby had been returned to his parents. Gunn came next, slowly making his way up the alley. As Spike helped him sit I saw all of the blood gushing out of his abdomen and I knew he didn't have much time left. Suddenly Illyria seemed to fall out of the sky. She told us that Wesley was dead and when she said that she wished to do more violence because of her grief I would of laughed if it wasn't so sad. I heard before I saw the massive army of monsters and demons. I looked around at my remaining friends and saw all of their eyes widen in shock. We all stood.

"You take the thirty thousand on the left." Gunn said weakly

"Your fading." Illyria observed. "You won't last ten minutes."

"Then let's make them memorable." He replied

"So what's the plan?"

"We fight."

"A bit more specific?" Spike asked

"Well, personally, I want to slay the dragon." I raised my sword. "Let's go to work."

Gunn didn't even make it ten minutes. I saw him fall and not get up five minutes into the fight but Spike, Illyria and I were on fire. We were killing things like we never killed before. I was taking out my anger of losing Fred, Cordy, Wesley and Gunn on all of these monsters and I'm pretty sure that Illyria and Spike were doing the same. I have no idea how long it took us but we kicked some major demon ass and eventually the last fifty retreated. We had won.

"Are we done because I was having….?" Illyria struggled to find the correct word.

"Fun sweetheart. You were having fun." Spike supplied,

"Yes fun. I was having fun. I would like to continue to have this fun."

"Go on then. There are lots of bad things out there to have fun with but remember only have fun with bad demons." Spike told her. She gave us a tentative smile and jogged off. I wondered if I would ever see her again.

"Good work Spike." I said stretching my hand out. He slowly reached out and took and we shook.

"You weren't so bad yourself mate." We stood in silence taking in the carnage around us. "I need a drink." He announced.

"Are you sticking around?"

"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not." He grinned and walked away from me.

"Spike." I yelled. He stopped and turned to face me. "Thanks. I couldn't have done it without you." He nodded and ran off into the night.

I slowly made my way into my old home, The Hyperion. I had multiple stab wounds, some pretty damn deep. I could hardly move by the time I collapsed on the couch in the lobby. I had just closed my eyes when I felt her hand touch my cheek. I slowly opened my eyes and smiled at her.

"Wes and Gunn didn't make it." I told her sadly.

"I know."

"Connor showed up and helped me fight Hamilton."

"I know."

"Of course you do. You're my seer." She smiled softly at me, reached out and cupped my cheek.

"You did it Angel."

"No Cordelia we did it. You, me, Fred, Wes, Gunn, Spike and Illyria, we all did it." I watched as tears fell from her eyes. I wiped them away with my thumb.

"Cor?"

"It's time Angel." I just stared at her.

"No." I mumbled, tears filling my eyes.

"My time with you is up."

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