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"The Nature of Family"
Author: Skylar (Nichiren2am@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Joss and company own everything- unfortunately
AN: Fourth story in my Reasoning series.
Summary: Wolfram & Hart enlist a new form of evil to destroy Buffy and
Angel's child.
Spoilers: My first series (you?d really have to read those three stories to
understand these) and the other three stories of this series.
AN: "This World" belongs to Zero 7, "Gone Away" belongs to Cold.
AN: The only knowledge I have in describing teleportation and shape-shifting
comes from X-Men comic books, so bear with me here.
Rating: Probably R for some language and violence.
Distribution: Want it- take it. Just let me know where it?s going.
Feedback: As always, greatly appreciated.
Another child is born
Another race is won
Another dream is shattered
Another day has begun
The sudden blast of light of the dimensional tear from outside did
nothing to disturb the crowd gathered inside the Bronze, too busy enjoying
the sounds of the latest band to take the stage. A face hides in the
shadows, his instincts straight violence, as he gazes through the crowd,
stealthly observing the five beings he somehow sensed were connected to his
intended targets.
Surrounded by other party-goers, the small group of friends, regulars
at the only decent club in Sunnydale, were too deeply engrossed in their
conversation concerning the latest acquisition of Angel Investigations to
notice the large frame, circling them in careful study.
"If you ask me, I think it's too small."
"Well nobody asked you, now did they Xander?" Cordelia snapped back, quickly
silencing her ex.
"Wait- I think he has a point," Anya defends her husband. "I've heard that
being small is often a sign of sickness."
"Not neccesarily," Tara says. "And besides- it's not small."
"Okay, okay..." Xander raises a hand to grab the group's attention. "Forget
about it being small- what about its head? I mean, it's got a pretty weird
head." Receiving a hard slap from Cordy, Xander sits back in his chair,
wincing from the sharp pain.
"Its head is fine. Its got a really balanced shape. God- you're such a
jerk!!"
"I think you're *all* jerks!" Willow shouts, finally hearing enough of
their insight on the new creature. "In case you haven't noticed, *it* is
one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and *it* happens to have a
name!"
The four others sitting across from her could only offer blank faces as
apologies, as the redhead continues reprimanding them. "You're just lucky
Buffy and Angel already left for LA, cause I don't think they'd appreciate
you talking about their daughter that way."
"Fine," Xander sighs, taking a sip of his drink. "So when are *we* leaving
for Quinn's first weekend visit to LA anyway? And where's Dawn at?
Shouldn't she have been here by now?"
"She already left with Buffy and Angel this afternoon once she got out of
school," Tara answers.
"Thank god!" Cordy cheers. "So long as she's out of my hair, and my closet
for a few hours, I should be able to maintain some sort of sanity."
Another broken heart
Another lesson learnt
Another harvest eaten
Another night is gone
A new day?s begun
Even your dreams
Even your nightmares
They can be real
The first-degree maniac moves in silence as he exits the club, already
having heard enough from the friends. From the very moment he arrived in
this dimension, it seemed to the assassin that the presence of these five
humans could only serve as an advantage in his mission. He took a special
pleasure in seeing people beaten from the inside out, fatally wounded
without any hope left to cling to, and knew that these feeble humans would
not pose much of a threat to his task.
As he stands outside, his enhanced senses pick up on the approaching
vampire from behind. Anticipating his attack, the dark figure easily steps
to the side, watching as the vamp lunged forward, coming into contact with
the air. As he lands on the cold cement with a loud thud, the fledgling
turns with a sharp growl to face the towering figure.
"And what do we have here?" he smirks, picking himself up fully from the
ground to take a good look at the stranger. His uneven, short black hair
hung in thin, small loose strands, framing the contours of his forehead.
One particularly long strand rested just above the deep scar that laid
across the side of his face. "Nice outfit..." he grins, admiring his
mostly-black attire, stained in various places with smears of blood. The
only only thing that stood out was the small circle, encasing a strange
symbol, that was glaring at him from the stranger's belt. "Not too sure
about the face though..."
The newcomer's stern face and cold eyes never waiver as he steps closer
towards the vamp. "The slayers..." his raspy voice begins, "...where are
they?"
"What do I look like, their keeper?" A slight chuckle escapes his lips as
the stranger pulls out a hundred dollar bill, waving it in front of the
vamp.
"The slayers are in LA somewhere. Where exactly?" His attention firmly
caught, the vamp offers his information.
"A hotel called the Hyperion. Some big ritzy place. Angel- he owns it.
It's the other office of his little detective agency," he laughs, grinning
even more as the stranger hands him the money.
"Hyperion..." With lightning fast speed, the dark figure pulls a sword out
from behind, swiftly ridding the vamp of its head. Without pausing, he
steps over the beheaded demon, gingerly grabbing the hundred dollar bill out
of it's hand and replacing it in the mouth of his severed head. "Thanks..."
This world is still afloat
No not in Noah?s boat
We?ve only lost the vision
Of the stars we?re meant to be
This world is full of love
We still have hope
"Well, I say we leave now," Cordy announces from back inside, anxious to see
the slayers' three month old daughter. "Unlike some," she directs a pointed
stare at Xander as she stands from her seat. "I can't wait to see my
beautiful little niece."
"We just saw her this morning, Cord," Xander laughs, but secretly sharing
her anticipation to see the infectiously adorable child. "And I'm not
saying that Quinn isn't beautiful!" Xander explains, standing with the
others as they get ready to leave. "Thank god she inherited Buffy's good
looks. I just feel sorry for her getting Angel's big forehead!"
"Angel does not have a big forehead," Willow sighs, clasping hands with Tara
as they exit the Bronze. "And neither does Quinn."
"But if you don't behave on the ride to LA," Cordy flashes him a warning
smile, turning on the ignition to her already-packed car as the others hop
in, "you're gonna be the one suffering from a big forehead. Got it?"
"Oooo...threats from the all-mighty Queen C," he trembles in mock fear.
"Somebody call the police! I'm afraid!" he shrieks in a higher voice as she
speeds off towards the Hyperion, never noticing that the shadow that had
been cast over them all night still remained in the parking lot, a wicked
smile gracing his face.
"No...don't call the police, kid. Instead...call a coroner..."
Part 2
On any given night, the Hyperion took on a life of it's own. The walls
seemed to always be ready to burst from all the excitement and activities
that it's inhabitants went through on a daily basis. This late Friday
evening was no exception as the LA members of Angel Invistigations were busy
fussing over the latest focus of their attentions.
"Isn't she just the most adorable little thing," Giles coos, moving Quinn's
hand back and forth as she held onto his finger. "I think
she's grown another few inches since I last saw her."
"Well, you haven't seen her since she was born," Angel grins, reaching over
to gently stroke his daughter's cheek, eliciting a small gurgle from her as
he always did. It always amazed Buffy to watch otherwise intelligent adults
reduced to cooing idiots with a baby around, and her former watcher was no
exception. Just as he had always viewed Buffy as his daughter, Quinn was
now his adopted granddaughter.
Buffy couldn't help but smile at the two of them. Here was the love of
her life, her eternal soulmate, and her surrogate father making faces at
*her* daughter. If someone had told her a few years ago when she had first
kicked Angel on his ass in that alleyway that they would be standing here
today, married with a beautiful child of their own, she would have directed
them to the nearest asylum.
"She's just sooo cute..." Fred smiles, extracting the baby from Giles.
"Isn't she Gunn?"
"Just gorgeous," he agrees, reaching in to grab Quinn's small hand.
"Everyone...please." Wesley's insistence to get started on their case was
clearly evident as he marched over to his desk, books in hand, trying to
keep his focus away from Quinn as he knew that with one look, he would be
rendered just as baby-struck as the others. "Could we try focusing on the
other reason Buffy and Angel are here?"
"Gosh..." Fred sighs, handing Quinn back to Buffy. "Are you a real bummer
or what?"
"For Christ's sake!" Spike yells from his seat atop the counter. "It's a
baby, alright? Not exactly somethin' worth fussin' over like this. It's
not like you've all never seen a lil' rugrat before."
"Uh...yes...exactly..." Wes speaks up, calling Angel over to his side to
show him what they'd been working on. "We've been picking up on a steady
build of ripples in the interdimensional balance."
"You mean dimensional tears?" Buffy asks, nestling her daughter under her
chin.
"Exactly. Over the past few weeks, there've been a number of momentary
tears through several weak spots of our own dimension, but none strong
enough for anything to pass through."
"You mean something or someone is trying to break through to this
dimension?" asks Angel.
"It appears so," Giles replies, removing and cleaning his glasses in typical
fashion. "So far we've been able to close the few tears that opened. Only
one is unaccounted for, isn't that right Spike? Spike?" Turning his eyes
to the bleach-blonde vamp, the former watcher spots him making a silly face
at Quinn, resting in her mother's arms and reaching out to grab hold of the
hand Spike was offering her.
Realizing he'd been caught, the vamp quickly straightens his face,
returning his focus to the group. "The lil' bugger was tryin' to attack
me!" he defends. "Now do you know why I don't like babies? Anyway...yeah-
out of the four holes that opened, we've only lost a trace on one of 'em."
"Where were the first three?" asks Buffy, gently placing Quinn in the small
crib Gunn and Fred had already set up in the lobby.
"One actually opened up in the courtyard out back," Gunn answers her. "We
found two others up the coast."
"Any idea where the fourth one is?"
"We had thought that maybe it had opened up somewhere in Sunnydale," Fred
nervously informs her. "But our reader kinda shorted out before we had a
chance to check."
"Then I guess we got out of there just in the nick of time!" Cordy's
exuberant cheer echoes throughout the hotel as she and the others arrive at
the Hyperion.
"Cordelia..." Wes approaches her, book in hand. "Thank goodness. Have you
had any visions lately?"
"Don't I always call you when I have one?" she sighs as she removes her
jacket. "Well, after the pain subsides that is..."
"We were just telling everyone about the dimensional disturbances we've been
having over the past week. It seems that something is trying to break
through..." The frustrated englishman stops as he notices the brunette
brushing past him, no longer paying him any attention as she tosses her
purse and bags onto one of the couches, heading straight for the crib.
"Hello, Quinn! How's my gorgeous little niece? Oh, you're awake! And
Buffy's just letting you lie here all by yourself? How are you going to
learn about the world if mommy doesn't show you around?"
Buffy grits her teeth, determined not to be annoyed by the implied
criticism. "She likes looking around on her own."
"Well, Aunt Cordy's here now, and we can play. Come here, my little angel,"
she smiles, lifting Quinn from the crib.
"Should I just assume that we won't be getting any work done until tomorrow
morning?" Wesley throws his hands in the air, finally succumbing to
everyone's obsession with the small child. He passes a stare to Spike,
believing him to be the only one immune to Quinn's cuteness, but catches him
smiling at the sight of Cordelia handing the infant over to Angel.
"That'd be fine by me," Spike smirks, noticing Wes' stare as he strolls past
him towards his own room upstairs. "Let the whole bloddy world get sucked
into some demon dimension...maybe then these blithering fools would be able
to resist cuddling some disgusting baby." Pausing for a moment to catch a
glimpse of the slayers' daughter, he's suddenly struck by the immense
potential that was, or could be, contained in her small body. <Peaches and
blondie with a kid...who'd of seen it comin' ?>
"Oh ignore him," Willow shrugs off Spike's complacency. "You know how Spike
is about showing affection. Him and his whole 'big bad' talk..."
"I still say she's too small..." Xander announces to the group, leaning over
to place a soft kiss on the baby's forehead. "But she is gorgeous."
"Ignore him too," Tara adds. "You know how Xander is about...*everything* "
"Can I hold her?" Anya eagerly asks, already stretching out her arms.
"Are your hands clean?" Angel shoots back, clutching his daughter to his
chest.
"Don't be offended, Anya," Dawn calls out from the kitchen. "He made me
wash my hands six times before he let me pick her up."
Angel continued to nuzzle Quinn, completely ignoring Dawn's teasing.
"We don't want anyone's dirty hands touching us, do we, Quinn?" Quinn
appeared to agree with him, looking up at him and reaching for his face.
Buffy could barely suppress her smile at Angel's gushing over their
daughter.
After another hour of passing around Quinn amongst themselves, everyone
decides to call it a night. As Buffy reaches to take Quinn from Angel,
she's not surprised to have Angel turn her down, opting to hold onto their
daughter for just a bit longer before settling her down to sleep as they
climb the stairs to his old room. She could only smile, never tiring of
watching the two of them together, knowing how much it meant to him that
they now had a child.
"She sleeps better when she's being held," he explains as he sets her down
in the other crib that had already been prepared in their room.
"She must've picked that up from me..." Buffy smiles, wrapping an arm around
Angel's waist, snuggling into his side as they stood watching their daughter
begin to drift off to sleep. The smile that seemed to be a permanent
fixture on Angel's face since earning his humanity broadens as he gently
caresses the side of his beloved's face, drawing her in for a tender kiss.
"This is amazing," she says as she places her head on his chest, listening
to his beautiful heartbeat, smiling at the sound she never thought possible.
He places his hands on her hips, sharing another kiss as he leans over and
picks her up, making sure not to break their kiss, gently laying her on the
bed. "You know..." Buffy's voice is hardly more than a sigh in the
darkness, "it's a good thing Quinn is such a sound sleeper..."
"Mmm..." Angel smiles, lightly placing kisses along her neck. "That's
another thing she must've picked up from you..."
******
"Ma'am...?" the young boy nervously tapped on her office door.
"What is it, Jason?" she barely glances up from her paperwork as she sighs,
clearly irritated at the intrusion. "I've told you before to never come in
unless I call for you!"
"I know- but...you told me to- to tell you when I tracked down-"
"You've found him?" she almost jumps out of her seat, amazed that the
dimwitted young man she now called her page was able to find him so quickly.
"Well where is he? Where did you find him?"
"I, um..." he finally feels at ease to fully enter her office, noticing the
enraptured glare her eyes held. "I was able to trace his, um...the trail of
dimensional plasma he left behind when he crossed over into this one. The
uh, the tracer picked up his last whereabouts in, um...in Sunnydale."
"You found him in Sunnydale," she sighs, straightening out the folds of her
skirt as she sits back down in her chair, pulling it back in under her desk.
"Then why are you still here?"
"I...uh...well, I-"
"Take a few others with you and bring him back here! What exactly are we
paying you for if you can't accomplish this simple task? Now go!" As the
young boy goes to leave her office, he halts as she calls out one final
warning to him. "Oh Jason? One more thing- if you don't come back here
with him...don't even bother coming back...just know that you'll be dealt
with in an expedient manner." Not wasting any more time, Jason speeds off
down the hall, quick to grab anyone to accompany him to Sunnydale as soon as
possible.
Returning to her deskwork, the vindictive woman's eyes widen as her
latest item of acquisition suddenly appears before her eyes, seemingly
emerging from thin air. "Well that's quite a shock," she grins, unaffected
by the creature's display of power. She'd heard of his abilities of
shape-shifting and teleportation, but could never fully grasp the idea of
such a creature existing. "Never knew you'd live up to your hype."
"You'd be amazed at what can be accomplished these days..." he smiles,
stepping over to her window, aimlessly looking down at the sleeping city
below. "Not much has changed since the last time I was here...same
humans...wasting away their lives..."
"And you're one to talk?" Surprised by her accusation, he turns to face
her, his face still holding the same cold, stern look as always. "Now you
didn't think that we weren't expecting you, did you? We knew your ritual
would be set to take place next week, and I make sure to do quite a bit of
research on those I plan on enlisting for help." She stands from her desk,
carrying along the folder that contained his file.
"One of the only true demons left in existence," she begins reading, already
anticipating the use she would get out of the powerful force. "A malevolent
and fearsome assassin, a being that could go against any number of slayers
and live. Your only mentality is to destroy and kill everything in your
path. You were quite a force to be reckoned with, but failing to complete a
task for your master, you avoided punishment by escaping to the Mekon
dimension." She turns from her reading to pass him a small chuckle. "I'm
guessing you didn't know that, uh, once you get in...it takes a few hundred
years before you can find a way out, huh?"
Receiving only a sharp glare for a response, she continues. "There
were never any attempts to rescue you because your master believed that your
true salvation would lie in discovering what humanity means- that your time
spent in Mekon would serve as sort of a guide to humanity. Hmm...sounds
like a certain ex-vampire we'd both like to see dead. Only it's not really
him or his precious little Buffy that we're going after this time, is it?
It's the child we want..."
Supressing a laugh, his cold eyes penetrate her own as he faces her.
"I think you're overlooking one minor difference between our intentions.
You merely *want* the child dead...while I *need* the child dead. Her blood
is my only way of remaining in this dimension..."
"That's right," she realizes. "We wouldn't want you having to return to
that hell you've called home for the past few centuries, now would we?
You're too much of an advantage to us, Kamien." Passing him a wicked smile,
she sits back down in her chair.
"Just be sure that you're people have everything prepared for the ritual."
"So long as you have the child...consider it done." With a final soft
laugh, and a small profusion of smoke, its stench reminiscent of burning
brimstone, the figure disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived in
Lilah's office. "Now there's something you don't see everyday...though I
have the feeling I could get quite used to it."
Part 3
Angel couldn't draw his eyes from the miracle before him. He'd often
observed that most men took it for granted that they would someday marry and
have children. It was this one simple thing that Angel most dearly desired,
something he had never quite allowed himself, or Buffy, to believe would
ever be possible. Marrying Buffy had been the greatest gift he could have
ever imagined. And now to be married to his soulmate and to be a father?
Just the thought had the power to send his head reeling with bliss.
At some time during his musings, Quinn had awakened. Cooing softly,
the infant gave an instant smile as her father picked her up from her crib.
"Hey..." Angel softly whispers to her, grabbing hold of her hand. "How's my
little girl?" Quinn's response came in a loud gurgle, waking up her mother
in the process.
As she reaches out an arm, only to find an empty space where Angel
should've been laying beneath her, Buffy sits up to see Angel returning to
their bed, taking a seat beside her as he continues cooing at Quinn in the
crook of his arm. Reaching over in a familiar gesture, he gently caresses
her cheek with his hand. "Good morning..." he whispers. Reaching for her
daughter, she returns his embrace with a kiss, smiling sweetly. "You just
getting up?"
"Mmm...both of us," he reaches in, tickling Quinn's stomach lightly. "Mommy
sleeps in late, doesn't she?"
"That's only 'cause daddy keeps her up late..." she nudges him softly,
climbing out of bed with her daughter. She gives Quinn a quick kiss before
placing her back down in her crib to get dressed. To keep himself busy, as
well as keep his eyes off of his lovely wife while getting dressed so that
they don't wind up being late for an early breakfast, Angel first tends to
getting Quinn ready and finishes getting dressed himself just as Buffy does,
and they head downstairs.
"Whoa..." Willow playfully jumps back in her seat upon seeing the couple
enter the Hyperion's kitchen. "Buffy and Angel up early...and on a
Saturday?? Hell must've frozen over. Either that, or the world's coming to
an end."
"Again?!" Cordy shouts as she comes trudging into the kitchen, suddenly
waking up fully upon hearing the news. "What is it this time??"
"Nothing, nothing..." Buffy puts her fears to rest as she takes a seat
alongside Angel. "Just another one of Willow's attempts at an early-morning
joke."
"Oh...well in that case," the brunette reaches over to extract Quinn from
Buffy's arms, "come here Quinn. Did we have a good night's sleep...even
with mommy and daddy in the same room doing god knows wh-"
"Cordelia!" Buffy shoots her a look as she tries stifling her own laugh.
"What're you doing up so early yourself?"
"Figured I'd try to get on Wes' good side by getting an early start on
whatever it is he was rambling on about last night."
"The dimensional tears," Angel informs her, passing a glance to the stairs
as most of the others slowly came down.
"What's for breakfast?" a tired Xander yawns.
"Whatever you can make-" Cordy snaps him to attention. "Which, if I
remember, is *nothing*..."
"Xander is quite good in the kitchen," Anya corrects her. "Well, except for
that one time when we slipped off of the counter during sex...but that's
only because of all the pancake batter he spilled-"
"Please!" Cordy yells, causing Quinn to stir in her arms at the loud noise.
"You've already warped Dawn, as well as the rest of us- but I'm not about to
let you warp Quinn!"
"They didn't warp me," Dawn smiles, crossing the kitchen to place a soft
kiss on the top of her niece's head. "Spending a few nights in the same
house as Buffy and Angel did that just fine-"
"Okay- new rule," Buffy outstretches an arm across the table to stop their
talk. "No more inappropriate comments in front of our child, okay?"
As the friends eat, Angel spends most of the meal holding Quinn, cooing
at her and watching her eyes dart from family member to family member,
carefully observing each face as her father begins whispering each of their
praises. "And that's Cordy...she's a little high-strung...and that's Willow
and Tara...they'll do a lot of magic for you- when you're older. And
there's Anya and Xander...but, uh...don't spend too much time with Uncle
Xander- he can really be trouble-"
"Hello?" Xander blurts out. "I'm sitting right here next to you- how am I
not going to hear that?!"
"And Gunn and Fred...Fred's really smart, just like Giles and Wesley?" he
lifts his head to address the table. "Where are Giles and Wes anyway? And
Spike?"
"Spike's still asleep..." Gunn answers, standing from his seat to grab
another carton of orange juice from the fridge. "And the two brits left a
little while ago to meet with some guy who called last night. Supposed to
be some sort of expert on dimensions."
"Anyone we know?" Angel asks, intrigued by the two former watchers' early
meeting.
"They didn't say," Gunn shrugs. "The guy called last night saying that he'd
seen a dimensional vortex. Thought we might be interested."
"I guess our advertising really paid off if we've got people calling with
tips for us," Fred beams, her face lighting up even more as she sees Giles
and Wesley come through the front doors, a third man following behind them.
Though she was sure he was a few years older, Fred observed that the
man could've easily passed for her own age. In his loose-fitting gray
button-down shirt and slacks, he made quite an impressive sight. Somewhat
thin, but with a solid build, only two things really stood out about him.
The glare from his finely shaped but completely shaved head was almost
blinding under the hotel's lights, and the silver of his belt cast an
unrelenting glare as its strange symbol seemed to stare out at her. "Hey
ya'll...just in time to grab some breakfast-"
"If Xander hasn't eaten it all by now," Dawn pipes up, sticking her tongue
out affectionately at him.
"Oh...quite good," Giles says, "but we already ate. Oh-" he moves aside,
almost forgetting that their latest informant had returned to the Hyperion
with them. "This is Mr.- um...I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your last
name."
"Never gave it," the stranger replies.
"Well then how about a first name?" Angel presses, not yet impressed by what
the supposed 'expert' had to offer.
"Kamien..." he replies, extending his hand to the formidable frame of the
slayer.
"Kamien?" Angel repeats, shaking the newcomer's hand as he raises a eyebrow
at the name.
"I know, I know," he says with a small laugh. "What can I say...it's
an...old...family name."
Part 4
For as quiet and mysterious as he seemed, the stranger made no attempt
to hide his appreciation of the Hyperion. Remarking that it was quite
impressive, he succeeded in having Wesley and Giles give him a full tour,
leading him in and out of room after room, somewhat bedazzled by the keen
interest their informant was showing the the hotel's design.
"The Omen..."
"And other than a really creepy movie, that would be what, exactly?" Xander
glares at his ex, wondering just what the brunette was talking about. "Or
is it too far above us little people to be able to comprehend your
weirdness?"
"That kid- in the Omen...he was named Kamien," she replies, sipping at her
juice as the others remained downstairs during the newcomer's tour. "Just a
simple observation- take it as you will."
"Damien, Cordy," Willow corrects her. "The kid's name was Damien. I've
never even heard of anyone named Kamien."
"Well if you wanna go that route, who's ever heard of anyone named Willow?"
Cordy snaps back.
"Like your name's a flavor of the week," Xander defends the red-head,
leaning closer to Cordelia for emphasis.
"I think the only ones around here with normal names are Tara, Dawn, and
Quinn," Fred speaks up.
"I've never heard of anyone named Quinn," Xander blurts out, quickly
noticing Buffy and Angel's annoyed stares. "N- not that it's a- a bad name.
I've just...nev- never heard it before," he nervously smiles. "Very
original...I like that in my nieces."
After his tour, and an hour's worth of discussion with the newcomer,
Angel's wariness had subsided, but not vanished. Chalking it up to the new
level of overprotectiveness that came with the birth of his daughter, he
sets his apprehensions aside, focusing instead on whatever else his team
could learn from the stranger.
"The young lady was telling me that your dimensional reader has suffered
quite a bit of damage?" Kamien nods his head towards Fred.
"We've had our share of experiences with other dimensions," Wes informs him.
"After our return from the Pylea dimension, we were...or rather, *I* was
anxious to discover more about it's origins. I suppose our reader just
burned out from the overextended use."
"Perhaps I could be of some help," he offers, reaching for the small device
Wes held in his hands. "I could take this back to my lab- see if I can get
it working again."
"So you're a scientist as well?" Buffy asks, so far modestly impressed by
the stranger.
"Guilty as charged," he smiles at her. "I started out as merely an
archivist, doing mostly research and such. I've always loved science
though. I became fascinated by dimensional vortexes."
"Where exactly did you see the vortex?" Cordy asks, pulling up her chair a
little closer to the stranger.
"Actually I saw two. My lab is up the coast a few miles, and I just
recently I was doing a bit of research in Sunnydale when I saw the other-"
"Now who would've guessed that?" Xander chuckles, trying to lighten
everyone's mood a bit. "Freakiness- thy name is Sunnydale."
"Why do you think I was doing the research?" Kamien grins back at him. "My
own reader picked up on a tear. Thought I'd look into it."
"No offense," Gunn slouches back in his chair as he addresses him, "but
don't you think you should leave all this stuff to professionals...like us?"
There was an eerie hesistation on Kamien's part before the sly smile
crossed his face.
"I can handle myself fairly well," he replies, standing as he prepares to
leave. "Just thought I'd give the, uh, 'experts' a head's up. I'd better
be going though- I'll have my hands full this afternoon at the lab. It was
a pleasure meeting all of you," he grins, reaching for Angel's hand once
more as he bids the friends goodbye. "You will be sure to let me know what
you find?"
"Yeah," Angel nods his head. "We'll probably-" Angel lets out a small sigh
as he's cut off by the blaring sound of the phone. Excusing himself, he
goes over to answer it, leaving Buffy and Giles to speak with Kamien. "Oh-"
he turns with a smile towards the petite blonde. "I've been meaning to
congratulate you. Mr. Giles was telling me about your daughter. How old is
she?"
"This little beauty is three months old," Anya answers, carrying the small
child towards the front doors. "Isn't she just adorable- even if I still
say she's too small. And quiet," she adds as an afterthought. "The only
time she ever makes any noise is when she's being held or played with. I
don't think I've heard her cry once."
"Really?" Kamien grins, intrigued by the information. "Well that's some
gift you've been given."
"Hey guys-" Angel calls over to them as he hangs up the phone. "That was
Mrs. Williams. She wants us to come check something out for her at her
apartment."
"Of course," Giles answers, motioning for Gunn and Fred to come over. "Do
you two think you could head on over to Mrs. Williams' apartment? She's
having-"
"Actually," Angel interrupts him, gently lifting Quinn out of Anya's arms,
"she insisted that Buffy and I go too. You know Mrs. Williams..."
"I swear that woman makes up half of this stuff just to get you to go over
there," Buffy insists, nudging him lightly with her hip.
"She's 74 years old, Buffy."
"I don't care- she's got wandering eyes, and they seem to prefer wandering
all over you."
"Well then you can keep *your* eyes on her when we go over there," he
smiles, giving Quinn a quick kiss before laying her back down in her crib.
"Guys-" he turns to the others at the breakfast table. "Can you-"
"Angel, relax," Tara answers. "Quinn will be fine."
"I know. I just...okay. We?re going..." Watching as his wife leans over
to kiss their daughter goodbye, he's startled when he feels a cold hand come
to rest on his shoulder.
"You have a beautiful daughter," Kamien smiles, his eyes lingering on the
small child.
"Thank you." As he clasps hands with Buffy, he gives the newcomer a gesture
to follow them, as well as Gunn and Fred, outside. "Come on, we'll walk you
out." As they reach their car, they give their new friend one final wave
goodbye before heading off to the old woman's home.
Seeing the black benz turn the street corner, it takes only a split
second for Kamien to shift back to his true form and reemerge in the
familiar offices of Wolfram and Hart.
"Oh!!" Lilah nearly falls out of her seat as he materializes in front of
her desk. "You've got to stop doing that! Or at least give me a warning!"
"Do you have everything in order?" Skipping their meaningless formalities,
he approaches one of her glass cabinets, carefully eyeing the various
weapons on display.
"And where have you been all day? I thought we agreed that you should be
conserving your energy for the ritual tomorrow night."
"Do you and your people have everything in order??" he asks again, his tone
more striking than Lilah anticipated.
"We'll be ready with everything by tonight," she assures him. "Now answer
my question- where've you been?"
"Observing," he answers, his simple word laced with a coldness and
determination Lilah had never experienced before. "You wouldn't believe how
trustworthy and naïve humans can be...well...present, sick and twisted
company excluded, of course," he tilts his head slightly towards her,
earning a wicked smile from the young woman in return. "And besides, you
know the limits of my powers. You know that I won't risk teleporting into
any unfamiliar areas...had to get used to the place beforehand."
"When are you going back in?"
"Well...I figure with mom and dad gone on *assignment*..." Lilah's laughter
at the remark dances off of the walls alongside Kamien's own. "By the
way...this Mrs. Williams...I do hope nothing's happened to her?"
"I wouldn't consider our crew murdering some old lady as anything to lay
heavy on your conscience..."
"Then we're all clear."
"You've gotta be kidding? In broad daylight, you're just going to go
crashing into that hotel, with every single one of Angel's little mindless
drones protecting the kid, and you just expect to swipe her? I mean, I know
you're fast with that whole 'poof' thing you do, but come on."
"Now there's an idea," he says quietly, to no one in particular. "Why use
all of my force when I can just make use of theirs. What better way to
shake up the slayers even more than to have one of their own just hand me
the child." Turning to face her with a boastful grin, he shifts back into
the attractive and impressive human form he had taken on upon first meeting
the slayers. "I think this is one scientist they all really liked."
"Awww...did we make some new friends at Angel Investigations?"
"I can't help it..." he strolls past her desk. "I just love fucking with
people's minds..."
In another instant, the creature is gone, not much to Lilah's surprise,
as she sits back, grinning wildly behind her desk. "Poor Angel and
Buffy..." After a brief moment, a thought crosses her mind, adding even
more to her delight. "Jason!"
"Ma'am?" the young boy races into her office, thankful that she'd had him
brought back from Sunnydale alive.
"Have a few of those Caylus demons that stopped by this morning for coffee
cause a little chaos downtown, would you? Oh- and I'd like you to make a
run to the store for me. I'll be needing a sympathy card- something to send
my condolences for a severe loss. Make sure it's sweet...comforting, but
not too insincere...afterall, this is for two of my closest friends..."
Part 5
"Are you sure you're alright?" Wesley kept pressing the brunette, his level
of anxiety heightened all the more by her latest vision.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Look- Spike's still upstairs, so he'll be with me.
Just go!"
"Alright...alright, but if you need us-"
"Go!" With her final shout, Wes, Giles, Xander and Anya left in search of
the seer's latest vision of a pack of demons on the rampage near downtown.
With Willow and Tara having already taken Dawn out shopping for the day,
Cordelia found herself alone with Quinn, a bottle of extra-strength aspirin,
and unfortunately, Spike.
"At least he's still asleep," she pouts, popping two pills into her mouth.
"I don't think I could tolerate much of him right now." She leans over the
carry-cot resting ontop of one of the lobby's tables to peer at the sleeping
little girl with some anxiety, and then sinks back into the leather sofa,
positioning herself so that she could keep her eyes on the baby.
Quinn gurgles in her sleep for a few seconds and Cordy reaches over to
touch her gently. She looked so contented, she thought. Quinn really was a
beautiful baby, with the fair and beautiful looks of Buffy and the dark and
compassionate eyes of Angel. She had tried to figure out who the baby
looked more like but, so far, she wasn't sure.
She turns to look over at Quinn for a moment and watches the gentle
rising and falling of her chest as she slept. She looked so peaceful.
"Sweetie, I hope you have a lot of fun in your life," she whispers. "With
the way things always are with us, I'll have to make sure you do. Your
daddy's a sweet guy and your mom's a bright girl, but they can both be a bit
*intense* sometimes." Sitting back on the sofa, she takes another sip of
her water, chasing down another two painkillers.
Quinn starts to whimper at that moment, and Cordy automatically reaches
forward to pick her up, cradling her carefully in her
arms. Quinn opens her eyes and blinks at her, her mouth forming a small,
round circle. Cordy rocks her lightly and Quinn looks at her with interest.
"You know, there's a lot you have to be aware of, sweetie. For one thing,
you have to get to know your parents really well- not just what they want
you to know. They're my friends and they'll always help anyone in trouble,
but there are things about them that you should know. When the time's
right, of course." Quinn's gurgle encouraged Cordy to continue.
"Your dad is going to be too protective. Just look at how he is now. You
should've seen him when him and your mom first got together. For the life
of me, I can't understand why he preferred her over me all those years,
but...you have no idea how overprotective he is of her. I mean- he's
literally marked her...but that's a whole different story for you to hear
about.
"Let's see...who else do you have to watch out for around here? Xander-"
she gently taps the tip of Quinn's small nose to emphasize her point. "Stay
away from Uncle Xander- he'll be a bad influence on you if you're not
careful. Trust me- I dated him for longer than I'd like to remember and he
can be so annoying. You don't need that kind of stress in your life."
Noticing that Quinn's eyes had wandered to the sparkle of her earring,
she removes one of the hoops and dangles it in front of her, smiling as the
curious infant reaches out, her tiny hand trying to touch its shiny surface,
her eyes opened wide. Cordy laughs softly. "You are such an amazing little
thing." She puts her earring on the table and continues to rock Quinn
gently, wondering briefly what it would be like to be a mother, to have a
child, to have a love like Buffy and Angel did.
A still-sleepy Spike strolls down the stairway over to where Cordelia
was in deep conversation with Quinn. It was the child's small coo at his
appearance that gave him away, as Cordy turns in her seat to spot him
approaching from behind.
"Ohhh...were we making too much noise down here for poor Spike to get some
sleep?" Cordy addresses both him and Quinn as she gives Spike a quick once
over. "You look awful."
"At least I have the excuse of lack of sleep," he mutters. "What's yours,
princess?"
"Seeing you this early in the day, that's what! You're usually not up and
about until 5. What gives?"
"Well how am I supposed to get any sleep around here listening to the lot of
you foolin' around with that...that thing..." he makes a wave of his hand
towards the child, walking by to slump down alongside Cordelia on the couch.
"Don't even get me started, Spike. If I wasn't holding Quinn, I'd-" The
sudden ringing coming from the kitchen cut the brunette off before she could
make her threat. "That's my cell- here..." she makes an attempt to hand
Quinn over to the blonde vamp, not totally surprised to find him less than
eager to hold her.
"Put 'er in that little hunch-buggy. I'm not holdin' her." Not wanting to
argue, she gently puts Quinn down and races after her ringing phone.
******
"Buffy- it's okay." Angel tries his best comforting her after they'd
arrived at Mrs. Williams' apartment, only to find the poor elderly woman
already decapitated.
"I just still can't believe it," she breathes out. "I mean, one minute I'm
complaining about how she has the hots for you, the next minute- she's..."
Unable to complete her thought, she wraps an arm around his waist as Angel
takes her outside, waiting for Gunn and Fred to finish investigating the
scene. Both Buffy's and Angel's only thoughts were focused on returning to
their daughter, still apprehensive about leaving her to go on assignment
together for the first time.
"Did you guys find anything worth interest?" Angel looks up to ask Gunn and
Fred as they finally exit the apartment building.
"Just a lot of blood..." Fred sighs, distraught herself at the sight of the
poor woman, brutally murdered.
"There was one thing I found-" Gunn says, handing Angel a small piece of
paper, a design hastily scribbled on it. "Along one of the back walls,
there was this weird circle with a symbol in it smeared in blood. Looked
something like that-" he points to his sketch, motioning for Fred to take a
look as well.
"Wait a minute-" Fred pauses, retracing the day's images in her mind before
saying anything more. "I saw that today. That guy, Kamien, on his belt
there was this circle that looked just like that."
Looking back in his own mind, Angel's wariness returns in full as he
realizes that he too took notice of the intricate design that adorned the
stranger's silver belt. Hoping against hope that he would receive a
positive answer, he frantically looks up to address Gunn. "Where are the
others? Are- are they back at the hotel?"
"Yeah-" Angel lets out a noticeable sigh of relief, but panics once again
upon hearing the young man continue. "Well, Cordy and Spike are. Wes
called a little while ago. Cordy got a vision and him, Giles, Xand, and
Anya went out in search of some pack of demons. And he said Will and Tara
took Dawn shopping."
"Angel!" Buffy cries, nervous panic overpowering in her voice. "Angel-
Angel, Quinn!!"
Part 6
The infant layed staring at the new person in front of her, slowly
tilting her head to the side as if surprised to see the face. "Bloody
lil'..." Spike moans, rolling his eyes at her. Spike was, after all, not a
domestic creature. Babies were sweet, cuddly, and *boring.* They slowed
you down and they cramped your style- and that was the least of the damage
they could do. He had little experience with them, nor did he want more.
"Can't help but feel sorry for ya, though," he half-smiles, giving in to her
cuteness as he reaches out to take Quinn's tiny hands in his own. "I know I
wouldn't be too happy about having Peaches for my dad."
Quinn kicks a bit in her carry-cot, obviously enjoying the attention
she was getting. Unable to resist, Spike reaches into the carry-cot and
slides his arms underneath her, gently lifting her into his arms. He was
still amazed that Buffy, whom he had always thought of as an aggressive and
uncomprehensible bitch had a child. <With the big poof nonetheless.>
"Strange...for being Angel's kid, you're pretty cute." Surprised to see her
laugh in return, his smile broadens. "No worries though...with me around,
I'll make sure him and your mom don't screw you up totally-"
"Continuing our lesson," Cordy says, walking back into the lobby, "here's
your second person to avoid, Quinn. A whiny, macho vampire who isn't man
enough to admit he actually likes babies."
"Well...she was...she started to cry, and..." he stares helplessly at the
child in his arms, fumbling for an excuse for his behavior. "Well, she's
not that bad...considering who her parents are." Seeing that the feisty
brunette had no smart remark for him, Spike instantly knew that something
was wrong. "Who was on the phone?"
Cordelia's face held a blank expression as she was still processing the
news she'd received. Seeing her hesitation, Spike stands, walking over to
her. "Cordelia- who was on the phone?"
"Wesley..." she breathes out. "He- he and the others have been searching
around downtown all afternoon for those Caylus demons..."
"And...? Did they find them or what?"
"That's the thing...as soon as they tried attacking them, they just all
vanished- right there in thin air. Weird huh?"
"You've gotta expect that with a bunch of Cayluses," a voice approaches them
both from behind. Turning, ready to pummel whoever was at the door, Spike
spins around, fists in the air as he stares at the stranger with a shocked
expression. "Who the hell are you?"
"Down boy," Cordelia pats him on the head as she brushes past him to
introduce their latest informant. "Spike, this is Kamien. He's been
helping us with those dimensional tears. Kamien," she turns to pull Spike
towards him, "this is Spike. He's been helping to drive us all crazy."
"Love the hair," Spike comments as he half-heartedly shakes the stranger's
hand. "I think *she's* got more than you do," he smiles, running a hand
over the infant's soft brown hair. Completely ignoring his insult, Kamien
inches closer to the child. "Well how can anybody compete with this little
beauty," he grins.
"So what's the what?" Cordy grabs his attention. "Find anything new about
the missing dimensional tear?"
"Well, I've tried all morning," he lies, "but I haven't gotten your reader
working yet. I just thought I'd stop by to see if I could maybe get Fred or
Wesley to help."
"They've already left on another case," Cordy sighs.
"Where are all the others?"
"Some are shopping, some are hunting. Me- I'm stuck here with Mr.
Personality," she smacks Spike across the chest.
"Hey- be careful when I'm holding Quinn!"
"Oh-" Cordy gasps, "you actually called her by her name. I think that's the
first time I've heard you call her anything besides 'it'. You're softening,
Spike."
"Oh..." he lets out a frustrated growl as he hands Quinn over to the
brunette. "Just shut up and take her. You've got me so upset that I need a
smoke."
"I thought you quit?"
"How do you ever expect me to be able to quit with *you* working here?" he
yells as he marches towards the back courtyard, thankful that the sun had
already set and he would be able to get some free time away from one of his
favorite annoyances.
"Can I get you anything?" Cordy offers Kamien as she balances Quinn in her
arms. "I'm sure the others will be back soon, so you're welcome to wait
around-" The brunette lets out a curse under her breath at leaving her once
again ringing cell phone in the kitchen. "Excuse me," she mutters, headed
back towards the kitchen with Quinn still in her arms.
******
"Cordelia?" Angel shouts into his dying cell phone.
"Angel? Is that you? I can barely hear you."
"Don't...Kamien...hotel..." was all that came across from Angel's attempted
plea for her to not let Kamien into the hotel. Making a sharp right turn in
his benz as he and the others were speeding towards the Hyperion, he tries
warning her again, this time trying to give her the additional instruction
to leave the hotel. "Don't...Kamien...leave...hotel..."
"Don't let Kamien leave the hotel? How'd you even know he was here? Angel?
Angel??" Guessing that his phone had finally went dead, the unsuspecting
seer walks back towards the lobby.
"Dammit!" Angel yells, hastily tossing his cell aside. "Gunn- is your phone
charged?"
"Yeah...but it's in my bag back at the hotel," he informs him, a wave of
embarrasment crossing over his face. "I'm sorry, Angel."
"Just get some weapons ready," Buffy finally speaks, passing Angel a worried
yet determined stare as they near the Hyperion.
******
"Everything alright?" Kamien asks as he sees Cordy reappear.
"You must've made quite an impression on Angel," the brunette smiles. "That
was him- he told me not to let you leave the hotel. I think they're on
their way back right now. He probably wants to talk to you some more," she
says as she sits back down, softly cooing at Quinn, who was smiling happily
in her arms.
"You know," he begins walking over to her, a sly smile across his face,
"Quinn and I haven't been properly introduced yet. May I?" he smiles
hopefully, already holding out his arms to receive the child.
"Oh..." she stares at the infant for a moment before lifting her in the air
and placing her into Kamien's arms.
"Cordy- no!!" With a startled and desperate cry, Angel leads the others as
they come charging through the hotel's front doors. Wasting no time, he
makes a diving lunge for Kamien but to his surprise winds up spearing
Cordelia to the ground instead as the creature teleports out of the way.
"What the hell?!" Not even bothering to help Cordelia up, Angel races to
Buffy's side, readying to fight.
"What happened?" Buffy frantically pleads. "Where did he go? Where's
Quinn?!"
"Having a little problem, slayers?" The voice comes from the top of the
massive stairway as Kamien reappears, slowly shifting back to his true form.
Shocked for only a moment to see the dapper young gentleman they'd trusted
shift into a large, sinister warrior, both Angel and Buffy race up the
stairs in a futile attempt to attack him. Buffy charges first, leaping in
the air to deliver a sharp sidekick to his head but again, the figure
disappears, and the slayer goes flying over the banister.
"Buffy!" Angel screams, almost leaping over the rail himself until he sees
Gunn and Fred rushing to her side to help. Scanning his surroundings for
Kamien, Angel's eyes finally fall upon the assassin's form materializing
again right behind him.
"Awake down there?!" the demon cackles, laughing wholeheartedly at the sight
of Buffy and Cordelia layed out a floor below. "What happened to all of
that warm hospitality?"
Without a word, Angel charges for him again only to have his fist break
through the marble wall behind where the creature had been standing only a
second ago. "What the hell are you?!" Angel cries out, running down the
stairs without a clue as to what was going on.
"What's all the noise?" Spike finally emerges from outside, his eyes
quickly picking up on the unusual sight of Buffy still trying to get up from
her fall. "Angel-"
"Where'd he go?!"
"What?" Spike's eyes widen in confusion. "Who do you mean-"
"Kamien!" Angel screams, racing helplessly around downstairs.
"You know, Master would be so proud of me," Kamien's voice echos off the
walls but his form is still nowhere to be seen. "He'd never believe how
easy this all was!" The evil finally appears by the front doors, only this
time, Quinn is not resting in his arms.
"Believe this!" Angel looks over his shoulder at the shout, only to see
Buffy stumbling to her feet, making a mad dash towards the demon.
"Now isn't this charming?" are Kamien's final words before teleporting a
final time, leaving the slayer to go crashing through the doors and the
others to only stare on in disbelief at the reality of the seemingly
unbeatable evil they were now dealing with.
Part 7
Do you pray in the night?
Can you appreciate the winds?
And I won't care, I won't fight
I need you close to sing, it's the same beginning
As Angel wandered aimlessly around downstairs in the large hotel,
trying unsuccessfully to calm down long enough to think logically, Giles and
Wesley were frantically searching through their volumes of demonology,
hoping to find any information pertaining to Kamien. Shortly after the
creature's departure, the others had returned to a scene they could never
have anticipated. Blood was splattered on the floor, pieces of wood from
the doors had splintered, and furniture had been thrown about, though
whether this last feature was a result of Kamien's attack or Angel's ensuing
rage was not clear, and none of the Scoobies dared to even ask.
"So what are we doing?" Xander was pacing almost as much as Angel was in
anticipation of launching any kind of counterattack. "I mean, come on!
Why're we just standing around here doing nothing when we should be out
looking for Quinn?!"
"Xander..." Giles sighs as he lifts his glasses, rubbing his forehead
tiredly. "Just calm down...we can't very well go after something that we
can't see."
"It wasn't that we couldn't see him..." Angel whispers, trying to get a firm
grip on his emotions. "He just...kept disappearing and then reappeared
someplace else."
"Teleportation..." Wesley surmises.
"He...he changed..." Buffy sighs, touching a hand to her bandaged forehead.
"He changed his- his face. He just...changed..."
"A shape-shifter as well," Giles says, consulting a separate volume of the
books he was currently searching through.
"So how do we fight this thing?" asks Gunn, his arm slung over Fred's
shoulders as he tries comforting her, noticing the young girl staring
helplessly at Quinn's crib. "Did you even get a good look at him, Angel?
Angel? Did you get a good look at him?" The young fighter pauses in his
questioning as he spots his boss sitting on top of the lobby's counter, head
hung over as he runs a shaky hand through his hair.
Gone away
It's the same old, same old song
Gone away
It's my whole life in words
"Angel?"
"No..." the ex-vampire finally answers his friend. "I...I didn't see..."
his voice cracks as he hops down from his seat, moving back over to one of
the couches, gathering Buffy in his arms once again.
"So all we have to go by is that weird circle with the design?" Cordy speaks
up, a certain lilt in her voice that struck Angel as an accusation in his
direction. He feels a sudden rage as if he wanted to beat the hell out of
both her and Spike for being so careless with his daughter, but something
inside makes him keep his distance, content to be sitting with his beloved,
trying to keep both her and himself calm. Spike stumbles around past them
both, sliding on his leather duster.
"Wonderful...a circle. That oughta get us far-" Angel's face changes from
one of remorse to hate and disgust as he lunges at his childe. "This is
*your* fault to begin with so I suggest you keep your mouth shut!!" Angel
screams into Spike's face as he holds him against the wall. As the others
can only look on, Buffy hops up from the couch, hurrying over to them.
"Angel, don't. He didn't know-"
"He didn't *care*!" he corrects her, tightening his grip around Spike's
neck. "He couldn't give a damn about Quinn, or anyone else for that matter,
and you all know it!!"
And I can't breathe when you cry
But I'll be there to hold you tight
And I would kill, I would fight
To keep you close, I'll keep singing the same way
"This isn't going to- to help us," she begins to shudder, but hurriedly
suppresses it as she finally succeeds in pulling Angel off of Spike. They
start to walk away until Spike makes one more of his comments.
"Sure- blame it on ol' Spike just like you always do. It's not my fault you
don't have enough sense to know who's a demon and who isn't-" Before Spike
can finish, Angel releases Buffy's hand and meets Spike's face with his fist
several times.
"Angel! Angel!!!" Buffy, along with the others, is pleading with him to
stop, but deep down wanting to do the exact same thing.
"I said shut the hell up or I swear to god I'll stake you myself!!" Angel
screams as he finally gets up off of him, walking with Buffy towards where
Giles and Wes were still rooting through their books.
The hotel is silent as Cordy nervously makes her way over to them,
placing a tentative hand across Angel's back. "I'm sorry..." she whispers,
the only thing she can possibly think of to say. "I don't...I don't know
what else to say. Is there anything I can do?"
I won't live if you die
If I can't feel you in the wind
This is me, it's my life
I need you close to sing, it's the same beginning
"No," Angel answers for both himself and Buffy, eyeing the brunette with a
look of detestation. "Just...don't bother...with anything."
"Angel," Cordy sighs, the tears that she'd been holding back since Quinn was
taken threatening to be unleashed. "I didn't know-"
"You handed...our daughter, *our child*, right over to a demon we know
absolutely nothing about," he gets out between gritted teeth. "You've done
enough." Cordy can only stare, dumbfounded as to how to respond to the
accusation that was partially true. She'd delivered their beautiful child,
a child they'd hoped for but never thought possible, into the arms of a new
and very elusive evil. As she wordlessly returns to her seat, she says yet
another prayer to whoever was listening for Quinn's safe return as well as
the eventual forgiveness of her two friends.
A few hours later and the gang at Angel Investigations was still
nowhere closer to figuring out just who or what had stolen Quinn, but more
importantly, why. With midnight quickly approaching, Angel and Buffy were
ready to just head out on their own searching the streets, but knew that it
would be a waste of time. Finally, after a feverish search through some of
his older collections, Giles recognizes the strange circular symbol that was
their only clue to his origins, leaping up from his desk, racing over along
with Fred to where Angel and the others were still looking through their own
materials.
"Mekon dimension," he blurts out, removing his glasses before he explains
their findings any further. "That's where he came from. All those
dimensional tears...*he's* what was trying to get out."
"He was banished there from this dimension by his Master a few hundred
centuries ago," Fred continues. "He's an assassin. One of the only true
demons still alive, though no one ever thought he'd be able to free himself
from Mekon."
"What kind of demon is he?" Buffy asks.
"That's just it-" Giles lets out a heavy sigh. "We don't know.
Theoretically, he's the only one of his kind. A creature with the abilities
of teleportation and shape-shifting- a morphological being.
"How is he able to do all of this?" Tara reaches for the book Fred had
carried over, leafing through its pages herself. "Does he use magic?"
"Or is someone else supplying him with his powers?" Willow follows her
lover's trail of thought, pulling out a book she had already looked through,
giving it another look over.
"All the information that we've found seems to suggest that he's able to
perform these feats on his own," says Giles. "He teleports by displacing
himself into another dimension, the nature of which is unknown, traveling
through it, and then returning to the previous dimension he teleported out
of at a certain distance from his point of departure. He consciously
determines his point of return. The entire process occurs so quickly that
Kamien is unaware of being in another dimension at all."
"So why weren't we able to pick up on this from him?" Angel demands. "I
mean, Cordelia didn't even have a vision. Why couldn't we sense it?" Giles
turned to face the second slayer he'd come to love as his own, unable to
even begin to imagine what hell he and Buffy were being put through with
their precious daugher's disappearence.
Gone away
It's the same old, same old song
Gone away
It's my whole life in words
"I suspect your senses were thrown off by the instability of Kamien's
energy. The more that he teleports himself, the harder and more exhausting
it is for him to maintain the energy balance he needs to remain in this
dimension. In a sense, he drains a part of his own being with each
teleportational jump. This is probably why Cordelia never received a
vision-"
"Because he doesn't have enough lifeforce to fully sustain himself," the
brunette finishes for him, a little bit of the guilt she was feeling
beginning to melt away. "
"But none of this is going to help us any," Angel lets out an angry groan as
he begins pacing once again. "What good is this going to do us if we can't
get him to stay in one spot long enough to attack him?"
"I admit, he is powerful," Wesley speaks up, reading from his own book.
"But he's not indestructible, Angel. Kamien's power of teleportation is
based on line of sight- he must be able to invision or physically view the
location he wishes to port to. He has a very limited unconscious
extrasensory ability that prevents him from teleporting himself so that his
feet, for example, would materialize below the surface of the local ground.
But because this ability is so limited, Kamien will not teleport into any
place that he cannot see or has not seen in the past."
"Thus explaining his eagerness to take the grand tour," Anya surmises,
eyeing the walls of the hotel with a newfound uneasiness.
"If Kamien teleported himself into an unfamiliar area," Giles cuts in, "he
would run the risk of materializing partially or entirely within a solid
object. If too much of his body materialized within a solid object, he
would be killed. If we could somehow manage to get him to teleport into an
area with some sort of solid box or cage, then maybe we could hold him long
enough to-"
"Ohhh...guys?" Willow lifts her head from the book she was going back over,
anxious to share her findings. "Giles- ha- has there ever been a child born
to a pair of slayers?"
"Well, considering the fact that Angel has only recently been called as a
slayer, I don't believe so," the brit answers her. "Unless, by some means
beyond my recognition, such a thing was ever possible between two female
slayers-"
"Not needing that mental picture right now," Xander mumbles.
"What did you find, Will?" Buffy leans over her best friend's shoulder,
letting her eyes skim over the page the redhead was reading.
"It mentions something called the Mozez Prophecy- 'The child born to the two
chosen slayers shall be the ultimate key to the Powers. When the time comes
for the ultimate battle, she will be the force that the Powers unleash to
strike down the indomitable evil- an evil unknown to man that threatens to
rid the world of humanity...' "
Gone away
It's the same old, same old song
Gone away
It's my whole life
"Okay-" Gunn approaches the table after Willow finishes reading. "So
Quinn's gonna be a big player- what does any of this have to do with why
Kamien took her?"
"Her power only is reason enough, Gunn," Wesley says. "It takes an
incredible amount of power to be able to escape a dimension such as the one
Kamien was banished to- let alone remain outside of that realm. If he
wishes to remain here, his best way of doing so would be..." The former
watcher's eyes widen as he begins to realize what Kamien was surely
planning.
"Wes?" Angel's voice knocks him out of his thoughts. "What is it?"
"Lhasa," he breathes out before fumbling around to find the book that
contained the information pertaining to the ritual. "It occurs only once
every 500 hundred centuries during the Autumnal Equinox..."
"Tomorrow night," Tara announces to the group, seeing Wes;ey nod his head
before continuing.
"It involves the sacrifice of a child- a newborn more specifically. Upon
drinking the blood of the child, the being becomes a sort of shadow of the
child, absorbing the child's yet-to-be reached capabilities- power,
strength, stamina?"
"How did he know?" Cordy asks. "I mean- how could he have possibly found
out about this Mozez prophecy about Quinn?"
As if on cue, Dawn returns from her walk to the front door, carrying
with her a stack of envelopes, one of which she'd already opened. "Guys?
The uh, the mail's here."
"Dawn-" Buffy snaps at her sister, "I'd hoped you held the well-being of my
daughter above some stupid phone bill!" Simply brushing off her harsh
response, Dawn turns to Angel, handing him the opened envelope. "Actually,
I think you'll want to read this one." Letting out a frustrated sigh as he
snatches the paper away from the teen, Angel opens it up, reading its
contents to himself before divulging them to the rest of the gang.
Mr. & Mrs. O'Halloran,
I wish to express my deepest condolences on the loss of your beloved
daughter. I know this must be devastating for the two of you, so please
make no hesitations in consulting me for any help that I may be able to
offer you at such a painful time.
The letter wasn't signed, but Angel immediately knew its author.
Tossing the paper aside, he grabs his jacket, headed towards the door.
And I can't see
And I don't know
How far I'll go
And I can't see
And I don't know
How far I'll go
"Angel- what is it?" Willow is the first to speak up at his sudden shift in
behavior.
"Where are you going?" Buffy pleads with him. "Angel!" As he slams the
door behind him, Buffy kneels down to retrieve the letter he'd tossed aside.
Quickly reading through it, she draws the same conclusion as to who sent
it, turning to instruct the others before taking off herself after him.
"Find everything you can about this ritual. And the dimensional reader-"
"Kamien," Fred reminds her, "he still has it...if he hasn't already
destroyed it."
"That's going to be our only way of sending him back. Can you build another
one?"
"I don't know, Buffy," the young girl solemnly replies. "Even if I
can...interdimensional spot technology is extremely delicate. I can't
guarantee its stability. Even if it works, there's no telling whether we'll
be able to keep Kamien contained in the Mekon dimension."
"Just get one up and running," Buffy demands, reaching for the door knob to
leave. "Let us worry about keeping the bastard contained."
Gone away
It's the same old, same old song
Gone away
It's my whole life in words
Gone away
It's the same old, same old song
Gone away
It's my whole life
"Excuse me, sir?" The young guard that was on duty stood from his desk to
approach the incoming visitor. "May I see some form of identification?"
"Oh yeah- sure," the guest's voice replied, sounding deeper than his usual
tone, as he reaches a hand into his jacket. "Just a minute." As the guard
was glancing about, a balled up fist came flying at his face. Surprised to
find himself on the floor, he stares up to see the stranger nearing him, the
bottom folds of his leather jacket swaying in beat with his stealth
approach. On instinct, he reaches in his holster for his gun, only to have
it quickly knocked aside.
Angel began punching away at the still-shocked guard, finally knocking
him out after three solid blows to the head. He backhands some of the young
man's splattered blood from his own cheek as he makes his way over to the
stairs. He held his purpose clear in his mind, but his intentions were
still somewhat unclear to him. Whether his visit to Wolfram & Hart would
end in bloodshed or merely a few solid beatings, the only thing he knew for
cetain was that Lilah would soon learn the price at which her actions would
come.
******
"Listen to what I'm saying to you- I want what I ordered!" Lilah barks into
her phone. "This thing that you've sent me is a completely different color
than what I ordered. Now I'm bored with talking to you," she pauses,
noticing her young page standing in her office doorway. "I'm *bored*- I'll
call you back!"
"Problem ma'am?"
"The people I have to deal with just to get things done around here."
"Unsuccessful in getting everything Kamien needs for the ritual?"
"What? Oh no...we've already got everything we need for tomorrow night.
That was the company that sells me my hair dye."
"I...didn't know you dyed your hair," he squeaks out in between chuckles.
"I don't- they're highlights. They sent me Strawberry Dawn instead of
Summer Rasberry. Any fool knows that it's two shades lighter. She said
'why don't you try a change?' I don't want a change, I want what I
ordered!" She puts aside a few of her files as she lets out an exhausted
sigh. "What are you doing here anyway? I told you to keep an eye on Kamien
upstairs."
"I was...but I can't take anymore of that little brat's crying," he sighs,
slumping down on her couch. "If he's supposed to be so powerful, how come
he can't come up with some sort of spell to keep her quiet? And why are you
worried about me keeping an eye on him? Don't you trust him?"
"I don't trust anybody farther than I can throw them," she retorts, standing
from her seat to grab him up by the arm, ushering him back towards her door.
"Now get your worthless ass back upstairs and keep a close watch on him.
I don't want to see you again until I make my way upstairs tomorrow night
for my front row seat to the ritual." She slams the door behind him,
rolling her eyes as she turns back to her desk. The sudden knock at her
door catches her by surprise and she lets out an angry growl as she spins on
her heel to pull open the door.
"Jason, I'm warning you- I am not someone you should piss off-" as she pulls
back on the knob, a mixed look of shock and pleasure crosses her face as her
eyes take in the sight of Angel. "Well isn't this a surprise?" She moves
aside, to let him in, slowly shutting the door behind him. "To what do I
owe the honor of this late night visit, hmm?" Relaxing back in her desk
chair, a small grin forms at the corner of her mouth as she observes the
slayer, leaning against the row of windows behind her desk, arms crossed in
a defiant manner.
"I thought it only fitting that I respond to your lovely card immediately,"
he murmurs.
"How are you and the missus holding up? I can only imagine what it's like
to lose a child. Who would do such a horrible thing?" The vindictiveness
that she didn't even bother trying to hide in her voice only enraged Angel
more, but somehow he managed to keep his anger in check.
"I figured I'd offer you the chance to fix all of this," Angel smiles
weakly. "Cause see, if you won't, *I* will, and you do *not* want me to fix
this, because if anything happens to my daughter, I am going to beat you so
badly that there won't be anything left to identify you with."
He takes a few steps towards her as he lets out a small chuckle. "See
Lilah, I don't care how often you and your little lackies try and kill me-
in fact, I always enjoy dashing your hopes to finally be rid of me. But the
second that you go after Buffy, our child, or anyone else in our
family...you know you're going to pay for this." Lilah couldn't contain her
laugher at his threat, turning her back to him as she spins back around in
her chair to finish up her paperwork.
"Not likely. I think the eventual grief that you'll be experiencing after
tomorrow night will be enough to keep you occupied and prevent you from
attempting anything rash. You still don't get it, do you Angel? Ya see,
there are these things called morals and ethics which you and Buffy seem to
have a lot of. Thank god I've been blessed without them-"
In an instant, Lilah's head was pressed against her glass desk, Angel's
hand firmly planted behind the base of her neck as he leans over her
helpless form to speak into her ear. "You're about to see my ethics and
morals disappear because I swear to you...I am going to tear this entire
building apart until I find my daughter. And once I find her, my suggestion
to you would be to run, hide, and pray," he emphasizes his last word by
slamming her head straight through the crystal clear glass of her desk,
eliciting a sharp cry from her as she was sent reeling to the floor.
"Funny you should mention praying, Angel." Surprised that the impact hadn't
knocked her out, Angel glances down to see Lilah pulling herself to her
feet, holding a shaky hand over the large gash above her eye. "Do you think
prayers are gonna help poor Buffy downstairs?" she points to the security
monitor resting on one of her shelves as the image of an assortment of vamps
and demons surrounding Buffy down in the lobby comes flashing across the
screen. "Decisions, decisions...what're you gonna do, Angel? Beat up on me
some more to find out where Quinn is, or save your precious little Buffy?"
Walking over to her closet, she pulls out a small medical kit, already
knowing what his choice would be, and begins tending to her wounds as Angel
races out of her office back downstairs.
******
"Wes, hand me that pair of pliers, will ya?" Beads of sweat began to form
above Fred's brow as she was carefully assembling the few parts she had at
the Hyperion to create another dimensional reader. Another hour had passed
without a word from Buffy or Angel. Fred was too deep in concentration that
she barely even noticed, however the others were nervously pacing, still
skimming through whatever materials they could find about the Lhasa ritual
or Kamien.
"Aren't you finished yet?" Xander's grip around Anya's waist tightened in
anticipation as his eyes shifted between Fred and Wesley, both working on
what looked to be their only solution for getting rid of Kamien.
"Almost. Be patient," Wes snaps back.
"And once we finish up with these few things," Fred lifts her head to fully
face them, "we're still missing a lot of parts. Someone's going to have
to-"
"Just tell me what you need," Cordelia stands from her seat, a determined
look gleaming in her eyes as she approaches them. Nodding softly, Wes
scribbles down a few things on a piece of paper, including an address. "Go
here and ask for Gavin- tell him that I sent you and that we're in a hurry."
Without a moment's hesitation, Cordy leaves, intent on gathering
everything needed to be rid of the evil that had stolen her precious niece.
"I hope she hurries," Fred sighs. "I'd like to try this thing out before we
have to actually use it. I mean, this technology is so unstable. If we
were to-"
"Spare us the warnings, will ya?" Spike growls back at her. "Just get the
bloody thing together!" Surprised by his own outburst, Spike recollects
himself, hopping up onto the counter. "Any word from Peaches or blondie?"
"Buffy called a few minutes ago from Wolfram and Hart," Gunn answers him.
"Now who would've guessed that our dear friends were somehow involved in
this?" Wes smirks, turning his attentions back to the device. "I just hope
she and Angel aren't already in over their heads."
******
"Okay...maybe I'm in a little over my head here." Buffy takes her stance,
wooden stake in hand as the swarm of demons and vamps begin their attack on
her. Managing to hold the first three off, she's knocked to the ground by
another behind her. Flipping back to her feet, she plunges her stake
through the closest one, turning to attack the others.
Caught off guard after dusting another two, Buffy is kicked from behind
to the marble floor. She groans and falls back as the demon picks her up by
her short, golden-blonde hair. He kicks her in the stomach twice, leaving
the slayer in the middle of the lobby, hunched over, grabbing her stomach.
The snarling creature chokes Buffy on the floor with his boot. Stunned
for only a moment, Buffy grabs her throat and tries to breathe as the demon
grits his teeth and digs in with his foot even harder. Finally, a huge gasp
escapes from Buffy's mouth as the creature is hurled backwards by Angel.
The angered demon goes to strike Angel in the face, but the slayer
counters and nails him with his own right hand, surprising the creature with
his quick comeback. He continues to counter his blows with his own punches,
finally getting the better of him as he withdraws one of his favored daggers
for beheading, slicing the demon's head to the floor.
"What are you doing here?" His eyes alone convey his anger at seeing that
Buffy had followed him as he helps her to her feet.
"Where did you think I'd be?" she yells back as she dusts herself off,
surprised by his question.
"You shouldn't have followed me here, Buffy. It's too dangerous. Just look
at what happened now!"
"Excuse me, but you're not the only one who does the ass-kicking in this
family! I can handle myself, dammit! Now come on!" She turns to head up
the stairway but soon finds that her arm is caught in Angel's firm grip.
"Go back to the Hyperion until you get the reader working!" As her glare
turns from worried to angered, she pulls back her arm, pushing him slightly
away as she begins scaling the steps. "Either we both go or you can stay
here and argue with yourself, but I'm not leaving here without Quinn!"
"Buffy, listen to me!" he grabs her around the waist, spinning her around to
face him. "If something happens to the both of us, then what? Then what??"
he shakes her suddenly, seeing the same unshed tears that were in his eyes
beginning to well up in her own. "I can handle things here, but I can't..."
His head lowers and for the first time since watching his daughter being
snatched away right in front of him, he allows his tears to flow. "I can't
lose the both of you...I can't."
Buffy's face lowered into his hair as her arms close tighter around
him. The two are shrouded in silence until Angel finally speaks again.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"
"Don't..." she whispers softly, grabbing his hand tightly in one hand as she
brushes away her own tears with the other. "Let's get Quinn..." Wordlessly
he begins to follow her up the stairway, only to find another swarm of
creatures that Lilah had summoned waiting for them on the next floor.
"Here are our visitors," one of them smirks. "Let's welcome them properly."
"Actually, we'd rather skip the tour," Buffy smiles as she and Angel, seeing
that they were clearly outnumbered, took off in the opposite direction down
the massive corridor.
"Do you know where you're going?" she asks him as they turn a corner.
"Pretty sure."
"Just how far have you traveled in this building?"
"Not sure. Maybe about half-way."
"Already I'm loving our odds of getting out of here alive," she lets out a
small laugh as Angel pulls them to a halt, glancing down their two possible
paths of escape.
"Which way?" Buffy tosses out a glance herself down the two stretches of
hallway, looking helplessly to Angel for his input.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." As he was deliberating, Buffy glances over
her shoulder to see the group of demons quickly catching up with them.
"Could you possibly do that a bit more quickly?" Seeing the sources of her
impatience, Angel pulls her along down the side hall, finally reaching one
of the few sealed off passages he knew to be in the building. As they enter
the vicinity, Angel reaches for the lever to shut the metal doors behind
them, leaving the pack of creatures on the other side.
"Great," Buffy breathes out, pausing for a moment to steady herself after
all their running. "So now where are we?"
"No clue," Angel sighs. "Looks like some sort of lab."
"Angel, look." Buffy's arm stretches out as she notices a faint bluish hue
illuminating the back wall.
"It's worth checking," he responds, carefully walking with her towards it.
Without warning, a steel frame comes crashing down from the ceiling,
trapping the two slayers against the wall. Both frustrated and angered at
their carelessness, Buffy throws her arms in the air. "Okay- so we're gonna
be a little late getting home."
"You don't know the half of it." A raspy voice emerges from the shadows, as
its owner slowly materializes in front of the slayers. As the figure's full
appearance comes into clear view, the couple takes notice of the small
sleeping bundle he held firmly in his arms. Buffy reaches out to steady
herself on Angel's arm as she lets out a startled gasp.
"Oh god...Quinn..."
Part 9
"Amazing what advances have been made in technology, huh?" Kamien takes a
step towards the steel bars, smiling as he sees the looks of fear streak
across the two slayers' faces. For several moments, Angel and Buffy were in
the grip of a panic so complete that they were literally unable to function
in any way. It was amazing that either was able to still breathe. There in
the arms of the feared assassin was their daughter, sleeping quietly as she
was being carried over to them, just out of arm's reach.
"Shhh...she's sleeping so peacefully. I couldn't disturb her." Taking a
few steps backwards, he places the infant ontop of the lab table, turning
his attentions back to his captives. "Did you really think I'd pass up an
opportunity to have the two of you bear witness to my success? What kind of
a fool do you take me for?"
"Personally, I'd never call you a fool," Buffy finally regains her speech,
her eyes still locked on the sight of her daughter, safe and sound for the
time being. "That would be an insult to fools everywhere." She begins
assisting Angel in trying to free themselves from the makeshift cage, only
to hear Kamien's maniacal laughter bouncing off of the walls.
"You two can try as hard as you like to get out of their. Actually, I'd
prefer you to both keep up your attempts...that blue glow coming from the
wall behind you is an energy draining beam of my own device."
"Don't expect applause," Angel snaps back, still pushing against the steel.
"The harder you try, the more fun it is for me to watch you both reduced to
weaklings. Though I'm sorry to say, I won't be sticking around for long.
I've got a kid to kill." He paces over to the doorway, pushing the button
for the intercom. "Lilah dear, how'd you like to babysit our guests?"
"I'm a little busy at the moment," her voice comes back over the speaker.
"Ontop of patching myself up after Angel's rude outburst, we've got other
company to deal with downstairs." Kamien flips on the switch to the monitor
in his lab to see just who she was talking about. Finally picking up on the
image being projected from outside the back entrance to the building, he
smiles wickedly to himself in eagerness to dispose of the three individuals
who dared to try interfering with his plans.
"I'll deal with our friends myself," Kamien informs Lilah back over the
intercom. "These two up here aren't going anywhere soon." Stepping back
towards where he'd laid Quinn down, he goes to pick her up but after a
moment, he decides against it. "You know, I don't think I've made you two
suffer enough. So why don't we let the happy little family share a few
final moments together?" He turns, grabbing a few of the weapons he'd
carried over with him from Mekon, and prepares to greet the three new
intruders. "Not that any of you will live long enough to appreciate your
time together."
Buffy and Angel were left in their cell, encased in shock so deep it
felt like ice as they had to stand idly back, powerless to get to their
daughter, just inches out of their reach, and get her to safety. "Oh my
god," Angel says in a trembling, watery voice. He had suddenly never been
so terrified in his life.
"Oh my god," Buffy repeated in a voice that was filled with horror and
terrible wonder. In all of the different scenarios that had played out in
her mind going into this, she had never anticipated such an irony befalling
them. Quinn layed silent before them, and for a brief moment, Buffy's fears
shifted from whether her daughter was hurt to whether or not she was wearing
enough to protect her from the bitter coldness of the sterile lab.
She stares down at her hands, completely worthless in their current
situation, as breaking down the steel bars proved as difficult a task as
Kamien had mentioned. Both she and Angel were nearly drained, yet still
they fought in vain to break free of their restraint.
******
The sound that was produced from the impact of the lead-lined door
crashing to the ground was immense. After several attempts, the warrior had
succeeded in busting down the obstacle, gaining entrance into the building.
"Subtlety's not your strong point, is it Spike?" Dawn asks him, as she,
Gunn, and the blonde vamp quickly enter into the offices of Wolfram & Hart
in search of their slayers.
"Hell, I can't even spell the word," he smiles back, taking an axe from Gunn
as the three began their ascent up the stairway.
"I still think we should've all just stayed together and waited for Fred to
finish building the reader," Gunn murmurs, not particularly fond of the idea
of splitting up their group.
"While your lil' hick girlfriend is busy playing tinkertoys with some
machine, Peaches and blondie could already be dead." Receiving a sudden
hard slap from Dawn, Spike retracts his last few remarks. "I mean, they're
probably not, but still- don't you feel better coming to try and help them?"
"You know when I'll feel better?" Gunn shoots back as they reach the second
floor. "When I'm feeding Quinn some strained bananas, now come on." As
they proceed down the long hallway in search of Lilah's office, they come
across a small robust man wandering around, briefcase in hand. Trying a
gentle approach, Dawn calls him over to them, turning on her best smile, the
smile that always worked on Buffy and Angel, and tried getting some
information out of him. "Do you know where we can find Lilah Morgan?"
Receiving only a sly smile for an answer, Dawn steps aside to let Spike try
his own approach.
"I'm tired of being diplomatic, old man," he growls, changing into his game
face as he lifts the man up by the throat, slamming him against the wall.
"Now tell us where the big mean bitch is, okay?"
"Fourth floor," he chokes out against Spike's grip. "Right by the
elevators- room 437."
"Now was that so hard?" Hastily tossing him aside, Spike leads Dawn and
Gunn down the hall towards the elevators, hoping that Angel had saved at
least a little of Lilah's broken body for him to play with. "We don't have
time for these games," he yells back at the fallen party, but he halts in
his tracks as he hears a new voice in response.
"Good," the old man stands to his feet as his face begins to shift. "Cause
I'm not playing any." His features twisted and contorted until his true
form was fully revealed to them.
"Oooo goody," Spike lifts his axe over his head as he prepares to charge.
"I get first strike at the bastard!" Easily dodging the vamp's attempt to
harm him, Kamien reappears behind Gunn and Dawn, grabbing the young girl and
tossing her into a nearby office. Gunn however was not so easily moved,
actually managing to make contact with the demon's face with a solid punch.
Stunned only briefly by the blow, Kamien teleports again, this time
emerging from behind Spike. Grabbing hold of him around the waist, the
creature ports, disappearing for only a second before returning to the
hallway without his passenger.
"You two kiddies should've stayed home," Kamien smiles, racing towards both
Dawn and Gunn. After a brief struggle with the stronger of the two, Kamien
overpowers Gunn, wrapping an arm around his neck from behind. "Now should I
just break your neck, or actually pull it off? Which would you prefer?"
Seeing Dawn staring on in terror, he makes her an offer. "Of course, your
friend here can keep his head right where it belongs. And to think, all you
have to do..." he stretches out his free arm to her, "...is take my hand."
Silently she complied, grasping his cold hand as he takes the two of them
along with him for his final port.
Startled and shaken by the exhausting experience of porting between
dimensions, Dawn and Gunn take a minute to observe their new surroundings.
The walls were a blinding silver, a thin glare spilling from the corners of
the immense area. The only thing that stood out besides all of the
equipment and machinery was a softly glowing blue light emanating from right
behind them. Standing to their feet, their eyes finally fall upon their
fellow cellmates.
"Lo and behold our saviors," Buffy mutters, her head still leaned against
the steel frame she'd been trying to bust open.
"Just how did you two get caught?" Spike asks his sire as he begins trying
his own hand at freeing them all from their cage.
"That's what I keep asking myself."
******
"Is it okay?" Cordelia was the first to ask the question that was on
everyone's minds as soon as Fred and Wesley had announced that they'd
finished building the new dimensional reader. Already well past noon on the
following day, they only had a few more hours until the ritual was set to
begin, and they'd still received no word from the slayers or the three
friends who'd already went out in search of them.
"Who cares?" Xander quickly snatches away the device from the young girl,
racing over to Giles' side. "So how does this thing work?"
"Xander-" the ex-watcher tries reasoning with the impulsive young man,
"perhaps we should test it before making any attempt to-"
"Look- while we're around here playing Mr. Wizard with all of this junk, our
friends could already be dead!" He grabs Anya's hand, not wanting to listen
to any arguments regarding the matter. "So let's just grab some gear and
get going, alright?!" Both stunned and impressed by Xander's bold behavior,
Willow is the first to back him up.
"He's right guys." She stands from her seat, Tara following right behind
her as they join the rest of the group. "How does it work?" Fred grabs
back the device from Xander, muttering her objections to herself as she
turns on the reader. A huge black vortex appears where she projected it's
beam, a gentle humming escaping from the dark portal.
"I've already set it's frequency. This should lead us straight to them, but
don't blame me if we all wind up in some evil clown dimension." Still
without any hesitations, the friends make their way into the vortex's
encompassing darkness, a silent prayer being said by each that they would
indeed be led to their friends' whereabouts.
******
The minutes crawled by with painful slowness. After twenty-five of
them, Angel began eyeing Spike warily, his brow furrowing slightly as he
watches his childe hanging onto the steel bars, banging his entire body
against them in a violent attempt to break free. "Stupid! *bang*
God-damned! *bang* Bloody hell! *bang bang bang* "
"Spike!" Angel's shout knocks the blonde vamp back to reality. "Conserve
your strength! Your body beating up the bars isn't getting us anywhere!"
"Well at least I'm making an effort!" he retorts, pulling himself off of the
cage, slumping back down next to the others. "I don't see you doing
anything to get us out of here *and*, by the way, save your daughter from
being a sacrificial goat!"
Hearing enough, Angel quickly sits up, grabbing Spike by his jacket and
slamming him back against the bars. "Get this through that neurotic little
head of yours-" Before he can get his threat out, Angel begins panting
heavily, pulling away from the vampire as he holds a hand to his head,
reeling backwards in exhaustion.
"Angel?" Buffy hurries to his side, grabing him by the arm and leading him
back to sit down beside her. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Tired..." he sighs, holding his head in his hands. "It's getting...harder
to breathe..."
"I know," Buffy whimpers, sliding her arms around him. "You're exhausted-
we all are."
"Not me," Spike smugly smiles.
"Of course not!" Dawn snaps at him. "You don't have to breathe!"
"Dawn..." Buffy sighs, trying to calm her sister down.
"You won't last much longer," Gunn assures the bleach blonde annoyance.
"It's an energy drainer. Doesn't matter if you're among the land of the
living or not, so long as you've got energy to lose."
Ignoring their bickering for a moment, Angel pulled himself back up
against the bars to observe Quinn. His eyes bulged at the sight of her, all
bundled up in some sort of basket, beginning to faintly cry. What sent such
anguish through him was just how close she was to them, but still
unreachable.
Quinn's whimpers finally reached Buffy's ears, drawing her over beside
Angel. Inside she was screaming, lifting her face and staring with a
determined fierceness at the sight of her captive daughter.
"Take a good long look, slayer..." Kamien laughs as he enters the lab, "and
know that it will be your last." Buffy blinked at him, then shifted her
gaze to scan Lilah standing behind him. She dismissed her and returned her
gaze to Kamien once more.
"Kamien!" Buffy's desperate cry caught the creature by surprise as he began
to lift Quinn back into his arms. "I am begging you..." Her eyes widened
before she allowed herself to continue. In all her life, in all her
battles, she'd never spoken so fervently and with such despair. "Don't do
this-"
"Oh spare me the sob story!" The demon seemed amused by her desperate
attempt to appeal to his emotions. Unfeeling, uncaring, disregarding the
idea of such a thing as sensitivity, he straightens with the infant in his
arms, cracking a small smile, tight and cold. "Nothing can interfere with
my plans."
"Looks like we caught you with your plans down!" Before he can even glance
over his shoulder, the shocked demon is knocked to the ground by a kick from
Xander, staring down at his prone form as the others emerge from the vortex.
Xander's heart is thumping so hard that he felt the pulse, high and fast,
in his throat, surprised that he'd managed to make contact with the
creature. As he lifts an arm to strike him again, he finds it caught in the
air from behind by Lilah.
"A little out of your league, aren't you boy?" She pulls back a hand to
slap him but is suddenly spun around by Cordelia who delivers her own
devastating punch straight to Lilah's jaw.
"Do you know how long I've waited to do that?!" the brunette shouts as she
looks down with a proud smile at the young woman's prone form.
"Taught 'er everything I know!" Spike yells from the cage, beginning in his
attempts again to break free and get in on all the action.
"Then explain how you got caught, oh wise master," Cordy smirks, racing over
to her friends along with Wesley.
"Never mind us!" Buffy yells. "Get Quinn!" As the two turn to help the
others, they find their teammates all laid out on the tiled floor of the
lab, slumped over in pain from what they assumed to be a rather quick
beating from Kamien.
"Looks like me and the little lady here should be going," Kamien laughs,
preparing to port once again. He passes one final look to Lilah as she
tries getting up from the floor. "Too bad you won't be able to see the
show, but I don't seem to be in any further need of your services." He
grabs her by the hair, bending her head back until she was staring at the
ceiling, shrieking in response, as he knocks her fully unconscious with a
hard blow the the back of her head.
Lifting himself up from where he'd been knocked only seconds ago,
Xander's eyes focus on the sight of the creature, positioning himself into
the familiar stance he had seen him take just before he would teleport. As
she glimpes her ex beginning to make an attempt to charge after Kamien,
Cordy races over to him, helping him steady himself on his feet. Sharing a
determined look, their initial shared impulse was so strong that it overrode
everything, including the sure knowledge that by doing what they were about
to do, they would be risking both of their lives. Without thinking, they
each make a leap forward and grab hold of Kamien just as the demon
teleports himself, Quinn, and the two daring young fighters.
"No!!!" <What did they do?> Angel cried to himself, now beginning to mourn
the sudden loss of both his daughter and his two friends. "Get us out of
here! Now!" he shouts, instructing the others as they gathered around the
steel bars, still in shock by what they'd seen done.
"Be careful of the light," Gunn warns them, panting for air as he does.
"It's an energy drainer...don't get too close."
Despite the group's efforts, they had little success in breaking the
barred frame. After a few more exasperating attempts, Dawn's meek voice
finally spoke up over all of the clamoring with her sudden idea. "If this
light is absorbing all of our energy, if the five of us were to just let it
drain us while the rest of you kept trying on the outside-"
"Their would be a sudden surge of energy," Anya finishes for her, picking up
on the young teen's keen insight. "Maybe it would be enough to break this
open." Willing to try anything, Angel was the first to reach back and touch
the circular rheostat projecting the light from the wall. When he touched
it, blue electric fire squirted out between his fingers, so thick it was
more like jelly than light. Following his lead, the other captives rush the
light as their saviors on the outside made a solid attempt to break down the
steel.
The rheostat's center began to turn black, blowing off of the wall and
zipping across the cage like a bolt of lightning. It's surge broke the
bars, the steel shattering, showering the others with assorted fragments as
its inhabitants collapsed forward, their energy levels almost totally
drained.
"Are you all alright?" Giles asks them, helping the slayers to their feet.
"Where did..." Buffy stumbles, lifting a hand to the side of her head at the
sudden onrush of pain. "Kamien...where did he take them?"
"Don't worry, Buffy," Fred assures her. "We've got the reader working.
That's how we found you. We can trace wherever Kamien took them." The
young girl fell silent for a moment as she began fiddling with the device's
controls, cursing under her breath as her efforts produce nothing.
"What's wrong?" Dawn asks. "Why isn't it working?"
"Because no one gave me a chance to test it," Fred sighs. "I told you I
didn't know how stable it would be. Just give me a minute- maybe I can fix
it." As her brow furrows in deep concentration, Angel, slayer healing
starting to kick in, takes command.
"Did you guys find anything else about how to fight this thing?"
"Well we've got the reader," Anya says with an unconscious arrogance to her
voice. "What else is there? We grab him and send him through the vortex."
"And how do you propose we do that since the bugger won't stay still long
enough for us to grab him?" Spike snaps at her. "I suppose we could just go
up to him, hand him the reader and say, 'Here- hold this while we suck you
into it' !"
"That's enough!" Buffy shouts, turning to her former watcher for any added
guidence. "Giles?"
"If we could just manage to get him to teleport into a solid object. I
mean, even if it was only half-way through it, that would be enough to hold
him- maybe even kill him before he's sent back."
"Well we'd need to get him to teleport into someplace he's never been or
seen," Buffy reminds him, taking notice of her best friend, standing
alongside her with eyes that seemed to be struck with a startling notion.
"Will?"
"The roof," she mumbles, trying to gather her thoughts before continuing
with her proposed plan. "If we could lead him up to the roof, maybe we
could get him to teleport through the ledge or something."
"I think our man's a little too smart to just go teleporting through a
ledge," Spike says.
"A spell," Tara adds to her lover's idea. "We could do a glamour spell to
make the roof appear longer than what it is, that way when he teleported, he
wouldn't be able to tell where the ledge was and just go right through it."
"You sure magic is going to work on him?" Angel worries.
"No better time to find out," Willow passes him a weak smile. As the others
began pondering, realizing that the idea seemed to make sense, and was so
far there only one, Fred gleefully starts cheering as she finally picks up a
signal on Kamien and his fellow teleporters. "They're right outside- Quinn
too." A huge sigh was shared among the group as Angel and Buffy formulate
their plan of attack.
"Giles," the blonde turns to face him, "take Will and Tara up the back hall
and head up onto the roof. The rest of us will try and get him up there."
"And what about her?" Wes points to a still-unconscious Lilah, lying
helplessly on the cold floor.
"Dawn-" Angel addresses the girl he'd come to cherish and love more than his
own recently demised sister, "you and Anya tie her up- bring her back to the
hotel and stay there." He pauses to take in the sight of her, his lips
quivering into a small snarl that only Buffy and Spike's hearing picked up
on. He'd momentarily considered sending her to Mekon with Kamien, but
ultimately decided against it, wishing to deal with her himself once they'd
finished with the demon.
"Angel, come on-" Dawn tries arguing with him, but upon seeing his resolute
face, simply nods and wishes them luck before she and Anya went in search of
whatever rope they could find in the lab.
Deciding to conserve the reader's energy, the others split up and race
out of the lab, down the back stairway. The emotions playing across their
faces made their eyes look almost confused, bewildered, and somewhat dazed.
Even after all they'd done, all their battles, they'd never had a dealier
enemy to deal with or a deadlier price to pay.
"If this is going to work, we can't be a millimeter off," Gunn warns as they
reach the back of the Wolfram and Hart offices.
"This *will* work," Buffy silences him, spotting Kamien out of the corner of
her eye and preparing to take her position.
"How can you be so sure?" Spike questions her confidence, though knowing
full well the lengths they would all be willing to go to to stop Kamien.
One look at Angel's face, along with his accompanying remark, was enough of
an answer for him.
"Because it has to..."
Part 10
Cordelia and Xander collapsed to the ground as Kamien landed,
reappearing in the back of the building. There was a moment of silence
while the two brave friends carefully observed the demon looking around in
shock, his energy levels also drained by the strain of teleporting such a
huge mass along with him. "You fools!" he screams at last. "Do you know
how long its going to take me to replenish my energy?" He leans over,
grabbing Xander by the neck with his free hand, letting out a soft laugh.
"No matter...I was going to start by taking Quinn out of the picture, but
now...I think I'll start with you."
"I don't think so." A swiftly approaching Angel grabs Kamien from behind,
picking him up and sending him flying into the metal fence. As the
surprised creature bounces off the chain links, Buffy makes a fast grab for
her daughter, extracting the infant from his arms.
Dazed momentarily, Kamien realizes the change of weight in his arms,
lunging forward to recollect Quinn but lands right into Buffy's quick kick,
his head slamming into the sidewalk, hurt by the impact of the slayer's
boot. His lip starts to swell as Angel picks him back up and slams Kamien's
face directly into the fence. His lip immediately bleeds and Angel rubs his
face in the now-broken part of the metal, draining the blood from his
swelled lip even more.
Before moving in to assist Angel furhter, Buffy turns to Xander,
handing over Quinn as she shouts over her shoulder to the others. "Get back
to the Hyperion- now!! Go!!"
"What about you guys?" Cordelia pleads.
"Go!!" Angel reiterates, landing another punch on a weakened Kamien.
"Come on luv," Spike grabs hold of her arm, steering her in the opposire
direction. "We'll get the lil' bit home," he nods towards Quinn, saying his
own silent prayer that the child had been recovered before the ritual could
take place, seemingly unharmed.
Kamien slowly comes around and notices that Angel's back is turned
towards Buffy and the others were already out of the slayers' helping
distance. He wipes the blood from his lip and crawls over to the corner of
the alley, noticing the chain cutter laying thoughtlessly in the clearing.
Buffy sees out of the corner of her eye the glint of the metal
instantly and she tries to warn Angel but it's too late. Kamien smashes the
tool into the side of Angel's rib cage and he collapses to the ground in
immense pain. The assassin grins and continues to ram the tool into his
side as the slayer groans from the sudden pain, doubling over as Buffy's
face tells it all.
Wanting desperately to rush to the aid of her husband, Buffy resists
the urge, remembering their original plan of splitting up and drawing him up
to the roof. "Let's take this little tango up top, shall we?" she shouts to
Kamien, taking off up the fire escape before he can even begin his pursuit.
Still not having enough time to build up his energy, Kamien opts not to
teleport and instead revel in a good old fashioned chase.
Managing to stay a good two or three feet ahead of him, Buffy reaches
the top of the roof, seeing the two wiccans in deep concentration of
maintaining their glamour spell over the outstretched ledge.
"Where's Angel?" Giles yells as he and Fred begin readying the dimensional
reader.
"Just get ready," Buffy dismisses their concerns as she stands on guard,
hearing the demon's footsteps fast approaching. When Kamien appeared at
long last, Buffy was most fearful upon noticing that Angel was not following
behind him. Pushing her accompanying idea out of her mind, she quickly goes
to swing a punch at Kamien, only to find herself crash as he teleports out
of the way.
"Thanks for the warm-up run," Kaminen smiles, reappearing behind her and
kicking her onto her back. "Helped me build up just enough energy."
Another few kicks leave Buffy rolling in pain, holding a hand to her stomach
as she passes up a glare to the attacking demon. "Pity...I was hoping you
would've put up more of a challenge than Angel." He lifts his foot to plant
another kick to the side of her head, shocked to have it grabbed just before
impact as Buffy flips him onto his back.
"Advanced healing as well," Kamien laughs, porting to another spot on the
roof. "I'm impressed."
"We?re not here to impress you." Angel comes leaping straight at him, but
finds himself coming up short, instead spearing Fred down knocking the
reader out of her hands as he hears Kamien's maniacal laugh echoing as the
demon disappears once again.
"Fred," Angel jostles her slightly, trying to rouse her. "Fred!" Sensing a
perfect opportunity, Kamien reappears, swooping down to snatch the reader
from where it had landed and decides to use it to his own benefit. Taking
aim over the side of the ledge, he opens a new vortex, then using his own
body for force, dives at Angel and Fred, sending the three of them into the
portal, Buffy's scream the only sound to be heard as the swirling black oval
closes.
Part 11
"Where are they??" Buffy cries, scurrying over to her former watcher.
"Giles- where are they??"
"Stuck in the vortex," he replies blankly. "We hadn't set the frequency
yet, so they haven't been teleported anywhere. They're just...stuck between
dimensions."
"Well unstick them!" she demands, shoving the reader into his hands. "Do
it!" As Giles begins fumbling around with the controls, Buffy's ears pick
up on an approaching sound. She turns to find Kamien materializing behind
them, just inches away from the ledge Willow and Tara were still
manipulating with their spell.
"Tricky little machines, aren't they?" he laughs. "You should've let me try
to fix that one for you too." He pauses in his mocking to take in Buffy's
despairing look upon seeing that only he had teleported back to the roof-
Angel and Fred were still nowhere to be seen. "What's wrong, Buffy?" Kamien
lets out a maniacal laugh. "No quick comebacks? No clever one-liners?"
"You think this is a game, Kamien?!" Buffy screams, racing towards him in
rage. "It's not!" Despite the current onrush of emotions, she manages to
maintain a hold on their strategy, making a quick dive for him, knowing that
he would only port again. After being sent flying through the air, crashing
yet again to the hard surface, she pulls herself to her feet, turning her
back to the ledge and only hoped that the demon would indeed try sneak
attacking her from behind again.
"As befits an adversary of your caliber," his voice comes as his form begins
to materialize behind her, "I'll grant you a demise with dignity." As he
goes to lunge for her, he finds his legs trapped within the roof's ledge,
Willow and Tara's glamour spell having worked to perfection. "No! What is
this?!" he yells in panic, struggling to free himself. A sly smile crosses
Buffy's face as she purposely takes her time walking back away from him,
eyeing his helpless form with a proud glare.
"Looks like you're a little stuck, buddy," she smiles, turning to see the
two witches racing over to her.
"Giles, do you have the reader working?" Tara asks, clutching her lover's
hand even tighter as she finally comes to realize just how successful they
had been.
"Got it!" A split-second later and a new vortex appears directly in front
of Kamien. As Giles increases the reader's frequency, the dark dimensional
whirlwind increases, completely engulfing the assassin and his shrieks of
anguish. But as his form disappears into the darkness, a sudden zipping
noise blasts from the vortex as the electric hurricane begins glowing,
winding in the opposite direction. "Something's wrong..."
"Giles, what's going on?" there was more than just a trace of panic in the
slayer's voice as she turns to the englishman. "It can't be broken! We
still have to get Angel and Fred back!"
"It's created an imbalance between the gravitational pull of this dimension,
and the vortex. If it continues to increase...Buffy, we have to close it!"
"So close it! Push a button, end this session, then we start another one to
get-"
"I can't close it manually," he turns to face her with a solemn look. "It's
not responding. The reader has to be tossed in to shut it. It's the only
way!"
"Are you crazy!" she screams, grabbing the reader from him. "Angel and
Fred-"
"We can build another one," he assures her, extracting the device from her
hands. "It'll just take time-"
"Time I don't want to spend!"
"Buffy!" his desperate cry catches her offguard. "Do you want this whole
dimension to get sucked in?! We have to!" Being left with no other choice,
she simply nods, a tear rolling down the side of her face as she watches
Giles toss the reader into the vortex, the portal quickly whirlwinding to a
close.
Each day of the many that had passed since the first time she had
sentenced her Angel to a dimensional hell on that fateful day, she'd
speculated for hours on end just why she hadn't let the world get sucked
into the portal, just so long as she would've gotten sucked in along with
him, but most of all- how had he ever been able to forgive her.
Four years later, she now found herself in the same position, most
fearful that upon returning this time, Angel would never be able to forgive
her exact same decision. The slayer and her best friend glanced at one
another, Willow having a good idea as to where her friend's thoughts were
upon seeing the ex-vampire's only means of escape closed forever.
"Buffy..." For the first time in a long while, Giles was speechless. He
passes her a small glance, feeling somewhat ashamed by the decision he'd
forced her to make. Before he can say anything else, Buffy looks up at him,
eyes still brimming with unshed tears.
"So what do we do now?"
"We do the hard thing," he answers her. "We wait."
The approaching sunrise was bleeding slowly out of the sky, making its
exit above the gathering of clouds that were dispersing to make way for the
glowing orb. It was the sky that the four friends were watching and
listening to, and the most maddening thing was that there was no sound at
all. The only sound that radiated in Buffy's ears was the voice that
insisted that she had once again betrayed her soulmate. <It's just like
last time,> she thinks to herself. <One way or another I will bring you
back.>
And as if this thought had caused it to happen, she begins to hear a
wind begin to blow- a strange, whirring sound echoing from overhead. She
looks up, eyes wide, as the others began hearing the noise as well.
"Angel," she tries to say, but her voice fails her. There was a strange
clashing noise followed by a blinding shot of light, forcing the onlookers
to avert their eyes to the ground.
"I'm getting too old for this. You couldn't have teleported us back to land
on something soft?" Angel moans, rubbing his throbbing head with his hand as
Buffy races over to him, toppling him back down as she jumps ontop of him.
"Angel!! Oh god- you're alright!!"
"Tell that to my head," he flashes her his trademark half-smile, wrapping
her up into a heated kiss.
"Okay- why couldn't I have just stayed unconscious for all of this?" Fred
sighs, standing to her feet with a little help from Willow and Tara.
"Giles," Willow turns to him, "what gives? I thought you said they were
stuck? How did they get out?"
"I'm assuming that when the imbalance between the gravitational pull of this
dimension and the vortex was created, the portal opened so greatly that
there was just enough room for Angel and Fred to escape. Tossing the reader
into the vortex was probably what caused the reaction to be delayed,
hence...hence..." as he turns to finish explaining his theory to the
slayers, he finds his efforts to be useless as they were too wrapped up in
one another to pay attention to anything else.
"Hence those two are gonna be stuck like that up here all night unless we
pry them apart," Willow smiles, reaching over to grab Buffy by her shirt,
trying to lift her off of Angel.
"Can't talk," the small blonde pushes her friend away with a free hand.
"Angel...busy..." As tight as she can, Buffy wraps her arms around him,
pressing her head tightly against his chest. "I thought I lost you again."
"You're not getting rid of me that easily," he chuckles, drawing her in for
another kiss before picking the both of them up to their feet. "Quinn? Wh-
where's Quinn?"
"She's fine," Buffy calms him. "Xander and the others took her back to the
hotel. Kamien's back in the Mekon dimension- everything's okay until the
next disaster we have thrown at us," she lets a small laugh escape, her
first in the past few days since their nightmare had begun.
******
The returning members of Angel Investigations didn?t like the ominous
quiet in the Hyperion. Buffy calls out softly to her friends, hoping they
were downstairs. When she receives no reply, she walks across the lobby,
making her way into the hotel's kitchen. The sight that her eyes took in
was enough to cause her to softly call Angel over to the doorway to catch a
glimpse himself.
A smiling Xander was reaching over to hug his wife and then extracted
Quinn from her carrier. Holding her up and kissing her, he settles her in
his arms and begins gushing over her. "Okay Quinn, here's your first food
lesson..." He holds up the yellow, cream-filled puff, first showing it to
the infant before taking a bite of it himself. "This is a twinkie- spongy
cake goodness. Can you say twinkie?" He tilts the pastry towards the
child's mouth, twirling it around a bit before trying to get her to take a
taste.
"Xander!" Gunn shouts at him, grabbing his hand and stealing the twinkie
away from him. "Don't give her that junk! How's she even supposed to eat
it?"
"Well gee- I would give her some milk but I think Buffy's a little more
*equipped* for that job than I am!" Xander turns back around in his seat,
focusing his attentions back on the infant. "And how is my beautiful little
Quinn feeling? The big nasty guy is gone now, huh?"
"Yeah," Spike chimes in, "now she's got the big, nasty, *stupid* guy to deal
with." Grabbing his mug of blood from the microwave, he uses his free hand
to lift the infant into his arms, sitting down at the table. "Stick with
me, kid. You don't wanna be stuck having to hang out with any more freaks
than you have to."
"Spike," Cordelia paces over to him, glass of juice in hand, "stop trying to
warp my niece. Hasn't she been through enough already?"
"Oh come on- me and the lil' nipper are bonding. Isn't that right, cutie?"
"Please!!" The friends gathered around the table turn at the sound of their
latest captive's shout. "If I have to listen to any more of this ridiculous
dribble I'll call the cops myself and have them lock me up for life!"
"Sorry pet," Spike stands to approach the tied up and bound Lilah, Quinn
still in his arms. "You don't get off that easy. At least not until I get
my fifteen minutes alone with ya."
"And what do you plan to do to me with those fifteen minutes you neutered,
whining excuse for a vampire- serenade me with some of that *wonderful*
poetry you were known for?!"
"Do I need to punch you again?" Cordy snaps at her, sharing an exasperated
look with Dawn as they finish their breakfast.
"Save you strength, Cordy." The brunette smiles as she sees Angel leading
the others into the kitchen, safe and sound. "I may need you to help me
carry out whatever's left of her when I get done having a few words with Ms.
Morgan here," he brushes past her, patting her on the head as he wraps
Cordelia into a hug.
"Thank god you're all okay," she cheers, making her way over to welcome the
others with open arms. "Kamien?"
"Gone for good," Buffy answers, giving Spike a smile as she lifts her
daughter out of his arms. "Sweetie..." Quinn gurgles delightedly as her
mother lifts her into the air. Buffy lowers Quinn to eye level after one
last lift and gurgle, planting a kiss on her small forehead. "Thank god..."
she whispers, clutching her daughter tightly against her chest.
"Hey there, sweetheart," Angel smiles at the infant, leaning over to kiss
her, thanking whatever powers were listening that his child, his other
reason for living, was back in his arms. The little girl raises her head at
the sound of her father's voice and smiles again.
"She must've really missed you guys," Cordy smiles up at Angel, searching
his eyes for the forgiveness she hoped to find there. Stepping away to
leave Buffy with Quinn, he takes hold of the brunette's arm, leading her
over to the kitchen counter. "Cordelia...when I said earlier about...about
not wanting your help- that you had done enough...I didn't...I was just so
upset, and..."
"Angel..." Cordy bows her head, shaking it to the side slightly as she
tries making her own apology. "You have nothing to apologize for. I- I was
so careless with Quinn-"
"You couldn't have known," he assures her. "None of us could have," he
throws a glance to Spike, motioning for him to come over to where they were
talking.
"I know that, but it doesn't make it any better. I'm so sorry."
"And I...umm..." the bleach blonde vamp struggles for the right words to
make his first apology in over a century. "I'm sorry I didn't keep a better
eye on things...namely your daughter," he chuckles, hoping his sire would
maintain some sort of sense of humor.
Angel merely shakes his head, turning to walk back over to Lilah.
"Will you excuse us for a moment?" he addresses his friends, grabbing hold
of Lilah's chair from behind, beginning to wheel her helpless frame into the
lobby. "We need to talk..." He takes his time in rolling her into the
spacious clearing, a wry smile across his lips as he spins her around in the
chair to face him.
"So how're you holding up, Lilah? You thirsty? Hungry?" A snarl-like
sound escapes her lips as she looks up to eye him.
"The minute you untie me, this little game starts all over again, Angel. I
don't know why you're even wasting your time."
"Oh, I'm not. See..." he begins to circle around her as he continues, "who
said I'm even going to untie you? Or better yet..." he pauses to remove a
handgun from his belt behind his back, "who says I'm even going to let you
out of here alive? I seriously doubt you would be sorely missed."
"Oooo...since when do you need to carry a gun, mister big and bad slayer?"
she smiles, trying to hide the trace of panic she was sure her voice was
carrying.
"We're a legitimate detective agency here," he replies, clicking back the
gun's hammer. "I think it's only fitting."
"No need to be angry, Angel. You've got your daughter back, don't you? So
what do you say we just forget about this whole past week, and maybe start
things up again in another few days. Thursday's good for me, but you let me
know what day you have free in your schedule and we'll set a date-"
"No need to be angry, huh? What makes you think I'm angry?" With a steady
hand, he lifts the gun, pointing it directly at her. "Lilah, you've really
offended me here. I'm not angry. No, no...see if I was angry..." he takes
a step closer to her, pressing the weapon against her forehead, "...I would
just ask you whether you wanted to end our little feud now, or whether you
wanted to see if you can breathe through your fucking forehead!!"
Seeing her eyes tighten closed, her body shivering as beads of nervous
perspiration begin to form on her face, Angel unclicks the hammer, quickly
pulling the gun back away from her and setting it back into it's holster.
"But I don't have to do that with you, do I Lilah, cause we're pals- we're
buddies, right?" he gently shakes her shoulders, the confident smile
reemerging on his face. As her eyes slowly begin to open, she lets out a
heavy sigh of relief as she sees Angel begin to untie her.
"This isn't a threat, this isn't a warning, it's a promise- if you or anyone
else from Wolfram and Hart *ever* come after any of us again, I swear to
god, I will take great pleasure in slicing you limb from limb and then
feeding you to whatever dog would be able to stomach you. And I'll even do
a little dance for you as I smile on the way to receive my death penalty for
murder. Is any part of this in anyway unclear, Lilah?"
Receiving only a small, frightened nod from her as an answer, he grabs
her roughly by the arm, dragging her over to the front doors. "Good...now
get the hell off of my property!" With a final shove, he slams the door
behind her, tossing off his jacket as he makes his way back into the kitchen
to enjoy breakfast with his family.
"Just another fun-filled weekend at Angel Investigations, huh?" Xander
speaks up, patting Angel on the back as he passes him by.
"You know Xander-" Angel pulls up a chair, taking a seat beside him, "what
you and Cordy did back there, charging after Kamien, that was really
impressive. I mean, I've come to accept that sort of 'the hell with reason'
logic from Cordelia, but you...thank you." Overwhelmed by the compliment,
Xander tries to hide his slight blush as he sits back in his seat.
"Just call me Mr. Action Hero," he smiles sweetly, receiving a quick kiss
from Anya in return.
"I'm glad you said that," Angel says, standing from his seat. "How'd you
like to become a full-time, more...*active* member of the agency?"
"Uh...great, I guess...but, umm...I'm not really liking how you said
'active' there man. What's up with that?"
By lunchtime Xander was kicking himself for having that third helping
of waffles. Through blurred vision he could just about make out the image
of Willow, Tara, Cordelia, and Anya following alongside Buffy as the young
mother was happily pushing her daughter along in her stroller down their
chosen path of travel.
Wiping the sweat that was streaming down into his eyes, he takes notice
of Angel, still a ways ahead of him, clad only in a pair of blue shorts and
sneaks. The slayer's newly tanned skin was quickly soaking up more of the
sun's rays as he jogs up behind his wife, pulling her to a halt as he wraps
his arms around her waist. He places a kiss against her neck, eliciting a
giggle from her in response.
"Angel! Eww...you're all sweaty and sticky!" Not that she was complaining
about the sight. The waistband of his shorts was darkened by the pool of
sweat drenching his abs, and his skin was warm and glistening, the streaks
of heavy perspiration outlining his muscles even more.
Giving Quinn's tummy a quick tickle before leaning in to give her a
kiss as well, he smiles up at Anya. "I think Xander's doing pretty good,
don't you?" The ex-demon peers out from underneath her sunglasses back
along the street to take a glimpse of her husband. "Oh yeah...at this rate,
maybe he'll make it back to the hotel by next week!"
"An...Ang...Angel..." an exhausted Xander finally chokes out, catching up to
his extremely more fit friend. "Don't you...think we've done
enough...running today?" He leans over, placing his hands on his knees as
he breathes in a few more huge gulps of air.
"Are you kidding?" Buffy answers for him. "This isn't half of what we do
everyday! Angel's going too easy on you if you ask me."
"Forgive me...for not being...as athletically inclined...as you slayers,
okay?"
"Come on, Xander," Angel tries urging him on. "It's not that much further."
"Besides-" Cordy takes the opportunity to chime in, "you could afford to
lose some of those excessive chunks." Willow and Tara could only laugh at
her observation, as Anya passed him a pitiful glance.
"It's only one more block, Xander," Angel pulls him back up straight, giving
him a slight push from behind to get him started running again. "Come on,
move it. Let's go."
Back at the Hyperion, Dawn was too busy pestering Spike to notice that
her sister and the others had been gone far longer than any walk should've
taken. "Come on, Spike. Tell me!"
"No."
"Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"What part of 'no' don't you get, bit? Sheesh- you're just like your
sister."
"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment," she giggles. "Come on-
you're telling me that you don't know anything about Buffy and Angel
throwing a surprise party for my birthday next week?"
"You think they'd tell me?!"
"Hmm...you've got a point there," she pouts, grabbing a pillow from the
couch and stretching out on it. "Okay- what about gifts? Have you heard
anything about what they're getting me?"
"Nope," the vamp tries to supress his knowing smile, wanting to keep at
least one thing a secret from the teen.
"What about what *you're* getting me?"
"And what makes you think I'm even getting you something?"
"Because I know you, you big softy!" she punches him lightly in the arm.
"So what're you getting me, huh? What is it?"
"Something I think you'll enjoy, and that's all I'm saying." Before she's
given a chance to protest, her eyes shift up to see the others returning
from their walk, Angel being more drenched with sweat than a simple walk
could've warranted.
"How did Quinn enjoy the walk?" she smiles, standing up to bounce over to
them.
"Quinn's fine," Buffy boasts, lifting her daughter into her arms.
"Yeah-" Willow agrees, "it's Xander who had problems with it." A large lump
comes plodding through the doors, collapsing with a loud thud onto the
floor.
"I'm...okay..." Xander squeaks out between pants before his head slumps onto
the cold, tiled surface of the Hyperion's floor.
"Is he okay?" Giles yells over from behind his desk.
"Perhaps you should've gone a bit easier on him, Angel," Wes adds, walking
towards the kitchen to fetch the poor young boy some water.
"This *was* going easy on him, Wes," Angel defends, accepting the towel Fred
had carried over to him, beginning to wipe himself free of moisture, hearing
Buffy's immediate disapproval. He leans over into her neck to whisper in
her ear. "We'll take a shower in a little bit, hmm?" Letting out a light
giggle before leaning up to kiss him, she turns back around to see Xander's
arm reach up to grab the glass of refreshing water Wes had brought over to
him.
Dousing his head with the liquid, Xander lets out a low moan. "I can't
feel anything below my chin- and even that's starting to get numb..."
"Why don't you just go on upstairs and take a nice, long, hot shower,
honey?" Anya offers him, seeing his eyes widen at the mere mention of
walking, let alone up any stairs.
"Oh no...I don't think I'll make it up any stairs for a shower..." He pulls
out his arms from underneath of him, beginning to crawl towards the back
doors leading to the courtyard.
"Look Quinn," Buffy gushes over her daugher. "Uncle Xander learned to
crawl! Isn't that great!"
"I think I'll just...go out back...and wash myself down with the hose."
Having covered barely five inches in his attempt to reach the door, he
pauses to take a quick breather. "Damn...where's a good teleporting
do-hickey when you really need one?"
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