AUTHOR'S NOTE: I honestly can't apologise enough. I've been a terrible, neglectful writer. My only excuses for abandoning this story for as long as I have are that I got a life, changed jobs and countries a couple of times and well, you know the drill. However, consider the extended break over. I finished NaNoWriMo (my first win) and am now raring to go with this story.

So without further ado...

Title: Family

Author: forensicsgirl

Rating: T (PG-13)

Summary: See prologue

Disclaimer: If you recognise them, they belong to Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt and Mutant Enemy. I'm just borrowing them for a little while. This is for entertainment purposes only, not profit.

Chapter Three

Kathy was in deep research mode when the lobby doors swung open and three less than jubilant warriors returned home. Gunn and Wesley merely looked concerned, but Angel seemed utterly despondent. With barely a glance in his sister's direction, he went into the office and shut the door.

"It didn't go well, I take it."

Gunn shrugged, but it was Wesley who answered. "The vampires are no more and the girl is safe."

Kathy felt like she was missing something. "Okay… So why the glum faces?"

"Well, you know how you wanted Angel to quit brooding over Cordy's visions?" Gunn asked. "Well, now he's got something else to brood over. Some weird-ass old man put the bugga-boo up him."

"Translation?"

Wesley sighed. "We ran into a member of the Kalderash."

"Oh," Kathy replied, not altogether surprised. "Damn. I hoped we would have more time."

"More time? You knew?"

Kathy rose from her chair, bringing the book she'd been reading with her. "Not exactly. But while you were out, Cordy told me about these dreams and visions she'd been having. They've all revolved around the gypsies, and some sort of ritual. I think that the Kalderash are planning something. I just don't know what yet."

"Well, we'd better figure it out. And soon," Gunn replied. "Because Angel's seriously wigged out."

"I'll talk to him," Kathy said.

Wesley nodded. "I'll start researching."

Kathy paused on her way to the inner office. She knew the time for avoidance was over, and the ex-watcher was the man in possession of some of the answers she needed.

"Wesley, do you still have the scroll of Aberjian?"

He looked up from the book, curious. "Of course."

"I'm going to need to see it later," she said, but resisted explaining further. There would be time for that later.

She walked hesitantly towards Angel's inner sanctum, fairly certain of what waited for her behind the closed doors. She found her brother staring into space, unsurprisingly in full brood-mode.

"Hey."

"Hey," he barely responded.

"The guys told me what went down at the nest." His pained expression was his only response. "Look, I don't need to tell you how the Kalderash operate. You've been living with their handiwork for over a hundred years. So whatever they said…"

"I almost drank from a human tonight." The words, monotone in their delivery, cut her off. "I saved her and then, for a moment, I wanted to kill her."

"But you didn't." Sitting on the edge of the desk, she reached out a hand and rested on his shoulder. Instantly, he leapt up as though her touch burned him.

"But I could have. If Wes and Gunn hadn't been there…"

"But they were. Angel - you can't hate yourself for things that you could have done or even things that you almost done. We've all almost done something we'd regret."

"He told me that one day I wouldn't be able to stop myself. That the urge to kill would always be with me and one day I'd give in if I don't stay away from the temptation." Angel stopped, finally meeting Kathy's eyes. "He was Jenny Calendar's grandfather."

Kathy showed no outward sign that his words had any effect, but inside her soul turned to ice. If he was in the mix then she was running out of time. She would have to tell Angel the truth. But first, she would need to bring him out of his despair.

"Angel, you live with your demon, day in and out. I'm not going to deny that. But you can't isolate yourself. You can't complete your mission without the help of your friends, the people who care about you." She paused. This was perhaps not the best time to broach the subject of Cordelia's visions and the effect they were having, but Kathy knew that there was no better way of motivating Angel into action. "I talked to Cordy while you were out."

As predicted, that got his attention. "How is she?"

"Okay. She's sleeping upstairs at the moment. That last vision wore her out." Kathy took a deep breath before she continued. "She's been dreaming about the Kalderash."

"What?"

"She's been having the same dream over and over. A gypsy blood vengeance ritual. I don't know if it's something that's going to happen, or if she's dreaming of things from the past. But after hearing what she had to say today, I'm not really surprised about your encounter earlier."

She considered whether or not to tell him about the rest of Cordelia's visions and decided against it. She hadn't fully figured out what was going on herself yet, and there was little point in upsetting Angel further until she knew more.

Angel got up. "I'm going to go check on her."

Kathy nodded and watched as her brother swept out of the office and up the grand stairs of the Hyperion. As glad as she was to be here and to have Angel back on the path he was destined to follow, it didn't come without a price. And soon the price would become clear to all involved.

The baby was crying. Cordelia immediately reached for him, picking him up out of the bassinet and cuddling him close to her. A quick check confirmed that he wasn't wet. He had just wanted to be held. Cordy didn't begrudge him that. She relished any and every opportunity to have snuggle time with her little guy.

It took only seconds for the baby to stop crying after she picked him up, which just served to prove her theory. She continued to rock him as she moved around the office, filling papers with one hand. She had really gotten the hang of this mom thing.

Wait. Mom? Her unconscious kicked in for just a moment, and then the strange feeling of otherness passed.

She looked down at the bundle in her arms. He was perfect, every inch of him. She felt her heart fill, just watching him yawn and settle down sleepily into her embrace.

Angel came up behind them and she wondered how long he'd been watching them. He peered over her shoulder at the tiny bundle and grinned, reaching out to let the baby snag one of his fingers in his surprisingly strong grip.

She met Angel's eyes as he stood before her and she gently passed the baby to him. His grin became softer, full of warmth and caring as he first looked at her and then the child in his arms. She loved seeing him like this. Happy and relaxed. Almost… ordinary.

Suddenly she was standing in front of a very different Angel. Ashamed. Closed off. And something else. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on. The baby was gone and, instead, Angel was standing in a locked cage.

"Cordy-"

"No," she said, cutting him off.

He looked puzzled. "I didn't say anything."

"True, but I thought I should tell you upfront that I don't take orders from guys too scared to step out of their cages."

"I made the right call," he said. "This way, everybody stays safe."

"And you don't have to look anyone in the eyes. Bonus."

Angel sighed. "I hate that you saw me like that."

Cordelia looked down, her own shame surfacing.

"Guess it's only fair," she said as she looked up to meet his gaze. "Angelus said you saw me at one of my not-most-shining moments. Besides, you're not him. You think we don't get that, but we do."

"What if— What if the spell doesn't last?"

"The Powers need a champion, Angel. And obviously they need one pretty bad the way things are going." She smiled at him. "Who knows, you might even be their only hope, Obi-Wan."

Finally, he returned her smile. "So, how do I go up there?"

"Easy. Leave him and what you did inside the cage." She moved forward, unlocking both locks on the cage door before slipping the keys into her pocket.

As Angel moved forward, out of the cage, she took his hand. "You're not Angelus."

At her words, he morphed into his vampire visage and pulled her roughly towards him, grinning. "Guess again!"

Acting on little more than instinct, Cordelia kneed Angelus in the groin and punched him in the face. She knew that she'd never make it up the stairs in time so instead she moved into the cage and slammed the door shut, putting the metal bars between her and the vampire that wanted to rip her throat out.

Angelus reached through the bars and grabbed her, pulling her towards him and making her hit head on the bars with a sickening thud. As she collapsed, slipping into unconsciousness, she was vaguely aware of him moving towards the staircase leading up into the main body of the hotel.

"Stay down," he said.

And then everything went black.

"Cordy?"

She awoke with a start and found Angel bent over her, his hands placed firmly on her shoulders. She gasped and pulled back, away from him, casting frantic looks around for a way of escape.

At the hurt and confused look on his face, she snapped out of her panic. It was only a dream. A horrible nightmare. She was safe. The man in front of her was Angel and she had been sleeping on his bed, not knocked unconscious in a cage in the basement.

Relief flooded through her, mingling with the residual fear. She leaned forwards and fell into his arms, soaking up the safety that she felt there.

Angel clutched her tightly to him, his hand gently stroking her hair. "Shh, it's okay, Cordy."

When she had calmed down, he released her, leaning back and carefully examining her face. She looked troubled, more so than he'd seen her in a long time.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You were talking, yelling in your sleep."

"Just a bad dream," she said.

It was only a dream. She told herself that again and again.

So why then couldn't she quite shake the feeling that it had seemed more like a memory?