Angel 1. Chapter 1

REDEMPTION

Final book in the 'The PTB's Boss Sends Help' Trilogy

(I don't own Angel I'm just borrowing him and all of the Angel characters from Joss Whedon.)

Chapter 1

The Portrait

"Cordelia did you find a photographer that would take our pictures that I can use to do our portrait?" Angel asked her as he sat in his favorite chair making sketches of her as she did different things around their suite of rooms. He had already done a sketch of her nursing Kathleen and of her just sitting in the rocking chair as she rocked their daughter to sleep.

"Not yet Angel. I want to get back into shape before we have that done. I only started exercising last week. I have 10 pounds more to lose and I refuse to have the pictures taken until I lose those 10 pounds and can get into my wedding dress again. I don't want to hear any arguments either."

Angel jumped up and took his shirt off and started to flex his muscles. "Hmmm, having a baby didn't seem to affect me. I am as slim and trim as usual." "Angel go and get the pants from the Tux that you wore on our wedding day and see if you can get into them easily." Cordelia said as she put Kathleen to bed.

"I don't have to Cordy, I know I haven't gained any weight." Cordelia went to the closet and took the Tuxedo pants off of the hanger and went over to Angel.

"Take your pants off Angel and lets see if you can get in these." Angel looked at her and was going to argue with her but decided it would be easier to just put the pants on and prove it to her that he could still get into them.

Angel took the pants he was wearing off and slipped into the pants from his wedding day. They went up all the way easily but when he tried to zip them all the way to the top and button them he turned away from her and sucked his stomach in then closed it. He turned towards her then. "See I told you they still fit." Without warning Angel let out the breath he was holding, the button popped and went flying across the room. Cordelia busted out laughing.

"I don't understand, I've never gained weight before. How can you gain weight from drinking blood. I never did before." Angel sat down and the zipper went down on its own.

"Angel don't forget that you've been eating regular food and you've also suffered the 'Got to Have it Cravings' right along with me. Plus you haven't noticed it to much because I've been buying you pants that are one size larger then you used to wear. So I guess this means your going on a diet along with me."

Angel jumped up and said 'Come on lets go to the basement now. Put your workout clothes on. I can hear Fred and Wesley in there room so I'm going to ask them to watch Kathleen while we are down stairs.' Angel called Wesley's room and asked them to babysit for a couple of hours. "Sure Angel. We'll come down to your room so you don't have to disturb her." "Thanks Wes, give us five minutes and we'll be out of here, we are just going to be downstairs working out." Angel hung up and changed into his sweat pants and a sleeveless T-Shirt. Cordelia did the same. They waited until Wesley and Fred came down to their room then left. "Thanks Fred. She shouldn't wake up, I just changed and fed her." "Okay." Fred said as she went to check on Kathleen.

Cordelia and Angel spent the next 3 hours working out in the basement. Actually though Cordelia collapsed from exhaustion after 2 hours and Angel continued for one more hour. To finish off his session of exercises Angel put 6 cement blocks together in 3 equal columns. Cordelia watched him as he got onto the blocks and did push ups. She started hurting just watching him. After he did 25 of these push ups he dismounted and collapsed on the floor next to her. He was breathing heavily and perspiration was falling off of him and onto the floor.

"You are out of shape my dear husband. Either that or else along with the gifts that God has given to you, your body has to be exercised more often to keep it in shape." She wasn't sure he heard her since he was on the floor and breathing hard. Cordelia leaned over on Angel and looked him in the face and said 'It looks like you have to exercise more just to keep in shape.' Cordelia got up and put her hand out to her husband to give him a lift up. Angel took her offered hand and stood up. They both slowly made their way back up to their bedroom.

Angel made it up the last few stairs by crawling on his hands and knees. Cordelia wasn't doing much better but she was still walking. The door to their bedroom was still open so she just walked in and collapsed on the bed. Wesley and Fred were kneeling on the couch and looking over the back at them as they came in. Two minutes later they watched Angel come crawling in on his hands and knees. He made it to the middle of the room and collapsed.

Wesley and Fred just watched them then turned back to the TV. "I guess Angel is having to deal with the side affect of one of his gifts. I hope we don't have to deal with anything until he can get himself in better shape. I think we better work on building a better gym for all of us. Remember when Dr. Martin was helping Cordelia and Angel to work through one of her bouts of depression and she described a scenario that suggested that we had an inside swimming pool?" Wesley asked Fred. "Yes." "I think we had better actually build that and make a real gym also. What do you think?" "I think that is a very good idea." Fred answered. Wesley and Fred turned around and continued to watch TV.

Cordelia was still laying on the bed when Fred came over. Fred put her hand on Cordelia's shoulder and gently shook it. "Cordelia, wake up." Cordelia opened one eye. "Fred I am so tired and hurting so bad that I think that even my hair hurts. Is Kathleen okay?" "Yes she is fine. She's been sleeping all of this time. I woke you up because you and Angel have been sleeping for an hour now. It's 5 o'clock now, I thought you would probably want to take a bath so I have the whirlpool bath filling right now. We'll wait here while you and Angel take a bath and soak a little. Then I'll go down and start dinner." "Okay, thank you Fred, you're a gem."

Cordelia got up slowly and woke Angel up. "Angel get up and come and take a bath. Fred has the water already going into the whirlpool." Angel got up slowly and walked over to the bathroom and started to take his clothes off before Cordelia could even close the door. Wesley and Fred could hear both of them getting into the whirlpool and slowly descend into the water. They sat in there for the next thirty minutes just soaking after they had bathed.

Kathleen finally woke up and started crying. Fred went over to her and changed her then brought her over to the couch. Wesley and Fred were having fun playing with her when Cordelia and Angel finally came out. Cordelia went to Fred and sat down at the end of the couch and next to Fred. "I just changed her so she is okay for now." "Thank you guys. Especially for letting us rest after our torture session. That was the first time I did such an intense exercise session since Kathleen was born. Poor Angel is feeling it almost as much as I am since this is the first exercise session where he is learning what it is like to feel human again. It looks like Angelus is going to give him what he needs only when he is going to be in a fight."

Cordelia handed Kathleen back to Fred and bent forward while holding her head in her hands.

"Angel, Cordelia is having a vision." Wesley yelled.

Angel came running over to the couch. He had been shaving and had only done half of his face when Wesley called out to him. He knelt by Cordelia's side and waited until the vision passed. After a few minutes passed she reached for a pen and paper and wrote down the address of where she saw a group of demons attacking a couple of teenagers. Angel took the paper from her and read the directions.

"Let's go Wesley you get Gunn and I'll meet you at the back as soon as I finish dressing." Wesley left the room and went running down to Gunn's room. Then they heard them running down stairs. As soon as Angel finished dressing he left also. "Lock the doors ladies and put the security system on." He said as he ran out of the room.

As soon as Cordelia was able to she grabbed Kathleen, went downstairs and locked the doors and put the security system on as Angel had said. Fred went to the kitchen then to start dinner, Cordelia followed her and took a seat at the table while she prepared to feed Kathleen.

"Do you have any suggestions as to what I should fix for dinner?" Fred asked Cordelia.

"How about hot dogs and chips and maybe a side of cole slaw." Cordelia said. "That sounds good to me." Fred said. "Please make the chicken hot dogs for Angel and I with no bread and no chips." Cordelia was playing with Kathleen as she was nursing. She talked baby talk to her and tickled her round little cheeks. Kathleen rewarded her with a giggle then went right back to her dinner. Fred was listening to Cordelia playing with her daughter. She came and sat down at the table with a couple of cups of hot tea for Cordelia and herself.

"It looks like my little munchkin here needs to start on solid food. She isn't satisfied with just nursing anymore. Do we have any applesauce Fred?" "Let me see, I think we have a jar in the basement." Fred ran downstairs to check for the applesauce and was back in a few minutes.

"Got it." Fred showed the bottle to Cordelia. "Would you hold her while I go and get her silverware set that Mom gave her." Fred took Kathleen from Cordelia. Cordelia was back in a few minutes with the set. She washed them with hot water and dish soap then opened the bottle of applesauce and put a small amount in a small bowl. While Fred continued to hold Kathleen her mother introduced her to solid food. She took to solid food without any problem and when she was done she was ready to go to sleep.

"Well that went pretty good considering that was her first time. I'm going to have to start shopping for baby food now I guess. That will be fun watching Angel trying to feed her."

"How are you feeling Fred? Do you think Wesley's boys made contact with your eggs?" Cordelia asked.

"I have no idea Cordelia. It's kind of early for me to feel anything don't you think?"

"No, I don't think it's too early. After Angel and I had sex I felt a tingling feeling like. Something inside me knew that we had made our first baby. I don't know why or how I knew it but I was 100 certain that we had successfully made contact and that my egg and his sperm had already started to multiply itself many times over. I don't think that I will ever forget that feeling." Cordelia picked up Kathleen's hand and kissed it over and over again.

Kathleen had enough to eat so she started grabbing for her mothers mouth that was showering kisses on her little hand. She looked at her hand as though she had all of a sudden figured out that she could do things with this thing that was attached to her. The first place she put it was in her mouth to see how it tasted. Her whole hand didn't fit in to well so she tried putting in only her 2nd and 3rd fingers. She seemed to decide that it fit just right and started to suck on them.

"Look Fred she has found she has two fingers to suck on. Here why don't you get her to burp and I'll start cutting up the cabbage." Cordelia gave Fred a cloth to put over her shoulder and then gave her Kathleen. She cleaned herself up then started to shred the cabbage.

After she burped Kathleen Fred put her into her bassinet and went back into the kitchen and started to fix the hot dogs and take the buns out of the bags so she could put them on the big griddle.

"When will you be missing your next period Fred?" Cordelia asked as she continued to make the coleslaw.

"I'm due next weekend."

"Well I'll be counting the days with you girl friend. It would be nice if you are pregnant then Kathleen will have a playmate that won't be too much younger then her."

Cordelia was done making the coleslaw so she started to take the silver ware out to set the table. "You know Fred I think it would be better if we shortened the table again now that everyone is gone and were back to the original crew."

"Yeah, I think your right. We might as well do it now." Fred said as she came over to help Cordelia take out the 2 extra leafs. They pushed the two sides together then Cordelia finished setting the table.

"Fred Angel just told me that they are on their way back and should be here in about 30 minutes." "Okay Cordy, thank you."

The girls sat down and turned the TV on while they waited for the men to come back. Just as Angel told her they were back in 30 minutes. Dirty as usual from their encounter with the Vampires. They went upstairs right away to clean up and while they were up stairs the girls finished cooking dinner and putting it on the table.

Angel, Wesley and Gunn all came down at the same time. "Where is dinner women. Your men have returned from the battle field and are hungry." Angel said out loud.

In answer Cordelia and Fred came out with a platter of hot dogs and buns and a bowl of coleslaw and chips. Cordelia had a plate over by her and Angel that had 4 chicken hot dogs on it.

The girls brought out the drinks and put them in front of the men.

When Cordelia sat down she put 2 of the chicken hot dogs in front of Angel and 2 in her plate. She served him a large spoon full of coleslaw and his mug of blood then started in on her own plate.

Angel just sat there and looked at his plate then at Gunn's and Wesley's plate. Gunn had made up 3 hot dogs with buns and piled high with onions, relish and chili peppers. The rest of his plate was taken up by coleslaw and chips. Wesley had 2 hot dogs piled high also.

Angel just looked at them and then at his plate then at Cordelia. He continued to look at her until she looked up.

"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked Angel.

"Is this all that I get? Doesn't your hard working husband get more then this?" Cordelia put her hand on Angels cheek and gave it a little pat. "This is what they call a diet my dear. Like any other man who's wife is on a diet after being pregnant for nine months you get to be on a diet also. Before you know it though, because of your diet and exercising, you'll be back in your smaller size pants and looking just as sexy as ever. Then we can have our pictures taken so that you can start on our portrait."

"What's this? Has Angel gained weight and is having to wear larger size pants? No wonder he was breathing so hard when we were fighting those young Vampires. I'll help you out Angel and take you over to the warehouse that my boys live in. It has lots of stairs and it's big enough for us to run 10 or 15 miles in." Gunn was having fun with this information.

"Laugh it up Gunn, don't forget that you are expected to produce a couple of kids also, then I will be the one laughing when your wife puts you on a diet also." Angel said. Then he looked at his chicken hot dogs and coleslaw and decided that it would be less painful if he drank his blood first then ate the hot dogs and coleslaw.

For the next five weeks the AI team became very busy with clients. Cordelia had only one or two visions a week though and that was enough to help her to learn to handle the visions and Kathleen at the same time. They both continued to exercise and Cordelia made sure that they stuck to their diet. After five weeks Cordelia gave Angel an older, smaller size pair of pants to put on with out saying anything. They had just come back from an exercise session and were getting dressed after taking a shower.

Angel slipped the pants on and zipped them up and buttoned them without any problem. He noticed that they were a little loose though and said something to Cordelia.

"Don't you think that it's time for me to start wearing my smaller pants now. These are too loose now." Cordelia stood at the closet then started to walk around her husband and took a good look at him as though he was a construction worker and she was a girl on the sidewalk admiring his physique. Then she let out a loud whistle. "Angel those are your old pants. The size you used to wear is now too big." Angel let out a loud Tarzan yell.

"Tarzan is back. Come Jane let Tarzan see how good Jane look now." Angel pulled off Cordelia's robe that she was wearing and she did a few turns and posed for him. Both Angel and Cordelia's heart started to beat faster as they looked at each other. Cordelia went to Angel and ran her fingernails lightly over his chest and then to his back. Angels stomach muscles were more cleanly defined now and she couldn't see even a wrinkle of fat on him. She put her hands down to his pants and started to unbutton and unzip them. Angel looked down into her eyes as she pushed her hands into his pants and felt his cheeks and found them to be more firm.

Angel grabbed Cordelia at the back of her head and pulled her up to him where he could more easily reach her mouth. He put his arms around her then and kissed her passionately. She pulled away after a while and put her hands down his pants again and started to push them down. After he lifted his feet out of the pant legs she tossed them to the side then starting from his knees she ran her hands over the bulging muscles in his legs and started kissing them and running her tongue along the lines of each muscle. For a short time she played with his boys and Junior, then she left them and continued up his body.

As she reached his chest and arms she walked around to his back and did the same thing when she came up to his back again she put her arms around him and said "I never realized that I could get so turned on by your body Angel. Your magnificent looking. I didn't think that you could get any better looking but I was wrong." As she said this she stood at his back and reached her hands around to his stomach and constantly ran her fingers over his six pack.

"Do you think I am ready to be photographed so we can have our portrait painted?"

"No I don't think we better do that. Your too beautiful for the camera to catch the real you. You'll cause the lens to melt." She said with a smile in her voice. She could feel her body getting ready to take him. She was so primed for sex that he could feel the warmth coming from her body already.

Angel turned around and pulled her down to the floor with him. For the next two hours they made love on the floor. They reveled in the sight and feel of each others body and when they were exhausted from their love making they slept.

Kathleen's crying woke Cordelia up. She disentangled herself from her husband and went to check on her daughter. She was just wet so Cordy changed her then took her over to the floor where Angel was still laying. Kathleen was able to hold her head up by now and was able to sit up if she was held up with pillows. She also stayed awake for longer periods of time.

Cordelia grabbed several pillows and used them to prop up her daughter in front of her Daddy. She shook Angels shoulder. "Angel wake up and take care of Kathleen while I get dressed."

Angel opened his eyes and started to play with her. "Well hello. Where did you come from?"

Angel started talking to her as though she could understand everything he said. While Cordelia was dressing she was listening to them. Angel would say something then Kathleen would say something back but in a language only she could understand. Angel acted as though he could understand everything she said which encouraged her to continue. Cordelia went into the bathroom laughing at them.

When she came back out she grabbed Angels shorts and pants and put them in front of him. She picked up Kathleen then and placed her and the pillows on the bed while Angel put his clothes on.

They heard a knock at the door. "Come in Wesley." Angel said.

Wesley opened the door and came in. "Angel can I speak with you out here for a minute?"

"Sure I'll be there in a second." Wesley closed the door and Angel finished dressing then went out to the hallway to join Wesley.

"What's up?" Angel asked him.

"Did you have the oysters delivered to Giles today?"

"Yes, they are supposed to be delivered to him at exactly 8 p.m. tonight."

"Are you still going tonight?" "Yes but I haven't told Cordy yet. I don't know what I'm going to say but just try to play along." "How long do you want to stay?" "Just two nights then we better get back?"

Angel went back into his suite. "Cordy Wesley wants to go to Sunnydale tonight so he can talk to Connor about some of his classes that he signed up for. Do you want to go?" "Yeah it will be a nice little holiday. You guys have been pretty busy for the past 5 weeks, besides I want to show off my magnificent looking husband off to all of the girls." Cordelia came over to him and gave him a kiss. "Just remember though it's look but no touch or Jane will kill Chetah." Cordelia made a mock cut across her throat. She turned then to start packing.

Angel grabbed her arm then and pulled her back to him. "Don't forget that, that goes for you also. You look just as good as you did before you got pregnant." "What do you mean I look just as good as I did before I got pregnant." Cordelia started crying. "I thought I turned you on even more when I was pregnant. I knew it, I just knew you were lying. I was so big and fat that towards the end I could hardly get up by myself. You lied to me just to make me feel better." Cordelia threw herself on the bed and continued to cry.

Angel went to the bed and laid down beside her and Kathleen.

"Cordelia look at me." She didn't want to look at him so she just kept her face hidden in the pillow and continued to cry.

"Cordelia Chase-Martin look at me." Cordelia turned her face towards him. Angel had his Vampire face on. "What do you see when I have this face on Cordelia? Do you see Angelus or do you see your husband that loves you?"

"I usually don't even notice it, all I see is my husband." "When I look at you Cordy it's the same thing. I don't see your body for what it looks like. I only see the woman that I love. The woman that I love is incorporeal. She has no form that justifies her existence. Your body just gives me a solid point of reference that I can make love to. So it wouldn't matter if you were fat, thin, bald, or disfigured with leprosy because all I see is Cordelia Chase-Martin, the woman that I love. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I'm sorry Angel. A woman just needs constant reassurance that her husband still loves her no matter what she looks like. I guess it will take me awhile to get over feeling like a whale during the last few months of my pregnancy. Please just continue to be patient with me." She reached up to him and kissed him. "I love you Angel." "And I love you Cordy. You better start packing now and I'll go and tell Wesley and Gunn that we are going to Sunnydale tonight for a couple of days." He got up from the bed then and went down to Wesley's room and knocked on the door.

"What's the word, are we going?" Wesley asked when he saw Angel at the door.

"Yes we are going as soon as everyone can pack up. I told her that we were going because you needed to talk to Connor about his classes. I'm going to tell Gunn also."

Thirty minutes later they were packing up Cordelia's mini van. The last item to go in was an ice chest full of blood for Angel. Fred and Wesley rode with Angel and Cordelia. Gunn took his truck so that he could take all of the stuff that Cordelia needed for Kathleen along with their suitcases. After the men got through loading up his truck they just stood there looking at it.

"Why do tiny little babies need so many things?" Gunn asked. "I asked Cordy that once and I was told 'It's not what the baby needs it's what the mother needs in order to take care of the baby'. She said once she starts walking I'll be more then happy to lock her up in a playpen. So that is another item we'll have to look forward to carrying around. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when each of us has one?" Angel said.

"Lets go men, I don't want to think about that until I have to." Gunn closed the gate of his truck and got inside. Angel and Wesley got into the van and they took off.

They arrived at the mansion at 7:30 and unloaded Gunn's truck as fast as they could. Angel gave Cordelia an excuse of going to pick up something to eat then the men jumped into the van and headed over to Giles apartment. Wesley called Mike, who was at Hunters for the week, to meet them over at Giles apartment. He told them that the Oysters were supposed to be delivered at exactly 8 p.m..

They all waited in the mini van until they saw the delivery boy deliver the Oysters. As soon as he left they went running out of the van and crossed the street over to Giles apartment. They split up so that they didn't all try looking through the same window.

They didn't see Dr. Martin but they could hear her.

"What's in the package Rupert? If you don't mind my asking that is." "No it's quit alright. It doesn't have anything on the outside that says who it's from. It just says that it's from the local fish market." "Fish market?" Dr. Martin said as she tended to the dinner that was on the stove.

"I guess I better open it right away since it's from the fish market." Giles grabbed a knife from the kitchen and sliced open the box. On the top of the contents their was a letter from Angel.

To: Ruper Giles

Eat all of these tonight Giles. You're going to need what they will give you for tomorrow.

Angel.

Giles opened the package and found 2 dozen fresh Oysters. Dr. Martin came over to see what was in the package. Giles closed it up right away so that she couldn't see the contents.

"What is it?" Mary asked. "Oh just some fish I forgot that I have a standing order on." Giles made up some story to go along with his 'fish' story. "I am going to just put it in the bottom of the refrigerator and separate it later, and wrap it up for freezing. Is the soup ready yet?" "Yes. Why don't we take it upstairs and relax in bed. I can put it into the big soup cups that you have and it will be easy to eat it from there." Mary said. "That sounds good to me."

Giles put the bag of so called fish in the bottom of the refrigerator and helped Mary to take a tray upstairs to the Master bedroom. The men that were outside watching went back out to the street and the van. They were laughing so hard that they didn't notice a police car pulling up behind them.

Angel looked up and had two words to say. "Ohhhh Shit!"

The officer left his lights on and pulled out his baton and placed it in the holder in his belt. He looked at the men carefully and decided that they weren't dangerous. He still approached them cautiously though. He kept his hand on his gun at all times.

"What are you gentlemen up to tonight?" "Nothing much officer. We were just watching a friend of ours to see how he would react to a couple dozen raw Oysters being delivered to him."

Spike said.

"And what would your friends name be?" "Rupert Giles." "Mr. Giles that used to be the Librarian at the old High School?" "Yes Sir that's him." "So I take it that they delivered it already." "Yeah when they delivered the Oysters they were just going to sit down to have dinner, so Giles put the bag of Oysters into the refrigerator. We were going to give them enough time to have their dinner and then go and see if he was going to come down and eat the Oysters. Angel here had a note put in with the bag of Oysters that told Giles to eat them tonight because he was going to need them tomorrow."

"This is 'THEE' Angel?" The officer said with surprise showing on his face. "I didn't ever think I would get to meet you Mr. Angel. I've heard about you from my daughter that went to High School with the Slayer. We also know about all of the good work your doing in Los Angeles. We don't talk about it in the open at the precinct but we know about Sunnydale being on the Hell Mouth and about the people that fight the Vampires and Demons." The officer was shaking Angels hand for so long that he had too ask him for his hand back.

"It's Angel officer, just Angel. I take it that you know Spike here then?" Angel asked. "Oh yes, Spike has helped me several times.

Their conversation was interrupted then by the police officers radio calling him. He walked away from the group and answered the call. In a few minutes he came back to the men.

"I'm sorry guys but I have to leave now, I have to check out a domestic dispute call. It was an honor and a pleasure meeting you Angel."

"I hear Giles coming down stairs, lets go watch." They all went running across the street and over to Giles apartment. They took up the positions that they had before. At first they didn't see Giles but heard some noise in the kitchen. In the next minute Giles was seen carrying a tray with a knife, a bowl of water, and a towel then he went back into the kitchen and brought out the bag of Oysters, some lemons and a bottle of beer. They watched as he cut up the lemons then started to shuck the Oysters and eat them. It took him an hour to eat the whole bag of Oysters. Then he just leaned back in the chair and rubbed his stomach. They could hear him say "I hope it's true what they say about these." Then he let out a loud burp.

The men started to leave the windows when Spike caught something out of the corner of his eye. He looked at the window by the door and saw something that wasn't there before so he went over to check it out. After he read the paper that had just been taped to the window he went running out to the street and called the other guys back. Angel was the first one to come back.

"What's up?" Angel asked. "Giles put a piece of paper in the window by the door and it's addressed to you." Spike told him then he lead him back to Giles apartment. The others joined them within a few seconds.

Spike lit his lighter for the benefit of Mike, Wesley and Gunn.

"To Angel:

I know you're out there. If these work and you find the house a rocking tomorrow, don't bother knocking.

Giles

PS: Thanks."

The men all ran back to the van where they started laughing so hard they had to sit down on the grass. When they were able to stop laughing Angel stretched out on the grass with his hands behind his head.

"Spike." "Yeah." "Do you know of any one here in Sunnydale that is real good at taking pictures? You know, someone like a professional photographer."

"What kind of photographer are you looking for?" Spike asked. He propped himself up with his elbows.

"Someone that can take pictures in all types of light. Someone that can be discreet. Someone that won't try to keep copies of pictures to sell later."

"I don't think so, all the guys I know would run home to the computer and try to sell them on E-Bay. Why are you asking?" Spike said.

"I want to paint a portrait of Cordelia and she wants me to be in it also. I need a photographer that will be discreet and a professional because we will be posing in the nude and I will need many pictures in different poses, close ups, and close ups of different parts of our bodies. I need all of this because I will be using the pictures to draw the portraits and paint it according to the photos. At least I am going to try to do it like this. Cordelia wanted me to have someone else come and paint my portrait because she said I would probably try to take away some parts and enhance others."

"I really don't think you'll have a problem with having to take away or enhance anything. I heard she has the two of you on a diet and you two have been exercising every day." Spike said as he walked around Angel looking at him.

"Yeah, since I started eating regular food and going through her 'Got To Have It' stages of our pregnancy I gained enough weight to need a larger size pants. It only took us five weeks though to get back into shape and I even lost enough to fit into one size smaller. In fact I'm looking so good now that when I tried on my tuxedo pants from my wedding they were too big. Cordelia looks just as good as she did before she had Kathleen, but when she saw me with my shirt off and my six pack stomach muscles she got so turned on that she practically tore my clothes off. We were steaming up the windows we were creating so much heat in that room."

Mike was sitting on the grass and leaning against the van. "Angel will you please shut up. Every time you start talking about your sex life I start getting a hard on and I can hardly wait to get Hunter in a secluded place where we won't be interrupted. In fact haven't you noticed that you never hear my pager going off. That's because I have it on vibrate instead of ringing and I only started doing that after I saw the famous movie. If one of your stories gets me going I can always check my pager and say 'Come on Hunter I have to go to the hospital to deliver another baby.' She knows that, that is a signal that I need her now." The guys were all laughing at Mikes problem.

"Mike are you following my advice and are trying to get to know each other as friends?"

Angel asked.

"Yes we have. I found out that what you said about her being stubborn was true, and just like you, she thinks she knows everything because she has lived for so long. When we were working on a formula for a serum that would prevent Buffy from losing any future babies we got into it big time and if it wasn't for Mary making us calm down and discuss it like two mature adults we might have still been at it." Mike said. He was getting angry just thinking about it.

"What was the argument about?" Spike asked.

"Well, let me just say that I won, or rather you and Buffy won. I suggested a combination of basic drugs that have been around for ages and she said that it wouldn't work because she said she had tried it many times. I argued that we should try it with the addition of this simple drug that had been developed by the Chinese. Anyway it went on and on until Fred did it while we were arguing and the formula worked. Fred showed her why it didn't work before and why it worked now."

"Did she apologize?" Angel asked.

"Yes she did, she apologized to both Fred and Mary and then a special apology to me and then another apology later the next night." Mike said. "Of course I excepted both of her apologies."

"I can tell you from experience Mike that Hunter has changed for the better. You must be just what she has been waiting for all of these years. You've been real good for her. I honestly hope and pray that Hunter gets her wish that you two grow old together." Angel said. He stood up then and brushed off his pants.

"We better get going, and we have to stop for pizzas or something." Wesley said as he got up and brushed his clothes off.

The next day Wesley went over to Buffys and Spikes house where Connor was staying. When Wesley saw Connor he told him that he didn't really need to talk to him he was just here to back up an excuse they gave Cordelia for coming out here. He told him the real reason they were out here and what had happened at Giles last night.

"You know Wesley I haven't seen Grandma very much but when I have seen her she always looks like she is real tired and sick. I tried asking her what was wrong but she always says she is okay and changes the subject right away."

"Yes I know, Angel felt that something was wrong also but since she didn't want to share it with anyone, that we know of, your father has decided to respect her right to privacy. Do you know if Giles has been going into the Magic Shop very much?" "No I don't think he has."

"Well I promised Angel that I would go and check out the local photographer to see how good he is and see if he would come to the mansion to take a series of photos of Cordelia and him so that he could use the pictures to paint a portrait of Cordelia and himself. You want to go with me?" Wesley asked Connor.

"Yeah, lets go." Connor said as he jumped up. They got into Wesley's SUV and took off for the local mall first to check out the photographer their first. Looking for a photographer kept them occupied for the next four hours. Wesley didn't find anyone that would come out to the mansion until they went to a small shop down by the warehouse section of Sunnydale.

Wesley and Connor opened the door to the small shop that was wedged between two large warehouses. There was samples of the owners work all over the walls and several stacks of photo albums. There was also a sign saying that passport pictures were taken here. No one was present at the counter so Wesley rang the bell on the counter. A tall, middle aged man came from a back room wiping his hands with a paper towel.

Wesley and Connor stayed for an hour talking to the photographer. Before leaving they made an appointment with him to come out to the mansion that evening after he closed the shop.

"Well it looks like we will probably be here at least one more night if Angel and Cordelia pose for a photo shoot. They probably won't be doing it until tomorrow evening though. Do you want to go with me back to the mansion? We can help you patrol tonight on your way back."

"That sounds good to me." Connor said. "Oh wait a minute, I better not go to the mansion with you. You better drop me off back at Buffy's house."

"Why?" Wesley asked. He was curious as to why he changed his mind so fast.

"Fred told me that Cordelia said she could always tell when I was lying because I did the same thing that Angel does when he lies. So I better not go because when she asks me if we got everything straightened out with my classes she'll know that I'm lying." "Yeah your right, I don't know what it is about her as to why we men are always afraid to get her mad at us or to catch us in a lie. Remember how Angel was feeling the morning after we took you out for your first encounter with a woman?" "Yeah, that was so funny he thought she knew what we had done just because she left a note telling where they had gone and what she wanted us to do that day. He was ready to cash in his chips already." Connor said as he remembered that day.

Wesley drove Connor home then returned to the mansion. When Wesley entered the mansion he could hear everyone out on the back patio so he went out and found that the ladies had set up a buffet style lunch. He found Buffy, Spike, Gunn, Willow, Tara and Xander along with Angel and Cordelia. "Hey Wesley, make yourself a sandwich and pull up a chair." Cordelia said after everyone greeted him.

"You ladies have surpassed yourselves today. It's to bad Connor had to get back to Toby, he would have been in hog heaven." Wesley fixed up a plate and everyone moved over to give him room. Fred got a chair from the side of the patio and put it next to hers. Angel gave him a few minutes to eat before asking him about the photographer.

"How did your search go Wes?" Angel asked him after a few minutes. "Very good, I found a photographer and he will be coming over tonight after he closes shop at 6 tonight. You can talk to him and tell him what you want. I told him that if you wanted him to do the photo shoot that you would probably want to do it tomorrow."

"Thanks Wesley, how is Connor doing?" "He seems to be doing very well. I think that getting him Toby was the best thing that you could have done for him. He is one very happy camper. He said that he has even started taking him out on patrol once in a while so that he can become familiar with what goes on."

"Well how does he do that without being distracted?" Angel asked.

"Tara and I go out patrolling with them occasionally and we put a protective spell around him that can be raised with just one word and it prevents him from leaving my side. You should see him Angel he is learning who is bad and who is good. I told Connor that Toby seems to be able to tell the difference between someone that has a soul and someone that doesn't." Willow said excitedly.

"You mean he can smell a persons soul?" Angel asked.

"Yes, at least that is what it seems like to me. Oh and I have to tell you that you better brace yourself when he sees you. He has almost doubled in size so he is going to be throwing quiet a bit of weight at you when he greets you. Connor has told us how much Toby loves you. He's still all legs right now but he is quickly growing into a handsome dog." Willow said.

Cordelia pulled out a large cardboard envelope from Federal Express and gave it to Wesley.

"Here Wesley, this came for you today."

Wesley opened the Federal Express envelope and reached inside where he found another envelope. He pulled it out and looked at it, it had the words 'Order confirmation' on it. "Order confirmation, I haven't ordered anything, did you Angel?" "Not me." Angel answered with a grin on his face. He had already guessed at what it was.

Wesley opened the envelope and pulled out a paper and started to read it.

To: Mr. Wesley Wyndham Price

We received your order sent five weeks ago. Although we had the item we have only recently been able to confirm your order. In eight months we will

be delivering the item you ordered. We hope that you are pleased with the item.

Please be advised that coloring of eyes, hair, sex, and general complexion was all determined at time of union. Duplication of item is highly probable. Care of container should be a high priority.

Yours Truly

Order desk Manager

It took Wesley a few minutes to realize what the letter said. He looked up at Fred. She saw the question on his face. So she just nodded her head yes. "Now you will have your own personal toy or toys to play with and you won't have to borrow Angels."

Wesley grabbed onto Fred and kissed her over and over again.

Everyone congratulated them. Buffy whispered to Cordelia, "men all act like they are the only ones that create a baby." They had a good laugh over that because it was so true. Both human and Vampires thought the same way.

After a few minutes of dancing around the patio with Fred in his arms Wesley put her down and looked at her. "Fred, it just dawned on me that the letter states that extra special care should be taken of the container. Does this mean that your going to have a hard time with the pregnancy?

Fred led Wesley back to their chairs. "Wesley, Dr. Thompson told me that because of my families medical history I could loose the baby if I am not very careful. During the first 4 or 5 months it will be okay for me to do all of the regular things that I do, except for fighting, but after that he said that I will probably have to spend the rest of the time in bed. If we find that I am carrying twins then I will have to spend almost all of my pregnancy in bed if they are to survive." Fred turned to Cordelia and Angel. "That means we are going to need help. Either all of the men have to start helping a lot more or we need to hire someone because I know that you, Cordelia, just won't be able to handle it along with having to take care of Kathleen."

Cordelia was quiet for a while then she turned to Angel. "We are just going to have to hire someone Angel. When Fred and I are in top condition we can take care of this place but now it's a lot harder. We are going to have to think about this. With Fred and I working on the next generation of Angel Investigations we just won't have the time or energy to take care of this place by ourselves." Cordelia looked down the table at Gunn. "By the way Gunn when are you going to bring someone into the family?"

"Funny you should mention that Cordelia, I was going to bring someone to dinner when we go home. I met her at the hospital when Dr. Martin was in there."

"Is she a Doctor or a Nurse?" Cordelia was excited.

"She's an RN that works in the ICU." Gunn answered with a sheepish grin.

"What's her name?" Fred asked

"Cylinda Roberts, she is an African American and she is 25 years old. She was born here in the United States but she has traveled a lot because her Father made a career of the Air Force. Best of all she is 6'1" tall. She is very light skinned and could be mistaken for white."

"How long have you been dating her?" Angel asked.

"I asked her out the day after I met her. She was one of the nurses taking care of Dr. Martin."

Gunn said. He was literally beaming. You could tell that he had already fallen hard for this woman.

Fred reached over to Gunn and hugged him. "I am so happy for you Gunn." "Thanks Fred, I think you'll like her. She's a lot like you, she's smart and chatters just like you when she is nervous. It will be interesting to see you two meet."

A knock on the front doors was heard. Wesley stood up and went to the back doors and looked through the windows. "Angel and Cordelia it's the photographer." Angel and Cordelia followed Wesley into the mansion.

"Mr. Granger thank you for coming, let me introduce you to your two subjects. Mr. Granger this Mr. Angel Martin and his wife Mrs. Cordelia Chase-Martin. Angel and Cordelia this is Mr. George Granger." Angel and Cordelia shook hands in greeting Mr. Granger.

"Mr. Martin, Mr. Price tells me that you need a series of pictures taken so that you can use them to draw and paint a portrait of yourself and your wife." "Yes, I am sure that you can understand that when you have a baby to take care of you really don't have time to pose in one position for any length of time plus we are only going to be here one more day and I want the pictures taken here and in a certain light." Angel said.

"Well Mr. Martin I can do that right now if you like or we could at least get some of the shots done tonight and I can finish the rest tomorrow." "Lets go into our bedroom where I want the shots taken." Angel said. They all went into the bedroom then and Angel showed him where he wanted the shots taken. Mr. Granger looked around the room and saw a divan that he moved over in front of the French doors. He then opened the doors and backed up, took his camera out and started taking pictures. Everyone backed up to give him room because he was walking all around the divan and taking different angles and positions. When he was finally done with the divan he must have taken several dozen pictures.

"Would you and Mrs. Martin sit on the divan in the position that you want to be in for the portrait?" Mr. Granger asked them.

"Well were really not ready for this yet. I am sure my wife will want to do something special with her hair and makeup."

"Do you know what position you are going to pose in yet?" Mr. Granger asked.

"We haven't discussed it yet." Angel said as he looked at Cordelia.

"Well why don't you think about it tonight and tomorrow and I will be back at about the same time so that we can get the same light." "That sounds good, we'll be ready for you tomorrow." Angel said as they all started to walk out of the master bedroom and to the front doors of the mansion.

As they walked back to the rest Angel stopped and asked Wesley and Fred to come into the master bedroom with them.

When Cordelia, Wesley and Fred joined him they found him just staring at the Divan.

"Well what do you think?" Angel asked no one in particular.

"What are you talking about?" Cordelia asked. "How shall we pose for the pictures?" Angel asked. No one said anything so Fred went to the divan and called to Angel and Cordelia.

"Cordelia come and lay down lengthwise on the divan and Angel come and sit on the other side. Let your arms go limp so that I can position them." Angel and Cordelia did as she said.

When they got into the position she had told them to Fred told Angel to hold Cordelia's upper body with his right arm around her but she didn't want him to hold her all the way to his chest. She then positioned Cordelia's right hand up on his neck and her left hand on his chest. The position would show just the bottom portion of her breast. Fred stood back then with Wesley and looked at her handy work.

"Well what do you think?" Wesley didn't answer right away, he just stared at them and turned his head this way and that way, trying to get a better view from different angles.

"I guess it's okay, at least I can't think of a better position. What do you guys think?" Wesley asked Cordelia and Angel.

Angel was quiet while he thought about it then he picked Cordelia up and positioned her with her back against his chest. He put his right leg so that it hung over the left side of the divan. "Cordelia put your right leg up and over your left leg while your left leg hangs over the side of the divan." Cordelia did as he said then he took her hands and crossed them over her chest while continuing to hold on to them.

"How's that?" Angel asked everyone.

"Oh yes that will be beautiful, especially in the nude." Fred said.

"What do you think Cordy?" Angel asked. "Yes I think that will be beautiful, but I would like to do it also with me turned so that we are looking at each other. That way you can have two different positions to consider, but I think I will like your way better." Cordelia turned around and gave Angel a kiss then got up.

Cordelia gave Angel a hand up and pulled him to the bedroom doors. "Come on Wesley I am kicking you out also then Fred and I are going to have some serious girl talk time." She pushed them both out then closed the door. Angel and Wesley just looked at each other as the door was closed.

"Well my fellow Daddy, what do you say about us men going out and celebrating. We can call up Connor and then all of us men can go out and paint the town red. I wonder if Giles has the strength to come with us." "I don't know but it will be interesting to hear his story. I'll call him and tell him well pick him up if he wants." Wesley said as he went to the phone while Angel went outside to get Spike and Gunn.

"You two want to go and celebrate Wesley and Fred's pregnancy?" Both Gunn and Spike jumped up and they both said yes at the same time. Spike turned to Buffy and gave her a kiss and said "the boys are going out to play Luv. Why don't you call Willow and Tara over and you girls can have your own little party here." "Yeah I think I'll do that. But Spike you can include yourself in that celebration. I didn't want to tell you until I was further along but I am 7 weeks pregnant also. I guess we were not the only ones having fun the morning after the Baptism." Buffy wrapped her arms around Spike and kissed him.

"This one will be a keeper Buffy." Spike said as he responded to her. "You better go now before you start having a hard time getting out of here and I'll call Willow and Tara." Buffy said. Spike gave her one last kiss and then went into the house to join the others.

Wesley hung the phone up and went over to Angel. "Giles said that he will come over here with Dr. Martin and then we can all go and pick up our designated driver." "That sounds good to me." Angel said. He went over to his bedroom door and knocked on the door. "Can I come in Cordelia?" "Come in Angel."

Angel told them what they had planned for the men and the women.

"Do you think we should let them go and play Fred?" "Yes I think we can let them go out to play. Besides we know that they will have Connor with them so they will have someone more mature that will be watching over them." Cordelia and Fred had a good laugh.

"Hey! I think I'll go outside with the guys and let them abuse me instead." Angel closed the door then and went to sit and wait with the others on the patio.

Twenty minutes later Giles showed up with Dr. Martin. Dr. Martin was wearing her usual long skirt and white blouse and carrying her usual black doctors bag. She went to Angel first and they greeted each other with a hug and kiss. Angel held her at arms length and looked at her face carefully. He could see the dark circles under her eyes and how they appeared sunken further into her eye sockets. She also appeared to be thinner. To see how thin she was Angel reached down and put his right arm under her legs and picked her up. He took her to the couch and sat her down then sat down next to her.

"Mom you are as light as a feather. I want you to tell me what is wrong." Angel asked. "Why don't you call the rest over Angel and I'll tell you all that has been happening." Dr. Martin told him. Angel called everyone over to the couch. Cordelia and Fred came out of the bedroom and greeted Dr. Martin but they didn't ask any questions.

"Okay everyone is here now so lets have your explanation young lady." Angel sat down then and waited for Dr. Martin to give him an explanation.

"When I was in the hospital and they removed my uterus and ovaries they were sent to a pathologist, this is a normal procedure. Just before I left Los Angeles to come to Sunnydale with Giles Mike called me to let me know that they had found something in the uterus. The pathologist had found a small patch of cancerous tissue." Dr. Martin leaned forward and took Angels hands in hers and looked at everyone.

"Remember Angel when you were crucified I told you that sometimes God takes bad things and uses them for good?" "Yes I remember." Angel answered. When the word cancer is used it always tends to make people nervous and that is what he was feeling right now.

"Mike said that the Pathologist told him that I was lucky that this happened at this time because the cancer was just starting and after thoroughly examining the ovaries he said that he couldn't find cancer any place else so that it seems it was caught before it had time to grow to far. Mike and I discussed my options and we both agreed that if I had chemotherapy that I should be able to come home cancer free. I was told about this the morning we left L.A.. Mike made an appointment for me with a specialist in treating cancer. I started on the chemotherapy just one week after arriving in Sunnydale. As you know chemotherapy is very brutal on the human body. I know I look kind of scary right now but with Rupert's tender loving care I am surviving. I have several more weeks to go then my Doctor will do a final test for the presence of cancer cells. I am confident Angel that they will show that I am cancer free."

Dr. Martin had put her arm through Angels while she was telling her story. Angel put his hand on her arm then and said "I am confident also Mom that you will come home cancer free. Like you said God takes bad things sometimes and makes something good out of it."

"Now I have some good news to tell you all. Rupert Giles has asked me to marry him and I have excepted." Dr. Martin said with a smile. She sat back then and waited for their reaction.

Buffy was in kind of a state of shock. Spike was the first one to step forward with congratulations.

"Well it looks like we all get to call you Mom now. Congratulations Giles." Spike went to Giles and shook his hand. Then he went to Mary and gave her a kiss on her cheek in congratulations. "He couldn't have chosen a more ideal woman. I just hope that he will prove himself to be worthy of you." Spike took her hand then and gave it a kiss.

Wesley came over next and congratulated both Giles and Mary. Everyone else followed then in giving their congratulations.

"Well lets go men, it seems that we have a lot to celebrate." Angel said as he got up from the couch. He gave his mother a kiss then the men all left to go and pick up Connor.

Angel was quiet most of the way to Buffy's house. Wesley decided to just let him keep his thoughts to himself. He knew Angel had a lot to digest for now, especially with Mary's cancer news. Angel pulled up in front of Buffy's house and went inside to get Connor and Willow and Tara.

As he walked up to the front of the house he could hear children and a young dog playing and barking once in a while. He knocked on the door and Willow answered.

"Come in Angel Connor will be down in a few minutes." Angel stepped in and went to sit on the couch. "What's taking him so long I called him to let him know we were going out a long time ago." "One of the kids threw up on him. He had to go and change. Tara and I are babysitting for the Hendersons next door. They are late getting back but they called and said that they would be back in 30 minutes so as soon as they pick up the kids we will be going over to the mansion."

Toby was having a ball chasing after the kids and the kids chasing him. The next time they went around the hallway and living room he spotted Angel and came with a leap into Angels lap and started licking his face. The three kids followed suit and jumped into Angels lap also. They all started kissing his face like Toby was. Angel got on the floor and protected his face and head from all of the little faces trying to lick his face like Toby was doing. Willow came over and rescued him by pulling them off of him one by one. She could see that Angel was having fun also. He sat up on his heels and grabbed Toby and tickled his tummy then let him go, then he grabbed each child one after the other and did the same. They were all giggling and Toby was barking. When he tickled the last one they quieted down and just stood looking at him.

"Who are you?" The little black haired girl asked. They seemed to be all within one year of each other. The little black haired girl seemed to be the oldest and around 7 yrs. old.

Angel sat back down on the floor and leaned against the couch. "I am Angel Martin. I'm Connors father, who are you?" "I'm Debbie, this is my sister Jane and my baby sister Barbara. She's the one that threw up on Connor." "She did, is she sick?" Angel asked. He acted as though this was the most important conversation he could be having right now and it made Debbie feel very grown up.

"I don't think so. Sometimes Daddy picks her up and pretends she is a plane, just like Connor did, and she sometimes throws up on Daddy just like she did to Connor." "Oh, well I hope she feels okay now. Why don't you all go and play now and try not to make so much noise or you might make Willow and Tara's head explode from all of the noise." They all left him then and proceeded to play quietly for about 2 minutes then it was utter pandemonium again.

Connor came running down the stairs just in time to see the gang go running around the living room again. He waited until they came around again and caught the leader, which was Debbie, around the waist and pulled her to his chest. "Let me go Connor, I'm the engine in the choo choo train and if I don't keep going then the train will get into a wreck." "Wait a minute now I have something to tell you. You know Tara is up stairs with a headache so why don't you go upstairs real quiet like and give her kisses to make her feel better. Don't forget to hold onto Barbara's hand when you go up and down the stairs." He let go of her then and watched as they went up the stairs. He said goodbye to Toby and told him to be good and then he ran out of the house with Angel right behind him.

"Wow that is an active house right now. Toby seems to love them though, he must spend a lot of time with them." "Yeah he loves the girls. Mr. Henderson asked if he could buy Toby from me and of course I turned him down. I told him that Toby was a special dog that was chosen because of the work he was going to be trained to do with me. That satisfied him and neither the girls or their father have bothered me about him again. I did give him the name and address of where we got him though. They're going to miss him when I go back to L.A." Connor said. They got into the van and just before Connor closed the side door he turned around when he heard Tara yell at him. "I'm going to get you for this Connor Martin." Connor was laughing as he closed the door.

"What was that about?" Angel asked as he started for the bar.

"I sent the girls up to Tara because I knew she was watching a movie where it was getting to the good part." "You mean kid, you love being with them don't you. You sound like you three are getting along about as well as sisters and brother." Gunn piped in. "Yeah I am having a ball. It's just what I need before I have to become immersed in school."

The next six hours were spent celebrating Wesley and Spikes impending fatherhood and Giles future wedding of which Angel insisted that it take place at the Hotel. It took Wesley and Giles at least an hour before they were able to make Angel understand that all of Giles friends were here in Sunnydale and it would be easier to have it here instead of everyone having to go to L.A..

It was midnight by the time the men came back from the bars. Connor dropped off Gunn, Spike, Wesley and Angel then took Giles and his Grandmother home. Willow and Tara had driven their own car over to the mansion so they drove home as soon as they helped Fred and Cordelia put the men to bed.

The next day the men dragged themselves to the kitchen very late in the morning. After having some toast and coffee Wesley, Spike, and Gunn dragged themselves back to bed and Angel did the same.

"Angel, get up it's almost five o'clock and the photographer will be here pretty soon. I've already fixed my hair and makeup so get in that shower right now so I can clean up in here." Cordelia said as she came into the bedroom. She waited for Angel to move but when he didn't she grabbed a towel and used it like a whip and smacked him right on his left cheek so it wouldn't show. That got a reaction.

"OWW! What did you do that for I was getting up." Angel yelled as he jumped up.

"Oh gee I am sorry. I didn't know you had that terrible disease called TURTLEITIS." Cordelia yelled and smacked him again with the towel. "Now get in there mister and get busy."

"Yes mam." Angel said as he ran to the bathroom to take a shower. Cordelia made the bed then and put everything away that had a place where it was supposed to be. Since they were going to be taking their photos in the nude today she just had a bathrobe on. While the men were sleeping Fred and Cordelia had gone out and looked for a fancy robe with lots of ruffles. She had also had her hair worked on at the beauty shop that she used to go to when she was in high school. Some of the women that she used to know back then were still working at the shop so they all had a good time playing with Kathleen who was staying awake for longer periods of time now. Cordelia had her hair made up with a lot of soft curls and they also did her makeup and nails. In other words she was in seventh heaven all day.

Angel was out of the bathroom in 20 minutes. His idea of getting ready was a shower, shave and brushing his teeth. He had his bathrobe on and went to Cordelia and presented himself.

"Do I look okay to you?" Cordelia looked at him. "Let me see your hands." Angel showed his hands. Cordelia just looked at them and said "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Come over here and let me give you a manicure." Angel didn't think it was necessary but in order to save time he just did as she said, besides he liked it when she gave him a manicure.

Mr. Granger, the photographer, was knocking at the door when Cordelia was just finishing with Angels nails. He had several poles with lights which Wesley helped him in with. Angel opened the door and let them in.

"Spike would you come and join us?" Angel asked when he saw him in the living room.

"Sure what do you need?" "We need your valuable opinion." Angel answered. "Where is Buffy?" He asked.

"She went shopping with Willow and Tara." "You know what we are going to be doing here don't you?" "Yeah you're having pictures taken of you guys posing so you can paint a portrait from them." Spike said as he took a chair. "Yes and I wanted you here to see if you thought the way we were posing was good or not."

"Okay Mr. and Mrs. Martin if you would take your positions we can start." Cordelia let her bathrobe fall to the floor and put her fancy robe on. They got into their position and Cordelia let the gown hang down just right. That's when Angel asked Spike what he thought.

"Beautiful Angel. You and Cordelia are just right I wouldn't change anything."

"Okay Mr. Granger you can proceed." Angel told the photographer.

Mr. Granger started to take pictures. His camera advanced the film automatically so he was able to fire off the pictures one right after the other. He was almost constantly on the move also and in total he must have taken at least 50 shots.

"Okay Mrs. Martin didn't you want to try another position?" "Yes I do, just stay there Angel and I'll move." Cordelia got up then and turned around and sat so that her back was towards Angel. She positioned her hands so that they were between her breasts then told Angel to place his hands over hers. She then bent her right leg then asked Spike how it looked.

Spike walked around them a little then went to Cordelia and told her to put her other leg up then used her robe to drape over her lap. He turned her head a little and arranged her hair then backed up and took another look. "Angel don't press your hands to her breasts so tight let the fullness of her breasts show." Angel released some of the pressure on her breasts and moved his hand down slightly. He looked up at Spike then to see if he approved.

"Perfect now don't move." Granger started to take another 50 pictures. By the time he was done he had taken another 50 shots of Angel and Cordelia by themselves and in various lights. It was nine in the evening when he finally left.

Angel had thrown some clothes on and helped Granger take his equipment out to his van. He told him to give him a call when the pictures were ready. He then gave him his Angel Investigation business card.

Granger had thoughts of selling some of the photos to pornographic web sights but thought twice about it when he saw that Angels business card. Wesley had helped with the equipment also and was standing beside Angel when he gave Granger his card. As Granger excepted the card he became very quiet and still as though he was in a hypnotic state, then he heard Angel say 'You're going to make just what I ask for and then turnover all negatives and developed pictures to me, is that not correct Mr. Granger?'. "Yes Angel, I will call you as soon as I have them developed. Thank you for your business." Granger then got into his van and left. Angel followed his van to the gate, closed and locked it then returned to the mansion.

"What did you do to him?" Wesley asked as Angel returned. "Remember when I explained to Mom how I hypnotized her?" "Yes, don't tell me you did the same thing to Mr. Granger?" Wesley asked. "Yes but in a modified way. I let my eyes go red and glow just slightly, it was enough for me to get his full attention and to scare him just enough. When he was packing up his camera and used film I could smell fear in him which led me to believe he had other plans for the film. I believe he will be an honest business man now."

The men walked back into the mansion and found all of the women fixing dinner. Angel had just thrown on a pair of pants to help Granger with his equipment so he didn't even have a t-shirt on and he didn't seem to be in any hurry to correct that. As he walked over to Kathleen's bassinet he heard a low whistle. He looked towards the girls and walked over to them.

"Did one of you call me?" The girls all just said 'No, not me.' "You mean no one was gazing at my beautiful physique, my bulging muscles or the way I can make my chest muscles jump."

All the women turned to look.

Angel was just standing there and looking at them. "It's nice to know that I can still make the girls look twice." Cordelia threw a tomato at him. "Go and get a shirt on and stop being such a tease." Angel caught the tomato and went to Cordelia and put his arms around her. Fred and

Buffy were watching them as they pretended to continue cutting up various vegetables.

"You know this tomato reminds me of something." Angel said as he had his arms around Cordelia. He put it to his mouth and lightly licked the bottom of the tomato and bit it just lightly then sucked some of the juice out.

Cordelia grabbed the tomato from him and slapped his arm. "Get out of here before you make someone cut themselves. Why don't you go and play with Kathleen I hear her waking up now."

Angel left then before the ladies threw him out. When he left Buffy, Fred, and Cordelia looked at each other and grabbed something to fan themselves with. Angels demonstration had them all hot and ready to go.

The next morning Angel and Cordelia started their day like they did every day since Dr. Martin had told Angel and everyone else about her visit from Sr. Margaret. As soon as the sun was high enough in the sky to shine on the edge of the patio on the back of the mansion Angel and Cordelia would go out and perform what had become a ritual for them.

They used the quiet time to pray the rosary first then they would both go to the edge of the patio. Cordelia bought a stop watch for this very purpose, she pulled out her stop watch and then they joined their hand together. Angel let Cordelia control the motion of their hands.

Cordelia kissed Angels hand then pulled it into the sun light at which time she would start the stop watch. After five seconds Angels hand would start to smoke, before his hand became engulfed in flames the ten second limit would be reached and she would pull their hands back. Cordelia had brought out a wet towel with them and she would immediately put this on his hand.

They would never say anything afterward. Cordelia would take the towel off of his hand and check it to make sure it was alright then she would turn over his hand and kiss the palm of his hand where his mother had pressed her ring to it.

Angel usually sat out on the patio for awhile while Cordelia would go in and start their breakfast.

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"SPOTS, WHAT SPOTS?"

Time line: Two weeks after returning to Los Angeles.

"Get up Angel it's time to go to church." She didn't get any response from him so she shook him again. This time she at least got a moan out of him as he rolled over. She pulled the covers down this time and started to tickle his side but stopped as soon as she put her hands on him.

Cordelia pulled her hands back then she put her hand on his forehead. Angel was hot, hot like he was when he had a fever. Cordelia called his name again.

"Angel, wake up baby." Angel opened his eyes it took a moment for him to focus in on her.

"Cordelia?" "Yes Angel I'm right here. What's the matter?" "I don't know I feel so hot. I feel like I'm going to catch fire any minute. You better call Mom or Spike."

Cordelia reached for the phone and dialed Giles phone number. After 4 rings Giles picked up the phone.

"Hello." "Giles this is Cordelia is Mom there?" "Yes we were just about to walk out of the door to go to church. Is something wrong? You sound scared." Giles motioned to Mary to come to the phone. "Angels real sick he's running a high fever." Cordelia said as she put the thermometer into Angels mouth.

"Cordelia this is Mom, what's wrong?" "When I went to wake Angel up to get him to get ready to go to church he felt real hot." The thermometer beeped and Cordelia took it out of Angels mouth and read it. "Mom the thermometer says that his temperature is 105." "Has he vomited or done anything else unusual?" "No I don't think so. Just a minute let me ask him. Angel have you been vomiting at all or all you hurting anywhere?"

It took Angel a while to respond. "No." That's all he said then he seemed to loose consciousness. "He said no Mom then I think he lost consciousness." "Okay Cordelia I can't come home yet because my immune system is to weak right now. I am going to call Dr. Thompson and ask him if he could go and check him. Do you know if Hunter is with him?" "Yes they were here just 2 days ago for dinner." Cordelia answered.

"Okay Cordelia I'll call you back in a few minutes and let you know if I contacted Mike. If Angel starts getting hotter put some ice water and rubbing alcohol in a bowl then place a small towel in it. When you take it out don't ring it out too much then put it on his chest and wipe him down with the same water and another wash cloth. I'll call you back in a few minutes. Bye."

Dr. Martin called Dr. Thompson and asked him to go and check on Angel because he was running a high temperature. When she hung up she then called Buffy. "Buffy, this is Mom can you tell me if any of the children that Willow and Tara were taking care of two weeks ago have come down with anything?"

"Yes the littlest one came down with the measles. She was just starting to get sick when Angel came over to get Connor, but she's okay now. Why are you asking?" "Angel is very sick. Cordelia called me to let me know that he was running a high fever." "But Mom he's a Vampire." "Yes Buffy but he is a Vampire that is slowly becoming human again. Thanks for the information. You make sure that you stay away from those children just to be on the safe side, okay?" "Okay Mom. Do you need Spike to come to L.A.?" "No I don't want to take any chances with him catching it or carrying it back to you. Bye."

Dr. Martin called Cordelia back right away. "Cordelia?" "Yes it's me Mom." "Has his temperature gone up anymore?" "No, it seems to be staying at 105." "Okay this is what is going on and what I want you to do. I contacted Mike and Hunter and they are coming over now. I also contacted Buffy and asked her if any of the children that they took care of 2 weeks ago have come down with anything. She said that the youngest one was starting to get sick with the measles when Angel was there. Tell Mike that I think that is what Angel has. It's going to be hard on him and you Cordelia. You're going to have two babies on your hands. Angel is going to be more sick then the average child would be. It's always harder on adults when they get it. Most of all Cordelia you have to be careful with Angels boys. If he gets too hot for to long of a time then manufacture of his little soldiers will shutdown permanently. So do what you can to keep his boys cool. Now let Wesley and Fred know about what is happening but tell Fred to stay away from both Angel and Kathleen. If you need someone to help you get Gunn. I'll call back tonight to see how he is. Good luck Cordelia. Bye."

Two hours later Dr. Thompson and Hunter entered the hotel and went directly to Angels room. The door was open so they just walked right into the room. The drapes were closed but it was still light. As soon as Cordelia saw them come in she stood up from the table where she was feeding Kathleen. They had bought a high chair for her when she started eating solid food so she felt secure in leaving her at the table.

"Thank you for coming Mike and Hunter. Mom told me to tell you that she thinks he has the measles because he was exposed to it the day before we left. I asked her how that could happen since he was a vampire and had never been sick before. She said it was happening because Angel is slowly becoming human."

"How long has he had the fever?" Mike asked Cordelia. "He looked fine last night so I am guessing that it came on just this morning. He was coughing a little last night and he wasn't hungry but that's all. I didn't think much of it because he has started to experience hay fever lately."

Mike was examining Angel while Cordelia was answering his questions. Hunter had gone back downstairs to get some supplies and returned in a few minutes. She gave him supplies to take a sample of blood and swab the inside of his mouth. He listened to his chest for any congestion but found none.

"Cordelia if you have any Tylenol would you get me some please?" Cordelia went into the bathroom and brought back a bottle of Tylenol and gave it to Mike.

Mike called out Angels name but didn't get any response. He slapped his face lightly a few times then. Angel started to open his eyes and looked at Mike for a minute while he tried to focus in on his face.

"Hi Mike, what are you doing here?" "Well Angel you gave poor Cordelia a good scare so she called out the army to see what was wrong with her baby. I just got through examining you and I am sorry to say that you have the Measles."

"Measles, how can I have the measles?" "Remember those children that were at Buffy's house when you went there to pick up Connor?" Mike asked him. "Yeah, don't tell me I caught it from one of them?" "Yup, that's exactly where you got it." Mike said with a smile.

Mike helped Angel sit up and gave him the Tylenol and some water.

"Okay Angel this is all I can give you. Antibiotics don't work with the Measles. The only thing that I can give you is aspirin or Tylenol for the fever. You can give him water and alcohol baths to try and keep the fever down. Drink plenty of water Angel it will help to keep your body hydrated because the fever will make you perspire heavily. If he starts having respiratory problems use a vaporizer to ease the congestion. Once again regular medication doesn't work with measles. If he should start having problems with his ears or you hear him wheezing a lot when he breathes let Hunter or I know. You should start seeing the spots, that are characteristic of measles, appear sometime within the next few days. He is showing the classic spots inside his mouth right now. How has Kathleen been doing?" Mike stood up then and went to the bathroom to clean his hands thoroughly before going to examine Kathleen. He felt her forehead and looked inside of her mouth as best he could but she seemed to be healthy.

"She has been just as happy go lucky as usual. Her Daddy's illness hasn't seemed to bother her." Cordelia answered.

"I know Mary has given her all of her baby shots so hopefully she won't catch it but it is possible for her to get sick with it so keep a close eye on her. Is Gunn, Wesley and Fred in the hotel?"

"Yes, did you want to talk to them?" Cordelia asked. "Yes, tell them to meet us downstairs."

Mike and Hunter went downstairs and waited for the rest to come down. Hunter made some coffee for everyone. She could hear everyone coming downstairs so she went back to the dinning room table. Greetings were exchanged as the rest came to join them at the table.

"How is Angel doing Mike?" Wesley asked.

"He is a sick man Wes. It's going to take him another week or so before he is over the worst part and that's why I wanted to talk to all of you. Fred since you're pregnant I think it would be best for you to go and stay some place else. Why don't you use the opportunity to go and visit your parents. I don't think he has the German Measles, which is dangerous for a pregnant woman to have since it causes birth defects, but I think you should leave just to be on the safe side. I've taken samples from Angel and I'll be sending them to the lab to check to make sure that they are just the regular measles. Wes you need to decide if you want to stay here and help Cordelia and Gunn take care of Angel or go with Fred. Now you know how bad Angel tends to get when he has a fever, I advise you to call Connor to come back for a couple of weeks. I've already spoken to Cordelia about it and what she has to do, now I don't think his temperature will go up any higher, at least it doesn't with normal people but since Angel has always had a problem with fevers going sky high, you may have to give him an ice bath again because regular antibiotics and medication doesn't work with measles." Mike finally stopped talking to take a breath.

"I think you had better go Fred and I'll stay here to help Cordelia. When we are sure that he is okay and the rest of us are clear I'll join you at your parents. We can have a little vacation and finish our interrupted Honeymoon." Wesley said. "Okay I think that's a good idea also. I'm sorry I can't stay Cordelia." Fred said as she started to get up from her chair. "Don't give it a second thought Fred. You just take care of your little Fed Ex package." Everyone had started to refer to the baby Fred was carrying as her Fed Ex package every since she told Wesley about her pregnancy as though it was a delivery that was coming by mail.

"Okay Cordelia, don't hesitate to make that call to Connor to get him back as soon as possible. Stock up on the ice and I suggest you transfer Angel to 412 where that bath tub is that you can put him and the ice in. Hunter and I will check in on him twice a day. Gunn I suggest that you stay at the hotel and don't visit your group of kids until you know for sure that you aren't coming down with it. It will be highly contagious while he has a fever. Tell them what to look out for just in case you've already contaminated them. We will be leaving just as soon as I can wash my hands. Hunter will come tomorrow morning and I'll come at night. Good luck." Mike and Hunter went to Dr. Martins clinic to wash their hands then left.

Cordelia went back to her bedroom and checked on Angel. She took his temperature again and found it to be the same. She breathed a sigh of relief then washed her hands before going to Kathleen to clean her up after feeding her. Meal times were always a fun time for Kathleen. Her Mother was able to get most of the food in her but Kathleen was interested in the food, but to play with. To say the least her high chair often looked like a war zone.

Fred was able to get a flight out to Texas that evening so Wesley and her went out and spent some quality time together before they had to be parted for the first time since they had married.

Gunn took care of any customers that came in and fortunately Cordelia hadn't had any visions. He went up to check on her around 2 in the afternoon. He knocked on the door. "Cordelia it's me Gunn, can I come in?" "Yes Gunn come in." When Gunn opened the door what he saw almost scared him. Poor Cordelia looked like she had been in a fight with some demons that threw up on her. She had baby food all over her hair because Kathleen had hit the edge of her baby dish and the food went flying all over her mother. Kathleen thought the whole thing was pretty funny because she was giggling and continuing to smear the food all over the high chair tray, her face, clothes, and if Cordelia put any part of her person near her daughter she would find it on her as well.

So this was what Gunn saw when he opened Cordelia and Angels bedroom door. Gunn could do nothing to stop himself from laughing so hard that he had to sit on the floor.

"It isn't funny Gunn. She shouldn't be able to do this stuff for a few months yet. She shouldn't be coordinated enough yet. It's all his fault that her mind is advancing so fast. Then he had to get sick with the measles of all things." Cordelia walked over to the bed where Angel appeared to be sleeping. "Your making her do this Angel aren't you. Yeah, I know your awake and your just pretending to be sleeping." She went back to the sink, wet a kitchen towel and started cleaning up her daughter. After a few attempts at cleaning her hair she gave up and pulled her out of the high chair and took her into the bathroom.

Cordelia gave Kathleen to Gunn. "Would you hold her for a minute Gunn while I gather hers and my clothes, I have to give her and myself a bath. The little rug rat got her food in my hair as well." Gunn held Kathleen out at arms length. She still had food all over her so he wasn't taking any chances of being included in on her little fun time.

Cordelia came back and took Kathleen from Gunn. "Thanks Gunn, if you hear Angel yelling later on don't bother coming up. It will just be me making him suffer for what he has done."

Cordelia went into the bathroom with her daughter and closed the door. Gunn felt sorry for her so he cleaned the floor and high chair up for her. Before he left he went over to Angel and felt his forehead.

"Your warm but your not so warm that you should be passed out so open your eyes." Gunn said as he sat on the edge of the bed.

Angel opened his eyes and started laughing. He sat up and swung his legs over to the side of the bed. He was laughing so hard that he started coughing and choking so hard that Gunn started to pound him on his back. When he was able to get his coughing under control he was out of breath and felt weak. Angel laid back down again. Gunn stood up then. "Good, God punished you for being so mean to your poor wife. You should be ashamed of yourself." "Oh I am, I am, but I was having so much fun that I almost lost it when Kathleen turned the plate over and the food landed all over Cordelia. That part was pure accident, I didn't tell her to do that."

"Your playing with fire there Angel since she is the one that is taking care of you." Gunn left then and went back downstairs. It was getting late so he went into the kitchen to make a sandwich for himself and Cordelia. He made a roast beef sandwich for himself and Cordelia and a large mug of blood for Angel. He took Cordelia and Angels food up to them. He knocked on the door before opening it. "Cordelia are you still in the bathroom?" "Yes Gunn." "I made a sandwich for you and I brought a mug of blood up for Angel. I'm going to leave it on the table then leave okay?" "You're so sweet, thank you, you're a life saver." Gunn put Cordelia's sandwich on the table and gave Angel his blood. "Thank you." Angel said. "You're welcome you bad person you." Gunn said with a smile then he left to go and eat his own sandwich.

Angel was starting to feel bad about what he did. So he got up and went to the bathroom door and listened to see if Cordelia was still in the bathroom. He could hear her making noise in the water as she bathed her daughter. Angel carefully opened the door and walked in and pulled his shorts off and climbed into the whirlpool opposite of Cordelia.

"So you were awake." "Yes and I was telling Kathleen what to do. But I swear on my mothers grave that I didn't tell her to flip her dish over. That was purely an accident. Gunn cleaned up everything for you, he felt so sorry for you." Cordelia had finished cleaning up her daughter so she gave her to her Daddy so that she could clean herself now. Then she took Kathleen and got out of the tub and Angel bathed himself.

Cordelia put a fresh diaper on Kathleen and put her in her pink sleeper. Without dressing Cordelia went to the couch and turned the TV on and made herself comfortable then put Kathleen to her breast. When Angel came out he found her still on the couch. He brought her sandwich over to her along with a glass of cold milk. Kathleen was done nursing so Angel took her from his wife and put her in her crib. The bassinet was too small for her now so they had purchased a crib along with the high chair. He went back to the couch and brought his blood with him. Cordelia was watching a movie and eating her sandwich. When she was done she just leaned back on the couch and pulled the blanket around herself.

Cordelia wasn't talking to Angel so he knew that he was still in the dog house. He always crumbled right away once he realized she wasn't talking to him because she was mad at him for something he did.

"Cordelia I'm sorry, but I was just having so much fun with her that I couldn't stop myself. I am truly sorry and I promise that I will never do anything like that again. Please, can you find it in your heart to forgive me?" Angel didn't try using his puppy dog eyes because he wanted her to know that he was being sincere.

After five minutes Cordelia finally spoke up. "Alright I forgive you but if you ever do that again Angel you will find my side of the bed empty for at least a week. Do you understand?" "Yes Mam." "Okay, I want you to go back to bed now." "Yes Mam." Angel got up and went back to the bed and got in under the covers then held her side of the sheets open so that she could climb in also. Cordelia checked on Kathleen then went to the bed and slipped in next to her husband and they both went to sleep for a couple of hours.

It was 5 o'clock in the evening by the time they woke up again. Cordelia was awakened by Angels shaking next to her. He was so cold that his teeth were chattering. She could see the perspiration rolling down off of his face. Cordelia put her hand to his forehead and pulled it away almost immediately. She pulled the covers up around his neck along with the quilt but he was still cold so she pulled on her outer clothes and ran to the hallway closet and grabbed three more blankets. Before running back into the room she called downstairs for Gunn.

"Gunn I need you up here now." She didn't wait for an answer she just ran back into the room and started throwing the blankets on Angel. She heard Gunn coming up the stairs and into the room.

"What's wrong Cordy?" "I need you to be here incase I need your help." Since his teeth were still chattering she put the thermometer under his arm and stayed by his side to make sure that he kept his arm close to his body. When it beeped she checked it but didn't say anything right away. Gunn finally said "Well what's his temperature?" "106. Gunn come and hold him up for me. I have to get him to take some Tylenol." Gunn went to the bed and helped Angel to sit up while Cordelia gave him the Tylenol and water.

"Angel, wake up. I need for you to take these Tylenol." Angel opened his eyes and took the medicine and water then went back to sleep again. After a few minutes his chattering stopped and he settled down into a more peaceful sleep. She took his temperature again and found that it was down to 103.

"I've never seen Tylenol work so fast before, it usually takes 20 to 30 minutes to start working on me." "Yeah I know he seems to react to it real fast and the affects seems to last a lot longer. This morning Dr. Thompson gave him 2 and it made his temperature go way down for about 5 hours. Hunter said it was because he's never had it before so as far as his body is concerned it's a brand new powerful drug."

Cordelia covered him up again and took some of the blankets off and folded them again. She put them on one of the chairs that was in the corner just in case she needed them again. "Can you stay with them for 30 minutes or so. I need to put these sheets and towels in the wash and I just need to get away for a while. They should both sleep for the next several hours." "Sure Cordy, take as much time as you want." "Thanks Gunn, you're a prince among men." Gunn just smiled at her as she picked up the sheets and the rest of the dirty linen along with Kathleen's clothes.

As Cordelia was walking downstairs with the dirty laundry Wesley came walking in. "Hi Wesley how was your day? Did you spend some quality time with Fred and Junior?" "Junior, what makes you think it's a Junior? She hasn't even had an ultrasound yet." Wesley said it in a way as though he thought she knew something.

"Oh no reason just that Fred and I decided that it's a boy. Anyways we have been having loads of fun here. Your associate, my dear sweet husband, and father of our child has been having fun during his periods of lucidity." She stood there with her hands on her hips, which Wesley knew was an invitation to him to ask why.

"Why do you say that? What did he do now?" Wesley asked as he went to her and took the basket of dirty laundry and followed her downstairs.

"You know how he has been able to make Kathleen do some things?" "Yes." Wesley said as an encouragement for her to continue.

"Well I didn't know it but in the early part of the afternoon I was feeding Kathleen solid food. Without my knowledge Angel was awake and watching me and apparently he was feeling better because he decided to make our daughter do things that she shouldn't be able to do yet." "Like what?" Wesley asked. He was doing his best not to laugh.

"Kathleen is just starting to learn to eat solid food and sit up in the high chair so she pretty much had her hands full just sitting up straight but Angel had her raising her hand and blocking the spoon full of food from going into her mouth. She was getting it all over herself and in her hair and when she did take the food she would practice spitting it out at me. That little rug rat had baby food all over herself and me. I was covered in baby food especially when she flipped over the dish and it went all over me and in my hair. Then she was swishing her hands in it and throwing it on the floor. When I looked over at Angel he pretended to be sleeping."

"My poor baby. Come here you look like you need a major hug." Wesley went to her and took her in his arms. Cordelia went to him and cried on his shoulder for a few minutes. The crying was more from the stress of having to take care of two babies at the same time.

After a few minutes she pulled back from him. "Then Wesley I couldn't even take it out on him. After I gave myself and Kathleen a bath and put her to bed he came over to me and apologized. We fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up a few hours later his temperature had gone way up again. Gunn and I got him back to bed and I piled the blankets on him because he seemed to be terribly cold even though his temperature was up. It was crazy. I didn't know whether I should wash him down with ice water or pile the blankets on. Since his teeth were chattering I piled the blankets on. With Gunn's help we got him to take some more aspirin and in 15 to 20 minutes he stopped shaking and his temperature started to go down." Cordelia pulled away from him then and wiped her eyes and grabbed some Kleenex from the box on the folding table and blew her nose.

"Thank you Wesley, I needed that. I may have to do it again though since this is only the beginning." she started putting the laundry in the washing machine then. When she was done they both went upstairs to see how Angel was doing.

When they arrived at Cordelia and Angels room they saw Gunn over on the couch watching television and Angel and Kathleen sleeping peacefully. "Gunn you can go now. Thank you for watching them." Gunn got up and started to leave when he saw Wesley. "Hay Wes. How did it go today?" "Good. Fred's plane took off just an hour ago and she is supposed to land in Texas in about another hour."

"Well guys I am going to be going out tonight. I have a date with my girl tonight. She only has a couple of days off after working 12 to 16 hours each day and tonight is her first night free after using all day to catch up on her sleep. I'll have my cell phone on so call me if you need help."

"By any chance Gunn does your girlfriend know anything about us and what we do and especially Angel?" Cordelia asked.

"Well yes and no. She knows what we do but not about Angels being a Vampire and all." Gunn had a pretty good idea what she was going to ask next.

"How about bringing her around to introduce the rest of the family?" Cordelia asked with her best million dollar smile on.

Gunn knew what she had up her sleeve. "I'll ask Cordy but I can't promise anything. I'll see you later."

Cordelia went over to check on Angel. He felt warm but not to warm so she decided to let him sleep. She thought to herself 'At least when he is sleeping he isn't causing me any problems.'

The next day Connor arrived along with Toby. He was a big help to her in taking care of Kathleen. When comparing Kathleen to her Daddy, Cordelia told the guys that Angel won as the biggest baby. "His mother must have really babied him when he was sick. I can see why he misses her so much."

On the fourth day the famous SPOTS showed up and the fevers were much lower. When his chest was fully covered by the spots Cordelia decided to have some fun at Angels expense. She called Wesley, Gunn and Connor to come up to their room. She then pulled out the movie camera and met them out in the hallway.

She explained what she wanted to do and for the next hour they played connect the dots while Cordelia made a movie of the whole process. "When the time is right I am going to play this movie then we will see who has the last laugh my dear Angel." She told Angel, while he was still sleeping, after Gunn and Wesley had left. She put the camera away then and went back to folding Kathleen's laundry. She was happier then she had been for over a week. She was so happy she was whistling while she folded the laundry and put it away.

About five days later the spots started to disappear and the rash started along with a fever. By the second day Angels fever was approaching 107. Cordelia went to the balcony and called for Gunn, Wesley and Connor.

All three of the men came running up to her room. "What's wrong Cordelia?" Wesley asked.

"His fever is going real high Wesley. Lets try to get him into the whirlpool bath and see if we can get it cold enough for him in there. Connor would you start bringing ice up." Connor ran downstairs and Wesley and Gunn got Angel up and into the whirlpool bath.

Cordelia had started the cold water running into the bath while waiting for the men to come and help her with Angel. It was almost full by the time they put him in it.

Connor came up with five bags of ice. The others helped him open them as fast as they could and dumped them right on top of Angel. They were having a hard time holding onto him to keep his head above water so Cordelia started to take her blouse and jeans off so she could get into the bath with him. "No Cordelia I'll get in with him. Your not strong enough to handle him by yourself." Wesley said as he took his shoes, socks and shirt off. He didn't bother to take his jeans off since he wasn't the one that was hot with a fever. As Wesley got in the tub Gunn and Connor held Angel up so Wesley could slide in behind him and hold him.

Cordelia and Wesley started to move the ice around and all over Angel to try to get the water cold as fast as possible. In the mean time Gunn and Connor had run down stairs to get more ice. Angels hands and legs had started to shake from the fever. Cordelia grabbed some more Tylenol and was able to get him to take them with more water. Connor and Gunn arrived with more ice and dumped it into the bathtub. Angel finally stopped shaking and Cordelia took his temperature again. It was down to 102. "Okay guys we can take him out now."

Connor and Gunn helped Angel to get out and took him to his bed. Cordelia put another blanket on the bed so she could wrap him up in it and dry him off. She gave more towels and Angels robe to Wesley so he could take his jeans off and dry himself off. When she came back into the bathroom after putting Angel back to bed she found Wesley shivering and his teeth chattering he was so cold.

"Wesley lets get you to bed so you can warm up. Fred has an electric blanket on the bed doesn't she?" "Yyyyeeeesssss, ssssssshhhhheeee ddddooooeeeessss." "Come on Wesley." Cordelia put her arm around him and took him back to his bedroom and after turning the blanket on she told him to take the robe and his shorts off and to get into the bed."

"Cordelia, I assure you that I can disrobe and get into bed by myself." "Don't be a fuddy duddy Wesley, you don't have anything that I haven't seen before. I'll turn around and then I want you to take those shorts and robe off then crawl under those sheets and blanket." She could hear him taking the shorts off and crawling in under the sheets and electric blanket. Cordelia turned around then and picked up the shorts and robe and put them over a chair while she made a cup of hot tea for Wesley. He had fallen asleep though so she just put it on the stand next to the bed. She quietly picked up the clothes and left.

This was the last episode of high fever for Angel and the measles. Except for the rash that followed the SPOTS he did okay as far as being a good boy. Angel was itching so bad from the rash that he was causing his skin to bleed with the constant scratching so Cordelia filled the bathtub in 412 with an oatmeal bath that Dr. Thompson had brought her. He helped her get the bath ready and then helped her with Angel.

"Ewww, this feels funky." Angel said as he slid into the bath. He smeared it all over his arms and chest where the rash was the worst. He sat there for the next hour, for the first time in 3 days he was able to sleep without waking up because of the itching that was driving him crazy. Wesley, Gunn and Connor had come up to 412 along with Dr. Thompson and Cordelia. While Angel soaked they played cards and Kathleen slept on the bed. Since Angel wasn't included in the game others were winning. Hunter was downstairs making some sandwiches for the humans and mugs of blood for herself and Angel. While she was in the kitchen someone came into the Hotel and rang the bell at the lobby desk. Hunter went to see who it was. She soon found out that it was a customer for Angel Investigations so she called upstairs to Wesley and told him they had a customer.

They dealt Wesley out of the game while he went down to the Lobby to talk to the client.

"Wesley this is Mr. Johnson Meadows, Mr. Meadows this is Wesley Wyndham Price an associate of Mr. Angel Martin. Mr. Martin is ill right now so Mr. Price will help you. I'll take my leave now gentlemen. Would you like something to drink Mr. Meadows?" "Yes some hot tea please, Earl Grey if you have it." Mr. Meadows asked. "And you Wesley?" "No nothing thank you."

"Mr. Meadows would you come into my office where we can discuss your problem." Wesley guided Mr. Meadows into his office and closed the door. "How can Angel Investigations help you Mr. Meadows?"

"I have a son Mr. Price, he is 16 years old. Recently he has become involved with a gang. He spends all of his time with them. We received a call from his school last week they said he hadn't been in school for the past 2 weeks and they wanted to know if he was going to be returning to school anytime soon. My wife, his mother, and I confronted him when he came in, in the morning. We asked him why he hadn't been in school for the past 2 weeks. He became very angry and told us to stay out of his business. So I did the next best thing and had him followed. Here is the report from the investigator." Mr. Meadows paused for a moment. He did his best to control himself. Wesley could tell that he was about to break down.

"Mr. Meadows we have a special sort of clientele that has very unusual problems. We don't handle just any client." Hunter came and knocked on the door and opened it without waiting for an answer. She gave Mr. Meadows his tea then left.

"Mr. Price my son is hanging out with a gang of Vampires and he wants to become one of them." He broke down crying then. Wesley waited for him to get control of himself.

"I want you to get him away from them. I want you to show him that what he is getting himself into isn't something that he can let go of as he gets older. This isn't a phase that he can grow out of. I want you to teach him that this is forever. I am a rich man Mr. Price I can pay whatever you are asking." Wesley opened the envelope that Mr. Meadows had given him. He stared at the papers on his desk instead of Mr. Meadows.

"Mr. Meadows I'm not going to promise you anything I'll only say that I will discuss this with my colleagues as to whether we want to take your case or not. Wait for my call which will most likely come by tonight." Mr. Meadows pulled out some of the Kleenex from the box on Wesley's desk. He wiped his face then blew his nose and straightened himself up again.

"Thank you Mr. Price I'll be waiting for your call." Wesley stood up and shook Mr. Meadows hand then guided him out of the hotel.

As he walked up to the fourth floor and 412 he found it empty so he went back down to the second and Angels rooms. The door was open so he walked in. Dr. Thompson, Hunter, Cordelia and Gunn were sitting at the kitchen table and continuing with their poker game. He heard the shower going so he presumed Angel was getting the oatmeal bath off of his body.

"How did it go Wesley?" Cordelia asked him as he walked in. "If Angel agrees to take the case it looks like we have a very important client. I'll wait for Angel to come out so that I can explain it to everyone at one time. Deal me in for now." Wesley put the envelope aside and sat down to play poker with the rest.

After fifteen minutes Angel came walking out. After he dried himself off he went over to Kathleen's crib and looked at his daughter. "Hey Mike is it safe for me to handle my daughter now?" "Sure Angel go ahead your way past the contagious period."

Angel picked his daughter up and went to his bed. He still had his robe on so he sat down on the top of the covers. He picked up his daughter and started playing with her. He was talking to Kathleen all the time and trying to get her to say Daddy. Cordelia watched him playing with his daughter. Hunter caught her eye. She winked at her and told her to do it now. Cordelia smiled.

"Angel why don't you feed her. I have her plate already made up in the refrigerator." "Okay I think I can do that." Angel put Kathleen into her highchair and warmed up her food in the microwave. When the food was done he pulled the highchair close to the sink and a chair that he had brought in from what used to be Cordelia's room. He sat down and started to feed his daughter. They all stopped playing cards and were watching him have a ball with his daughter. When she was almost done with her food Hunter whispered to Cordelia. "Try it now. Remember, concentrate on what you want her to do. Look at her and imagine her making the move you want her to. Don't forget that she can't understand words yet only pictures."

Cordelia put the picture into her head of Kathleen lifting the plate so that it landed on Angel. Kathleen lifted the plate so that it fell on Angels lap then she put her hands in the food and smeared it all over the place. Lucky for Angel though Toby was here and started cleaning up the floor. He got up on his hind legs and started cleaning the food off of Kathleen's feet and clothes. Angel kept his cool and didn't get mad. He figured he deserved it after what he did to Cordelia.

"Well it looks like I have to take a bath again Mommy." Angel went over to the table and pressed up against Hunter. "Give Auntie Hunter a big kiss and hug goodbye." Kathleen reached out for Hunter and put her hands on either side of her face and gave her a big kiss right on the lips. Angel took Kathleen's hand and patted Hunter on the head so that she now had baby food all over her hair. Then he went over to Cordelia and did the same.

"I'll have to be more careful now that I know you can make her do things also. Lets promise each other that we won't do that anymore okay?" Cordelia held out her hand and Angel took it and they shook on the agreement not to make Kathleen do anything anymore.

Angel left then and took his daughter into the bathroom. They could hear the water running into the whirlpool. Cordelia started laughing as soon as he closed the door. She pointed at the food all over Hunters hair. "That worked pretty good. At least now I know I can stop her from doing something dangerous if I have to." She got up and wet a towel and gave it to Hunter along with a dry kitchen towel. "Deal me out guys I think I'll go and play in the water with my daughter and her daddy. Stay here and continue though we can talk about the new client when we get out."

Cordelia opened the door of the bathroom. Angel had the water running and was taking his daughters food covered clothes off of her. Cordelia poured some bubble creating liquid into the water. She checked the water to see if it was warm enough then started to take her clothes off. Angel got into the tub while holding his daughter. As soon as Cordelia was ready she slipped into the water also and sat between Angels legs as usual. They stayed in the whirlpool for at least 20 minutes while they bathed themselves and Kathleen.

Toby went to the bathroom door and pushed on it. Cordelia hadn't made sure that the door closed all of the way so he was able to push it open. When he saw everyone in the bathtub he ran over to it and started to lick everyone's face. Kathleen just loved Toby so everyone that was on the other side of the wall could hear her giggling away as soon as she saw him. Toby's tail was wagging so hard that it made his whole body wiggle. Before they knew it he had jumped into the whirlpool. He had water splashing all over the bathroom. Cordelia got up with Kathleen in her arms while Toby tried to lick her face. Angel stayed in and thought he would take the opportunity to bath Toby but Cordelia knew he was just using it as an excuse to play with him.

Thirty minutes later everyone was out of the tub dried, dressed or brushed. Kathleen was worn out and sleeping in her crib peacefully.

"Lets have a look at our new client Wesley." Angel said as he picked up the envelope with all of the pictures and report.

Wesley told everyone what Mr. Meadows had requested. Then waited for someone to say something.

"What do you think Wesley? Should we take it, I mean you're the one that spoke to this Mr. Meadows." Angel asked as he looked through the PI's report.

"I think we should take it. In this case though Angel you are the one that is going to be doing most of the work. The rest of us of course will help extract the young man from the gang of Vampires but you are the one that will have to convince him that he has chosen the wrong career."

"How do we know that he hasn't been turned already?" Angel asked. "According to his father he said the big day is supposed to be tonight. His father told me that his son said he was going to be away for the next 3 or 4 days and that when he came back he was going to be a different person."

"Then I guess we have to do it tonight. Since we have to make sure that we extract this kid alive we better get some help. Gunn do you think you could contact you kids and see if they know anything about the gang of Vampires and if they do can they help us tonight? Let them know what we are doing, okay?" "Sure I think I can do that. Do you think you are up to it? You won't alert them with your scratching all of the time will you?"

"I don't know, all I know is that I feel okay for now. What do my doctors feel? Especially Dr. Cordelia Chase-Martin." Angel looked at Cordelia with a smile.

"I have to confer with my colleagues first." Cordelia said as they walked out into the hallway.

"What do you think?" Cordelia asked both Hunter and Thompson.

"How did he look when you two were taking a bath. Was the rash still covering his body or does it seem to be disappearing?" Dr. Thompson asked.

"Well it's still on his legs but it doesn't appear to be as red as it did before. Of course that may be because of his recent oatmeal bath." Cordelia answered.

"I think it will be safe for him to take on this client then. He's almost done with the measles. Let's go and give him the good news." Dr. Thompson said.

They all went back into the room and sat down again. "My colleagues and I have discussed your case Angel and we have decided that you should be okay to take on this new client." Angel looked at Cordelia with a big grin. "Thank you Dr. Cordelia."

"You have your answer Gunn, my Doctors have given me a clean bill of health."

"Okay then I'll go and check with my kids and I'll give you a call as soon as we have located them." Gunn said as he got up from the table. He put his money in his pocket then left.

"If you don't mind guys I feel like taking a nap before all of the activity tonight."

Mike looked at Hunter. "I think we are being thrown out Mickey. Isn't that the way it always is with patients. When they're sick they want to see you right away but when they are all better it's 'Here's your hat, what's the hurry?'"

"Come on Mike lets let him sleep like all good vampires should be doing in the day time. In fact I'm feeling kind of sleepy lets go into Mary's room and take a nap also. The evening is going to be pretty interesting." Hunter took his hand and led him down to Mary's room.

Later that evening Wesley received a call from Gunn. They had located the gang at a warehouse in Van Nuys and he was pretty sure that the Meadows boy was with them.

"Okay Gunn well meet you there as soon as we can." Wesley ran up the stairs and knocked on Angels door.

"Come in Wesley we're up." Angel said.

"Gunn called Angel. He has the location of the gang." "Okay Wesley I'll be down in just a few minutes. Why don't you ask Hunter if she would like to join us and I'll call Connor." "Okay, I'll meet you downstairs." Wesley ran down to Hunters room and knocked on the door.

"Hunter are you in there?" "Yes Wesley." She came to the door and opened it.

"Angel wants to know if you would like to join us. Gunn has located the gang we are looking for and the Meadows kid is with them right now." "Yes I sure would. I'll meet you downstairs in a couple of minutes." Hunter turned to Mike. "I'm going with them Mike, I'll see you back at your apartment when we're done." She gave him a kiss goodbye then left.

Mike walked down to Cordelia's room and knocked on the door. "Come in." Cordelia said.

Mike opened the door. Cordelia was sitting down at the table and nursing Kathleen.

"Come in Mike and have a seat you can keep me company while the kids are out and having some fun."

"How do you do it Cordelia?" "How do I do what?" "How do you keep from worrying about Angel when you know what they are going to be doing?"

"I guess it makes it easier when you're a woman and the man is the one that is doing the fighting plus I've been involved in many fights so I know pretty much of what is going on." Cordelia gave Kathleen to Mike while she cleaned herself.

"Why don't you keep yourself busy and get her to burp up the air she took in while I clean myself." Mike took Kathleen and expertly put her on his shoulder and patted her back until she gave a satisfying burp.

"Have you checked Hunter to see if she is still producing eggs Mike or do you know if she is still having a period?"

"No I always kind of thought that, that part of her died or that she lost the ability to reproduce a long time ago."

"Well I was thinking about it and you know Hunter is pretty thin and she has very little fat content in her body in fact she is more muscle than anything else. It could be that she doesn't have a period because she doesn't have enough fat in her body. If I were you Mike I would talk to her about it and run some tests to see if her ovaries are still producing eggs. Even though her body couldn't sustain a pregnancy you could always get another woman to carry the baby to term. In fact I bet that Willow or Tara would be happy to do it for you and Hunter." Cordelia said.

Mike was quiet while he thought about what she said. "I think I'll take your advice Cordelia and talk to Mickey about it. After all it doesn't hurt to try."

"Where did you come up with the nickname of Mickey?" Cordelia asked.

"Makalu sounds so formal so one evening I just blurted it out after watching a Disney cartoon. She didn't kill me after I said it so I figured she didn't mind." Mike laughed after telling Cordelia.

The phone rang and Cordelia went to answer it. Mike overheard her saying 'Okay, as soon as Lorne can come over well be there. I'll call Sunnydale and let them know. Okay I'll see you soon. Bye.' Cordelia then called Lorne and after only a few minutes she hung up then called Mary in Sunnydale. He couldn't hear what she was saying but it sounded like she was crying.

When she was done she came and sat down at the table and took Kathleen from Mike.

"That was Angel that had called. Wesley is in the hospital and is in surgery right now. When they arrived at the warehouse they found that they had humans and Vampires in the gang. During the fighting one of the gang members that had a machine gun or whatever they call them now days. He started firing without really taking aim and unfortunately Wesley didn't duck behind something fast enough. He took 4 bullets in his chest. He has one in his left lung and one in his right. His right lung has collapsed. Another bullet went right through him and tore up his spleen. The worst one though is the one that hit his heart. Everyone else is okay. I called Lorne and asked him to come and take care of Kathleen, I also called Mom and she said they would be leaving to come to L.A. as soon as they let everyone else know. I called Texas but no one is home right now and they don't have a recorder so that I could leave a message."

Cordelia put Kathleen in her crib then went back to the table and leaned on the table and started crying. Mike went to her and took her into his arms. "He'll be okay Cordelia. You know that he has the assignment from God so you know he can't die yet." "I know Mike but what kind of condition will this leave him in?" "Well you know what kind of condition a man has got be in, in order for him to be able to have sex. So since he still has some children to father you know he has to recover from this."

They sat together at the table and waited for Lorne to come and take care of Kathleen. By 8:45 they could hear Lorne enter the Lobby and come up the stairs.

"Here I am sweety you can go now." Lorne said as he walked over to the crib to check on Kathleen. Cordelia repeated everything to Lorne that she had just said to Mike. She said they would keep in contact to let him know how Wesley was as soon as they were told. She also let him know that Kathleen had just been fed so she should sleep for at least 4 hours. "Okay I got it you get going now and Cordy." "Yes." She turned around and looked at Lorne before she went out of the door. "He will be okay. It's going to be rough but he will come out of this intact and with all of his faculties. I promise." Cordelia ran back to him and hugged and kissed him then she ran out of the door to join Mike in his Viper.

When they arrived at the hospital Cordelia tried Texas again and this time she got an answer.

It was Fred's mother that answered the phone. Cordelia explained everything that had happened so that she could tell Fred. Cordelia gave her, her cell phone number so that she could call her and let her know when they would be arriving. After that it was just a waiting game. Wesley had already been in surgery for 5 hours by the time the Sunnydale gang came. Dr. Martin went to Angel first and hugged and kissed him then she went to Cordelia.

"Has anyone called Fred?" Dr. Martin asked. "Yes I did as soon as I could. Fred and her parents will be arriving at 12 noon tomorrow. I also called Wesley's parents and they said they would call with their arrival time as soon as they made their flight arrangements." "That's good Cordelia I know that his father and Wesley don't get along very well but sometimes things like this can clear the air. Wounds that have been festering for a long time are cleaned out and given a chance to heal. I am going to go and check on what is happening. I'll be back as soon as I can." Dr. Martin left then to check on Wesley. She almost ran into Mike as he came around the corner.

"Have you been able to find out how he is doing Mike?" "No not yet." Mike said as they went up to surgery. Dr. Martin was registered with the hospital so she was covered by their insurance and could perform operations when needed and or assist when they where overrun with patients. She explained who she was to the nurse and she was offering her assistance. The nurse went into the O.R. and talked to the surgeon in control. He turned around and waived her in. The nurse came out and helped her put a gown on after she had washed her hands and arms. She had taken her blouse off already since it would be too hot with it and the gown on. The nurse helped her with her gloves and mask and she went in.

The surgeon in control had been at it for almost 6 hours and he was practically dancing, he had to pee so bad. He told Dr. Martin what they were doing right now then he went running out of the door. Dr. Martin took his place and looked at the resident that was assisting. He was laughing. "What's so funny?" Dr. Martin asked. "When your in school you never think about problems like these, you know like having to go to the bathroom or getting something to eat. It just doesn't occur to you that even surgeons have to pee and eat." "Yes I know what you mean. My perception of surgery was corrected real fast the first time I was in surgery for 8 hours."

Dr. Martin was gone for two and a half hours more before she returned. She had her blouse back on and she had let her hair down so that she could fix it again. They all stood up when she came over to them.

"How is he?" Angel asked.

"I won't lie to you Angel. He is in bad shape. When I went into the operating room to help they had already taken the bullet out of his heart and repaired the holes. All bullets have been removed and the holes repaired. One of the bullets went through his spleen and we couldn't save it so we took it out but people survive just fine without it. The big problem will be with infection. He is being given powerful antibiotics and he is in ICU and will probably be there for the next several days. Now we all know that God has given his orders as to what is expected from each of you so have faith that Wesley will survive this because he still has a lot of work ahead of him. I want everyone to go back to the hotel now and get some rest. I believe you have a client to take care of also Angel."

Everyone got up and started to walk over to the elevators. Angel turned around when he noticed that Dr. Martin wasn't coming with them.

"Are you going to stay for awhile?" "Yes, I am going to keep watch over him. The next 24 hours will be critical. Please take Rupert home Angel he'll only be in the way over here. I am just going to look for an empty bed and get some sleep." She gave him a kiss goodbye then went back to the ICU.

* * *

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

WHY AM I ALWAYS THE ONE

THAT GETS SHOT

Dr. Martin was sleeping on an unoccupied bed in the ICU. She had only had a few hours of sleep when at 9 A.M. one of the nurses woke her up by shaking her shoulder gently.

"Dr. Martin wake up. Dr. Martin?" The nurse waited until she was sure that Dr. Martin was fully awake before she said anything else.

"I'm awake, what's wrong?" "It's Mr. Price Dr. Martin his heart has stopped twice and we were able to get it going each time. The resident in charge thinks that either the hole in his heart has opened again or it has more damage to it then was apparent when he was first operated on."

"Thank you I'll be right there." Dr. Martin threw some water on her face then went into Wesley's ICU unit.

She quickly checked the readout on the heart monitor and then took several minutes to listen to his heart. She could hear the irregularity of the heart beat and another noise that wasn't normal. She could understand why the resident thought there was a hole in Wesley's heart again. She walked over to the nurses station and spoke with the nurse in charge of Wesley.

"I want you to call the surgeon that operated on Mr. Price tell him that I will be reopening his chest in one hour and that I would appreciate his assistance. I also want you to call the surgical resident and tell him that I will need his assistance. I also want a heart specialist here ASAP."

Dr. Martin got on the phone then and called her room at the hotel. Giles answered. "Rupert would you bring me some clean underwear and a clean blouse. I also need a more comfortable pair of shoes. I'm going to call Angel and let him know that Wesley's heart has stopped twice and I am getting ready to operate on him again. We think the hole that the bullet tore open has reopened again or we missed some other damage to his heart that wasn't apparent when he was first operated on. I'll be waiting for you at the nurses station in ICU. Bye."

Dr. Martin called Angel and let him know what was going on. She advised him not to come out yet but to wait until she was able to give him more information once she got out of surgery. She waited at the nurses unit for Rupert to come with her change of clothes. As soon as he arrived she went to take a shower and changed into some surgical scrubs then went out to the nurses station. Giles had gone to sit in the waiting room so she went over to him. He was waiting with a tray of food from the cafeteria. It was just a small meal consisting of two scrambled eggs with two slices of buttered toast, jelly and a carton of orange juice. Dr. Martin took him into the Doctors lounge where they could have a few moments of piece and quiet.

"What do you think Mary? Is he going to make it?" Mary looked up into Giles eyes. She could tell that he was truly concerned.

"I am going to tell you what I told everyone earlier this morning Rupert. This will be a true test of everyone's faith. We know that Wesley has been assigned the task of taking care of the education of all of the children and that he will be the last one of the original team that will leave this world. So yes my faith says that he will survive but the big question for me is what kind of condition will he be in for the rest of his life. Mary and Giles finished their breakfast in quiet.

As soon as she was done she went to the nurses station to speak to the head nurse.

"Has anyone reported in yet Terri?" "Yes the heart specialist Dr. Fernando has called in and he should be here any moment. The surgical resident is here and we have scheduled an operating room for you. The surgeon that first operated on Mr. Price will be here in about 15 minutes." "Thanks Terri. When Dr. Fernando arrives tell him that I will be in Mr. Prices unit."

Dr. Martin went in to check on Wesley. His eyes were open and she could see the tears coming from his eyes. When he saw her he tried to speak but he couldn't speak loud enough to be heard. Dr. Martin went to his side and bent down as close as she could which was difficult because of her height.

"What happened to me?" Wesley asked. Dr. Martin new he was speaking in a whisper because his mouth and throat were dry. She saw the cup of ice on the tray next to the bed so she gave him a few chunks of ice and no more. She didn't want too much in his stomach.

"You were shot at least four time in the chest during the fight to extricate the Meadows boy. You were the only one hit everyone else is alright. Wesley you were hit in your heart, in each lung and in your spleen. We had you in surgery for over eight hours Wesley. I am going to be taking you back into surgery because your heart has stopped twice now. I have a heart specialist coming in right now so I can get a second opinion as to what is wrong with your heart. I think either the hole that we repaired has somehow opened again or we missed some other injury to your heart. Cordelia has contacted Fred and she should be here in a few hours. She also contacted your parents and they are coming but we don't know when yet. I want you to remember Wesley that God has plans for you and since you haven't completed your set tasks yet you will recover. It's going to be a hard recovery but you will recover. As to how long it will take you to recover depends on you. Rest now Wesley, rest." Dr. Martin picked up his hand and kissed it then brushed the hair from his eyes. From the sound of the heart monitor she knew that he was sleeping now.

Dr. Fernando came into the room and introduced himself. They went over to the nurses station and talked for awhile, then Dr. Fernando went in to examine Wesley. He listened to his heart for a good 10 minutes. When he came back to the nurses station he told Dr. Martin that he agreed with her that there was a hole in his heart and most likely it's the original one. But since they didn't have the time to perform any tests they could only go by what they heard in the examination. The primary surgeon that operated on Wesley had arrived and was getting ready for surgery. Dr. Martin joined him along with the heart specialist that wanted to watch. In the mean time they prepared Wesley for surgery and took him back into the operating room.

Cordelia and Angel were up by 10 so that she could get ready to pick up Fred and her parents. Even though Kathleen was on solid food now Cordelia was still breast feeding her so she was busily using the breast pump so she could leave some in the refrigerator for Angel or Lorne to give to Kathleen. Since it was daylight Angel of course couldn't go with her but he said he would meet them at the hospital by the usual underground highway that he used to travel during the day. Just one hour before Wesley's mother had called with information on their flight and when they would arrive. Thanks to Willow, Buffy and Tara she didn't have to worry about getting the extra rooms that they would need ready for Wesley and Fred's parents. The rest of the Sunnydale gang had been to the hotel so often that they had their own rooms.

"Angel I'm leaving now. When your ready to leave let Willow know, she said she would take care of Kathleen for us. Mike is coming with me so he can keep an eye on Fred then he has to leave to take care of his own patients. Hunter is going to pick him up later." Cordelia gave her husband a kiss then left. Right now Cordelia's mini van was coming in very handy.

By the time Cordelia and Mike made it to the airport Fred and her parents were standing in front of the airport at the arrival station of the airline they had taken. Cordelia parked the van in front of them and climbed out as fast as she could and ran to Fred. They hugged each other and cried on each others shoulder. While they were busy hugging each other Mike introduced himself to Fred's Parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Burkle I'm Cordelia and Fred's Obstetrician. Can you tell me if she has been having any problems since she was told of what happened to Wesley?"

"No she has been taking it pretty good really. I am very surprised." Her mother answered.

"That's good. You never know how strong people are until they have to go through something like this." Cordelia let go of Fred then and she turned to her parents and greeted them. Fred greeted Mike and started to introduce him to her parents. "I've already introduced myself Fred. Why don't we get into the van and go to the hospital before they give Cordelia a ticket for parking here." Cordelia gave the keys to Mike so he could drive and she could sit in the back with Fred and Fred's mother. Fred's father sat up front with Mike.

As they sat together in the back of the van Cordelia and Fred held hands for support. Cordelia could feel the slight trembling in Fred's hand, she didn't say anything though she just continued to hold her hand. Her friend had always been there for her whenever Angel was hurt. Cordelia and Fred leaned on each other for support more than they realized.

In another ten minutes they arrived at the hospital where Mike dropped them off at the entrance then parked the van. Cordelia, Fred and her parents went upstairs to the ICU and waited for Mike. When Mike came in he went to Cordelia. "Has anyone talked to you yet?" "No we were waiting for you." Cordelia answered.

"I am going to check and see if they are done yet or if they are still in there." Cordelia nodded her okay. Mike went to the nurses station and asked if their was any news on Wesley.

"I'm sorry Dr. Thompson but they are still in surgery." Mike went upstairs then to the OR as he entered the area he explained to the nurse that he was just going to step inside for a few minutes then step out. She helped him to put a gown on and gave him a mask then Mike stepped into the OR.

"How's it going Mary?" "We are just closing up now Mike, I take it Fred is here with her parents?" "Yes we just picked them up." "Okay Mike I'll be with you in a second." Dr. Martin turned from the operating table and stepped down from the box they had for her to stand on. She could hear everyone laughing.

"Okay, okay lets get all of the jokes over with now. Ha, ha little Dr. Mary Martin needs a highchair to operate just so she can reach the patient. Ha, ha, ha." She walked out with a grin. She walked over to Mike and took her gloves, gown, mask and hat off then went to clean herself up and straighten her hair. "Okay Mike lets go."

"How is Fred doing?" "Surprisingly well. I thought she would fall apart but she seems to be doing just fine. I guess her ordeal in Pilea only made her stronger." "I think that and the fact that she has her family around her." Dr. Thompson and Martin turned the corner and found Cordelia, Fred and her parents standing up to hear the latest news.

Dr. Martin went to Fred. Fred immediately ran into her arms and held onto her for dear life. Dr. Martin held her and let her cry for awhile then she led her to the couch where they could all sit down. Dr. Martin turned to Mike. "Mike do you think we could give her a mild tranquilizer?" "Yes, I have one right here." He took one pill from a bottle that was in his pocket and handed it to Fred." "No I don't want to take anything. I promise I won't do that anymore." "Fred it's not you I am thinking of it's for your babies." Fred looked at him in surprise. "How did you know?" "Your parents family doctor called me to get some information and he told me." "Does anyone else know?" "Right now only the people sitting here know." He held the pill out for her again and this time she took it along with some of her Pepsi.

"Okay Fred this is what is going on with your Wesley. We had to take him into surgery a second time because we were having a hard time stabilizing him and his heart stopped twice. When we went back in we found that he did have another hole in his heart that we couldn't see from the front. When we opened him we could see blood pooling around his heart but nothing was wrong with the sutures we had put in. We closed him up in the front then went in through the back that's when we found the other hole. Apparently the bullet that we took out had gone through just far enough to create a small hole on the back side of his heart and that is what was bleeding into the sac around his heart and leaking into the surrounding cavity. As soon as we repaired this second hole his heart started pumping just fine so we are almost 999.99 sure that we got everything." Fred hugged her again and thanked her.

"Fred I want you to understand that it's going to be a long hard road to recovery that Wesley will have to travel. When we take him home he is going to need around the clock nursing for the first month. After that he will need physical therapy to help him get back on his feet again. Angel and Gunn will be able to help him with that but for the first month we are going to have to hire a nurse to take care of him."

"I can take care of him Dr. Martin and with everyone there to help well be fine." Fred said.

"No Fred you can't. Many of the things that he will need done for him will be to strenuous for you. Since your carrying twins you're going to get big pretty fast. Remember how Cordelia didn't have to even consider wearing maternity clothes until her 5th month I think. Well because your so thin now I think it would be a good idea if you and your mother went shopping for them now because your regular clothes won't fit within another month or two. Look at you I can see how the top of your skirt is tight. Pull the top up higher so that your stomach is free and not constrained." Fred looked like she was going to protest again.

"Don't you agree with me Dr. Thompson?" "Yes I do agree. Fred you will need to be turning Wesley on his side frequently, lifting his head or all of the upper portion of his body so that he can sit up. All of his bodily functions will have to be taken cared of for him for the first week. Which means their will be a lot of bending and lifting. Now if you want to loose your babies then go ahead and try it, but otherwise do as your told or I am going to help your father take you over his knees and give you a spanking." Dr. Thompson stopped for a second then he thought about another threat that might make her stop and think. "Or would you like me to tell Angel?"

Fred looked at Cordelia and Dr. Martin. "Don't you remember what he did to me when I gave him a problem about coming home on time?" Cordelia rubbed her behind as though she could still feel the spanking.

Fred thought about it and conceded. "Alright I'll be good. You don't have to tell Angel. Maybe we can get Gunn's new girl friend."

"I'll take care of that Fred. I want to warn you now that Wesley is going to look very scary. He will have tubes running in and out all over him. He will be out of it for the next two to three hours, but you can go in and hold his hand and talk to him. Talk to him softly with your mouth to his ear. I know that I said that he is unconscious right now but he might be able to hear you. I know that I heard Angel when I came out of surgery. I heard him and he came to me as a dream." Dr. Martin got up then told the rest that she would come back for Cordelia later and she would be the only other person that she would allow to see Wesley right now.

"Lets go Mrs. Price and see your husband." Dr. Martin took Fred's hand and led her into ICU. Since Wesley had just come out of surgery and because of the nature of the surgery they stopped and put gowns on along with masks. Dr. Martin took Fred's hand again and led her over to Wesley. Dr. Martin leaned into Fred so she could talk to her softly. "Remember Fred that you must be strong for Wesley. Don't let him know how worried you are about him, I want you to tell him how much you love him and how anxious you are to have him come home. Tell him about how you found out that he helped you to make twins. Make him feel proud of the fact that he fathered twins where Angel was only able to make one. Go to him now. I will be over here on the side talking to the nurses."

Fred slowly approached Wesley's bed. She saw all of the machines with tubes attached to them and then going to Wesley. She heard that constant beat of the monitor that tracked his heart beat and the amount of oxygen going into his blood. She saw the bag of blood with a line leading into his arm.

Fred practically walked on her toes as she approached the bed. She picked up his hand and held it gently in hers. She bent forward and kissed him as best she could.

"Wesley it's me, Fred. We just arrived a couple of hours ago. My parents are with me but Dr. Martin won't let them see you yet. She said you needed to rest. Wesley I have some good news. We're going to have twins, I found out just last week. I wasn't feeling to good so my mom made an appointment with her Doctor since I was exposed to the measles. They took an ultrasound just to see if the baby was active or not yet and that's when we saw two babies. Now you can tell Angel that you're a better man then him because you made two babies and he was only able to make one."

Fred was quiet for a while. One of the nurses gave her a chair which she thanked her for then sat down. She held on to his hand and leaned her forehead against their hands. Please Wesley don't leave me yet. I love you and need you.

Fred felt someone touch her shoulder. She looked up and saw Dr. Martin. "It's time to go Fred." "He knows I'm here Dr. Martin I felt him squeeze my hand." Fred said as she wiped the tears from her eyes and got up to leave with her. She gave Wesley a gentle kiss then turned and left.

They stopped to remove their gowns and mask then returned to the waiting room. When Fred looked up she saw Angel standing in the waiting room. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. Angel took her in his arms to comfort her. She was crying so hard she almost couldn't catch her breath.

"Make him better Angel, make these last few days go away, make it all better Angel. You can do anything. You saved me from Pilea. You can do anything. Call Willow maybe she can do something. Do something Angel, do something, make it all go away." Fred hugged him and beat his chest intermittently.

Angel took her to the couch and held her in his lap. He took her arms from around his neck and held them in front of her.

"Now you know that I can't do that Fred. You know that we all have our orders as to what we have to do before we leave this world. You also know that Wesley has already been told that he will be the last one of us to leave. So unless a bomb hits Los Angeles within the next few months I would say that Wesley will recover. Besides you still have to make a couple of babies with him."

Fred had calmed down while Angel was talking to her. "Angel we have already made those babies. Last week I had an ultrasound done and we saw two babies."

Angel gave her a hug and a congratulation then he hit his forehead with his hand. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Fred asked.

"Now I am going to have to listen to Wesley laughing at me and making remarks like 'ha, only one huh, that's okay Angel keep trying sooner or later you'll get it right. If you need any pointers as to how to create two at one time just give me a call and you, Cordelia and I can meet in 412.'" That made Fred laugh as she wiped her tears away again.

"Lets go and talk to your husband now for a few minutes." Angel said as he put her on the floor. "But Angel I just went to see him and he isn't awake yet." Fred told him.

"Well see Fred. I am going to try to communicate with him. I may not be able to but it doesn't hurt to try does it." "No it doesn't hurt to try. Is it okay Dr. Martin?" "Yes Fred, don't you know that a mother can never refuse anything that her son requests. Lets go." Dr. Martin took Angel and Fred to see Wesley. After they had put their gowns and masks on she led them to Wesley's bed. Angel stood on one side and Fred the other. Angel bent down and called out Wesley's name several times. He picked up his hand and held it in his. Angel closed his eyes and concentrated on Wesley. Dr. Martin was standing close by and she saw tears coming from Angels eyes.

After a minute Angel stretched out his hand to Fred. Dr. Martin told her to take his hand. Fred closed her eyes then and opened her mind to Angel. After a minute Fred smiled and cried tears of joy. Dr. Martin pulled them away when she saw that Wesley's heart was beating faster.

"I'm sorry I had to do that Fred and Angel but his heart was starting to beat faster and we don't want it to do that. Angel, if you can, tell him why I took your hands away from him and that I want him to rest." Angel did as she requested then they left and went back to the waiting room.

"Let's go home now everyone. I want Wesley to rest now." Dr. Martin went to get her clothes that she had come with and returned to the waiting room to go out with the rest. It was getting dark outside now so Angel was able to drive them home. Hunter had come to pick up Dr. Thompson a long time ago.

Angel drove right home and didn't stop for anything. When they arrived they found everyone just sitting down to dinner. Fred took a few minutes to greet everyone then she introduced her parents to everyone. They all sat down to dinner then and ate in quiet for a while.

Angel was the first to speak. "When is Wesley's parents supposed to come in Cordy?" "At midnight tonight. I thought maybe Giles and Dr. Martin could go and pick them up in my Van. I hate to do this to you Mom, I know you must be very tired but once you meet Mr. Price I think you will understand why I think it would be best for you two to go. If your too tired maybe Fred can go instead. We have to be very careful with his father Dr. Martin because he can talk to Wesley in such a way that can make his blood pressure go way up. He thinks of Angel as nothing more than an animal. It will be interesting to see what Toby thinks of him. I also strongly suggest that we not leave him alone with Wesley at any time."

It was 7 in the evening so Dr. Martin thought that if she went to bed right away she would be able to make it to the airport at midnight. "I guess I better go to bed right away so I can go tonight. Goodnight everyone I will see you tomorrow morning sometime." Giles told her he would be up in a minute.

Giles waited until Mary had gone up the stairs.

"I wanted to let everyone know what kind of man Wesley's father is. I know that Angels group is more familiar with him since they live with Wesley but the Sunnydale group doesn't know. Mr. Price is a very rude man. He tells you what he thinks and doesn't pull any punches, if you know what I mean. He is very hard on Wesley, and to tell you the truth he is very hard on anyone that is under what he considers his jurisdiction. When I started working with the council I was assigned to Mr. Price. I lost count on how many times I wanted to punch him right in the nose. So I am giving you fair warning. We need to protect Fred and Wesley at all cost. Lets not leave him alone in the same room without one of us being their. I'll see you all tomorrow. Good night everyone." Giles stood up then and left to go to bed and get as much sleep as he could before having to go to the airport.

Everyone got up then and started to clear the table. "Mrs. Burkle and Fred why don't you go and rest. I know it's been a long hard day for you two." "Thanks Cordelia I am very tired. Goodnight everyone." Everyone answered good night and Mrs. and Mr. Burkle followed their daughter upstairs also.

After all of the dishes were done and the food put away Angel, Connor, Spike and Gunn went upstairs to one of the rooms on the fifth floor. Mr. Meadows was given a key to this room and he could go in whenever he wanted. His son was kept chained up in this room. The chains had become necessary when the boy had almost escaped when Mr. and Mrs. Meadows had come to visit their son together.

Angel walked into the room first followed by Spike, Gunn and Connor. Both Spike and Angel had large glasses of blood. They all took seats around the boy. Angel hadn't been spending any time with him because of what happened to Wesley so tonight was the first time that he had met with the boy.

"What's your name boy?" Angel asked. "Jessie Meadows." The young man replied nervously.

"Do you know who I am Jessie?" "Yeah, I heard one of my friends call you Angelus."

"My name is Angel, Angelus is my demons name. Are you aware Jessie that your mind will not be in control of your body when you become a Vampire?" "That's not true, Jake said that he shares control of his body with his resident demon and that they get along just fine."

"A vampires demon allows you to see what he is doing but he doesn't allow you to control your body. Do you have any idea why?" "No." Jessie seemed to be having second thoughts on his choice.

Spike had taken Mrs. Meadows out of the room for a few minutes while Angel was talking to Jessie. He had explained to her what Angel was going to do and how they wanted her to react, which she was probably going to do anyway. He led her back into the room again with a tray of drinks for everyone. The tray included a large mug of blood that had already been warmed up. With any luck this kid could be taken cared of in one night.

Angel saw Spike and Mrs. Meadows return along with the props for the theatrical play he was about to act out.

"Jessie would you like something to drink?" "Yes can I have a root beer?" "No, I want you to start getting used to what will be the only thing that you will be able to drink or as we Vampires refer to it "eat"."

Angel handed Jessie the large mug of blood. Jessie looked at it and took it from Angel. Angel and Spike drank their own blood. They let some of it come out of the corner of their mouths and didn't bother to wipe it away. Jessie hesitated to drink the blood. Angel stepped behind Jessie and put his arm around his neck. He took the mug of blood from Jessie and put it to his lips.

"What's the matter Jessie don't you want to taste what you'll be craving for the rest of your existence?" Angel made him take some of the blood in his mouth. The young man choked on it.

"What's wrong Jessie. I thought this is what you wanted." Spike came forward and changed his face then drank the blood and let it drip down his chin. "You know kid the best part of your first few nights as a vampire is that you get to get back at your parents for any wrongs that you figure they've done to you." Spike went to Mrs. Meadows and picked her up by the waist then grabbed her hair and pulled her head to the side so that her neck was exposed. When Spike grabbed her Mrs. Meadows screamed. Her eyes were almost popping out of her head she was so scared.

"Leave my mother alone you bastard." Jessie yelled at Spike, at the same time crying and trying to pull away from Angel.

"Why are you fighting it Jessie. We thought you would like to see what it is that your body will be doing while your mind will just be watching your demon kill your parents. You won't be able to say anything like 'Bye Mom, sorry it has to end this way but I can't help myself. I love you.' Then you'll just tear into her neck and drink her dry. You know when you do that their screams just slowly get more and more quiet, which is good because it can be really annoying after a while. Unfortunately for your father a newly made vampire is absolutely ravenous for more blood. Your next victim will be your father. Fortunately for you you're much stronger now so even though he will be fighting you all of the way you'll be able to handle him with no problem. So drink up my boy drink up." Angel poured the rest of the blood in the glass into Jessie's mouth.

"Jessie I want you to look at the men sitting over here. Do you see the pointed pieces of wood that they have in their hands?" As Jessie began to recover from the choking episode he looked at Gunn and Connor who were playing with the wood spikes.

"These men and many of the people that they know have made it their life's work to kill Vampires. Spike and I still exist because we have agreed to work with them. But now days most newly made Vampires are turned to dust as soon as they come out of the grave. Occasionally though we get people like your parents that come to us and beg us to save their children from their own stupidity. They love their children so much that they are willing to give over their life savings if necessary. Fortunately for you your parents are well off and they are working to save you from yourself." Angel let go of Jessie and straightened himself.

"Now if you still want to become a Vampire I'll give you back to your friends. Then someone in our group will wait by your grave until you crawl your way up out of the grave and then drive a spike through your heart at which time you will turn to dust."

Jessie stood up and went to his parents. He apologized for all that he had put them through and begged them to forgive him and his stupidity. "I want to go home now, please take me home." The Meadows started to walk out of the door then stopped. Mr. Meadows took his checkbook out of his jacket pocket and wrote Angel Investigations a check for $15,000. "Thank you Mr. Martin, thank you for returning our son to us." "Your welcome Mr. Meadows. Tell Jessie that we will be watching him for awhile just in case his friends make their existence look attractive to him again. Keep him busy Mr. Meadows so that he doesn't have time to get into mischief. I'll walk you out to your car."

Spike, Connor and Gunn cleaned up after Jessie and closed the door on this case. They hoped that it was the last time that they would see Jessie.

As Angel was walking back into the hotel Giles and Dr. Martin were walking out of the door and on their way to the airport. Dr. Martin had rented a larger BMW for the next 2 weeks so that Wesley's parents could be transported in luxury. The one she had was built more for 2 people instead of 4. Giles had learned early on in their relationship that if he wanted to keep his heart beating at a normal rate he would be doing all of the driving whenever they had to go anyplace together. When they arrived at the airport they had the airport valet park the car and went into the baggage pickup area and waited for the Prices.

Thirty minutes later Giles stood up when he recognized Mr. Price. Mary stood up also. By the way that Mr. Price walked and looked at them when he saw Rupert she understood why Rupert spoke of him as he did.

"Mr. Price I hope you had an easy flight. Mrs. Price how are you?" "Very well Rupert."

"Mr. and Mrs. Price I would like to introduce you to my wife Dr. Mary Martin-Giles." They shook hands and Mr. Price said 'Dr. Martin? Are you the Doctor that is taking care of my son?'" "Yes Mr. Price I am. We won't be going to see Wesley until tomorrow though. He needs to rest as much as possible right now and I am sure that you and your wife are very tired after such a long flight." "Nonsense, I demand that you take us to our son immediately." Mr. Price said.

"Lets pick up your luggage right now and get the car. I'll explain everything that has taken place and perhaps you will agree then that Wesley needs to rest right now." "Dr. Martin I understand that you are looking out for the welfare of our son but we have come a long way to see our son. If you don't want to take us to the hospital to see our son then I will call a cab."

"Of course you have every right to do that but I can take steps that will prevent Wesley from having any visitors." Dr. Martin pulled out her cell phone and called the hospitals captain of the guards. They could hear her talking to the guard. "This is Dr. Mary Martin I have a patient up in ICU that I want a guard to prevent anyone that isn't hospital personnel from visiting until tomorrow noon. He just had heart surgery and he is too weak for any visitors. His name is Wesley Wyndham Price. Thank you." Dr. Martin put away her cell phone and looked at Mr. Price.

"You were saying Mr. Price." Dr. Martin gave him a sweet smile. He had no choice but to concede defeat at this time. Giles helped him then to retrieve their luggage as it went around the turnstile. They went out to the valet station and Giles gave the valet his ticket and they had their car within five minutes. Mr. Price was impressed when he saw the car.

"Is this your car Rupert?" "No we rented it for two weeks while you're here. Mary's BMW can barely contain four people.

"How long have you two been married?" Mrs. Price asked.

"One month." Giles answered. "But please don't mention it to anyone else. Mary and I had been living together and Mary, being who she is, wasn't comfortable with that arrangement. We knew that everyone wanted us to have a big wedding and we didn't so we snuck out of Sunnydale and came to Los Angeles without anyone knowing and had a friend of Mary's perform the ceremony for us. Mary kept her last name to make things easier since her name is used on so many things and she is basically known as Dr. Martin. So no one but you two know that we are married."

Giles was pulling out of the airport now and they would be at the hotel in 30 minutes. Dr. Martin figured they had enough time for her to explain what happened to Wesley and how he was doing now. By the time she was done they were pulling into the back of the hotel. Dr. Martin got out of the car and helped Mrs. Price exit the car.

"Come on Mrs. Price lets let the men bring the luggage in. Would you like a cup of tea or are you hungry?" "Please call me Felicity. Yes I am hungry but I would prefer to have something simple so that I won't be trying to sleep on a full stomach." "I think we can cook up something for you and your husband that will suit your needs." They were quickly becoming friends. When Felicity was not being controlled by her husband Mary found her to be a very likable person.

By the time that the men had taken the luggage up to the room that they were going to be using the women had some sandwiches made along with hot tea for everyone.

Everyone sat down and had some tea. Dr. Martin had made some Earl Grey tea and egg salad sandwiches along with some Jell cups and a dish of whipped cream to put on the Jell. She knew she had hit the nail right on the head when she saw a grin on Mr. Price's face.

"Wherever did you learn how to make tea Dr. Martin this is excellent." Mr. Price said.

"One of the sisters was from England and she showed me how to do it." Giles saw the questioning look on Prices face so he offered an explanation.

"My dear Mary is a former Roman Catholic Nun. She left the convent about a year ago to be with Angel and our family. Let me tell you about my Mary." Giles proceeded to tell the Price's all about Mary. You could tell that he was very proud of her.

Mr. and Mrs. Price stared at Mary. Mr. Price was the first one to speak up. "Well Rupert it seems that you have made yourself quite a catch. My congratulations to both of you. I hope you will be very happy together."

"Thank you Mr. Price, it's not often that you can find love twice in your life." Mary reached for Rupert's hand and gave him a light kiss on his cheek.

Mary got up, pushed her chair in then started to take the dishes to the kitchen. When she came back she said "I think it's time to say goodnight now. I have to get up early to go and check on Wesley. Rupert will bring you over at 12 noon and you can see him then. Rupert when you bring them call me first, we may be able to move him to a private room tomorrow." Mary came over and pulled her chair out again. She took Felicity's hands in hers and Felicity turned in her chair so that she could look at Mary.

"Felicity I want you to understand that your son has gone through a lot. His body has taken a pretty bad beating so to speak. We've operated on him twice and we have tubes running in and out of his body. To be frank when you see him for the first time it's going to look rather scary. But don't be afraid, with all of the physical activity they have to engage in while fighting Vampires and demons of all sorts, it forces them to stay in top physical condition. Because of his excellent physical condition Wesley is doing very well he just looks bad. I will see you tomorrow when you come to see your son." Mary stood up then and hugged Felicity then took them to their room.

Earlier in the evening, twenty minutes after everyone had gone to their own rooms. Cordelia and Angel heard a soft tapping on their door. Cordelia went to the door and opened it. It was Fred.

"Fred, come in honey. Is everything okay?" Fred came in. She was wearing a long cotton night gown with a bathrobe that obviously wasn't hers. She walked into the room and pulled at the edges of the robe in order to pull it tighter around herself. Cordelia put her arm around her and directed her to the edge of the bed.

"Cordelia and Angel would you mind if I stayed in here with you. I can't stand being alone in my room. I thought I would ask you to sleep with me in my room but then I thought that would be to inconvenient for you with Kathleen over here or her over there and you having to take all of her things over their." "Sure honey you can stay here with me and Angel can go and sleep in your bedroom." Cordelia said as she wrapped her arm around Fred.

"Well no I don't want Angel to go I want him to stay. I remembered you said he snores and since Wesley does to I thought he could sleep on the couch and I would hear him snoring and be able to sleep." "Ah come on Fred we can all fit on the bed. It's a king size bed. Cordelia can sleep next to me. She's used to my cold body. Although with two lovely ladies sharing my bed it might start getting to hot for you." "I think I can trust you Angel. You wouldn't do anything with me being so vulnerable right now."

"Okay then it's settled, Fred will sleep on the left side and Cordelia will be in the middle then me on the right side. Go to bed ladies and get all of your talking over with. I am going to go on the balcony and say the rosary and all of the other things Father Barrie gave me to do. Or would you like to come out with me and we can pray for Wesley's speedy recovery?" Angel asked as he looked at the girls.

Cordelia got up and pulled at Fred's hand. "Come on girlfriend lets go outside. I know that I always feel better after we pray the rosary together. I promise that you will sleep much better afterward." Cordelia pulled out a quilt for Fred and one for herself then they went outside and sat down on the patio couch. Angel came out a few minutes later with three cups of hot tea then he sat down and pulled out his rosary. Cordelia turned on the small book lamp that she used for times like this then she pulled out her book that she read the mysteries of the rosary from. Angel led the prayer and Cordelia read the mystery and Fred followed along.

All the time they were praying the rosary they all took sips of hot tea and watched Fred to make sure that she drank hers also. Unknown to Fred Angel had spiked her tea so that she would sleep tonight. It was just a small amount so that it wouldn't hurt her babies and Fred wouldn't catch on to what he was doing. As they finished the rosary Cordelia nudged Angel. He looked over to Fred and saw that she was sleeping so he went over to her and picked her up and put her on the bed. Cordelia gave a quilt and pillow to Angel then she climbed into the bed also. Angel dragged himself over to the couch and threw himself on it. Cordelia could hear a constant stream of grumbling coming from the couch. She just laughed then rolled over and went to sleep.

Around three in the morning Cordelia woke up to her feet feeling real cold. When she reached down to make sure the quilt was covering her feet she felt someone next to her. It was then that she realized her feet were cold because Angel was next to her. Instead of waking both Fred and Angel up she just covered her feet better and laid back down. She thought to herself 'It's so nice to be needed.'

Dr. Martin was on the road by 7 A.M. and on her way to the hospital. The hospital had called her earlier and asked if she could help out in surgery since the surgeon on call had gone skiing the previous weekend and had broken his leg. She told Rupert that she would probably be at the hospital all day.

As soon as she arrived she let the appropriate people know that she was in the hospital and they gave her the on call pager. Her next stop was the ICU nurses station where she gave them several orders for tests that she wanted done on Wesley. She also told them that if the tests came back with good news then she wanted Wesley moved to a regular room but she would want to talk to Dr. Fernando first.

Dr. Martin was kept busy for most of the morning by two appendicitis and one minor surgery of the removal of an arrow through a young boys thigh. By the time she had some free time she went to check on Wesley and found Dr. Fernando with him in ICU. She waited by the nurses station until he was done.

"What do you think?" Dr. Martin asked him as he came out to the nurses station.

"He looks and sounds good. I checked the recent blood tests and they look good. It just goes to show you how being in good physical shape can sometimes save your life. If Mr. Price was as bad off as most of us I don't think he would have survived. If everything else is okay I would release him tomorrow. But take it easy on him. I know he lives with you and he'll most likely have the best of care." "Okay, thank you very much, I owe you one." "You can bet I'll collect on that. I checked you and your talents out just like I am sure you did me. I'll see you around Dr. Martin." They shook hands then Dr. Fernando left.

Dr. Martin had a smile on her face as she went into Wesley because she knew about Dr. Fernando's free clinic. She knew she could continue Gods work at this free clinic and she was happy with that.

"Wesley?" Dr. Martin called him since he was sleeping. He opened his eyes and took a moment to focus in on her.

"Well Wesley your heart doctor has passed you with flying colors. I am going to tell the nurses to move you to a private room as soon as they can find one. Then you'll be bathed and shaved and most of the tubes will be taken out of you. I am going to ask Rupert to bring some Jell for you and that will be your first solid food. Don't eat anything else until I say so okay?" Wesley nodded a yes to her.

"Wesley your parents are here. They arrived last night. Your father wanted to come and see you right away but I wouldn't allow it. Both your mother and father will be coming this afternoon to see you. I spoke with them for awhile. Your mother is very nice and your father, except for the few brief words that we exchanged seems to be a very controlling person. Because of what I know of him from that brief time that Rupert and I spent with him and what I know of him through you and Angel I am going to leave you hooked up to the heart monitor while he is here in the states. If I should hear your heart starting to beat to fast I am going to intervene. You are an important person to Angel Investigation Wesley and we can't let anything happen while your recuperating. But that is only secondary to how much we all love you, especially Angel. He sees you almost like a brother I think. The next time I see you I will have your parents with me and I won't leave the room while your parents are visiting." She gave him a kiss on his forehead then left.

It was 12 noon when she left the ICU. As she started walking to the nurses station she saw Rupert checking with one of the nurses. She went to him and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

"I need to talk to the nurse for a minute Rupert then I'll join you in the waiting room." "Okay, just to let you know I have Fred with me also." Giles told Mary then he went back to the waiting room to join the others. Mary gave instructions to the nurse as to what was to be done with Wesley. She waited until the nurse was able to tell her what room he would be transferred to. When she was given this information she went to the Doctors lounge where the lockers were and she retrieved her regular clothes and went into the lady's bathroom to change. She was walking to the waiting room after only a few minutes.

"Good morning everyone." Mr. and Mrs. Price stood up. "Can we see Wesley now?" His mother asked.

"No, not yet Felicity. They are removing most of the monitors and tubes going into and out of him then they are going to move him to a private room. I want them to bath him and at that time they will change his bandages also. That way then he will be nice and clean for his mother, father and wife. All of those scary looking tubes and wires will be gone then." Dr. Martin had her arm around Fred as she was talking.

"Lets go to the cafeteria and have some lunch. I am starving." "Didn't you have anything to eat this morning?" Felicity asked.

"Of course not Felicity. You should know that Doctors never follow their own advice. In fact Doctors are known as the worst patients. When I became a doctor my mother was in seventh heaven because she got to preach to me all of the time. She would always say 'Mary Tares Martin you know better then to skip your breakfast, Mary Tares Martin you know you should get eight hours of sleep each night.' I would just say yes Mother, I know Mother, yes Mother I promise I'll have something to eat before I go to the hospital Mother, yes Mother I am going to bed right now. My goodness gracious Mother your driving me crazy. Then I found myself turning around and telling my patients the same thing." Dr. Martin hit herself on her head several times.

"You know, sometimes I think that when we are doing something that we know is wrong and we have people that are telling us that it's wrong, we just get those statements that gets sucked up by tornado like action and it gets deposited in a brain cell that has absolutely no function. When the tornado like action stops that cell closes up and never opens again except to suck in another statement. And do you know what kind of locks are on that brain cell Felicity?" "No what kind are they?" Felicity was so caught up with what Dr. Martin was saying she didn't even notice the aids moving Wesley to a room downstairs.

"Those locks are specially made by the manufacturer Excuses Inc.. Are you familiar with that manufacturer Felicity?" Felicity was quiet for a while. Then in the next moment it seemed that she grew a back bone. "Yes I most certainly am." "Then you will understand when I say 'Today is the first day of the rest of my life.'" "Yes, today is the first day of the rest of my life." They all walked into the cafeteria and chose their lunch. Nobody chose anything that even resembled a healthy meal. When they got to the table they all looked at each others plate and started laughing.

Giles knew what Mary was doing and chose not to say anything since he might ruin it for her. He was just thinking that she is a very sneaky person. She switches hats very smoothly, and the victim almost never sees her do it.

An hour later Mary's pager went off. She took it off of her belt and looked at it.

"Okay people it's time. The nurse has reported that Wesley is settle into his new room. Lets go see your son Felicity. Fred I am going to take Mr. and Mrs. Price in first. When they leave I'll take you in and you can stay for the rest of the day with your husband. I'll send someone to come and get you this evening. I have put in an order for a hospital bed and all of the equipment that I want to monitor him with then tomorrow well bring Wesley home." Fred hugged Dr. Martin and whispered a thank you into her ear. They all went to the room then.

Dr. Martin walked into Wesley's room first. "I have some visitors that have come across the seas just to make sure that their son was okay. Come in Mr. and Mrs. Price." Dr. Martin stood to the side and let Wesley's parents approach the bed.

Dr. Martin heard the monitor report that his heart beat increased slightly. She pulled up a chair for herself. She was far enough away to stay out of the conversation but not so far away that she couldn't monitor the situation.

Felicity went to her son and hugged him and showered kisses on him. Her husband immediately reprimanded her for showing so much emotion. Felicity stood back and let her husband have access to their son. Mr. Price gave a brief handshake to Wesley then let go. Dr. Martin could see the hurt feelings go across Wesley's face but he quickly hid them again.

"How are you feeling Wesley?" "Better then I did yesterday father. Did you have a pleasant trip over here? I know it must have taken a long time." Dr. Martin noticed that Wesley's voice sounded weak. "Yes it was quiet comfortable we had first class tickets you know. So uh Wesley uh how did you get yourself into this predicament?"

"We were fighting a gang of Vampires and humans that a clients son wanted to join and his parents didn't want him to. The Vampires had painted a grandiose picture of what life would be like as a Vampire. Normally Vampires and demons don't bother with guns but since this gang had humans with them they had some hardware. One of them started firing it off and unfortunately I was the closest one."

"Have you forgotten how to duck. I would of thought that you would of been hit with only one bullet and then go behind some appropriately large item." Mr. Price said in an accusatory voice.

Dr. Martin heard the heart monitor increasing it's rhythmic beep.

"Stop that William. Can't you talk to your son without criticizing him. He almost died and here you are pointing out to him what you consider mistakes. If you cannot speak to your son with nothing but love in your heart then you might as well go back to England now."

Felicity looked at Dr. Martin. Dr. Martin smiled back at her and held her thumbs up.

"Well what is it going to be William?" "Uh I'll go and wait out in the waiting room while you visit with Wesley. Wesley I just wanted to say that I am truly happy that you are all right." Mr. Price tried to hide his tears by turning and leaving.

Felicity picked up Wesley's hand and said 'You know Wesley that your father does love you it's just that he doesn't know how to express himself. Its how he was treated by his father and it's the only way that he knows."

"I understand that Mother but it doesn't make it right. Where is Fred?" "Dr. Martin let us visit you first because she is going to let Fred spend the rest of the day with you." Dr. Martin noticed that Wesley was starting to tire.

"Felicity I think Wesley had better rest now." Mrs. Price kissed her son goodbye. "You rest now Wesley. I promise you that things will be better tomorrow." She turned then and followed Dr. Martin out of the door.

As she walked out of the door she saw Fred coming towards her. "Take care of our boy Fred, tell him I'm sorry that our first meeting after so many years, turned out badly." They hugged then Fred went in to see her husband.

Fred went to Wesley's bedside and they kissed and hugged each other. Fred jumped up and laid down beside Wesley on his right side. She wrapped her arm around him.

"I missed you Wesley." "I miss you also Fred."

Fred was laying further down on the bed so that Wesley could put his arm around her and she could lean her head on him without touching his chest or forcing his arm to be so high that it would hurt him.

During the afternoon they talked about all of the things that had happened while they were apart. When Wesley became tired they stopped and slept. The nurses aid woke them up when she brought a dish of Jell for Wesley. Fred fed him while she continued their interrupted conversation. When Fred came to the part of where she slept the previous night Wesley almost choked on the Jell she had just given him. He knew Fred's mind didn't go the way that his was going. "Why did you want Angel to sleep in the room?" "Because Cordelia told me that Angel snores when he first goes to sleep just like you do and I knew if I heard Angel snoring that I would be able to sleep."

"I don't remember ever hearing Angel snore, and we've shared sleeping quarters many times."

Wesley said. He found it hard to believe that Angel snored since he seldom took in air.

"Cordelia said that Angel didn't use to snore but she thinks he does it now because he is becoming more human. Did you know that they have a little ritual that they go through every morning where they go out onto the back patio. Cordelia has a special stop watch that they use to test Angel to see if he can put his hand out into the sun just like Dr. Martin showed him. After they do that they pray the rosary together because that was part of Angels penance that Fr. Barrie gave him. Cordelia says she usually leaves him then and she makes their breakfast and he sits in the dark corner of the patio and meditates for awhile."

"You two sure do talk a lot about us men. What have you told her about me?" "Nothing that she doesn't already know. After all she has known you a lot longer then I have. She says that she has seen you several times without anything on." Wesley started to get a little agitated. The heart monitor started to beep much faster as his heart started to beat faster.

"How could she we never, Fred Cordelia and I, we never..." "Calm down Wesley she said that you walk in your sleep sometimes when you've been hitting the books pretty hard. She said when she saw you she would just keep an eye on you to make sure you didn't go outside or do anything dangerous."

"I guess I had better start wearing pajama bottoms when I've been hitting the books, as she calls it." "Yes I think that would be a good idea." They laid there for a while and didn't say anything. Fred felt safe and complete now that she could put her arms around Wesley, while Wesley felt that a part of him that had been missing was his again and he felt contented. They both slept for a few hours again. They slept a deep sound sleep that showed their feeling of contentment.

At 5 o'clock the nurse called out their names. "Mr. and Mrs. Price wake up. I need to check your vitals Mr. Price and your bandages. When we are done I am going to let your two visitors get you up and take you for a walk." "Who's here?" Wesley asked. "They gave their names as just Gunn and Angel."

Fred had gotten off of the bed and was helping the nurse with Wesley. "Mr. Price since you don't have the catheter in you anymore have you passed any urine yet?" "No but I sure need to go now that you mentioned it." "Do you want to go to the bathroom or I can give you a container?"

The nurse asked.

"I think I would like to go to the bathroom if you don't mind. Fred would you get Gunn and Angel and ask them to come in please."

Angel and Gunn came in with Fred. "Hey Wesley." Gunn said as he came over to Wesley and hugged him carefully. "I sure am glad you survived another gun shot." Gunn said. Wesley just gave him a dirty look.

Angel took his hand and hugged him. When he pulled away Wesley could see the tears threatening to spill over. Both Angel and Wesley put their heads down in order to hide their tears. Neither was very successful.

"Can you answer a question for me Angel?" "Sure Wesley if I can."

"Why am I always the one that gets shot?" Angel bent forward and put his hand on Wesley's shoulder. "That question Wesley can only be answered by my boss. If I were you, the first chance I got, I would have a long talk with him." "Yes I think I will do that, but right now I need one of you to help me walk to the bathroom." "What's that you said Angel? Did you say you would help him?" Gunn said.

"That's okay Wesley, I'll help you. Gunn has never been in a position where he needs help with the simplest things in life so he doesn't understand." The nurse and Angel helped Wesley to sit up and swing his legs over the side of the bed. Angel got on his right side then and put his arm around his waist then helped him off of the bed and to the floor.

Wesley felt dizzy after being on his back for so long. The nurse saw the look on his face. "Take a moment to steady yourself Mr. Price. You've been on your back for so long that your blood needs time to circulate properly. When you're done I want your friends to take you over to the nurses station then back."

Angel waited a few minutes while Wesley got control of himself. "Are you ready now?" "Yes lets go." It took them almost three minutes to make it to the bathroom which was only five feet away. Angel took him into the bathroom and held onto him while he stood in front of the toilet. They had to stand their for a minute while he tried to pass his urine. Angel could sense Wesley's embarrassment. "Wesley don't be embarrassed. You've had to help me too often for you to be embarrassed at my helping you."

Fred was in there with them. She could see that Wesley was having a problem so she turned to the faucet in the shower and turned on the cold water. After a few minutes Wesley was done and Fred helped him to clean himself and straighten his clothes up. As she turned the water off she said "I don't know why that works but it always does." Angel helped Wesley to go back to the bed. He didn't get on it he just leaned against it for awhile.

Wesley looked at the nurse. "Can we skip our little walk today?" Wesley was breathing hard.

"No Mr. Price your doctor gave orders that you were to walk to the nurses station and back."

"Okay Angel I guess I have to do it. You guys better be prepared to bring me back thou because I can tell you right now I'm not going to make it back standing on my own two feet." Gunn came over and put his arm underneath Wesley's right arm and held onto his hand "Okay Wesley lets go." Angel did the same as Gunn and Wesley took his first steps to the nurses station.

The nurses station was only about 15 feet from Wesley's room. It took them 15 minutes just to go that 15 feet. Half way back to the bedroom Wesley's legs gave out and he would have gone down if Angel and Gunn hadn't been there to pick him up.

When they arrived at the bed Angel took him from Gunn and lifted him up into his arms and placed Wesley back on the bed. The nurse and Fred got him situated in the bed again after Angel him put down. Wesley was having a hard time catching his breath so the nurse put him on oxygen.

Wesley was surprised when Dr. Martin walked into the room. The nurse talked to Dr. Martin for a minute then left.

Dr. Martin had been working at the hospital all day so she was pretty tired. She was on her way home when she thought she would check on Wesley so she caught the whole episode of his first efforts to walk.

"How are you doing Wesley?" "I can honestly say that I have been better." She laughed at what he said. She was tired so she pulled the chair close to the bed and sat down.

"Fred would you take the oxygen tube out of his nose for a minute or two so I can watch the monitor?" Fred did as she asked and they waited as she observed the monitor that measured the level of oxygen going into Wesley's lungs and blood. Dr. Martin stood up and turned the oxygen off.

"Your doing just fine Wesley. Your lungs are functioning just as they should. Do you feel any pain any where around your chest?" "No." He answered. His breathing had returned to normal now.

"Wesley I was watching you walk and I saw how you were having a hard time. I think that if you stop and think about it you will remember that the problems you are having are typical for someone that has had major surgery. I think you know that with each passing day it will get easier and easier. The first time is always the hardest. I am going to go home now and make sure that everything is set up for you. I'm going to ask the nurse to find you a walker. I want you to get up and go to the bathroom by using that walker but call and tell the nurse before you go. Now say good bye to Fred and well be leaving." Dr. Martin got up from the chair and Angel put it back against the wall.

"Mary are you the one that helped my mother to grow a backbone?" Wesley asked. Dr. Martin curtsied in a very dramatic pose. "Guilty as charged my dear." She turned then and left and called for Angel and Gunn to come with her so Fred and Wesley could have a moment together.

Angel said his good byes and followed his mother to the nurses station. "I am discharging Mr. Price tomorrow. We will have an ambulance pick him up and transfer him to his home. I also want Mr. Price to be given a walker. I want him to walk to the bathroom with the walker but I told him to call you and let you know he is going just in case he needs help. Get a sample of his urine tomorrow morning and have the usual tests. I won't be coming with the ambulance tomorrow so call me with the results okay?" "Yes Dr. Martin we'll take good care of him."

Dr. Martin noticed the look on her face. "He is good looking isn't he?" The other nurses and clerks overheard them talking and came over. "Yes he is in fact you seem to be surrounded by good looking men Dr. Martin. Especially your son." "Down girls down. Wipe the drool from your mouths. Mr. Price and my son are married. The tall black man already has a future bride staked out." Dr. Martin told her audience.

Angel overheard the conversation and came over to the counter and turned the charm on. "And how are you ladies doing today. I hope Wesley isn't making you work to hard." Unfortunately for Angel Fred came out of Wesley's room at just the right time.

"Lets go Angel I think your wife and daughter are waiting for you to return and help with the hospital bed." Angels face lost it's smile. "Good bye ladies. Are you ready mom?" "Yes lets go before you get into any more trouble."

They all walked out quietly. No one said anything. Angel knew he was in trouble.

"You ladies aren't going to say anything to Cordelia are you?" Dr. Martin and Fred looked at each other.

"No Angel we wouldn't want Cordelia to be hurt like that. If she finds out it will come from someone else other then us." Fred said. By the tone of her voice he knew she wasn't exactly happy with him.

When they arrived at the hotel Angel let the ladies out at the back. When he parked his car he noticed that Cordelia's van was gone. When he went inside everyone answered his greeting but didn't say anything else. He went into the bedroom. Cordelia wasn't downstairs and he didn't see her up here. He looked around the rooms. Most of the things that it took to take care of Kathleen was gone. He looked in the closet, most of her clothes were gone. He went downstairs then.

The first person he saw was Giles. "Giles have you seen Cordelia?" "Yes Angel I did. She asked me for help in taking all of her's and Kathleen's things to the van. She said that she didn't want to talk to you right now and she was going to stay at the mansion in Sunnydale."

"Did she say why she was going there?" Angel knew the answer before Giles said it.

"She asked me to tell you 'You forgot about the link between you two.'" Giles saw the look on Angels face and he felt sorry for him. "It only takes a moment of what we consider 'innocent flirting' to hurt our wives Angel. I understand that what you did had no meaning to you but to Cordelia it's just as good as a slap in the face. To her it means that every time you said I love you it was nothing more than a lie and she will never be able to believe you again."

Angel was so upset over what had happened he didn't notice that Giles had said our wives.

"What do you think I should do." Angel asked. I think you should go after her tonight. If you don't she'll think you don't care. But give her some time and space. You've hurt her feelings Angel and I don't think that a new wardrobe will solve the problem this time." "Thank you Giles, I think your right. Tell mom where I went. Tell her I'll bring my family back as soon as I can."

Angel grabbed a few changes of clothes and ran out the door to his car.

* * *

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Fear Is Your Biggest Enemy

Do Not Let It Win

Angel had arrived at the mansion one hour after Cordelia did. Buffy and Spike were in L.A. right now so it was empty except for her and Kathleen.

It was 1 o'clock in the morning and Angel was banging on the door.

"Cordelia I know your in there. I'm sorry I flirted with the nurses Cordy. It was a hormone thing, you know what I mean. You know that men do and say stupid things whenever the testosterone comes out to play. Our brains fall out of gear and become stuck on the gear known as stupid. It wasn't really my fault anyway it was those nurses that were telling mom how handsome and cute the men were that she had around her. Those nasty pheromones were in the air and I heard the weirdest sound Cordelia. I heard something go plop. You know what it was Cordy. When I turned around it was my brains that had fallen out and were on the floor."

Angel could hear her on the other side of the door. She wasn't as angry as she was when she first approached the door. In fact he had been able to get her to laugh with the last one.

"Come on Cordy, please open the door. If you don't open the door right now I am going to sit hear and bang on the door all night, no I take that back, I am going to sing something over and over again." He waited for awhile. Nothing happened so he sat on the step and leaned against the door and commenced with the torture session.

He banged out a little tune on the door then stopped and sang "Oh Cordelia How I love to feel yea. Ohhhh Cordelia how I love to feel yea. Ohhhh Cordelia how I love to feel yea."

He kept this up for an hour. His voice was starting to go when he saw two people coming up the driveway. It was a man and woman dressed in their night clothes. They stopped right in front of him and he jumped up. Cordelia we have company out here, I think there our next door neighbors.

"You got that right sonny. We are your next door neighbors that can't get any sleep because of you. Now what is going on that your carrying on like this?" The man said. He was a balding man in his early 70's and a spare tire around the middle. It was just a slight one but his short stature made it stick out more. His wife was standing with her arms folded under her ample breasts. She was a typical grandmotherly looking woman. A little over weight with streaks of gray going thru her hair.

"I'm sorry I didn't think anyone could hear me since there is so much space between the houses." Angel was wishing that Cordelia would come out.

"I'm Angel Martin and my wife, who is on the other side of the door, is Cordelia Chase-Martin. We live in L.A. most of the time."

"Well believe it or not we are the Joneses. I'm Robert Jones and this is my wife of 30 years Dorothy Jones."

Dorothy stepped forward. "Now I want you to tell me what is going on and we will try to fix the problem or else I don't think anyone in the neighborhood will get any sleep tonight."

Angel started to explain what had happened. He left out the part of the link between Cordelia and himself instead he picked Fred to blame it on.

"I tried to say I was sorry and it was just my stupid male hormones that made my brains fall out and flirt with those women but she won't listen to me." "Okay Mr. Martin I am going to go in and talk to your wife." Dorothy said. She went up to the door and knocked on it. "Mrs. Martin this is Dorothy, your next door neighbor. I want to talk to you. Let me in please I promise that I won't let your husband in." Angel heard Cordelia come to the door and open it. She opened it just enough for Mrs. Jones to go in.

"Now young lady why are you so mad at your husband?" "You know why, I heard him telling you. He always tells me that he loves me then he goes and flirts with the first women that comes along." "Come now Cordelia you know how men are. If I got mad at Robert every time he looked at another women like that our marriage would have never lasted as long as it has. Your husband admitted to you why he does it. All men do it Cordelia because they have the same hormone. It either causes their brains to fall out or the part that helps them to differentiate between right and wrong freezes up so that it can't function. You better get used to it Cordelia because men can't help themselves anymore then we women can stop ourselves from passing up a sale on clothes or a pair of shoes."

"But how can I ever trust him again if he flirts with every good looking woman that comes along." Cordelia was almost crying.

"Cordelia Chase-Martin, shame on you. You know that the only reason you are so angry is because your pride was hurt. Your pride is the only thing that is making you angry. Your pride was hurt because you cannot except the fact you are not the only woman in the world or the most beautiful woman. I want you to stop and think about something Cordelia. Is he here trying to get you to forgive him or is he at the hospital trying to make a date with the Nurse?"

Cordelia got a strange feeling that she was talking to Dr. Martin.

"Mrs. Jones by any chance would you happen to know a Dr. Mary Martin?"

"Yes I do. Mary and I met through the doctor that was treating her for her cancer. We were in the waiting room together when we just happen to strike up a conversation. I was in the Doctors office for my annual check up. You see I had breast cancer five years ago. Well to make a long story short Mary and I have been friends for a while now. She called me this evening. When I told her that it sounded like you were at the mansion and her son was trying to get his wife to forgive him she asked me to talk to you. She also suggested why she thought you were so mad at your husband. She also said that it was important that you put this foolishness aside and come home because Fred and Wesley needed you two."

Cordelia was quiet for awhile. Then she got up and picked up the bags she had for Kathleen.

"Thank you Mrs. Jones. If you should need any help don't hesitate to call me. I and my family will be going home where we belong now. There are two people there that need us right now." Mrs. Jones got up from the chair and opened the door while Cordelia grabbed a few bags and gave them to Angel who was standing there with his mouth open. Cordelia picked up Kathleen and closed the door behind her as she walked out. She made sure that she locked the door then went to her van, strapped Kathleen into her car seat while Angel put the bags back into the van. Angel stopped her from getting into the van.

"What happened that you have changed your mind about me?" Cordelia looked at Mrs. Jones then turned back to Angel. "I had a conversation with a woman that had many years of experience." She went over to Mrs. Jones and gave her a hug and kiss on her cheek. "Thank you Mrs. Jones. I'll tell Dr. Martin that you did a good job."

Cordelia went back to the van and got in. "Hurry up Angel we have two dear friends that need our help." She closed the door then and started the engine and pulled out of the driveway. Angel turned to Mrs. Jones and hugged her. "I don't know what you said but thank you. Robert would you lock the gates when you leave. Thanks." Angel jumped into his car and followed Cordelia back to L.A..

The first thing Mrs. Jones did when she entered her house was to call Dr. Martin.

"Hello Mary, this is Dorothy. I thought I would just let you know that they are on their way home now and everything is okay." "Thank you Dorothy. I knew that if anyone could do it you could. I'll see you in a couple of months Dorothy, bye." Dr. Martin felt she could sleep in peace now that she knew that Angel and Cordelia were on their way home.

In the morning Dr. Martin was up and checking on all of the equipment that she needed to take care of Wesley. The hospital bed had been set up in Fred and Wesley's bedroom. The king size bed had been taken out and two twin beds were brought in. One for the R.N. and one for Fred. She had a list of drugs, some of which were being delivered today along with Wesley and others that she had to pick up at the pharmacy that she dealt with. The nurse was due to arrive by 11 A.M. It was now 10 A.M. so she went up and down the hallway knocking on everyone's door.

"Get up everyone it's 10 A.M. we have the RN that will be here soon and the ambulance is due by 12 noon. I am going to start breakfast and I will expect everyone downstairs by 11."

Dr. Martin went downstairs to start breakfast and was surprised to find everyone already downstairs and at the dinning room table.

They all stood up and said together "Where have you been? We've been up since 9 o'clock."

They all started laughing then and Angel pulled out her chair for her. Giles came down a few minutes later. He took his usual seat next to her. "You were saying something dear?" Giles said with a slight grin.

"You knew about this didn't you?" "Guilty as charged my dear. Now lets eat because someone said we have a lot to do today." Dr. Martin reached under the table and pinched his love handle.

"Oww! What did you do that for. It was their idea not mine. Angel tell your mother to stop picking on me or I'll sick my slayer on her." Giles said as he started serving himself and his wife.

"Leave us kids out of this. Momma and Daddy need to settle their own problems. Besides if us kids get involved then actual deaths could occur and you wouldn't want that would you?" "No Buffy we wouldn't want that. Especially since your going to give me my only chance at having grandchildren." Giles said as he stuffed some French toast in his mouth.

"What do you mean your only chance at have grandchildren. Now that were married you have Kathleen...as...your...grandchild. My goodness I can't believe I said that."

Everyone at the table was looking at them. "And when did this happen Mother dear?" "Yes Giles, when did this happen?" Buffy and Angel asked.

Giles looked at everyone and stood up. "Mary and I came to L.A. several weeks ago and had Father Barris perform the wedding. Then we went home. Mary, being who she was wasn't comfortable with us living together as we were and neither one of us really wanted a large wedding. Now were sorry if we disappointed everyone but Mary just wasn't up to getting ready for a large wedding. And frankly neither was I. We decided that Mary and I were going to keep my apartment in Sunnydale so that we could have some R&R once in a while. It's nothing against you young people but sometime we just need some peace and quiet." Giles sat down then.

Buffy and Angel exchanged looks. Angel got up then and went to Giles who stood up again and faced him. "Please let me welcome you to the Martin family Rupert. Congratulations." Angel hugged him and they patted each other on the back then he went to his mother. "Mom congratulations. I am sure you will be very happy together." He gave his mother a kiss and hugged her. Angel went back to his seat then.

Giles looked at Buffy who was still seated with her mouth open. "Don't you have something to say Buffy?" Buffy stood up and ran upstairs. Spike went after her.

"Sit down Rupert lets let Spike handle it for now. Buffy has all of the hormones controlling her thought processes right now and you just gave her news that another woman has taken her second Daddy from her just like her first Daddy." Giles sat down and they all finished their breakfast. Gunn came downstairs and was holding the hand of a woman. She was dressed in a nurses uniform. The men all stood up.

"Everyone I would like to introduce you to Cylindia. She is the woman that I have been seeing." "Well it looks like we won't need that second twin bed in Wesley's room. Welcome to the group Cylindia please have a seat." Dr. Martin said. Gunn guided her to the chair next to his. Cordelia went to the kitchen to get another place setting for her.

"Fred Cylindia is also going to be the R.N. that will help me with Wesley. You may recognize her as one of the nurses that took care of me while I was in the ICU. Cylindia is taking off for several weeks to help us and if Gunn makes his moves fast enough I will be able to talk her into working with me permanently."

"Does Cylindia know all about us Gunn?" "Yes she does and I already took her to Lorne and she passed with flying colors. Cylindia this is Angel who is married to Cordelia on his right. The next person that usually sits there is Connor, Angels son. The next person is Fred who is Wesley's wife, the man and woman across from Fred is Mr. and Mrs. Burkle, Freds parents. Rupert Giles is next to Fred and he is with Dr. Martin. I'll introduce you to the rest when we see them." Cylindia said hello to everyone.

"Gunn we were just informed that Giles and Mom are now married. Buffy didn't like the news so her and Spike are upstairs right now. Speaking of Buffy and Spike here they come Giles." Angel said as he watched them return to the dinning room.

Buffy came over to Giles and Mary and stood by them while Giles stood up.

"I'm sorry I acted like such a child Giles. I am truly very happy for you. Spike made me realize how selfish I was being. Can you forgive me?" Giles picked her up as he hugged her. "I can never stay mad at you for long Buffy. After all you are my special little girl. Unlike your biological father I will never abandon you." He put her down then after they hugged each other again. Buffy turned to Mary then. She bent down and hugged her. "I apologize for my childish display Mom. Please forgive me." "No apology is needed Buffy." She gave Buffy a kiss and then made the sign of the cross on her forehead. Buffy gave her a kiss again then went back to her chair to finish her breakfast. Gunn intoduced Buffy and Spike to Cylindia as they sat down.

Cordelia was looking at everyone packed at the dinning room table. "You know Angel we have to go shopping for a larger dinning room table ASAP. Our little family just keeps on expanding. Can you imagine how crowded it will be once we start adding children to the table. With Fred and Wesley's twins and Buffy and Spikes baby we won't have space for everyone. Before you know it Kathleen will need to have her own chair at the table. And Cylindia hasn't even met Willow and Tara. They were up earlier Cylindia and went out shopping you will meet them later this afternoon. Then we have Xander and ."

"Why don't you and the other girls go shopping tomorrow and I'll take care of Kathleen."

Angel said.

"That sounds good to me. We better finish our breakfast and clean up so that we can focus on Wesley when he gets here." Cordelia poured herself and Angel some more coffee and finished eating her breakfast. "Before Wesley gets here Cylindia well have to show you where everything is and Mom can show you the clinic that her and Fred are so proud of."

"That will be good but I think it would be best if Dr. Martin and I take some time to discuss Wesley first. I would like to see where he is going to be also." Cylindia said in between bites of her breakfast.

"That's a good idea. As soon as you're done we can go." Dr. Martin said. She saw that Cylindia had finished her plate and was ready.

Cylindia took one more sip of her coffee then stood up. She bent over and gave Gunn a kiss. "I am going to most likely be busy for the rest of the day so I'll see you later. I'm ready Dr. Martin." The two ladies left then and went directly to the clinic. Dr. Martin stopped and turned around. "Fred would you join us please since this is your playpen also?" Fred was always excited whenever she got to show off the clinic. She quickly got up from the table and joined them.

Buffy and some of the men helped Cordelia to clear the table and clean the kitchen up so Toby did his part by cleaning up the floor under Kathleen's highchair. She picked up her daughter then and cleaned her and the highchair up and let Toby get the rest.

The men were helping to dry the dishes and clean the dinning room table while Cordelia sat down and picked her daughter up and placed her in her lap while she cleaned her up. Toby in the mean time had finished with the floor and was now cleaning up Kathleen's feet by licking them. He had her giggling all of the time as his rough tongue tickled her little feet. Everyone was watching her. For some reason the sound of a baby laughing always gets the attention of everyone else and they start laughing also. Cordelia and Toby were done cleaning Kathleen up so her mother took her upstairs for her midmorning nap. Buffy followed them upstairs so they could talk.

Angel saw Spike watching them go upstairs. "It won't be long Spike and you'll have one also." "Angel I can honestly say that I can hardly wait. I guess this is what it's like for women. They know they are going to be in a lot of pain to bring their baby into the world but you don't really mind that much when you know what you'll have afterward."

"Have you been experiencing any of her morning sickness or anything else?" Angel asked Spike.

"Yes I most certainly have. The morning sickness is past now though and it wasn't so bad with that special tea. Buffy is having big mood swings though that are giving me a hard time. I have to constantly watch myself." "What do you mean watch yourself?" Angel asked.

"Angel, don't you remember what it was like to be with both Darla and Drusilla? If you raised your voice to either one of them the other would practically stake you." "Now that you mentioned it yes I do remember although Angelus took most of that." Angel laughed as he remembered those days. "Yea well it's not so funny when you take Darla or Drusilla and times it by four. Sometimes I just go downstairs and cower in the darkest corner I can find. And that's nothing compared to when all three of them are experiencing PMS at the same time. During those times I just go to my old home in the cemetery and hide." Spike shuddered at the thought.

"I'm going to the back and wait for the ambulance why don't you join me?" Angel told Spike. As they walked out of the hotel they saw Giles and Gunn talking. "Hey guys were going out to the back to wait for the ambulance, come and join us." Gunn and Giles started towards the back to join them.

When they all sat down they just sat without saying anything. All of a sudden Spike started snickering. He tried to stop but he couldn't he just continued to laugh behind his hand.

"What is so funny Spike? Tell it to the rest of us, we could use something to laugh about today." Gunn said.

"If I tell you Angel promise not to jump me and do extreme bodily damage to me." Spike said as he continued to try to stop himself from laughing.

Angel thought about it for a minute. "Okay I promise."

Spike still hesitated so he got up and stood behind Angel so that he would be closer to the doors.

"Now that Giles is married to Mary when are you going to start calling him Da?"

Angel jumped up and ran after Spike who was already halfway up the stairs and through the doors. Spike was almost to the clinic where he knew Dr. Martin was. Angel tackled him from behind and had him by the neck. Spike was able to turn the tables on Angel by grabbing his head and flipping him over his shoulder.

By this time Dr. Martin came out to the lobby along with Cylindia and Fred to see what all of the commotion was about. Cordelia and Fred came out to the balcony overlooking the lobby just in time to see Connor come running in and helping Spike. That gave Gunn the courage to jump in and help Connor and Spike. Now there were three men on top of Angel and holding him down on the ground. Cordelia saw an opportunity that may not come by again. She ran back to the room and grabbed a long feather that she had on her dresser. She ran downstairs and went to Angel.

"Hold him tight guys." Cordelia started to tickle Angels nose with the feather. He started sneezing over and over again.

"Cordelia stop that." Angel yelled in between sneezes.

"Are you ever going to flirt with other women again?" She tickled his nose again. "Please stop Cordelia. I told you I wouldn't do it anymore and I said I was sorry." Cordelia went to his left foot and took his shoe and sock off and started tickling it. Without any warning Angel threw everyone off and pulled Cordelia tightly to his chest. He started tickling her. When he finally stopped she had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.

"Had enough?" "Yes Angel." "Good because I'm worn out." Angel turned over and rested his head in her lap. He jumped up though when he heard the ambulance pull up to the back of the hotel.

"The ambulance is coming." Angel told everyone. Dr. Martin turned to Fred. "Everything ready upstairs Fred?" "Yes, everything is ready." "Okay then lets go." Dr. Martin was followed by Cylindia and Fred as she made her way over to the back entrance. As they arrived at the back doors the ambulance was just pulling up. Gunn and Connor were there to assist them. The sun was right overhead so Angel had to stay back by the steps.

The ambulance driver asked Gunn "Is this the home of Angel Investigations?" "Yes sir you have the correct place. Connor and I will help you bring Mr. Price in because he has to go up to the second floor." "Thanks the help will be greatly appreciated." The driver opened the back doors and pulled the bed out of the ambulance. While the driver had the end of the bed Connor and Gunn helped to lift the right and left side while the other man controlled the other end. They let it go all the way to the ground then pulled it up and locked it in place. They then proceeded to take Wesley into the hotel.

As they brought him into the lobby Angel approached the bed and told them to stop for a second. He looked down at Wesley. Wesley put his hand up and Angel grabbed it.

"Welcome home brother." "Thank you, it's always pleasant to come home where the family is. I missed all of you. I guess it's my turn to be taken cared of." Wesley was sounding weak and his hand went limp in Angels hand.

"Okay men lets take him upstairs." Angel said. They all started moving the bed towards the elevator. They were just barely able to fit it in the elevator along with one man the rest had to go up the stairs and meet them on the second floor. Wesley's parents were in his bedroom waiting for them to bring him in. When they finally came in their were so many people that they didn't have the time to even see him let alone talk to him. As they brought the bed next to the hospital bed Angel and the two ambulance attendants went to the other side of the hospital bed and Gunn, Connor and Giles got on the other.

"Okay men on three we will slide him over to the hospital bed." They all nodded yes.

"One, two, three." They all lifted Wesley and moved him over to the hospital bed at the same time. The ambulance attendants gave Dr. Martin some papers to sign then they left. Cylindia moved in then to take Wesley's vitals and to make him more comfortable.

"How are you feeling?" Dr. Martin asked him.

"I'm tired and feeling a lot of pain in the left side of my chest and back." Dr. Martin felt along his ribs where they had separated them in order to remove the bullet from his heart. He winced in pain. She could feel the wires that held his ribs together.

"This will hurt for awhile Wesley but I can't do anything about it. It will hurt less and less as time goes by though. What your feeling is the wires that are holding your ribs together. When we opened your chest we had to separate your ribs so we could get to your heart and to make them go back to their original position we had to use wire. Some people are bothered by them a lot and some never feel them except for the first few months." While Dr. Martin was talking to Wesley Cylindia was placing all of the monitor tabs on him so they could record his heart beat. He had to stop talking for a minute when she placed a thermometer in his mouth.

Cylindia gave Dr. Martin the chart she had written all of the information she had just gathered on Wesley. She took a few minutes to check the chart.

"Well Wesley this information Cylindia just gathered on you says that you are doing pretty good. Besides the medicine that we are giving you to prevent blood clots I am going to give you some vitamins that will help you to regain your strength and build your blood up again. I do not want you to have any more morphine though. That ended when you left the hospital. I am sure you know that it is too easy to become addicted to it. What I will do is give you some Tylenol."

Dr. Martin gave him two Tylenol and some water. "Now do you think your up to visiting with people or would you like to be left alone for a couple of hours to sleep?" "I want to see everyone." Wesley said with a smile.

Dr. Martin got up from the side of the bed where she had been sitting. "Okay Wesley I am going to go and take a nap myself. If you should need me Cylindia knows where I am." Dr. Martin gave him a kiss on his forehead and made the sign of the cross on his forehead. Then she left. The past few days had been almost as exhausting for her as it was for Wesley. Giles went with her to their bedroom and tucked her in.

"Would you like me to get you something to drink like hot tea?" "No I think I will just go to sleep. Thank you though. Give me a kiss then I want you to go and keep an eye on Mr. Price. I don't want him to get Wesley to upset okay." "Yes Mam. Go to sleep now." Giles gave her a kiss and then got up to close the drapes then left and closed the door. He went down to Wesley's bedroom as he had promised and monitored Mr. Price.

Mr. Price was still sitting in the corner with his wife as everyone else stepped over to the bed and gave Wesley their get well wishes. Most of the Scubby gang was going to be leaving in a couple of days since Wesley had survived and was doing better. Xander and Annya hadn't come because they both had jobs. Xander was in the middle of a construction job and Annya wouldn't leave the store closed. Even though Angel had given her and Xander a million dollars each she still worked. She said she liked seeing the numbers increase in her savings account.

When Giles returned to the room most of the people had left except for Angel, Cordelia, Fred and Wesley's parents. Cordelia and Angel were on either side of the bed and talking to Wesley. Giles could hear Wesley talking to them, 'I don't know why I'm the one that always gets shot or hurt.' "Well Wesley it couldn't be that you're to slow because Angel has been shot a lot more than you and he's fast. So I guess all you can do is chalk it up to pure luck." Cordelia gave him her million dollar smile as she said it. "I tell you what Wesley I am going to do you a big favor and let Fred be your personal maid. I will take care of everything for now. But we are going to all have a serious discussion on hiring some help to keep this place clean. We can't have Kathleen and your two crawling around on dirty floors can we. So you just rest and get better. Is their anything special that you want for supper?" "Yes, I am craving a chocolate milk shake. I want it nice and thick with a little whip cream on top and a cherry on top." Wesley said as he licked his lips.

"If Mom says it's okay then you shall have it, after you have something more nutritious. How about some Chinese food?" "Yes that sounds good." Wesley said with a smile. "This being shot is starting to pay off now. All it took was getting home for the dividends to start coming in." He started to laugh but stopped as he grabbed his chest. "I don't think I'll be laughing too much for a while, that hurts too much."

"I'll see you later Wesley and tonight I'll bring Kathleen to come and see you." "Thank you Cordelia." She gave him a kiss on the cheek then left.

Fred left with Cordelia to help her with supper. Wesley was now alone with Angel, Giles and his parents. Wesley put his hand up and grabbed Angels hand. He could feel Angels strength coming into his hand. He could feel him putting all of his courage into his hand. Wesley needed that courage. He needed it to withstand the pain and the memories of that terrible night.

Angel never took his eyes off of Wesley's. He saw the pain and the memories flood his mind. Wesley seemed to want to say something to him so Angel put his head down to him so that what he said would be heard only by Angel.

"Angel I would like for you, Cordelia and Dr. Martin to join Fred and I this evening before you go to bed. I want to pray the rosary with you. Go and tell Fred what I've asked. She'll explain. Dr. Martin knows about what Fred will be telling you. I only want you three to join us okay?" "Okay Wesley. I am going to stay here though while your parents are visiting with you. If your father starts to upset you I will escort him out." "Thanks." Wesley said then he let Angels hand go. Angel stepped away from the bed and took a chair and sat in the corner that was furthest away from the bed. Cylindia had gone downstairs to make a pot of hot tea to bring up to the room so Angel, Giles and Wesley's parents were the only ones in the room.

Mr. and Mrs. Price stepped over to the bed now. Angel pulled chairs over for them then went back to sit in the corner. Mrs. Price hugged her son before sitting down. Mr. Price kept his distance and did not attempt to hug Wesley or even shake his hand.

As Angel watched them he wondered why the man even bothered to come over to the states. He had the compassion of a single celled amoeba. He couldn't figure out what his wife ever saw in him. Angel listened to the heart monitor. As soon as his father approached him Wesley's heart rate started to increase.

Angel tried not to listen to the conversation but some things could easily be heard since Mr. Price's voice would go up in volume. "Yes Wesley I think it would be best if you were to come home to recover and possibly stay in England. You can work at Watchers headquarters and perhaps one day take over my position. It's clear that you can no longer be a benefit to Angel Investigation. Once you are home you will be able to see how preposterous working with a Vampire is." Giles had heard Mr. Prices remark also. Without saying anything he placed his hand on Angels back to give him his support. When Angel looked at him Giles made a motion as though he would like to cut Mr. Prices throat.

Angel waited for Wesley to say something but he said nothing. The backbone that Mrs. Price had grown had apparently crumbled once she was away from Dr. Martins support. Neither one said anything to Mr. Price. "Come Felicity lets let him rest now." Mr. Price said as he started to leave. Mrs. Price stood up and looked at Wesley with sadness and pity for her son in her eyes, but she would not speak up or go against her husbands wishes.

Angel approached Wesley but Wesley turned away from him. For some reason he couldn't bring himself to look into Angels eyes. Cylindia came in then. She offered Angel some tea but he declined using the excuse that he had to go and talk to Fred.

When Angel went down to the kitchen he found all of the women working together to prepare supper. "Fred and Cordelia could I speak to you outside on the patio for a few minutes please?" They both said yes and joined him outside at the table.

"What's up?" "Fred Wesley asked me if we would join him tonight to pray the Rosary along with Mom. He told me to come and talk to you about it and said that you would explain everything. I didn't think that his church believed in giving much thought to Christ's mother."

"Angel and Cordelia Wesley wanted it to be kept a secret until he was ready but I guess now he really needs this. Wesley has been taking lessons from Father Barris to convert to the Catholic Church. The church of England is a lot like the Catholic church so Father Barris said he didn't have to learn too much. He knows that you and Cordelia pray the Rosary everyday as part of your penance and he has seen how doing this has brought a change to you."

"What change is that?" Angel asked. "Well Wesley told me that he noticed how you except criticism much better and you honestly try to incorporate what you have been told into your life. Your more calm and you don't get mad very easily and best of all you laugh and play more then you used to."

Angel didn't know what to say. He thought about what Dr. Martin had said when he was recovering from his crucifixion. 'Your suffering has won God four souls back into the fold.' Since then his son also joined the church, Spike had started to attend church and now Wesley was taking lessons from Father Barris.

Angel put his hand on Fred's. "Thank you Fred. Wesley asked that we join him in your bedroom before we go to bed. I am going to go up and keep Kathleen company and give Connor a break. He got up then and led the ladies to the back doors and opened the door for them. Cordelia and Fred went back to the kitchen and Angel went upstairs. His heart was light with the news about Wesley and he took three steps at a time as he went up to the second floor.

Within the next 15 minutes Angel and Connor came running down the stairs with Kathleen and Toby in tow. Angel put a blanket on the floor and laid down on his side with Kathleen leaning against him. Connor took Toby outside to go potty then came back. Toby made a beeline for Kathleen. He sat down next to her so she could grab onto his hair and ears and he could lick her toes and make her giggle. Angel let her do pretty much whatever she wanted except for putting her mouth on Toby's hair. After awhile Angel started to get sleepy and he made Kathleen lay down next to him.

Cordelia didn't hear any noise coming from the lobby so she came to check on her daughter. She found everyone sleeping peacefully and worn out along with Toby on the blanket and Connor on the couch.

Cordelia went back to the kitchen and told the girls what she had found. They all went out to take a look. You could hear a collective 'Awwwww.'

Mrs. Price was getting bored with nothing to do. Wesley was sleeping now. After her husband went to the room to take a nap Felicity went back to her sons room. She had spent the last hour with him talking about England and giving him news on some of his friends from school. She decided to go and see if Dr. Martin was downstairs. She found the girls busy in the kitchen making the supper for tonight.

"Fred would you happen to know where Dr. Martin is?" Fred turned around when she heard her name. "Mrs. Price hello, uh no I don't know where she is, Cordelia do you know where she is?" "Yes, she went to the pharmacy to get some more drugs that she had ordered for Wesley. Giles went with her. She should be back any minute now."

"Can I help do anything?" Felicity asked. She wanted to keep busy or else she would be thinking about what her husband had said to her son. Felicity hated herself for being so weak. Her son was to old to be taking orders from his father but her husband had been bullying them for so long that they automatically gave into whatever he wanted.

"Would you start setting the table Mrs. Price that would help us a lot. I'll get Connor to help you. We have quiet a crowd here so it's going to take some time. Were going to set things up as a buffet. Were going to need wine and water glasses also coffee cups for later. It's a good thing we went shopping for a larger dinning room table. It has enough sections to it so that we can accommodate this large crowd or take them out and store the sections so that it fits the regular group."

Cordelia went over to Angel, Connor and Kathleen. Mrs. Price followed her. She saw them all sleeping on the floor and the couch. Toby had jumped onto the couch and was sleeping on top of Connor.

"My, my Cordelia you have quiet a family. Would you mind if I hold your daughter?" "Sure, I'll get her for you. Would you mind changing her for me? I have everything down here that you'll need. You can go into Angels office over here and change her. There is a bassinet in his office with everything you'll need. Angel and Connor get up it's almost time for supper and we need your help." Cordelia picked up Kathleen and gave her to Felicity. "Connor would you start setting the table please. We need 15 place settings. You'll have to take out the good china because that is the only one that has enough place settings. Mrs. Price is going to help you as soon as she finishes changing Kathleen. Angel I need for you to clear these cabinets and place cloths over them. Were going to serve dinner buffet style."

Connor got up and let Toby out for awhile. He had enclosed a section of the back garden with a fence so that Toby could get a little exercise by himself. Connor started bringing all of the silverware, cups, saucers, plates and glasses out. Cordelia had to special order a table cloth for the table but that wouldn't be ready for another week so she bought several smaller ones for now. When Felicity was done with Kathleen she put her in her highchair then helped Connor set the table.

Dr. Martin and Giles came in just as they were finishing setting the table. Dr. Martin put the drugs away in either the refrigerator or a cabinet under lock and key. She had, had another key made for Cylindia while she was out. Spike was the only other person that had a key to the cabinet.

The dinner was ready and everyone had to be gathered. Connor took a tray of food up to Fred's room for her while she followed. Wesley was awake and had been playing a game of cards with Cylindia. Connor put the tray on the table. "You're lucky your up here, it's a big crowd down there. I'll see you guys later. Come on Cylindia dinner is served. Would you see if Gunn is in his room and I'll get the rest." Cylindia left to get Gunn while Connor went to everyone else's door.

The women had made a dinner of baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas and corn and a salad for those that didn't want potatoes. Cordelia had also made several loaves of what she called her Irish bread from her batch of yeast from Ireland. She was very proud of her yeast that she carefully tended to, to keep it alive.

Everyone lined up at the buffet tables to dish up their food. Cordelia brought out a thermos of warmed blood along with mugs already filled for Angel, Spike and Hunter. Cordelia had started making her own baby food by using a small grinder. She had already fed Kathleen and just had given her something to chew on or rather gum to death. Kathleen was starting to teeth and wanted to bite down on everything. She was starting to give her mother a hard time when she was nursing.

When everyone was seated Dr. Martin tapped her glass with her knife in order to get everyone's attention. She waited for everyone to stop and look at her.

"If no one minds I would like to offer a prayer of thanks for Wesley's safe return to us and for a speedy recovery." Since no one objected they all joined hands and Dr. Martin offered a prayer for Wesley and thanks for the food.

Dr. Martin had noticed how Mr. Price had noticed how the three Vampires at the table had joined in and had made the sign of the cross before and after the prayer. He was shocked by this behavior but chose not to say anything yet. Both Giles and Dr. Martin were keeping an eye on him and waiting for inevitable remarks. Falicity knew that her husband was going to say something soon so she tried to keep the conversation light and said that she would like to see some of the sights here in California before they had to return to England. Most of all she wanted to see Disneyland.

"Do you really Felicity?" Dr. Martin asked. "Yes, I've heard so much about it for so long but my husband never had the desire to come here to see it. Since Wesley needs his rest I thought maybe we could go to see Disneyland, Sea World and Knotts Berry Farm." "Don't be ridiculous Felicity, your not a child anymore. They have some marvelous museums here and I've heard a lot about the Los Angeles Library. We can go to some of the museums tomorrow." Felicity gave into her husbands decision meekly. "Yes dear."

Dr. Martin and everyone else was surprised at how insensitive Mr. Price was to his wife.

"I think going to Disneyland is a great idea Felicity. You know I have always devoted such a large portion of my time to either going to school, or working that I've never been able to see these places. I for one would like to see these places also. If you don't mind though I need to stay here for the next few days while Wesley is recovering from the surgery. He is still at a critical point in his recovery and I don't want to be far from him in case something should happen. This is Wednesday so why don't we make a date of it to go on Monday. Hunter could I impose upon you to stay here and keep an eye on Wesley while I go and recapture some of my childhood?" "Sure Mary that won't be a problem. Mike will be busy at the office so I won't be able to do anything with him."

"Your going to let a Vampire take care of my son?" Mr. Price blurted this out so quickly that he caught everyone off guard. Mike was sitting next to Hunter and he put his hand on hers under the table.

"Of course Mr. Price. Hunter is more than qualified to take care of Wesley. She has been a Doctor for longer than you and I have been alive. She has helped me repeatedly in taking care of Angel and when I was beaten and raped she took care of me when I came home from the hospital. She also helped me to get through the psychological damage of the rape and I can assure you that both Fred and Wesley have confidence in her as well." "But Dr. Martin she is a Vampire, a demon, she could turn on my son at any moment and as any of these Vampires could." Mr. Price said with what sounded like hatred.

"Mr. Price, all of these people or Vampires as you refer to them, have been given their soul back. Which means that their resident demons no longer control their bodies. I was sent here by St. Michael to help Angel understand who he was and that he was Gods champion in this world. All of these demons, as you refer to them, have devoted themselves to helping humans. Both Hunter and Spike have started to take instructions to become Catholic. There is not one person that is sitting here at this table, except for yourself, that does not love and respect Angel. Can you say that for yourself Mr. Price?"

"Since you are the one that has control over my sons recovery and out of respect for you I will concede to your wishes." "Thank you, Felicity you can count on going to Disneyland with us on Monday. If anyone else wants to go they are more then welcome. I am sure that Fred wouldn't mind taking care of Kathleen if you and Angel want to go also Cordelia. We can go as soon as it starts to get dark and if I'm not mistaken I believe they stay open until midnight."

"That sounds like fun. I've always wanted to go in those Alice and Wonderland cup and saucer ride and getting it going so fast that we can make the girls get dizzy and puke their guts out." Angel said as he laughed at the thought. "You mean thing. Just wait until we get to some of the other rides then we'll see who gets sick. You've never been on a roller coaster ride have you?" Cordelia asked. "No, I never had the guts to try it." Everyone laughed at Angels saying that he never had the courage to do something.

Buffy looked to Spike to see if he wanted to leave or stay until Tuesday. "We were going to leave on Sunday but I guess we can leave on Tuesday instead." Spike said. Buffy gave him a kiss and said thank you.

Dr. Martin was watching Angel feeding Kathleen her Jello when she saw a look of concentration appear on her face. "Falicity watch what happens to Angel when Kathleen finishes delivering her package." Falicity turned to watch.

Angel suddenly smelled nuclear waste. "Ewwwww, Nuclear Waste in the house everyone hold your nose." Angel reached into his pocket and pulled out a wooden clothes pin and put it on his nose. When his daughter saw him with the clothes pin on his nose she reached for the clothes pin and said Daddy just as clear as a bell.

Angel jumped up and danced with her around the table. "My daughter said Daddy. Not Mommy but Daddy." As Kathleen heard her Daddy say Mommy she copied him. "Mommy." Cordelia jumped up and was clapping as everyone else did.

Dr. Martin looked at Felicity. "They're happy now but pretty soon they'll be wishing she would stop talking when all of the Mommy whys start." "I know, sometimes I wanted to just tell Wesley to go play in the street. He wanted to know about everything that existed between the sky and the earth. He would drive me crazy." Felicity said.

"Angel you had better take her upstairs before the paint starts peeling from the fumes." Cordelia told him when she saw Spike, Connor and Hunter holding their noses.

Angel took his daughter upstairs and cleaned her so that she smelled nice and baby fresh. Before going back downstairs he thought he would share the good news with Fred and Wesley.

He knocked on the door and waited. It took them a minute to answer. Fred opened the door. "Come in Angel we were just finishing our supper." "I came to tell you about Kathleen but I think you have something more important to tell me." Angel had seen Wesley's eyes. They were all red and swollen. "What's wrong Wesley? Is there any thing that I can do to help?"

Wesley couldn't look at Angel when he told him what he had to say. "Angel, my father has told me that I am to go back with them to England. He said that I wouldn't be of anymore use to Angel Investigation."

"Yes I heard him. Do you want to go back to England Wesley or do you want to stay here where you are wanted and needed?" Angel asked him point blank.

"I want to stay. But I don't know if I will be of much use to you from now on. I don't think I can fight anymore. Ever since I woke up from the surgery I've felt a terrible thing growing inside of me Angel and I don't know what to do about it or if anything can be done." "And what is that Wesley?" Angel already knew what he was going to say. He had met that terrible demon many times himself.

"I'm afraid Angel. I feel the fear growing inside of me like a cancer that is spreading. It is growing and has almost completely obliterated my courage. I don't even have the courage to tell my father no. I became like a young boy again standing before him and being told what school I would attend and what I would study. At home in my fathers house no one refused to do what he told us. He has bullied and belittled both my mother and I for as long as I can remember. I don't want my children to know such treatment." Wesley said with tears in his eyes.

"Wesley do you want me to handle this for you?" "Yes Angel please." "Okay then I will handle it. When I start though I want you to follow my lead. Your mother is a nice person and I don't want to hurt her feelings but it may be impossible to avoid. I can explain things to her later.

And Wesley." "Yes." "You are still needed here at Angel Investigation. Even if you were to become a paraplegic you would still be wanted and needed." Angel came closer to Wesley and put his hand further up his arm and Wesley did the same. It was a handshake of brothers.

"We have been together through too much Wesley for me to think you are a coward. You stood by my side when Kathleen was born, you've stood by me and didn't give up on me when Angelus had taken control of my body, you gave me Cordelia at our Wedding. I love you like a brother Wesley and I will help you to find your courage again. I am going to tell you just one thing about this to help you and I want you to, as Mom says 'meditate' on it. You have nothing to fear but fear itself and right now fear is your biggest enemy don't let it win." Angel hugged him then.

"I came in here originally to tell you something and I almost forgot. Kathleen spoke her first words. Guess what it was?" For the first time Fred spoke up. "Don't tell me she said Daddy?" "Yes she did and later she said Mommy but she said Daddy first."

Angel picked her up again and pointed to Wesley. "Can you say Wesley, this is Wesley." Kathleen thought about it then she pointed to Wesley and said Wesy. "That's right he's Wesy and this is Fred." But Kathleen couldn't get her mouth to work right yet in order to say Fred. She hid her face against her Daddy. "That's okay you've said a lot today for a start but best of all you said Daddy first and you will always be Daddy's little girl." Angel tossed her in the air and made her giggle. He had Wesley and Fred laughing now. "I'll see you two in a couple of hours." Angel left then to go downstairs. "I'll be back in a minute Wesley." Fred said as she picked up the tray of dishes and followed Angel downstairs.

As they arrived at the top of the stairs Fred called to Angel. "Angel can you stop for a minute please?" "Sure Fred." "I want to thank you for saying what you did. Wesley is so scared right now that he will appear to be less than he is in front of his Father. He just needs time to recover from these wounds that seem to have gone farther then just his physical heart." "It's no problem Fred. It's like Giles said when I tried to thank everyone after I was crucified, 'no thanks are necessary we're family'."

They went downstairs then and Fred went into the kitchen. Cordelia took the tray from Fred. "You can go back to Wesley Fred we have enough volunteers." "Thanks Cordelia. Wesley wasn't too hungry. His heart is kind of heavy right now." "I understand honey you just go back and just be there for him because that is what he needs most right now." Fred hugged Cordelia and said thank you. She went upstairs then and climbed up on the bed with Wesley and just let him rest his head on her chest.

Wesley lifted his head and poked at her breasts. "These are getting softer now and fuller. I guess it's one of the benefits of being pregnant." He smiled up at her. "Yea, benefits for you. There throwing my balance off. I feel like I'm going to fall forward." Fred said. She pushed his head back on her chest and turned the TV on. His talk with Angel seemed to have lightened his heart a little and he was more at peace.

Thirty minutes later Dr. Martin came in with Gunn and Angel.

"Okay Uncle Wesy it's time to take a little walk." Wesley smiled at them. "You just had to tell them what she called me didn't you. Now I'm going to have everyone coming in here and calling me that." "Of course I want everyone to know how smart my daughter is." Angel laughed at Wesley. He pulled the covers down and offered Wesley his hand for support as he put his feet over to the side of the bed. They waited while Fred put his slippers on.

"Okay speedy lets do a few laps up and down the hallway." Gunn said as he helped Wesley with his robe. Wesley took a more firm grip on their arms then they started. They went slowly at first then as Wesley loosened up a little he was able to go faster.

"Not to fast Wesley take it easy for now." They did as Dr. Martin said. As they arrived at the end of the hallway and at the elevator Wesley started to tire. "Let me stop for a minute guys so I can catch my breath." Wesley's legs started to feel like they couldn't hold him up and he started to go down. Gunn and Angel let him sit on the floor and lean against the railing. They all sat on the floor while he rested, including Dr. Martin. After five minutes Dr. Martin got up. "Okay guys lets take him to his room." Gunn and Angel pulled Wesley up. He held onto them at first then they had to hold him up. He just barely made it back to his bed before collapsing to the floor. Angel picked him up and placed him onto the bed. Fred took his slippers off and Gunn and Angel took his robe off. Wesley was breathing hard.

Dr. Martin came over and placed the monitor tabs back on his chest. She watched it for awhile then listened to his heart. When she was done she sat down on a chair that Angel gave her.

"You're doing fine Wesley. Your heart sounds good and the monitor shows me that your lungs are working well. Tomorrow Angel and Gunn will help you to get up twice and take that little walk. If you're a good boy and do all that I tell you, which includes eating what you are given, then I'll let you come downstairs to join us for Supper on Sunday. I want you to take a little rest for now and well see you in an hour." She left then with Angel and Gunn in tow. The nurse came back in and took his vitals. She wrote everything down on the chart then went to sit on the couch and opened her book to where she had left off. Fred went into the bathroom took a shower and got ready for bed.

At 10 o'clock Dr. Martin, Cordelia and Angel came up with their Rosaries. By unspoken mutual consent Dr. Martin was going to lead and also read the mystery of the appropriate day. She dismissed Cylindia and told her she could stay with Gunn if she wanted to since Fred was in here. When she walked out she said goodnight to Wesley and Fred.

Dr. Martin took a seat next to the lamp. Fred got up on the bed and let Wesley lean on her as he did before. Cordelia and Angel sat on the couch together with Cordelia leaning on Angels chest and his arm wrapped around her. Dr. Martin began with the sign of the cross and everyone followed her. Thirty minutes later they were done. Dr. Martin looked around at everyone and found both Wesley and Cordelia were sound asleep.

Angel picked up Cordelia and said good night and Fred slipped out from underneath Wesley's head. She fixed his bedding and placed a blanket on him then put the head of the bed down so that it was only slightly elevated. Then she dimmed the light over his bed and said good night to Dr. Martin as she left. The last thing Fred did every night now was to say goodnight to her babies. "Goodnight my little ones. Your Daddy is home with us and everything will be okay. Angel will fix everything like he always does." She patted her tummy then went to sleep.

The next morning Buffy, Willow and Tara took their turn at making breakfast. They made loads of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon. Instead of setting the table they had left the dishes and silverware on the cabinets they were using for the buffet. A restaurant size coffee maker had been brought out from the basement and was busy making coffee.

Today Dr. Martin, Cordelia and Angel joined Wesley and Fred in their rooms for breakfast. There was so much to take upstairs that they used a cart instead of trying to take it up on trays.

"Breakfast is served everyone." Angel said as he brought the cart in and put it at the kitchen table.

Wesley was just coming out of the bathroom with Fred's help. He was using his walker in order to exercise more. Dr. Martin saw Fred coming out of the bathroom also.

"Fred I hope you're not helping him to get up or bending over a lot. That is what Cylindia is here for." "I'm being careful Dr. Martin."

Wesley made it over to the table and sat down heavily. Cordelia and Angel handed out the plates full of food. "Sit down and eat everyone before the food gets cold." Cordelia said. She poured coffee for everyone then sat down and started on her own breakfast.

"Where is Kathleen?" Wesley asked.

"I'm letting her Aunt Willow and Tara take care of her." Cordelia said.

They finished their breakfast and Dr. Martin noted that Wesley finished all of his breakfast today. He hadn't been eating very well at previous meals. She saw him starting to slump in the chair a little.

"Angel would you help Wesley to get back into bed. I think he is getting tired now." Angel got up and went to Wesley. To Wesley's surprise Angel just picked him up and placed him in the bed. "Thanks for the ride." Wesley said as Angel deposited him on the bed and took his slippers off. It was a little chilly in the room so he opted to keep his bathrobe on. Angel pulled the covers up.

Wesley saw Cordelia loading up the cart with the plates and coffee. "Your not going already are you?" "Would you like us to stay for awhile and keep you company?" Dr. Martin asked.

"Yes I'm bored being up here all by myself." Wesley put on a poor me face. "My poor baby. I guess we can stay for awhile but then I want you to take a nap." Dr. Martin said. Wesley was happy now that they were all taking a seat. Angel pulled the couch over so that they could sit on it and Fred got up onto the bed with Wesley as usual.

"So what shall we talk about?" Angel asked after they stared at each other for a minute.

"I want to hear about what happened when you and Cordelia were in Sunnydale for the summer after your first office was blown up and Wesley almost got himself killed."

"I'll let Cordelia tell most of it because I was out of it most of the time. After those demons broke my back I wasn't thinking too well at first." Angel said.

"Well it all started out with Giles calling us to come and help them in Sunnydale. It's been a while but wasn't it because they had some demons that they didn't have any information on and they didn't know how to fight them." Cordelia asked Angel. "Yes they thought I might know about them."

"Well anyway to make a long story short Angel was out patrolling by himself and a group of Benxi demons had attacked Buffy's, current at the time, boyfriend as he returned home. Angel heard all of the racket and came to save him. While Riley returned to the Magic Box where we had all gone for a meeting, the Benxi demons attacked Angel. I must say though even though you were almost dead yourself you still managed to kill all of them." Cordelia had turned to him in a congratulatory manner. Angel looked at her and raised his arm to make a muscle. "What can I say I'm Angel, 'The Magnificent'." They all laughed at him since he was usually modest about his abilities. Cordelia poked him in the ribs.

"As I was saying, Angel was attacked. After we got him to the mansion Buffy came in with Hunter. Hunter was a lot different back then and Buffy had to beg her to help him. After several hours of working on piecing him back together again she came out and gave us the bad news that his back was broken and it could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months for him to heal. She told me what to expect and left. Angel couldn't move at all, he could barely speak for that matter. Hunter had inserted a tube into his stomach so he could be fed blood and he was hooked up to a bag of blood to go into his vein. Because of a bad injury to his head he was unconscious for almost three days. He would come out of it for a few minutes once in a while then go back into a coma again. After spending so much time with him I was able to pretty much guess at what he was trying to say but most of the time he couldn't be understood because he often spoke in languages other then English and even then only one word at a time.

After about a week he was able to stay awake for longer periods of time and I had myself a captive audience. He couldn't get away from me when I continued on with the magazine article about 'Getting to know your Boss'. After that I started reading some of his books to him. Every so often I would stop reading and ask him a question about his life or he would ask me a question. As far as I know we now know everything about each other. That summer, I think, is when we fell in love with each other, we just didn't know it yet."

Dr. Martin was watching Cordelia and Angel. Unconsciously Angel had started to play with Cordelia's left breast. "Angel would you please stop that." "Stop what?" Angel asked in surprise, he honestly didn't realize what he was doing.

"Stop playing with Cordelia's breast while she is talking." Angel pulled his hand away and turned bright red. Fred turned bright red also but she was laughing along with Wesley and Dr. Martin.

"I am sorry I truly didn't realize I was doing it." Cordelia leaned against him again and said "That's okay Angel you suffered a lot in order to have the right to do that. Why don't you just give me your hand so that it doesn't start wandering again."

Cordelia settled back against his chest again and held onto his hand this time. "Well where was I." "You were telling us how you passed the time by reading to him while he recovered." Fred said.

"Thank you Fred. It turned out that Angel took almost three months to recover. He did it slowly and before he regained feeling and use of each part of his body he would be in a lot of pain. I panicked the first time. We were having a meeting with the Scoobys and he started to experience a lot of pain in his shoulders and back. I finally had to call Hunter over and she came and put him into a certain position that helped to alleviate the pain. She also gave me some pain pills that were real strong. They made him go catatonic and he would have a hard time talking again until they wore off."

"Excuse me Cordelia but how in the world did you handle him by yourself. I'm guessing that no one stayed with you 24 hours a day. How did you take care of him like giving him a bath or what about taking care of his bodily functions. You didn't have any training in these things did you?" Dr. Martin asked.

"No I didn't but I did have Reilly and Giles. One day, not to long after the attack, they came over to see if I needed any help with him and with Reilly's help we figured out a way for me to lift Angel from his bed to his wheel chair. Reilly showed me how to pick him up so that I didn't take on the bulk of his weight. It was kinda like a fireman carry type thing. I was very proud of myself actually. As for taking a bath I had to do that for a while since he was in bed for a long time. We were both kind of embarrassed at first but we quickly got over that since I did it every other day. As for his bodily functions he didn't have any and I can tell you with all honesty that I was sure glad for that." "Why were you so embarrassed about giving him a bath?" Fred asked.

"Fred we were just friends at the time and it was a long time before he even got up the nerve to even kiss me. But you should have seen the look on his face when I came in, for the first time, with a container full of water, soup and towels. His eyes went wide as saucers. He was still paralyzed from the neck down so he couldn't do anything about it and I had to clean him since he was still dirty from the attack."

"I wasn't embarrassed because you would see all of me. I knew you were still a virgin and had never seen a mans body before. I was worried that after seeing me you would expect all men to look so magnificent and then when you had your first sexual encounter you would be so disappointed that you wouldn't have a good time." Angel looked at his Mother, smiled and winked.

Cordelia turned around and just looked at him. She couldn't believe her ears. So she grabbed a pillow and hit him with it. "You are so full of it you know that. I have never seen anyone so conceited before. I thought I was bad. I'm a meek little lamb compared to you. Are all men like that Mom?" "Not all men Cordelia. A large percentage of them are but not all."

"I was only kidding, can't you take a joke?" Angel said as Cordelia continued to hit him with the pillow.

They were quiet for a while after that. Wesley spoke up then with a question that Dr. Martin knew was on his mind. "Angel." "Yeah." "Angel how do you do it?" "Do what Wesley?" "How or where do you find the courage to keep on coming back for more after you've been beaten so badly that you almost cease to exist?" Dr. Martin knew that it had cost Wesley a lot to ask this question.

Angel was quiet while he thought carefully about his answer. "Remember what we talked about when we were here and Cordelia was having those terrible bouts of depression. I asked you to chain me up when you saw it coming over me as well?" "Yes, I remember. You almost walked into the sun light that last time." "During that time Wesley I couldn't control myself. The depression was controlling me and working on the weakest part of me. My weakest point is that I get tired of fighting the good fight and I too frequently want to just chuck it all and commit suicide. I've wanted and came very close to committing suicide many times.

When I was beaten and dragged behind that truck in the desert I was more afraid then I've ever been before Wesley. The gravel was digging into and under my skin. I could feel pieces of my skin being ripped away in chunks. When they stopped I couldn't even stand by myself anymore I was so weak from the loss of blood and the pain. At the time I thought that what had just happened was the worst pain that I had ever experienced but I was wrong Wesley, I was so wrong. When they held onto my arms to make me stand up and forced me to watch them bring my crucifix to me and I realized what they had planned for me they actually laughed.

When they hammered those nails into my hands and feet Wesley I wanted to die. If courage was kept in a container then my container was bone dry. I had no courage to endure what was happening to me, but Wesley, somewhere deep inside of me I found the courage that I needed to continue. What I saw and heard was Cordelia calling to me. It was then that I knew where courage comes from. Do you understand what I am saying Wesley?"

"Yes Angel I understand now. Courage comes from love. Love for our fellow man or love for someone special in our lives. I understand now what they say of God. 'He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.'" Wesley turned to Fred. "Now I have Fred and our children and I think that when I need it my container of courage will be full again." Wesley pulled Fred's head down so that he could kiss her then he put his hand on her stomach and kissed their babies.

Without taking his eyes off of Fred he called out to Angel again. "Angel I still want you to take care of my father and tell him that I'm not going anyplace." Wesley looked at him then. "I understand Wesley, it won't be a problem. I just hope Wesley that you and I have hopefully learned enough from our Fathers mistakes so that we are better Fathers." Angel started putting the dishes on the cart then. Cordelia helped.

As they went out of the door Angel turned to Wesley. "You didn't say whether you wanted me to come and give you a shower or if you would be satisfied with a sponge bath from Cylindia?" "I think Cylindia can handle it. Thank you for the offer. I look forward to our twice daily walks." Wesley gave him a smile then turned his attention back to Fred.

Dr. Martin followed Angel and Cordelia out of the door and closed it as she left. She walked fast until she caught up with Angel and Cordelia. "Angel stop for a minute please." Angel stopped and turned around. "I wanted to tell you that you did real good in there. What Wesley talked to you about was on his mind a lot and that is what has been making him so tired. I think he will do better now. Cylindia has told me that his wounds are taking too long to heal. Where I cut into him should already start to show healing but there not. Hopefully it will now." Dr. Martin put her hand on his arm. "I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you." They continued downstairs then.

Everyone split up for the day. Dr. Martin even went out for a short time to get out of the hotel for a while along with Cylindia. Hunter came over and kept watch over Wesley. When she went into his room she noticed a marked difference in his outlook. He didn't seem to be so tired anymore in fact he wanted to get up and walk around a little. "Come on Hunter you're strong you can hold me up if I should fall." "No Wesley and that's just that. If I should catch you out of bed I am going to take you over my knee and spank you. Do you understand?" "Yes Dr. Hunter, I understand." Wesley said with a bowed head and his lower lip sticking out. Hunter laughed at his little game then turned and left to go downstairs.

After a few minutes she heard a loud bang. She went running up stairs and found him on the floor in the hallway. "Wesley are you alright?" "Yes I'm fine I just tripped over my own two feet." Hunter quickly lifted the bandages and checked to see if any of the staples or stitches had come out. Everything was okay so she helped him back to bed.

When she had him back in bed and covered up she stood to the side with her arms crossed across her chest. "Wesley Wyndham Price do you remember what I said I would do if you got out of bed?" "Yes." "Do you agree that I owe you a spanking?" "Yes. But I know you won't do it." "Your right, I won't do it now because of your condition. I promise you that sooner or later you will be healed and then I will fulfill my promise when you least expect it, and if you think that I won't do it ask Angel how long I remember things and whether I fulfill promises. Now I want you to take a nap."

Two days later Wesley was doing so well that Dr. Martin let him come down to supper with everyone else. Angel stood by his side as he walked over to the dinning room table with only a slight assist from Angel. He hung onto his arm for extra support just in case. Mr. and Mrs. Price sat across from Wesley and Fred. Spike sat next to Wesley so that he could hear if his heart started to beat too fast. Hunter was next to Fred. Dr. Thompson had been unable to join them tonight since he was working late. He had told Hunter he would try to make it in time for desert. Fred brought Wesley's food over to him then sat down. Kathleen had already been seated in her highchair and Angel was feeding her as Cordelia warmed up the mugs of blood for the three Vampires. She had bought 3 large mugs that were colored and were specifically for Angel, Spike and Hunter. They had learned quickly that Mr. Price did not like seeing them drinking blood in front of him.

The ladies had fixed baked fish for Supper along with salad and a choice of corn, peas or french cut green beans. The conversation at the table had been kept light and those that were going were talking about their trip to Disneyland on Monday. Mr. Price and Giles had been talking about the business at the Watchers headquarters. Felicity had been quiet during most of the meal unless someone asked her a question but she never chose to join a conversation. She would always look at her husband when invited into a conversation as though she was asking him if it was okay to speak to them. As the meal came to a close Mr. Price finally chose to address Dr. Martin.

"Dr. Martin may I ask how you think Wesley is doing?" "Yes of course Wesley is doing very well now. That's why I let him join us for Supper." "Do you think it will be safe for him to travel to England now or should we wait for one or two more weeks." "It will be another two weeks before he can exert himself like that. May I ask why you need to know this. I wasn't aware that he wanted to go for a visit so soon." Dr. Martin asked innocently.

"I might as well let you know now. Wesley will be coming back to England with us permanently. It's evident that he can no longer be of any use to Angel Investigations. So I have decided that he should come home and take over my position at the Watchers headquarters eventually. Of course since Fred is his wife she will be coming also."

Dr. Martin was amazed at the audacity of this man. "Wesley is this truly what you want?"

She wanted to give him a chance to face his father and refuse him. "No Dr. Martin it isn't but I will obey my fathers wishes." Wesley wouldn't look at her or his father. Wesley's obedience to his fathers wishes was so ingrained in him that he would not stand his ground and refuse to do as he wanted. Wesley like his mother had been bullied by his father all his life. The two ideals of standing up to his father and being a man and of being a respectful and dutiful son were at war within Wesley.

No matter how intelligent a person is when words of ridicule and abasement are heard constantly thru out a persons life they start to believe it. This was Wesley's problem. When his father was around he slipped into this mode, of submissive and dutiful son, when he wasn't around Wesley became the man that everyone had come to know and love.

"Mr. Price this is against my better judgement but if Wesley wants this then he will be able to go in two weeks and not before that." "Thank you Dr. Martin while we are waiting for you to get better Wesley we can work on your passport." Everyone was quiet then. Felicity never raised her eyes or her voice once.

Angel was quiet thru out the conversation. He pretended to be busy with his daughter. After a while he turned her over to Cordelia and addressed Wesley's father.

"Mr. Price." "Yes." "Mr. Price I understand that you don't see me as anything more then a thing to be observed from a distance and I guess that's why you haven't used my name or spoken to me. But Mr. Price I can assure you that Wesley isn't going anyplace. Wesley is going to stay here in Los Angeles with his wife. His children will grow up with mine and he will continue to help me in taking care of Angel Investigations. If you have a problem with accepting Wesley's and my decision then I will assist you."

Angel sat down again. "Are you going to let this thing talk to your father like that Wesley? Have you lost all of your manners and honor by living with these people and these Vampires?"

Wesley just sat at his chair and drank some of his coffee. Dr. Martin could see a physical change in Wesley as he heard his father speak of Angel and the rest of his family in such a derogatory manner. His love for Angel and the rest was quickly filling the container that housed his courage and was previously empty.

"Father since I have come here to the United States and started actually working with Angel and Angel Investigation I have become more of a man then I could ever hope to be under your tutelage. I've worked with Angel and the rest to rescue hundreds of people. I was shot during a mission to rescue a young teenage boy that thought it would be neat to become a Vampire. While I was in the hospital Angel was successful in turning this boy around and making him understand that this wasn't a game he was playing.

When I came home I found that I had lost my courage to fight the good fight. The pain had somehow driven it out of me. So I turned to the man that I have seen display more courage than any human being that I have ever seen. I asked him how he does it Father, I asked him how he can continue to have so much courage to face such great odds.

I feel that I should explain what I have seen this man go through Father then you will understand why I see anything that you have gone through as pale in comparison.

Over two years ago Father Dr. Martin came to us and told us that she had been sent by God to teach Angel how to deal with Angelus, his demon. As a side job she proved to Angel that he is still a man, a living, breathing human being. All of what she used to prove to us that Angel is still a living, breathing human being was based on scientific fact. Because of the demon he shares his body with his body is just super efficient. His heart still beats, but only once every five minutes. His body still takes in oxygen just less frequently. And as you can see father he can reproduce himself.

Not to long before Angel and Cordelia married a group of teenage Vampires kidnaped him and tortured him beyond human endurance. They new that Dr. Martin was a nun at the time so they thought it would be funny to crucify him. Since Angel can't die except by fire, decapitation or by a stake thru the heart he was forced to endure the crucifixion that Christ did. He wanted to die but he couldn't so he had no choice but to endure it.

Repeatedly Father I have seen this man endure great pain but get up again and fight over whelming odds, sometimes with his friends by his side and sometimes by himself.

I asked Angel where he found the courage to go on after being wounded repeatedly. He said he found that courage came from his love for us, for his wife and daughter, for his fellow man. I have never seen any evidence of love from you Father, not even for Mother. It's from Angel that I have learned what it is to be a real man father, not you.

I now have a new and loving family Father. I have a wife that loves me and I love her. We have twins slowly growing within her. I have been told, through Dr. Martin, that I will be the last to leave this world and join my friends in heaven. The job of making sure that the next generation of Angel Investigation has the education that it needs has been given to me. I might as well also tell you Mother and Father that I have chosen to convert to the Roman Catholic faith. I am also an American citizen now."

Wesley went to his Mother and knelt beside her. He took her hands in his and said, "Mother please stay here with me. I know that you and Dr. Martin enjoy each others company and we have more than enough room here for you. I can have one of the rooms fixed up so that it is like ours and it will be like a studio apartment. Most of all Mother you will find out what it is like to feel loved all of the time."

Felicity looked at her son with tears in her eyes. "Wesley I know that you will find it hard to believe but at one time your Father was like you. He loved me and showed it every day. He was especially loving and caring when I was pregnant with you. It's because of what I know your father is really like inside I have to refuse your offer. I promise to come for a visit when your children are born though." Felicity stood up from her chair and hugged her son. "I am so very proud and happy for you Wesley that you have found such loving friends." She kissed her son then sat down next to her husband again. Mr. Price said nothing.

This had all been too much for Wesley and when he tried to get up he fell to the floor. Dr. Martin came running to his side as did Angel. "I guess showing so much courage took a lot out of me." Wesley was breathing hard but didn't seem to be getting enough oxygen. "Take him to his room Angel where we can put the monitors on him and give him oxygen." Angel picked Wesley up in his arms and took him to his room. Dr. Martin and Cylindia followed him.

Dr. Martin checked under his bandages to make sure he wasn't bleeding then took out her stethoscope and listened to his heart and lungs. They sounded just fine and she chalked up the incident to too much exercise and excitement to soon.

Cylindia and Dr. Martin removed his shoes, pants and shirt and placed the covers over him. "I want you to sleep now Wesley. You've had enough excitement for the day." "Yes I think I have also. Would you send Fred in please. I sleep better when she is with me." "Yes I'll send her up in a minute. Good night Wesley." "Good night Dr. Martin."

"Wesley." Dr. Martin said before she closed the door. Wesley opened his eyes and looked at her. "Wesley you did good, hopefully your father will think about what you said and change his ways." "Thank you Dr. Martin." She left then and closed the door. Cylindia recorded Wesleys vitals then picked up her book again and curled up on the couch once again.

* * *

TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**The Second Gift**

The next morning Cordelia and Angel were up before everyone else. Kathleen was now their alarm clock and she had decided one day that Mommy and Daddy should be getting up no later than 8 A.M. every morning. Monday morning the day they were going to Disneyland was no different.

Kathleen grabbed onto the bars of her crib prison and pulled herself up. She looked towards her Mommy and Daddy's bed. While she looked around the room, she started biting into the top of the crib. Every few minutes she would stop biting the crib and call out to her Daddy.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." Over and over again. When Daddy didn't respond, she called to her Mommy. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." She liked practicing her new words. When neither one responded and she was tired of chewing on the rail of her crib she used something that she knew always worked. She sat down and started crying. You know that kind of cry that doesn't say I'm wet change me or I'm hungry feed me. No it's more like 'I demand that you get up and pay attention to me NOW!'.

"Daddy's little girl is calling to him." Cordelia said as she pulled the covers over her head.

"Mommy's little girl is calling to her." Angel said in reply. This little trade in Daddy's girl and Mommy's little girl didn't fit the argument that they had, had when Angel was blind. It had started when Angel had said 'Your daughter'. Angel had kicked the bathroom door down when he heard Cordelia lock it because she was mad at him and didn't want to talk to him. He made it clear to her at that time there were to be no locked doors between them. If they were having an argument then they would discuss it but they would not go to bed having an ongoing argument between them.

In the contest to see who would cave in first Cordelia won, because she knew he couldn't stand hearing his little girl cry. Angel slid down to the floor and crawled on his hands and knees to the crib. Kathleen had stopped crying when she heard her Daddy coming over to her. She pulled herself up and held her arms out to Angel. Cordelia was watching and she thought to herself 'That did it, his heart always melts when she does that.'

While Angel took care of their daughter Cordelia got up and went into the bathroom. Angel was just taking his daughters diapers off when he heard the shower start so he just took the rest off and went to join Cordelia. They ended up bathing and playing until the hot water ran out.

When they got out of the bathroom Angel continued to take care of Kathleen until he had her all dressed again. He had put a pink jumper suite on her along with a white T-shirt with socks that each had a tiny pink satin ribbon going through the top of the sock when it was folded over. He then placed her first shoes on her. Angel called out to Cordelia. "Cordelia, look at Kathleen."

Angel put her on the floor and held onto her hands as she tried to walk in her new shoes. It was the first time she had, had shoes on her tiny little feet. Angel and Cordelia were watching their daughter take her first steps but Kathleen was more fascinated by the strange feeling things on her feet.

Her Daddy finally let her sit down. "Why did you stop?" Cordelia asked. "Because I could see in her mind that she was more interested in her shoes than walking." Sure enough Kathleen sat on the floor playing with her shoes and trying to undo the shoe laces.

"I guess she isn't ready for walking yet." Cordelia said. "You better get yourself dressed Angel before I attack you."

Angel jumped onto the bed and beat his chest like Tarzan. "Jane, bring Tarzan his loincloth. Tarzan must cover his manliness before Jane have a meltdown." Cordelia grabbed a pair of shorts, T-shirt and socks for Angel and threw them at him. Kathleen was watching her Daddy and giggling. She thought her Daddy was so funny. "Hurry up Angel we still have our morning ritual to do before everyone else gets up." "Yes Jane, Tarzan be good now." Angel let out a big sigh and proceeded to finish dressing while Cordelia picked up Kathleen and went down stairs.

Cordelia put Kathleen in her high chair then started to make coffee in the large coffee maker. While she was waiting for Angel Cordelia put a bib on her daughter then gave her a baby biscuit that was specially made for teething babies.

As Angel came down stairs he picked up Kathleen, high chair and all, took them outside to the patio and waited for Cordelia to join him. Shortly after he sat down at the table Cordelia came out with a wet towel. "Okay Tarzan, lets get this show on the road." They had done this so many times before that it became routine like Cordelia making the coffee in the morning. It was just something that they were told to do and it always had the same results.

Cordelia went over to the edge of the patio where they were two feet from the sun light. They took their usual position and joined hands. Cordelia had her stop watch in one hand and her other hand was in Angels. As usual she directed their hands into the sunlight. At the 5 minute mark Angels hand started to smoke but before it erupted in flames the 10 minute limit would come up.

Angel looked at his hand as Cordelia wrapped it in the wet towel. "It will happen soon Angel. Somehow I feel it in here." She pointed to her heart. "How soon?" "I can't say but I know it will be very soon." She removed the towel and turned his hand over and kissed the palm of his hand. They went to sit down in the darkest corner of the patio and they proceeded to perform Angels penance. By the time they were done Kathleen was getting bored with her biscuit and she could hear someone in the kitchen. Cordelia gave Angel a kiss then picked up her daughter and went back into the hotel. Angel remained outside to think, nothing specific, he just waited until some thing presented itself and these days Angelus was giving him a lot to think about. Ever since he had started to present himself to the sun light Angelus had stepped up his assault on Angels mind.

When Angel heard more people coming down stairs he got up and picked up the highchair and went inside. One by one everyone said good morning to Angel and Cordelia. If their help wasn't needed in the kitchen then they helped set the table. The only people absent were Buffy, Spike, Wesley and Fred. Toby came running down the stairs with Connor and made a bee line for the back doors. Fred's father was the closest one to the back door so he opened it for him and followed him outside. When he heard Cordelia say that breakfast was ready he called Toby and they both went back in. Connor had already made breakfast for him. Since Toby was still under a year old and growing he ate three times a day. Connor thought he would reduce it to twice a day next week.

Since Angel was drinking his breakfast today he was being a good father and feeding his daughter.

Mrs. Burkle was watching Angel and Kathleen. "Cordelia now that Kathleen is eating solid foods are you still nursing her?" "Yes but I only do it in the morning and at night. If her gums are hurting her she tends to bite down on my nipple. Within another month or so she should be completely weaned." "Yeah then they'll be all mine again and I won't have to share them with you any more." Everyone but Mr. Price laughed at Angel. Cordelia yelled at him. "Angel, we have guests that aren't used to the fact that you're a pervert."

"I am going to find someplace that will make a T-Shirt for you that says MINE on each breast, then underneath it will say "Don't Touch - Her Husband. That way then everyone will know that they belong to me and that you're married." Angel smiled at his daughter. "In my village when a baby boy was finally weaned the father gave a party because the final physical ties to his mother were finally cut. I didn't get to do that with Connor but I will when we have our baby boy or boys."

"Well that won't be for a while yet. I don't intend to get pregnant again for another 3 or 4 years at least." Cordelia said as a statement of fact and not just wishful thinking.

Buffy and Spike came down stairs just at the right time. They headed for the buffet and then took their seats.

"You better be careful Spike or that kid is going to come out and start poking you in the head with her finger." Angel said jokingly. "Never happen. Haven't you noticed your not hearing any noise coming from our bedroom any more?" "Now that you mentioned it I haven't heard the walls shaking." Connor said. "No wonder I've been able to sleep later. Thanks guys." "Don't mention it little brother." Spike said. They all laughed because they used to all hear Buffy and Spike having sex.

"Why do you call Connor Little Brother?" Mrs. Price asked. Spike was kind of hesitant to answer Mrs. Price. He looked at Angel and Angel nodded okay.

"It's kind of an ongoing joke between us. Angelus was Drusilla's sire and Drusilla was my sire. Now usually your sire teaches you all of the rules that Vampires live by and they also teach you how to kill to get the blood you need to survive on. My sire, Drusilla was mentally unbalanced so Angelus took over my training. I looked to him to teach me everything. As a joke I tease him about either being my father or my grandfather which ever suites the current situation. So sometimes I call Connor Uncle or brother. That's also why Angel can tell me to jump and I say how high."

"What happened to your sire Drusilla?" Mrs. Price asked.

"Angelus killed her Felicity. Now don't ask anymore questions. I never wanted you to be tainted by such things. That's why I took such great pains to protect you from such things." Mr. Price said. "Yes dear." Felicity answered obediently.

Angel most definitely did not like Mr. Price and he sure didn't like the way he treated his wife or his son.

Angel was going to say something but then he saw the look on his Mothers face so he kept his mouth shut.

"If you are done Felicity we will visit our son for a while." Felicity stood up and Mr. Price took her by the hand and they went upstairs. Dr. Martin saw Angel start to get up so she said "I think I'll go up with you so I can check on my patient." Without saying anything else Dr. Martin followed Mr. and Mrs. Price upstairs.

Mr. Price never stayed long. He would always start saying something that would cause Wesley's heart to start beating faster. Either Wesley would finally say something to make his father leave or the person that was keeping watch over the visit would suggest that Mr. Price leave. His removal didn't help Wesley very much though because it always took him thirty minutes or more to settle down. Occasionally Felicity would stay, other times Mr. Price would insist that she come with him.

This morning after Mr. Price left Wesley talked to Dr. Martin about why his father had such control over him. Dr. Martin started checking Wesley. Some times, keeping her hands busy helped her to think.

Cylindia came over to the bed to assist her. "Sit up Wesley so that I can take these bandages off and check the surgical area." Wesley sat up straight so Dr. Martin could check his back first. As she started to take the bandage off she put on her other hat.

"Wesley have you ever read the explanation for why women, or men, will stay in a bad marriage or relationship where they are beaten repeatedly by their spouse and yet stay with them? They call the police all of the time to help them but they never press charges and they usually don't want the spouse to be put in jail."

"Yes I have. The one that is the receiver doesn't feel that they deserve anything better because their persecutor constantly berates them or beats them. Their persecutor does all of this in order to control their victim."

"Yes that is exactly why but do you know that it is also used by parents to control their children. Your father berates you all of the time doesn't he? In fact he doesn't think that you can ever do anything right does he?"

"No he doesn't. I don't ever seem to be able to please him." Dr. Martin replaced the bandage on his back with a new one. The surgical area wasn't healing very well. She had him sit back again and started on his chest.

"Do your parents often tell you 'Be a good boy Wesley and do what you are told to do.' Your mother always reaffirms what your father says by telling you that you should be thankful for what your father does for you, or be a good boy and do what your father says."

Wesley thought about what Dr. Martin had said. "Yes they did say things like that."

"They didn't know what kind of damage they were doing Wesley. They didn't know or understand that what they were doing was setting you up to be controlled. Now even though you understand what is happening you can't keep from feeling as though you are betraying them or that you are being disobedient, am I not right?" "Yes, I feel terrible for talking to my father like that." Wesley had more to say but he didn't want to say it in front of Cylindia. Dr. Martin saw him look at her.

"Cylindia I can manage from here would you excuse us for awhile please." "Of course Dr. Martin. I need to go to the store, if you don't mind?" "Sure, take your time." When she left Dr. Martin pulled over a chair and sat down. She had removed the bandages from Wesley's chest and was just letting some air get to them.

"Go ahead Wesley I believe you wanted to say something." Wesley put his head down and was thinking of how to phrase what he wanted to say. He ran his hand over his face as though to chase away the cobwebs that clogged the pathways of his mind.

"Dr. Martin I feel as though I am going against Gods commandment of 'Honor thy Father and thy Mother'. I feel like I am failing both of my parents and God. When I was single it didn't make much difference because I was only affecting my life and no one else, but now I have Fred and our children that I have to consider. My love for them is what gave me the courage to speak up and refuse my fathers orders. I still can't get it out of my mind though that I was wrong in doing it. I think that this conflict that is going on in my head is what is causing me to heal so slowly. I know that this is illogical but I can't help feeling like I am being a bad person for doing this." When he was done Wesley was quietly crying . Dr. Martin went to the other side of the bed and sat next to him. She carefully pulled Wesley into her arms. He held onto her and cried until he couldn't cry anymore.

"Angel is lucky to have you. I wish my mother had more of a backbone and had been able to protect me like I've seen you stand up for him." When Wesley was able to control him self he laid back down again. Dr. Martin gave him some Kleenex so that he could wipe his face and blow his nose.

"Wesley, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself and your family. God gave us the commandment that we should honor our mother and father but he also said that when a man takes a wife he should leave his parents home and become as one with his wife. Your first duty is to your wife and family Wesley but when you talk to your parents you should speak to them with the honor that you owe them. It doesn't mean that you have to do what they say but you cannot demean them or treat them in a way that would show disrespect. You did pretty good last night and so did Angel. Both of you spoke without raising your voice. I think though that I would of preferred to talk to them in private so that I didn't embarrass them. I know that they don't take that into consideration when they speak to you but you have to remember that they have been dealing with you since you were a baby. And Wesley don't think too badly of your mother. Remember she has been under the same treatment as you have."

"I understand what you're saying but right now I have a tremendous headache from just thinking about all of this." Fred soaked a hand towel in a bowl of ice and went to Wesley's bed and put it on his forehead. Dr. Martin got off of the bed so that Fred could take care of her husband. Fred went to the other side of the bed and laid down beside him and told him to rest his head on her chest like he did yesterday.

"I am going to leave now Wesley and Fred. When he wakes up again Fred put the pajama top on him. I am going to tell Cylindia to put a light bandage on his chest after she baths him later today. I want you to lay on your right side for as long as possible Wesley so that you can take the pressure off of your back and that should help the incision to heal faster then it is. Go to sleep now." She gave him a kiss on his forehead then left and closed the door after her.

Dr. Martin gave Cylindia her orders for the day when she came back. During the rest of the morning everyone helped Cordelia perform a light cleaning of the hotel. After lunch most of them took a nap since they were going to be up until late that night. By six o'clock Cordelia had handed over Kathleen to Hunter. They all then piled into Cordelia and Connors vans and they were on their way to Disneyland.

The first thing they did was have dinner. Angel was looking at everything as though he was a child. His eyes would go wide at the sight of such things as simple as the ride at the Mad Hatters Tea Party. Spike and Angel just had to go on all of the rides. Gunn and Connor of course matched them ride for ride. Buffy and Cordelia were having almost as much fun as the guys just from watching them act like a bunch of teenagers. All of the older people, as they were referred to, took the more slow rides and occupied their time with sight seeing. By 11 p.m. they were all making their way towards Main Street and the exit. Angel was loaded down with gifts for his little girl. When he wanted to buy a huge Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear Cordelia had to put her foot down. "Angel if you buy that someone will have to be left behind and where are we going to put it when we get it home." "Okay, okay. What if I get you one also will you let me buy one for Kathleen?" Cordelia's reply was a dirty look. Angel put the bear back.

It was a weary bunch of people that loaded up in the vans. When they arrived back at the hotel Spike had to carry Buffy upstairs. She was pregnant, bone weary and had fallen asleep on the return trip home. As usual Connor was in the kitchen making himself a sandwich. Toby was outside and taking care of his business before they went upstairs for the night. Gunn had already made his sandwich and gone upstairs.

When Cordelia and Angel went into their bedroom they found Kathleen in her crib sound asleep and Hunter sleeping on the couch. Angel carefully picked her up and took her to her own bedroom. He removed her shoes and covered her up with a quilt then returned to his own bedroom. Cordelia was already in bed and sleeping when he returned. Angel turned the lights off and removed his own clothes then carefully crawled into bed.

Felicity was tired also when she crawled into bed beside her husband. Since he was still awake she spent the next thirty minutes telling him all about her outing. Mr. Price laid in the bed thinking about how he was losing control of his son and wife. He was blaming Angel and the rest of the people in the hotel for that. Mr. Price was awake way into the night. He was constantly thinking of how his son had been deceived into working with these Vampires. 'This is a den of iniquity. Humans being tricked into mating with these demons from hell so that they can produce their demon spawn. Someone had to put a stop to it. How could Giles allow this to happen.' Thoughts like this ran through Mr. Prices mind over and over again until he carefully got out of the bed so that he wouldn't wake up his wife. He put his robe on and made his way downstairs.

Noise in the hallway woke Toby from a sound sleep. He was nice and comfortable in the new bed that Connor had bought for him just the other day. He was curious as to the source of the noise so he got up and put his nose to the door that Connor usually left ajar these days so that Toby could go outside in the night if he had to go. Connor had installed a pet door just several days ago so that Toby had easy access to the back garden now. As he went down the stairs he saw Mr. Price at the weapons cabinet. Since he was an accepted guest in the house by the other humans Toby went on to the back door to take care of his own business. On his return he found that the human had closed the doors to the weapons cabinet and his nose told him that he had gone back upstairs.

Toby heard some noise in his playmates room. He knew that this was were Kathleen slept because of her smell being all over the room. Usually the door was closed but he found it to be open when he pushed his nose against the door. The scent from the man from downstairs was also in here. Toby smelled blood in the air. The man was now standing over the crib with his hand raised. He had something in his hand and somehow Toby knew that this man meant to hurt Kathleen. Within the next second he pushed the door open and attacked the man. Although Toby was still a puppy he had grown enough so that he had all of his adult teeth and the size and strength to push the man away from the crib and hold him on the floor. Toby just stood over Mr. Price, bared his teeth and growled at him. Mr. Price was so afraid that he didn't move.

Spike and Connor were the first to enter the bedroom. Connor immediately pulled Toby off of Mr. Price. Spike smelled the blood though. He called out to Angel and Cordelia but they didn't respond. Connor turned the lights on just as everyone else came to the door. Spike went to the bed. Mr. Price had apparently tried to dust Angel. He went to the crib and checked Kathleen. Lying next to her was a spike and on the floor was a mallet. Apparently Toby had stopped him before he could kill her.

Spike returned to the bed and checked Cordelia's pulse. It was beating fast. He let out a breath of relief. Dr. Martin came in then and ran to the bed. "My God what happened. When she looked at the bed she saw a spike going through Cordelia's hand and then into Angels chest. Since he was still here and not dust it was apparent that the spike had missed his heart. Blood was slowly seeping from the wound. Dr. Martin made a move to pull the spike out of Cordelia and Angel but Spike put his hand on hers and stopped her.

"Don't pull it out until we are ready to move him. The spike went through the aorta that comes from his heart and then to his brain. We have to think of a way to get both Cordelia and Angel down to the clinic without removing the spike. When Mr. Price struck Angel with the spike Cordelia must have moved her hand over his heart at the last second and somehow her hand pushed the spike further up."

Dr. Martin also saw blood coming from both Cordelia and Angels head. She examined them carefully. "It seems that he hit them on the head first to knock them out. Apparently Cordelia didn't loose consciousness right away. Okay your right we have to move them together. Lets get the gurney up here. We can put both of them on the bed, just put the guard rail up on one side and put Cordelia by the rail and Angel as close as possible." Dr. Martin looked around the room. She went to the crib and checked her granddaughter thoroughly. Then she picked her up and sat at the rocking chair as she continued to hold Kathleen. As she started to rock Kathleen she started to cry. Great soul wrenching sobs. Giles came to her and got on his knees.

"I can't loose them both Rupert I can't. I am the one that should die first." "Mary they are not going to die. Calm down, Angel needs you right now. I promise you that one or two weeks from today he will be all better and we will go to Hawaii for a good rest." "Before we leave Rupert I am going to ask Willow and Tara to put a spell on this place that will prevent anyone from leaving or for any strangers from coming in. Then I am going to lock them in their rooms so that they can't get into any trouble okay." Giles laughed and smoothed a wayward lock of hair from her face. Her nose was running so he gave her his handkerchief. Mary blew her nose then gave it back to him. "Well some times I've wanted to do that with Buffy but then I realized that she would just break the door down." Giles said.

Giles gave Mary a kiss and hug then he took Kathleen from her and put her in her crib. He turned then and spotted Hunter. "Can you help her get ready to do what she has to do." "Yes Giles, Mary will be just fine she just needed to let some of the tension out."

Hunter put her arm around Mary's shoulder and guided her downstairs. She stopped when she saw everyone in the hallway. "I'm sorry everyone even good old Mom's pot on the stove can boil over. Where is Mr. Price Gunn?" "We took him to his room and Spike gave him a sedative. He should sleep for the next eight hours. He thinks he had a nervous breakdown. Willow is going to check for the earliest flight to England." "Are you going to have someone stand by his door." Mary asked. "Willow is going to put a spell on the room so that he can't get out." "Good, thank you Gunn but tell her that I would like her to wait on that flight. I would like to talk to him first. I heard that he was stopped before he could kill Kathleen. Who stopped him?"

"Connor said Toby did." Gunn said. "And where is our hero that saved my granddaughter. Toby, Toby where are you?" Toby came out of Connors room and stood in front of Mary. As though to say 'Here I am.' Mary got on her knees and hugged Toby. "Thank you Toby, thank you for saving Kathleen. I promise that as soon as I can I am going to go out personally and special order the biggest steak that I can. And I am going to order the biggest bone that I can find. It's going to be so big that it will take you a week to chew it down." Toby was wagging his tail so hard that his whole body wagged along with his tail. He licked Dr. Martins face then went into the bedroom and checked on Kathleen by standing on his hind legs. When he was satisfied that she was okay he curled up in front of the crib and stood watch.

"This dog was surely sent by God." Dr. Martin said as she watched him check on his playmate then settle down to guard her from further harm.

Gunn, Connor and Spike had already taken Angel and Cordelia downstairs. Dr. Martin and Hunter hurried downstairs and prepared to repair the damage done to Angel. They were going to have to work fast once they took the spike out of Angels chest. If his heart beat to many times before they were able to repair the tears to the artery Angel could suffer irreparable brain damage because of a lack of oxygen rich blood flowing to his brain.

Ever since Angel had started to become fully human again he didn't heal as fast as he used to and any damage that he suffered caused more pain then what he was used to. The length of time that it took him to heal afterward had increased also. One thing remained the same though. One was that he still could not die unless he had a stake through his heart, his head was decapitated, or his body caught fire from external means or through exposure to the sun.

Dr. Martin, Hunter and Spike talked about how they were going to handle separating Cordelia's hand from Angel. They decided that Spike would take care of Cordelia and Hunter would assist Dr. Martin. Willow came in to help Spike and Giles helped Dr. Martin and Hunter. They cut into Angels chest around the spike as best they could without moving Cordelia's hand to much. They waited for his heart to beat again then quickly removed the spike then Spike picked up Cordelia and moved her to the other bed. Dr. Martin and Hunter worked fast to sew up the artery then waited for his heart to beat again. Within the next minute he took in a breath of air and his heart pumped the oxygen rich blood thru the artery. They watched for any sign of leakage from the sutures. There didn't seem to be any. Dr. Martin told Hunter to use gauze to soak up as much of the blood as possible. She then ran a small stream of water over the area and they used more gauze to soak up the water and blood so she could check for damage any place else. They waited for another 2 minutes then Angel took in another breath of air and his heart pumped the blood again. She couldn't see any blood coming from either the sutures or anywhere else in the area. Dr. Martin took the rib spreader out and repositioned the ribs.

Dr. Martin started to take wire to hold the ribs in their correct position. "I don't think you need those with Angel Mary. His ribs should go back into their correct position by themselves." "Well that's another advantage over poor Wesley that he has. Did you hear what Kathleen calls Wesley?" "No, I was there when she started to say Daddy and Mommy but I didn't hear about anyone else." Hunter said. "She couldn't say Wesley so she said Wesey. It's funny how children can give people new names and those names stick with that person in the family. Can you finish closing him up and I'll check on Cordelia and Spike." "Yes go ahead Giles and I can handle it from here." Hunter said as she took over Dr. Martins position and Giles took Hunters.

Dr. Martin went over to see if Spike needed her help. "Do you need any help Spike?" "No we're about done. She isn't going to be able to use this hand for two to three months but I think it will be okay. The spike pretty much pushed everything to the side and only broke two bones. I haven't had a chance to check her head wound to see how bad it is." "Okay I'll check that." Dr. Martin put another towel underneath Cordelia's head and grabbed a container and filled it with water to clean the area where Mr. Price hit her.

"I don't see any bone showing thru and the cut isn't too deep. We'll just have to wait until she wakes up. I won't start worrying until this afternoon. If she hasn't come around by 12 noon then well take her into the hospital for tests. I'm going to check Angels head."

Dr. Martin cleaned Angels head and found it to be in the same condition. She pressed lightly on the point of contact, the bone gave just fractionally. What ever Mr. Price used to hit him didn't break the skin but did dent his skull. She decided to bandage his head to give it some padding and protection from the area being touched again.

When Hunter was done she started replacing the blood that Angel had lost during the operation. Hunter looked at Dr. Martin. She could see that she was dead tired.

"Giles why don't you take her to her room and put her to bed. We'll take Angel and Cordelia and put them in their own bed in a few minutes. I'll watch over them Mary until they wake up. We don't want Wesley getting upset over this so I am going to make up a story and give him something to make him sleep. Okay?" "That is a good idea Hunter. I know you'll take good care of my babies." Giles caught her as she collapsed. He looked at Hunter as he picked her up in his arms. "She is just exhausted Giles she needs rest. Try making her stay in bed as long as possible tomorrow morning okay." "Now you know that is going to be impossible." Giles gave Hunter a look as though to say 'Don't be ridiculous.'

Giles took his wife upstairs and Spike took Cordelia and put her back in her bed. They both went back downstairs and helped Gunn take Angel upstairs. After they put him in his own bed Hunter hooked him up to a bag of blood again. She remained with them throughout the rest of the night and into the afternoon until they both woke up. Cordelia woke up first.

Cordelia looked around and saw Hunter sleeping on the chair that she had brought over to the side of the bed. Hunter's Vampire hearing woke her up. She quickly went over to Cordelia's side of the bed.

"Hunter, what are you doing in here?" She tried to move her left hand to push her hair back. Her eyes grew wide when she felt the pain in her left hand and raised it up to look at it. "What happened to me?" Cordelia started to get up to check on Kathleen.

Hunter pushed her back down on the bed. "Cordelia calm down Kathleen is okay she is just sleeping right now." Cordelia looked over at Angel and saw the bulky bandage over his chest. "Oh my God what happened to Angel?" Hunter raised her voice in order to get through to Cordelia's rising panic.

"Cordelia if you don't get control of yourself I am going to give you a tranquilizer that will put you to sleep until next week. Now lay down and calm down." Cordelia laid back down cradled her hand and looked at Hunter.

"Now I don't want you to say or do anything until I stop talking, all right?" Cordelia just nodded her okay.

"Early this morning around 3 A.M. we all heard Toby fighting with someone. When we came in we saw that Toby had Wesley's father on the floor in front of Kathleen's crib, he was standing over him and growling. Spike went over to the crib and checked on Kathleen. She was okay but next to her was a wooden spike and a mallet on the floor right by Mr. Prices hand. He was obviously trying to kill her when Toby stopped him. You should have seen him Cordelia he had Mr. Price on the floor and was standing over him when we all came in. Toby saved Kathleen. Anyway when Spike checked on you and Angel he found you with your hand on top of Angels chest just fractionally above his heart. Mr. Price apparently tried to kill Angel but you must have moved your hand just before he struck the spike. So instead of putting the stake through Angels heart he drove the spike through your hand and through to Angels chest and through one of the arteries. We had to take both of you down to the clinic without separating you. If we had removed the spike before, Angel could've had brain damage from the lack of blood. If this had happened as little as a year ago he would have been okay but since he is becoming more human we didn't want to take the chance. So there you have it. Angel will be okay in one to two weeks and you will be okay in two to three months. The spike broke two of the bones in your hand but Spike was able to repair it and he thinks you will be okay. He said you'll probably be stiff but with a little therapy you should be fine."

"Where is Mr. Price?" "I gave him a sedative and he has been quiet. Apparently Mr. Price has had a nervous breakdown of some kind. It seems that he just couldn't except the changes that have taken place with Angel, myself and Spike. He tried to kill Kathleen because he saw her as demon spawn."

"Where is Mom?" "Dr. Martin is sleeping. Cordelia she broke down crying when she saw how close all of you came to dying. After she checked on both of you she picked up Kathleen and just rocked her and hugged her. She started crying real hard. We could see her whole body shaking she was crying so hard. When Giles went to her she told him that none of you should die before she does. She was able to control herself for long enough to repair the artery in Angels chest. Then she checked on you. When she felt you two were okay she collapsed. Fortunately Giles was behind her and he caught her. I told him that she just needed to sleep and he was to make her stay in bed and rest for as long as possible. We were going to send Wesley's parents back to England but Dr. Martin told us to keep him here until she had time to talk to him. Dr. Mary Tares Martin is one in a million Cordelia. You are very lucky to have her as part of your family. Angel is going to be out of it probably until tomorrow I want you to try to get some more sleep. Are you hungry?" "Yes but I think I will just sleep for now. Would you wake me when Angel wakes up?" "Yes I promise." Cordelia laid back down and turned towards Angel, wrapped her arm around his and went back to sleep. Hunter went back to her chair and picked up the book that she had been reading before she fell asleep.

"Hunter." "Yes Cordelia." "Does Wesley know what happened?" "No, I gave him something to make him sleep for a good eight hours." "Good because he is going to take this real hard. Oh and Hunter please don't tell Angel what happened to Kathleen. He might do something that he will regret later." "Don't worry Cordelia Mary said that she would talk to both Angel and Wesley after she got a chance to talk with Mr. Price. Go back to sleep now." Cordelia closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Later that night Angel started to stir in his sleep. He was dreaming of being in Spain during the running of the Bulls. He was running with the rest of the men when he ran down one side street and a large bull came after him. It was raining and he could hear the water falling from the roofs and down the sides and to the streets below. The bull had him cornered at a dead end. He looked at Angel and charged. At the last second Angel moved to the side, grabbed the bulls head and twisted it until it went down. He put his Vampire features on and bit into the bulls neck. He was famished so he drank and drank deeply. Angel woke up with a start. He had a powerful urge to pee and he was hungry.

He looked around and saw Hunter. Angel tried to get up but his chest hurt him. He put his hand to his chest and felt a large bandage. He looked to Hunter who was sleeping. "Hunter, Hunter wake up." He said softly. Hunter woke up and put her hand on his arm. "Angel how do you feel?" "Before I ask any questions I have an overwhelming urge to pee and then I am starving."

Hunter got up and helped Angel to sit up. He was weak but already he had healed enough so that he could make it to his bathroom. "Do you need me to come in with you?" Hunter asked with a slight grin on her face. "No I think I can make it myself thank you." She walked him into the bathroom until he could hold onto the counter. She lifted the toilet seat for him then left and stood at the door. "Remember now Angel, you pee 'INTO THE TOILET' not around it but in it." She said with a mischievous grin.

"Yes Hunter thank you."

When he was done Angel opened the door and turned the light off. He immediately reached for Hunters shoulder. She started to guide him back to the bed. "I want to sit at my favorite chair." Angel said as he turned her and started for the chair. He sat down heavily. "What would you like Angel?" "I want a large glass of blood and a sandwich. I am so hungry I was dreaming I was eating a bull."

Hunter warmed up a large mug of blood and made a sandwich for Angel, Cordelia and herself. She put two glasses of Diet Cola on the coffee table and sandwiches for all three of them along with the mugs of blood for herself and Angel. She went to wake up Cordelia then.

Hunter shook Cordelia's shoulder gently. "Cordelia wake up. Angel has awakened and is sitting up at his chair. I've made some food for everyone. Do you want to go to the bathroom first before you join us?" "Yes I think I better." She let Hunter help her up. She was a little dizzy as she sat up, Hunter made her sit for a while. "Do you feel okay now?" "Yes I think so." Cordelia stood up and Hunter held onto her as she helped her to the bathroom. She let her go when she reached for the counter and waited outside.

After 10 minutes Cordelia came out but now she was able to walk on her own. She went to the crib and checked on her daughter. Kathleen was awake and happy to see her mother. She reached up and Cordelia picked her up. She was too weak to pick her up though and almost dropped her. "Hunter would you pick her up for me. I almost dropped her when I picked her up. I need to nurse her, my breasts are so full that they're hurting." Hunter picked Kathleen up and let Cordelia hold onto her arm as she walked over to the couch. Cordelia got comfortable then reached for Kathleen. As soon as she put her to her breast Kathleen started suckling hungrily. Hunter had run out of the milk that Cordelia had in the refrigerator from when she had used a breast pump two days before.

"Let me get you some of the regular Coke Cordelia. You need the sugar right now. While your feeding Kathleen try eating your sandwich also or your going to be too weak." "Here I'll help you I've eaten and feel stronger now." Angel said as he went to the side of the couch and handed Cordelia the sandwich.

While Angel helped Cordelia Hunter was on the phone and calling Dr. Martin. "They're awake Mary. ...No I haven't given them any information yet. Okay bye." Hunter dialed another number. "Hi Gunn this is Hunter. Dr. Martin would like for you to help Wesley come over to Angels room. Bring Fred also. Thanks, bye." Next call was to Connor. She told him to come down to his fathers room and it was okay to bring Toby, the Hero. She laughed at something Connor said then hung up the phone and went back to sit on the floor in front of the coffee table and ate her sandwich. Her blood was cold though so she had to get up again and warm it up.

By the time Hunter was done warming her mug of blood up and sat down again everyone started coming in. Connor was first with Toby. Toby came running over to Angel and almost jumped in his lap when he put his breaks on, he sensed that something was wrong with him. He went over to him more slowly then and sniffed at his chest. He didn't like the smell of the Betadyne on him though and started sneezing. So he went over to Cordelia and Kathleen. He tried licking Kathleen's face but Kathleen was at her mothers breast and Kathleen saw his intrusion as his attempt to get the milk that she wanted so she pushed him away and Connor called him to sit by him.

Gunn came in with Wesley and Fred then. Cordelia sat up so that they could sit down on the couch. Fred sat next to Cordelia and Wesley sat next to her. Wesley looked at Angel chest and Cordelia's hand. "What happened to you two." "I don't know we haven't been told yet. I think Mom will be explaining everything that's why she wanted all of us in here." Angel sat back into his chair since Cordelia finished her sandwich. He looked at Wesley and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Wesley asked. "I was just thinking of something that young children say."

"What's that?" Wesley asked. Angel bent forward and pulled the edge of the bandage away a little. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." "You dirty guy you." Wesley said. Everyone cracked up. Dr. Martin walked in with Giles at just the right time. "Who is showing what to whom?"

"I was just thinking of what children say and I thought it fit our situation right now."

"Okay Wesley and Angel I am going to tell you what happened last night. Angel you and Cordelia don't know what happened because you were sleeping when you were attacked. Wesley you don't know what happened because we didn't think it would be good for you to get to worked up at the time so Hunter gave you a sedative to make you sleep." "Why do you think that I would get upset at what happened?" "Wesley calm down your already starting to get to excited. I can hear your heart starting to beat faster." Hunter said. Wesley took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"Okay this is what happened. Angel Mr. Price, Wesley's father came in your room early this morning and attempted to kill you and your daughter." Angel stood up a little too fast and almost past out on the coffee table. Dr. Martin pushed him back into his chair. "That should teach you now lets not get excited until you've heard me out." Angel took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "Okay I'm calm I promise not to do or say anything."

"As I was saying, fortunately for you Angel Cordelia had her left hand on your chest and apparently at the last split second she moved her hand up your chest just a fraction as Mr. Price was about to hit the spike with the mallet. That fractional movement saved your life and the spike went through Cordelia's hand and into the artery that comes from your heart and up to your brain. Neither one of you responded because he had hit you both on the head first just to make sure you didn't wake and stop him. After he drove the spike into you Angel he went to Kathleen's crib with another spike. He was about to kill Kathleen when her playmate and hero came in and saved her." "Who was her hero?" Angel asked. "Her hero was Toby. He came in and apparently sensed that Mr. Price was going to hurt Kathleen and he attacked him and had him on the floor when Connor came in."

Angel sat forward and called to Toby. Toby looked to Connor to see if it was okay to go since Connor had given him the order to come and sit by him. Connor gave him the okay and Toby went to Angel. Angel sat back in his chair and patted his leg so Toby would stand up against his leg. Angel patted his head and rubbed his ears then hugged him. "I thank God for the day he led me to you Toby." Angel had tears falling when he let Toby go.

"I already promised him the biggest steak I can possibly find and a bone that will be so big that it will take him a week to chew it down." Dr. Martin said.

Cordelia had changed Kathleen to her other breast so her head was close to the end of the couch where Toby could reach her. When Angel let him go he went over to Kathleen and started to lick her hair and ear. When he was sure that his playmate was okay he went back to Connor.

"Where is Mr. Price now?" "He's in his room. Willow put a spell on the room so that it won't allow him out. I talked to your father this morning Wesley he just can't except the changes that have taken place with Angel, Spike and Hunter. He believes Kathleen is a demon also and he decided that the only way to make us see the truth of what they are was to kill them. After he was done killing Angel and Kathleen he was going to go after Spike and Hunter. Your father has a very harsh way of looking at Vampires and demons. He believes that once a Vampire always a human killing blood sucking Vampire and the same goes for demons. He refuses to believe that Angel could have possibly fathered Connor and Kathleen. I explained to him the medical proof of Angels ability to produce children. I even showed him the readout from the heart monitor. For a while I think he was beginning to believe me. Your mother certainly does. But then it was like his own personnel demon took over and he said it was all witch craft that Angel used to produce these results. Giles said it is harder for your father to except what we now know to be true because he has been doing the work for so long and what they were taught back in your fathers day was taught in such a way that they were practically being taught the gospel truth. I think Wesley that it will just be impossible for him to come here again. In his heart and mind I think that he understands and knows that what I have told him is true. He especially believes it because of my background as a former nun.

Wesley if you choose to go and see him do not argue with him. I think that if we push him to far then he will break. I have seen patients before that has been shown something that they don't want to believe and when they are forced to accept it as reality then they retreat into themselves. I think it would be better to just send him home. Don't force him to talk about what he did okay?"

"Yes I'll be careful. Angel I am very sorry for what happened and I apologize to both you and Cordelia. If he had been successful in killing you and Kathleen I think I would have killed him myself." Wesley said. Angel looked at Wesley and saw it in his face that he meant every word he said.

Angel came over and sat on the coffee table across from Wesley. "Wesley don't say that. I wouldn't want you to suffer what I have. Their isn't a day that goes by that Angelus doesn't remind me that I killed my father so willingly. Tell him that I forgive him for trying to kill me. If he had been successful in killing my daughter though I would have done something that I haven't done in many years. I would have sired my first Vampire since World War II and I would have done it because I know that it would have made his suffering last for many years to come. But thanks to God and Toby she is safe once again in her mothers arms. I think my boss knew that losing Kathleen would have been to much for me and I would have failed miserably." Angel stood up then and so did Wesley. Angel and Wesley did something very unmacho and hugged each other.

He pulled away from Wesley then and said 'You show me yours and I'll show you mine.' They both opened their robes and Wesley pulled the light bandage off that Hunter had put on. He showed the long incision that the doctors had made on him. It went from the upper part of his left side then down to the middle and a little to the side. Angel pulled his bandage off and showed a healing wound that was only one third the length of Wesley's. Wesley pointed at the small incision on Angel. "Hah! What a wimp that's not much more then a scratch. Now mine, mine is a surgical scar and I have the one on my back plus they went in a second time through the front one." Cordelia looked at the other women and said 'Men can find pride in the smallest things.'

Dr. Martin stood up then. "Wesley you should go and see your Father and Mother now. I'll tell Willow to make the reservations with the first flight out to England." Wesley nodded then helped Fred to get up and they went out of the door. Before going to his parents room though Wesley wanted to take a shower and get dressed. Since he was still having a hard time bending over he asked Cylindia to help him.

After everyone left Dr. Martin stayed behind. Angel went to his bed along with Cordelia and Kathleen. Dr. Martin noticed that Cordelia wouldn't put her daughter down in her crib or let anyone else hold her. She put Kathleen between Angel and herself.

"You know Cordelia, you won't be able to keep her safe 100 of the time. She is getting very close to walking and when that happens she will fight you all the time trying to get out of your grasp so that she could start exploring." Dr. Martin said. She knew how Cordelia felt, she had wanted to do the same thing with the children that came into the clinic that the Sisters ran. Sometimes small children were brought in with bullet wounds from drive by shootings or with broken bones from fathers that came home drunk and took all of their problems out on the oldest male child. All she could really do though is patch them up and pray that their suffering would soon end.

Cordelia looked at Dr. Martin with tears in her eyes. "I know Mom but allow me this small allusion just for awhile." "Okay Cordelia but when you finally want to let go I get first dibs." "Okay Mom I promise. Goodnight." Dr. Martin sat down next to Angel. He reached for her hand and held onto it for awhile.

"Angel you did real good tonight. I am very proud of you. If your not careful I am going to have to give you my psychiatrist hat and your going to allow me to retire." Angel smiled at first then he was quiet for a while. He ran his hand up and down her arm while he was thinking.

"Mom do you think my boss was pleased with the way I responded today?" "Yes he most certainly is." "I am afraid that he is angry with me because of what I said about what I would of done if Mr. Price had killed Kathleen." "Angel God only lets things happen that he knows we can handle. He knew that Kathleen's death would be more than you could handle."

"You better go now Mom or Giles will be coming after you. I know that you've been very tired lately so go to bed okay?" "Yes dear, goodnight." Kathleen was sitting up and looking at her Grandmother. Dr. Martin picked her up. "I am so happy that you are still with us little one. I don't know what would of happen to all of us if we had lost you. I think that I would have died if I had lost all of you." Dr. Martin couldn't control herself anymore. She started crying and Angel sat up and hugged her to his chest. Cordelia moved closer also and hugged her. Poor Kathleen was being squished between all of them so she let out a cry. They all separated and looked down at her. "I'm sorry baby. We almost squished you between us. Grandmas sorry. Can you say Grandma?" Kathleen looked at her then turned away and Dr. Martin gave her back to Cordelia.

"Well I guess we can try it tomorrow Kathleen, Good night." Dr. Martin turned to leave when she heard Kathleen say something. "Gama." Dr. Martin turned around and was wearing a big smile then she left and they could hear her running down to her room to tell Giles that Kathleen had called her Gama. Poor Angel and Cordelia didn't get to go to sleep right away because Kathleen didn't feel like going to sleep.

When Wesley was ready Fred went with him down to his parents room. He knocked on the door. He had already called Willow to remove the spell so that he could go in and out. His mother opened the door. Wesley bent forward and gave his mother a kiss. "Good evening mother." "Good evening Wesley. How are you doing today?" "Much better and Angel and Cordelia are doing okay also in case you were wondering."

Wesley went over to the kitchen table where his father was sitting while having some tea. He was dressed in his usual clothes. "How are you doing this evening father? I hope your not too disappointed that Angel and his daughter are still alive." Wesley didn't say anything else for a while he wanted to see if his father would offer any sign of regret for what he had done.

"If you think I am going to say I am sorry for what I did you're sadly mistaken. I was only attempting to dispatch a Vampire and its progeny. I am only sorry that I wasn't successful."

"Father I want you to know that Angel has forgiven you for trying to kill him. He has also said that if you had been successful in killing his daughter he would have done something that he hasn't done since World War II. Do you know what that was Father?" "All records of Angelus during World War II show that he went underground for the duration and there is no recorded activity."

"That's partly true because he did do something before he went underground. He performed a secret mission for the government. There was a German submarine that they had lost contact with. They found it way below the surface of the ocean it had sunk because it's diesel engine had stopped working. The United States government knew what the cargo was that they were carrying. It was a secret payload of demons and Vampires that they were going to try to use during the war. Angel was approached by a group of men that knew what he was and that he could stay underwater for an extended period. They forced him to go down to the submarine and perform a rescue. What he found was the payload had escaped and had killed the majority of the sailors. Only a handful of men were still alive when he got there. One of the men was a young lieutenant that knew how to run the diesel engine. During a scuffle for the control of the sub the lieutenant was shot and was close to death. The only way to save the humans that were left was to get the engine running again or else they would soon die from lack of oxygen. Angel chose to turn the young lieutenant so that he could fix the engine and save the rest of the crew. That was the last time that he did that Father but he said he would do it again to you so that you could learn what it was like to live as he has had to live. Worst of all Father you would have been reminded for the rest of your existence on this earth that you killed an innocent baby for no reason."

"That's ridiculous I wouldn't know anything or control myself since a demon would be in control." "Father with Willows help Angel has given 3 Vampires their soul back. Willow is the one that, with Giles help, has interpreted the curse that gave Angels soul back to him. Jenny Calender was a teacher at Sunnydale High School and a member of the family that cursed Angel so many years ago. Before she could use the spell to give him his soul back again Angelus killed her. Willow found the spell on a diskette and they used it to return his soul. I am sure you know the rest from the Watchers Chronicles. He was going to do the same thing to you."

Wesley was getting tired. He leaned back on the couch and rested his head. His mother went to his side. "You should go back to your bed and rest Wesley." "Do you have any orange juice or Cola in your refrigerator. I think my blood sugar is a little low right now. I haven't been eating very well lately." "Yes dear we have some root beer and some orange juice. Which one do you want." "Root beer please." Wesley answered. "No Mrs. Price he will have the orange juice. You don't need the sugar rush Wesley." "Yes dear." Wesley said, he didn't feel like he had the energy to argue. His mother brought him a glass of orange juice and while he was drinking it Giles knocked at the door and Felicity let him in.

"Good evening Mrs. Price." "Please Rupert I think we have known each other long enough to call each other by our first names." "Okay Felicity I just came by to let you know that Willow was able to get you and Roger 2 first class tickets on the next flight to England which will be at 6 A.M. in the morning. We will have to leave here by 4 A.M.. Felicity Angel asked me to send you down to his suite of rooms. Wesley if you would like to leave now and go to Angels room you can and I will stay here with your Father."

Wesley stood up carefully, he felt better after having the orange juice. He looked at his Father.

"Father I am truly sorry that we have to part like this. As my father I love you but you've been so cruel to me and to mother for so long that you've beaten my love for you until it's in a very small corner of my heart. I don't feel anything for you anymore at least I can't find the feeling anymore. I haven't replaced my love for you with hate but I am angry with you for not letting me love you. Unless Mother dies before you do I most likely won't see you again. And don't prevent Mother from coming here when my children are born or I will come and get her myself. Good bye Father." Wesley turned then and left along with Fred.

Giles came and sat down after Wesley and Fred left. He made sure that the door was closed before sitting down. If the door was not properly shut then the spell would not work properly and Mr. Price could get out if he wanted to. Giles didn't say anything as he took his seat. Mr. Price stared out at the city lights through the opened french doors.

"Why is the patio screened off along with metal bars? Is this where you put all of your prisoners?" "No of course not Roger. When Cordelia was pregnant they had all of the hotel redone to make it safe for children. Lead paint was removed. All of the hotel was made child proof along with the kitchen being rebuilt and the clinic being created. Those that wanted a larger suite of rooms had there rooms extended into the next rooms and everyone kind of moved over. They did this because the place is going to be filled with children within the next several years. Through Mary, St. Michael the Archangel, who is Angels guardian angel has told everyone what they will be doing the rest of their life. The instructions have even included Wesley's instructions as to when he will die. Wesley will be the last to die of the original Angel Investigation group. His job will be to make sure that all of the children go to school and take the proper classes to do their assigned tasks. Fred will be the one to choose the children to take over certain tasks. Angels children of course already have their assigned tasks. Connor will take over from Angel as the leader of Angel Investigation, Kathleen will take over Cordelia and Willows place. We have been told that Cordelia will have twin boys sometime within the next five years or so. These boys will be taught to work with Connor and trained to take over from him if something should happen to him. Among the other children Fred will choose which ones go to school to take over from Wesley and Gunn. She will also choose the ones that will take over from my Mary. The ones that take over from her will have the most schooling to go through.

So you see Roger when you tried killing Angel and Kathleen you were going against Gods orders. Angel is Gods champion in this world but strictly for the night."

"Do you think that Angel would possibly let me stay a little longer?" Mr. Price asked. Giles was shocked that Roger was actually questioning his own actions.

"No Roger, Angel has already told Willow that he wanted you out of the hotel as soon as possible. He has made it clear that Felicity could stay if she wanted to but you must leave. He just can't take the chance that you would try to complete what you started. He isn't that concerned with himself he is just trying to make sure that you aren't given the opportunity to kill Kathleen again. As the head of the Watchers Council Roger I am removing you from the Watchers Council. I have already notified personnel that you are to be offered early retirement. I want the younger people coming into the Watchers Council to have a more open mind and compassion for those that they are assigned to watch and teach as with the Slayers. I can't have you passing on your way of looking at things' Roger." Roger Price just continued to stare out at the lights of the night. One tear fell down his face and that was the only physical reaction that he gave to Giles news. Roger Price had lived by two rules all of his life. His father had followed the same rules throughout his life. 'Never say you're sorry and never admit to a mistake.' Even though Roger hated his father for the way he treated his mother he still followed those same rules.

"Why can't we learn from our fathers mistakes Rupert?" "I don't know Roger. If you try maybe you can at least try to make up for all of the damage you have already done with Felicity. You've lost your son Roger but you still have your wife make the best of your remaining years together." Mr. Price didn't say anymore after that. Giles and Mr. Price spent the rest of the time in silence. Roger Price had a lot to think about.

Felicity knocked at Angel's bedroom door. "Come in Mrs. Price." Angel said. He had put some clothes on while waiting for Mrs. Price. "Come in Mrs. Price and have a seat." Angel pulled out one of the kitchen table chairs for her and she sat down sedately. Angel had liked Felicity from the moment he saw her. She reminded him of the women of his time before he was turned.

"Can I get anything for you, tea or coffee?" "No thank you Angel Giles has told us that we have to leave by 4 A.M. so I have to be able to sleep tonight." "I am truly sorry Mrs. Price that you have to go. It isn't really you that I need out of the hotel it's your husband. I am sure that you understand that I can't afford to expose my daughter to the danger that your husband presents." "Yes Angel I understand completely. You don't need to explain anything."

"You know Felicity I meant what I said. I do love Wesley like a brother. He has been working with Cordelia and I since almost the beginning of Angel Investigations. I trust him so much that I have put the care of my family in his hands if anything should happen to me. Wesley's worth to us Mrs. Price is not quantifiable. I can't tell you how many times he has saved me. He has even willingly given me his own blood in order for me to continue. I don't know if you know this or not but I get very weak if I go too long without drinking blood. On a number of occasions I have been in a situation that put me in a weakened condition. On those occasions Wesley has actually cut his arm and offered me his own blood. It's because of this that I see him as my brother. It's out of respect for Wesley that I have spared your husband. He was very lucky Mrs. Price that it was Toby that stopped him from killing my daughter instead of Connor or myself.

I am going to ask you one more time Mrs. Price. Please stay a little longer so that you can visit with your son. I know that he misses you and my mother loves having a woman nearer her own age that she can talk to."

"Thank you Angel for the offer but I must be with my husband. I am sure you will agree that just as Cordelia stands with you no matter what you have done I must stand with my husband. Truths have been pointed out to him that he has to deal with now. I can only hope and pray that all that has happened will help to make him a better man."

Cordelia had been sitting at the table with them. She had been holding onto Kathleen all of the time.

"Cordelia may I hold Kathleen for a few minutes?" Felicity asked.

Cordelia looked to Angel. He nodded a yes to her then she reluctantly gave Kathleen to Felicity.

Felicity took her carefully into her arms. She talked to Kathleen as though she could understand everything she said. Kathleen giggled and reached up to Felicity's hair. It was white with age and Felicity kept it short. "Are you starting to wean her now? I can see her front teeth starting to show through." "Yes she is starting to bite down on my nipple and she can sure bite down hard for a little rug rat." Cordelia said as she rubbed her breast.

"Wesley did the same thing to me. The first time he did it I screamed and his Father came running from his office. When I told him what happened all he did was take Wesley from me tossed him in the air and said 'that's my little man already practicing'. Wesley just giggled at him.

"Angel I know it doesn't seem like it but when Wesley was young his father was very proud of him and bragged to his colleagues how smart his son was. Roger loves Wesley very much he just doesn't know how to express himself to our son. His father treated him the same way and that is all Roger knows. I think though that with Mary's help and direction all of you men will be good fathers."

Felicity gave Kathleen back to her mother then got up and pushed her chair back underneath the table. "I think I had better go and try to get some sleep. Thank you Angel and Cordelia for letting us stay here I am truly sorry that Roger did what he did. I think that it will be on his conscience for the rest of his life. Good night and good bye." She gave each of them a kiss on their forehead then turned and left.

"I feel sorry for her that she has to live with such a man. Most of all I feel sorry for Wesley that his mother will never be able to see her grandchildren grow up. She is a very nice lady. Lets go to bed Angel I'm tired. First though since I can't use my left hand your daughter needs you to change her." Cordelia held Kathleen out for Angel to take. She wore the sweetest smile that she could conjure up.

Angel looked at her. "I think I know who is going to get the better part of the deal here. Common my little princess." Angel took Kathleen from Cordelia and quickly changed her. They all went to bed then. Kathleen was in seventh heaven because she was getting to sleep between her Mommy and Daddy.

The next morning, just as she did every morning, Kathleen woke her parents up except this time she was right by them. Angel was sleeping on his stomach so Kathleen grabbed at his hair and pulled. "Daddy, daddy, daddy." Angel turned his head toward her. Angel tried reaching out for her mind. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Kathleen looked at him. She could feel him reaching out for her then a picture appeared in her mind. It was her Mommy, Angel pictured Kathleen putting her hands up on her mommy's back and putting her head down on it.

"Tell Mommy 'Wake up Mommy, wake up'." Angel told his daughter. Kathleen tried saying it but all that came out was 'Mommy up, Mommy up.' Cordelia turned her head towards her daughter. "What do you want you little Rug Rat." "Mommy up." "Tell Daddy Mommy's hand hurts." This went on back and forth for a while until Angel finally conceded defeat and got up and took his daughter into the bathroom to give her a bath. Fifteen minutes later Cordelia came in. "Are you done giving her a bath?" "Yes our little princess is all nice and clean again." "Okay let me take her and put a diaper on her. Then we will be back and I'll join you then you can help me bathe since I can't let my hand get wet."

Cordelia was back in a few minutes. She closed the bathroom door and put Kathleen down on the floor. Angel had warmed the water up with some more hot water. Cordelia slid in between Angels legs. She sank below the water so her hair could get wet. When she came up Angel washed her hair for her and helped her to finish washing the rest of her body. Kathleen was keeping herself busy with a plastic container that Cordelia had put some Cheerios in. She was a very persistent little girl. Both Cordelia and Angel noticed how she didn't get mad because she couldn't open the container she just kept working at it.

Angel could hear others in the Hotel starting to get up while they were getting themselves and Kathleen dressed. "Are you ready yet, do you need some help getting dressed?" Angel asked after he finished dressing his daughter and himself. "Yes, I can pull things up or down but I can't fasten or zip." Cordelia turned and looked at Angel. She had a frustrated look on her face and only one word. "Please?"

Angels heart melted when he looked at her so helpless. "My poor baby let me help you." He pulled, zipped, fastened and buttoned her clothes then he brushed her hair and put it into a pony tail for now.

"Lets go and perform our morning ritual before anyone else gets up." Angel picked up Kathleen and put her on his shoulders after they went out of the door. She thought the whole thing was pretty funny. She liked being up so high when usually she was the one that was closest to the floor. They went down stairs and Angel took the high chair outside while Cordelia started the coffee maker and pulled out some English biscuits for Kathleen to chew on until they were done.

Angel pulled a couple of chairs together and Cordelia joined him so that they could pray the rosary together. Dr. Martin came out a minute later. "Do you mind if I join you?" "Sure Mom let me get you a chair." Angel pulled a chair over by theirs. When Dr. Martin sat down Angel went back to his own seat. Before they were able to start Connor, Wesley and Fred came down and interrupted them.

"Hey here you are. Can we join you?" Connor pulled over three more chairs for them to use and once again Angel started. As usual Angel lead the prayer and Cordelia read the mysteries.

Toby had come out with Connor and was keeping the ground clean where Kathleen's highchair was.

When they were done with the Rosary Cordelia stood up and pulled Angel along with her. They went to an area where the Sun was touching the cold concrete of the patio. Cordelia put her hand up with all of its bandages and splints. Angel took it carefully in his. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the stop watch. Angel didn't take his eyes off of hers.

"Okay here we go." Angel nodded okay. Cordelia watched their hands and she slowly pulled their hands into the sunlight and started the stop watch. One minute, two minutes, three minutes, four minutes. Angels hand began to hurt but he kept it in the sun light. Five minutes, six minutes, seven minutes, eight minutes. Angel could barely stand the pain. It was like having a million needles sticking his skin. Nine minutes, ten minutes.

Cordelia looked at her husbands hand. "Angel, Angel look at your hand. It isn't smoking." Angel was staring at his hand. He looked at Dr. Martin. It was then that he noticed everyone else was now on the patio also. He turned back to Cordelia then very slowly stepped further into the sunlight. He pulled his shirt off and stepped even further into the light until he was standing totally in the sunlight.

Cordelia turned to Dr. Martin and asked her to come over. Dr. Martin came over and looked at Angels hand. She had the biggest grin on her face as she took his hand in hers. "Mom, smell his skin." Dr. Martin put Angels hand to her nose and took in a deep breath. When she raised her head and looked at Angel she had tears falling down her cheeks. "Your skin smells of roses. Do you know what that means Angel?" He just stared at her and didn't say anything. Everyone came over to the sunlight.

"Angel people through out history that have suffered the Stigmata which is the marks of Jesus crucifixion have one singular distinctive smell associated with the marks of the crucifixion. That smell is immediate proof to the Church that the marks are from Christ. Angel that smell is the smell of roses.

Angel you have just been given your second gift from your Boss, as you call him. Congratulations." Angels mother kissed him and they hugged. They were both shedding tears of joy. Wesley came over to him and they hugged each other for a long time.

When they parted Angel went over to his daughter and picked her up from the highchair. He took Cordelia by the hand and he walked out into the sun light. He stared at his daughters face and Cordelia's. Angel ran his fingers around Cordelia's face and throat where her blouse was open. Then he looked at his daughter. She was squinting her eyes because she had the sun shining directly into her eyes.

Angel looked at Cordelia. "Our daughter has beautiful eyes. What the sisters said is true Cordelia. Now that I can see her in the sunlight I can truly say that we make beautiful babies together." Angel and Cordelia hugged and kissed and cried.

"We better take our beautiful daughter in before she starts to get sun burned." Cordelia told him. When Angel turned back to everyone he could see that they had all been crying tears of joy for him. Buffy came running to him and gave him a kiss and hug. "Congratulations Angel." Angel gave Cordelia Kathleen and he hugged everybody.

When he came to his mother again he stopped. "You knew that this was going to happen today didn't you?" "I had an idea but I wasn't 100 sure that it was going to be this. As you can guess I let everyone know. Lets go inside and have breakfast and I'll tell everyone a little story that is taken from my own life." Dr. Martin looked at Angel and could see the pain in his eyes. "It hurts to be in the sun doesn't it?" "Yes, it's like having needles poking my skin where ever the sun touches it." "I think but I don't know for sure Angel that this will be temporary. At least I hope so. I think it will lessen as your skin gets used to the sun." "Why, when I was Ireland and I had Hunters ring on it didn't bother me like this." "I am guessing but I think the ring protected you from this."

They all filed back into the Hotel. Dr. Martin wanted to cook this morning so she took over as the head cook and gave the orders as to what was to be done. Cordelia sat down with Angel and her daughter. Her wrapped hand made it difficult for her to do anything so she just sat down and waited for someone to bring in the food.

Dr. Martin had gone down stairs to the freezer and brought up a long package that also looked very heavy. She started up the indoor grill and opened the large package. It was the promised bone for Toby. It had chunks of meat still on it and by the looks of it the other ladies guessed that it was the upper rear leg bone of a cow. She also put three filet mignons on the grill. Willow had slices of bacon, sausages and ham on the griddle along with hash browns. Buffy, Tara, Fred, Cylindia, and Mrs. Burkle were setting the table and bringing out cream, sugar, sweetener, margarine and jelly and putting about three of everything on the table.

After only 15 minutes they were starting to bring the food in and putting it on the side boards. They were still serving the food buffet style. Dr. Martin brought Angel his filled plate over to him. "Thank you Mom." "It's my pleasure Angel. It's not every day that you get to walk out into the sun without the aid of a ring. Now what would you like me to make for our little Princes?"

"How about a scrambled egg and some apple sauce." Cordelia answered. "One scrambled egg and a cup of apple sauce coming up." Dr. Martin was back in a few minutes with Kathleen's food and her baby silverware along with a bottle of purified water for her cup.

While Cordelia was getting her breakfast Angel was eating his breakfast and feeding Kathleen at the same time. Kathleen kept reaching for Angels plate in between mouth fulls of scrambled eggs. Angel took a small amount of scrambled eggs on her baby fork and dipped it in the juice from the steak then gave it to his daughter. She gobbled it down and made it known that she wanted more.

Giles had come down after taking a nap. He had gotten up so early to take Mr. and Mrs. Price to the airport that he needed a little more sleep. Wesley waited for him to eat some of his breakfast before asking him any questions.

"Giles did my father say anything before he left?" "Yes Wesley he did. Angel Wesley's father wanted me to tell you and Wesley that he was sorry for what he did. He asked that you try to understand that he has lived with the knowledge that all demons and Vampires are evil. This lesson was read to him over and over again throughout his life. Now after 50 some years he is being told that this information was incorrect. He asks that you please forgive him and give him time to get used to the idea that Angel could possibly have a soul now and is fighting for his redemption and that you worked with him by choice." "That's all, he didn't say anything else?" Wesley asked hopefully. "No I'm sorry Wesley." Giles answered. He knew what Wesley was hoping for but he couldn't give him what he wanted.

"Thank you for everything that you have done for us Giles." "No thanks is necessary Wesley. Like I said I have plenty of experience with your father." They all finished their breakfast in silence. Kathleen was the next one to break the silence. She started crying when her Daddy didn't give her what she wanted.

Cordelia looked at her. She picked her up and checked her diaper then held her for a while. Angel picked up his glass of blood and took a big gulp. Dr. Martin was watching Kathleen and her response to Angel drinking his glass of blood. As soon as he put the glass down she noticed Kathleen reaching for the glass. When she didn't get what she wanted she tried reaching for her Father.

"Angel take her she seems to want to go to you." Cordelia let Kathleen go to Angel. Now that Kathleen was closer to what she wanted she tried reaching for the blood. Angel pulled it out of her reach though and this frustrated Kathleen even more. She started crying and grabbed Angels lips and dug her nails in. "Ow! You little Rug Rat. You hurt Daddy." Angel pulled her hands away from his mouth and in response she tried biting his hand. She tried getting her hands on the glass again.

"I think I know what she wants Angel. Cordelia would you put about 1 oz. of blood in her milk bottle, warm it up for a few seconds then give it to her." "But Mom that could be dangerous for her. Angelus protects me from any impurities in the blood but she doesn't have that protection." "Please Cordelia just do as I asked. If I thought she was in any danger I would not tell you to do it." "Okay Mom I trust you." Cordelia did as she said then gave the bottle to Angel to give to his daughter.

Angel had to hold on to his daughter and placed the bottle close to her mouth. She continued to cry and push Angel away until he squeezed the bottle a little so that some of the blood came out of the tip of the nipple. He placed it under her nose so she could smell it. That got her attention and she carefully took the nipple in her mouth. She was soon contentedly sucking on the bottle. Angel pulled it away from her mouth and she started crying until he gave it back to her. Everyone looked at Dr. Martin to explain.

"Remember when she was sucking on the inside of your uterus Cordelia and she was making you anemic?" "Yes, don't tell me she is remembering that and wants more." "I think the scent of Angels glass of blood got to her and she remembered wanting something. She doesn't remember what she did in the womb she just knows that she wants it and when she didn't get what she wanted she showed her fiery Irish temper that goes along with that red hair." Kathleen was done with the bottle and started demanding more. "Try nursing her now Cordelia. While she does that Angel put a little more blood into the bottle then give it to Cordelia." Angel did as his mother said and gave the bottle to Cordelia. "Pull her away from your breast Cordelia and offer her the bottle of blood and lets see what happens."

Cordelia did as Dr. Martin said. When she pulled Kathleen away from her breast she put the bottle to her mouth and made sure that some blood was on the tip of the bottles nipple. Kathleen tasted it then pushed her Mothers hand away and reached for her breast again. Dr. Martin had come over to their end of the table so she could see what happened. "There you go Angel and Cordelia. Your daughter is rebelling against you weaning her from breast milk. Her subconscious is remembering drinking blood from when she was in the womb. She remembers feeling contented when she drank that blood." "How am I ever going to wean her then. The little monster bites down on my nipple and it hurts." "Your just going to have to wean her more slowly. This is very traumatic for her, this is the final cord that will separate her from her mother. When you cut the umbilical cord Angel it was like cutting the chain that kept her inside her prison. She had freedom of movement but that's all. She was still tied to Cordelia emotionally. Every time a woman puts her baby to her breast the bond that they share is made stronger and stronger. It's something that can't ever be broken unless it's broken by the mother. Just take it more slowly Cordelia and she will be fine. When she bites down on your nipple punish her by taking it away from her. I used to keep water filled teething rings in the freezer when my son was teething. Give her one of those when her gums start hurting her."

Cordelia winced when Kathleen bit down on her nipple so she pulled her daughter away and closed up shop. She put Kathleen on the floor in the lobby so Toby could entertain her.

"So what are we going to do to celebrate your first day of being able to step out into the sun?"

Cordelia asked Angel. Angel didn't hear her because he was busy looking inside his shirt.

"What's the matter?" Cordelia reached out and poked a finger at Angels chest.

"Oww! Don't touch me it hurts." Angel cried out. Cordelia came closer to him and unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt and opened it.

"My goodness Angel you have a 2nd degree sunburn." Cordelia said as she pulled more of his shirt away. Spike came over and took a look. "She's right Dr. Martin he has a 2nd degree sunburn after only a few minutes in the sun." "Your not going to be able to stand to go in the sun until that heals Angel. After it heals I think you better try only a minute or two the first day then add on a minute each day." Cordelia turned to Dr. Martin. "Do you think that would be a good plan Mom?" "That sounds like a good plan. I have to pick up some supplies at the pharmacy so I'll pick up something for you to put on his chest Cordelia. If your lucky though Angel Cordelia will have a vision and Angelus will make you heal right away so both of you will get to fight."

"Yeah Cordelia we haven't had anything interesting happen around here in a while. I start school tomorrow so give us a good one around 5:30 tonight." Connor said. "Yeah and Buffy and I have to leave tonight also. I think 5:30 will be a good time." Spike added.

"What do you think this is a bar that you can just order up a poor soul to save with a fight on the side. I'll have a talk with the PTB and see what I can do for you. Right now I think it's time to clean the kitchen." Cordelia got up and started to pick up plates. Angel started to pick up plates also but what he was really doing is waiting for Cordelia to leave the room.

"Yeah you bad people what do you think my poor wife is a bar. I'm the only one that can belly up to the bar. You bad people you." Angel turned around with his load of dishes and almost ran into Cordelia. He just smiled, walked around her and continued on into the kitchen.

That night they got their wish. They all also got to see Toby in action for the first time.

TBC...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Daddy Gone**

At exactly 5:30 P.M. Cordelia had the requested vision. She wrote everything down on a piece of paper and gave it to Angel. He had already called everyone downstairs as soon as he saw her leaning forward with her hands on her head.

Spike was the first down the stairs. "Wow those guys are really on the ball. We're taking your car Angel?" "Yeah it's dark enough now and we can put the top down. We have to go all the way out to San Bernardino by the race track. Let's go." Angel told everyone as they grabbed their favorite weapons. Connor grabbed a bag of wooden spikes that he had been working on when he was in Sunnydale.

Connor jumped in the back of Gunn's truck and called to Toby. With ease Toby jumped up into the back even though it was higher then most.

Spike saw Toby get into the back of the truck with Connor. "He's taking Toby with us Angel. Do you think he is ready?" Angel thought about it. "Since he is Connors dog he should know what he can do or if he'll just get in the way. Let's hope that it's all for the good."

It took them almost 45 minutes to get out to the race track. When they arrived it all looked deserted and dark. They parked at the entrance to the race track and got out of the vehicles. They just stood there looking and listening. Cordelia's instructions had said it was at the front of the race track where the racing fans entered the track.

They could all hear people that were going through the dry riverbed in their dune buggies near by. A few minutes later they all heard Toby give a low growl and when they looked at him they could see his hair was raised on his back. Angel looked at Connor. Connor looked at Toby then back at Angel and said, "He's never wrong Dad." They turned their attention back to the entrance.

"Do you see or smell anything Spike?" Angel asked. "I smell something strange that I've never smelled before." "Yeah me to."

In the next few minutes they saw at least 9 non humans and 12 vampires pulling and half dragging 3 women. In the back of the group were 4 human males that were being carried on wooden poles. They were bound, gagged and tied to the wooden poles as though they were going to be barbequed.

The AI team stepped forward. "Is this a closed party or can anyone join in?" Angel asked no one in particular.

One big, one eyed, smelly giant of a demon stepped forward. He came right up to Angel and stood at least 12 inches taller then him. The giant looked down at Angel. "I believe you are Angelus. Am I not correct?" Angel backed up and looked at Spike. "I believe I've found the source of that strange odor you smelled." Angel looked back at the giant. "I see you've heard of my demon and I."

The demon grew a big, nasty, multi-toothed grin. "I've heard of your fighting for your redemption." The demon turned away and spit on the ground as though the words left a nasty taste in his mouth. "Lets get this over with then I can add your humans to our barbeque. Then we will feast." The other demons and Vampires that were holding onto the women threw her and the poles with the men, on the ground. They attacked the AI team.

The giant yelled out that Angelus was his. Angel had his hands full with just the giant while Connor was taking on 4 demons at the same time. The rest of the demons and Vampires were being handled by Gunn and Spike while Toby stood on the side next to the bag of spikes. Spike had already killed 6 of the demons while Gunn was killing Vampires. All of the time that this was going on Toby was sniffing the air and cataloging a list of who was who. The young German Shepard got up and put his nose into the bag of spikes. He pushed spikes around until he found what he was looking for. It was a ' T ' shaped spike that Connor had make especially for him. He chose his target which was a Vampire that was about to come up behind Spike while the others distracted him. Toby took a running leap and put the spike right through the Vampires heart. As the Vampire turned to dust Toby fell forward and immediately went to the next Vampire.

"You like playing with Mythos, yes?" The giant said as he tried to hold onto Angels head. "Not particularly." Angel managed to get out of the giants grasp when someone else demanded his attention. When Angel landed on the ground again he saw that it was Connor and Toby that had come to his rescue. Connor had put his arm around the giant's neck and was trying to break his neck while Toby had a hold onto his left cheek, and I don't mean a face cheek.

Angel jumped onto the giant and helped Connor to twist his neck and break it. Both Connor and Angel fell down with the giant. Connor landed on the ground first, and then the giant landed on him and Angel on the giant. Toby was the only smart one that had moved away from him when he felt him die.

"Uh, Dad do you think you could get off of this guy and help me out from underneath him?" Angel rolled off of him and pulled Connor out. When they looked for Gunn and Spike they saw them untying the onetime menu items.

"Thanks for the assist Connor." "No problem, thanks for helping me to break his neck. That guy's neck was the size of a tree." When Spike and Gunn had released the victims they stood up and looked at the demons on the ground then turned and ran as though the demons were still chasing them.

"Lets load them up into the back of your truck Gunn and we can dump them in the dessert." Gunn went to get his truck and backed up to the giant. He turned off the motor and got out of the truck to help. It took all four of them to pick the giant up and put him into the back. Toby stood by and watched what they were doing. When they were ready Spike and Connor jumped into Angel's car. Connor called Toby who jumped into the back seat.

They drove further out into the desert and dumped the bodies were nature's garbage collectors would dispose of the bodies. Spike, Connor and Toby jumped into Angels car.

Both Spike and Connor were wondering why Angel didn't take off and follow Gunn back to L.A. "Let's go Pops." Spike said sarcastically. Angel didn't say anything nor did he start the car. Spike and Connor looked at Angel. "What's wrong Dad?" Angel didn't say anything he just got out of the car and walked forward into the night. When Gunn noticed that Angel hadn't followed him he turned back and stopped by the car. He got out of his truck and joined the rest. Connor, Spike, and Gunn followed Angel out into the desert night.

"Do you see something out there?" Gunn asked Angel.

"I see the dirt road that they dragged me on, behind the truck." Angel said as he continued to look out into the darkness. There was no moon tonight so Gunn couldn't see anything. "When were you drug behind a truck?"

"The night they crucified me." Angel said almost in a whisper. "Yeah, we found half of the road in and on you. It's part of the reason why it took us so long to patch you up, because we had to get all of the dirt and rocks off of you first. Come on Angel. It's not good for you to stand here and dwell on what happened." Spike pulled at Angels arm and after a few moments Angel turned and followed. Angel threw the keys to Connor and went over to the car and got in the back with Toby. He didn't say anything to anyone he just got into the back. Toby sensed his mood and just lied down and put his head in his lap. Connor and Spike got in and left for L.A. and home.

They didn't get back to the Hotel until after eight o'clock. Spike went running up stairs to clean up. He was anxious to get on the road to what he now called home. When he came down the stairs again the others were coming down also after cleaning up. No one mentioned the incident in the desert.

"Don't you want to have some blood before you leave Spike?" Angel asked. "No but I do want to see Toby before I leave." "What do you want Toby for?" Connor asked as he called his dog over to him. Toby came and stood in front of Connor and looked up at him.

"I want to thank him for helping us. Come here Toby." Toby looked up at Connor to see what he wanted him to do. Connor gave him the signal that he could go to Spike. Spike kneeled down so that he would be closer to Toby. Everyone was watching what was going on.

"Toby I want to shake your paw." Spike held out his hand and Toby put his paw in his hand.

"Thank you for helping me Toby. You killed the Vampire when he was about to kill me." Spike shook Toby's paw and patted him. "Any time you need my help you just call on me buddy." Spike stood up then he saw everyone looking at him. "Didn't you see this guy and how he was killing Vampires? Show them his spike Connor. I presume you made it for him." Connor went to the bag of spikes in the weapons cabinet and pulled out Toby's spike. Everyone looked at it. It was just a simple piece of wood that had been carved into a T shape. "I made the spike into a T shape so that he would be able to securely bite onto the spike. In the beginning he would watch me in Sunnydale kill Vampires with a spike and putting it into their heart. One day, without any training or coaching of any kind from me, I saw him take a spike out of the bag and drive it into the heart of a Vampire that had just knocked me down with a kick to my chest. When we went back home Tara noticed that he had blood dripping from his mouth. I checked it and found a large splinter sticking out of his tongue. I pulled it out and he was fine. I believe what happened when he was biting down on the spike was that he had to bite down so hard that as he forced it into the chest of the Vampire that he broke some of it off and that's how I think he got the splinter jammed into his tongue. Of course Tara and Willow babied him the rest of the night and he just soaked it all up. I tell you he has Tara and Willow wrapped around his paw."

"Well let's give him a rip, roaring wolf howl since he is now one of the pack." Angel said. He pulled back his head and gave a long wolf howl. Spike, Connor and Gunn joined in as well. Then Toby joined in also. When they stopped they all took turns petting Toby and he in turn licked everyone's face.

Spike stood up then and looked for Buffy. "Let's go Luv. Goodbye everyone." Spike waved to Wesley who was sitting on the couch with Fred at his side. Buffy ran to Cordelia and gave her a hug and kiss. She had already said goodbye to Fred and Dr. Martin. She went over to Spike then and they left through the back doors. Giles wasn't there to say goodbye because he had gone out with Lorne to scout out some small stores that he could buy and turn into Magic Shop II.

"Well guys I have to get to bed since my first class starts at 8 A.M. tomorrow morning. Is Kathleen sleeping Cordelia? Toby and I wanted to see her before we go to bed. I don't think I'll see her again until tomorrow night. If you hear me open the door tomorrow morning it will just be me letting Toby in." Connor said as he made his way up the stairs. "Sorry Connor but she's sleeping." "Is it okay if I just look in on her?" "Sure just do it quietly." Cordelia answered.

Angel turned to the two on the couch. "How are Dr. Martins newest patients?"

"I think that I am ready to go to bed now and Fred is already half asleep. The twins are growing fast and she gets tired easily now. I don't think it will be to long before Dr. Thompson orders her to have complete bed rest. Could you carry her up to our room for me Angel?"

"Sure Wesley, no problem." Angel picked Fred up carefully while Wesley slowly followed behind. He was still experiencing some pain from where they had spread his ribs and the wire was holding them together. He rubbed at his chest as he walked up the stairs. When he arrived at his room he found that Angel had already put Fred on her bed.

"Do you want us to take out the hospital bed tomorrow?" Angel asked Wesley. "Yes I think it's about time." Wesley still had to sleep on the hospital bed though since Fred was using a twin size bed. He went over to the hospital bed and lay down. "Angel, would you get Dr. Martin for me please?" "Are you in pain?" Angel asked worriedly. "Yes, but I think it's just the wires holding my ribs together though."

Angel went to Dr. Martin's door and knocked on it softly. Giles came to the door. "Is their something wrong Angel?" "Yes Wesley seems to be experiencing some pain in his chest. He wants Mom." "She's in the bathroom right now taking a shower, we'll be their as soon as she gets out." "Thanks Giles." Angel went back to Wesley's room. Through the link he shared with Cordelia he called to her to come to Fred's room. Angel told her he could smell blood when he was around Fred.

After a few minutes Dr. Martin and Giles came in with Cordelia coming in right after them. Dr. Martin went over to Wesley. "How are you doing?" "I'm experiencing a lot of pain in my chest. It seems like it's from the wires that are holding my ribs together." "Well, let me take a look." Dr. Martin said. She unbuttoned Wesley's shirt and examined him. After 10 minutes she buttoned his shirt up again.

"Everything looks okay Wesley. The only thing that I can suggest is that I make an appointment with the heart specialist and he can take a look at you but from my standpoint as your surgeon everything looks okay. I noticed that you rub your chest a lot and I believe you are irritating the tissue right over the wires. Just to make sure though, I am going to make an appointment for you with the heart specialist that I called in for a consultation before I operated on you a second time. Is that okay with you?" "Yes I think that would be a good idea. Do you think we could get rid of this hospital bed so we can put my regular bed in here?" "Yes I think that would be alright. Do you need help to get undressed?" "No I can make it thank you."

Dr. Martin turned around to see how Fred was doing. She didn't see either Fred or Cordelia but she saw a light on in the bathroom so she went over to the door and knocked at it. "Fred are you in there?" "Yes Dr. Martin, Cordelia is with me and we'll be out in a minute." Dr. Martin went over to Fred's bed and sat down while she waited for them to come out.

"Are you okay here?" Angel asked his Mother. She noticed Angels arm shaking. "Yes I am just going to check on Fred. You and Giles can go now I'll send Cordelia back as soon as we put these two to bed. Thank you Angel." "Good night Mom. Good night Da." Angel smiled as he said that to Giles. Giles just gave him a smile back. "I think Giles or Rupert will suffice Angel." Angel turned back to Dr. Martin and got on his knees and put one arm around her. "Mom how come Giles won't let me call him Da? That's what we call our Fathers in Ireland. Doesn't he love me Momma?" Angel was able to make it sound like his feelings had really been hurt.

Dr. Martin stood up and hugged Angels head to her chest. "My poor baby has Giles hurt your feelings?" "Yes Momma he has. I don't want you to sleep with that bad man Momma. Give him a pillow and blanket and banish him from your bed and tell him to sleep on the couch tonight. That will teach him to hurt your little boy's feelings." Angel stuck his tongue out at Giles and Dr. Martin hugged him. Giles just looked at him. His expression was neutral so Angel couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Go to bed Angel and we will talk about it tomorrow." Dr. Martin said as she did her best to keep herself from laughing. Angel got up then and gave her a kiss and returned to his room and Kathleen.

Fred and Cordelia came out. Fred was dressed in her nightgown and went straight to her bed. Cordelia covered her up and gave her an extra blanket. "Goodnight Fred." "Goodnight Cordelia and thank you. Goodnight Mary." "Goodnight Fred." Cordelia picked up Fred's clothes and walked out of the room with Dr. Martin. As they exited the room Cordelia pulled her into her room. "What's wrong Cordelia?" "Mom Fred was bleeding sometime during the evening." She showed Dr. Martin Fred's clothes. The blood that was on her underwear wasn't a bright red so that you could tell that it was old blood. "She told me that she feels real tired all of the time now. I told her that I would talk to you about it and that you would probably want her to go in to see Dr. Thompson tomorrow." "Yes I'll call Mike tomorrow morning. Most likely he is going to tell her that she has to be in bed from now until she delivers. I'll see you in the morning Cordelia. Goodnight." "Goodnight Mom."

Cordelia took Fred's clothes downstairs and put them in the sink with water for the night.

The next morning Dr. Martin called Dr. Thompson and told him what was going on with Fred. Mike told her to bring Fred in at 5 P.M. that night. "I won't be able to come with her Mike, I was able to get Wesley in to see the heart specialist that I consulted with before I operated on him and I just received a call from his nurse. She said they had a cancellation and he can see Wesley at 4 P.M. tonight instead of tomorrow." "Be careful Mary, you know he has a free clinic and he does favors for other Doctors and then asks that we work at his clinic as a repayment." "Yes I know he already has me booked for one surgery, I don't mind though Mike. Even poor people need our help you know and without these free clinics they would have no where to turn to they would just have to suffer. In fact next week Wednesday I have volunteered to work at the clinic all day why don't you move your patients around and come with me. I am sure that they will have plenty of women for you to see." Mike was silent on the other end for awhile.

"I suppose if I don't go you are going to make life difficult for me?" "Now Mike you know I would never do that to you." "Yes you would. It's like I heard you say one time, and I quote 'I would use whatever it takes to do Gods work.' I'll meet you at the Hotel next Wednesday. I think I'll get Mickey to join us also. I'll call you sometime tonight." Dr. Martin hung up the phone. She turned around and walked out of her room whistling all the way down to the dinning room.

When she arrived at the dinning room she saw Angel feeding his daughter and Cordelia bringing over their breakfast. Gunn and Cylindia had made their own breakfast and were eating. Cylindia was no longer needed to take care of Wesley but she was staying at the Hotel occasionally with Gunn. She guessed that Connor had already left for his first day at College since Toby was laying on the floor right underneath Kathleen's highchair. He knew that there were always lots of tidbits that would fall within his reach sooner or later.

"Okay my dears this is what we are going to do today. Angel and Cordelia, please take Fred to see Dr. Thompson at 5 tonight? The reason why Wesley can't go with you Fred is that he has a 4 o'clock appointment with his heart specialist. The appointment was a last minute cancellation so unless we wanted to wait until tomorrow. Any questions?" No one said anything.

After breakfast Angel and Gunn were busy with a case that had just come in that morning. It took them the rest of the day to do the research on the demon that they suspected was the prime culprit. After dinner they planned to go and look for the little pest. Connor had come back from his classes at 3 in the afternoon and was currently upstairs doing his homework.

At 4:15 Angel and Cordelia left with Fred to go to Dr. Thompson's while Dr. Martin and Wesley had already left for his heart specialist at 3:30. Gunn told Cordelia that he would make tacos for dinner tonight along with Cylindia and Connor. The girls knew that what Gunn meant was that Connor and Cylindia would help him pick up all of the food from their favorite local Mexican fast food stand.

By 7 o'clock everyone was back. Gunn, Cylindia, and Connor walked into the Hotel just as Angel came in carrying Fred. Cordelia came in a few minutes later after parking her van.

Fred asked Angel to put her down so she could use the bathroom. "Your very wish is my command my lady." Angel said as he took her to the bathroom and put her down. Fred curtsied as best she could and went into the bathroom. Wesley met her as she came out and walked her over to the dinning room table and their chairs.

"Well what was Dr.Thompson's verdict Fred?" Dr. Martin asked. "The verdict is that I have been commanded to spend the next 4 months in bed and I can only come down stairs if someone carries me or I use a wheel chair. He said that he wanted us to get a better wheel chair that has better wheels so that the ride won't be so hard on me and that I am not to be in a sitting position for more than two hours each day. He also wanted me to tell you Dr. Martin that he will be over tomorrow to talk to you." Fred started to eat her taco so that they couldn't ask her anymore questions for awhile.

"Now that we've heard about Fred, what's the verdict on Wesley?" Angel asked.

"You want to answer that question Wesley?" Dr. Martin asked him with a grin.

"He said that I was healing just fine and that I could start some mild exercising next week and light work." "What about the wires holding your ribs together?" Angel asked as he rubbed his own chest. Even though his had been separated so Dr. Martin could make repairs his ribs went back into their correct position right away, courtesy of Angelus.

"He said either I could learn to live with it or Dr. Martin could remove them and see if they stayed in the correct position but if they didn't that meant another operation to put the wire back on. I wasn't too happy about looking forward to possibly 2 more operations so I said I would try to live with them." Wesley just hung his head down.

"Besides that Wesley you get to look forward to the next 4 months in dry dock." Gunn added in. Angel laughed when Gunn said that. Wesley turned to Fred and Fred put her arm around him. "My poor baby, but just think Wesley, we only have a short 4 months to suffer then well have two beautiful baby boys."

"Well now that you're done Fred I think it's time for you to go upstairs." Dr. Martin said. "At least you two get to sleep in the same bed tonight. By the way everybody I talked to Fr. Barris today and explained our problem of Cordelia and Fred being to busy with making the next generation of AI to be cleaning the Hotel also. He said he knew of a few couples that need a place to live and have worked in homes before. He is going to be sending them over for an interview tomorrow around noon so try to make your selves available. After interviewing them you can discuss whether you want to accept these people into the Hotel or not." Dr. Martin said. As she rose from the table she asked if anyone else wanted something from the kitchen. No one said anything so she went in and got another can of Cherry Cola and returned to her seat.

"How was your first day of school Connor?" Angel asked as he pulled Kathleen out of her highchair.

"It was very interesting. I met a lot of interesting people. We had one guy in my math class that was as old as you guys. He said he was brushing up on his math skills so he could teach it at the high school he works at. He said it had been a long time since he taught it and he wanted to make sure he could still do something beside Algebra." "Did they give you a lot of homework to do already?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah but I finished most of it already. I need someone to help me with a report for one of my classes that has to be about why I want to be a police officer because I obviously can't tell the truth."

"I can help you with that. When is it due?" "Next week Monday." "Okay we have time then for you to think about what you want to say, write it, then you and I can go over it and see how to translate it into an acceptable report." Wesley told Connor. Fred had been watching Wesley she could tell that he was going to be having fun working with and helping Connor.

"When do you start working with Toby at school?" Cordelia asked. She was getting to like having him around. She felt a little more secure having Toby around to guard Kathleen.

"I didn't schedule the class for him until the next semester. I wanted him to have some more time to mature. From all that I've heard the classes with the dogs is pretty demanding of the dogs."

Cordelia got up from her chair and started to pick up the dishes. "Wesley get yourself and your wife upstairs and to bed. Everyone else can help me clean up."

"It looks like Cordelia is back in charge. You two better get going before the Queen C demon makes an appearance." Angel said as he picked up dishes also. Unfortunately for him as he turned to go into the kitchen he almost ran into Cordelia. She gave him her best Queen C look then moved aside as he sheepishly smiled at her and took the dishes into the kitchen.

"By the way Wesley I have been meaning to talk to you about a particular demon that you told Connor about. I think I'll wait though until you are completely 100 A OK. Just incase I slip up and my demon comes out you understand." Cordelia turned and caught Dr. Martin's eye. She gave her a smile and winked.

"Let's go Fred before I get in anymore trouble." "What is this all about? Who is this Queen C she was talking about? I mean, I know who Queen C is but I thought they called Cordelia that because of the way she used to act when they were in High School." "I'll explain when we get into our own rooms and I feel safer." Wesley walked as quickly as he could, with Fred, to the elevator.

Dr. Martin and Giles laughed at Wesley as they left. Everyone helped clean the table off and put away any food that was left over. The nights were getting cooler now so Dr. Martin and Giles went outside to sit in the garden for awhile. The Santa Ana winds were keeping the Los Angeles basin and valleys clear of smog these days so they were able to see the stars easily. After awhile Cordelia, Angel, and Connor came out to join them. Connor was holding his little sister while Toby took care of business.

"I sure did miss you Kathleen. Where you a good girl today or did you give your Mommy and Daddy a hard time?" Kathleen just laughed at Connor as he gave her a ride on his leg and held onto her hands. He was careful not to bounce her too much he didn't want her dinner to end up on his new jeans.

"How have you been doing on your suntan Angel?" Dr. Martin asked. "I'm up to ten minutes with no problem." "Good, by the end of the month maybe you will start showing a suntan." "I'll be happy with just being able to go out into the sun without catching fire." "Is Angelus giving you any problem when you go out into the sun?" "Funny you should ask that because he practically starts howling like a dog when I walk out in it."

"I heard you came across the road in the desert that they dragged you on before you were crucified. Would you like to talk about it?" Angel didn't respond right away. He just hung his head down and stared at a snail that was making its way over to a Hibiscus plant.

"Cordelia would you and Connor leave us alone for awhile please, I would like to talk to Mom for a while." "Sure Angel, I'll see you upstairs. Good night Mom and Giles." Cordelia went to get Kathleen from Connor. "I'll carry her upstairs if that's okay with you?" "Sure lets go, come on Toby it's time for all of Gods children to go to bed." Cordelia reached out her hand to Toby and he came running up to her and followed them into the Hotel.

Giles started to get up also when Angel spoke up. "You can stay Giles. Normally I would talk to Wesley about this also but since he isn't up to speed yet I would like you to know what is happening to me." Angel waited a little longer until Connor was out of ear shot.

"So what is going on Angel?" Dr. Martin asked.

"I've been going upstairs to the roof each day at the same time to work on my tan. Angelus has been doing everything he can to keep me from going into the sunlight. Today he was even able to make my skin start burning. When we were rescuing the teenagers out at the racetrack in San Bernardino we dumped the demons bodies out in the desert. It just so happened that we were by the road that the young vampires tortured me by dragging me behind the truck. Of course Angelus used the opportunity to remind me of everything that happened. Even now I can almost feel the nails in the palms of my hands." Angel started to rub the palm of his left hand with his right thumb. He was doing the same thing that he had done when Dr. Martin was first treating him.

"Angel, why do you think he is doing this to you all of a sudden?" Dr. Martin said as she put her hand on his. Angel stopped rubbing his hand and looked up at her. She could see the tears threatening to spill over.

"I kind of got used to him not talking to me all of the time and reminding me of everything that we did. Now it's as though he has pulled out all of the plugs. Mom he is constantly talking to me with all of the usual stuff except now he is including what he is going to do to Cordelia and Kathleen if he ever gets control. I can feel him constantly testing me. He's like a caged animal that is constantly testing the perimeter of the fence. He's looking for any weakness in that fence. When I carried Fred upstairs I could smell blood on her and that's why I called Cordelia to come and help her. Mom I found myself, for a split second, looking at her as a meal. That's why I started teasing you Giles. I wanted to get my mind off of the wrong track. I don't trust myself to be around everyone, especially Cordelia and Kathleen." Angel had gotten up from his chair and was walking back and forth in front of the patio.

"What do you think we should do about this Angel? Do you think he is doing this because he doesn't want you to go out into the sun?" Dr. Martin sat in a relaxed position with her legs crossed. Giles was thinking that she didn't think that what Angel was going through was such a big deal.

"I want you to talk to Angelus and find out why he is doing this." Angel turned towards Dr. Martin and Giles when he made his request.

"Angel you already know why he is doing this don't you?" Angel sat down again. He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his long legs. He finally looked at Dr. Martin and said, "He knows that this is the beginning of the end. He knows that he has to do what ever he can to get me to let him take over again. Since he can't rely on the curse anymore his only recourse will be to drive me insane or to make a mistake like I did in Ireland."

"Yes I believe that is what he is doing also. Does he still keep quiet when Cordelia is with you?" "No, he doesn't seem to be afraid of her anymore." Angel looked at the woman he called Mom. As he began to speak the tears did start to spill over.

"Momma he doesn't even leave me alone when we are having sex. I almost hurt Cordelia the other day. I was able to stop myself just before….." He didn't finish what he was going to tell her. Angel just covered his eyes with one hand. Dr. Martin rose from her chair and went to him and put her arm around his head and hugged him. "Together Angel we will beat Angelus at his own game just like we did before. Tomorrow morning I will call Mother General and tell her what has been happening to you and ask the sisters to pray for you more. Hopefully Sr. Margaret will visit me tonight and tell me why this is happening to you. Remember to always look to Saint Michael to help you. I am going to go to bed now Angel. I want you to remember just one thing Angel when things seem to be at their darkest and you can't see anyway out of the dark look to out Lord Jesus Christ, nothing is impossible for him." Dr. Martin gave Angel her blessing then left with Giles following her. Angel continued to sit on the patio for awhile and was deep in thought when he felt a cold nose touch his hand. Toby had come out to take care of his business before going to bed with Connor. When he saw Angel sitting out in the dark he felt that he needed a companion for awhile.

At midnight Angel finally got up and went inside. Toby followed him in and when Angel got to his bedroom door he stopped and got down on one knee. "Thanks for keeping me company Toby." Angel rubbed his head and turned and opened the door to his bedroom and Toby went to his bedroom that he shared with Connor.

Angel removed his clothes, before crawling into bed he checked on his daughter. Cordelia had her dressed in the yellow sleeper that he liked so much. He pulled the blanket over her again that she had kicked off. He went over to the bed then and crawled in next to Cordelia. Cordelia turned towards him when she felt him get in bed and reached for him. Angel pulled her close to him and did his best to dismiss Angelus.

The next morning Cordelia woke up first. She had her hand on Angel's chest. She was enjoying the feel of his chest moving rhythmically up and down as he breathed. At first he breathed the slow even breaths of a sleeper. For anyone else this would not be anything unusual but for Angel it was a new sensation. He had started breathing more frequently when he slept on the same day that he was able to go into the sunlight. She wanted to let him sleep for now though so she carefully got up and checked on her daughter then went into the bathroom to take a shower.

Cordelia got into the shower and turned the water on and just let it run over her body for awhile. As she stood in the water she heard the shower door open and felt Angel's hands on her. She started to turn to face him but she felt one of his hands roughly grab her hair and with the other around her waist he forced her to bend over so that he could enter her from behind. He took what he wanted while continuing to hold onto her hair. When she tried to turn her head to look at him he pulled at her hair and forced her to bend her head back as far as it would go without breaking it. Angel continued to force himself on her but he was doing it so hard that he was hurting her.

"Angel stop it your hurting me." Cordelia said in a loud voice. She felt his hand immediately let go of her hair and he pulled out of her. When he let her go she turned toward him. Angel was on the floor of the shower. He was rubbing his eyes as though he had just woke up. He looked up at her. "What happened?" "Angel you were having sex with me so roughly that you were hurting me. Why did you do that?" Angel looked down at himself and saw blood on his penis. Then he looked at the area between Cordelia's legs and he could see blood running down her legs as she cleaned herself. "Did I hurt you inside?" "No I started my period yesterday. I've told you before that I don't like having sex when I'm on my period because I am so tender for the first couple of days. I usually don't have to tell you because you can smell it. Why were you being so rough with me?"

"I'm sorry Cordelia I don't know why I did it. All I can say is that I wasn't fully in control." "What do you mean you weren't fully in control? Were you sleep walking?" "Let's talk about it later I want to bathe and get out of here." Cordelia was through so she got out and Angel quickly bathed and got out. He quickly dressed and left the room. Cordelia looked at him as he practically ran out of the door. She went to the bed and closed her eyes and concentrated on touching his mind through the link. She felt his mind for only a second when he quickly cut her off. "Angel what is wrong? Together we can get through whatever is bothering you but you have to let me in." She felt nothing; he had blocked her off completely. She quickly checked on Kathleen. She was still sleeping peacefully. Cordelia suddenly realized that he had closed down the link he shared with Kathleen also. Now she was really scared.

Cordelia went down to Dr. Martin's bedroom and knocked on the door. "Mom, are you in there?" She knocked on the door again. "Mom." "I'm coming Cordelia, I'm coming." A minute later the door opened. "What's wrong?" "Mom something is wrong with Angel. He……." Cordelia stopped before she said anything more. "Can I talk to you alone for a few minutes?" "It's okay Cordelia, Rupert went down stairs a few minutes ago, come in and sit down." Cordelia went in and sat on the bed.

"Now tell me what is wrong." Dr. Martin said as she got back into the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Cordelia just then realized how cold it was in the room so she crawled in under the covers also. "Why is it so cold in here?" "Rupert likes to have fresh air so we sleep with the window open no matter how cold it gets and just pile on the blankets. He usually turns the heater on when he gets up in the morning but I guess he forgot since he was still warm from the after glow if you know what I mean." Cordelia smiled at her. It was weird hearing someone talk about Giles like that. Giles always seemed to be so proper with never even a hair out of place.

"Your making me forget about why I needed to talk to you. There is something wrong with Angel Mom. This morning he followed me into the shower. Usually when I'm on my period we don't have sex but this morning Angel didn't start kissing me or even touch me except to grab my hair and forcefully pull my head back. He made me bend over and entered me from behind. He was rough Mom, he was being so rough he was hurting me and I had to yell at him to stop because he was hurting me. When I turned around and looked at him he was acting as though he just woke up and was rubbing his eyes. He didn't seem to know what had just happened and I had to tell him. He saw the blood on his penis and what was going down my legs and on to the floor of the shower. He thought he had hurt me. I had to actually tell him that I was on my period and that was why there was blood all over him and me. Mom I almost never have to tell him because he can smell it but this time he didn't seem to know. When I was through cleaning myself I got out of the shower and dressed. A few minutes later Angel came out and quickly got dressed and went out of the room. Mom I can't feel him anymore, I can't sense his well being. I tried talking to him through the link and I could feel him for only a moment before he shut me out. When I went to take care of Kathleen I found her to be sleeping peacefully. Mom he has even broken the link with Kathleen."

Dr. Martin put her arm around Cordelia. "Cordelia I think he cut off the link with Kathleen because he doesn't want Angelus to hurt her in anyway. Last night when he asked you and Connor to leave us he told us that Angelus has been attacking him a lot more than usual. He said Angelus started concentrating on him more when he was first able to go into the sunlight. It seems that Angelus sees this as the beginning of the end for him and he isn't going down without a fight. Remember that Angel told us that Angelus is usually quiet when you're with him, but now Angelus attacks him at anytime. Angel is afraid that Angelus will make him hurt you or Kathleen. Cordelia, Angel feels like he is going to crack under Angelus onslaught and I believe he has cut the link between you and Kathleen because he doesn't want to take either one of you with him if he does go down."

Cordelia was quiet for awhile then she looked at Dr. Martin. "Can we help him at all or does he have to go through this by himself?" "I don't know if I can help him but I am going to try. Let's go and find him." Dr. Martin jumped out of bed. She had already taken a shower and was already half dressed so all she had to do was pull her blouse, skirt, and shoes on. While she finished dressing Cordelia made her bed up to keep busy.

As soon as Dr. Martin was dressed they started checking the hotel when they checked all of the usual places they met back at the dinning room table where Giles was sitting with a cup of coffee and the morning newspaper. He still hadn't found the appropriate store to buy for his second Magic Shop so he was looking at the real estate section.

"What in heavens name are you two women looking for?" "We're looking for Angel, have you seen him?" Cordelia asked. "No but if you can't find him check to see if his car is gone and if it is here then check the 5th floor room that we men like to hide in but don't tell him I told you were to look or he might do me bodily harm."

"I saw that his car is here so let's go upstairs." Dr. Martin told Cordelia. They took the elevator to the 5th floor and Cordelia made for the room that she had found Angel in before. She had her hand on Dr. Martins hand and pulled her in as she entered the room and closed the door behind them. Dr. Martin started to say something but Cordelia quickly silenced her. "He knows we're here and if he wanted us to find him he would say something. Let's just stand here and let our eyes adjust to the darkness." Cordelia had to put her mouth right against Dr. Martin's ear and whisper as low as possible so that Angel couldn't hear her.

After a few minutes Cordelia's eyes where able to start making out shapes. She carefully looked around the room. Somehow, and she wasn't sure how, she knew he was in here.

"Angel I know you're in here so you might as well speak up and stop acting like a child that is hiding from his mother." Cordelia said in a soft, non scolding voice.

"Go away Cordelia, I need time by myself right now." "Angel, why did you cut the link between yourself and your wife and daughter?" Dr. Martin asked.

"Mom Angelus is doing something new and he is gaining control while I am sleeping. I'm afraid he will make me hurt them. Mom he is taking everything away from me that God has given me." "Yes I know Angel and St. Michaels aware of all of this. Remember last night I told you that I was hoping that either St. Michael or Sr. Margaret would help me to help you?" "Yes, did they tell you what we can do?" "Not really but they did tell me to make you sleep so that I could talk to Angelus." "No you can't. I know Cordelia must have told you what happened this morning. When I sleep he takes over. The next time I sleep he may kill someone. I cut the link with Cordelia and Kathleen because I didn't want him to know where they were all of the time. Mom he is going to hurt and possibly kill them with my body. If that should happen I won't want to live anymore."

"Angel come over to us and let's go downstairs." "Mom have you forgotten what you told us he did to you in Ireland? Which, I think, you didn't quiet tell us the complete truth."

Dr. Martin was getting angry now. "Angel Liam Martin I am going to say this once and only once. I am leaving to go downstairs and I am taking Cordelia with me. You will come down stairs in approximately 10 minutes. If you don't I can assure you that you will be sorry." Dr. Martin opened the door and grabbed Cordelia's hand and went out of the door. Dr. Martin quickly dragged Cordelia to the elevator and down to the 2nd floor. At the 2nd floor she let her hand go so she could get Kathleen. "I'll wait for you here Cordelia. Do not go back upstairs to him, let him come to us." When Cordelia exited the elevator Dr. Martin waited like she said. As soon as she returned Dr. Martin hit the button for the first floor. She went over to the kitchen and unfortunately for Giles he was still sitting at the dinning room table. She walked over to him and just stood their. "What's wrong?" He asked. Dr. Martin was so angry she couldn't think of anything to say so she just raised her hands and said "MEN." Then she went into the kitchen and started making breakfast for everyone.

After Cordelia put Kathleen in her highchair she dragged it over to Giles. "Since her Daddy seems to be having a problem and isn't available you get to keep the princes company." "That sounds good to me. Grandpa never gets to play with her since her Daddy is constantly playing with her and won't let anyone else have a chance to play with the princes." Giles tickled her tummy and Kathleen gave him a giggle in return.

After helping to get the breakfast going Cordelia brought Kathleen's breakfast over to her.

"Mommy?" "Mommy's getting your breakfast as fast as I can sweetheart." Cordelia dipped the tiny spoon into the cereal and raised it to her lips, but Kathleen turned away. "Mommy, Daddy?" "Daddy is busy upstairs honey." Cordelia explained to her daughter. She tried to get her to eat the spoonful of cereal again but once again Kathleen turned her head away. "Mommy, Daddy gone." Kathleen pointed to her head and looked at her questioningly.

Dr. Martin had come up behind Cordelia with a cup of coffee for herself, Cordelia and Rupert. She watched her granddaughter question her mother as to why she couldn't feel her Daddy inside of her mind anymore.

"Daddy isn't here either I don't know where he is. Do you want to go and find Daddy?" Cordelia pointed to her own head as she said this. Kathleen gave her a very clear YES when she answered her mother. Cordelia pulled her daughter out of her highchair and then looked on the floor for Toby. He wasn't at his usual station which was under the highchair so that he could catch anything that missed Kathleen's mouth. She called for him and he came running in from outside. Cordelia didn't have to say anything to him because Kathleen quickly said "Toby find Daddy." Toby went up the stairs. Cordelia, Dr. Martin, and Giles just stared at her. "It has to be Angels influence on her mind, their can be no other explanation." Dr. Martin said in answer to what they were all thinking.

They could hear Toby running all over the Hotel, but he came back without finding Angel. Kathleen looked at Toby standing by Cordelia. "Toby said no Daddy Mommy." "Maybe Daddy will come back later. Are you hungry now?" "No, I want Daddy, find Daddy Mommy." "Okay Grandma and Mommy will go and find Daddy if you eat your breakfast, okay?" "Okay." Kathleen said with such a sad look to her young face that it almost broke Cordelia's heart. Cordelia handed her over to her Grandpa and she went upstairs with Dr. Martin. Cordelia headed for Wesley and Fred's room. She knocked on the door. "Come in." Fred said.

They went into the room and Cordelia and Dr. Martin explained what had been happening to Angel. "Where do you think he might have gone Wesley?" Cordelia asked.

Wesley and Fred had been sitting at their kitchen table having a breakfast that Wesley had made and brought up from the main kitchen. As he took a sip of his coffee he leaned back in his chair and thought about the problem Angel was having. He got up and went to the night stand by the bed and took out the phone book. He found the number he was looking for and punched the numbers in on the phone. They couldn't hear him as he talked on the phone so they just waited. Twenty minutes later Wesley hung up and went back to the table but brought the phone with him.

"I called Father Barris and asked him to check in the church to see if Angel was in there. He said he's there and that he will call me back after he talks to him." "How did you guess that he was there?" Cordelia asked.

"Well I asked myself who is the only other person, besides Dr. Martin, that has helped Angel and never failed him. He always comes through with his promises and has given Angel everything that he ever wanted in this world." Wesley just looked at the women and sipped at his coffee and took a bite out of his toast. "God." Dr. Martin said. "Right that was my answer to the question of the

whereabouts of my dear brother in arms. All we have to do now is wait for Fr. Barris's call."

It was 10:30 when Wesley had called Fr. Barris. He finally called back at 2 in the afternoon. "Wesley this is Fr. Barris I had a long talk with Angel. Why don't you and only you come to the rectory. Angel doesn't want to speak to anyone else right now." "Okay Father I'll be there soon." Before Wesley could hang up Dr. Martin grabbed the phone from him. "Fr. Barris I want to speak to Angel." Fortunately Fr. Barris had already hung up. "Let's go Wesley and Cordelia. We are going to go and bring Kathleen's Daddy back."

"Dr. Martin please stop. Fr. Barris said that Angel wanted to talk to only me right now. Giles told me that Angel had a similar problem once before. I am sure that you understand that what Angel needs right now is rest. I think he went to the church because that is the only place that he can go to where Angelus will stop torturing him and his mind can get the peace and quiet that it so desperately needs. If you want to you and Cordelia can come with me but you are to stay in the van until I can speak to Angel." Dr. Martin looked at Cordelia then turned back to Wesley. "We'll go and stay in the van until you talk to Angel." "You promise?" "Yes I promise." Dr. Martin answered. Wesley turned to Cordelia. "Do you promise to do as I say Cordelia?" "Yes I promise I'll be good." Wesley stared at her as though he was trying to see through her. Next to Angel Wesley new her best which meant he knew all of her tricks. "Cordelia show me your hands." Cordelia wouldn't show him her hands. "Cordelia I know that you believe that if you cross your fingers that anything you say doesn't have to be true. Now stop being a child and put your hands in mine and promise me that you will do as I say." "Oh alright I promise to do as you say." Cordelia put her hands in Wesley's and promised to be good.

"I want you two to stay here while I change." Wesley gathered up his clothes and started for the bathroom but thought twice. He turned and looked at the two women. "I don't want either one of you to move until I come out understand?" "Yes Wesley I understand." Both of the women answered in unison. It only took Wesley 5 minutes and he was out of the bathroom. "Okay ladies lets go." Wesley gave Fred a kiss then left to go downstairs. Cordelia and Dr. Martin both looked at Fred and winked then left. Fred just laughed to herself. "Men, sometimes it's just easier to humor them then to argue with them."

Everyone grabbed their coats and left for the church in Wesley's SUV. After Wesley pulled up to the rectory he got out and knocked on the door. Fr. Barris came to the door with his coat and they left for the church. It used to be that the church doors were always left open so that people could come into spend time with Christ whenever they wanted. Now days though it was necessary to keep the doors locked because some people had no problem with coming in and stealing anything that wasn't nailed down.

Fr. Barris unlocked the side door and let Wesley in then locked it behind them. He then led Wesley over to a door that was to the right side of the alter. Before opening the door he whispered to Wesley. "He is in here Wesley. The lights are out and there are only two candles illuminating the room. Angel is lying on the floor in front of a table where we have the Blessed Sacrament on display. He is holding the Blessed Sacrament to his chest. He says that it is the only way that he can get a few moments of peace. Angelus is afraid to say anything while Angel holds Christ so close to him. I'll be waiting out here."

Wesley went inside. He found Angel where Fr. Barris said he would be. He walked carefully over to Angel and called to him. "Angel, its Wesley." Angel stirred a little then he opened his eyes. He looked around the room as though he couldn't quiet see clearly. He rubbed his eyes then looked around again and stared at Wesley. He got up from the floor and put the Blessed Sacrament back on the table then turned around and came and sat next to Wesley. Wesley didn't say anything he just waited for Angel to say something first.

Angel regularly gave an involuntary jerk of his head as Wesley waited for him to get his thoughts together. "It's getting dangerous for me to be at the hotel now Wesley. This morning Angelus took over control of my body while I was still sleeping and forced himself on Cordelia. He hurt her Wesley. If it wasn't for her calling out to me to stop because I was hurting her I never would have awakened to stop him. Because of what happened I broke the link with Cordelia and Kathleen. I am afraid that he will hurt them somehow through that link."

"Did you know that Kathleen was missing you being in her head? I guess you're kind of like Angelus for her except you're a good Daddy demon. This morning when Cordelia tried to get her to eat her breakfast she wouldn't eat and just pointed to her head and said 'Daddy gone'." Angel had a big smile on his face that was created by the pride he had in his daughter.

"She did? What else did she say?" "They said when Cordelia called Toby to help her and your daughter find you Kathleen gave Toby the order to find you. She said 'Toby find Daddy', and Toby took off looking all over the place for you." Angel was beaming with pride in his daughter.

"Dr. Martin thinks it's because of the link that you share with her that she is learning so fast and that is also why she is acting in a manner that is way beyond her years." Wesley saw the look on Angels face turn from pride to anguish.

"I miss them Wesley. I feel like a part of my heart has been cut away. Tell Mom that I am trying to do what she taught me but I have to give my mind the rest that it needs and I can't do that at home." Angel turned and looked at Wesley. "Wesley Angelus has found a way to take over my body while I am sleeping. Except for last night I haven't been able to sleep for 3 nights. Last night I was so exhausted that I fell into a deep sleep and Angelus took over and forced himself on Cordelia. I can't allow him to do that again Wesley. When I am here then I can sleep while I am holding the Blessed Sacrament to my chest. As soon as I touch it Angelus shuts up. Give me at least 48 hours to rest then I'll be home. While I am gone I want you to set up chains that will hold me while I am unconscious. I think it would be best if you attached them to that new steel beam that is holding the Hotel up, but I'll leave that up to you. My only advice to you is to be very careful because I think Angelus will be many times stronger than I am. He looks at this as being his last chance to take over before he is bound forever until he is exorcised out of my body and becomes none existent. You better go now I can barely keep my eyes open now. Tell my girls that I love them and they are to do as you say or they will have to answer to me when this is finally over." Angel stood up and gave Wesley a hug then got back down on the floor again and pulled the Blessed Sacrament into his arms again.

Within minutes Wesley saw Angels breathing slow down until he couldn't see his chest rise and fall. He took the two blankets that Fr. Barris had left for Angel and covered him then left and quietly shut the door behind him. Fr. Barris got up from where he was sitting and locked the door again so that no one would go in and disturb Angel. Wesley was quiet as they left the Church and returned to the van.

Dr. Martin and Cordelia were still in the van as promised. As soon as they saw Wesley coming towards the van Dr. Martin opened the side door and came out. "Let's go into the rectory ladies it's getting a little cold out here." Dr. Martin and Cordelia followed Fr. Barris and Wesley into the rectory.

They all went into the dinning room where they could all sit and have some coffee and talk. Fr. Barris went into the kitchen and brought out some cups, spoons, cream and sugar. When the coffee was done brewing he brought it out and poured everyone a cup then sat down.

"Well Mr. Price tell us what happened." Dr. Martin said.

"Angel wants to handle his current problem in the manner that you have taught him but he has to deal with a whole new problem that Angelus is giving him. He said that Angelus is constantly talking to him with the same old accusations and worst of all is that he no longer stops when Cordelia is near him. Angelus creates so much noise in his head that Angel hasn't been able to sleep for the previous 3 nights. Last night when he was able to sleep it was only from pure exhaustion. This morning Cordelia when he became physically violent with you in the shower he was not in control. Angels mind was still sleeping and Angelus is the one that went into your shower this morning."

"But Wesley I didn't notice any difference and I've always been able to tell when it was Angelus and not Angel that was in control." Wesley didn't say anything he just looked at Cordelia. Cordelia looked at Dr. Martin and put her hand on hers. "That means that Angelus is playing a whole new ballgame." "Exactly." Wesley said.

"So what does Angel want to do?" Dr. Martin asked as she held onto Cordelia's hand.

"He said that right now he needs at least 48 hours of sleep. He is here because Angelus is quiet and won't try anything while he is in the Church. He is also holding onto the Blessed Sacrament while he sleeps. Angel said that Angelus is constantly checking the perimeter of his cage and looking for weak points where he can break out and take control of his body again. That is why he is afraid to sleep while he is in the Hotel. Dr. Martin he told me that he wanted me to set up chains that would hold him when he comes back. He doesn't trust himself to be in the Hotel and free to do whatever he wants. Whatever you have planned it has to be done while he is chained like this. He has warned me, he believes that Angelus will slip into his true form and he is many times stronger when he is like this. At that time he will try to escape and gain control.

"When Angel comes home you need to be ready to do whatever you have in mind. Gunn and I will be ready also. When we get home I will be calling Spike to come and help us. I will want you to tell me what you are going to be doing to help Angel Dr. Martin. I need to know what to expect." "Okay Wesley. I will respect Angel's wishes and leave him alone. Fr. Barris I need to discuss a few things with you tomorrow can you give me some time tomorrow?" "Sure Mary I'll give you a call tomorrow with the time that you can come over."

"Let's go Wesley it's time for me to get back to Kathleen. I haven't nursed her today yet and my breasts are full of milk and hurting." Cordelia got up and started for the door. "Thank you for everything Fr. Barris. I'll send some blood tomorrow for Angel to drink when he wakes up. Let's go Wesley, NOW." Wesley and Dr. Martin jumped up. They all waved good bye and ran out the door.

With Cordelia constantly encouraging Wesley to hurry they made it to the Hotel in less than 30 minutes. Wesley came to a screeching halt in the back of the Hotel and Cordelia went running in. He looked at Dr. Martin. "Does it hurt that bad?" "Yes it does. Remember how the cow in the next farm was crying so loud one night?" "Yes that poor thing sounded like she was in so much pain. I remember Angel and Connor finally went over there to take care of her. Did we ever find out why she had been left like that?" "Yes the next day the owner came over and thanked them for taking care of her. It turns out that his wife was having their first baby that night. Like most fathers the man had only one thing on his mind."

They sat at the patio tree for a while just watching the night sky. "You know Wesley Fred probably won't be able to have anymore children after these." "Why, is this pregnancy going to do something to her that will prevent her from having anymore?" "No what I am saying is that Fred just wasn't made for having babies that is why she is having so many problems. I am sure that you have noticed how Cordelia is shaped. That girl was made for having babies. She could have one each year without any problem. Her pelvis was made exactly to spec's. But Fred, Fred is delicate, small boned and her pelvis is narrow. We already know that she will have to have a cesarean." Wesley listened to Dr. Martin. At first he was rather sad that they couldn't have anymore but then he thought 2 boys was more than enough to keep them busy. Then it dawned on him why Dr. Martin was telling him all of this.

"Wait a minute, am I correct in that you are telling me that I should have a vasectomy so that we won't put Fred in danger again?" Dr. Martin looked at Wesley with a twinkle in her eye. She held up two of her fingers and made a motion like a scissors. "Snip, snip Wesley. It's a very simple operation and you won't notice a thing. The only difference is that Fred won't have to take birth control pills for the rest of her child bearing years. You'll be praised by all of the women for being a mature, responsible husband that puts his wife before himself." Dr. Martin got up then and patted Wesley on the shoulder. "You have a long time to think about it Wesley but I know you love Fred and you'll do the right thing. I'm getting hungry so I am going to see if the men made anything."

Dr. Martin left Wesley to think about all that he had on his plate right now. In some ways Wesley's work was just as important, if not more at times, then Angels. She went back in and checked on the kitchen. Before starting anything she thought she would check on Cordelia and Rupert first.

Dr. Martin stopped at Cordelia's room and knocked on the door. "Come in." Cordelia answered. When Dr. Martin entered she found Cordelia exactly where she thought she would be, in the rocking chair with Kathleen contentedly nursing.

"How are you feeling now?" "Oh much better, much better. I was really hurting on the trip home. You know Mom I was just thinking of Marissa Morgan. I think she should be due any day now. I'll have to call her tomorrow and I think I'll suggest to Wesley that we ask Morgan if we can borrow Richard while Angel is busy dealing with Angelus. He should be able to help Gunn in handling Angelus if he needs it.

"Well I came to see if you were hungry. I was going to make a sandwich for myself, how does that sound to you?" "That sounds good to me. We were there later than I thought." "Okay then I'm going to check on Rupert then I'll go and make our sandwiches and bring them up here." Dr. Martin left then to go and check on Rupert and the rest. As she past Fred's room she noticed that the door was open so she stopped and knocked on the door. She looked around the door. "Come in Mary." Fred said. "Come and join us." She found Connor, Gunn, Cylindia, and Rupert playing poker with Fred. They had moved her twin bed over so that the table could be lifted up and over the bed.

"Well if Cordelia, Wesley and I join in there won't be enough room for all of us." "No problem, we can go downstairs." Gunn said as he stood up. "Wait a minute guys how long have you been playing?" "Two hours." Gunn answered. He sounded like a kid that knows with his answer he is going to be in trouble.

"I think that is enough then. We can't keep Fred sitting up any longer so why don't you men bring the regular bed in here and then you can take out the twin. When you are done I want to see everyone down in the lobby. Someone can carry Fred down to the Lobby and put her on the couch where she can be laying down." Dr. Martin left then to go downstairs and set up for the class that she was going to teach.

"Thirty minutes later everyone came downstairs. Cordelia had come downstairs when Dr. Martin didn't show up with their dinner. While they were waiting for the rest to come downstairs Dr. Martin and Cordelia made up sandwiches for themselves and Wesley. When Wesley saw Connor coming down with Fred he picked up his sandwich and drink and went to the couch so that Fred could lay her head in his lap. "Put her right here Connor." He patted the couch seat next to him. Connor put Fred down and Fred thanked him.

After everyone was seated Dr. Martin pulled over a white board with some pictures on it showing the internal view of a woman, her uterus and a baby. For the next 45 minutes they were all lectured on what normally happened in a pregnancy, what was happening to Fred, and what could happen if she didn't follow directions to the letter. By the end of the lecture it was clear that Dr. Martin was angry with Fred.

"I'm sorry Dr. Martin. It's just that I get so bored and lonely when Wesley isn't with me." Dr. Martin was walking back and forth in front of everyone. They could all see that she was very angry with Fred and she was just barely able to contain that anger.

Cylindia stood up and came over by Fred and Wesley. "Dr. Martin it's my fault, I should have known better then to let her sit up for so long." Dr. Martin turned and looked at Cylindia. "Yes Cylindia you should have known better. The one that I am most disappointed in is you Fred. I expect something like this from Cordelia but not you." "Hey! I'm right here." Cordelia said loudly. "I'm sorry Cordelia but it's true. I knew what to expect from you so I was always ready but with Fred I didn't expect her to forget about her babies and put herself first." Fred started crying when Dr. Martin said that.

Dr. Martin knelt in front of Fred. "I'm sorry I had to put it like that Fred but I have to make you understand how important it is for you to follow Doctors orders to the letter. Fred if you don't bring these babies to term you most likely won't have any children unless someone else carries the babies for you." "I promise Dr. Martin that I will be good from now on and I will give my babies their turn at a good life." "That's good Fred and that is all that Dr. Thompson and I are asking. Connor, would you take Fred up stairs now please?" Connor came and picked up Fred. Wesley followed them upstairs. Dr. Martin put the white wall board back by the A.I. offices. She went to help Cordelia clean the kitchen up then they went to bed.

Dr. Martin took a shower before getting into bed. It had been a long day and she was dead tired. She still had to talk to Fr. Barris tomorrow and she also had to talk to Wesley to see how he was going to set up the chains that they would use to restrain Angelus. Even though she was dead tired she was unable to fall asleep so she did what she used to do when she was in the convent. For some reason it always seemed to work. Since Rupert was already sleeping she opened the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed and pulled out her Rosary. Just as she started to pray she heard a soft knocking on the door. She got out of bed as quietly as she could and went to the door and opened it. It was Cordelia.

"What's wrong Cordelia?" "I can't sleep without Angel on the other side of the bed. Can you come and sleep with me?" "Sure baby I'll be there in a few minutes." "Thank you Mom and tell Giles I said thank you." Cordelia left to go back to her room and Dr. Martin closed the door then went to the bed and shook Giles gently.

"Rupert wake up." "Huh what's wrong?" "Nothing is wrong I just wanted to tell you that I am going to spend the night with Cordelia. She can't sleep without Angel in the bed so she came and asked me if I would sleep with her tonight." "Okay, do you want me to come also I could sleep on the couch." "No I think she'll be alright with just me there. Besides you might wake Kathleen up with your snoring." "I beg your pardon Madam I do not snore." Dr. Martin gave her husband a kiss. "Yes dear, whatever you say. Goodnight." Dr. Martin left then and went down to Cordelia's room and knocked on the door. "Come in Mom." Cordelia said. Dr. Martin opened the door and went in. Cordelia was in bed and had Kathleen sleeping next to her. At the foot of the bed she also found Toby. "It's a good thing this is a king size bed. Are you sure there is room for me?" Cordelia laughed and pulled back the covers for her. "Come on Mom there is more than enough room. Connor brought him over and said that Toby would be our protector tonight." Dr. Martin turned the light off, removed her robe and crawled into bed. They were both sound asleep within a few minutes.

The next morning Rupert came to check on the women. When no one answered the door he carefully opened the door and looked in. What he saw made him go running back to his bedroom and get his camera. As he came out of his bedroom Wesley was coming out of his. "You want to see something funny?" "What's going on?" Giles just motioned to Wesley to follow him. He opened the door again and started taking pictures. Unfortunately Toby heard them and his tail started wagging which made a thump, thump noise on the bed which woke Cordelia and Dr. Martin. When the women looked at them they just lay back down and pulled the covers over their heads. Kathleen sat up and looked at Giles. "Wesey, Grampa." That of course got a grin out of the men.

"Why don't you be a good Grandpa and change her and take her downstairs with you so Cordelia and I can get some more sleep." Dr. Martin said as she looked at Giles with one eye open. "I think I can do that." Giles said as he came in and picked up Kathleen. He changed her diaper with only a little difficulty. The last time he had ever changed a diaper was when they used safety pins to keep the cloth diaper together. Eventually he had her all cleaned up and ready to go down stairs.

"Come on Toby lets leave the ladies alone. Some people need more time to get their beauty sleep." Both Dr. Martin and Cordelia threw a pillow at the closing door then pulled the covers over their heads and went back to sleep.

Wesley had already made coffee and left a bowl of pancake batter on the counter. Giles put Kathleen in her highchair and proceeded to make some pancakes. By the time he was through feeding Kathleen and himself he was tired and ready to take a nap. "You know Kathleen I now have a new respect for your mother. She is able to take care of you, make breakfast for everyone and take care of Toby and a husband that is like a big kid also. It's going to take me another hour just to clean up after you." Giles looked down at all of the food on the floor then noticed that Toby was cleaning up all of the food. "Well I guess I don't have to clean the floor so let's go outside for a few minutes." Giles pulled her out of the highchair and put her on the floor while he held onto both of her hands. Kathleen started walking. First one foot then the other as they got to the steps Giles lifted her up the steps one at a time. She was concentrating on each step that she took. After a few minutes she tried to pull her hands away from Giles but he didn't want to let go of her while she was on a hard cement surface. He guided her over to a small patch of grass and dirt. Once again she tried to pull away from Giles and this time he let go but kept his hands close to her incase she started to fall. Just as he thought would happen did happen, WHAM, she fell backwards on her well padded behind. Giles went to assist her but she pushed him away.

"Toby come." Kathleen called out to her playmate. Toby came running over to her and laid down next to her. Kathleen grabbed onto his hair and pulled herself up. When she did this Toby stood up slowly so that he wouldn't cause her to lose her grip and fall. Very slowly Toby took two steps forward and Kathleen took two steps. Giles thought that she must be hurting Toby as she held on so tightly to his hair but he didn't seem to mind. Giles heard a noise behind him and turned to see Cordelia and his wife taking movie pictures of what was happening. Cordelia went down to the patio and called for Kathleen to come to her. Toby slowly turned around and guided Kathleen to her mother.

"You are such a smart little girl. I wish your Daddy had been here to see it. Let's go and see Daddy." Cordelia started to walk back into the Hotel. "Cordelia you shouldn't do that. He told us that he would be back in 2 days." Dr. Martin said. Cordelia sat down on the steps leading up to the doors. "Mom I miss him too much. I'm afraid that I am going to lose him this time." "Cordelia Chase Martin I want you to listen to me for a minute. We have to give this time to Angel so that he can be rested enough so that he will have the strength to endure what is going to happen. Remember what I told you to do when you were pregnant and having to deal with depression?" "Yes, you said to keep myself busy." "Well that's what I want you to do. I noticed that our supplies are getting low so why don't you and Gunn go shopping today. That should keep you busy all day. Tomorrow everyone is going to help you to clean this place from top to bottom. We also have to work on preparing a suite of rooms for the couple that is going to work and live here with us. Now let's leave Kathleen with Rupert and let's have some breakfast." Cordelia looked at Dr. Martin then decided to do what she said without a fight. Dr. Martin took Cordelia's arm and directed her back to the doors and breakfast.

During the next two days they did just as Dr. Martin had said. While Cordelia and Gunn were gone Dr. Martin went to see Fr. Barris and discuss the directions that she had been given by Sr. Margaret as to how to help Angel.

"So how are we going to help Angel?" "I wasn't given any orders. Sr. Margaret said that I had to handle this myself and that St. Michael had faith in me that I would know the right thing to say at the right time. So what I am going to do is play it by ear. What I need for you to do is come over to the Hotel tomorrow night with some Hosts that have already been blessed. I also want you to bring some Hosts that have not been blessed. Gods Champion in this world will be in my hands tomorrow night Father. Pray for me as much as you possibly can. I have contacted Mother General and at 9 p.m., our time, the Sisters will be gathered in the chapel and praying the Rosary continuously until I call them to let them know that it's over. You know at times like this I wish I could get drunk so that I wouldn't have to think about anything for at least a few hours. My brain is hurting from thinking about it so much." Dr. Martin put her head on the table for awhile. Fr. Barris looked at her eyes. He could see that she had been thinking about this for too long. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had bags under her eyes and neither one of these were normal for her.

"Why don't you go and lay down next to Angel for awhile. The Blessed Sacrament will guard and watch over both of you while you rest." "That sounds like a good idea. Would you come and get me if I don't come over by 4:30. Angel has given strict orders that we women are to be back at the Hotel by 5 o'clock at night unless we have one of the men with us." "Yes I will make sure."

Fr. Barris gave Dr. Martin the key to the room where Angel was. She left then and went through a side door of the Church. She had to wait a moment while her eyes adjusted to the low light. The room that Angel was in was on the right side of the alter. As she crossed in front of the alter and Blessed Sacrament she kneeled and made the sign of the cross out of respect for Christ. She carefully put the key into the lock and turned it. As she opened the door she could see the table with the ever present light that came from a candle that must remain lit while the Blessed Sacrament is present. In front of the table she could see Angel on the floor clutching the Blessed Sacrament to his chest. She watched him for a while until she could see him take a breath then she put down the pillow that Fr. Barris had given her and laid down next to him and wrapped her arm around him. After a few minutes Angel turned over and pulled the blanket that Fr. Barris had placed on him, over on his mother also. Without letting go of the Blessed Sacrament he put his head on her chest and went back into a solid sleep again. Finally Dr. Martin was able to rest her mind and she fell into a peaceful sleep also.

Next chapter: Why does Dr. Martin want one host that has been blessed and one that hasn't been blessed? Angel can't receive communion because Christ cannot exist in the same place as a demon and this would destroy Angelus. And what of Kathleen? She needs her Daddy to be with her so that she can advance as fast as she needs to.

TBC……………….


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**THE NEW LOCK**

Angel came in through the front door of the Hotel after a Taxi dropped him off. Everyone had just been having lunch when he came in. Cordelia looked up when she heard the front doors open and close. When she saw that it was Angel she stood up so fast that she knocked her chair over. She ran to him and jumped into his arms. Cordelia showered him with kisses and Angel responded in the same way. It was a few minutes before they decided to let the others greet him. He immediately went to his mother and gave her a kiss. He saw that the Sunnydale gang was here. He said hello to everyone and as he walked down the table to his own chair he stopped by Richards chair and put his hand on his shoulders. "Thank you for coming." Richard put his hand on Angels. It was kind of weird seeing the two together when you knew that they were father and son because Richard was the son and Angel the father when they looked as though it was the other way around. As Angel sat down he asked Spike when they had arrived.

"We got here last night. It took us a little longer though since Buffy had to stop every 30 minutes to pee." "Isn't it affecting you also?" Angel asked. "Yes it is. She's due to pop any day now so she is suffering quiet a bit with her back hurting her." "Where is she?" "Like I said her back is hurting her so she is laying down. I told her I would bring her a sandwich later. You should see her Angel. With Buffy being so small she looks like she swallowed a basketball. She's all stomach." Spike laughed as he described his poor wife.

Angel gave all of his attention to his daughter who had been calling him over and over. He pulled her out of the highchair and kissed and hugged her. "Daddy missed his little girl so much. Give Daddy a big hug and kiss." Everybody went "Awww isn't that cute." Then Kathleen did something that surprised everyone. She put her little hands on each side of Angels face and said. "Daddy gone. Daddy back?" Kathleen said as she pointed to her head.

Angel hugged her and gave her a kiss again. "No baby, not yet. Soon I hope Daddy will be able to be with you again but not yet." "Why Daddy, why? I miss Daddy." Everyone's eyes started to mist up.

"Daddy is sick and I don't want you to get sick also." "Okay Daddy." She gave him a big kiss then and Angel put her back into her high chair. He looked to Cordelia, who was bringing him an extra large glass of warmed blood. "I am starving. Thank you for sending the blood over to the church."

While they were all at the Dinning room table Hunter and Mike walked in along with Fr. Barris who had arrived shortly after they did. Everyone greeted them and Cordelia brought some more coffee cups while everyone made room for them at the table.

"I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. Wesley is everything ready for tonight?" "Yes Angel Gunn and I just finished it today. I think you had better go down and check though." "Okay let's go and do that now." Angel said as he got up. Angel made sure that he kept his right hand in his pocket. Angelus was causing him so much trouble that his nerves were almost shot. His neck was hurting and he kept trying to massage it. He went directly to the basement and then waited for Wesley and Gunn to go before him so that they could show him what they had done.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs Wesley and Gunn went to the back of the basement where normally they had supplies. This back section had a new steel beam going through it that went from one side of the basement, under the stairs, and through to another boxed area. They had put 4 of these new steel beams in to support the building above. Gunn and Wesley used two holes that already existed in the steel beam and had welded two of the loops from the chain through one hole and two through the other hole about 10 feet away. The other ends of the chains had padded handcuffs. Two other chains were attached to the floor in the same way except they were attached to two steel loops in the cement. Angel went to them and picked up each end. He could barely keep hold of both ends. His arm started to shake so much that he made the chains start to clink together. He dropped the chain and held onto the other one and more or less leaned on it. After a few minutes Angel looked up at Gunn and Wesley. "Let's go back up stairs." Gunn came over and gave Angel his hand. Angel held onto Gunn's hand and arm until they got to the top of the stairs. He let go then and started walking on his own.

As Wesley walked by Angel reached out his hand and grabbed Wesley's arm. "Can you stay here for a minute? I have something to give you." Wesley came back and stood in front of Angel while he leaned against the wall. Angel pulled out a large legal size envelope from his inside pocket and handed it to Wesley. "What's this?" Wesley asked. "Open it." Angel told him. Wesley looked at the printing on the envelope. He read it out loud but low enough so that only Angel could hear it. "Pasadena Life Sperm Bank." Wesley looked at Angel. "I take it you made a deposit incase something happens tonight and you aren't around to put in your personal request for two more children." "Yes, please don't tell anyone unless I don't make it." "You'll make it Angel, I just have a feeling deep down that you will make it. Do you need help to get back to the table?" "No I want to talk to Hunter for a second. Would you ask her to come over here please?" Wesley left then and told Hunter that Angel wanted to talk to her.

Hunter came to Angel and they walked a little further apart. "Hunter I wanted to tell you that everyone might see what Angelus really looks like tonight. I thought you might want to tell Mike to go upstairs to be with Buffy and Fred." Hunter thought about it for a while. "Angel I think it would be best if Mike knew the truth about all of me which includes my demon and what it looks like." "Good, I was hoping that you would say that. Gunn, Wesley and Fred have seen my demon but not Cordelia." Angel gave her a kiss and hug then they went back to the dinning room table.

"Are you ready to take care of Angelus Mom?" "Yes Angel. It's 9 P.M. now and we can go ahead."

"I am going to explain to you all now what is going on. Two weeks ago I was given a gift from God. That gift was the ability to go out into the sun without burning up. At the same time though Angelus started putting more pressure on me and has found a way to take over control of my body while I am sleeping. Several days ago Angelus took over control of my body while I was still sleeping. He attempted to have sex with Cordelia. If it hadn't been for Cordelia calling out to me to stop I think he would have seriously hurt her. At that point I was already tired from listening to him constantly so I left and went to the Church where Fr. Barris lives. I guess you could say that he gave me sanctuary. They keep a small room on the side of the church where people can go in and pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Barris let me stay in this room for the last 48 hours. I found that if I held it to my chest Angelus would shut up. So I was finally able to sleep a deep sound sleep without having to worry about Angelus taking over."

Angel stopped talking for a moment. He used his left hand to rub at the side of his head. He seemed to be concentrating on keeping control. When he put his hand down again he looked around the table and saw Connor. "Connor, would you please take Kathleen and Toby upstairs? Spike and Wesley I think it would be a good idea if Buffy and Fred went to stay at a Hotel. I'll leave that up to you though. They can take Kathleen with them if they go. It's a precaution against the possibility that Angelus should get loose. If you decide to do it don't say where in front of me. What I know Angelus knows. To continue with what I was saying, I can't sleep without Angelus taking over. The worst part of this new thing that he is doing is that he can control the physical movements of my body now. He couldn't do that before. Angelus is panicking now because he sees my ability to go out into the sun now as a threat to him. He sees this as the beginning of the end for him. I am hoping and praying that Mom will be able to help me through this also as she has helped me through every thing else. Gunn and Wesley have set up chains downstairs that will be used to constrain me. They did this at my request. Angelus is many times stronger than me when he is in his normal form. When we were in Pylea rescuing Fred Angelus took over and showed his true form when I tried to let only my face change as you've seen many times before. Gunn, Wesley, and Fred saw him but Cordelia hasn't.

"Let's get this over with. Willow I'll need some of your sleeping powder to make me sleep after the men chain me. I know that you know what has to be done if Angelus should get loose. Don't hesitate because it's me. Just remember that you will be saving me from years of torture as he kills all of you." Angel looked directly at Gunn and Gunn just nodded his reply. Angel stood up and he looked at Cordelia. She went to him. The look that they gave each other spoke volumes. Angel bent down and kissed her then left to go down stairs. Wesley, Gunn and Spike followed him down. Willow went upstairs to her room and got the powder to make Angel sleep. When she came out of her room Connor was coming out of Angel and Cordelia's room.

"How are they doing?" Willow asked. "I explained to them what was going on and both Buffy and Fred said that they wanted to stay. Kathleen is sleeping in her crib and Toby is by her. Buffy asked me to tell either you or Tara to put a spell on the room so that no one could enter." "I can do that now." Willow took a moment to say a few words in Latin then she joined Connor and they went to the basement.

In the basement everyone was watching as Gunn and Wesley helped Angel take off his jacket, shirt, T-shirt and shoes. Angel had explained that Angelus was bigger in his normal form and he didn't want to ruin his clothes because Cordelia was always complaining about how many shirts and T-shirts she was always having to buy him. When they were done removing most of his clothes they chained his wrists and legs up. They had a hard time chaining his right wrist because the chains were short enough so that Angel would actually hang several inches off of the ground. Spike came over and helped to hold his body up so that they could put the right chain on his wrist. They then chained his feet. These chains also pulled his legs apart tightly. As the men stepped back Angel visibly started to relax and stopped fighting Angelus.

Willow approached him then and held out her hand with the powder in it. Before casting the sleeping spell she told Angel "Good luck." "Thanks I'll need all I can get." Willow said something in Latin over the powder then blew it in Angels face. She stepped back quickly and went to stand with Tara. Angel closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Every one was quiet while they waited for Angelus to make an appearance. Dr. Martin was watching Cordelia. She was usually the first one to feel his presence. She didn't have long to wait. Cordelia sat up straight. "Hello Angelus." She said. "Hi Baby. I almost nailed you the other day. It's too bad you called out to Angel you would have had the highest orgasm of your short life."

"Oh please, spare me the bravado. You're all talk Angelus. Angel is so good at making love to me that I almost panicked when he borrowed Hunters ring and was able to go out into the light while we were in Ireland. I showed him that I wasn't making idle threats when I warned him about having a wandering eye. He was singing soprano the rest of the day." Cordelia was so tired of hearing Angelus singing his own praises.

Everyone knew that she had hit the right cord with Angelus when he gave his return remark. "Like I said Cordelia, the twins go first." "Yea, yea, yea you've used that threat for so long it doesn't even demand my attention. While you are stuck in Angels head you will have plenty of time to think of something new so let's get on with it before I leave out of boredom from this conversation."

It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Then they saw Angelus starting to pull at the chains and you could hear the links in the chain starting to make noises as they rubbed against each other. He couldn't break them so he let up for now. Cordelia had made him so mad that Angelus was actually breathing hard and sweating with the effort to break loose.

"Are we done with the usual formalities?" Dr. Martin asked.

"Yes we are. He hasn't come up with anything new so it isn't any fun anymore." Cordelia said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Okay then what is going on Angelus? Does Christ have to have words with you again or can we get you to stop what you are doing without His intervention, which would be a lot easier on you." Dr. Martin said as she sat down at a chair and small table that had been placed in front of Angel.

"You already know what I am doing and why. Why don't you make it easier on yourselves and just let me go." "Why do you ask me these stupid questions Angelus? You know that it will never happen."

Angelus was getting ticked off at being told no all of the time. "And I am getting tired of being told what I can do and what I can't by a slut like you." Giles started to move but Hunter held him back. Their eyes met and Giles got the message. "Stay still he's baiting you."

Dr. Martin got up from the chair and walked slowly over to Angelus. She was wearing her usual long black skirt with a long sleeved white blouse. Her hair was neatly tied up in a bun on the back of her head. She stopped when she arrived at the front of the table and just leaned against it.

"Alright Angelus this is how I see it. Your getting scared because Angel is your last, shall we say 'Gig' I believe is the word, when he dies you have no where to go but oblivion. If you can gain control of Angels body then you can still have years of existence ahead of you. Am I not correct?" "You got it sweetheart. All the time that he thought I was just leaving him alone while he played with his family I was busily searching for a way to gain control of his body again."

While Angelus was talking Dr. Martin had unbuttoned the top two buttons of her blouse and was running her hand over her throat as though she was hot. "Let me guess, you couldn't find a way by yourself could you." "No, I put out the word in the demon world that I was looking for a way to gain control of my resident body."

All the time that Angelus and Dr. Martin were talking Dr. Martin was unbuttoning her blouse more. Each time that he seemed to be loosing interest she unbuttoned another button. By the third button she decided she needed to show more in order to keep his interest. She put her arms up and joined her hands as though she was stretching. This of course had the desired affect on Angelus. He looked at the curves of her breasts under the blouse and at how they moved as she moved her arms as though she was trying to get the kinks out of her muscles.

"How many bites did you get?" "One." "Who was the one?" "My boss." "You mean the one that St. Michael fought? The bad Angel?" "Yes." "What did he promise you?" "He said he would give me the way to gain control of Angel's body. He said I would have human blood to drink until the end of the world if I managed to last that long. With Angel's body and good looks I would be able to take as many women as I wanted. The fear that I could instill in them would be intoxicating." "What did he want in return?" "What do you mean in return?" "In return, he never gives anything for free." "I don't remember him asking for anything in return." Angelus looked down. He didn't want to look her in the eyes. Something about this woman made him want to tell her the truth.

Dr. Martin started to pull her blouse out of her skirt and unbuttoned the rest of the buttons. She had her back to the rest so no one could see exactly what she was doing all of the time. She had a bra on that was meant to be worn when a low cut gown was worn. It was one of the things she had bought when she had gone to speak to Fr. Barris the previous day. As she pulled the blouse out of her skirt she supposedly, accidentally let one breast come out of the top of the bra. She sensed Angelus's eyes on her so she acted like she didn't notice it right away. "That feels much better. Now where were we, oh yes you said that you didn't remember your boss asking for anything in return. Now you know as well as I do that he always gets something in return."

"He said that when Angels body finally dies then I would go to him, but that won't be for thousands of years to come. Until then the world is my playground." Angelus's eyes where constantly on Dr. Martin which meant his mind wasn't 100 on what he was saying which in turn made his tongue more free. Angelus knew women but Dr. Martin knew men even better.

"You know as well as I do that he never makes good on his word. He always has a built in loop hole that he can pull you through. I tell you what Angelus I want to play a little game with you. If I win then you will be released into oblivion immediately."

"And if I win what do I get?" "You won't receive your winnings until Angel goes to his final reward. How you behave and how you treat Angel throughout the rest of his life will tell you what your winning will give you. I give you my word though that you will continue."

"The way you have it set up will make Angel the winner no matter who wins and that isn't fair. I lose either way."

"My, my but it does look that way doesn't it?" By now Dr. Martin had let her hair down and was playing with it.

"You are correct though, the difference is the degree of your reward. Your way, you go with what your boss is promising you, which we all know is as good as the smoke it's written on."

"How can you have the power to say what will happen? You're nothing but a human bitch." "That's true, but I am the human bitch that has been given the power to decide how I was going to handle you and this current problem that you have created. So you see my word is law. If I say it will be done then it will be done. I have St. Michaels word on it and he has Christ's support and we all know that He never goes back on His word."

Angelus was quiet while he thought about her offer. "Okay let's see your game."

Dr. Martin turned to Fr. Barris and asked him to bring the hosts over to the table. Fr. Barris brought three small containers over to the table. All looked exactly alike.

"In each of these containers is a communion host. One of them was blessed during Mass. You will choose one of these hosts to consume. If you choose the one that was blessed during Mass then you will immediately go into oblivion and Angel and I win. If you choose one of the regular hosts then you win and you stay with Angel under the rules that I have laid down. If you choose not to play the game then you take your chances with your master or stay with Angel under the same rules that I gave you."

Angelus took a long time to weigh his options. He knew that the best way to go would be to continue with Angel and take his chances as to who he would get when Angel finally died. Before he gave in he was going to give himself the option of getting loose one more time. He had already tried once as Angelus and was unsuccessful. His only hope was to let himself go into his true form which he hated. Angelus didn't want to admit it, even to himself, but he thought of Angels looks as his own and had become proud of his looks. His own true form was monstrous looking but he had to let that form come through so that he could use all of his strength.

All eyes were on Angelus as he closed his eyes and let his true form come through. Dr. Martin saw what was happening and she quickly picked up the three containers and backed up. Connor, Wesley, Gunn, Spike, Giles, Richards and Hunter all stepped forward.

Angelus was now completely changed into his true form. They watched in horror as the once familiar form of Angel changed into a powerful looking monster. His arms and shoulders were now twice their normal size. His skin had become a sickly looking, dark gray color. The texture of his skin was now leathery looking with patches of hair all over his body. His feet took on a rough lizard like appearance with long claws that could gouge out enemies internal organs with one swipe. His leg muscles were now thick cords that could give him what ever power he needed to run fast or jump great distances. His face no longer had even a trace of Angel on it. Only his eyes showed the sadness of the soul that was trapped inside this monstrosity. His mouth showed the elongated sharp eye teeth of the Vampire as saliva constantly dripped from the corners of his mouth.

Angelus started to use all of the power contained in his muscles. He pulled at the chains with his powerful shoulder and arm muscles. Connor and Gunn went to one side and watched for any weakness in the chain links. Spike and Hunter went to the other side and did the same. Everyone could hear the links start to rub against each other. They could hear the stress that was being put onto the thick steel chain links. Since there was no way that Angelus's feet could push against anything he couldn't get the full benefit of his leg and arm muscles. All he could do is pull his arms forward. He roared in frustration. Angel and his friends had once again outsmarted him. If he had been allowed to touch the floor he would have been able to break the chains, but since he was several inches off of the floor his leg muscles were impotent.

For the next hour Angelus strained at the chains. The cuffs that were on his wrists were preventing him from harming himself but in turn they made it a little easier to pull at the chains. Dr. Martin finally came forward.

"Are you done?" Angelus was breathing hard and sweat from his body was falling on the floor below him. "Yes, I'm done." "Are you ready to play the game?" "No, I will do as you say and obey Angel's Master." Angelus said as he hung limply from the chains. As he spoke he slowly changed back into Angel again and his head hung low as he refused to look at Dr. Martin and admit even further to his defeat.

"Why don't you want to play the game Angelus?" Dr. Martin asked as she took her place at the table again. She had re-buttoned her blouse again and tucked it in but she left her hair hanging.

"I didn't want to take my chances with my Master. With you at least I know that I will continue. I know that you won't ever give me the chance to control anyone ever again as I did Angel but I believe you will let me continue in some capacity."

"I want you to understand Angelus that if you should ever try to go back on your word I will still have the blessed host. Don't try to destroy it because it is easy to get another one. Angelus I want you to understand that you cannot continue to torture Angel as you have been doing lately. His mind won't take it. If you do it too much his mind will break and you will be stuck in the body of a vegetable. Do you understand?" "Yes, I'll let up on him. I must ask for one thing in return though."

"If it's in my power to give it then I will." "I can't take him going into the sun for to long of a time. I will burn and it will show up on his skin as you saw when he first went into the sun. I cannot change this as it is a part of my nature. He can continue to expose his skin to the sun a little at a time but he will eventually reach a time where he can't go any further."

"Okay Angelus I hope that this will be the last time that I have to do this. I assure you that I will be very displeased with you if you should make life hard on Angel again." Dr. Martin carefully picked up each of the containers holding the small circular pieces of bread. She turned back toward Angelus again.

"Good bye Angelus." Angelus closed his eyes then and was silent.

"Can you sense his presence any longer Cordelia?" Dr. Martin asked.

Cordelia stood up and went to Angel. She put her hands on his face and kissed him. When she pulled back she said "Angelus is gone. He is back in his cage where he belongs."

"Gunn and Spike you can let Angel down now." Dr. Martin said as she turned back to Fr. Barris and gave him the three small containers to hold. She looked up at him and could see that his skin was as white as a ghosts.

"Fr. Barris are you alright?" She could see his hand shaking as she gave him the containers. "YYYesss, I'm alright. I don't think that I have ever been so scared in all my life. If you don't mind Sister I think I will go upstairs and sit down for awhile." "Go ahead Father; I think the coffee maker is ready to be started. Why don't you just flip the start switch and we will be up in a few minutes. Fr. Barris, if you would like something stronger Angel keeps a bottle of Jack Daniels in the left bottom drawer of his desk." Everyone watched him go up the stairs. Dr. Martin laughed when she heard the basement door close again. "He was so unnerved that he called me Sister. Poor Fr. Barris."

The men started to take down Angel as he started to wake up. As he went down on the floor and his arms were allowed to go down to his sides he cried out in pain.

"Ahhhh! My arm, my arm." Hunter went to him and kneeled on the floor while she checked his arm. "It came out of the socket when Angelus tried to break loose. Let me reset it before you do anything else." She pulled at it this way then that way and before Angel knew it his arm went back into place. "How does it feel now?" Hunter asked. The color was starting to come back into Angels face. "Better thank you. If someone would take these chains off I'll be able to get up with some assistance."

Gunn and Spike undid the chains on his arms and legs then helped him to stand up. As soon as he tried standing on his own he went down. Everyone came over and looked at him and he looked up at everyone. "I think I'll sleep right here tonight." Dr. Martin came over to him. "Don't you think your going to get rather cold lying on that cold cement?"

"Not if the guys bring me a mattress. Besides I think we need to be careful. Mom, I wish there was a way that we could test Angelus to see if he was lying." "There is no way Angel that I can think of right now. But I do have an idea for a stronger lock on the door of the cage that he is in." Dr. Martin reached into her deep pocket and pulled out a small box. She opened it and pulled out a silver Cross. In the middle was a tiny glass ball. She unclasped the necklace and put it around Angel's neck. When she was done he looked at it. "What's in the glass ball?" "It's a tiny piece of The Blessed Sacrament. It's the new lock that goes on the gate that keeps Angelus locked in his cage. St. Michael himself told me to have this made." "I guess that's just as good as having Christ standing guard." Angel said as he put his hand around it.

Angel reached up for someone to help him. Spike pulled him up and Gunn pulled Angels left arm around his neck and then put his arm around his waist. They all made their way up the stairs then and to their bedrooms. Willow took the spell off of Angel and Cordelia's room. Wesley and Spike went in to get their wives.

Angel greeted the girls then he sat down on the edge of the bed next to Buffy. He looked at her stomach. "It's true what Spike said, you do look like you swallowed a basketball." "Is everything with Angelus finished?" "Yes he is back in his cage under a new lock and key." Angel pulled his cross out to show her. "See, Mom gave this to me. In the middle is a tiny glass ball and inside is a tiny piece of The Blessed Sacrament. St. Michael told her to have it made. It's the new lock on the gate of the cage where Angelus is enclosed in." Buffy looked real close at the crucifix. "How is your back feeling?" Angel asked. "It's a little better now that I've had time to rest it. I think it's time that Fred and I gave you back your bed so that you can get some well earned sleep." Buffy threw the covers off and Angel helped her up. Wesley went over to the other side of the bed and helped Fred up.

Everyone else had gone to their own rooms already. When they were all out Cordelia closed the door and went into the bathroom. Angel took the rest of his clothes off and went to check on Kathleen. He bent over the crib rail and just stared at her. "My beautiful baby girl, sometimes you pull so hard on my heart strings that it hurts. Angel put his hand on his daughters head. He closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened them again and pulled his hand away he could feel the bound in place once again. Without opening her eyes, in her mind Kathleen said "Hi Daddy, I missed you." Kathleen started to suck on her fingers again. "Hi my beautiful Kathleen I missed you too." Angel stood up again he could hear Cordelia starting the bath water. He turned the kitchen light off and left the bed night stand on then went to join Cordelia.

He knocked on the door. "Are you ready for me to join you?" "Yes come on in." Angel opened the door and left it open so they could listen for Kathleen. "Is it nice and warm?" "It's just right. Get in so I can help you bath I know you must be sore all over. Does you arm still hurt?" "No I can barely feel it now." Angel got into the whirlpool bath slowly. He could feel temperature variations more and more now. The warm water felt so good on his sore muscles. He dunked his head under the water so that Cordelia could wash his hair. Dr. Martin had given Cordelia a box of rubber gloves to wear on her bandaged hand. She had added a rubber band at her wrist to keep the water from going in.When he came up she put a small amount of shampoo on his hair and proceeded to wash it. When she was done helping him to bathe himself she got in and sat between his legs. Her hair was so long now that it hung below her shoulders. After she dunked her head below the water he put some of her shampoo on her and carefully washed her hair. After he was done she finished bathing herself then she turned on the whirlpool and they just sat and let the jets of water go over them.

After 20 minutes Cordelia heard Angel snoring so she shut off the whirlpool jets and got out of the water and dried herself off. "Angel, Angel, wake up." Angel jerked awake and got out of the whirlpool. Cordelia dried him off then let the whirlpool empty. Angel was already walking to the bed. He sat down on his side of the bed. He was so tired that he was sleeping sitting up. Cordelia came over to him and woke him up again. "Angel, stand up so I can pull the covers down." He woke up just long enough to stand up. As soon as Cordelia pulled the covers down he laid down and pulled his legs under the covers while she covered him again. She checked on her daughter then went to bed herself. It had been a long day and she went to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning Angel woke up and looked around the room as though he wasn't sure where he was. He turned his head and saw Cordelia. He stared at her for a long time. Angel did something then that he would repeat over a million times before he died. He reached for his crucifix and held onto it for a moment. He searched his mind to make sure that Angelus was still in his cage. He saw him still there and he let go of the crucifix. He felt safe in doing what he wanted to do now. He reached over and kissed his wife to wake her up. "Wake up my lovely wife." Cordelia opened her eyes and started to reach for him. Angel put his hand up and stopped her. "Be still for just a moment." Cordelia did as he said. Angel put his hand on the side of her head. He closed his eyes and concentrated. When he was done he said "Reach out for me with your mind Cordelia." Cordelia closed her eyes and reached out for him. In her mind she saw his face and carefully reached out to him and touched him. This time he didn't pull away he just smiled. She tried to see if she could find Kathleen also. She called to her and Kathleen came to her also. In Cordelia, Angel, and Kathleen's mind they touched each other. Cordelia opened her eyes. The tears were flowing freely.

They didn't say anything to each other. Cordelia just hugged him as tight as she could. She reached for the Kleenex to blow her nose and wipe the tears away. "Let me get up for a second Angel. I have to go to the bathroom." She rolled off of the bed and ran to the bathroom. After a few minutes she came out and went to the crib to get Kathleen. "Good morning my precious." Kathleen smiled at her mother and reached for her. Cordelia quickly cleaned her up and brought her to the bed. Kathleen had a smile for everyone today. Her Daddy was back with her and her world was complete again.

Kathleen crawled over to Angel and got up on her knees. She put her hands on his face and gave him a big kiss. "Daddy back now." "Yes, Daddy is back in Kathleen's head again." Cordelia picked her daughter off of her Daddies chest where she was sitting. "Come here my little one. Mommy didn't nurse you last night and her two milk jugs are full and hurting." Cordelia put her to her left breast and Kathleen started nursing eagerly. Angel put his mouth to her right breast to see what Kathleen would do. She was so happy to have her Daddy back with her that she didn't push him away which is what she usually did. As Angel continued to suckle Kathleen just reached out and played with his hair.

When Kathleen was done Cordelia gave her to Angel to burp. Kathleen was wide awake and wanted to play. Angel put her on the floor and she started to crawl towards the door. Cordelia quickly wrote a note and taped it to her back. She put her robe on then opened the door. "Go see Grandma Kathleen, go see Grandma." Kathleen made tracks for Grandma and Grandpa's door. When she got there she hit the door repeatedly. "Gama, Gama, Gama." Kathleen hit the door again. Cordelia saw the door open and Giles picked her up. He stepped out into the hallway to see if someone was watching her. When he saw Cordelia he smiled and whispered a good morning. She told him to look at her back. Giles turned Kathleen around and saw the note. 'Keep her with you for awhile so her Daddy and I can have some time for each other.' Giles looked back at her and gave her a thumbs up. He stepped back into his room and closed the door. Cordelia closed the door and removed her robe then went back to Angel.

She went to his side of the bed and started kissing him. She took his arms from around her and pushed them up and over his head. "Leave them there and don't move no matter what happens." "Yes dear, whatever you say dear." Cordelia and Angel reconfirmed their love for each other over the next hour. They had been apart for the first time for more than 24 hours so they took their time in reconfirming their possession of each other. When they were done they fell asleep in each others arms.

After an hours sleep they heard a soft pounding at the door towards the bottom. Angel smelled the air to see who it was. It was Kathleen. He got up and put his bath robe on. He got on the floor and said "Who's there." Then he heard a soft reply of "Me." "Who's Me?" "Me, Kateen." Angel couldn't help but laugh. He reached up and opened the door just a little so that his face could be seen. "Who is Kateen?" "Daddy it's me." She reached up and grabbed her Daddy's nose. Her little fingernails dug into his nose. "Oww, you hurt Daddy." Angel stood up and opened the door all of the way and reached down and picked up his daughter.

While rubbing his nose he went back to the bed and sat down. Since the door was still open a little Toby pushed his nose in and opened it wider then came galloping in to see what happened to his playmate. Cordelia took Kathleen from her Daddy. "Did you hurt Daddies nose?" "No." "But Daddy said you did." Kathleen put her head down and started crying. "Why are you crying?" "I hurt Daddy now he won't love me." "That's okay baby it's not that bad and Daddy will always love you no matter what you do. Daddy was just pretending, see Daddy's nose is all better." He showed her his nose. "Why don't you kiss it to make it better like Mommy does your hurts?" Cordelia told her as she wiped away the very real tears. Kathleen reached for Angels face and kissed his nose. "All better Daddy. I sorry." "And Daddy is sorry for teasing you." Angel kissed her nose also. He picked her up then and put her down on the floor.

"Your Mommy tells me you can walk now." In response Kathleen grabbed onto Toby and pulled herself up. Toby started to walk slowly and Kathleen walked next to him. True it was an awkward walk but a walk none the less.

Angel stood up all of a sudden. "Come on Cordelia lets get dressed. Spike and Buffy need us." Angel closed the door and threw on some clothes while Cordelia did the same. Cordelia picked Kathleen up and they all went running to Spike and Buffy's room. Angel knocked on the door. Spike called out. "Come in Angel." Angel opened the door. He could see that Buffy was in the middle of a contraction. "Don't hold her hands she'll break yours." Spike showed him his black and blue hand. Spike started to pick up on Buffy's contraction and he fell to the floor as he doubled over in pain. When it was over he laid on the floor breathing heavily.

"How far apart are the contractions Buffy?" Cordelia asked as she put Kathleen on the bed. Angel helped Spike to get up and guided him over to the bed. When she got her breathing under control Buffy answered her. "That's only the second one. The first was at 7:15." "I don't think that was the first Pet. I think you had the first one at 3 o'clock." "How do you know when I don't?" "Because I had my arm around you and I woke up when you started to squeeze my hand. You were still sleeping when you were done with it. You were breathing hard but you just rolled over and mumbled something about a demon you just killed. I asked you if the demon hurt you and you said yes that he had kicked you in the stomach but you were okay now." "Is that when I hurt your hand?" "Yeah." Buffy reached for his hand and kissed it. "I'm sorry sweetheart." Kathleen crawled over to Spike and kissed his hand too. "All better now?" Kathleen asked. "Sure is. Look I can move it now." Spike moved his hand a little to show that it was all better even though it was throbbing.

"Has Mom seen you yet?" "No would you get her. Isn't Mike here though? Would you get him instead please?" Cordelia left and went to Hunter and Mike's room and knocked on the door. She didn't receive an answer so she knocked again. When she didn't receive an answer she opened the door carefully. The bed was already made and she didn't hear anything in the bathroom so she closed the door and made her way downstairs. She found everyone downstairs having breakfast. She called Mike from the stairs. "Mike Buffy has started her labor. The contractions are 2 hours apart but I think she is advancing pretty fast." "Tell Spike to bring her down to the clinic." Cordelia ran back upstairs while Mike ate the last of his breakfast and grabbed his coffee cup and went over to the clinic.

Cordelia told Angel to bring Buffy downstairs. Angel picked Buffy up and she put her arms around his neck as he carried her downstairs. Cordelia picked up Kathleen and followed Angel and Spike downstairs. Instead of going to the clinic though she went to the kitchen to make breakfast for her little family. Angel came out and over to the kitchen to help his wife make breakfast for them. "It looks like someone made pancakes for everyone. Does that sound good to you or would you like some meat and eggs? I am hungry so how about a rare piece of meat and I'll make some toast for myself. How about you?"

"I think I'll have a couple of soft boiled eggs and toast. I'll take care of your meat and the soft boiled eggs if you get the coffee and toast." "What about Kathleen?" "I'll make a scrambled egg for her and take some of your meat and grind it up so that she can eat it. She can put some of those teeth she has been using to chew on me into chewing some food. By the end of this week, come hell or high water, she is going to be weaned." Angel laughed to himself. He was thinking of where he could get the T-shirt made that he said he was going to get when she weaned Kathleen.

They were done making their breakfast so they went over to the dinning room. Angel pulled over Kathleen's highchair to the table. Cordelia put her plate of food in front of Kathleen. "Angel, see if you can teach her how to feed herself?" Angel picked up the little baby spoon and put it into his daughters hand and closed her fingers around the handle. He showed her how to pick up the food and put it into her mouth. Then he started to eat his own food. All the time he was doing this he was talking to her, both by words and giving her pictures in her mind. Then he started eating his own food again. Kathleen looked at her Daddy and Mommy feeding themselves. She looked at the spoon and food and looked at Daddy's plate and glass of what she knew was blood. She pointed to his plate. "Kateen wants some of Daddies." "What do you want? Do you want this?" Angel pointed to his glass of blood. "No Daddy." "Take some of the juice from the meat and pour it onto her meat and see if that's what she wants." Angel did as Cordelia said. He took his spoon and pressed down on the meat to make more juice come out then he spooned some of it on Kathleen's meat. Then they both watched to see what she would do. Angel put the picture in her mind again of picking up the spoon and feeding herself.

Kathleen awkwardly put the spoon into the food and scooped some up. She opened her mouth as wide as she could and put the food in her mouth. She didn't have much more than a trace of food on the spoon but it was a start. She continued to struggle with her new found skill. Cordelia gave her, her baby cup that had milk in it. At first she held it for her then Kathleen grabbed it and pushed her mother's hands away. "Well, Independence Day is approaching fast." Cordelia said.

As they were finishing their breakfast everyone started coming out of the clinic. Buffy came walking out while holding onto Spikes arm. They noticed that his hand was bandaged now.

"So when can we expect the new addition to make her first appearance?" Angel asked as he too a sip at his coffee. Dr. Martin, Hunter and Mike joined them at the table and Cordelia brought in a carafe of fresh coffee and put it at there end of the table.

"She has a ways to go. She's only open about 2 centimeters. I have a few patients to see today so I am going to be leaving in a few minutes. My last patient is at 1 this afternoon and I'll be back after I'm done with her. Spike, if her contractions start getting closer check her in 3 hours to see how she is doing and I'll call you."

All of a sudden everyone's attention went to Kathleen. "What in heavens name happened to your daughter?" Dr. Martin asked. Kathleen had food all over herself, on the highchair and if they could have seen it before they would have seen it on the floor also. "We tried an experiment to see if the Princes could feed herself." Cordelia answered. "Did she get any inside of her?" "Not much but I helped with every other spoonful." Angel said.

"Here she is not even one year old and she is starting to walk, talk, and feed herself. We're going to have to test her intelligence level as soon as possible. It may not be only your interference in her mind Angel your daughter could have a very high IQ." Dr. Martin said as she went down to the other end of the table and picked up her grand daughter. "How about coming down to sit with Grandma and Grandpa while your Mommy cleans up the disaster area?" Kathleen reached up for her Grandmother when she reached for her.

Wesley and Fred came down in the elevator at that time and came over to the table. When Fred saw Dr. Martin and Dr. Thompson looking at her she said "I'm just getting up for 30 minutes. I'm going to forget how to walk if I don't get up once in awhile." Neither Doctor said anything then.

"What else did you do today to show that you're a miracle baby?" "Daddy back." Kathleen said as she pointed to her head. "He is? When did that happen?" "I woke up and Daddy was back." She pointed to her head again. "Well what did you do then?" Dr. Martin was testing Kathleen. "Mommy gave me milk." Kathleen pointed to her grandmothers left breast. "And Mommy gave Daddy milk here." She pointed to her grandmother's right breast. "Kateen was a good girl cause I shared with Daddy." All eyes turned towards Angel while his face turned red and he put his head down on the table to hide his embarrassment. "Did you do that because you love your Daddy and because he was back in here?" Dr. Martin pointed to her head and Kathleen nodded her head. "Yes Kateen love Daddy."

Angel looked at Cordelia. "I think we are going to have to be more careful when our daughter is around. She'll be telling everyone what we do all of the time. Who knows what she will say when she starts noticing the difference between Mommy and Daddy."

"I really don't think that well have to worry about that for a while yet." Cordelia patted his hand as she sat down after cleaning up the last of the food from the high chair.

"Do you read to her at all?" Dr. Martin asked Angel and Cordelia. "No not yet. I guess we better start though after all we do have all of those children's books that I bought." "Well I think that it's time for our little possible genius to go upstairs and take a nap." Cordelia picked her up from her Grandmother and started walking to the stairs when she noticed Buffy and Spike on the couch. Spike was sitting and had Buffy's head in his lap.

"How are you two doing, any more contractions?" Cordelia asked as she sat on the coffee table in front of them. "We are doing okay for now and I haven't had another contraction." "Has your water broken yet?" "No not yet." Buffy answered.

"Aunt Buffy sick Mommy?" "No sweetheart, Aunt Buffy's baby wants to come out now." Kathleen started to yawn and rub her eyes then. She wasn't interested anymore so she laid her head down on her mothers shoulder. "Well I guess that's that for attention span." Cordelia stood up then and took her daughter to her crib for her nap. She was getting pretty good at doing just about everything with her hand all bandaged up but when it came to cleaning her daughter after nuclear waste had been expelled she had to call on someone else. She went to the stairs and called Angel. "Angel, come and help me please." As he passed by his mother she reached out for his arm. When he stopped and looked at her she asked him "Has Angelus been quiet and keeping to his promise?" Angel reached up and put his hand around his cross and bent down. "Yes, he has calmed down a lot. Thank you." He kissed his mother then went upstairs.

Dr. Thompson excused himself then to go to the office. He gave Hunter a kiss on the cheek and left. "How has he been since last night Hunter?" "You mean since he saw what Angelus really looks like." "Yes, has he touched you at all since last night?" "No." "Do you mind if I talk to him about it?" "No please don't say anything. I want to give him some more time to digest what he saw." Hunter said as she bent her head down and covered her face with one hand. Dr. Martin got up and went over to Hunter and took her hand. Hunter got up and followed Mary into Angel's office. When they were inside Dr. Martin closed the door and shade then went to Hunter and held her as she cried her eyes out. After about 15 minutes her crying slowed down.

"I don't know what to do Mary. I love him so much that I wanted to grow old with him and finally die. I'm so tired of living Mary. I'm tired of being lonely; I'm tired of loving someone then having to leave them when they find out what I am. I never asked for this Mary when I was young all I wanted was to marry, have a family, and take care of my husband. I was hoping and praying that Mike would be the one that I could be with. Mary please help me I am so lost now that I don't want to take my next breath. Help me God, please God help me." Hunter was crying again so hard that her whole body was shaking and for a moment Mary thought she was having convulsions. She rocked Hunter back and forth as she held onto her. She couldn't do anything for her, but she could hold her while her heart broke.

Unknown to Dr. Martin and Hunter Angel was outside of the door and listening. He was leaning against the door frame with his hands on each side. Cordelia came up behind him after Kathleen had fallen asleep. She left her daughter in her crib with Toby laying in front of it and guarding his playmate.

"What's happening?" "Mom is in there with Hunter. She's crying her eyes out. Apparently Mike didn't like what he saw when Angelus showed his true form and hasn't shown her any affection since. She thinks she's lost him now." Angel looked past Cordelia and saw that Buffy and Spike were sleeping. He took her hand and pulled her into Wesley's office and closed the door when they were both in.

"Cordelia I never asked you how you felt about what Angelus really looks like in his true form. How do you feel about the fact that this is the true form of the demon that I carry with me?"

Cordelia looked deep into Angels eyes and she put her hands on each side of his face and gave him a gentle kiss. "Oh Angel, my dear sweet Angel I never see you and Angelus as one in the same. You are two entirely different beings. I don't know how to explain it but when Angelus takes over it's like what they say of Elvis. 'ANGEL HAS LEFT THE BUILDING'. It was the same thing last night. My beautiful, handsome, sweet husband I think I showed you how much I love you this morning. What do you want me to do, take it all back just so I could give it to you again?" Angel grabbed her and they lay back on the couch. "Yes I want you to take it all back and give it to me again then take it back and give it again." He kissed her passionately. When they finally parted he said "I am going to build a chapel in one of the rooms upstairs just so that I can go in there every day and give thanks to God that he gave you to me." "And I am going to build a shrine to you and I am going to call it "Angel, the best lover in the world." I'm going to charge $20 dollars to anyone that wants to come in and pray to you to make their husbands the second best lovers in the world. The line will be so long that it will go through out Los Angeles and we will be rich beyond our wildest dreams." "What an imagination." Angel said as he kissed her on the nose. They heard Spike call out for Dr. Martin so they jumped up and went out to see what was wrong.

"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked. "It's Buffy her water broke." Cordelia went to Buffy. "I'm sorry Cordelia I made a mess of your couch and rug." Buffy stood up with Spikes help. "You better go up stairs and clean up Buffy. This will be the last chance you get before you deliver. Don't worry about this I'll clean it up." Dr. Martin came out alone a few minutes later. Angel and Cordelia could see that her eyes were all red and puffy from crying.

"How is she?" Angel asked. "You heard her?" "Yeah. It made me think of asking Cordelia how she felt." "I'm sure she gave you a positive reply. Cordelia would you do me a big favor and go to Mikes office it's almost 12:30 and I would like you to talk to him about how he feels about Hunter now. Explain to him how you feel about Angel and how you perceive Angelus and Angel. Hunter is sleeping right now but she is feeling really down. She is talking about nothing but her desire to die. Mike hasn't physically touched her, and I don't mean sexually, ever since he saw Angelus' true form. We need to keep an eye on her Angel. Once Buffy gets going I'll be able to keep Hunter busy."

"I'll leave now and go and see Mike. I'm going to pick up a playpen for Kathleen also, if Buffy is coming along fast I'll be coming back right away." Cordelia gave Angel a kiss and left.

Dr. Martin and Angel finished cleaning up the couch and floor where Buffy's water had broke. They both stayed in the Lobby where they could keep an eye on Hunter. Two hours after they had gone up stairs they heard Spike coming down the elevator with Buffy. She was holding onto him as she walked.

"How is our soon to be Momma doing?" Dr. Martin asked Spike. "Her contractions have stepped up a little. We've been using one of Connor's baseball bats for her to hold onto but she just broke it with the last one. We're going to need a hard pipe or something for her to hold onto Angel." Spike said as he guided Buffy over to the clinic.

"I think we have something downstairs that we can use. I'll be back in a second." Angel ran down to the basement and grabbed an appropriate socket and wrench. He pulled over a ladder and placed it under the wood beam that held the pipe they used to do pull ups when they were exercising. He had the pipe down in a few minutes then ran back upstairs. He made it just in time for Buffy's next contraction. "Try this Spike." Spike took the pipe from Angel and gave it to Buffy to hold onto while he hung onto it at the same time.

"How far apart are her contractions now?" Dr. Martin asked after the contraction was done for both. Like Angel did Spike would experience the contraction a few seconds after Buffy would start having one. Spike looked at his watch and said "There coming every 45 minutes now." Spike was still breathing hard as he answered. Angel brought a chair over for him. He noticed how Spike seemed to be whiter than usual so he went over to the kitchen to warm up some blood for him. When it was done he took it back to the clinic and gave it to Spike. Spike was too tired to come up with the usual jibes so he just took the glass and said "Thanks, I need this."

"How about you Buffy, would you like something to drink?" Angel asked. "How about a regular Pepsi?" "Sure, I think I can find one in Moms secret stash in her drug refrigerator." "That isn't my secret stash. I just keep a few cans in there for Fred and I when were working. Why don't you keep yourself out of trouble and go and get your daughter. Maybe you can leave her with Wesley and Fred for today." Angel left to go upstairs and said "Yes Mother." She threw a wash rag at him that she was using to wipe down Buffy's face. "Get out of here Brat." She laughed as she threw it at him.

"He used to make me so mad when he would do things like that." Buffy said. "What do you mean?" Dr. Martin asked as she pulled over a chair. "He used to come into my bedroom by jumping up to the porch roof. If I wasn't there he would look around my room. I guess it was the Investigator in him coming out, but I told him he was nosy. Anyway he would find things like a bag of potato chips or an empty container of ice cream. When my mother would ask me about it I couldn't blame it on Dawn because he would look at me and smile. You know that smirk kind of smile he can give you. I was forced to tell the truth then. I would always get back at him though." Buffy smiled a wicked little smile. Dr. Martin gave an involuntary shutter.

"How would you get back at him?" Buffy smiled at Dr. Martin again and signaled for her to come closer. She whispered into her ear. "The next time we would practice fighting I would kind of accidentally kick him in the gonads. Not very hard mind you, just hard enough." "I heard that." Spike said. "What a wicked little girl you were." Spike laughed when he said that. "I guess that's why I fell in love with you."

Spike was putting a rubber glove on to check Buffy to see if her cervix had opened any further as Mike had told him. "Put your feet in the stirrups Buffy so I can check you." Spike helped her to put her feet in the stirrups then checked to see if she had opened any further.

"What's the verdict Doc?" Dr. Martin asked when Spike was done. "She's about 4 cm. now. Not quite 4 but close. If Mike calls let him know okay. If you keep this up Buffy we should have her here by midnight at least." Spike took her feet out of the stirrups and put the stirrups down. He went to the head of the bed and pulled Buffy up so that she would be more comfortable. "Would you like to get down and walk around a little?" Dr. Martin asked Buffy. "Yeah, I think that would be a good idea." Buffy answered.

"Wait a minute Buffy while I take this off." Spike started to unravel the bandage on his hand that Buffy had broken earlier. As he took everything off he carefully flexed his fingers then he reached for Buffy and helped her get down off of the bed.

"It's all healed already?" Dr. Martin asked. "Yeah it's good as new." "Poor Angel, he'll never heal that fast again unless he is going into a fight." Dr. Martin said. While Spike walked with Buffy around the lobby Dr. Martin cleaned up the area then went upstairs to check on Wesley and Fred.

The door was open so she went in. "How are we doing up here?" "I was just getting Kathleen settled in with them." Angel said. He looked at Wesley "No wonder women need so many bags when they travel. They start practicing when they're babies." Angel looked around at all of the stuff Fred had told him to bring over from his suite.

"Do you need anything from the kitchen Fred?" "No not right now anyway. How is Buffy doing?" "She is now at almost 4 centimeters so she is coming along pretty fast." Dr. Martin put her hand to her mouth all of a sudden. "Oh my goodness, I forgot about Hunter. I'll see you two later." Both Dr. Martin and Angel went running down stairs. Angel got their first of course. He stopped at the door and listened. He could hear Hunters heart still beating. He had to listen for a long time since she was sleeping but he got lucky and happened to start listening just as it beat. He couldn't sense anything as being wrong.

Angel turned around and saw his mother waiting for a report. He came over to her. "She is still sleeping." Dr. Martin let out a loud breath. "We're terrible babysitters." She smiled as she said this. Angel put his arm around his mother. "She'll be okay Mom. Have a little faith. Cordelia is going to talk to Mike and any minute now they are going to be walking through that door." He gave her a kiss then went out to the patio in the back. When she turned around to look for Spike and Buffy she couldn't see them. She went into the clinic and found Buffy on the bed again and Spike on the floor. He had blood slowly dripping from his nose and one ear. Buffy was breathing hard after going through another contraction. Dr. Martin went to Angel's office and gently shook Hunter's shoulder. "Hunter wake up, I need your help." Hunter rubbed her eyes and followed Dr. Martin.

Angel heard the commotion and went back into the hotel and the clinic.

When Hunter and Dr. Martin went into the clinic Hunter saw Spike on the floor so she went to him first. When Angel came in he saw Hunter with Spike on the floor and Dr. Martin on the phone. She hung up then called another number. When she was done with the second call she came over to Spike. He was still unconscious.

"Angel, would you put him on the other table please?" Angel picked Spike up and put him on the operating table. He backed up then and let Hunter check him. Angel closed his eyes and called out to Spike through the link they shared. Spike started to open his eyes. He looked around and sat up a little too fast. He laid back down when his head started pounding.

"Spike you have to break the link you have with Buffy or your going to end up a vegetable." Spike looked at Hunter then remembered what she had told everyone when Angel had gone through the same thing. He finally nodded at her. He closed his eyes and concentrated and severed the link with Buffy. Hunter helped him to sit up and she checked him for his neurological condition and gave an okay. "Is your head hurting?" Hunter asked. "Yeah, in fact it's pounding." Hunter went over to the locked medicine cabinet and took out some regular aspirin and a can of Pepsi out of the refrigerator then gave them to Spike.

"I want you to sit here for at least 5 minutes okay?" "Okay." Spike answered. Hunter went over to Buffy then. "How are we doing Buffy?" "Not too good. Every time I have a contraction I feel as if I am hurting my baby. I am worried that my strength as a slayer is killing my baby. I am worried that when I have to push that I'll kill her when I have to push her out." Buffy started crying then. Hunter picked her up so that she could sit up and hugged her. "That won't happen Buffy. Mike, Dr. Martin and I won't let that happen. Do you believe me?" Buffy looked at her and Dr. Martin. Then she looked back at Hunter. She nodded. "Yes I believe you." "Okay I want you to lie down and close your eyes and rest while you can." Hunter pushed the hair out of Buffy's eyes and continued to gently run her finger back and forth over her forehead. It only took a few minutes before she was sleeping.

Hunter turned to Dr. Martin when she saw that Buffy was sleeping. "Have you called Giles and Mike?" "Yes they're on their way. What do you think? Do you think what she is afraid of happening could happen?" Hunter walked back and forth in the clinic with her hand to her head. She stopped in front of Dr. Martin. "I don't know Mary. I suppose that it's possible but I don't know for sure. I've never taken care of a Slayer. We just have to wait for Mike to get here. I think though that we had better be prepared for a Cesarean. I am going to go upstairs and ask Wesley if there is anything on record of a Slayer having a baby. I know that there is one but I need to know if there are any records on her delivery or if she had any problems associated with her being a Slayer." Hunter left then to go and talk to Wesley.

When Hunter left Spike went to Dr. Martin. "Dr. Martin I want you to tell me, in your heart, do you feel that everything will be okay and that Buffy and our baby, this baby, will survive?" Dr. Martin looked at Spike and Angel. "Yes Spike I do believe that everything will be okay and Buffy and this baby will survive. I have been told that there will be no deaths in our family for the next twenty years. Their will be a lot of injuries and some will come very close to death but no one will die. I have St. Michaels word on this." Spike hugged her then and wiped the solitary blood red tear away. He then went to Buffy and brought a chair over so that he could sit and hold her hand.

Hunter came back and told everyone that Wesley said that there are no records of a Slayer delivering a baby. "He said that the Chronicles tell of a Slayer having a baby but there are no references to the medical records concerning her delivery."

"Well I guess all we can do is wait for Mike to come back since he is the expert. I have all of the instruments sterilizing right now just in case we have to perform an emergency Caesarian."

Mike and Cordelia came through the clinic doors 30 minutes later. Mike came over to Dr. Martin and Hunter. "How is she doing?" "We've run into a possible complication. Buffy is afraid that because of her Slayer strength she might hurt or even kill her baby when we tell her to push. Because of this, and only if you decide to go this way, I've started to sterilize my instruments for an emergency Caesarian." Dr. Martin said. Mike wouldn't look directly at Hunter. "

Buffy started tightening up again. Spike grabbed the pipe that Angel had given him. Cordelia came over and talked them through it just as Buffy had done for her when she had Kathleen. Buffy was so much stronger than Spike though that she almost pulled him over her. "Were going to have to change things around here guys. Angel the next time that Buffy starts with another contraction you need to hold onto the pipe with her since you're stronger than her." He answered with an okay.

"When was the last one?" Mike asked. Spike looked at his watch. "Still at 45 minutes." "Okay then we have some time Mickey would you come with me please?" Hunter looked at Dr. Martin then followed Mike.

Mike went into Angel's office and closed the door after Hunter came in. He gestured for her to sit down on the couch. When she was seated Mike came closer and got down on one knee. He pulled out a small, black, velvet covered box opened it and showed it to her. When he did he said "Meckalub Hunter will you do me the honor of consenting to be my wife?" Hunter stared at the ring. She looked up at him and said "I thought that you didn't want anything to do with me after seeing what Angel's demon really looked like. I thought you were too disgusted now that you know what my demon may look like and that I could possibly change into something like Angelus." Mike stood up and sat on the couch next to Hunter. He took her small hands in his.

"Meckalub I must tell you that it's true, I was thinking like you said. In fact I couldn't bring myself to even touch you except for a quick kiss on your cheek. A couple of hours ago though Cordelia came to my office and explained to me how she views Angel and Angelus as two entirely different people. She said that they act and look so different that they couldn't possibly be the same person. She said that somehow deep within her soul she gets this signal that tells her that Angel has left and Angelus is standing in his place and all love for the body that is Angel is gone. More than anything else it's the absence of love that signals her. When she told me this I realized that my deep, all consuming love for you will tell me the same thing. When I left your side this morning I actually felt a physical pain Mickey. I don't want to ever feel that pain again. I am going to ask you one more time. Meckalub Hunter will you do me the honor of consenting to be my wife?"

Hunter looked at the ring and pulled it out of the box and gave it to Mike. She extended her hand for him to put the ring on her finger. As he put it on her finger she said "Yes Mike Thompson I will be your wife. To have and to hold until death we two shall part." Mike kissed her then with a long lingering kiss. He stood up then and pulled Hunter into his arms. He held her tightly. "I am sorry for being such a jerk this morning. Please forgive me." "I forgive you. I love you too much not to forgive you. I have to go and tell Dr. Martin the good news." "Why just her, we'll tell everyone the good news."

"Because she is the one that held me as I cried myself to sleep when I thought I had lost you and you owe her a thank you since she is the one that sent Cordelia to talk to you." Mike gave her one last kiss and they went back to the clinic.

Hunter went running to Dr. Martin. She hugged her and whispered in her ear. "Thank you for being with me when I was so down. I might have killed myself if you hadn't been there for me." Hunter pulled away then showed her, her engagement ring. Dr. Martin hugged her and congratulated her then went to Mike and congratulated him with a kiss.

"Thank you Mary for sending Cordelia to me." Mike hugged Cordelia and thanked her again. All the excitement was interrupted by Spikes voice calling out to Angel and Hunter. "Sorry to interrupt you guys but we're trying to have a baby here. We need some assistance." Angel came over to help Buffy with the contraction while Cordelia talked her through it.

"Your daughter doesn't seem to want to wait. That one was 20 minutes since the last one. Let me check you Buffy." Dr. Thompson said. He was checking to see if her cervix had opened more when Giles, Willow, and Tara came in. They waited until Dr. Thompson was done and had put the sheet down over Buffy's legs.

Giles came forward and greeted his wife with a kiss. "How is she doing?" "She's coming along pretty fast. Rupert she is afraid that she might hurt or kill her baby when she is told to push. To your knowledge is a Slayer capable of controlling her internal organs as she does with her external." "No they can't. The extra strength comes from the extra adrenaline that is produced when they need it. The extra adrenaline affects their thought processes and the muscles in their legs and arms only. We know that their power doesn't affect their internal organs because if they did then we wouldn't have to put them through so much exercising. In the beginning when they are fighting demons and Vampires they tend to be very tired afterward. Some beginner Slayers have collapsed from exhaustion. After training has begun they don't have that problem anymore. We train them in aerobic exercises to keep their heart and lungs in top condition so that they will give the muscles in their arms and legs every bit of energy that they need. The extra adrenaline and everything else associated with a Slayer, I guess you could say comes from the magic of a Slayer."

"Thank you Rupert that helps us a lot." Dr. Martin said. She went over to Hunter and Dr. Thompson then and told them everything that Giles had told her.

"That's good to know at least we know now that Buffy won't have to have the Cesarean. She is open about 5 centimeters and she will probably start having the contractions closer now." Mike went over to where everyone else was standing. "Well it looks like she should be delivering within the next two to three hours. She is coming along pretty fast so that time guess is just a guess. Usually women are in labor a lot longer with their first baby but it looks like this one wants out faster. Since I'm not needed right now I think I'll go and get something to eat. I haven't had a chance to have lunch and I'm starving." Dr. Thompson went to the sink and washed his hands then went to the kitchen.

Hunter had gone with him. Angel and Cordelia had gone into the kitchen as well. "How about making me a sandwich too Mike." "Sure Angel. Do you want my Dagwood special or something simple?" Mike asked. "That sounds good. Hunter could I ask a special favor of you?" Angel asked. "That depends on what the favor is. I'm an engaged woman now you know and I have to be careful with my favors now." "Well that's why I'm asking in front of Mike. My muscles have been killing me ever since Angelus took his true form. Can you give me one of your special massages? I thought Cordelia could watch so that she could learn to do it also." "Sure Angel. We can do that tonight after we put Buffy and her new baby to bed for the night. Do you mind Mike?" Hunter asked her new fiancé. "No I don't mind. That is if you don't mind if I watch?" "I guess that's a date then." Angel said. Mike was done with the sandwiches and Hunter and Cordelia were through with theirs. Angel had made a glass of warmed blood for himself, Hunter, and Spike. He took Spikes into him then returned.

They all sat down and started eating their sandwiches before Buffy could have another contraction and Cordelia and Angel would have to leave. "Angel I've noticed how you and Spike take care of each other even though he is constantly trying to get your goat and you act as though he is a pain in your side. Why is that?" Mike smiled as he said this.

"Over the years our relationship has developed into an older and younger brother relationship. Just like regular siblings the older brother takes care of the younger brother but yet finds the younger brother to be a pain in the neck on occasion. The younger brother is always causing problems for the older one just to get his attention so that he'll talk to him and play with him. No matter how much a pain in the ass the younger brother is they still love each other and would go to hell and back for each other. That's the way it is with Spike and me. That relationship has only developed over the last hundred years though. It developed more into what it is now when we lost Darla and Drusilla."

"Yeah, I had something like that with my brother. I haven't seen him though in almost 20 years." "What happened that caused that separation?" Hunter asked. "One of the pranks that he was playing on me got out of hand and I said some things and he said some things and that was it, we haven't seen each other since."

Dr. Martin called out for Angel after a few minutes. He jumped up and went running into the clinic and to Buffy. Cordelia followed him a few seconds later. She could tell that Buffy was fighting the pain instead of working with it. When it was over she was breathing hard and perspiring profusely.

"Would you like some ice Buffy?" Spike asked her as he wiped her face down with a wet cloth. "Yes please. My lips feel so dry." Spike picked up an ice cube and gently ran it over her lips to coat them with the cool water. Then he gave it to her to chew on.

"Has Daddy come back yet?" Buffy asked. "You mean Giles?" "Yes, he's been more of a father to me than my own biological father." Buffy started to get up. "Daddy, where are you?" Dr. Martin came over to the bed. "Buffy he went upstairs to get the camera; he said he wanted to make sure he got the birth of his granddaughter on film. He'll be back in a few minutes. You know us old people don't move as fast as we used to."

Giles returned in a few minutes with the camera. "Giles Buffy has been calling for you." Spike told him. Giles came over to her right away. "I'm here Buffy." Buffy sat up and put her arms around his neck. "It hurts Daddy, it hurts." She started crying then. She lay back down again as another contraction came on. Angel and Spike forced her to let go of Giles before she broke his neck. "I can feel her coming." Buffy said as the contraction stopped. Dr. Thompson went to the other end of the bed and put her feet in the stirrups while Hunter and Dr. Martin put monitors on her to check Buffy's heart rate and blood pressure. They put more tabs on her stomach to monitor the baby's heart rate as well. Dr. Thompson put his hand on Buffy's stomach to see if he could feel where the baby was.

"Scoot down Buffy because you're going to have this baby in the next few minutes." Spike and Angel helped her to slide down the bed a little. "I feel like I need to push." Buffy screamed then. Dr. Martin looked at Angel and Spike, both of them had tears in there eyes.

"Okay Buffy, when you start the next contraction I want you to push." The next one started and Buffy bore down. When it was done she lay back down and was breathing hard. "Give me a good push Buffy with the next one." "I'll try." "I don't want you to try Buffy, I want you to do it."

The next contraction came on and once again Buffy bore down. "I can see the head Buffy your doing great. Buffy didn't get a chance for a breather before the next one came on. "Spike, get over here so you can see your daughter come into the world." Dr. Martin said. The next contraction came on and Spike let go of Buffy so he could see his daughter come into the world. Angel stayed at the other end of the bed with Buffy. As the contraction hit he helped her to sit up while she pushed. "Her heads out Buffy, give me one more good push and we'll get the shoulders out." Dr. Thompson looked at Spike. Come here Spike and help your daughter into the world. Spike sat down at the vacated chair and put his hands on his daughters head. As Buffy gave another push he helped her to get her shoulder out and she easily slipped out the rest of the way. Spike quickly cleared her nose and mouth and his daughter gave a loud cry. Hunter clipped the umbilical cord close to her stomach then handed Spike a pair of scissors. "Here you are Daddy." Spike took the scissors from her and cut the cord. Then he put her on Buffy's stomach so she could see her daughter. "Does she have all of her fingers and toes and in the right place?" "She's perfect Buffy, just like her Mother." Spike said. Dr. Martin came and picked up the baby. "I'll bring her right back right after we clean her up some more and weigh and measure her."

Spike was busy with the rest of the clean up and the afterbirth. When he was done he washed his hands and arms then went back to Buffy. Dr. Martin brought the baby over to the new parents. She placed her in Buffy's arms. Spike kissed his wife and new daughter. Then as Cordelia had done Buffy looked at Spike and handed her daughter over to her father. "Spike I present to you your daughter Joyce Willow Summers. Joyce Willow Summers this is your Daddy." Spike took her from Buffy carefully. He held her in his arms and gave his daughter a kiss then he looked at everyone standing around and held his daughter up for everyone to see. "Everyone, I would like to introduce the newest member of the Scooby side of the family. I give you our daughter Joyce Willow Summers."

TBC………………..


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**SPIKES FIRST TRUE STEPS**

Dr. Martin looked at Buffy she could see how tired she was and Spike actually had dark circles under his eyes.

"Angel would you take Buffy up to her bed now I think both Spike and Buffy could use a few hours of sleep." Angel came and carefully picked up Buffy. Spike followed him upstairs while carrying his new daughter. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was a miracle that shouldn't exist.

After Angel put Buffy on her bed and Dr. Martin covered her up Spike came over and put Joyce into her mother's arms. Buffy held her daughter and carefully gave her gentle kisses on each eye and her nose. Buffy looked at Cordelia. "You were right Cordelia." "About what, I'm right about so many things that it's hard to keep track." Cordelia said with a smile. "You were right when you said that our love couldn't be wrong if we can produce such a beautiful and perfect baby." Giles had his camera and was taking pictures to send to Xander and Dawn, who couldn't come because of work and school.

Cordelia had stepped out of the room for a second to get Kathleen. When she came back she came over to the bed and put Kathleen on the bed. "Look who has come to live with Aunt Buffy and Uncle Spike." "Baby?" Kathleen said as she looked at the bundle in Buffy's arms then looked back at her mother. She was curious but was afraid to come to near it. "Come and see my new baby Kathleen. Her name is Joyce." All of a sudden everything seemed to be okay. Kathleen came over to Buffy and stood up while holding onto Buffy's arm. She was very careful not to touch the baby. Buffy pulled the receiving blanket to the side so she could see her. "Do you want to touch her?" Buffy asked Kathleen. She pulled out her little arm and Joyce pulled away and rubbed her nose and eyes. Angel was watching his daughter carefully. Kathleen reached out and picked up Joyce's tiny little hand. She looked in wonderment at Joyce's tiny hand against her own that wasn't much bigger. "Can I give baby kiss?" "Yes you can give her a kiss very gently." Cordelia held onto her daughter just in case she leaned on Joyce, but she didn't have to worry because Kathleen very carefully bent over and kissed Joyce on her forehead. "Goodnight baby. I see you tomorrow." Then Cordelia picked her up and got up from the bed.

Connor and Toby came into the bedroom then. "Uh Buffy and Spike I think it would be a good idea if Toby was allowed to smell your baby so he will know that she is someone that belongs here and he will know that he has to protect her also."

Buffy thought about it for a second then gave Joyce to Spike who was kneeling by her side on the floor. Spike took her from Buffy. "Open the blanket Spike so that he can smell her." Angel told him. Spike did as Angel said. Connor came over to Spike along with Toby then. Toby stuck close to Connor. He didn't understand what this new scent was. It was a strange scent that smelled something like his playmate but yet different. Connor put his hand out and touched Joyce's little hand and called Toby over, but for the first time Toby disobeyed a direct command from Connor. Somehow he knew that he shouldn't pay any attention to this new scent. He turned and went out of the room and lay down in the hallway.

Connor looked up at Angel. "Don't discipline him Connor. He is doing what comes natural to him. Well talk about it tomorrow and try it again except Cordelia and I will do it. Do you understand why he is acting like this Spike?" "Yeah I think so. No matter what it still comes down to all of us being animals, it's just that humans are of a higher order. I think he will be okay once you and Cordelia say its okay. I'll explain it to Buffy later." Everyone looked at Buffy and saw that she was already sleeping. The new mother had, had a big day and worked harder than she ever did before and she was tired.

"Okay everyone it's time to let Spike and Buffy get some rest." Dr. Martin came and took Joyce from Spike. "You two get some sleep. Tara and Willow will take care of her for the next few hours. She won't be hungry until the morning. I'll bring her back and show Buffy how to nurse her. If I'm not available then Cordelia can do it. She's an old pro by now. Good night Spike." Spike said goodnight to everyone then closed the door and removed his clothes and crawled in beside Buffy. He was beat also and he fell into a deep sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

It was late in the evening by the time they put Buffy and Spike to bed. Everyone made sandwiches for themselves and went to their individual suites. Tara and Willow took Joyce into their bedroom. They had brought out Kathleen's old bassinet and cleaned the dust off of it and put a new covering on along with a new blanket and sheets. She slept peacefully until the next morning. After all she had, had a big day also. Being born is hard work.

The next morning after Buffy and Spike had taken time to bathe they came looking for their daughter. Buffy knocked on the girl's door softly. "Come in." Tara said. Buffy and Spike walked in quietly. "I believe our daughter is in here." Spike said. "Yes our little Slayer is in here with her Aunt Tara and Willow. How are you doing Buffy? I'm surprised to see you up already." "You know me Willow, that Slayer healing won't let even giving birth get in it's way." Buffy and Spike went over to the bassinet to check on their daughter. "How did she do? Did she wake up at all?" Buffy asked. "No she was quiet all night. I think she needed the rest after being born. She's been sleeping now for the past 6 hours. We are going to go and get something to eat and then maybe Dr. Martin or Cordelia will be up to help me give her, her first meal." "We cleaned the other bassinet up also and stocked it so all that we have to do is bring Joyce down. That sounds funny calling her Joyce. It feels like I should be saying Mrs. Summers instead of Joyce."

"Well I'm hungry so let's get going before she wakes up and wants to belly up to the bar." Spike said as he pushed Buffy out of the door.

As the new parents came down to the Lobby Cordelia was just coming in from the patio. "Good morning Mommy and Daddy." Cordelia said with a big smile. "Sit down and I'll bring some coffee out for you." Buffy and Spike did as she said. Everyone else started to come down stairs also and greeted Buffy and Spike. Dr. Martin and Hunter went into the kitchen to help Cordelia.

Wesley and Fred came down also and joined everyone else at the table. Next it was Willow and Tara's turn. Tara was carrying Joyce. Giles asked if he could hold her. "Sure, it's about time that she got to know her Grandpa." Tara said as she handed over Joyce. She had her all bundled up in a receiving blanket and then a regular Baby blanket. Willow pulled over the bassinet that was just around the corner. She brought it over to Buffy and Spike and showed them all of the supplies to change her with.

Angel came in when he heard all of the noise. "Good morning everyone did you all have a good nights sleep." Everyone gave a reply then turned their attention back to their breakfast which Cordelia, Hunter and Dr. Martin was just bringing in. Tara and Willow went to the kitchen to help bring the rest in.

Connor and Toby were the last ones to come down. Since this was Saturday Connor had slept late to catch up on his sleep. "Late night hitting the books Connor?" Wesley asked. "Yeah they are really stacking on the home work. It's only the 2nd week and I've already had 4 tests. My brain was extra crispy this morning so I gave it some extra sleep time." Connor concentrated on his breakfast. He was shoveling it into his mouth almost as fast as Toby was gulping down his.

"Connor slow down, no one is going to take it away from you. You're going to make yourself sick." Dr. Martin told him. Her stomach was hurting just watching him.

"That will never happen Grandma. Didn't you do the same thing when you were going to school?" Connor said as he stopped long enough to drink his milk.

"Oh my goodness, I've become my mother." Dr. Martin put her hands to her mouth. "I can't believe I said that. I'm sorry Connor your right I did do the same thing especially when I was working as an intern and still taking classes. Now that I look back on it I don't know how I made it without developing a hernia."

"How many years have you spent going to school Grandma?" Connor asked.

"Well let me see. Elementary, then Junior High School then High School made 10 years." "Don't you mean 12 dear?" Giles pointed out. "No I was skipped past 5th and 9th grade. I was 16 when I graduated from High School. I started College the next school year. So I did 3 years of College, then 4 years of Medical School that merged with my internship. I then did 2 years of residency then another 2 years where I specialized in surgery. After I worked for about 5 or 6 years as a surgeon I continued my schooling in psychiatry and working at the same time. At 40 I went into the convent. That was the hardest schooling of all."

"Why do you say that?" Wesley asked. "I guess you could say that you are in school 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. I had 6 months as a postulant and 2 years as a novice. My novitiate though wasn't the same as the other novices. Besides being much older then the other novices my knowledge was needed as both a surgeon and a psychologist. The older professed nuns were being forced to practice humility every day because I was put in control of surgery." "What's humility?" Connor asked.

"That's something your father had to practice when he had to swallow his pride and ask Gunn, Cordelia and I if he could come back to work for us at Angel Investigation. He had to submit himself to my authority. " Wesley said. "It's also one of the hardest things for anyone to learn. As you recall St. Michael had to take Angels sight away in order to make him learn humility. Well to get back to what I was saying when Mother Superior announced that I was being made head of surgery she actually apologized for doing it but that she had no choice because the sister that had been in charge had, had a nervous breakdown and was sent to stay at one of the orders convents that was in Maine. I am sure that our confessor was having a busy couple of weeks. Besides this though I was the only psychologist and took care of any mental patients or those that just had problems. Believe me when I say that I welcomed the little special projects Mother Superior would send me out on. She knew that I needed a break once in a while."

"Then good old Angel came along and took you away from all of that." Angel said. Dr. Martin just smiled at him then continued.

"I guess you can understand then how important my work was with Angel. The sisters needed me badly but God had even more important work for me to do. He had set my life path to include all of the things I needed to know and he also gave me my first husband and son then took them away. What seemed like a horrific event back then was also used by God to teach me things. Most of all it made me hunger for a family and son again. All of these things needed to happen so that I could take care of Gods Champion here in this world."

"Wow Grandma, genius must run in the family." Connor said. "Maybe it does. Your father is a very intelligent man and it looks like your sister is going to have a high IQ also. We won't know for sure though until she is old enough for us to test her." Joyce started to let everyone know that she was here now and demanded some attention.

Giles took her over to Buffy when his granddaughter started crying. "This is when it's time to turn over my grandchild to her mother. This is the best part of being a grand parent." Everyone laughed at Giles.

"Bring her over to the couch Buffy and you can give your daughter her first feeding or would you rather have some privacy." "No I guess if Cordelia can do it I can to." "Since your going to do it over here Buffy let's clear up this problem with Toby." Angel said as he got up and went over to the Lobby along with Cordelia and everyone else. Cordelia picked up Kathleen as she followed Angel.

"Why don't you sit down on the floor with her Cordelia? Spike and Buffy sit down on the floor with your daughter also. Connor come over here and sit with us and bring Toby." Every one did as he said. Buffy was still a little sore so Spike helped her to sit down on the floor.

"Okay Spike call Toby over and do exactly as you did last night. Mom do you think you could sit next to Buffy?" "Oh I think I can make my old bones bend." Dr. Martin said as she sat on the floor. "Go ahead Spike." Angel told him. "Toby come and see our new baby. Come Toby." Toby sat up and looked at Connor who gave him permission. Toby went over carefully and stuck his nose into the blankets. When Buffy took Joyce's hand out of the blankets so he could smell her Toby took one sniff and went running back and behind Connor.

"Why does he do that?" Connor asked as he looked to his father.

"Toby sees us as a wolf pack. We are all members of his pack and that is why he defended Spike when we were fighting those Vampires and Demons. One of his pack was in trouble so he helped him. Now in a real wolf pack only the alpha male and female are allowed to have pups. I believe Toby sees Cordelia and me as that alpha male and female. I don't know how he knows this but in a wolf pack the alpha female will often scold or prevent the other wolves from having anything to do with the new pups that aren't hers. Nature lets this happen because it prevents too many pups from being born. That way they can keep the amount of pups to be fed down to a manageable number. Something will often happen to the pups that don't belong to the alpha female. Sometimes though the new mother and the father of the pups will leave the pack and start their own pack. Right now I am hoping that if Cordelia and I handle the baby then Toby will accept her and we will be able to rely on him to take care of her.

"Okay Buffy would you give Joyce to me?" Angel came over and took Joyce from her. He sat down again next to Cordelia. "Take Kathleen Connor." Angel said. Connor took Kathleen and sat down again. Kathleen tried to wiggle out of Connors grasp. Angel looked at her for a minute and she immediately quieted down.

"Toby come." Angel said in an authoritative voice. This time Toby didn't even look at Connor he just came over to Angel. Toby stuck out his nose and sniffed the air. Angel then passed Joyce over to Cordelia. "Call him to you Cordelia then open the blanket so he can see her and smell her. Then you can give her back to Spike and Buffy."

Cordelia did as Angel said. She called Toby over. All the time this was happening Toby was watching this new bundle very carefully. His ears were straight up and listening for any sound that might come from the bundle. He went to sit in front of Cordelia when she called him. He sat so close that his toe nails were touching her leg. Cordelia opened the blanket and pulled Joyce's hand out of the bundle of blankets and let Toby smell her hand. This time Toby sniffed her hand and tasted it then he carefully stuck his nose in the bundle of blankets and sniffed at Joyce. Cordelia let him push the blankets to the side so he could see that this was a girl like Kathleen. Then he surprised everyone and started wagging his tail and in fact his whole body. He lowered his front down while his back was up in the air and still wagging. He gave a little whimper then.

Cordelia then wrapped Joyce up again and passed her to Spike and then to Buffy. "Let him see her again Buffy." Buffy did as Angel said. Toby did the same thing but just licked her forehead this time.

Kathleen didn't like sharing Toby's affections so she called to him. "Toby come Kateen." He came over to her and then back to Joyce then to Kathleen again. Connor let her stand up while holding onto Toby. Nobody did anything though because they didn't understand what she was doing but her Grandmother did.

"Angel she is showing her possession of Toby. Tell her that you don't approve. I've noticed that she cries when she thinks you are mad at her or that she has hurt you." Dr. Martin told him.

Angel called Kathleen to him. He stood her in front of him and gave the picture of her calling Toby and then holding onto him. "Toby belongs to Connor not Kathleen." They all saw her look at her Daddy with defiance and anger as she bundled her hands into tight little fists. Angel was surprised when she did this. He picked her up and took her upstairs and placed her in her new playpen that Cordelia had bought yesterday. He closed the door then and went back downstairs. They could hear her crying all the way upstairs.

"Wow, what a temper. I think I saw lightening coming from her red hair." Wesley said as he laughed. "I wonder who is going to cave in first Angel or Kathleen."

When Angel came back downstairs he sat next to Cordelia again and looked at her and said "I made my little girl cry." Angel put his face in Cordelia's lap and made out like he was crying. "Be strong Angel. She's in a power struggle with you right now." Cordelia told him. Angel sat up straight and looked upstairs for a minute. "She's sending me a picture of how sad she is. She says she's sorry. Should I go and get her?" He asked Cordelia. "Yes go and get her." Angel ran up stairs 2 at a time. He opened the door carefully and he saw his daughter crying so hard. The very real tears were falling down her face and her nose was running. When she saw him she reached up her hands to him. "Daddy, I sorry Daddy." Angel went to her and picked her up and gave her a hug. He went over to the nightstand and grabbed a bunch of Kleenex and wiped her tears away and her nose. Then grabbed some more and wiped his own tears and blew his nose.

"Does Kathleen understand that Toby belongs to Connor and not Kathleen? Connor lets you play with Toby. That means that you have to share Toby with Joyce and everyone else. Do you understand?" "Yes Daddy. I share Toby." "Okay then lets go down stairs." Angel wiped his face again then went downstairs.

When Angel sat down on the floor Kathleen called Toby over to her then she stood up while holding him and somehow he knew she wanted to go to Buffy. When Toby stopped in front of Buffy Kathleen went down to her knees and leaned on Buffy's leg then looked at Joyce. "Buffy." Buffy gave her, her full attention. "Buffy, I share Toby with baby." Buffy bent down and gave her a kiss. "Thank you Kathleen. You are very nice to do that." Kathleen crawled back to her Daddy then and sat herself down in his lap. She stuck her fingers in her mouth then and started sucking on them.

"You better feed your daughter now Buffy." Dr. Martin told her. Spike helped Buffy get up and they went to the couch. Cordelia and Angel followed them over and sat on the coffee table while Dr. Martin sat next to Buffy. Buffy opened her blouse and unhooked the nursing bra.

"Every time you want to feed your daughter Buffy clean your breast with one of these sanitary wipes that are made for a mother's breast. It doesn't have any harmful chemicals in it." Buffy took it from her and wiped her breast then she put her baby to her breast. "She's not taking it." "She will. Sometimes you have to put their mouth to it. Put her mouth to your nipple then open her mouth a little." Buffy did as she said. As soon as she did that Joyce started suckling eagerly. "You're like Cordelia Buffy. Put your two fingers on each side of your nipple and hold your breast so that it doesn't cover her nose. Once she starts growing you won't have to do that." Once again Buffy did as Dr. Martin said. Buffy looked at Spike and she kissed him. Spike had tears in his eyes as he watched his daughter having her first meal.

Kathleen had been watching everything that was going on. She let her Daddy know that she wanted to go to Cordelia. When Cordelia took her from Angel Kathleen started to lift Cordelia's blouse up so she could get to her breast. Cordelia unbuttoned her blouse and unhooked her bra so Kathleen could nurse. She put her mouth to her left breast and started suckling noisily. Angel tried putting his hand on Cordelia's blouse as though he was going to take her other breast. Kathleen's sharing time was over as far as she was concerned so she pushed his hand away.

"Well, I guess we still have some jealousy going on here and sharing time does not, apparently, extend to Mommy's breast. Not even to Daddy now." Dr. Martin said. She gave her attention back to Buffy now.

"Change her over to the other breast now Buffy and clean it like I showed you. Clean your other one also then you can button that side up. You don't want to give a complete show today." Buffy blushed and did as she was told. Joyce took to her other breast without any problem this time. After another fifteen minutes Dr. Martin told her to see if her baby was done. She didn't start suckling again when she pulled her nipple out of the baby's mouth so she cleaned herself then buttoned everything back up. Buffy started to put her baby over her shoulder to burp her but Cordelia gave her a little advice.

"Buffy I usually let Angel do that. It makes him feel that he is at least having some share in feeding his daughter." "I think that's a good idea." Buffy gave Spike the towel and their daughter. Spike put the towel on his shoulder and put his daughter over his shoulder and started to pat her back gently. After only a few minutes he got a satisfying burp from her. "I think she needs a change." Spike said as he got up to go to the bassinet for the supplies. He brought them over to the coffee table and proceeded to change his daughter. "How is the umbilical cord Spike? Is it red or bleeding or is it drying up?" Spike inspected it carefully. "It looks okay." Spike quickly finished changing his daughter and put her in the bassinet. He made sure that she was well covered. In the mean time Kathleen had fallen to sleep also. Cordelia cleaned herself and buttoned her clothes back up. She gave Angel their daughter so he could burp her.

"You know Angel and Cordelia you are going to have to be careful about handling Joyce when Kathleen is within hearing or seeing distance. She is very possessive of you Angel and added to that she has that famous Irish temper. I also think that Kathleen is talking to Toby in the same way that you do her." Dr. Martin said.

"I think your right it's the only possible reason for Toby to respond to her the way he does." Angel said.

"You know Dad that was the first time that I saw Toby obey someone else without looking to me for permission to go to whoever was calling him." Connor said. "Don't be angry with him Connor. Remember that I said he sees me as the alpha male." Angel got up off of the floor then and gave Kathleen back to Cordelia. "Lets go outside on the patio for a while Connor. My legs are stiff from sitting down on the floor." Connor got up and followed Angel outside.

When they went outside they found the weather had turned cloudy. The sky was turning dark with big thunderclouds. They could see lightening out over the ocean.

Angel and Connor stood outside just watching the clouds roll in. "I hope we get a good shower along with the lightening or there is going to be at least one fire started with all of the dry grass in the mountains and hills." Angel told Connor. "Yeah, I kind of hate this time of the year. I don't know why but the fires make me nervous. I mean, I know that we can get away from the fires but they still make me nervous. When I was little a fire went through the forest where Holtz and I lived. The house had a cellar where we went when the fire got close. I remember that I was scared out of my mind but Holtz made me stay. When I tried getting out of the cellar he pulled me down and hit me to get my attention. He grabbed me by the shirt and told me to use my mind to control my terror. I did what he said and I made it through the fire. It destroyed our house but we just rebuilt it again."

"Would you like to go on an overnight camping trip next weekend?" Angel asked his son. "Yeah that should be fun. I need to get out and let my muscles stretch. I've had to keep them in check so much that they hurt now. In fact I think I'll go downstairs and work out for awhile." Connor left then to go to his room and change into some sweats. Now that Connor mentioned getting some exercise it occurred to him that maybe this would be a good time to start Wesley back on an exercise program to get him back into shape. Angel laughed to himself. "This is going to be fun." Angel said as he made his way back into the Hotel.

When he went back into the Hotel he saw that everyone was gone. He could hear them in their own rooms now. He went up to the second floor and knocked on the door of his mother's room. "Come in." Giles said. Angel opened the door and went in. He found Giles and his mother sitting in front of the TV watching a movie.

"Hey Mom, is it okay for Wesley to start exercising?" "Yes but just light exercise Angel. By that I mean nothing vigorous. He can do things like sit ups but only 5 at first. Have him do warm up exercises first then listen for his heart beat. If it's going to fast for more than 5 minutes without starting to slow down I want you to stop. Tomorrow he can do it again and you can add on some time. The whole point is to get him back into shape but I want him to still be alive when he gets there. Take it slow and easy. It hasn't been that long since he was shot. Okay?" "Okay, I understand. See you later." Angel left then and went to Gunn's room and knocked on the door. "Come in Angel." Angel opened the door. "You want to go and help me put Wesley through some exercises?" Angel had a big grin on his face when he said it.

"I wouldn't miss this for anything. I'll meet you downstairs as soon as I change into some sweats." Angel closed the door and went to change. A few minutes later he was knocking on Wesley's door. "Come in." Fred said. Angel opened the door. "Hey Fred, I've come to take your husband for his first exercise session." "He heard you going to all of the rooms and he's hiding in the closet." Fred whispered. Angel opened the closet door. "I can hear you breathing Wesley so you might as well come out." "Oh hi Angel I didn't know you were here. I was looking for a mouse that Fred said she heard in here this morning." Angel went to Wesley and hung him over his shoulder. Fred was by the door with a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt for her husband. Angel paused long enough for Wesley to take his clothes from Fred. He looked at her and said "Traitor."

Angel took Wesley all of the way down to the basement on his shoulder. Connor and Gunn were already going through some warm up exercises when Angel brought Wesley in and put him down.

"Change into your sweats Wesley so we can get started." "But Angel I'm a poor sick man. My heart can't take it yet." "Dr. Martin's orders and you don't have to worry about your heart since I can hear it. Mom told me what to listen for so let's get busy. Connor and I are going camping next weekend. If you want to go you're going to have to do some exercising so that you can at least stand to walk around out there." Wesley was putting his sweats on while Angel was talking. "Okay I guess I've been outvoted, if I die though it will be on yours and Dr. Martin's conscience."

Angel started with some warm up exercises. He went slow so Wesley wouldn't get winded too soon. After 30 minutes of exercising he heard Wesley's heart pounding in his chest for more than 5 minutes so he called an end to the exercises for him for that day. He waited until his heart slowed down to a normal rate and his breathing was under control. "Are you ready to go and take a shower?" Angel asked Wesley. "Would you carry me back up stairs?" Angel stood up. "You want to go over my shoulder or carry you in my arms like the big baby you are?" Wesley put his arms out to Angel like Kathleen did. "Carry me Daddy." Angel grabbed Wesley around the neck and rubbed his knuckles on the top of his head. "Owe! I'm going to tell Kathleen her Daddy was being mean to her Uncle Wesey. Gunn and Connor come and help me."

Gunn and Connor came and jumped on top of Angel. By working together they were able to pin his arms down. Wesley told Angel "Say Uncle." "Okay, okay Uncle, Uncle." Angel said. They let him go then and they all lay on the floor on the exercise mats while they caught their breath. "Wow Dad, we were never able to do that before. What happened?" Angel surprised them by jumping up. "I didn't want you girls to get hurt. Connor and I are going for an overnight camping trip next weekend so you guys are going to have to get yourselves into better shape if you're going to go with us." Angel left then and went back to his room to take a shower. Wesley stood up then by holding onto the table. He rubbed his back and slowly climbed up the stairs. Gunn was in a lot better shape so he just stood up. "Come on Connor you want to go for a run around the block a few times?" "Sure, let's go." Connor was out the door while Gunn was still looking at the spot where Connor had been sitting.

The next day was Sunday and Dr. Martin was up early as usual. She jumped in the shower while Rupert was making some toast and coffee for both of them. She used to be able to go all morning until lunch before she ate. Now days though she needed her morning coffee and toast to make it through the next 4 or 5 hours. The toast was for her stomach since she could no longer take just the coffee. This of course was compliments of her ulcer that she had developed during medical school.

By 8 o'clock Rupert and Dr. Martin were headed downstairs. Angel, Cordelia and Kathleen came next and were followed by Connor. The rest except for Wesley and Fred came down soon after. These days Wesley and Fred would attend Mass by way of the TV Mass. Dr. Martin would bring home communion for Fred. Everyone including Buffy, Spike and Joyce loaded up in Cordelia's mini van or Connors van. Toby was sent to Wesley and Fred's room.

After Mass everyone went to the rectory to visit with Father Barris for a while. They took him up on his offer for breakfast. Dr. Martin insisted that he let her help him since he wasn't used to cooking for so many people. As they sat talking after breakfast Father Barris asked Spike and Buffy "Are you going to have the Baptism here Spike and Buffy?" "Yes we would like to if Angel doesn't mind." Spike answered. "Of course you can. In fact we would be insulted if you didn't." Angel said.

"While we are on the subject of Baptism Angel and Cordelia Buffy and I have discussed this and we would like for you to be Joyce's Godparents." Spike asked. Angel and Cordelia looked at each other. "We will be honored to be her Godparents." Angel and Cordelia went over to Spike and Buffy. Angel shook hands with Spike and gave Buffy a kiss. Cordelia gave both Spike and Buffy a hug and kiss. Cordelia bent down to the baby carrier that was on a chair by Buffy and gave Joyce a kiss on her forehead and Angel did the same. Kathleen was watching this and didn't like her parents giving their attention to this new baby. When they came back to their chairs she immediately wanted to go to her mother. Kathleen started to lift her mothers blouse but Cordelia wouldn't let her. "No Kathleen not now." Kathleen started to cry when she couldn't get what she wanted. So she reached for her Daddy. Angel took her and held her close. Kathleen put her head on his shoulder and put her fingers in her mouth and started sucking on them. Daddy's arms were almost as good as nursing from her mother.

"I think it's time to go home now. She's tired and it's time for her afternoon nap." Cordelia said. Everyone thanked Father Barris for breakfast then filed out to the vans. Since Angel could walk out into the sun for short periods of time he had no problem with walking in the sun but Spike had to wait until Angel brought the van over and he could jump in. "Either I or Buffy will call you Father to set a date for the Baptism." "That's good Spike. You can make your first confession before we baptize your daughter also." Father Barris saw the reluctance in Spikes face. "Don't worry Spike it doesn't hurt. Talk to Angel about it, I am sure that he will tell you how much better he felt afterward." Spike just nodded to Fr. Barris then left when Angel drove up to the door.

When they got back to the Hotel everyone went into their own rooms. Most took afternoon naps but Spike had asked Angel and Dr. Martin if he could talk to them both privately. They all went up to room 412 so that they wouldn't disturb anyone and most especially so that they couldn't be heard.

"What did you want to talk about Spike?" Dr. Martin asked as they all sat down. Dr. Martin had taken her usual chair, Angel took the other chair and Spike sat on the couch.

"I told Father Barris that either Buffy or I would call to set a date for the Baptism." "That's good that you're doing it so soon Spike. Is that what you wanted to talk about?" Dr. Martin asked.

"No not really. You know that I have been talking to and taking lessons from him along with Wesley. Both of us were raised in the Church of England so it's not too hard since it's a lot like the Catholic Church. Anyway both Wesley and myself are almost ready to make our First Rite of Reconciliation and Communion of which of course only Wesley can do. Father Barris suggested that I make my confession before we baptize Joyce. What I wanted to ask you Angel is how did you do it?" "What do you mean how did I do it? I thought that, that was what you were learning." Angel was puzzled at Spikes question.

Dr. Martin listened carefully to what Spike was saying. It suddenly occurred to her why he was so troubled about making his first Confession.

"You aren't going through all of this because you want to be able to go to heaven when you leave this world, are you? You are doing all of this because you love Buffy so much that you are willing to go through anything and you know that this is something that would make Buffy very happy. Now though you are going to have to actually search your soul and confess all of your past sins." They were all quiet for a while. Spike had his head down he couldn't look at his mentor. Dr. Martin was the last person on earth that he would want to disappoint.

"Am I not correct Spike?" Spike couldn't make himself admit to what she was saying.

"Answer her Spike. Is that why you are going through this?" Angel raised his voice as he said this.

Both Spike and Dr. Martin jumped at the sound of his voice. "Yes, yes it is the reason why. I would go to hell and back for her. Now though I've finally outsmarted myself." Spike went to Angel and knelt before his chair. "Tell me how to make myself want redemption Angel. Tell me how to love Christ more than I love Buffy or myself. Tell me how to stop looking at my own daughter as an easy meal instead of my beautiful baby girl. Tell me how to stop being a Vampire." Spikes voice went lower and Dr. Martin could barely hear him. "Sometimes Angel, when I am making love to Buffy and I am giving her the Vampire special, as they call it, I want to continue drinking from her until my thirst is finally quenched. Each time though I am able to stop myself before I kill her. At other times I think that it would just be easier to turn her then I wouldn't hate myself so much for wanting her blood." Spike had his forehead on Angel's leg. Dr. Martin could see his blood red tears falling on his legs and the floor. Angel put his hand on Spikes head and started to smooth his hair down repeatedly.

"Let me talk to your demon Spike." Angel told him. "I don't know how to do it. I'm not like you Angel. I don't talk to my demon all of the time and he doesn't bother me. I don't have the same kind of relationship that you have with Angelus." "Just do as I say Spike. Mom can you give him something to make him go into a light sleep like you do with me?" "Yes I believe I can do that. I'll be back in a few minutes." Dr. Martin went down stairs to get the drug for Spike then returned to 412.

"Come on Spike come and lay down on the bed." Spike was still on the floor and kneeling next to Angel when Dr. Martin came back in. When Angel stood up he pulled at Spikes arm and only then did he get up. As Spike turned to lie down he stopped and looked out at the sun coming through the sides of the curtain. Angel saw where he was looking. "Don't try it Spike. You know that I am faster and stronger than you. Just lie down and Mom will send you to La La land as you always tell me." Angel said with a smile. Spike looked at Angel as though he was trying to read what was behind his eyes. "Spike do you trust me?" "Yes I trust you." "Then believe me when I say that one way or the other I will fix your problem. Lie down now." Spike did as he said this time and Dr. Martin gave him the shot. She gave him a kiss on his forehead and then backed away. Angel brought her chair over to the bed for her and then brought the other one for himself. He waited for Spike to go to sleep then he called Hunter and Wesley and asked them to come to 412.

Both Wesley and Hunter arrived at the same time. "What's going on Angel?" Wesley asked. "Grab one of the kitchen chairs and I'll get one for myself. Hunter you can have this one." Angel moved the chair he was using and gave it to Hunter to sit in. "Is that all you wanted me for?" Wesley asked. "Yeah you can leave now." Wesley started to leave. "Get over here and sit down." Angel said. Wesley came back and sat down as he was told.

Everyone followed Angels lead. Angel waited patiently for Spikes demon to make its presence known. They waited for another 15 minutes and nothing happened.

"Alright Billy you can speak up now. I know that Spike is sleeping and you can come out from behind him. No one will hurt you and I won't let Dr. Martin get near you."

"How do you know what my name is? I don't remember Spike telling you." "Spike didn't tell me, Drusilla did." Dr. Martin noticed that Angel was speaking to Billy as though he was a child and so he was handling him very gently. "Oh, yeah I miss Drusilla she was fun." Billy said.

"Angel can I ask you a question?" "Sure Billy." "Why does Spike want to stop killing bad people and drink their blood? We used to have so much fun when we would find someone to kill. Angelus told me that if I encouraged him to kill his wife or his new daughter then we would go back to having fun again and maybe go and look for Drusilla." Billy looked at Angel with trusting childlike eyes. It was as though he knew with out a doubt that Angel would tell him the truth.

"When did Angelus tell you to do that Billy?" "When you were busy with your new baby he came to me at night and we talked about it. You mean he used my body to come over to Spike and Buffy's room to talk to you?" "Yeah he did it all of the time after that. He came and told me what to tell Spike in order to get him to do what I wanted. Angel would you come and hold me like you used to? I sure miss those long talks that we used to have together." To everyone's surprise Angel went to the other side of the bed and sat next to Spike and held him as though he was a child. Billy started playing with Angels long fingers just like his daughter would do one day.

"Billy can you tell me if Spike has been happy ever since you have been encouraging him to kill Buffy and his daughter?" "No I don't think he is very happy anymore." "Do you like Spike Billy? Do you like being with him?" "Yes I like Spike a lot. Other Vampires I had before usually didn't last very long and I didn't like them. I gave them all the strength they needed and all of the other stuff. But they always wanted more then I could give them. They would usually make a mistake instead of listening to me and they would usually die after only a few years. I was sure happy when I got Spike though. He was so much fun and Drusilla was fun too. Spike and I never argued he was always happy for what I was able to give him. After you left, when you got your soul back, Spike was sad but then Drusilla and Darla cheered him up by going out and killing some people. I missed you though Angel, I missed you every day."

Dr. Martin and Wesley were watching and listening to Billy. If they didn't know what he was they would think he was an innocent child.

"Billy, do you like making Spike sad?" Billy looked down and started playing with his shirt. "No." "Well what you are telling Spike to do all of the time is making him very sad and sometimes he gets so depressed that he wants to kill himself. He loves Buffy and Joyce very much and he would have no reason to continue in this world if he did what you suggest. Do you understand Billy?" "Yes." "Do you know what I want you to do now Billy?" "Yes, you want me to stop telling Spike to kill Buffy by taking all of her blood when they are having sex, and you want me to stop telling him to drink his daughter's blood because it will taste so soft and sweet." "Yes Billy that is exactly what I want. Can you do that for me?" "Yes, but I want you to do something in return for me." "If I can I will. What is it that you want from me?" "I want you to sit and talk to me at least once each month, because I miss these little talks Angel." "I think I can do that but you have to understand that sometimes I may not be able to keep our appointed day. Sometimes I may need to change it to another day so I don't want you to take it out on Spike, ok?" "Okay." "Alright Billy I am going to get up now and I want you to go to sleep okay." "Okay Angel can I ask you to do one more thing for me." "Yes but this is the last one then I want you to go to sleep." "I promise I'll go to sleep after this. Okay here it comes. I want you to read me the same story's that you read to your daughter." "I promise that I will bring a book to read to you. Now goodnight." Billy lay back down and went to sleep.

Angel and Wesley put the chairs back so they could all sit and talk about what just happened.

"Well Mom what do you think about our little family secret?" Angel asked. "Angel I never would have guessed in a million years that Billy was Spikes demon. I thought that a Vampires demon was always pretty much like Angelus. "Usually they are, of course not as bad. I think that Billy though isn't a true demon. I believe, and this is just a guess, I believe that Billy wasn't born a demon. I believe that Billy was an innocent that was taken as a young boy and turned into a demon."

Everyone was quiet for a few moments. "What makes you think that?" Dr. Martin asked.

"I have never run across a Vampires demon that is so child like. Have you Hunter?" "No most, including mine, are true demons and act accordingly." Hunter answered.

"Billy does what he does because this is what he has been trained to do and Billy has told me that he has been with many different Vampires over many thousands of years. I believe he has gone through so many because he thinks like a child so his Vampires usually die early because of his inability to completely control his humans." "How did you find out about Billy?" Wesley asked.

"Apparently Angelus used to talk to him all of the time when Spike was sleeping. I also think that it was partly because of Billy that Angelus let Spike stay. I know about Billy because occasionally Angelus would become irritated with Billy because he always had to keep his conversation on the level of a child. At those times he would let me control my own body so that I could talk to Billy. As soon as Billy would go to bed Angelus would shove me back in the cage."

"Why did you want Wesley and I to hear this?" Hunter asked. "I felt that someone besides myself should know this about Spike. If Spike outlives me then some one needs to know about Billy and if there are problems then with this information you will know how to deal with Spike." "If Billy has been with so many different Vampires then why do you think he has been with Spike for so long?" Dr. Martin asked. "Billy told me once that he got along with Spike so well because Spike liked doing a lot of the things that he does. He said that Drusilla and Angelus taught Spike all of the, and I quote "mean stuff" unquote." Spike started to wake up, but instead of getting up he kicked his shoes off and reached down and pulled the quilt that was at the end of the bed over himself. Before he went back to sleep he said "And if you blokes say anything about Billy I am going to break my human blood fast and have a couple of quarts of human blood. Angel……….. thanks for talking to Billy. Now everyone get out so I can get some sleep like all good Vampires should be doing during the day."

They all got up then and left and went downstairs to the kitchen for some coffee. No one else was downstairs so they all took a seat at the dinning room table after they got their coffee.

"What brought all of this on Angel?" Hunter asked. "I want everyone to understand that none of what you have heard or anything at all about Billy is to be repeated. Spike is very private about his demon. Spike told Dr. Martin and I about his taking lessons along with you Wesley. When he talked to Fr. Barris about his daughter's baptism Fr. Barris advised Spike to make his first confession or as they call it now days The Rite of Reconciliation before they have Joyce baptized. Spike wanted to talk to Dr. Martin and I about the problems he was having with his desire for human blood. He said the thought of draining Buffy when he was giving her the Vampire special would often come into his mind and now whenever he holds his daughter the thought of her being an easy meal comes into his mind. He also wanted to ask me how I was able to make my confession after so many years of torturing and killing people.

"When Spike told me about the thoughts he was having about Buffy and Joyce I knew that they weren't Spikes thoughts but Billy's. When I questioned Billy I found that it was Angelus behind it all. When I heard this I was glad that I had asked you to come and hear this. Hunter you need to talk to Mike to see if he has been feeling anything different towards you such as he did when he saw Angelus's true form. Do you understand why?"

"Yes, Angelus could have been very busy with others besides Spikes demon. I think that we should all meet together and Mary you of course will have to lead us through this. I don't think that Angelus was stopping with Billy or Mike. He most likely was visiting everyone." Hunter said.

Angel then turned to Wesley. "How about you Wesley, any unusual hatreds or problems with either you or Fred?" "You mean besides my hating you for making me exercise everyday? No nothing unusual that I am aware of. I'll have to talk to Fred about it though." "I think that Angelus would take aim at someone that is weaker and more vulnerable Angel." Dr. Martin said. "You mean someone like Fred?" Wesley asked. "Exactly, if you want me to question her Wesley I can. I might be able to do it better since I know what the feelings are that are normally brought on by pregnancy." "Yes, I think that would be a good idea. We all tend to open up to you more easily. I think also that we will be able to get through all of this without mentioning anything about Billy. So your family secret will be safe Angel." Wesley said as he got up to leave. "Thanks Wesley I am sure that Spike would appreciate it. By the way we'll continue with the exercises after the meeting with Mom." Wesley gave Angel a dirty look as he opened the door and left. Angel just smiled.

"You know Hunter Mikes feelings towards you after he saw Angelus where probably influenced by Angelus, but his love for you was able to take him beyond what Angelus was telling him." Angel stood up then and went over to Hunter and took her hand and kissed it. "I think that, that is more then enough proof to show that he really and truly does love you Hunter. His love will help him to see beyond anything that he might see or hear that has anything to do with your being a Vampire. Just like Cordelia is able to do for me." Angel stood up then and left.

"My boy is something else isn't he. He is constantly showing me new depths to his psychological makeup." "Please don't take what I am going to ask you in the wrong way Mary but I really need to know this." Hunter paused for a moment while she gathered her thoughts.

"Mary, how can you love Angel so much that you see him as a son that you gave birth to?" Dr. Martin was pretty sure why Hunter was asking this.

"Hunter I didn't love Angel immediately. When I first came here I was, to be frank, scared out of my wits. It was only because of my daily prayers that I was able to find the courage to do what I had to each day. But each day, as I peeled away the many layers that made up the man that we know as Angel, I came to love him more and more.

"When we were in Ireland and Angel pulled that little stunt that let Angelus come through and rape me my mother's instinct took over and I protected him from what I was afraid that the men would do to him if they found out. When Angel and St. Michael stopped Angelus his body was left with the mind of a baby. That night Cordelia and I put him between us and we all slept on the floor. During the night Angel woke up and was hungry. Since he had the mind of a baby he of course wanted to nurse and my breasts were the closest ones since he had fallen asleep with his head on my chest. He was able to remove my nightgown over my right breast and started nursing. The strange thing about it though was that he knew that he needed blood so he would bite down to get what he wanted. When I started to get light headed I pushed him away and he just put his fingers in his mouth and started sucking on them just like Kathleen does. In fact when I saw Kathleen sucking on her third and fourth finger I immediately thought of when I saw Angel doing the same thing. When Angel was done nursing on my blood Cordelia asked me why I let him do that. I told her that just as she was nurturing her baby with her blood while she was in her womb I nurtured Angel and that now we were truly mother and son.

"Hunter if you and Mike choose to adopt or ask either Willow or Tara to carry a baby to term you will love that baby as soon as you hold it in your arms." Dr. Martin told Hunter while holding her hand. "You know about the tests on my ovaries to see if they were still producing eggs?" "Yes, has he been able to determine if they are still viable or not." "Not yet. We haven't actually performed the test yet." "I think that I better go and take a nap now. I need more rest these days in order to keep up with my young husband. Sex was never something that I needed frequently it was more of my husbands needs. When I was young and was first married we were usually too tired to even think about sex. I often thought that it was pure luck that we conceived our son. With Rupert he is well rested all of the time and wants it more frequently then I do. If it wasn't for the fact that he is a good lover and very attentive towards my needs I would probably have more headaches then usual." They both laughed at her admission to Hunter. Dr. Martin and Hunter got up then and went to their own rooms.

On Friday of the same week Spike met with Father Barris in room 412. Angel had spoken to Father Barris several days before about Spike. He told him about how Spike had been turned into a Vampire and what kind of person he was. Spike was nervous as he waited for Father Barris. This was going to be very hard on him because he wasn't the type to open up to anyone and let them know his true feelings. The closest he came to it was with Buffy. Buffy still didn't know as much about him though as Angel did. He had told Buffy once that he really did look at Angel like a father sometimes and it was the reason why he often called him Sire.

At 1 p.m. he heard Fr. Barris downstairs. He was getting so nervous that he had to run to the bathroom and vomit the blood that he had for lunch. He was able to finish cleaning himself up just as he heard the knock on the door. He went to the door and opened it. "Come in Father." They shook hands as Father Barris walked in and put his brief case down by the chair he sat on last time. "Are you ready to make your first confession William?" "Yes Father." "Then let's get started." They both took their seats. Spike waited while the priest opened up his brief case and prepared himself to hear Spikes confession. "You can start when you're ready William." Spike started with the words on the card he had been given. "Bless me Father for I have sinned."

Spike and Father Barris were in 412 for the next 3 hours. As Fr. Barris listened to Spikes list of sins he couldn't help compare him with Angel. Before Angel was given his soul back he was a bystander that couldn't do anything about what Angelus did. But with William he was not quite an active participant but more of a bystander that gave directions. Dr. Martin had told him about Spikes resident demon because she knew that the information was an important piece of information that he needed in order to guide Spike. Billy was a child demon that didn't know what the strengths of a full grown man were. William participated in his killings by telling Billy what to do such as when he attacked a man. The directions were in the form of advice as to how to hold the man's arm behind his back and to grab the man's hair and force his head to the opposite side so that his neck was fully exposed. William learned this by watching Angelus. Worst of all William told Billy what to do when he raped a woman before killing them.

The only thing that saved William and made it possible to retrieve his soul was his love for Buffy. Now he had his daughter to focus his love on also. Angel had chosen to fight for his redemption and was given Cordelia and a family because of his choices. Without Buffy William would still be the soulless Vampire named Spike.

Fr. Barris was going to take William though and hopefully point him in the right direction and his love for his wife and daughter would keep him on the difficult road to his redemption. When William was done making his confession Fr. Barris gave him his penance.

"William as your penance you are to pray the Rosary every day, also you are to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as close to 3 in the afternoon as possible. This is a very important prayer for you William because you did not choose redemption, it choose you. You are to say this prayer at 3 in the afternoon because that is the hour that Christ died on the cross for you. You are to meditate on Christ's suffering and death for at least 15 minutes after praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I want you to buy a Diary. In the evening you are to examine your conscience to see if you broke any of Gods rules that day. This goes for both anything that you actually did or said or thought. In your Diary you are to write down any rules or laws that you have broken that have been set down by God or the Catholic Church. At the beginning of your Diary William you are to use your medical knowledge and write down what the physical results of what Christ went through in order to give you a chance to enter through the gates of heaven. At the end of each month you will turn over your Diary to your confessor and he will return it to you after reading the previous months faults. I know of no other way then this to teach you what you must learn. Now make a good act of contrition."

When they were done Fr. Barris put his penitential garment away and got up and went to the refrigerator and took out a can of Pepsi for himself and then warmed up a glass of blood for Spike. When he smelled the warmed blood Spike got up and took the glass from the counter. "Thank you, I needed it." They stood in silence for awhile then Spike was able to get up the courage to ask Fr. Barris something.

"Father, may I ask you a question concerning Angel and myself?" "Go ahead and ask, if it's to personnel for Angel then I won't answer it." "Angel has pretty much told us what his penance is. What I want to know is why have you given me so much more than Angel? I'm not asking because I think your being unfair or anything I just need to understand why." Spike downed the rest of his drink then carefully washed the glass and put it back in the cabinet.

"I'll answer you with this William and if you still don't understand then tell me and I'll explain further. When I listened to Angel's confession it took him 4 hours and when he was done he was on his knees beside my chair. He cried so much that his eyes were all red and swollen. When you gave me your confession it took you only 3 hours and you didn't shed even one tear. It wasn't so much the length of time that it took you to make your confession as it was the fact that you didn't shed even one tear." "So you're saying that you don't think that I am truly sorry for my sins but that everything I am doing is because I love Buffy and now my daughter so much. You have designed my penance so that it will direct me in the correct direction." "You are very perceptive William and you have taken your first step in that direction.

"Whether you can join Buffy in paradise when you leave this world all depends on you now. How long you are separated will depend on how fast you learn and put into practice what you have learned. But William it won't matter how much you memorize prayers, passages in the Bible or even if you were to memorize, word for word, the whole Bible if it doesn't open a hole in your heart that can be filled with a love for God and His Son. I have to leave now I have Saturday Mass to conduct." Fr. Barris stopped at the door and turned to Spike. "William, you have a long hard road to travel and I leave you with this saying, "The road to perdition is straight and wide, paved with gold and easily traveled and many take it. The road to heaven is long and winding, it has many rocks in it and is difficult to travel and few take it." Your love for Buffy has placed you at the beginning of that road to heaven William. I don't believe you really care about going to heaven William, but you know that Buffy will be there and you want to be there with her also. I believe you have been placed in my hands to teach you and guide you. Between Angel and I we will get you there one way or the other and when you get there you will know and understand how much our Savior loved you and how much He sacrificed to give you the opportunity to be there."

Both Spike and Fr. Barris left then to go downstairs. Angel and Dr. Martin were in the Lobby waiting for them. When Fr. Barris and Spike came out of the elevator they both stood up. Angel went to Spike and hugged him. Dr. Martin did also. "Thank you for taking care of my boy Father." Angel said as he put his arm around Spikes neck. "You're very welcome Angel. I hate to rush off but I have Saturday Mass to perform good bye everyone and goodnight." He stopped at the door and turned around. "William if you should need to talk to me just give me a call. Just as I do for Angel I can come over here or you can come to the rectory." Spike just nodded and Fr. Barris left.

"How did it go Spike, if you don't mind my asking?" Angel asked. "He saw right through me just like you did. The penance he gave you is kids stuff compared to mine. Dr. Martin if you have time tonight I need to go to a religious store for several items and I of course will need your help." "Of course Spike I would be happy to. Are you going back to your room now?" "Yeah, do you want to see Buffy and Joyce?" "Yes I would like to check on Buffy. Do you know if she is producing milk yet?" "Yeah she said she just started today." Spike said. He was smiling all of the way to the room though.

Angel went up to the second floor and went to Hunter and Mikes room and knocked on the door. Mike answered. "Come in whoever you are but keep your eyes closed when you do." Angel opened the door. "Is Hunter here?" "Yes she is in the closet hiding because she doesn't have anything on." Hunter looked around the closet door. "What do you want Angel?" "Remember last week I asked you to give me a massage and to show Cordelia how to do it also then Buffy went into labor." "Yes I remember." "Do you think we could do that now? Nothing is going on and I thought it would be a perfect time." "Yes I guess we could do that. Well be down there in a few minutes. You know the routine. If you still have some of that special oil you and Cordelia use try warming some of it up in the microwave." Angel closed the door then and Hunter went to the bathroom and grabbed her bathrobe. She grabbed Mike's bathrobe and threw it to him. "Let's go my dear. You are going to learn how to give me a world class massage." Mike got up and pulled his bathrobe on and followed Hunter to Angels room.

Hunter knocked on the door. "Come in Hunter." Angel said. Hunter and Mike went in and closed the door behind them. Angel had a blanket and sheet on the floor and the massaging oil was warmed up and in a jar next to the blanket.

"Okay Angel assume the position." Cordelia was sitting on the bed with Kathleen who was sleeping. Angel took off his robe and laid down on his stomach. Hunter took off her robe also. Neither Hunter or Angel had anything on now. "It's better if you don't wear anything Cordelia because as you know it can get very messy and it's hard to get the oil out of cloth unless it's white cotton." Hunter poured some of the oil in her hands and started to massage Angels back. While she did it she gave a running commentary as to how she was massaging each muscle and why. She asked Cordelia to put some soft music on so that they would relax more. She paid close attention to the muscles around his neck and shoulders. These were the muscles that would cause his arm to shake when he was under a lot of stress. When she was done with these muscles she got off of Angels back.

"Come on Cordelia I want you to try it. We'll go through each set of muscles like this then you will try it." Cordelia took off her robe and got on Angels back and started to do as Hunter instructed. Cordelia was almost done massaging Angel when they realized that he had fallen to sleep. Cordelia slapped his behind. She got the response she wanted except she forgot she was on her knees and straddling Angel's legs. Angel jumped up and was ready for an attack. Nothing was in the room except for Mike, Hunter and Cordelia. Angel had a sheepish look on his face as he realized what had happened. "What can I say, you girls are good. Are we done?" "No we are not done with you yet lay down so your face up. Cordelia would you get me a bath towel and hand towel please." Hunter asked. Cordelia was back in just a few seconds. "Put one over you know where and the other over his face." Cordelia did as Hunter instructed. "Okay he can't get any ideas when he has to look up." Hunter went to his head and leaned over as she showed Cordelia how to massage his shoulders and neck then she traded places with Cordelia and she did the same thing. This went on for the rest of the afternoon until Cordelia's lessons in how to massage Angel was completed. Angel was then given lessons in how to massage Cordelia. As Angel finished massaging Cordelia he could hardly wait for Hunter and Mike to leave. In fact he came close to throwing them out and locked the door then practically attacked Cordelia.

"I was wondering how long you were going to last before you lost complete control in front of them." Cordelia was laughing so hard she almost wet herself. "I have to go to the bathroom Angel." He let her go then and lay back down on the floor. He was looking up at the ceiling when he saw a little face looking at him over the side of the bed.

"Well hello my little girl. Come down here and join Daddy." Angel gave her a picture of how to swing her legs over the side while still holding onto the quilt. Kathleen carefully put her legs over the side and when she could touch the floor she let go and fell sideways on top of her Daddy. Angel took her diaper off, which was wet, and put her on his stomach then poured a small amount of Baby Oil on his chest. He put a small amount on his hand then started to rub Kathleen with it. By the time Cordelia came out she had it all over her hair and all over her Daddy's chest. Angel had rubbed it all over her body and she had taken care of his hair so that it would be like hers.

"What in heavens name are you doing?" "I'm giving my daughter a massage." Angel said as he looked at Cordelia. Kathleen had made a mess of his and her hair. They both had spiked hair. Kathleen had dark red spikes and Angel had reddish brown spikes. Cordelia got the camera out and took a bunch of pictures. They spent the next hour taking a shower and playing in the water. Cordelia bathed right away because between the oil on her and the oil on Kathleen she cold barely h

old on to her daughter. She got out of the shower and left Angel the job of cleaning his daughter while she went into the bedroom and got dressed. By the time she was done Angel was finished cleaning their daughter and called Cordelia to come and get her. By then it was time for dinner so they all went downstairs. The nights were starting to get cooler so Angel couldn't take Kathleen outside with him to the patio so she was installed in her highchair and brought over to the kitchen while he helped Cordelia fix dinner. Cordelia had put a large pot of beans on the stove earlier so that she could make chili with beans for dinner.

Everyone started coming downstairs as the smell of the chili and rice started going up to the 2nd floor and into the rooms. Cordelia had assigned Angel the task of cutting up bowls full of green onions, tomatoes and shredded lettuce for those who liked having a small salad also. Dr. Martin came into the kitchen. "Can I help with anything Cordelia?" "No Mom we have everything just about done. I'm just finishing up with the tortillas. You can start setting the table though." "Okay I think I can do that. Did you all have fun this afternoon?" "Yes we did and I got a first class massage. Hunter showed Cordelia how to give me a massage and then she showed me how to do Cordelia." Angel said as he placed the chopped tomatoes into three bowls. "Yes then you should of seen the mess he made of Kathleen. I had to go to the bathroom and when I came out Kathleen and her Daddy looked like two Punk Rockers or something. Angel had put baby oil all over her and Kathleen put the oil in her hair and his. I think you had better run some psychological tests on your son Mom because I think he has started his second childhood."

"Aww she's just jealous Mom because I wasn't playing with her." Angel smiled as he said it to let them know he was just kidding. "Cordelia what do you think about putting up a sling in the shower that we can put Kathleen in so it would be easier to bath her in the shower?" "I don't know Angel, I think it would be kind of a waste of time because she will be growing so fast that she'll outgrow whatever you put in there. Besides as fast as her mind is progressing I don't think it will be much longer before she is going to be wondering what that thing is that is hanging between your legs. Remember you mentioned something about us being more careful when she was awake because she is going to start asking about the differences between Mommy and Daddy?" "Yeah." "Well I thought about it and I think your right. I think we will have to either put up a screen or put her in a room of her own before long." Angel put the knife down and stopped and looked at his wife. "No you can't do that yet. It's too early for my little girl to have to sleep by herself. Mom tell her it's too early. She'll be afraid and start crying and you know how it affects me when I hear her crying. I'll pick out a nice screen to put in front of her crib. That way she can hear us but not see us." Cordelia and Dr. Martin looked at each other. With that one look they told each other they knew who would really be afraid and needed Kathleen to stay in their room for a while longer.

"Okay Angel she can stay a little longer but no sling in the shower I think it would be a waste of time because she will grow out of it to fast. Well I'm done how about you?" "All done, we just have to call the troops down." Angel took the last of the bowls of onions, tomatoes and lettuce out to the tables and then went upstairs.

"Dinner is on the table everyone. Get it while it's hot." Angel could hear everyone getting ready to come downstairs so he headed back down. Wesley and Fred were the last to come downstairs and join everyone at the dinning room. Dr. Martin watched Fred all through the meal. She looked real tired. "How have you been feeling Fred? You look tired. Have you been getting enough sleep?" "Yes, in fact I think I'm getting too much sleep. Maybe that's why I look tired because I'm tired of sleeping." "Be thankful for all of the sleep because you will remember these days with fondness once your boys are here." "Well that's not for another 2 months and I can sleep just so much. I think it's good that the men are going camping next weekend. Wesley needs to get away for awhile. If it wasn't for the exercises that the guys are putting him through I think he would go stir crazy along with me."

"I haven't been that boring have I?" Wesley asked Fred. "No dear you've been wonderful but I think you need to get out and get some sun. You're almost as white as Angel." "Can Fred do a little sunbathing tomorrow Mom?" "Sure, as long as you carry her the rest of the stairs to the roof."

"When are we supposed to get help to clean the Hotel Cordelia? The last time I remember anything being said about it we were supposed to have interviewed some people for the position then Wesley got shot I think." Fred asked.

"Yeah that was kind of postponed. Maybe we can take care of that this week. What does everyone think?" Cordelia put it to everyone.

"Just take care of it Cordelia we trust your judgment." Gunn said. The rest seconded what he said. "Okay then I'll contact Father Barris and tell him we are ready to interview some people. The apartment upstairs is ready for them and as long as they speak English I can take care of it, otherwise I need some help." She looked at Angel who she knew spoke Spanish. "Yes dear I'll help you if you need it."

"Well since everyone is done and I don't have that help yet maybe some volunteers can clean the kitchen for me since Angel and I made dinner. Oh I think I saw Gunn, Connor, and Giles raise their hands." "Yeah I think I saw that also." Angel said as he picked up Kathleen from her highchair. "Let's get out of here before they realize what's going on." Everyone cleared out while Connor, Gunn, and Giles started to clean up while Spike and Dr. Martin went shopping. Angel wanted to go shopping for the screen that they could put in front of Kathleen's crib when they wanted privacy. Buffy, Willow, and Tara went into Fred's room to keep her company while Wesley went to his office to do some work.

Wesley was looking thru a new 'old' book that had been delivered just yesterday. If Wesley could purr like a happy cat he would be purring now. He loved reading old prophecy books. He enjoyed the challenge of interpreting them and unlocking their secrets. This new book was supposed to have something about Angel in it so he was taking his time. The book was in Latin so it took even longer than usual to interpret. When he did find something about Angel he was disappointed because all it did was tell him what he already knew. Wesley ran his fingers over the ancient paper that was bound with string instead of glue like present day books. These ancient books usually had small pictures drawn around the edges of the page. He noticed how this one had the head of a wolf at the corners of the pages that had information about Angel on them. At the very bottom of the page and in the middle was a pair of Angel's wings. Wesley new that in ancient times Catholic monks would make their living by copying books and that was the only way that duplicates of books were made. Some monks would add a small pair of Angel's wings or a crucifix somewhere on the pages that they copied.

Wesley had been at it for almost 3 hours straight. He stood up and stretched his back muscle. He was thinking to himself (I better make sure I put some pajamas on tonight.) Everyone had come back an hour ago so he turned out the lights and made sure that all of the doors were locked and the security system was turned on. As he made his way up the stairs the pictures on the page kept going through his mind.

Next week the thoughts he was having now would be remembered.

TBC……………………………


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

**A Flame of Love**

On Monday morning Cordelia contacted Fr. Barris and told him that they were ready to start interviewing people to help with the hotel and cooking. Of course Fr. Barris understood the necessity for only certain types of people to be sent so he worked with one of the Sisters that ran a shelter for migrant workers. By asking certain questions he was able to get the information he needed and thus send only the "right kind" of people.

Cordelia started interviewing applicants on Tuesday and in all she saw 7 couples through out the week. All were either too old or too young and she was looking for someone closer to their own ages. They had to be able to move quickly if need be and that left out those that were too old. She didn't want anyone that was too young because she knew they would leave as soon as they finished their schooling for a better job or they just didn't know how to clean house or repair anything. By Thursday she was starting to think that it would be impossible to find anyone until the last 2 applicants of the day walked in.

They introduced themselves as Mr. Joaquin Sanchez and his wife Mrs. Connie Sanchez. Cordelia guessed that they were among the many former farm workers that were trying to get out of an endless cycle of seasonal farm work where they and their children lived in poverty. The woman was dressed in a long, brown, cotton skirt that went to just below her knees. Her blouse was also of cotton and was a bright orange which went with her skin color perfectly. Her jet black hair was braided and hung just below her waist which was small although not too small and Cordelia estimated she wore about a size 6. She was about 5'3" with most of her height coming from her legs. The man beside her was dressed in jeans, boots and a flannel shirt along with a cowboy type of hat which he removed when he came into the hotel. He looked as though he worked out with weights regularly and she could see that his hands new what hard labor was. His skin already showed the affects of long hours in the fields under the hot California sun.

Cordelia walked over to them and introduced herself. "Hi I'm Cordelia Chase-Martin and this is Angel Investigation. Are you here for the housekeeping job?" "Yes Mam." The woman answered. Cordelia took them over to Angel's office. She pointed to the two chairs in front of the desk then sat in the chair behind the desk. "Before we start would you fill out this short form and give me at least one reference if possible. I am going to leave you alone for a few minutes to fill these out." Cordelia gave them the forms along with a couple of pens. She went into the kitchen then to make some hot tea.

The men came up from the basement after a workout. Angel had told Cordelia that Wesley was working hard to get himself back into shape because he really was looking forward to going camping this weekend. "How's it going?" Angel asked. "The two that just walked in look promising. They seem to be about our age, not you of course, but the rest of us." "Ha ha, very funny. I'm going upstairs by the back stairs so I don't disturb them." Angel grabbed a glass of blood and took it upstairs. Cordelia picked up the tray of tea and returned to the office.

"I brought some hot tea." She picked up the forms they had filled out. "Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez would you like some tea?" She put the forms down then reached for the teapot. "Yes may I have some." Mrs. Sanchez said. Cordelia poured her some tea then looked at Mr. Sanchez. "No thank you." "Well then give me a second while I read about you. She took a few minutes to read the forms then put them down.

"What did Fr. Barris tell you about the job that your applying for Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez.?" "Please call me Connie and my husband prefers Joaquin." Cordelia noticed how good her English was. "Okay Connie and Joaquin. Can you tell me what Fr. Barris told you about the job?" "He said that we would be cleaning an old Hotel that a private investigation group called home. He said that the job included room and board and we would be cooking and cleaning all of the first floor and the hallways. He also said that babysitting would be expected when needed. He said we would be given two days a week off and two weeks paid vacation and on occasion we would be expected to go with you to another home that you have in Sunnydale." Cordelia noticed that Connie did all of the talking while her husband didn't say a word. In fact he didn't seem to be interested in the interview at all. She did notice though that his eyes were scanning the books behind Angel's desk.

"I noticed you looking at the books behind me Joaquin. Do you like to read?" "Yes, I love to read so much that my Connie is always having to tell me to put whatever book I am reading down so that I can get some sleep." "Well Joaquin and Connie I have a good feeling about this interview. I think we have found our helpers but I would like you to do one thing before we finally decide to hire you or not. Can you make dinner for us tonight so we can see how well you cook?" "Yes but it's kind of late. Can I see what you have in the kitchen so that I can see what you have for me to use?" "Sure just follow me. You can leave your things here if you want."

Cordelia took them to the spacious kitchen. "As you can see we have a large kitchen and I have a large pork roast over on the counter that has been thawing out." She showed them the pantry and the well stocked refrigerator and all of the equipment that was needed to cook enough food for the usually large group. When she was done she asked "So what do you think?" "I don't think that I will have any problem. May I ask if you like Mexican food?" "Of course we do in fact we have a very pregnant woman upstairs that dreams about Mexican food. The only thing that I am going to ask you not to touch is this refrigerator over here. My husband's personnel stock is in here and he is very touchy about anyone getting into this refrigerator. If he needs anything from here either he will get it or I will." "Yes Mrs. Martin. May I ask when you would like supper served?" "We usually eat around 7. At this moment we have 6 men and 6 women in the Hotel but make enough for 14 and of course yourselves. We have two people that I never know if they will be here or not so I usually make enough for them also. If you need anything that you can't find just come and get me I am going to be downstairs washing clothes." Cordelia went downstairs then and Connie started pulling out things to be cooked. She put her husband to cutting up the pork and she started making a batch of tortillas after putting on some pinto beans.

By 7 p.m. people started coming down the stairs. Dr. Martin had been working at the hospital all day and had just come home at 5 o'clock. She had enough time to take a shower and a short nap. As she came down the stairs with Giles she sniffed the air. "Oh my goodness Rupert that smells heavenly. I am starving." Connor came running downstairs followed by Toby. "Common Grandma or its all going to be gone by the time you get there." He went running downstairs but put his brakes on as soon as he saw strangers.

"Are you the one that's creating that heavenly smell?" Connor asked Connie. "Si I am guilty as charged." Cordelia came from the basement when she heard so many foot steps upstairs in the dinning room.

"Connor would you help me set the table and I'll introduce them to everyone at the same time. Connie do you need help with anything?" "No Mrs. Martin everything is ready and as soon as everyone comes down we will put the food on the table." "Okay we should have everyone here in the next 10 minutes." Cordelia and Connor set the table and made ice tea for everyone. When the table was set Joaquin started bringing out bowls of chopped tomatoes, sweet onions, green onions, shredded lettuce, sour cream and bowls of shredded cheese. By now everyone was downstairs including Wesley and Fred. Hunter and Dr. Thompson came in also. Connie saw the extra people coming in so she started making more tortillas. After two more sections of the table were put in and more place settings added Connie and Joaquin started bringing in the hot food. Three large bowls of pinto beans, rice, meat, and red chili were placed equally around the table. Cordelia also brought out three bottles of Beano. Everyone laughed when they saw the Beano.

When Angel sat down he looked at the food and wondered how he was supposed to eat it. He looked at Cordelia questioningly. "Uh Connie, I think we are supposed to put this together in a certain way but we've never had such a magnificent display of food. Could you or your husband show us how to put this together?" "Oh yes of course. I'm sorry I didn't think. This is a dish that is common to Albuquerque New Mexico. I will show you. May I have someone's plate please?" Connor offered his first. Connie took it then placed a fried corn tortilla on the plate first then some beans and red chili, then another fried corn tortilla. On top of this layer she placed a spoonful of rice and meat with more chili. Then she put some tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cheese and a spoonful of sour cream on the top. "Now some people put 1 or 2 fried eggs on top of the last layer before you put the tomatoes on. Some people call these Haystacks but in Albuquerque we call these enchiladas." Connie gave the plate to Connor and he cut out a fork full.

"Oh, oh this is good, this is really good. It's hot but it's good. Lorne should be here to try this." Connor started cutting up more and eating. Everyone else started making their enchiladas. At that time Lorne walked in.

"Hi everyone, I was passing by and I smelled this delicious food and I knew Connie and Joaquin Sanchez were cooking in here and I just had to come in." Connie and Joaquin went over to Lorne to greet him.

"You know Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez?" Cordelia asked. "Of course, who do you think sent them to Fr. Barris when I heard you were looking for help? They used to work for me back in the kitchen." Lorne looked around as though he was looking for someone. "Where is Mama Lucinda and Jr.?" Connie waved her hands to tell him no.

"Is there more to your family Connie?" Both Connie and her husband looked nervous. "Yes Mrs. Martin I have a son that is 13 months old and my husbands mother is out in our car with him." "Joaquin please go and get your mother and son and bring them in so they can have dinner with us. Cordelia went to get 4 more place settings while Gunn and Rupert found 4 more chairs. Everyone scooted down to make room. When Joaquin returned his mother carried his son who looked like he just woke up. His mother looked to be around 60, she had long braided black and gray hair. Her face showed the affects of working in the fields picking fruit and vegetables for the big farms. Her back was slightly bent from the long hours of being bent over while picking those vegetables. Connie came and took her baby from his grandmother.

"Mrs. Martin this is my husbands mother Mrs. Lucinda Sanchez and my son who we call Junior because he was named after his father." For the first time Angel spoke up. "Please sit down everyone and join us in this magnificent feast that Mrs. Sanchez has prepared."

Everyone sat down and started serving themselves. The chili was hot and the ice tea was being drunk by the buckets. As Mr. Sanchez ran out of corn tortilla he took some flour tortilla and tore off two small pieces and made scoops out of them. Without the assistance of spoons he scooped up the rest of the food and ate them like this. Connor was watching how he was doing this and tried it. It took a couple of attempts but he got the hang of it. "Hey guys look how Mr. Sanchez is using the tortilla to get the rest of the food without using a fork or spoon." They all watched him then tried doing the same thing. When they were done they all leaned back in their chairs. The men loosened their belts and you could hear them say ahhhh.

"Okay I am putting it to everyone raise your hand if you think we should hire them." Cordelia said. Hands went up all around the table and the vote was unanimous.

"It looks like you're hired. Welcome to Angel Investigations." Cordelia got up and shook their hands. "Now let me introduce you to everyone. I don't expect you to remember everyone's name so don't worry about it." Cordelia started with herself then went to Angel. She put her hands on his shoulders and said "This is my husband Angel Martin. Our investigation business bears his name because he started it. This is our baby girl Mary Kathleen Martin. We call her Kathleen." Cordelia went around the table telling them what each persons name was and what they did. Connie and her mother in law were very happy when they heard they had so many doctors living in the hotel.

Joaquin was sitting next to Lorne so he leaned over and whispered something in Spanish in his ear. Lorne then answered him out loud. "Yes he is that Angel. Spike here and Hunter are also Vampires but they are like Angel they both have souls. Buffy here is also the legendary Slayer." Joaquin gave a low whistle. Again he asked him in Spanish, "Do you think they would like to taste my specialty?" "Well I really don't think they have any room for it but I'll ask. Angel, Spike, and Hunter Joaquin here makes a drink out of blood that my bar was famous for. In fact I think I am going to loose a few clients when they find out he isn't working there anymore. I told him I didn't think you have any room but that I would ask. Would you like him to make you some?" "None for me I think I'll explode if I have anymore." Angel said as he patted his stomach. "But Mr. Martin you haven't eaten very much you must have room for more." Joaquin said. "I haven't been eating solid food that long besides my wife likes me slim and trim. I'll try your specialty tomorrow though." Joaquin looked at Spike and Hunter. They both answered with a no.

Cordelia was watching Connie feed her son a mixture of pinto beans that was mashed with the bean liquid and one teaspoon full of red chili. This was all mixed in with a spoon full of rice. Dr. Martin saw the look on Cordelia's face. "It's okay Cordelia, the Mexican people start their babies eating food like that early in life. That's why they can stand the chili being so hot when they are adults." "Let's see if Kathleen will like it." Cordelia made up a small bowl of the bean liquid and a few beans that she mashed then added the rice and just a half spoon full of chili. Kathleen eagerly opened her mouth and took the food that her mother offered her. She pushed it around in her mouth with her tongue then swallowed. Cordelia was surprised when she opened her mouth for more so she gave her the rest. "That's my girl." Angel said. Then Angel quickly grabbed a glass of ice tea and drank it down. His mouth still felt like it was burning though. He looked at Kathleen and realized it was her mouth that was burning so he took an ice cube and held it for her while she rubbed her tongue all over it.

"Look at her she didn't even cry even though it was burning her mouth." Angel said.

"Dad we have to introduce them to Toby and we probably have to go through the same thing with the Sanchez baby as we did Joyce." Connor said. "Yeah let's take care of it now. Besides I need to get up from here and walk some of this off. Connie, Joaquin and Mrs. Sanchez would you come over here into the Lobby we have to go through a kind of ceremony and introduce your baby to Toby." Angel said as he got up. "Who is Toby? I thought everyone in the Hotel is right here?" Connie asked. Connor came over to the other side of the table and called Toby who was outside. Toby was now a large full grown German Shepard and he scared the Sanchez's when he came running in and up to Connor. "Don't be afraid he is very well trained and he is also Kathleen's playmate and protector. That's why we have to show him Junior so that he will know that he has another playmate to protect." Connor then took Toby over to the Lobby. Everyone else went in also.

Angel told the Sanchez's to sit on the floor with their baby. The grandmother was given a chair to sit on since it wasn't necessary for her to hold the baby. Angel and Cordelia sat on the floor with Kathleen. "Connie and Joaquin hold your hand out for Toby to smell then Connor will tell him to protect you. Mrs. Sanchez put your hand out also. When he has smelled them Connor go back and let him see the baby. He may act differently with him since he is much older."

Connor took Toby to Connie first. She put her hand out and Toby sniffed her hand then licked it. When he did that it made her feel more at ease. "Can I pet him?" "Yes." She pet him and scratched the area between his ears. Connor gave Toby a command to protect her. He then went to Joaquin and did the same thing. When he went to Lucinda she spoke to him in Spanish and they all laughed when he tipped his head as through he was saying "What did you say?" Connor then took him back to the baby. Connor got on one knee and took the baby's hand and held it so Toby could smell it. Toby looked at Angel and Cordelia then at Connor. Connor once again gave the command for him to protect. Junior squirmed his way out of his mother's arms. He wanted to touch Toby.

Everyone's eyes, except for Connie and Joaquin, went to Kathleen. Kathleen sat up when she saw Junior reaching for Toby. Toby turned around then and went to Kathleen and licked her face. Kathleen used him to stand up and then he went to the new baby. Kathleen let go of Toby and went to her knees and crawled over to Junior. She took his hand. Everyone thought she was going to kiss him but she surprised everyone when she put his hand in her mouth and bit him. Of course Junior screamed and started crying. What happened next surprised everyone even more. Toby barked at Kathleen and pushed her away with his nose. Then he grabbed the back of her clothes and pulled her over to the playpen and lifted her up and jumped into the play pen with her. He put her down then jumped out again and went back to the little boy. He licked the little boys tears and his hand until he stopped crying.

Angel fell backwards laughing. "What is so funny? That was something else that he did. I thought only Lassie could do stuff like that." Cordelia said with a smile. "I'm laughing because she is mad as hell at Toby but she isn't crying. I don't think she'll ever do that again. What he did was better then any punishment that either you or I could have handed out." Toby went back to Connor then and Connor patted his side and gave him a kiss on his head to let him know that he did good.

"Well Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez it looks like he has accepted you and your baby without a problem. You can feel safe in leaving your baby with Toby and he will protect him. Don't be afraid of him hurting your baby because as you just saw he is very gentle when handling them. I have to get back to my studies now so I'll be saying goodnight. Dad do we have to go shopping for any camping gear?" "Yes we do, we can do that tomorrow night after we put Wesley through his daily exercises. We need to find a place that sells dry ice also." "If you're going for a walk Angel wait for me and I'll go with you. I have to walk some of our dinner off also." Wesley said as he helped Fred to go back to their rooms and helped her to get settled in then went back downstairs. Spike and Gunn were ready to go with them also. "Why don't we go over to Forest Lawn and check it out for any new Vampires?" Angel said. Before he left he told Cordelia where they were going. They all piled into his car then and took off.

When they arrived at the cemetery Spike and Angel went to the right and Connor, Wesley, and Gunn went to the left. They agreed to meet at the other side by 9 and walk back down the middle together.

Angel and Spike walked in silence for awhile. Angel felt that Spike had something to ask. "Okay Spike I know you have something to ask me so speak up."

"Okay here goes, part of the penance that Fr. Barris gave me is to keep a diary that I have to list any laws of God or Church that I have broken that day. It doesn't matter if it is in action or in thought. At the end of each month I'm to turn it in to him to read. At the beginning of the diary I have to use my medical knowledge to write a description of what Christ went through when he was tortured and crucified. He said that it would help me to understand how badly He suffered for us before He died."

"So what is it exactly that you wanted to ask me?" Spike stopped walking and went over to a bench that was beside a new grave. "I think I hear someone stirring around in there." Spike said. Angel came over and listened. "Yeah I hear it also. But now I want you to stop hem hawing around and ask me your question before I have to punch your lights out for making me go crazy." Angel sat down on the bench one way and Spike sat the other way so that he wouldn't have to look at Angel as he asked his question.

"Angel I need you to relive that night and tell me what you felt as they tortured you and especially what the pain felt like when they nailed you to the cross. I can write down the medical techno babble but I can't say what it actually felt like."

"You're asking a lot Spike. Here I've been doing my best to forget it and now you want me to remember all of it." Angel rubbed his hands together as he thought about it for a few minutes. "I don't know if I can do it to your satisfaction but go ahead and ask me about specific things and I'll answer as best I can."

Spike asked his first question. "What was the first thing they did to you and how did it feel?" Angel looked down at the ground and tried to recall that terrible night.

"Unlike Christ I fought them all the way until they got me on the ground. Their must have been 10 of them on me. They tied my hands together with a long rope. I don't remember too much after that until we arrived in the desert by the race track because they must have hit me with something that felt like a hammer. Anyway when I came to they had me hanging from a tall gate post. My feet were just barely touching the ground. They were all drunk except one guy. He just stayed by this limo drinking blood from a tall glass. They left me hanging there for about 30 minutes then the guy by the limo called one of them over and gave him a couple of whips. When he turned around to get the whips I could see an assortment of them on the hood of the car. I didn't think anything of it at the time but I remember that he had gloves on and was holding a book. I think he was getting information from that book on what the Romans used to flog their prisoners or it may have been a Bible. I wasn't too scared about what they were going to do because I've had it done to me several times. These guys though, it felt like they were trying to play tic-tac-toe on my back. At least when I had humans beating me they would tire out after awhile but Vampires can go on for just about forever.

"You've never been whipped have you Spike." "No, as I recall Angelus would usually rescue us. The closest I ever came to being whipped was when Angelus told me to take the women someplace and we were jumped before I could get them to this run down barn. They didn't know what we were and they only had eyes on Darla and Drusilla as an easy piece. I was tied up to a tree outside of the barn but I could hear them raping Drusilla and Darla. Then when Angelus caught up with us he went crazy and showed his true form. By the time he got done he had killed all of them. I think he even ate one or two and I don't mean their blood. When he finally calmed down and returned to his usual form he came looking for me. He was so mad at me for putting the women in danger that he broke a branch off of a nearby bush and started hitting me with it. I came very close to losing my sight because he kept hitting me on my face. Fortunately Drusilla came out and threw herself between Angelus and me."

"I don't remember that part but I do remember that every time my body was being whipped he would let my consciousness take over so I was the one who felt the whippings and he would hide out inside." Angel stopped talking for a few minutes. Spike turned around also so that they were now both facing the new grave. They listened for the sounds of the new Vampire digging his way to the top. "I'll let you have this one Angel since I am putting you through so much." Spike stood up and took a step back while Angel helped the new Vampire to get out of his grave by pulling him up by the fancy jacket he was wearing.

"I'm here to help you my dear boy. I am a Master Vampire and I am going to teach you what you need to know to live in this new world of yours. First though you need to change your threads we kind of look down on anyone that dresses so nicely. I have some new threads for you over here. I'll go and get them while you take your clothes off. Angel walked over behind a bush as though he was getting some clothes for the new guy. He waited for the young Vampire to take everything off then he took aim and threw a spike right through the Vamps heart and he turned to dust."

"Why did you have him take his clothes off?" Spike asked. "No reason to waste the clothes. I'll just take them with me and put them in a clothes collection bin." Angel picked the clothes up and motioned to Spike to join him. "We better get going or we'll be late meeting up with the others. We can continue with our talk as we walk along." They continued walking through the cemetery as they talked.

"Where was I?" "You were saying how they had stopped whipping you." "Yeah now I remember. They stopped because the guy at the limo had called one of them over again. When he came back he had something a lot more nasty. Those Romans were mean bastards. One guy hit the post with the tip of the whip right by my head and when he pulled it back the tips of these special straps pulled out a chunk of wood." Angel stopped, Spike could see by the look on his face that he was remembering how it felt. Angel fell to his knees. Spike got to his knees next to Angel and put his arm around him.

"It hurt so bad when they hit me with the first one. I felt it dig into my flesh and tear a chunk out of me. For the first time I screamed. As they hit me over and over again I could feel the chunks of flesh being torn from my back. The pain was the worst that I have ever felt. Occasionally they would step closer to me so that the whip would wrap the tip around so that it tore at my chest also. One of them wrapped around my chest and the tip of the whip dug into a section where it had already pulled the flesh off and it hit my bottom rib. He pulled at it hard and when I screamed in pain he pulled even harder on it and even though my back was toward him he pulled so hard that I turned around." Angel stopped for a moment before he could continue. As he relived the whipping he started to perspire so heavily that the sweat started to come out blood red. Angel grabbed at his chest and rubbed it where he remembered the whips hitting him.

"When the guy saw what the tip of the whip was caught on he came over and just pulled it off as though it was a mere annoyance to him that he had to come and pull it off. I could feel my blood pouring out of me and I was getting more and more weak as the minutes passed. When everyone saw me on the cross Spike a lot of the worst damage had healed but that was the last of the fast healing. They continued with that whip until they got tired and bored with seeing the same pattern to the damage. I finally passed out from the pain Spike and the last thing I remember at that time was calling out to God to help me." Angel fell forward into Spikes arms and cried so hard that he started coughing and finally vomited his dinner. Spike gave him his handkerchief that Buffy always gave him to carry in his pocket. All he could do was hold onto Angel and rock him as he cried. Spike realized then that this was the first time that Angel had really thought about what he went through. They had reached the other side of the cemetery when Angel had collapsed and without Angel and Spikes knowledge Gunn, Wesley, and Connor had just been approaching from the other side. They heard Angel and saw him collapse into Spikes arms and start crying. They all looked at each other and by unspoken mutual consent they waited for Angel to get control of himself and stand up before they approached them. They acted like they had just arrived.

Angel turned away from them and wiped his face and blew his nose. Spike saw them looking at Angel so he came up with an excuse for him. "This becoming human is getting tough on my old Sire. We came across some fresh flowers and he started sneezing like crazy." Angel turned back to them and said "let's go men. I think I need to get out of here." The others acted like nothing was wrong and started telling Spike and Angel about a group of Vampires they had dusted after a brief fight.

"Yeah we came across one that we could hear clawing his way up. You should have seen him. Angel introduced himself as a Master Vampire that was there to teach him how to be a Vampire. He told him that his clothes were too fancy and to take them all off and he'd give him some clothes he had brought along with him. The guy actually believed him and took every thing off and that's when Angel threw a spike and dusted him."

"Can I see the clothes Dad?" Angel pulled them out from under his arm and gave them to Connor. They stopped for a minute while Connor looked the clothes over. "Hay guys I think this will fit me." Connor put the jacket on. Unfortunately the arms were too long for him. "Oh well I guess someone that really needs it will be a happy camper when he sees these." Connor took it off and they continued back to the car. Angel didn't say anything on the walk back and no one pushed him. They were all surprised when he turned into the Dairy Queen that was down the street from the Hotel.

"Common men let's close the evening with some ice cream like they do in Sunnydale after patrolling." They all jumped out of the car, ordered their ice cream and sat around enjoying it.

"Why do they always end up a patrol in Sunnydale with an ice cream cone?" Connor asked no one in particular. "When I was in Sunnydale helping Spike we went to get ice cream almost every night."

"Buffy told me it was because she had come to Sunnydale at the beginning of the school year which meant it was still hot then. She said that stopping for ice cream seemed to be the logical thing to do. After a while it just became a tradition. That was the first solid food I had consumed since I was turned. The only time they don't have ice cream is during the nights when it's too cold." Angel told everyone.

"Well I'm done with my ice cream so I think I'll walk the rest of the way home." Angel threw the car keys to Connor and started walking. Without asking Wesley joined him. Angel stopped and looked at Wesley. Wesley just stared back at him. "I would rather be alone for awhile Wesley." "No Angel, those days are over. You need someone to talk to about what you went through back then. We've been through too much together Angel. You have your family to walk with you now. If you fall I'll be there to help you get up again and I know that you'll do the same for me if I should need another man to walk beside me." After thinking about what he said Angel turned then and continued walking back to the Hotel.

"You heard what I was going through?" "Yes, we were just approaching the meeting point when we heard you and Spike. Why were you reliving what happened?" Angel proceeded to tell him why. "I guess I had been repressing the memory of that night and when Spike asked me to relive it so that I could tell him what the physical feeling of each thing that was done to me was it all came flooding in on me just as though it was happening again." Angel stopped and sat on a cement block fence that was only about 2 feet high. Wesley sat next to him.

"You know Wesley the wounds that everyone saw was only half of them. I guess those bastards thought it was pretty funny to tape the chunks of flesh back into position and watch it heal. The closest I can come to describing what it felt like is when I am cleaning a large fish and having to clean the scales off and cut out the fins or large bones. I haven't been able to cook fish since then and now I know why." "Come on Angel we had better go before our wives start getting nervous and wondering where we are. Let's see how well I can run. I'll race you back to the hotel." "Your on, I'll even give you a three minute head start." Angel watched his watch as Wesley took off across the street and continued running as fast as he could. After three minutes Angel took off. By the time he caught up to Wesley he noticed how hard he was breathing. He thought to himself (now I have to start jogging more, come on Angelus give me what I need). Wesley was turning the corner of the Hotel and heading towards the back before Angel was able to catch up. They stopped and sat down by the table in the back. Both Angel and Wesley were breathing hard. When Wesley finally got his breath back he stood up.

"Well I'm going to bed I think we did a pretty good job of taking care of that big dinner and the ice cream. Goodnight Angel, don't sit out here thinking too much. You'll give yourself a headache." Angel stood up and followed Wesley in after just a few minutes. When he opened the door Toby came running out and took care of his business right away then went back in. Angel locked down the Hotel then went upstairs.

Toby followed him upstairs and into his bedroom. He went to Kathleen and licked her face. She was already sleeping and her head was close to the bars. Toby left then and ran upstairs and scratched at the door of the Sanchez's. Joaquin opened the door and was surprised to see Toby. Without waiting to be invited in he walked over to the crib and checked on Junior. After he sniffed at him he apparently felt that he was okay and left. Joaquin and Connie looked at each other and laughed. Toby's next stop was Buffy and Spikes room. He scratched at the door and Spike opened it. Once again Toby went in and checked on Joyce who was getting her evening meal while her Mother sat in a rocker. He sniffed at Joyce's head and gave it a lick. Then he went back to Connor. All of his charges were safe and either sleeping or would soon be asleep. Connor had a test tomorrow so he was still up studying. He noticed Toby coming back in and curling up in his bed. Connor looked into Toby's mind and saw where he had been. Connor checked on the house also by listening for any unusual sounds. "Everything seems to be okay Toby and I think it's time for me to call it a day also. This school stuff is hard and my brain feels like it's burnt to a crisp. Good night Toby." Connor took his clothes off and folded them neatly over a chair then jumped into bed. His mind was so tired that he went right to sleep.

The next day Angel was hungry but he felt that he could only stomach a glass of blood. He was still down from last night and he couldn't stop thinking about it. When everyone came downstairs for breakfast they could sense his mood and didn't try to drag him into the conversations. He busied himself with feeding his daughter. Cordelia knew that something was wrong but she didn't push him to tell her. Kathleen was picking up on her Daddy's mood though and in her own little way she was concerned. When Angel was done feeding his daughter he pulled her out of the highchair and was going to put her into the playpen. Kathleen put her tiny hands on either side of his face. "Why Daddy sad?" "Daddy has a lot on his mind baby, now do you want to go and play or do you want your Mommy." Kathleen turned towards Cordelia and reached out for her.

Before leaving the table Angel turned to Hunter. "Hunter would you let Spike borrow your ring for the next three days so he can go camping with us?" Hunter looked at Mike next to her. "Only if you take Mike camping with you he needs to get out and away for awhile. You can get another Doctor to cover for you. I think Doug owes you a weekend doesn't he?" "I'm so honored that you have decided to ask me about something. Why do you want to get rid of me?" "I don't want to get rid of you dear I just want to have some time with the girls. Cordelia tells me we are going to have what they call a pajama party that is just for the girls. She says they do things like watch girl movies, and put mud on their faces, and eat popcorn and fix each others hair up. I have often heard of this ritual but I have never taken part in one so I won't have time for you because this is strictly for the girls."

"Well what about Giles and Joaquin here. Their wives aren't kicking them out." Mike asked with a grin on his face.

"From what I understand Connie and Joaquin are going to be going to get the rest of their stuff and move them upstairs. Connie is going to play with us Saturday night and Joaquin promised to help Lorne out tomorrow night so he'll be out. Giles is going to Sunnydale to check on the store and he won't be back until Monday."

"Well if the guys don't mind having a Greenhorn along I guess I'll be joining you guys for the weekend." Hunter took her ring off and gave it to Spike. "Be careful you don't get sunburned Spike."

"Thanks Hunter I'll take good care of it." Spike said as he put it on his index finger.

"Mom, Spike and Wesley I want you to go someplace with me at 4 o'clock tonight. We'll be gone for anywhere from 2 to 6 hours. Spike we'll continue with what we were talking about last night. Wesley already knows what I am talking about and I would appreciate it if you would tell Mom. Cordelia I am going to be up in 412 for the rest of the day working on our portrait and I would appreciate it if I wasn't disturbed." Angel gave Cordelia and his daughter a kiss then went upstairs. When he was half way up the stairs he turned.

"Oh and Cordelia I don't want you going into room 412 at all until I am ready for you to see it and I am going to put a spell on the doors and windows so that I'll know if you do. I'll take care of the cleaning so it won't be necessary for anyone to go in their. I think that I've now covered everything that you may have up your sleeve." Angel then called Connie, Joaquin and Lucinda out to the dinning room. He talked to them in Spanish so Cordelia wouldn't know what he said. As soon as Angel turned to go upstairs the rest of the way Cordelia called to Connie. "What did he say Connie?" "I'm sorry Mrs. Martin but he told us not to tell you."

"That man knows me to well. This is going to take some thinking." Cordelia started to pick up the dishes and was so deep in thought that she forgot that Connie and her husband were here to clean up the table.

"Mrs. Martin." Cordelia looked up at Connie. "Oh I forgot." Cordelia gave her the dishes then turned around and picked up Kathleen and went outside to the patio.

"I could practically see her brain cells cranking up. Angel has presented her with a challenge and I would wager that she has at least 3 weeks to come up with something before he will have painted enough to make it worth her wile." Dr. Martin said as she watched Cordelia walk out of the door.

"Did I hear you correctly you said that you are willing to make a bet on it as to who will win?" Gunn asked. "You heard me correctly." "Okay then I'm willing to bet $50 on Angel that he will be able to keep her from seeing the portrait until he is ready."

"You're on. Any one else want to lose?" Dr. Martin pulled out her little black book and started to write down names. "My money is on Angel." Wesley said. Buffy bet on Angel, Spike bet on Cordelia. Giles bet on Cordelia. To everyone's surprise Willow bet on Angel and Tara bet on Cordelia. Hunter bet on Angel and Mike bet on Cordelia.

"If Connor bets on Angel then it will be even because I am pretty sure that Fred will bet on Cordelia." Dr. Martin said as she finished writing the names down. "Let me know if I'm correct when you tell Fred Wesley."

"I guess I better get going and call Doug. And what are you going to be doing the rest of the day my dear?" Mike asked Hunter. "Mary and I have some work to do so I'll be busy with her." Mike bent down and gave Hunter a kiss then left.

Everyone else started to get up and go to whatever they were going to be doing that day. "Spike would you join me in Angels office." Dr. Martin asked him. They both went in and Spike closed the door. Dr. Martin had a seat on the couch and Spike sat next to her.

"So what is this all about Spike?" Spike proceeded to tell her all about the penance he had received from Fr. Barris and what had happened to Angel last night when Spike asked him about what he went through on the night he was crucified.

Dr. Martin didn't say anything for awhile as she thought about what Spike had told her. "This is good for him Spike. I know that he has been having flashbacks when he sees something that reminds him about that night just like it did when you guys went out to the race track. No one goes through anything like Angel did Spike and not have residual memories that affect them for the rest of their life. At least now he'll be able to take out those memories and look at them in the light of day so to speak. Thanks for telling me Spike." They left then to perform their individual tasks for the day.

Later in the afternoon Angel finally came down stairs by way of the elevator. He went into the kitchen where he saw Connie sitting at the kitchen table and nursing her son. As soon as she saw Angel she covered herself with a blanket. "I'm sorry Mr. Martin I didn't think anyone was down here." "That's alright Connie my wife and Buffy do it all of the time. It's like my mother said when she first showed Cordelia how to nurse our new daughter. She said "See Angel this is what they are really meant for and not as your toys." Connie laughed at Angel telling her something so personnel. Angel continued to make his glass of blood in the mug that Cordelia had bought for him to use while Mr. and Mrs. Price were here. I don't know if Cordelia told you or not but my mother, Spike, Wesley and I will not be here for Supper. We have someplace to go tonight and probably won't be home until late." "Thank you for telling me, Mrs. Martin has been busy and forgot to tell me I guess." Angel went to the Lobby and waited for the rest to come down.

Five minutes later Spike, Dr. Martin and Wesley came downstairs. "We're going to take Cordelia's Sienna." He didn't say anything else he just walked outside to the van. Wesley sat up front with Angel, Spike and Dr. Martin sat in the second row. It took them almost 3 hours to get out to San Bernardino where the race track was. They had hit the freeways during the rush hour plus it was a Friday when everyone was either heading for Vegas or going camping.

When they arrived it was 7:30 P.M. and the desert was getting cold. Dr. Martin and Wesley were glad they had brought their coats. Instead of going to the Race Track Angel took a dirt road that looked like it was well traveled and well maintained. They traveled on the road for 4 or 5 miles and finally came to a stop by a large gate.

"This is it. This is where they tied me to a post." Angel opened his door and got out. He went to the back of the van and pulled out a long rope. He walked over to the large gate post that the gate was hung from. Spike, Wesley and Dr. Martin exited the van and followed Angel to the gate post.

Angel was looking at the post carefully he pointed to the top where you could see that the very top of the post was starting to break up from the dry winds that flowed through the desert almost every day. Angel threw one end of the rope over the top of the post and it caught on the broken parts of the post. Angel took his jacket and T-shirt off and threw them to the side. He grabbed the ends of the rope and stepped close to the post. "Look Spike you can still smell my blood on the post." Spike came over and smelled the post where the wood was darker then the surrounding area. He took his pocket knife out and dug at the wood and smelled it. "Yes I can smell it. It's very faint now but it's still there."

Angel closed his eyes. Dr. Martin could see that he was traveling back to that night. After a few minutes he looked up and slowly began telling them of what he went through the night he was tortured and crucified.

"They started with just a regular whip. Two Vamps were doing it so that they could get the maximum amount of damage as fast as possible. The tips of the whips sliced into my skin. It felt like they had razor blades attached to the tips and they were repeatedly slicing my skin with the razors. I counted 50 times before they stopped. It didn't bother me too much because I had, had it done to me many times when Angelus was in control. Before they would start in with the whips Angelus would release my consciousness and he would back off so that I would be the one to feel the pain instead of him. You know Spike I think he let himself get caught just so he could watch me suffer. I remember being tied up and my arms stretched so I couldn't move them then the men starting in with the whips. He must have had a good laugh over that." Angel was quiet for awhile then he continued.

"The next whips they used had sharp metal blades at the ends and going sideways. When they started in with those I would have left Los Angeles right then and there if they had given me the chance." He closed his eyes again and was remembering so clearly that his body jerked repeatedly as he went through the past torture in his mind. As he had done last night he started to sweat profusely. It made his body look like it was bleeding because the sweat was coming out blood red.

Angel was breathing fast as he continued to tell Spike what he went through and what it felt like. Angel threw his head back and screamed "God help me they are tearing pieces of me off one inch at a time. I can feel my flesh hanging down. Please God help me I can't stand anymore. Make them stop, make them stop." They could see tears falling down his face, but it wasn't crying tears they were tears that were forced out of him because of the intense pain that he was remembering. Angel let go of the ropes then and he was back in the present. He had put so much of his mind into remembering that he didn't have the strength to continue standing. He fell to his knees and leaned against the post. They waited while his breathing returned to normal and he was able to continue.

"I guess God took pity on me then and I lost consciousness. When I came to again I could feel the pieces of flesh back in their original position. Apparently they had taped the pieces of flesh back and Angelus obligingly healed them fast but he was very selective with his healing and only healed the ones that were letting me bleed to fast. They must have given me some blood because I was starting to feel stronger and that is exactly what they wanted. Their fun time wasn't over yet."

As Angel started to feel better he stood up with Spikes help. He opened the gate and walked in. The rest followed.

"Before I could stand up again they cut the ropes off of the post and tied me to the back of their truck. They made the rope long so that when they made their turns I would roll over and over. As the truck started I was able to run fast enough but then the driver stepped on the gas and I couldn't keep up any longer and fell. They dragged me around this dried lake bed several times. By the time they stopped they had to lift me up because I was too weak to stand on my own. My pants were in shreds because of the gravel, brush, and cactus that they dragged me through. All I had left was what you saw.

"The head Vampire that was running the show told me to get out of town or else they would take further measures. He said he was going back to town then and told the one he left in charge to nail the message home. For the life of me I couldn't understand what he meant by that until they took me back to the warehouse where we had fought them. When I saw them bringing the wood over to the truck and join them together on the top half of one of them I knew with crystal clarity what they intended to do to me. I had seen too many crosses not to know. I was more afraid then I have ever been since I was turned Spike. I remembered how Christ had gone to the Garden of Gethsemane and asked our Father to let the cup pass him by if it was at all possible. I knew at that moment why he shed blood as he prayed. If I had known ahead of time what was going to happen to me I don't think that I would have had the courage to stay and go through it.

"When they forced me to lie down on the center beam I tried fighting but I was too weak. I decided to let them do as they wanted without fighting because I would need what strength I had left just to survive and get back home to Cordelia. Through the whole ordeal I kept her face in my mind just as she thought of putting Kathleen into my arms during all of her labor."

Once again Angel closed his eyes and he took his mind back to when he was being nailed to the cross. "They held my hand open and put the point of the spike to my hand. With the first blow they pushed the spike through to the wood. A pain shot up from my hand like a bolt of electricity. It hit my elbow and felt like they had hit it with a sledge hammer. The pain quickly traveled up to my shoulder. I tried moving my fingers after they were done but they had nailed the spike so far in through my hand and into the wood that I couldn't move them at all. As they pound in the spike I kept Cordelia's face in my mind and I remembered the last time I had made love to her. They moved to my right arm and did the same but this time the bolt of electricity went up my arm, to my spine and jumped over to my other shoulder. The back of my head pounded on the wood beam involuntarily. When they started in on my feet though I could no longer hang on the pain was more than I could bear. When they pounded on the spike and it went through the first foot then to the next I think I screamed until I passed out from the pain.

"I don't know how long I was unconscious but the first time I woke up I remember seeing the floor in the Lobby. I woke up coughing up blood because I was trying to take a breath. That's when I felt the hole in my side that extended into my lung. I don't know why but when I looked down at my side I saw water and blood coming out. In order to take a breath I had to try to push on my feet to release the pressure on my lungs and take in the one breath. I was glad then that I rarely needed to breathe. Before I lost consciousness again I called out to Cordelia through the link we share. I was able to do it just one time then I passed out again."

Angel was quiet for awhile and no one moved or said anything. He lay down in the dirt then rolled over and started crying. In order to give Spike what he needed he had relived each moment of that night. Each fragment of pain was felt again. Each scream that came from his throat was screamed again. Each moment of despair was felt again.

Wesley turned away it hurt too much to watch Angel's naked display of emotion.

Dr. Martin walked over to him and got on her knees. She reached for him and pulled him into her arms. She rocked him back and forth as he gave into the remembrance of the pain and anguish of that night. As she rocked him back and forth she continually ran her hand through his hair and said "It's over now, it's over. You can rest now with the knowledge that you have done all that God has asked of you and he has rewarded you with your family. In a few years you will be given two baby boys and your family will be complete. As Dr. Martin continued to rock him his crying slowed down until he was able to sit up. She gave him her handkerchief that she always carried in her deep pockets. When he had blown his nose and wiped his tears away he looked up at her.

"I now know and understand why you tell me that Christ has suffered so much for us that we owe Him our love and respect. I survived my torture and crucifixion because I am a Vampire but He suffered and died as a man suffers. Give me your hand Mama." Dr. Martin gave her left hand to Angel. He took it and put it on his bare chest and put his hand over hers.

"Do you feel it Mama. Do you feel the small flame that is giving off warmth inside of me? It's a microscopic flame of love and respect for Christ that I now have growing inside of me. All that you and Fr. Barris have been trying to teach me has finally taken hold and I feel like I did when I made my confession. Cordelia asked me how I was feeling when I woke up from my short nap before going downstairs to receive my blessing. I told her that I felt like the weight of the world had been taken off of my shoulders and I was light hearted for the first time since I had been turned. That's how I feel now Mama." He rose to his knees raised his mothers hand to his lips then and kissed it. Dr. Martin rose to her knees and threw her arms around Angel hugged him and cried tears of joy.

Angel then stood up and helped his mother to stand up. He turned to Spike then. "Spike I hope and pray that you won't have to go through anything like I did. I hope and pray that you will be able to learn from what I went through. That is why I went through this so that you could learn from my experience. We are going to get you into heaven Spike even if we have to hog tie you and drag you their. Angel hugged him then and gave him a kiss on his forehead. He turned to Wesley then and put his arm around his shoulder. Let's go home my brother in arms. We have to get ready to go camping tomorrow and I promise to show you something that will knock your socks off."

Angel went back to the post and picked up his T-shirt and jacket. He shook the dirt off of them and put them on. They all got back into the van and Angel headed back to Los Angeles. By the time they returned to the Hotel it was after midnight. They were all starving and went right to the kitchen. They all started pulling out left over food and Angel started warming up two mugs of blood for himself and Spike. Dr. Martin filled a bowl with rice, pinto beans and a little red chili. She went over to the microwave and put her bowl in with a paper towel over it and started it. "Thank you God for microwaves." "Yeah microwaves." Everyone else said. Connie had left a tray of taco fixings in the refrigerator so Wesley pulled this out and Spike pulled the hamburger out and warmed it up. Wesley found Taco shells in a bowl with a towel over it so he put these on a plate and put them in the second microwave. They all sat around the kitchen table and dug in.

When they were done Dr. Martin put the dishes in the dish washer and what was left of the food back into the refrigerator. Angel and Wesley had already left to go to bed. Spike had stayed behind to help Dr. Martin. When she was done putting the dishes in the dishwasher she turned to Spike. "Do you think you have all that you need to put into your diary?" Spike turned from what he was doing and looked up at her. "No, I have what it felt like but I still need to write the medical description." "I can give you that. I can't remember the date that it was written but a number of years ago a group of Doctors got together and wrote down the medical explanation of Christ's torture. They published them in the AMA Medical Journal magazine. When the Journal was shown to the Pope they said he cried. He said "We never knew, we never truly understood what He went through but now we do. Thank you." "I have that Journal Spike but I have to look for it, it may be in a storage unit that I have in the east. One way or the other Spike I will have it for you next week."

Dr. Martin came closer to him. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Spike, do you want to come to know and love Christ and join him in paradise?" Spike leaned forward and put his head against her shoulder. "Because Buffy will be there, yes I do want to go to heaven. I am thankful to Him that He has given me Buffy and now my daughter. After seeing what Angel went through and knowing what he has gone through since he got his soul back ……….. I don't know……….. if I have the courage to go through what he does." Dr. Martin put her arms around Spike. "You don't have to go through it alone Spike. For as long as I can I will help you to walk the road to paradise. Most likely though you won't be going through the exact same thing as Angel. God always designs his teaching lessons to suit the student. Lets go to bed now it's late and you and Angel have shopping to do to get ready for your camping trip." She pulled his head down and gave him a kiss on his forehead and traced the sign of the cross on his forehead and gave him her blessing." They turned the lights off then and walked upstairs together and went to their separate rooms.

The next morning Angel was still sleeping when Cordelia woke up. He had come in too late last night for them to talk about what they had done so she was hoping that they could talk this morning. She went into the bathroom and took her shower since he was still sleeping. When she came out he was still sleeping. It was 1:30 when he came in and he had taken a shower before he came to bed so it was 2 o'clock before he was able to go to sleep. It was 9 o'clock now so she decided to let him sleep. Kathleen was awake now so she went to her and picked her up. "Let's go downstairs and change you in the clinic so we don't wake your Daddy up." "Daddy sleeping?" "Yes because he didn't come home until late last night so lets be very quiet." Cordelia held her finger to her lips and said "ssssshhhhhh." Kathleen imitated her and didn't make a sound as her mother gathered her clothes and clean diaper. Cordelia then tip toed her way out of the room.

Everyone else except Dr. Martin, Wesley, Fred and Spike were going downstairs also. Buffy was just tip toeing out of her own room at the same time as Cordelia. Cordelia waited until Buffy caught up with her. "Spike taking care of Joyce this morning?" Cordelia asked. "Well kind of. I fed her already and changed her so she's sleeping again. I thought I would take this quiet time to have a peaceful breakfast. They sure came home late last night. I get the feeling though that I shouldn't ask him what happened. Spike was talking a lot in his sleep last night but I couldn't make out anything."

"Yeah, I think whatever it was, was emotionally draining because Angel has been sleeping like a log. Even though I'm curious also I thought I would let him sleep." The girls made their way downstairs and Buffy followed Cordelia into the clinic so they could continue to talk. Kathleen was such a happy baby that she was giggling all of the time as her mother changed her and then dressed her. "I can see why you had to leave your bedroom just to change and dress her. I hope Joyce is like that also." "Does it make you miss your mother more Buffy, you know, calling your daughter Joyce?"

"I thought about it long and hard before I decided to call her Joyce. I even asked Dawn if she thought it was okay and she said she thought it would be honoring our mother to name our little girl after her. You know Cordelia I don't know if it's my imagination or not but I could swear that my mother is standing by me when I have to do something that I'm not quite sure about. I swear that I can feel her standing by me and telling me how to take care of something or tell me not to worry because it's normal. During the first few days after Joyce was born I worried about going home and not having Dr. Martin or you there to show me how to take care of Joyce but now that I feel my Mother by me I know that I'll be okay."

"I'm happy for you Buffy. I was so thankful for Mom being there for me. I know that my own mother would never have been there for me. Let's go eat now I'm starving. Between Angel and Kathleen now they are making me produce a lot of milk and that means I'm using up all of the calories I consume." "Really, I'm so glad to hear that. I was worried about getting the weight off. I better start putting more salt in Spikes food." They went to the dinning room laughing.

Breakfast was nice and quiet. Fred had called Connie and asked her to bring some breakfast up for her and Wesley. Connor had been out late last night also with his girlfriend and Gunn had been up early so that he could check on his kids.

Dr. Martin was the first one to come downstairs. "Good morning ladies. How is everyone doing this lovely morning? And just in case you were going to try and drill me to try to find out what we did last night don't bother. If Spike or Angel wants to let you know they will tell you." She filled up her plate with some scrambled eggs, sausages and toast then came to their end of the table and sat down and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Where is Giles?" Buffy asked. "Oh he got up early and went to talk to a Mr. Winston about this shop he would like to buy for his store. I didn't see him but he left me a note on his pillow. I suppose the others are all still sleeping?" "Yes you supposed right." Cordelia said.

"Well you girls are going to have to play without me. I have to go to the hospital today. They called me about an hour ago and said they needed my help. Apparently there was a big accident on the freeway early this morning and they need help in surgery. I need a ride to the hospital Cordelia because Giles has my car. His is in the shop as usual. I have to get that man to get a decent new car." "Sure Mom that's no problem. I'll be ready as soon as I can take Kathleen up to her Daddy. It's about time for him to get up anyway. Are you coming Buffy?" "Yeah I would like to get out for awhile. Joyce should sleep for the next 4 hours at least. Besides I need to get some supplies. Willow and Tara were out late also and are sleeping in. I'll leave a note for them to check on Spike and Joyce for me and let them know where we are."

By 11 o'clock Angel, Connor, Spike, Wesley and Gunn were loading up Gunn's truck and Wesley's SUV with all of the camping equipment and supplies Gunn had purchased yesterday. The last thing they loaded up was the ice chests that were full of beer, cokes and bottles of blood for Angel and Spike. Connor had his knife that he had brought with him from Quor Toth and supplies for Toby. They all had bought new fishing gear earlier in the week so they could bring some trout home. Wesley had bought several cans of OFF mosquito spray just in case they needed it although Angel had said that there wouldn't be any because it was too cold up in the mountains at this time of the year. Angel had bought a large tent for them all to sleep in so Gunn's truck was fully loaded with all of the camping and fishing gear and Wesley's SUV had all of the clothes and blankets. Wesley had never been camping before so he looked like kind of a greenhorn from Boston. Connie had given them three days worth of food to cook and even had made up some burritos for them to eat along the way.

Fred had come down to say goodbye with the rest of the women. Since Hunter didn't have her ring now she had to stay at the back of the patio to say goodbye to Mike who had arrived just in time. "Be careful Mike they can play ruff sometimes." He gave her one last kiss then got in the SUV with Wesley and Angel. The Sanchez family was outside to say goodbye also. "Take care of them Joaquin." Angel said as he got in the front seat with Wesley. "Si Senior Martin, I will take care of them as though they are my own family." Gunn took off then and Wesley followed him. Connor as usual was riding with Gunn along with Toby who sat on the seat between them. It took them about 8 hours to get where Angel wanted to go. The sun was almost down when they finally arrived. They quickly set up camp and started a fire. Angel, Connor and Spike had to do most of the work of setting up the camp since Gunn, Wesley, and Mike had never been camping before. Angel started cooking Supper as soon as they could get the fire going real good. When it was ready they were all starving. Angel was the only one not eating except for his blood.

"Aren't you hungry Dad?" Connor asked. "Yes but I thought I would get something later. Toby and I are going to go shopping. Do you want to come along?" "What do you mean you're going shopping? There aren't any stores around here." Gunn said.

"That's not the type of shopping he's talking about Gunn. He's going shopping in nature's store." Spike said. "Don't you know that God has provided everything you need to survive if you only know how to look for it." "Do you want to come with us Spike? I know you know how because I remember Angelus teaching you." "No thanks I haven't done that in a long time and I only did it back then when I absolutely had to. It hurts too much. Besides it dries my skin out."

Gunn, Connor, Mike and Wesley were looking at each other and shrugging their shoulders. They had absolutely no idea what Spike and Angel were talking about.

"Don't eat too much Connor I want to go as soon as you feel you can go and do some physically demanding work." Angel said as he finished his drink and leaned back on the tree he was sitting by. "Well we had better go now then before I eat any more." Connor put his plate by the fire and covered it with another plate. "Don't throw it away guys. I'll finish it when I get back from doing whatever Dad wants to do."

Angel stood up then and started emptying his pockets and putting them in the tent. "Leave everything behind Connor that you don't want to loose including your knife and take off Toby's choke chain." Connor just did as his Dad said without question. When he was done Angel started off in the direction of the mountain. Toby followed and stayed close to Connor. This was new to him also. When they walked far enough away Angel stopped and turned to Connor.

"I am going to show you something Connor and then we are going to see if you can do the same thing." Angel removed all of his clothing including his shoes and socks and rolled them up and put them in a back pack that he had brought with him. He closed his eyes and concentrated. It had been over a century since he had last done this so it took him longer than usual. Connor watched him in fascination as he saw his fathers body start to change shape and grow hair all over. Angel went down to his knees as his legs and arms started to shorten. His fingers changed so that they were shorter and his hands turned into paws. He could hear Angel moaning with the pain of the change that he was initiating. The last thing to change on Angel was his spine that grew longer and became his tail. Toby stood close to Connor. He couldn't understand what was happening to the man that he saw as the leader of his pack.

When Angel was done changing into a wolf he checked himself out and took a few steps to see if everything worked right. When he was satisfied that everything was correct he ran around in circles around Connor then went up to Toby and stood over him. Toby immediately crouched down and rolled over on his back while trying to lick Angels face. Angel nosed him then invited him to play. Connor's mouth was still hanging open as he watched the two animals playing. Angel finally came back to Connor and stood in front of him. Once again Angel turned back into a man again. He laid down on his back for awhile then sat up. He saw the look on Connors face.

"We are here Connor to see if you can become a wolf. Since your mother was a Vampire also I am guessing that you can, but we won't know until you try. Do you want to try it?" Connor just continued to stare at his father. "Why haven't you told me about this before?" "I didn't think you would ever need to do this but then as I thought about it I realized that if you can change into a wolf you might do it accidentally while you are in public. So this was the first opportunity we've had to get away like this. It won't be long before Fred gives birth and Wesley will be glued to the Hotel for awhile. When you told me their was no school for you on Monday I decided that it was the perfect time to see if you can change into a wolf. Do you want to try?" In answer Connor started to take his clothes off and rolled them up and put them into the back pack along with his fathers. "So what do we do?"

Angel proceeded to show him again how he changed. He didn't let his head change until the last so that he could continue to talk. When he finished he checked himself out again and then changed back. "You ready?" Connor took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare himself. "Don't be afraid when you start to experience pain Connor because it does hurt. When you do it for the first time you will hurt more than usual." Angel than took him through the process one section at a time. When he was done Angel walked around Connor and checked every square inch of him. When he decided that Connor had been successful in changing completely he told him to change back to his human form. Connor did as his father said.

Connor stood up when he was done and grew a big grin on his face that went from ear to ear. "That was cool." He said as he checked himself out.

"Are you experiencing any pain when you change?" Angel asked. "Yeah but nothing I can't handle. Can we go hunting now?" "Okay but I want you to watch me, and do what I tell you." "I thought you couldn't talk when you're a wolf." "We can't but you'll understand me. Let's change now." Both Angel and Connor changed again. Angel checked every inch of Connor again and gave his approval by standing over him. Connor instinctively did as Toby had done and Toby came over and did the same to both Connor and Angel. Angel then licked both of their faces then and started off at a trot. He led them up the mountain and to a ledge that gave them a view of the valley below. He saw what he was looking for and turned around and started running down the side of the mountain and headed for the meadow where he had seen his chosen quarry. Connor and Toby followed him without question because Angel was seen as the alpha male of their little pack.

As they approached the meadow Angel slowed down and positioned himself so that his chest was flat against the ground. Connor saw him and did the same. He didn't see the male deer at first but when he sniffed the air he could smell him which told him the direction that he was in. Toby did the same and positioned himself next to Angel.

Angel looked at Connor and told him to go to the left. He told Toby to chase the deer. When Toby took off the deer looked up from his grazing and started running across the meadow. Angel ran until he was in front of the deer. Connor was making sure that the deer didn't run to the left and get away. As the deer approached Angel he jumped up in front of the deer and grabbed him by the throat. Angel was a large wolf and the deer was only half as big as a full grown deer. Toby and Connor came up to join in and hold the deer down. Angel held onto the deer's throat until he stopped breathing. He could hear the heart still beating though so he quickly bit into the jugular and drank the blood as the heart continued to pump. A minute later though the heart stopped and the blood flow slowed way down then stopped completely. Instinctively Connor and Toby knew to stand back until they were given permission to eat. When Angel had drunk all of the blood in the body he stood up and started to clean himself. That was Toby and Connors signal that they could take what they wanted.

Angel let Connor eat for a short time then stopped him by pushing him away from the meat. He told Connor to pick up one end of the deer and he took the other. They headed back then to the camp.

While Connor, Angel and Toby had been gone Mike, Wesley and Gunn had started playing cards while Spike worked on his diary. Spike of course was the first one to hear the animals approaching. He stood up and put his diary down on the fold up table they were using to play cards. Mike, Wesley and Gunn looked at Spike then at the direction he was looking. When two wolves approached the camp fire Mike reached for a gun that he had in his back pack. Spike quickly took it from him.

"Don't do anything I think I know who they are." Angel trotted up to Spike and went to his side and nosed his hand. Spike put his hand on the big wolf's head and scratched him behind his ear. "Are we having fun teasing the humans?" The big wolf gave a wolf bark and Wesley could have sworn he saw the wolf grin. Toby came up to sit beside Connor. Angel then walked slowly over to Wesley and stood in front of him. He slowly touched his hand with his nose. Wesley stared at the large wolf but he couldn't make himself move. Angel stood up on his hind legs and put his paws on Wesley's shoulders. That is when recognition dawned on Wesley. "Angel?" Wesley said as he braced himself against Angel's weight. Angel licked Wesley's face as though to say yes I'm Angel.

Angel backed off then and went to Gunn and Mike in turn. He did the same to them as he had to Wesley. Connor gave a wolf laugh and rolled on the ground while Toby jumped on him and they played. Angel joined them and then stopped and looked at Spike. He looked at Spike as though he was inviting him. Spike had never been one to pass up a chance to have fun. In front of the other men he started to take his clothes off and threw them in the tent. He changed then and joined the others. Before they left though Spike went to one of Gunn's truck tires and raised his leg. Angel christened another tire, Connor and Toby did the others. They heard Gunn as he finally gathered his wits about him and yelled at them. "I'm going to get you for this. Just wait until we get home and I take care of your cars. Hey, how come you only did mine and not Wesley's?"

Angel, Connor, Spike and Toby didn't come back until 2 in the morning. When Angel went to look for his back pack with the clothes he couldn't find it. He sniffed the ground and recognized Gunn's and Wesley's tracks. He followed them back to the camp. Once there Angel, Connor and Spike changed back to their human forms.

On the outside of the tent was a piece of paper by a bar of soap, shampoo and a bottle of lemon Joy dish soap along with towels.

Spike went to the fire and picked up a piece of wood that was burning on one end. He brought it over to the tent so they could read the note.

"Dear Angel, Connor, and Spike"

If you want your clothes back and you want to sleep in a nice warm sleeping bag you will have to take a bath first. We don't want any fleas in here. We found what was left of the deer and took care of it. The soap is for the men and the Joy dish soap is for Toby. You better hurry up because it is supposed to freeze tonight and we might have snow in the morning.

Goodnight.

Wesley, Gunn, and Mike

They had no choice but to go down to the creek and take a bath in the freezing water. When they were done they all gave Toby a bath then went running back to the fire which Angel and Spike had built up before they left to take a bath. On the log by the fire they found clean clothes all laid out for them which they quickly put on.

When they were done drying Toby they crawled into the tent and into their sleeping bags. They had all had a big night and were tired. Connor covered Toby up with some blankets and they all went to sleep.

The next morning, just as Wesley said, it was snowing. Angel and Spike volunteered to go out into the cold and cook breakfast since they didn't feel the cold like the others. Connie had given them plenty of potatoes, eggs, ham, sausages and bacon along with red and green chili and tortillas. They all dug in when Angel and Spike brought the food in along with a big pot of coffee. Angel and Spike had already had their blood drinks while the food was cooking.

When they were done they stacked up their plates by the tent opening and Toby started to lick them clean. When Connor saw him he pulled the plates away that had chili still on them. 'I don't want him to have chili guys." "Why, it doesn't seem to bother his stomach." Angel said. "No it doesn't but you guys don't sleep in the same room with him. When he eats that stuff his farts could keep a car going for a week he gets so loaded with gas. The first night he ate some of the green chili he let one go and I swear a fly that was in my room flew through the gaseous cloud and fell right out of the air dead as a door nail." They had a good laugh out of that. "Yes thank heaven for those Beano pills or else Cordelia would lock me out on the balcony."

"Angel why didn't you ever tell me that you could change into a wolf?" Wesley asked as he lay in his sleeping bag.

Angel hesitated at first he knew that everyone was listening. "I didn't think that I would ever have to do it again Wesley, so I figured why mention something that my friends will never see. The last time that I changed into a wolf was after I was given my soul back and I was having a hard time finding food and a place to stay. During those days I was so full of feelings of guilt that half of the time I didn't know where I was or where I was going. One night my mind cleared and I suddenly realized that I was in the mountains with no towns or farms in sight. So I changed into a wolf and for the next several months I roamed through Spain and France living as a wolf. For a short time I traveled with a pack of wolves. I found it was a lot easier to find prey that way. A wolf hunting alone doesn't do too well. When I traveled with a pack I was able to get all I wanted to eat and drink and when I was alone I would often become very thin and weak. Angelus and Darla would change into wolves when they were forced to travel Europe without the aid of transportation. They got a big kick out of terrorizing people and animals. But it hurts to change back and forth like that. Just like it hurt for Angelus to change into his true form it's painful for me to change into a wolf."

"Well why did you decide to do it now?" Mike asked.

"I did it for Connor. It occurred to me shortly after Mom had her conversation with Angelus that I should see if Connor could change into a wolf. Since he is able to do so many of the other things I can do, to a lesser degree of course, but still able to do them I wanted to see if he could do this. I thought their would be a better then 50/50 chance that he could since his parents are both Vampires. I thought of his hot temper and a lot of what ifs came up in my head. Primarily I thought what if he gets mad one day and he starts to change without him realizing what he is doing. Or gets so lost in thought one day that he starts to turn. I know it sounds crazy but you know how it is when you start worrying about something all kinds of crazy ideas come into your head. Anyway I thought that this weekend would be a perfect time to test him."

"So how did he do? I mean I know he can change now but is it easy for him or was it hard." Wesley asked. "Well from what I could see he didn't have any problem. Did you have a problem Connor?"

"No, at first it was difficult but the second time it was a lot easier. The problem I had was going back into my human form after being a wolf for several hours. I almost panicked when I almost got stuck changing my front legs and paws back to my hands and arms." "I'm glad you told me. When I had to take on the body of the Wolf for so long I had a hard time remembering my true form. When I was able to I asked Angelus why I had a hard time of changing back. He told me that I stayed one for to long and I came dangerously close to losing myself and becoming one and that's why I want you to make sure that you always have either myself or Spike with you if you choose to change again. The first time I knew I could do this was when Angelus was in control and he never had a problem. Don't forget Connor, don't be stupid like me and try to do it on your own. At least have one of us around when you do it the next couple of times. You'll look very funny trying to drive home with the paws of a wolf. I'm going to get some more sleep now and then I'll take you guys to a hot spring where we can soak for a while and my poor bones can relax and fall into place better because tonight I want to play Tarzan if your up to it Connor.?"

"Only as long as you promise not to cheat like you did in Ireland." Angel sat up and looked at Connor. "What if I do, what are you going to do tell Grandma again. Don't forget that you're the one she hit and told you not to be a tattle tale." Connor started to say something then he remembered what his Grandmother had told him. (Don't get mad get even.)

"What's this Tarzan game?" Mike asked Wesley.

"Cordelia told me that Angel and Connor like watching the old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies. Since Angel and Connor can go through the trees a lot like Tarzan did they invented a game of, kind of follow the leader type, where they go climbing the trees like a couple of monkeys. Angel plays the part of Tarzan and Connor plays the part of Boy."

Connor and Toby had too much energy to sit in the tent. After putting on his jacket he picked up the dishes and proceeded to wash them in the hot water that he had put on the fire earlier. When he was done he wrote a note telling them where he was and to just call him when they were ready to go to the hot springs. He picked up his fishing gear then and went down to the creek where they had taken a bath the previous night.

Two hours later Connor heard Angel calling for him. He quickly picked up his gear and fish he had caught and went running back to the camp. When he got there he saw everyone with their heavy coats on and waiting for him.

"Let's go Connor. Wow! You caught all of those trout in just 2 hours?" Gunn asked when he saw all of the fish on the line Connor was carrying. "They're biting like crazy. I barely had to put my line in and they would go for it." The others came over to look at all the fish Connor caught.

"Isn't their a limit of 10 trout per day or something like that Angel. I've counted 15 here." Wesley asked Angel. "Haven't you noticed Wesley that we are the only ones up here? The campgrounds are closed for the season and we have special permission from a former client that just so happens to be a head honcho of the forestry service up here. You can put those fish in one of those 2 gallon plastic bags and put them in the creek. The water is cold enough to act as a refrigerator. I am going to start these guys going to the hot springs and you can catch up ok?" "Yeah I'll be their in a few minutes."

Connor did as Angel said and caught up to the others in just a few minutes. Everyone but Mike was taking the hike okay. After only 30 minutes Wesley called to Angel to stop for a few minutes. "We have to stop and rest for a few minutes Angel, Mike isn't used to the physical activity. He's breathing real hard." Angel came back to Mike. He could hear his heart beating real fast and he was just barely standing on his own two feet. Spike came over and listened to his heart with his vampire hearing and looked at his skin. He pushed Mike down so that he was sitting on a log that was by the trail then he sat next to him and tried his best to hide his smile. "Mike, I want you to tell me the truth now. Is Hunter giving you the Vampire Special?" When he finally got his breath back he looked at the guys and broke out in the biggest smile they had ever seen on his face. "You bet she is, and guys you haven't had real sex until you've had it done to you. I thought the head of my penis was going to blow off. I'm glad we were at my house where there is enough space between the houses so that I didn't wake up to many people when I voiced my opinion of her winning technique."

Gunn was the first one to say something. It was just a few words but it said what they all felt. "You lucky dog." It took the guys a few minutes for them to get past the imagery that they had in their heads. The guys then started laughing so hard that they had to all sit down. After he finally stopped laughing Spike said to Mike "I guess you know that besides being out of shape you're also a little anemic and your blood volume is down slightly. So, I guess you know that next time be careful not to do that when you're going to being doing stuff with us." Spike said.

"Yeah and I also suggest that you start working out with us. Even Spike, Connor and myself have to work out almost every day to do what we do. Let's go, it's only a few hundred yards ahead now. If you start getting out of breath again tell me and I'll carry you." Angel told him. They all started out again but Angel went more slowly this time.

As they cleared the next hill they saw some small man made pools with steam rising into the cold air. Each pool was surrounded by a type of wood hut with the sides open. "Let's go guys. Last one in is a rotten demon egg." Angel said as he went running to the pools. Everyone else followed him to the pools and started disrobing as soon as they got their. As soon as they settled into the pool Angel pulled out two bottles of blood for himself and Spike from his back pack and put them in the water to warm up. The rest of the guys pulled out bottles of beer. Connor had a can of Pepsi and of course a sandwich and chips.

"Hey where's mine, don't you remember I asked you to make me one?" Gunn said to Connor. "You did not, otherwise I would have made you one." "He's pulling your leg Connor." Wesley said as he took another drink from his bottle of beer.

"So how is the portrait coming Angel?" Wesley asked. "Pretty good I have the drawing done and when I get back I'll start painting it." "You know we all have bets going on whether Cordelia will be able to get in to see the painting before your ready for her to see it." Mike told him. "Yeah I heard you guys. How many are betting on her and how many on me." "It's even, with a mixture of men and women on each side."

After soaking in the water for an hour Angel woke up from a short nap. "Mike and Spike I need you to help me put my shoulder blade back into its correct position." Angel went to the center of the pool and put his back to Spike. "Spike, give me a second to get my mind into the right mode then push my shoulder blade back towards my spine. Mike, push on my shoulder from the front and Connor pull my arm on the side. Wesley, don't let me drown if I pass out from the pain." Everyone got in place and Angel prepared himself mentally. When Spike saw his shoulder start to shimmer he told everyone "Okay guys on three. One, two, three." Spike pushed, Mike pushed and Connor pulled on his arm while putting his foot under his arm. Angel let out a loud groan but managed not to pass out.

"Did that ever happen before when you changed back?" Mike asked Angel. "Yeah, when I was traveling with the wolf pack and I decided to change back to my human form it had been so long that I almost couldn't remember how I looked. When I finally got it right and checked myself in a mirror I could see my shoulder blade was incorrect. I was able to move it alright but it made me look like I was a hunch back if you looked real close. As soon as I was able to I went to a doctor and gave him some story of being kicked by a horse. He got a couple of guys to help him and did just like you guys did. That's how I knew what to do and that is one of the reasons why I don't like to change unless I have to. So this will probably be the last time that you see Angel Wolf." "That has got to hurt something awful." Mike said. "It did that's why I told Wesley not to let me drown if I passed out from the pain. When we get back I'm going to need Cordelia to give me a massage if this hot water bath doesn't help me enough."

As they were soaking Mikes pager went off. He got out of the pool and went to his clothes. "We have to go guys, the page was about Fred." "What about Fred?" Wesley asked as he climbed out of the pool and started to put his clothes back on after drying himself. "Her water broke and Dr. Martin is taking her into the hospital for a Cesarean." "It's too early for them to be born isn't it?" Wesley asked. "Well yes and no. I was talking to Hunter and Dr. Martin and showing them the latest ultrasound on Fred. The baby's are too large for her to be only 7 months along. We think that you and her were making babies three to four weeks earlier which would be a lot better if she is 8 months along. That would mean that the babies are all done growing and are only putting weight on now. The most dangerous part of premature babies is their lungs that haven't developed enough for them to take in oxygen and process it correctly. At 7 months they would have a hard time but they would make it. At 8 months they just need to stay in the hospital for a few days so we can make sure they are doing okay."

Everyone was out of the pool and dressed in minutes and they were on their way back to the campsite. Wesley tried his cell phone as soon as he got back. "No signal over here. Angel I have to get to the closest town so I can call home." "Wait a minute Wesley and I'll go with you. Mike do you want to come with us I might be able to get you home within an hour or so. When we get there Wesley we can call Morgan and see if he can lend us his helicopter to pick you two up and take you to L.A.." Wesley and Mike threw their stuff in their duffel bags and got into Wesley's SUV. "Start taking the camp down and load up. I'll be back as soon as I can but if the sun comes out I'll have to wait until it starts to go down so I can be in it long enough to drive back." Angel got in and they took off.

It took them 30 minutes to get to the nearest town and call home and then Morgan. When Angel came back from making the calls he let Wesley and Mike know what was going on. He had a big grin on his face when he reached for Wesley's hand. "Congratulations Wesley you have 2 brand new baby boys. Mother and sons are doing fine." Wesley shook Angels hand then hugged him. He was so happy he had tears coming down his cheeks. Mike shook his hand also. "Congratulations Daddy."

"Morgan is sending us his helicopter and it should be here in an hour or less. We have to go over to the local hospital because that's where he'll land." They loaded up then and drove to the local hospital. The hospital was in a small 2 story building with a section of land paved for the landing and takeoff of helicopters to pick up patients that they couldn't take care of. Wesley went into the hospital to tell someone about the helicopter landing there then went back to his SUV and waited with Angel and Mike.

Wesley started to worry that they might not be able to take off when the helicopter arrived because it started getting darker with heavy clouds overhead. In another 20 minutes the helicopter came in. The pilot came out and was greeted by the men. "Mr. Price I can only take you back with me. I hit a lot of wind coming over here and I don't have enough fuel to carry two men and their gear. We could try it with both but I am afraid we will run into even more bad weather and I'll need all of the fuel I have left before we get to the nearest airport." "Go ahead Wesley you have all of the doctors you need right at the hospital. Good luck." Mike pat him on the back then went back to the SUV. Wesley and the pilot loaded up and he took off. Mike jumped into the SUV and explained what was going on. They headed back to the camp site then.

When they arrived they saw not only Connor and Gunn but 3 more people. One of them had a rifle pointed at Connor.

TBC………………….


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**I PRESENT TO YOU**

**David William Wyndham Price**

**And**

**Robert Patrick Wyndham Price**

**Born**

**November 15th at 3:20 P.M.**

Wesley hit the ground running as soon as the helicopter landed on the Los Angeles Hospital emergency landing facilities. Giles was there to meet him and they almost ran down to the maternity ward. Giles took Wesley to Fred's room. Just as they approached the room Dr. Martin came out.

"Congratulations Daddy. Fred is sleeping right now. Would you like to see your boys before you see Fred because she'll be sleeping for the next few hours at least?" "Yes please." Wesley said. Dr. Martin took his hand and guided him over to the intensive care unit for babies. Giles waited outside while Dr. Martin took Wesley in and helped him with a gown and mask after she had put her own on. Dr. Martin took his hand then and guided him through all of the machines and tiny beds with tubes going in and out of tiny premature babies that he guessed were no more than 1 to 3 lbs. Next to a post he saw two incubators with towels draped over them. On each incubator a sign read Wyndham Price. When Wesley saw these he stopped and found that he couldn't move. "Come on Wesley it's only a few more steps and you'll see your sons." "I can't move, my legs won't move." Dr. Martin turned to him then and took both of his hands in hers.

"There is nothing to be afraid of Wesley. They are the sons that you and Fred created with Gods help. They are a reflection of your love for each other." Wesley tried moving one foot at a time and found that he could move now. He swallowed a couple of times then and moved so that he was standing in front of the incubators. Dr. Martin lifted the towels so he could see his sons. "This is your oldest son he was born first and this is your youngest son." "Can I touch them?" "Yes, but you have to put your hands in through these gloves for now. So far we haven't found anything wrong with them. We have them in these incubators just as a precaution. As you can see they have good color to their skin and they are breathing on their own. Dr. Thompson, Hunter and I talked about it when we saw the last sonogram and we believe they were conceived earlier then what we thought. As you can see they are a nice size for being 7 months so we are guessing that Fred and you conceived them at least 4 weeks earlier. They are through developing into babies and all of their organs seem to be working just fine. We are waiting for the results of the last tests to be given to us, but we are all confident that they will show that your sons are in perfect condition."

Wesley slowly put his hand into the gloves for the first incubator. He could feel the warmth of the interior. "It feels so warm inside." "Don't forget where they have been for the last 8 months Wesley. They were in a constant temperature of around 98 degrees." Wesley moved his hand over his sons head. He looked at his tiny hands and feet and then he unfastened his diaper and checked him. Everything that was supposed to be there was where it was supposed to be. He refastened the diaper then went to his youngest son and did the same thing.

"Can I write my sons names on their charts?" "Yes you certainly may Wesley." Dr. Martin picked up the chart for the oldest baby and gave Wesley a pen. "Put his name here." She pointed to a line then gave him the chart. Wesley wiped his tears with his sleeve so he could see what he was doing. Then he carefully wrote down the name

**Name: David William Wyndham Price**

Then she gave him the chart for his youngest son and pointed out the line where he could write the name. Wesley had to stop and think for a second before he remembered the name they had decided on.

**Name: Robert Patrick Wyndham Price**

Dr. Martin took the charts and put them back. "Those are good names Wesley. Fit for a Wyndham Price." "Yeah we thought so to. We thought about it for a long time and finally settled on these just last week." Wesley continued to look at his sons. "They are beautiful aren't they?" "Yes they are Wesley. Let's go and see Fred now okay?" "Yes, let's go." Dr. Martin talked to the nurse for a second and let her know that the father had wrote the boys names on their charts. After removing their gowns they returned to Fred's room. Dr. Martin opened the door carefully and walked in while pulling Wesley behind her. She stood to the side while Wesley went to his wife and gave her a gentle kiss. Dr. Martin pulled a chair over to the bed for Wesley. He thanked her then sat down.

"Wesley I brought you a pair of your sweat pants so you could change into them and then you can lay down on the bed with Fred. I don't think it would feel very good to have your rough jeans next to her skin. If you want to you can take a shower in the private bathroom here. Later tonight at 8:30 Rupert and I will come and get you." Wesley started to say something when Dr. Martin put up her hand. "Don't argue with me on this Wesley I want Fred to have a good nights sleep tonight. I'll bring you back when I come to check on her and your sons are brought in for their first meal. I'll see you later." Dr. Martin left then and closed the door carefully. She stopped at the nurses station and gave instructions as to her care and the fact that she would be back to pick up Mr. Price at 8:30 tonight. She found Rupert sitting in the father's waiting room.

"What are you doing sitting in here?" "I'm having fun watching the expectant fathers. See the man with the blue suit over in the corner." "Yes." His wife answered. "When the nurse came in to get him so he could attend the birth of his baby he got half way out of the room and fainted." Rupert put the paper he was hiding behind up higher so they couldn't see him laughing. "You see the other man in the corner with his leg shaking a mile a minute. His leg hasn't stopped doing that ever since he came back from the delivery room. I suspect he fainted also and the nurse had to bring him back. She gave him a cup of water and a cold wash cloth then left." "You're terrible laughing at those poor men. Let's go home I'm tired." Giles put the paper down and put his arm around his wife and pulled her close to him so he could give her a kiss. "You spend so much of your time taking care of others that I think I will take care of you the rest of the day. Let's go."

Back at the camp site Angel was sitting down at one of the logs they were using as a chair of sorts. He had nonchalantly poured himself and Mike a cup of coffee since nothing was put away. When he had returned with Mike they had found three strangers at the camp site and one of them had a rifle barrel pointed at the back of Connors head. Spike was tied up so tight that if he had been human he would have lost the circulation in his hands and legs. Apparently he had been hit in the head with the butt of a rifle because he was also out cold. Gunn was sitting beside Connor and Toby had his leash on him and was sitting in between Connor's legs.

"So to whom do we owe the honor of this visit?" "You, Angel, owe it to your many fans. Did you know that you are what is called a living legend among our kind and most of the demon world. Even out here in this primeval forest your exploits have reached my ears. Your kindness and concern for your clients is also legendary. They are even talking about how you took on the Demon Court for having the audacity of beating up and raping your adoptive mother. And last but not least apparently the Vampires that tortured you talked a lot at the local demon bars before they were killed."

"In other words you came all this way and went through all this trouble of tying up my Childe and threatening my son with a loaded gun just to get my autograph."

Mike looked at Angel. He couldn't believe he was so calm while dealing with this man or Vampire or demon or whatever he was. While he was about ready to pee in his pants he was so scared.

"No Angel I don't want your autograph but I do need a huge favor from you. If you agree I will be eternally grateful to you and we know how long that could be." "Before I listen to your request I would appreciate it if you would untie my Childe and put your rifle down."

The stranger put his rifle down and signaled to one of the others to untie Spike. Mike went over to Spike and checked him as soon as he was untied.

"He's going to have a headache but I think he'll be okay." Mike told Angel.

"Okay now I would like for you and the other 2 to sit down and tell me who you are and what it is that you want."

The stranger sat down next to Angel and put his rifle between them. "We are real hungry I don't suppose you can spare some food and some blood if you have any?" "Sure, if you tell me your name first." Angel asked once again.

"I was christened Daniel Francois D'Chambeau but I am more commonly known as Chambeau. These are my children. Like you I didn't think that their mother and I could have children. You see, just like your son, their mother was a vampire also. My children are paternal twins and possess many of their mothers and my vampire powers. Unlike you though I do not have a soul and neither did their mother. Our demons just were not that dangerous. My wife, more or less, died in child birth when she bled dry and after several months I decided to end her suffering and drove a spike through her heart. I had my hands full with taking care of two normal human babies after that." While Chambeau was talking Angel had started to cook some food for them and warm up several bottles of blood for himself, Spike and Chambeau.

While Chambeau was explaining who he was Spike had come to and was sitting up and listening as well. Mike had taken some ice out of the ice chest and gave him some to put on the back of his head where a sizable bump had formed. Chambeau's children though stayed alert and held onto their rifles.

Within just a few minutes Angel had potatoes on the fire and bread and tortillas wrapped up in tinfoil and on top of some hot coals. Angel had the last of the chili in a small pan on the fire also just in case anyone wanted it. "Okay how do you want your steaks?" Chambeau answered for his children. "I'll take mine rare of course and my children each like theirs medium rare." "You guys can go over to the pale that is by the tent and wash up. Your steaks should be ready in just a few minutes. There are cold drinks inside the ice chest also if that is what you like." Angel told them.

As soon as the steaks were done the three men sat down and started eating as though they were starving. Angel gave Chambeau his bottle of warmed blood and he drank it greedily. When they were done Connor started cleaning everything up and packing it away into Gunn's truck.

"Now that you've all eaten do you think that you're ready to tell me what this is all about?" Angel asked Chambeau.

"I paid someone to investigate you and your family Angel. I wanted to know what kind of vampire you really were and how you treated everyone." While they were talking Gunn, Connor, Mike and Spike came and sat around the fire with them.

"Yes we know about the investigation. We just didn't know who was doing the investigation. My son and several other people in the family saw your man watching us and several people we know have told us about him asking questions about us. Are you here to tell us why you have been investigating me and my family?"

Chambeau looked at one of his children and gestured to the smallest one to come to him. "Take your hat and jacket off dear." What Connor saw when the person reached for their hat and pulled it off made him fall backwards over the log his father and him had been sitting on. "Angel I would like to introduce you to my daughter Louise. We call her Lou." Angel stood up and reached for Lou's hand and shook it. "Hello Lou." Connor stepped forward and when Lou reached out to shake his hand he took it in his but instead of shaking it he bent forward and kissed her hand. Angel and Chambeau looked at each other and looked at their children.

Lou stepped over to both Spike and Gunn and shook their hand. Chambeau then introduced his son. "Men I would like to introduce my son Tom." Everyone shook hands then Tom stepped back and stood behind his father.

"Angel, I have a considerable amount of money, like most of our kind that have lived long enough, stashed away in Swiss banks. The life that I and my children live is a hard life and we have chosen it and it's okay for my son and I because we are men, but it's a life that is very hard for a woman. I have told my daughter that I want her to live with other people and especially other women. She needs the companionship of other women." Chambeau got up and leaned in close to Angel. "Can we go away from the rest for a few minutes I don't want to say what I have to say in front of the others." Angel stood up then and they walked a short distance away where they were safe from Vampire ears.

"Angel my daughter needs other women to teach her about herself and what women go through every month. I am sure you can understand when I say that I didn't know anything about what women go through each month because my wife didn't have to deal with it anymore. I can't begin to tell you how embarrassing it is to have to go into town and the library and read a book about these things then having to go to the store and buy all of the stuff she needed. Then I had to figure out how she was going to deal with it since we moved around and we couldn't carry around bulky items. When I went into town the next time to buy supplies I noticed that the woman at the register was in her 60's and looked very sympathetic to my problem as I stood in front of the shelf where they had all of that stuff. If I could have shown embarrassment I would have turned beet red. I was so frustrated with my situation that I told her about my wife dieing and that my daughter didn't have anyone to talk to about these things. She went into her apartment which was connected to the store and she came back with this old book that was made for young girls and told them all about what was happening to their bodies and how to take care of the problem. Then she helped me with getting everything else that she needed. I tell you Angel I was so grateful for her help that I actually hugged her. I haven't spoken to God since I was turned Angel but that day I did. I walked out of that store thanking Him for sending that woman to me."

Chambeau started walking back to everyone else then. "I am telling you all of this Angel because I would like you to take my daughter back with you and let her live with you until she has finished her schooling and she can then make an informed decision as to what she wants to do with her life. I am hoping that she will find someone that she can fall in love with and have a normal family life.

"Before I was turned I was a school teacher so I have taught my children the basics of reading, writing and math. She has a lot of catching up to do and I know you have a lot of smart people in your family that can help her. She is 15 years old and can help around the Hotel. Like I told you before my children have inherited a lot of their mothers and my powers and she has to learn how to deal with them around normal society. I can provide all of the money that she needs to live and I can even pay you to take care of her. I want her to go onto college if possible and I'll pay for that also." Angel looked at Lou.

"What do you want to do Lou?" "I want to stay with my father and brother but I will do as my father has said. He is my father and I know that he loves me very much but he wants what is best for me. I will miss him and my brother but I know that I need to do this." Lou spoke with a slight accent that he knew she picked up from her father. He then asked her in French if she spoke it. She answered with a yes. Angel looked at his son. He noticed that Connor hadn't taken his eyes off of her.

"Okay Chambeau I will take your daughter but you don't have to provide any money for her. I know that this is sudden but I need to know how to contact you if I have to. My associates will have to talk to you so that we can set up all of the papers that she needs to show that she is a citizen of the United States. I don't suppose you have birth certificates for your children?" "No I don't I delivered them myself." "Okay we'll take care of that also. Say good bye to your daughter Chambeau we have to get going as soon as we can break camp. My associate's wife just had their babies and we have to get back home as soon as possible. We have just come back from town where he was picked up by a helicopter to take him to Los Angeles." Angel then started helping to take the tent down and load up Gunn's truck. The last thing they did was to put out the fire and cover it with dirt and throw the last of the water on it.

Chambeau had walked off a little ways so that they could say good bye in private. Angel, Connor, Gunn and Mike watched them for a few minutes then they started to get into the vehicles. Gunn started up his truck as a signal to the Chambeau family that it was time to leave. They all walked back to the vehicles together and stopped in front of the SUV. "Chambeau I am pretty sure that Wesley is going to need to see you and talk to you about information he will need in order to make up a trail of paper work to show that you are American citizens. In two weeks we'll come back here and meet with you in town at a small restaurant in town that seemed to be the only one. We well meet you there at 12 noon two Saturdays from now." Chambeau and Angel shook hands then. Chambeau and Tom gave Lou a last kiss and hug then Angel opened the door for her. After closing the door he shook Chambeau's hand. "I'll take care of her as though she was my own daughter Chambeau." "I know you will Angel. Thank you, I will be eternally in your debt." Both Chambeau and Tom turned and left then without looking back.

All through the ride back to Los Angeles Angel and Mike could hear Lou crying quietly in the back until she finally went to sleep. Six hours later Lou woke up when she felt the vehicle stop. She looked up and saw that they were at a gas station. She was glad because she had to go to the bathroom pretty bad. She saw that Angel was outside at the pump and putting the gas in so she got out to go to him.

"Mr. Martin do you know if there is a bathroom here?" "Yes I saw a sign over on the side of the building on the left side." Lou went running over to the bathroom and just barely made it. When she was through washing up she went outside and back to the SUV. She was hungry so she searched through her things for a strip of dried deer meat. Angel smelled the meat. "Are you hungry Lou?" "Yes but I have some dried deer meat in my backpack." "You don't have to eat that Lou we'll stop at a restaurant up here and have something to eat."

"Thank you that will be nice. I've only been to a restaurant a few times in my life." "Well you are going to have to get used to it now Lou. The ladies back at the hotel like going out to eat when they are shopping. I am guessing that they are going to have a lot of fun shopping for you." Mike said as he turned around and talked to her. Gunn was done filling up his truck so Angel started up the SUV and got back on I-10. They were in San Bernardino County now and it was 9 at night. Through the link he shared with Cordelia he had told her that he was bringing a guest home with them and they would need a room for her.

Gunn and Connor must have been hungry also because Gunn sped up and signaled to Angel to follow him. He pulled off of the highway where they could see a Big Boys restaurant at the exit. Lou was nervous going into the restaurant and sitting with so many men.

"Lou, would you be more comfortable if you go and sit at another table with just Connor?" Angel asked. "Yes I think I would like that Mr. Martin." Lou flashed her big beautiful blue eyes and smiled at Connor. Angel could hear his son's heart start to beat faster when she did that. Connor managed to get up from his chair and took Lou's hand and guided her over to a table that was in the corner of the room and several tables away from the other men.

When the waitress came to take their orders Angel told her that he would be paying for the two teenagers in the corner. Lou wasn't used to ordering so Connor tried to encourage her by suggesting a few things. She ended up ordering herself a cheeseburger with fries and a coke. Connor ordered the same thing with a vanilla shake after he finished his burger.

Lou noticed Connor watching her again. "Why do you watch me all of the time? Do I have dirt on my face or something?"

Connor almost didn't realize that she had spoken to him. "Oh I'm sorry I didn't realize I was staring, but you are so beautiful that I find that I can't take my eyes off of you." Lou put her head down when she felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

When she felt she could control herself she looked up at her cheeseburger. "I bet you say that to all of the girls you pick up in the mountains." She flashed another smile at Connor and he almost dropped his drink.

While all of this was going on Angel, Mike and Spike were glancing over at them and watching mostly Connor. "Men I believe my son has found his Cordelia." Both Mike and Spike agreed except Spike was thinking of Buffy and Mike was thinking of Hunter.

When everyone was done Angel picked up the bill as usual he left a sizable tip for the waitress which put a smile on her face. As soon as everyone had paid a visit to the restroom they continued their journey home and arrived at the Hotel at midnight.

They were all tired from the long day that was finally coming to an end for them. Cordelia had left a note on the front of their door telling Angel where to put their new guest. Angel gave the note to Connor and said goodnight and went into his room. Connor took Lou up to the 3rd floor room that the ladies had fixed up and showed her where everything was. He told her to sleep as late as she wanted to then said goodnight and closed her door behind him. Toby followed him to bed. He was one tired dog. He also had about an inch thick layer of dirt on him that Connor knew he had to get rid of first thing tomorrow. For now though he was dead tired so he just got undressed and fell into bed.

For the first time in her young life Lou had a room to herself. Best of all she had a bathroom with a tub in it. Since she had slept while they were traveling she wasn't very sleepy yet so she filled the bathtub. She let herself soak in that tub for 30 minutes before she finally noticed how her skin was getting all wrinkled. Lou was reluctant to get out because the closest she had ever come to having this kind of luxury was when she would go to the hot springs to bathe. It was almost 5 o'clock by the time she climbed into bed.

The next morning Cordelia was awakened by her daughters cry for attention. As soon as Kathleen saw her Mother she smiled and jumped up and down in the crib while holding onto the side. "Shhhhh, Daddy is still sleeping." Kathleen copied her mother and put her little finger up to her lips. As Cordelia changed her diaper and removed her sleeper Kathleen was smiling all of the time. "What are you so happy about?" "Daddy funny. He's playing with Toby." When she said that, Cordelia knew that Angel was still sleeping, but projecting his dream to Kathleen's mind.

When she was done changing Kathleen she went back to the bed and climbed in with her. Angel's daughter got to her knees and patted Angel on the back because he was turned away from her. He turned his head towards her but didn't open his eyes. Kathleen snuggled up close to her Daddy and put her hands on each side of his face.

"Wake up Daddy, I missed you." When he didn't open his eyes she looked at her mother. "Mommy Daddy won't wake up." While Kathleen's head was turned Angel opened his eyes and winked at Cordelia then pretended to be sleeping again.

"Kiss Daddy's eyes like this." Cordelia gently kissed each of his eyes. "Then lets use magic and make him wake up. Put your hand on his forehead and say 'I command you to open your eyes.' Then snap your fingers." She did everything just as her mother told her but when it came to snapping her fingers she couldn't do it. She sat their and tried making the same kind of sound with her fingers that her Mother had. "I can't do that Mommy." "Oh well I guess we will just have to wait until he wakes up on his own. Let's go downstairs and get some breakfast." Cordelia got up and got dressed then dressed her daughter. They went out of the room and closed it quietly.

The only other people that were up was the Sanchez family. Buffy was just coming downstairs also and joined Cordelia at the table after getting herself some breakfast and coffee. "Good morning everyone." Buffy said. "How is the princess of the house doing this fine morning?" By now Kathleen knew that when people said princes they meant her. Buffy came over and gave her a kiss then sat down.

"So do you have any information on the new guest?" Buffy asked Cordelia. "Not a thing. Angel is still sleeping. He should be down pretty soon though." Giles came down stairs as they were talking. He said good morning to everyone then went to the buffet to get his breakfast and coffee. Instead of sitting at his regular chair he came down to where Buffy and Cordelia were.

"Is Mom still in bed?" Cordelia asked Giles. "No, Mary and Wesley already left to go to the hospital to see Fred." "Can you believe it, we are going to have 5 babies in the hotel when Fred and her babies come home. I think I'll have to buy diapers by the truck load and all different sizes to." Cordelia said as she cleaned Kathleen up after feeding her. She went to the buffet then to get some breakfast for herself. Connie had made pancakes for her and she eagerly dug into them.

Tara and Willow came down next and greeted everyone. "Good morning everyone Tara and I are going to go and see Wesley and Fred's new babies this morning. Does anyone want to go with us?" "Yes I'll go with you." Giles said.

"I think I'll wait for her to come home with them." Buffy said.

"I think I'll wait also. I'm going to work on her bedroom and get it ready to receive our newest family. Hey speaking of new additions has anyone seen the new girl that the men brought back with them?" Cordelia asked. No one answered since no one had seen her or spoken to any of the men about her.

Cordelia was done eating her pancakes so she was just relaxing with her coffee. "Isn't this nice, we don't have to get up and start cleaning the kitchen." Hey Connie, if your not busy get yourself a cup of coffee and come and join us." Connie came out with her coffee and sat down with everyone.

"I've been meaning to ask you Connie why are you still nursing your son? Doesn't he chew on you? I'm having a hard time with Kathleen chewing on my nipples when her gums are bothering her." Cordelia asked.

"My mother and grandmother all said that they nursed their babies into their 2s. My family was poor so nursing them for so long helped to save money. We can afford the milk now but I like the time that I get to spend with my son. It's the only time now that we get to spend some quiet time together." "Your husband doesn't mind having to share you?" "No he likes watching me nurse our son. He says that when he watches me he thinks of Jesus and how the Blessed Virgin must have done the same thing with her son. Sometimes when I look at him I'll see tears coming down his cheeks. I asked him once why he was crying and he said sometimes he wonders if the Blessed Mother knew what would happen to her son when he got older. He said he cries because his heart aches for her. He said he thinks she knew that something terrible was going to happen to her little boy but it had to happen so that the gates of heaven would be opened again and we could join him in heaven again if we were good." She looked up then and saw the other women's eyes misting up.

Cordelia was looking at the other women and a thought came to her. "You know girls Angel had mentioned that he would like to build a chapel here in the hotel. He was kidding at the time but I think it would be nice to have one here. I was just thinking maybe we could clean out the rooms that are on the first floor and turn that into a chapel."

"What rooms on the first floor? I didn't know that there were any." Buffy said in surprise. "Yeah we have them loaded with supplies and general storage. They're right over their across from the bathroom. Didn't you ever notice it when you used the bathroom under the stairs? Xander used some of the rooms to expand Moms clinic. There are two left though. I think I'll call Xander up later tonight and ask him if it would be possible to take out the wall in between the two rooms and make them one. I want to keep it a secret if we can.

"Well I think it's time for the others to get up don't you Buffy?" "Yes I think vacation time is over for them. Besides I am dieing of curiosity about the new addition." Cordelia put Kathleen in the playpen with Junior then went upstairs. Ever since Toby had disciplined her about biting Junior she had been a good girl and played with him nicely.

Buffy went to her room and Cordelia carefully opened the door to her bedroom. The bed was empty so she looked in the bathroom. The mirror was still steamed so he evidently had just taken a shower. Cordelia went to stand by the bed. She closed her eyes and searched for his mind.

Angel came up behind her and slowly put his arms around her. "You don't have to search for me my love. I am right here." He pulled her hair from her neck and gently kissed it. His arms surrounded her and he let their minds touch one another. He instantly found the gentle touch of her mind on his. He let all the love he had for her envelope her as his arms could never do.

Cordelia turned around and reached for his lips. She was hungry for his touch. She was hungry for the taste of his lips on hers and for his very scent. Cordelia started to take her clothes off and Angel pulled her blouse over her head instead of waiting for her to unbutton it. With one swift motion he had her bra off and he lifted her up into the air and took her breast into his mouth. He suckled at her breast greedily until he emptied it of its sweet milk. When he could get no more he bit down lightly until her blood trickled into his mouth.

Cordelia moaned with the intense feeling that his action gave her. She held onto his head as he drank the blood coming from the punctures around her nipple. As he continued to drink from her she almost lost it each time his tongue circled her nipple and then sucked hard on it. The nourishment that he had taken from her did not quench the fires of love and desire that he felt for her. He took her to the bed and quickly removed the rest of her clothes. Angel hadn't put anything on after taking a shower. He had just finished shaving and was about to get dressed when he heard Cordelia and Buffy coming up the stairs. Right now he was glad that he hadn't dressed yet because it would have delayed him getting what they both wanted from each other.

For the next hour Angel and Cordelia made love to each other. When they were done Angel collapsed on top of Cordelia. He was covered in sweat and it dripped onto her and then the sheets. When his breathing returned to normal he concentrated on cleaning the wound that he had left on her neck. When he rolled off of her she turned over and started to lick the salty sweat from his chest.

"Didn't you have enough yet?" "No." "Well your old man needs some rest, but I'm still hungry. You were just barely a snack." "Don't tell me you really are tired. I'm not letting you go camping anymore if it tires you out that much." "It's not the camping that has me tired it's what I did that tired me out." "What did you do and don't you think that it's time for you to tell me why we have a young girl as a guest upstairs?"

Angel turned on his side and started to rub her breast. "What will you give me if I tell you?" In answer Cordelia kissed her way down his right leg then up his left and to his lips. She bit his lower lip and pulled on it. "I will do all of the work tonight." "I'm going to hold you to that promise." Angel jumped up and pulled her up with him. Cordelia wrapped her legs around his waist. She could feel him getting aroused again. "Ewww are we going to do an S&B?" "What's an S&B?" "Spike and Buffy." Angel dropped her on the bed then. "Now I have to take another shower." Angel said as he walked back into the bathroom. Cordelia followed him in and took a shower with him.

By the time they came down to the dining room it was time for lunch and Angel was starving. Connie had a buffet of fixings for cheeseburgers and potato chips and Fritos. Cordelia checked on Kathleen and found her sleeping in the play pen with Junior. Connie had put a blanket over both of them.

"Good afternoon Connie and Lucinda." Angel said as he went to the refrigerator that held blood for the Vampires in the house. They both answered with a "Good afternoon Mr. Martin." "Please Connie and Lucinda call me Angel." Joaquin's mother though wagged her finger at him and said in Spanish. "No, no, that would not be proper Mr. Martin." "Okay, okay it's Mr. Martin then." Angel finished fixing his mug of blood and went out into the dinning room and made a big cheeseburger.

Everyone else was coming down stairs also including Dr. Martin and Wesley. Connor had gone up to the 3rd floor and was more or less dragging Lou downstairs with him. He went over to his grandmother first. "Grandma I would like to introduce Lou Chambeau to you. Lou will be living with us from now on I think. Lou this is my grandmother, Dr. Martin and this is her husband Rupert Giles my grandfather." That took Giles by surprise because Connor had never referred to him as his Grandfather before.

Both Dr. Martin and Rupert greeted her. "Hello Lou." Lou shook their hands and said hello in return. He went around the table and introduced Lou to everyone. He explained to her that Fred was the only one missing because she was in the hospital after giving birth to 2 boys.

Connor brought a chair over to the table and put it right next to him. After making their cheeseburgers they sat down at the table. After everyone ate for a while Angel thought it was time to tell everyone who Lou was.

"Can I have everyone's attention please? Connor would you and Lou go out to the patio for a while. I am going to be telling everyone about Lou, her brother and Father." He waited until they went through the doors. "I know you are all curious as to who our new guest is. Lou is going to be living with us for at least the next few years or maybe longer if she chooses to go onto college. I have been asked by her father to take care of her. Lou's father is Daniel Francois D'Chambeau. Chambeau, as he prefers to be called, is a Vampire. Unlike myself, Spike and Hunter he does not have a soul. He said he has a rather easy going demon and he never really did much damage other then what he needed to survive. Most of the time he said he lived in the forest and fed off of animals." Angel proceeded to tell the rest of the story about Lou, her brother and father.

When he was done telling everyone about Lou and why she was here he waited to see if anyone had any questions or objections. "No questions or objections?" Angel asked. He looked at his Mother and saw her smiling.

"Willow is their any thing you can do to prevent Connor and Lou from hearing us?" "No I don't know of anything Angel. Do you Tara?" Tara thought about it. "Yes I believe I do. She said a few words in Latin and the patio doors shimmered as though they were water. "I used to do this when I was talking on the phone to a girlfriend and I didn't want my brothers and sister listening in. The spell creates the same affect as a water fall. Connor and Lou will hear a loud water fall on the other side."

"Thank you, can you write that down for me it sure would come in handy sometimes. I wanted to ask Mom something and I didn't want them to hear it. Mom have you been told anything by Sister Margaret or St. Michael about who Connor will marry?"

"Funny you should ask that Angel." Dr. Martin put her hand over her mouth and tried to keep from laughing. "It just so happens that last week Sr. Margaret paid me a visit. She said that a young lady would be coming to live with us and this young lady would be Connor's future wife. Let me ask you a question now. How did Connor act when he saw that Lou was a girl?"

It was Angels turn to laugh. "Have you all heard of the Thunderbolt hitting a man when he finds the woman he will marry?" "Yes, I remember the two guards that were guarding Al Pacino in The Godfather said that when he first saw his future wife." Cordelia answered.

"Yes exactly but that was nothing compared to what happened to Connor when her father told her to take her hat and jacket off. Connor was sitting next to me on a log we had by the fire. When Lou took her hat and jacket off he took one look at her and fell backwards off of that log. That is how hard the thunderbolt hit him. When Chambeau introduced us to Lou Connor took her hand and kissed it. I am sure that you all noticed how he waits on her hand and foot. Your grandson Mom is in love and I mean it has hit him hard."

"You mean like it hit you when you saw me?" Cordelia asked him. "No the Thunderbolt never struck me out of the blue. It was more like a sly cat that slowly crawled up behind me then came and sat in my lap and when I least expected it, it reached up with it's paw and bared its claws and latched onto my heart. Those claws are still in it." He pulled her over to him and gave her a kiss.

"Break it up, break it up. I presume then that we need to create some papers then to show she was born here in the United States." "Yes I thought you would never ask. I thought you and Willow could work on creating a paper trail for not only Lou but for her brother and Father also. Chambeau has a heavy French accent and Lou and her brother sound like him. They all speak the Canadian French which is different from your Parisian French. So I thought you could have him coming from somewhere in New England or Main and somewhere close to the Canadian border. According to Chambeau he has a sizable amount of money in a Swiss bank and he would like to set up an account for Lou but he has the problem of getting into town and being able to show identification. Do you think you could solve that problem for him also?" "Yes I don't think that will be a big problem. We should be able to have everything in at least 2 days, right Willow?" "Yes my fellow partner in crime I don't think that will be a problem." Willow laughed.

"If you need any other information and Lou can't supply it I have set up an appointment for us to meet Chambeau in 2 Saturdays from now at 12 noon at the local towns only restaurant."

"Now that we have that out of the way I have something for Cordelia to do." Cordelia's eyes lit up. "My dear wife I am going to ask you to make a supreme sacrifice and take Lou out clothes shopping. From what Chambeau told me she needs everything. She lived with men and she dressed like a man. She does not know anything about the frilly little things that women wear. So get her everything she needs. Use our personnel account for this. Connor and I can take care of Kathleen today while you two go out and have fun. Be careful with her because according to her father she has inherited almost all of his Vampire powers like Connor inherited mine."

"Can I take the screen down now Angel?" "Yes I think we are through talking about them now." Tara said a few words and the shimmer over the patio doors disappeared.

Cordelia got up and squirmed her way into Angels lap. She gave him a kiss on his forehead. "What was that for?" Angel asked. "That was for being such a good and kind man. Few people would have done what you've done. I consider myself very lucky and honored to have you for my husband." Cordelia got up then and went to the patio doors.

"Connor and Lou would you come in now please?" Cordelia picked up Kathleen and sat down with her so she could nurse her. After putting Kathleen to her breast she put a receiving blanket over her shoulder.

"Why are you doing that now? I thought you were going to wean her. Besides I already have your special T-Shirt on order." "What T-Shirt?" "You know the one that says over each breast

"**MINE MINE**

**No Touch**

**Her Husband"**

"Then I won't have to share with you anymore you little Rug Rat." Angel said as he pointed his finger at his daughter.

Kathleen looked at her Daddy pointing his finger at her and let go of her mothers nipple. Her chin started to quiver as she looked at him. Then the tears came with a loud wail of overwhelming sadness. "What's the matter?" Cordelia asked her.

"Daddy is mad at me. He doesn't want to share you with me. I don't want Daddy mad at me." Kathleen looked around for Connor and when she spotted him she reached out her arms for him. "Connor." She pushed her Mommy away and reached for her brother. Connor came and took her from Cordelia. She went into his arms and put her head down on his shoulder and continued crying. "What's wrong sweetheart? Don't you want your Mommy any more?" "Yes but Daddy is mad at me because he doesn't want to share Mommy with me. I don't want Daddy to hate me Connor so I won't take Mommies milk any more."

Everyone was giving Angel dirty looks but they couldn't possibly make him feel any worse then he felt now. He felt like a worm. He couldn't stand it when he was the cause of making his daughter cry. He had his hand over his eyes and was leaning on the table. They could see he was crying almost as much as Kathleen. He finally raised his head and looked up at Cordelia. "I was only joking with her I didn't mean it." Cordelia leaned forward and ran her hand through his hair. "I know it sweetheart but sometimes you forget that she is still a baby. We forget she is only 11 months old because her language skills are way beyond where she should be. She doesn't understand what a joke is. In fact I don't know if she could grasp the concept of a joke yet. Now I want you to say you're sorry to her and make her understand that you were not serious about what you said. I don't think you understand Angel how much your daughter loves you. The fact that she is willing to give up her Mommy's milk for her Daddy should tell you how much she loves you. The only example that I can give you that would make you understand what she is feeling is to tell you that Mom has just told you that God has said that you can't make love to me anymore. You can sleep beside me but you cannot make love to me."

Angel wiped his eyes and reached for his daughter. Kathleen willingly went to him but when her Daddy held her in his arms he started crying when she started crying again. Kathleen pushed back from him. "Don't cry Daddy you don't have to share Mommy with me anymore." Angel hugged her to him even tighter.

"Daddy was only joking with his little girl. I didn't mean it. Daddy is very sorry that I made you cry. You can have all the milk you want from Mommy. Daddy will wait his turn with Mommy. Okay? Do you forgive Daddy?" "Okay Daddy I forgive you." Kathleen reached up to his face and brushed the tears away. "Don't cry anymore Daddy okay." She gave a gentle kiss on each eye. "There Daddy I kissed your tears away like Mommy does mine." "Thank you." Angel kissed Kathleen's eyes also. "Their Daddy kissed yours away also. Do you want to go back to Mommy and finish your lunch?" Kathleen turned around and looked at her mother then turned back to her Daddy and put her arms around his neck. "I love you Daddy." "I love you to my little princes." Kathleen turned and reached for her mother so she could continue where she left off.

"I hope the rest of you Daddies are taking notes because sooner or later your going to find yourselves in the same boat." Dr. Martin said.

Dr. Martin got up then and called to Lou. "Lou would you come with me please? I would like to talk with you for awhile." Lou followed her into the clinic. When Kathleen was done and falling asleep in her mothers arms Cordelia gave her back to her Daddy while she cleaned, hooked, and buttoned herself up. "Have fun with her today Daddy and be good. Don't make her cry anymore or you will find yourself on the couch tonight." "Yes dear." Angel said with a smile. Cordelia left then to go to the clinic. She found Dr. Martin and Lou involved in a deep discussion so she walked back out and waited for her to come out. In a few minutes both of them came out and Cordelia stood up. "Well are you ready to go shopping Lou?" "Yes I am Mrs. Martin can Connor come with us?" "No this is a girl's only day. Lets go up to your room and see what you have and what we'll need to buy for you, okay?" Lou didn't look to happy. "Okay Mrs. Martin." "Please Lou call me Cordelia. You make me feel old when you call me that." Lou smiled and said "Okay."

For the next ten hours Cordelia, Lou, Willow, and Tara were gone. When they came back the mini van was full of boxes and bags. They had even put down the back seat so that they could have more room. Everyone had to make two trips just to take it all upstairs. The girls had bought Lou everything from a tooth brush and tooth paste to a gown to go dancing which Cordelia promised she would teach her. They had all had dinner already so they were pretty tired. Lou went into Connors room and was telling him all about her day. It was 10 o'clock at night when they both went downstairs to fix themselves sandwiches and take them back upstairs.

Dr. Martin's room was right by Connors and she thought it was time for them to go to bed. She went over to Connors room and knocked on the door. Connor answered it. "Oh hi Grandma were we keeping you awake?" "No not really but don't you think you should go to sleep now since you have school tomorrow." "Yeah I guess it is late. Goodnight Grandma. Sorry about the noise." Lou went to the door. "Goodnight Connor." "Goodnight." Connor said. The way she said it though made his heart start to beat faster. As soon as the door closed he went running to the bathroom and jumped into the shower. Poor Connor was going to be taking a lot of cold showers until the night he was finally able to take her to his bed.

The next day started early for Wesley because he was bringing his new family home. Tara and Willow had bought a new bassinet as a baby shower present for Fred so they helped to set everything up. All of the new baby clothes and blankets had been washed and were neatly folded on the shelves they had for the baby clothes and diapers. Dr. Martin and Giles went with him to pick up his family after breakfast.

Wesley was so nervous about having to hold one of his sons as they came out of the hospital that they had to put him in a wheelchair also. They had already set up the seats for the boys so all they had to do was place them in the car seats. This was a smart move on Dr. Martins part because Wesley was handling them as though they were made out of fine crystal that would break if he sneezed.

Before Wesley got into the vehicle Dr. Martin put her hand on his arm and stopped him. "Wesley if you don't relax your going to cause something to happen. I want you to take a deep cleansing breath then let it out slowly." Wesley looked at her as though she was crazy. "Come on Dr. Martin I want to get my family home." "Wesley do as I said, your nerves are wound up tight." Wesley looked at her and decided that it would be better to just comply. Wesley turned towards Cordelia's mini van that they had borrowed and put his hands at the top of the door. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He immediately felt his nerves start to unwind. He took another breath and let it out slowly. His color improved which meant his blood pressure was going down now. "See isn't that better now?" "Yes I feel much better now." "Get in then and let's go home."

When they arrived back at the hotel everyone was downstairs and waiting for them. Fred came out of the van after Wesley and took one of her sons then Wesley took the other one. After everyone was unloaded Giles parked the van. Cordelia guided Fred into the Dinning room and showed her to her chair which was decked out in beautiful flowers all around it. Wesley sat down next to her while they still both held their sons. Willow and Tara brought over a bassinet to lay the babies in while Fred took a breather.

"How are you feeling now that they are finally here?" Cordelia asked. "Well I feel about 15 pounds lighter for one and even more I am so happy that I can get up and walk around again. But most of all I feel happy. I know now how you and Buffy feel when you nurse your babies. Because I feel the immense joy that only a new mother can feel. And best of all I didn't have to go through all of the pain of delivery that you two had to go through." Fred laughed as she said the last part. Wesley put his arm around his wife and gave her a kiss.

Dr. Martin saw Fred looking at Lou and thought it was about time she was introduced to her new pupil.

"Angel don't you think it's time to introduce Lou to Fred?"

"Fred this is Louise D'Chambeau. She is going to be living with us for as long as she wants. She is here because her father knew that we had a lot of smart people living here and he asked me if she could stay with us while she goes to school. Lou's father is a Vampire, her mother was a Vampire also but she died shortly after Lou and her brother Tom were born. Lou is a lot like Connor and has inherited many of her father's powers. Lou's father does not have a soul but he said that his demon is very mild and he never did too much damage since he preferred to live in the mountains. Chambeau was a teacher before he was turned and has taught his children the basics of reading, writing, and math but he wants Lou to learn about the world outside of the mountains. He also wants her to be around other women since all she has known is her brother and her father. I was hoping that since you are done with teaching Connor you could take on a new pupil and get her caught up to the rest of the kids her age then she could go to a regular high school."

"Well I guess Wesley and I have a new student then. Welcome to the family Lou." Fred extended her hand and Lou stood up and shook her hand. "Thank you Mrs. Price I look forward to our time together."

Connie and Lucinda came in then with lunch. Connie put a plate with 2 tacos covered in cheese along with fried rice and a bowl of pinto beans with mostly the juice from the beans when they were cooked. Besides this plate she had a small bowl of tapioca pudding and a large glass of milk. "Eat Mrs. Price you have two babies to feed now and you'll need all of the calories you can take in." Fred was hungry and quickly took her first bite of the taco. "Oh Connie please believe me when I say that while I was laying in my hospital bed and had to eat that food I was making believe that I was eating your food. It was the only way I could eat it." The rest started eating also but for them Connie and Lucinda had made burrito fixings.

Cordelia whispered to Angel "With so many women nursing and two teenagers I am going to have to start buying a lot more milk." "Do you think we need to go shopping today?" Angel asked. "I'll check our supplies with Connie then I'll let you know." "When we get done here I'm going upstairs to work on our portrait." "How is it coming along?" "I finished the drawings and now I am starting the painting. I may have to go out and get some painting supplies later."

"Connor, do you have to do any studying tonight?" Angel asked his son. "No I did all of the studying my poor little brain can do. My evening is open. Why, do you want to do something?" "Yeah I want to take Lou out tonight and see what she can do. We'll go up into the San Gabriel Mountains and see how she does playing Tarzan and Boy. That should be a good enough test to see how much she inherited from her father."

Cordelia cleared her throat rather loudly. "I take it you are trying to get my attention my little turtle dove?" "Don't be funny. I was trying to get your attention because you're scheduling Lou's time as though she isn't a person. I believe it would only be polite if you were to ask Lou if she would like to go out with you tonight."

"My wife is correct Lou please forgive me. Would you like to go out with Connor and I tonight? The game we play is very physical if you don't feel up to it tonight maybe we can do it on Friday when Connor can join us." "I am rather tired Mr. Martin, if you don't mind I would like it very much if we could wait until Friday. I had a big day yesterday and I've seen so many new things I would rather stay and rest for tonight if it's alright with you and Connor?"

"That would be quit alright my dear." Angel stood up then and bowed to Lou then he turned to Cordelia. "Thank you my dear wife for pointing out to me how uncaring and self centered I was being." He bent over then and took her hand very gently and kissed it. Cordelia returned his gesture by slapping his face and not to gently I might add.

"What did you do that for?" Angel said as he sat down and put his hand to his cheek. "That was for being a microbe." Cordelia said. He looked at his mother for an explanation. "I believe she is calling you the smallest kind of ….bug." She said with a smile.

"Why you little rat. Kathleen I want you to turn your mother into a toad with a big wart on her nose." Angel said as he managed to produce some tears.

In Kathleen's eyes her Daddy couldn't do anything wrong. She turned and looked at her Mother. "Mommy toad." Kathleen said then tried to snap her fingers. "That's my little girl you'll take care of your Daddy won't you." He gave her a kiss then. "Have you seen Uncle Wesy and Aunt Fred's new babies?" "Oh Daddy, more babies?" Unfortunately for Dr. Martin she was just taking a drink of her coffee when Kathleen said this. She started to choke on the coffee and laughing so hard that Giles had to pat her on the back.

When Angel was finally able to talk he told his daughter "Well Uncle Wesy and Aunt Fred said 'Oh look isn't Kathleen so cute and pretty let's make one of our own so we can have a beautiful baby like her.' But you know what they got instead?" Kathleen looked so serious as though she could understand everything Angel was saying. "No Daddy what did they get." "Two baby boys. Your Mommy and Daddy went over to them and we said 'tsk tsk tsk, to bad but at least their cute but not as beautiful as our Kathleen'." Angel gave Kathleen a kiss then took her over to the boys bassinet. Kathleen looked at them and said "But Daddy babies are little. Will they get big like me?" "Yes but first they have to drink lots of milk and sleep a lot so that they can grow big and strong like you."

"I think it's time for Kathleen to take her nap also. Let's go my little princes." Cordelia came and took Kathleen from her father's arms. Before Cordelia went up stairs she stopped to tell Wesley and Fred something. "Wesley I called your Mother and she is coming in tonight at 8. Fred your parents won't be coming in until tomorrow morning at 10. I'll give you the airline names, flight numbers and times tonight, I'll pick up your parents tomorrow morning Fred and Mom and Giles will pick up your Mother Wesley." "Thank you Cordelia." Fred and Wesley said in unison.

"It looks like she accepted what you told her. She seems to feel confident that she still has you all to herself." Dr. Martin said. "Yeah that's my little girl, cute as a button and a genius also. I tell you when I make babies, I make babies." Angel said as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back on only two of the chair legs. "Yeah, yeah stick a sock in it." Spike was getting tired of listening to Angel gloat.

"Don't forget Spike that when Joyce grows up she'll be able to kick everyone's ass. Then you'll be the one gloating." Giles said when he thought he needed to defend his granddaughter.

"Yeah that's right when she grows up then we'll see who is entitled to gloat." Spike was smiling now.

"I think it's time for my nap also. I'll see you all later. Hunter are you going to be free later today because I have to go to the pharmaceutical supply warehouse to order some items?" Dr. Martin asked. "Sure Mary I'll go with you can Mike come with us?" "I guess so. I know why you want him to come with us though." "Why?" "So he can drive. I don't understand why no one trusts my driving. I always get where I'm going and all in one piece with no dents or scratches." Giles went up the stairs and put his arm around his wife's shoulder. "My poor dear, I tell you what next time we go somewhere together I'll let you drive."

"Poor Giles he better take an extra pair of shorts and pants." Spike said. "I'm going upstairs also Spike. I need to change Joyce and after I feed her I think I'll take a nap myself. Then I think I'll go downstairs and work out. Since we're going home next week I need to get back in shape. I have to get rid of Joyce's living quarters for the last 9 months." Buffy picked up her daughter from the bassinet and started for the stairs. Spike got up and followed her. Angel left to go to his studio and Lou went in to help Connie with the kitchen.

At 4 in the afternoon Lou heard people start moving around. She had her fathers hearing so she knew when Buffy and Spike were up. They left their baby with Willow and Tara and headed downstairs. Lou thought she would join them. She changed into her new sweat suit that Cordelia had bought her yesterday.

When Lou arrived at the basement she found not only Buffy and Spike but Angel and Wesley also. For the next 2 hours everyone was exercising to either keep themselves in shape or get back into shape.

Buffy was breathing hard when she finally stopped. "This isn't fair you know that?" Buffy asked Spike as he got up from the floor after doing 100 sit ups. He had barely broken a sweat and he was breathing hard but it quickly returned to normal for him. "What's that Luv?"

"When I was pregnant we would say 'we're' pregnant. Or other people would say that 'we' were pregnant, but I want to know why if we were pregnant how come I'm the only one that has to suffer so much to get back into shape?" "Poor Buffy, why don't you put him on a torture diet like Cordelia did to me." Angel said. He was just waiting for this day when Buffy would make Spike suffer just like Cordelia had done to him. "That's a good idea, he does have a little too much fat around the middle. I can't even see his six pack anymore." "What do you mean I'm in good shape for a man my age." Spike stood up and flexed his muscles. "Yes dear. We start our diet tomorrow morning." Buffy patted Spikes stomach as she got up to go upstairs.

"You looked like you were doing pretty good there Lou. Do you know how to fight using one of the Marshal Arts?" Angel asked. Lou just looked at him. "What's Marshal Arts?" "Okay I guess we know where we have to start then. Tomorrow after breakfast we'll start with your training. For now though I am going upstairs and soak in the good old whirlpool." Buffy and Spike left also so Lou thought she might as well go and take a shower. After she showered she went to see if Connor was free but he was busy with some kind of project for school so she knocked on Cordelia's door. "Who is it?" She heard Cordelia ask on the other side of the door. "It's Lou can I come in?" "Sure Lou we're taking a bath but you can go and watch the television and we'll be out in a few minutes."

Lou did as Cordelia suggested. Television was something new to her. She had seen it on occasion when going through town or on the rare occasions that her family stayed in a motel room but this was something entirely different. In her room she had her own color TV and cable which gave her access to all kinds of information. She especially enjoyed the music channels that gave her an insight as to how teenagers her age acted. She settled herself down on the couch to watch one of the local news channels tonight.

Cordelia came out with Kathleen and started to dry her off. "Lou do you think you could put Kathleen's diaper on her and dress her in this outfit I have next to her crib." "Uh Cordelia I've never handled a baby before. I don't know anything about them but if you show me I'll be able to do it the next time. I learn very quickly and I have a good memory."

"Okay then lets start, I usually bathe her at least once each day unless she has had a particularly nasty Nuclear Waste deposit, then it's easier to just give her a bath in the sink." "What is Nuclear Waste?" "That's what my husband calls her bowl movements that are loose and really stinky. All the Vampires, Connor and even Buffy smell it way before the rest of us do because of their increased sense of smell. Anyway you get one of her diapers that I keep on this shelf and this is how you put it on." Cordelia showed Lou how to do everything for Kathleen and even showed her where she keeps food for her and her milk that she puts in bottles.

"Let's go downstairs and I'll let you feed our little princes." Cordelia said as she put Kathleen down and told Lou to take one of her hands. This gave Kathleen a little practice in walking."

"How old is your daughter Cordelia?" "Eleven months but she is very advanced for her age because of her father. He can communicate with her inside her head without anyone else hearing them. I can do it also but no where near as well as Angel. We think that she talks to Toby also by putting pictures in his head, and he can do the same thing to her. You'll see when she wants to walk over to someone or place she calls Toby to her then holds onto his hair and pulls herself up then Toby goes wherever she wants to go while she holds onto him for balance. As you can see she can't walk by herself yet."

By the time she was done they had reached the Dinning Room. Connie was busily preparing the evening meal so Cordelia showed Lou how to fix Kathleen's food and then let her feed her.

This was how Lou's days went for the rest of the week. Help Connie, Cordelia, lunch, possible nap or play with Toby, work out with Angel, Buffy and Wesley then an hour with Angel learning one of the Martial Arts. Dinner and time with Connor was reserved for the end of the day. Wesley had told her that he would work with her next week to see what she knew and what she needed to work on to bring her up to date so that she could attend regular high school. Right now Wesley and Fred's time was being taken up with her parents and his mother and of course their sons.

Friday finally came and Lou was ready to go. When Angel and Connor came downstairs they found her sitting on the circular couch, dressed in the clothes they had first seen her in and anxiously waiting for them. "Let's go." Angel said. Connor and Angel stopped by the kitchen and grabbed several thermoses that Connie had filled with blood, coffee, and hot chocolate. Connor had told Toby to stay with Kathleen since they planed to be traveling in the trees. Everyone loaded up into Connor's van except Angel was driving. Connor wasn't used to driving in the mountains and didn't really know where Angel was going.

It took them two hours to get to the location in the San Gabriel Mountains that Angel wanted to go to. They went to a place that was frequented by day campers but where night time camping wasn't allowed. When Angel parked the van he placed a temporary sign on the van that said US Government Forestry Service.

Connor looked at the sign and held up his hand at Angel. "Don't tell me, this is from a former client." "Now you're catching on." Angel grinned at him. They took off up a trail that followed a stream that ran between two hills. They hiked half a mile then Angel stopped and put his back pack down.

"Okay Lou this is where we see what you can do. Connor, go up this tree and Lou follow him if you can. I'm going to watch you for a while to see how you do."

Connor removed his shoes and jacket. Lou noticed that he had a large knife in his belt as he started climbing up the tree. Without any problem Lou followed him as he jumped from tree limb to tree limb. Angel was satisfied that she could follow them in safety. He removed his own shoes and jacket and climbed up the tree that they were currently at. When he arrived at there level he stopped to give them the rules of the game.

"Okay these are the rules of the current game. I am going to hide somewhere in this area. It's up to you to find me. Connor I want you to let Lou lead the hunt. I take it Lou that your father taught you how to hunt?" "Yes sir. I often went on hunting trips with my brother and father." "Okay then, offer her suggestions only when she looks like she is hopelessly lost Connor." "Okay, how long of a head start do you want us to give you?" "Fifteen minutes should do." "See you in 30 minutes." Lou said with a smile.

Angel took off then jumping from tree limb to tree limb. Connor and Lou waited patiently and listening very carefully. Connor was watching his watch. "Okay let's go."

Connor lagged behind and let Lou take the lead just as Angel had said. He saw Lou smelling the trees and leaves and the air just as he would have done. She was also just as agile as he was. Connor felt his heart swell with pride in her achievements. The next thought came into Connors head unbidden. 'She will make a perfect wife for me once she is old enough.' He shook his head to get his thoughts back onto the hunt. He followed her as she jumped from one tree to another. Angels scent was real strong on this last tree.

Lou signaled to Connor to wait here. He watched her as she jumped to another tree and climbed higher. As she did this he spotted Angel sitting on a limb and eating pine nuts he had picked up off the ground under the tree they had started the game on. Lou was trying to get higher so that she could come down in back of Angel.

Lou was right above Angel now and she started to descend slowly in order to keep as quiet as possible. As she went to the last limb over his head she had to jump to it because it was so far forward. She didn't notice that the limb was cracked from a recent storm that had gone thru just six days before. The leaves on the limb were still green so it gave no hint that it was damaged. She made the leap to the limb and it broke the rest of the way under her weight. She screamed as she continued to fall. Angel caught her as she reached the limb, but under their combined weight the limb he was on broke also and they both fell. Angel held on to Lou's hand and with his other hand he reached for a limb that they were falling past. The impact on his shoulder and arm tore at his muscles but he held on.

"Lou I'm going to swing you over so you can get to the limb on the other side of the tree." "Okay." She yelled back. Connor was now on the limb that Angel was aiming for and he reached out his hand as Lou swung towards him. She reached out her other hand to him and he caught her and she let go of Angels arm. Connor hugged her close to him. On instinct he kissed her. He looked into her eyes and said "You are mine Louise D'Chambeau don't forget that. I love you with every fiber of my being. I feel as though you and I were meant for each other from the time we were born. I loved you the second you took your hat off and I saw how beautiful you are." He kissed her again with a long lingering kiss this time. He knew she felt the same way when she responded to him.

Angel's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "If you are done kissing her Connor would you come and help me down now?" Connor jumped up to the limb next to Angel and reached out his hand for his father to grab. When Angel grabbed his hand he let out a scream as he pulled his body away from the broken tree limb that was sticking through his body. He swung over to the limb Connor was on. Connor held onto him as he passed out.

Connor couldn't understand why he passed out. Then when he put his hand on his back he felt something cold and slimy. He pulled out his hand from his fathers back and he saw the blood all over it. He looked at the spot where his father had been hanging and he saw the stub of a broken limb sticking out from the trunk of the tree. It was covered in blood.

"Lou can you get back down and find your way to the van?" "Yes." "Here are the keys." He took them from his fathers pocket and threw them to her. He watched to make sure she caught it. "In the back of my van is a long rope, bring it back up here so I can use it to lower him down to the ground." "Okay, I'll be back in a few minutes."

It seemed like it took an hour even though it was only fifteen minutes before she came back up with the rope. Connor tied it around his father's chest and under his arms. He carefully pushed Angels body off of the limb he was on and using another branch to help him control the rope he began to slowly lower Angels body down. Lou went down the tree in record time so that she could receive his body down on the ground.

Once he was on the ground Connor picked him up and put him over his shoulder and ran back to the van. Lou had picked up their things when she was heading back to the van for the rope. She had already laid the back seat of the van down so Connor could put Angel on it. Lou had taken care of her father many times so she knew what to do until they were able to get back to the hotel. She took a blanket that was in the back and bundled it up then placed it under Angel. She didn't have anything else so she took her jacket off and pressed it against his chest. Lou noticed his arm hanging kind of crooked but she knew that was the least of his worries. Angels blood soaked her shirt.

"Connor can you give me your jacket. He's bleeding so bad that my shirt is already soaked with his blood." Connor pulled his jacket and T-shirt off and gave them to her. "Hurry Connor he's still bleeding." "I'm going as fast as I can Lou. If I go too fast the cops will stop me then they'll see him and take him to the hospital and you know we can't let that happen." "Yeah I guess your right."

It had taken them 2 hours to get to the mountains but it took Connor one hour to get home. It was 11 p.m. so everyone had gone to there rooms. Connor came in carrying his father over his shoulder. "Lou go and get my grandmother and Cordelia." Lou went running up the stairs and knocked on Cordelia's door then opened it without waiting for her to answer. "What's wrong?" Cordelia's heart turned cold at the sight of blood all over Lou. "There has been an accident with Angel. Connor took him to the clinic. I'm going to get Dr. Martin." Lou continued on to Dr. Martin's room without waiting for an answer. Dr. Martin had heard Lou telling Cordelia what happened since she had her door open. She met Lou at the door with her robe on. Everyone else heard the commotion and came out also.

As she entered the clinic she saw clothes on the floor that had been used to soak up Angel's blood. Cordelia was already by Angel's side. Connor had already taken most of his clothes off and with Cordelia's help they were busily cleaning the blood off of him so they could more clearly see what the damage was.

Dr. Martin came over to them and checked Angel's vitals. She looked at the peculiar bruising on the back of his neck and just below his skull. When Connor and Cordelia finished cleaning the blood off they all could clearly see where he had been injured, but thankfully a lot of healing had already taken place.

Dr. Martin could see that he had lost a lot of blood and his skin was even whiter then it normally was. "Spike you know the routine." "Yeah we have to replace his blood. How many pints do you figure we've put back into him since you first came?"

"Oh I figure about 5 to 6 gallons." While they were talking Dr. Martin had taken a neck brace from one of the drawers and was carefully putting it around Angel's neck.

"Why are you putting that on? Is his neck hurt?" Cordelia asked. "There are some bruises on his neck so I am just taking precautions. Connor and Lou let's go out to the Lobby so you can tell us what happened." Everyone but Spike went out to the Lobby. Connor and Lou told everyone what had happened and how Angel had been hurt. When they were done Dr. Martin asked Connor about Angel's neck and how his head laid when he was holding him.

"It went forward and pretty much stayed that way until I carried him back to the van." "That's good to know Connor you and Lou did a very good job why don't you two go and get something to eat I know you must be hungry." Dr. Martin saw Hunter coming in with Mike. "What happened, did someone get hurt?" Hunter asked.

"Angel was hurt during their Tarzan and boy game. He had wanted to see what Lou could do physically when pushed to the limit. She had tried to come up behind Angel and when she aimed for the limb that was just above him it broke but as she fell past Angel he reached out and was able to grab her arm. Of course he was pulled off of the limb he was sitting on and of course he grabbed onto a limb to keep them from falling any further. As that happened though his body was thrown against the tree and he had a broken tree limb go through him but Angelus seems to be working overtime to get him healed fast." They all followed Dr. Martin into the clinic.

"Hunter I want you to check these bruises on his neck and tell me what you think." They turned Angel over on his side and Hunter took the neck brace off while Mike held his head. Hunter carefully checked the area just below his skull. She carefully felt the bones in his spine just below the skull and on either side of it. When she was done she put the neck brace back on and they turned him on his back.

"Well Mary I think that Angel came very close to breaking his neck this evening. Of course I'm only guessing at his condition since we can't take X- Rays but I think that his neck is ok. Why he is still unconscious though has me more worried then his neck right now. I would say when Spike is done replacing his blood we should put him to bed and just wait for him to wake up but lets leave the brace on while Angelus finishes healing as much of his injuries as he can." "Yes I came to the same conclusion and I agree on how to proceed from here. I am going to leave taking care of him the rest of the night to you Spike. Lets hope and pray that he will be okay because he has to be able to go up to the alter to help baptize your daughter on Sunday. I am going back to bed. Goodnight everyone." Everyone answered goodnight and the ladies went back to their bedrooms while the men waited until Spike gave the okay to take Angel upstairs. Cordelia had gone upstairs to put clean sheets on the bed.

While waiting for the last bag of blood to empty into Angel Spike reset the broken bones in his left arm. Apparently when he slammed into the tree as he swung Lou over his arm broke from the impact. The break was easily taken cared of and Spike just put a light brace on the arm to hold it still. He knew Angelus would do the rest.

As the last bag of blood emptied into Angels vein Spike pulled the needle out of his arm then called Connor. "Okay Connor lets take him upstairs." Lou was still up so she helped. "I can help Connor I'm almost as strong as my Dad." "Okay then lets put this plastic board under him then we can pull him onto the gurney. Grandma just got this last week. She said it would make it easier to transfer people from a bed to the gurney." Spike pulled Angel toward him and Connor pushed the board under his body. They had him loaded onto the gurney and in bed in less than fifteen minutes.

"Thanks everyone I'll take care of him now." Cordelia said as she took the rest of his clothes off and covered him then crawled into bed next to him.

Lou had already gone back upstairs to her room. Connor waited for Spike to come out of the bedroom. Spike saw the look on Connor's face as he watched Lou go upstairs.

"If I'm not mistaken Connor I would say, by the look on your face, that you've found your future wife." "You are not mistaken brother. I told her tonight how much I loved her and how I felt that since our birth we were destined to be together. I wish I could go up to her bedroom right now and make love to her, but I know she is still young and should at least finish high school. I have college as well and she might want to go also. You know Spike Dad and everyone else has been saying how I would take over from him and lead Angel Investigation after he leaves this world, but it was always just something everyone said before and didn't seem real to me. Now with my visions of Lou at my side I know that we will be able to lead the next generation. It's all real to me now and not just something that we talk about."

Spike looked at Connor. As he looked into his eyes he knew that this is what he looked like when he realized how much he loved Buffy. He had seen the look in Angels eyes also whenever he was looking at Cordelia. "Well I think for now you had better go and take a cold shower before you break your zipper." Connor looked down and smiled. "Is this how it was for you when you fell in love with Buffy?" "You better believe it. You know that pond that is in the cemetery in Sunnydale?" "Yeah." Connor answered. "Believe me when I say that every day I thanked God for that pond because it was cold. Sometimes I thanked Him twice a day. It didn't matter how many times she put me down, I was in love with her and she could of cut my heart out and stomped on it. But before she would stomp on it she would have seen that the name Buffy was carved in its flesh." Spike stopped for a second and looked into Connor's eyes. If he could see his own he would have seen a mischievous twinkle.

"You should have seen us that first time she let me take her. I thought she was going to kill me but then she kissed me instead. Some how Connor I knew that was the beginning of the end of my life of celibacy. Buffy practically jumped on me. Her nails bit into my back and tore at me as she tried to get more and more of me. She was like a wild cat in heat. Her mouth was on mine and her lips parted mine as her tongue sought out mine. When she found it she practically pulled it out by its roots she was sucking on it so hard. Every part of that woman is strong, even her tongue. I bet Lou will be the same since both her father and mother are Vampires also." Spike stopped again and let what he had said swirl around inside of Connors mind. He could see the sweat starting to cover Connors face and he could hear his heart beating faster. He knew that all he had to say was just a little more and Connor would be beyond the point of no return.

"I swear to you Connor she couldn't get enough of me. I was so hard by the time she put her legs around me that she could of used me like a spring board. Instead though I slammed her up against the wall and I became the pursuer. I gave myself just enough time to unzip my pants and free my wild self while she raised herself higher and pulled her clothes to the side so that I could slip into her. She was so hot Connor that by then neither one of us realized that the building was starting to come down around us. She tore at her own clothes Connor so that I could get to her opening, she wanted it that bad. When she finally cleared the way she grabbed me and guided me into her and she lowered herself slowly. That first time that I entered her Connor I thought I was going to loose it right then and there." Spike stopped when he heard Connor go running to his own bedroom. He could hear him jumping into the shower and letting the cold water run over him.

Spike was laughing so hard that he didn't hear Buffy coming up beside him. She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Oh,…… Buffy! I didn't hear you. How long have you been in the hallway?" "Long enough you little monster. How can you be so mean to him? He's in love. Or don't you remember what that was like?" He put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him tightly. "Vaguely, why don't you refresh my memory." He put his arm under her legs and lifted her up into his arms. They went to their bedroom and Buffy spent the next hour refreshing his memory.

The next morning Cordelia woke up to find the bed next to her empty. She saw that the bathroom door was closed so she got up and went to it. "Angel are you okay?" "Yeah, why?" "Well after what happened last night and you were unconscious for so long I was worried about you." Angel opened the door and looked at her.

"Why? What happened last night that would make you worry?"

TBC……………………………………….


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Angel don't you remember going up to the San Gabriel Mountains with Connor and Lou so that you could see what she could do?" Cordelia asked him as he was getting dressed.

"Yeah I remember that." "Connor brought you home last night bleeding and unconscious. You apparently had an accident when you saved Lou from falling from a tree. As you caught her you were pushed into the stub of a broken limb. See the red marks on your stomach. It went all of the way through you but apparently Angelus was working overtime and made you heal within hours of the accident." Angel was quiet while he tried to remember. He looked at the brace that he had found on his arm when he woke up. His arm felt okay so he took it off and left it on the bed. He picked it up and looked at it again. "I must have broken my arm also and that's why I had this on my arm." "Yes that's right. You've been unconscious since the accident. I was beginning to have some serious doubt that you would come out of it." Cordelia went to Angel and put her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.

"Cordelia I don't remember any of that. The last thing I remember was sitting on a tree limb and eating pine nuts that I had found at the bottom of a tree." Cordelia backed up when he said that. He had a worried look on his face. It was evident that his memory lapse was really bothering him. "Why don't you finish getting dressed then we'll go and see Mom."

Cordelia went down to Dr. Martins room and knocked on the door. Dr. Martin answered the door. "Good morning Cordelia. How is Angel doing?" "Not to good Mom. It seems that he doesn't remember the accident last night." "Okay, why don't you take him down to the clinic and I'll be there in a few minutes." Before going downstairs Dr. Martin stopped to get Hunter. She told her what Cordelia had said and they both went downstairs.

Angel was sitting on the examination bed with Cordelia and Kathleen near by. Hunter started the examination by asking Angel some questions to see if his memory of the previous nights accident was the only time affected. When she was done she told Angel to go have some breakfast and they would come to talk to him in a few minutes.

Angel went into the kitchen and warmed up some blood for himself and fixed Kathleen's breakfast while Cordelia was downstairs with Connie and checking on the supplies. When Dr. Martin and Hunter came in they had Wesley with them also. "Let's go out to the patio Angel so we can have some privacy. Do you know where Cordelia is?" "Yes she is downstairs with Connie checking on the supplies." Dr. Martin asked Wesley to go and get her.

In a few minutes they were all gathered outside around the patio table. "Okay Mom where all here, what do you think is wrong with me?"

"We don't have much to go on Angel, but this is what we do have. You have had two accidents that severely affected your brain. The first one of course was when you had the PVC pipe punch a hole in your skull. The second was last night. We think that you must have also had other injuries during your many fights with whomever or whatever. We have seen different symptoms crop up here and there but you always seemed to get over them quickly." "What symptoms are you talking about?" Angel asked.

"Angel I don't know if you realize it or not but occasionally you slur your words. Occasionally you will speak to us in a different language other then English and you don't notice it unless some one says 'What?' Occasionally we've seen you, for lack of a better term, space out for a span of at least 30 seconds. After each of these episodes you recover quickly. Are you aware of any of this happening?"

Angel didn't say anything for awhile. "Yes some times I am aware of it but most of the time I think that I just lost my train of thought which has been happening more frequently."

Dr. Martin and Hunter looked at each other. "Angel I asked Wesley to join us because of what we need to do. I have to figure out a way to get you into the hospital so that we can take a Cat Scan of your brain. Hunter and I believe that your symptoms are pointing toward a possible blood clot or possibly a tumor. Since you are having these problems it's obvious that Angelus can't heal whatever it is." Dr. Martin said.

Cordelia put her hands on her husbands. Angel looked at her. She felt the anguish that he was feeling. He looked back at his Mother. "Mom, why is this happening to me? I've never had any problems like these before. I've been hit many times and Angelus always just took care of it."

Dr. Martin got up and went over to kneel beside Angel's chair. "Angel think about what you have been working towards for so many years. Now I want you to think about how hard it was on Wesley when he was shot and had to have two operations. Remember how much he suffered for over a week. By the second week it was a little easier but still hard on him. You saw how much he suffered especially when you and Gunn made him start exercising. Because his friends where standing by him he made a monumental effort every day so that he could recover and get back into shape. Angel this is what it is like to be human and these things are happening to you because you are becoming more human. This isn't being caused by St. Michael to teach you anything it is just a part of being human. Wesley is going to be helping me today to set up an appointment to get the tests done that we need done on you. We have to find out what kind of machine the hospital has. Our biggest problem is that we have to have one of our own people run the machine at the hospital. I think that Willow will be the best one to do that but she has to learn how to operate the machine and the computer program. I want you to rest today if you can Angel no strenuous exercising if possible. If you have a client that needs something done try to postpone it until we get the tests done." Dr. Martin stood up then and Wesley followed her and Hunter back into the clinic.

Angel looked at Cordelia and squeezed her hand. "We'll get through this Angel just like we have everything else. All we can do is trust in God." Angel stood up and pulled Cordelia up into his arms.

"What scares me most is that I might have to leave you so soon. I've never wanted to stay in this world because I was alone but now I have you and I don't want to leave you so soon. I have everything that I've always dreamt about and I don't want to have to give it up yet. I know that Mom has told us that no one in the family will die for at least the next 20 years but she didn't say what condition we will be in." Angel turned Cordelia around so that he could wrap his arms around her and she could watch the lightening that played in the thunder clouds of the oncoming storm. They could tell that the storm was coming in from the ocean because they could smell the ocean in the rain clouds. They stood like that for a good five minutes before they went back into the Hotel.

Dr. Martin had called Willow and asked her to come down to the clinic. They explained everything that was going on and the roll that they wanted her to play. That afternoon Dr. Martin, Wesley, and Willow went to the hospital to check out the equipment that the hospital had for scanning the human body.

While preparations for Angels Cat Scan were being made Angel was patiently resting and waiting in his room. Kathleen had been taking her afternoon nap and was awake now. Even though Angel was laying down on the couch she could feel him in the room. "Daddy……Daddy….. I know you're in here Daddy. I want up Daddy."

It's funny how children can continue to say the same thing over and over and over again until you want to ……………….. Today though Angel wanted to hear his daughter's voice, he wanted to hear her call him Daddy over and over again. When she got tired of him ignoring her she threw her own special little temper tantrum. Kathleen started crying on the inside of her mind and telling her Daddy that he didn't love her anymore and that was why he didn't want to come and get her. Angel was concentrating on her cries so hard that he didn't notice that he wasn't hearing it. When he went to the crib he saw her smiling at him with her arms wide open and reaching for him.

"You little witch. You sure are learning early how to manipulate men. I didn't think girls started that until they were in their teens. Come here my little princes." As soon as he picked her up he smelled the nuclear waste. Toby had been sleeping on the floor right in front of the crib. He took a sniff of Kathleen's diapers and immediately wanted out. Since Cordelia wasn't in the room Angel had no choice but to clean her up.

As Angel was finishing with his daughter he heard Connor in his room playing with Toby. He picked up Kathleen and went to his son's room. Connor felt his father at the door and opened it. "Hi, do you have a few minutes free?" "Sure Dad, come in."

Angel put Kathleen on the floor to play with Toby.

"I wanted to talk to you about today. When I woke up this morning Cordelia had to tell me about what happened last night because I couldn't remember anything after I was sitting up in the tree and eating pine nuts. Grandma and Hunter checked me out. They told me that because of my memory lapse and other symptoms I apparently have been displaying Hunter and Grandma think that I either have a blood clot or a tumor on my brain. They said that they have been noticing the problems that I have been having since shortly after I had the accident with the PVC pipe going into my skull. I don't know if you've heard, but Hunter has told us that our Demons can't heal anything to do with our brains. Right now Grandma, Wesley, and Willow are checking out the Cat Scan equipment at the hospital. Hunter and Grandma want me to have a Cat Scan to see if it's a blood clot or tumor."

"How dangerous is it?" Connor asked. "They didn't spell it out for us but I would say that anything having to do with the brain is very dangerous. I don't think I'll die from it though. Remember Grandma telling us that no one in our family will die for at least the next 20 years?" "Yeah." "Well she didn't say in what condition we would survive." It was quiet in the room for a while.

"Well I just wanted you to know." Angel picked up Kathleen then and left Connor to contemplate what was happening with his father. But that wasn't what Connor was doing. He called a friend of his first then called his Grandmother.

"Hello, this is Dr. Martin." "Hi Grandma, where are you?" "Where at the hospital Connor, why, is there a problem?" "No Grandma but you can come home now I have a solution to your problem of setting up a place to give Dad a Cat Scan." "Okay Connor will be home as soon as possible." Dr. Martin talked to Wesley and Willow then made up an excuse to the technician as to why they had to leave.

Thirty minutes later they walked through the back doors of the Hotel. Connor was waiting for them.

"Well what is your solution?" Dr. Martin asked. "We have what you're looking for at my college. In the medical wing of the college they just received a brand new Cat Scan machine. The company that makes them has donated one to the school so they could train people to use them. I've set up some time with the professor in charge of it so that we can use it …..tonight. He is expecting us tonight at 11 after the evening classes are all done and out of the building." Connor was smiling as he finished.

"How did you accomplish that and does he know about Angel?" Wesley asked. Angel's safety was always his primary concern.

"You don't have to worry Wesley. I did a favor for this man early in the school year. He owes me a favor and yes he knows about Dad and I, he will be there to let us in and he will run the machine." Wesley and Dr. Martin looked at each other and just smiled. "I guess my grandson isn't a little boy anymore. He's becoming adept at walking in his fathers shoes. I wonder if supper is almost ready because I am starving." Dr. Martin went into the kitchen to check on supper. Connie told her that it would be ready in 15 minutes. Dr. Martin went up stairs then to talk to Angel and Cordelia.

She knocked on the door softly. Cordelia came to the door and opened it as quietly as possible and went out into the hallway and closed it behind her. "Hi Mom, both Angel and Kathleen are sleeping right now." Dr. Martin pulled Cordelia along with her as she walked back to her bedroom.

"Cordelia we have had a small miracle occur. Apparently Angel told Connor what was going on with him and Connor has set up an appointment for us at 11 tonight at his college. It just so happens that the very machine that I need is sitting right now at the college that Connor attends. The company that makes them has donated one to the school so that they can train people in using it and the professor in charge of it owes Connor a favor." Dr. Martin and Cordelia hugged.

"Now I don't want him to eat anything tonight including blood. He can have some after the test. Cordelia I also want you to bring Kathleen with us. I am going to try a few things while he is in the machine and I need Kathleen there to tell us something. Spike is coming also to take part in the test. Why don't you come down and have supper with us then you can come and tell Angel what we will be doing tonight. I don't want him to come downstairs I just want him to be quiet and to rest." Dr. Martin saw the tears rolling down Cordelia's cheeks. She pulled her into a hug again. "Have faith in God Cordelia. Have faith and trust in God that He won't let anything happen to Angel that isn't for his benefit." "I'm trying to Mom, but it's hard when I know that Angel is suffering so much. He's afraid Mom, he is afraid that he won't come through this as a whole man." "How do you know this Cordelia? Has he told you that he is afraid?" "No but he doesn't seem to be able to control who he speaks to in our minds. He is radiating his thoughts out to both Kathleen and I, and I am willing to bet that Spike is hearing him also. And Mom it seems to give him a very painful headache when he does talk to us."

At 11 P.M. Connor, Dr. Martin, Hunter, Wesley, Spike, Cordelia, Kathleen and Angel were standing outside of the building where the test was going to be performed. A short man that appeared to be in his 50s came to the door and let them in. They all filed in and went to the room where the machine was installed. It was an unusually large room so that students could be accommodated. Once everyone was inside Connor introduced the Professor to everyone.

"Professor Brandon this is my father Angel Martin, his wife Cordelia, my Grandmother Dr. Martin." He kept on until everyone had been introduced. Prof. Brandon stepped closer to Angel and shook his hand. "Mr. Martin I am very happy to meet you. You should be very proud of your son. He is an exceptional young man and from what he tells me about you I would say that he will have very big shoes to fill when he takes over the family business from you." "Thank you for telling me this Prof. Brandon. May I ask how you came to know about Connor?"

"I am a medical doctor also Mr. Martin I realized, when I was in my 40's that I liked teaching. When I was asked to check your son, he had opened up a big gash on his leg during some exercises; I saw how unusually fast he healed. One thing lead to another and I ended up trusting him with an unusual problem I was having." The professor saw how Angel was looking at him.

"Please don't worry Mr. Martin your secret is safe with me. I am more than happy to help you with this. Dr. Martin if you would prepare Mr. Martin for the test I will start things up on this side." Dr. Martin guided Angel and Cordelia over to the other side of the screen. She noticed him having a slight problem walking but it disappeared by the time Angel removed everything from the waist up. Dr. Martin gave him a shot with a special liquid that would help to show all of the veins in his brain better.

"Okay Angel lay down. I want you to lie as still as possible but at the same time I want you to think of something that will make your heart beat faster. During the test I will be asking you to do certain things. You will be able to hear me through speakers by your head. She took his things with her and went back to the other side of the screen.

Dr. Martin gave the okay for the Professor to start. When it was done with the initial scan Dr. Martin called to Angel. "Angel I want you to concentrate on Spike and speak to him through the link you share with him." They could see on the scan screen that he was using a certain part of his brain to speak to Spike. After a few seconds Spike came over to the mike and said "You dirty old man my poor virgin ears are turning red." "Okay Angel I want you to talk to Cordelia now." When he spoke to Cordelia they could actually see a soft blue corona surrounding his brain. Cordelia touched his mind with a soft light touch that made his heart beat faster.

"Okay Angel it's obvious you've contacted Cordelia. I want you to talk to Kathleen now." Hunter and Dr. Martin watched the scanner carefully while everyone else watched Kathleen. "I love you too Daddy. When are we going home Daddy? Okay Daddy." "Okay Prof. Brandon you can bring him out now." Dr. Martin went to the other side of the screen. As the table came out of the Scanner she saw that Angel was in pain with a headache. "Do you have a headache Angel?" "Yes." He didn't dare shake his head because it hurt so much. "What does it feel like? Is it a sharp pain or a dull aching feeling?" "It's a sharp pain." He had his head down and he was holding onto it as though he felt that it would explode if he didn't hold his head together. The pain was so bad that he went to his knees. Dr. Martin called out to Cordelia. "Cordelia come and help me." As Cordelia came over to her husband she got on the floor and lay down beside him. She took his head on her chest and he rolled over so that he could lie next to her more comfortably. Prof. Brandon brought over a couple of pillows and put it under Cordelia's head.

Cordelia spoke softly to Angel and continually ran her fingers through his head gently. After a few minutes you could see him starting to relax as the pain slowly subsided. After about fifteen minutes Angel was able to sit up. "Thank you my dear. Once again you have been a source of comfort. That was the worst one that I've ever had." Wesley and Spike came over to him and helped him up. Angel reached for Cordelia's hand and pulled her up. Dr. Martin gave him his medal that he always wore around his neck then helped him put on the rest.

"Would you men walk Angel back to the Van please? I'll be there in a few minutes." Dr. Martin said. She watched him as he walked out. Angel had a distinct shuffle in his steps as he walked out. When they were gone she turned to Cordelia.

"Cordelia did I hear him correctly when he said that this one was the worst one?" "Yes you heard him correctly." "Why haven't you told me about these?" "I didn't say anything to you because he didn't want me to. Last week when they started getting worse he realized that they always occurred when he had been talking to Kathleen in her mind. He doesn't want you to tell him to stop."

Connor and Prof. Brandon were coming over with a large envelope. "Here is the film of the Cat Scan. Besides pictures I also gave you a CD with the pictures on them." "I cannot begin to thank you enough Professor. As you can guess Connors father is very important to us and we all love him very much. After seeing the way that Connor handled this I would say that the family business is going to be taken over by very good and capable hands." Dr. Martin, Cordelia, and Kathleen left then to go back to Connors van. Connor followed behind them after walking the Professor to his car.

Angel and Cordelia were sitting in the back with Kathleen. Cordelia had changed her and was now nursing her as they drove back to the Hotel. They were all quiet during the long drive back. Cordelia had told Angel what Mom had asked her about. Angel could tell that she was seething with anger at him but she wasn't saying anything. He knew his current illness was keeping her quiet.

The next morning Angel was feeling a lot better when Cordelia woke him up. "Get up Angel it's 9 o'clock and we have to get ready to go to church. I have all of your clothes laid out for you. Go and take a shower first then I'll have something for you to drink." Angel did as he was told and took a quick shower. When he came out he had a towel wrapped around him. He had already shaved so he just went to the bed where Cordelia had set out his clothes. He was in a good mood so he was whistling an Irish tune to himself. He took the towel off and threw it over a chair. He stopped to admire himself in the full length mirror. He made his muscles stand out and his chest muscles move. Angel would never admit it but he was just as conceited as the next guy. After about 10 minutes of admiring himself he pulled his shorts on then his pants. It wasn't until he went to his side of the bed so he could sit down and put his socks and shoes on that he noticed two other people were in the room along with Cordelia. Dr. Martin and Hunter were over by the couch when he noticed them. He turned bright red. Hunter blew a loud sexy whistle.

"Do it again Angel except this time we want to see you make your but muscles dance." She gave a loud whistle again. The ladies turned around and sat down again and were laughing their heads off. "I'm glad I was able to provide the entertainment for you this morning ladies. Tomorrow I'll put another show on except I'll wear a string around my waist so you can put some money in it. Why didn't you stop me Cordelia?" "Sorry but I was busy making your breakfast and didn't notice that you were putting on a show for the ladies. Besides it's not like they haven't seen your naked body before. Put your T-Shirt on and come over to the couch where I have your breakfast." Angel made the right decision by just saying "Yes dear."

He came over to his favorite chair and sat down. In front of him on the coffee table he found a large mug of blood along with two soft boiled eggs and several pills waiting for him. "Is this going to be part of my morning ritual from now on?" "No, just until the blood clot is re-absorbed into your system or else we find someone that can do the surgery to remove it. So take your pills and wash it down with some blood. Then eat your eggs and toast." Angel did as his mother said without saying anything.

"I've given Cordelia prescriptions for these 3 pills. These were samples that I received from the pharmaceutical companies." After Angel had taken his pills and eaten he leaned back in his chair. "Okay no use in delaying this any longer I know you're going to tell me that I have to stop talking to Kathleen in her mind. I know that it's aggravating the problem because I always have the bad headaches afterwards."

"How long have you been experiencing the headaches Angel?" Hunter asked. "I'm not sure I tend to forget the time period just before they happen." Everyone looked at Cordelia for the answer. "They started five months ago and have been getting progressively worse. Last night was the worst yet. As Kathleen has been growing in her command of languages he has been talking to her more." "You said her command of language. Don't tell me she is learning other languages as well." "Yes she is picking up French and Spanish from him as well." Cordelia gave Angel a dirty look as she said this.

"Why are you angry with Angel about it?" Dr. Martin asked. "Because he tells her things to do to make her Mother angry. But what makes me really angry is that we had agreed not to do things like that anymore." Dr. Martin and Hunter looked at Angel. The look on his face said 'Guilty as charged'.

"Angel shame on you how can Cordelia ever trust you if you go back on your word with such simple things as that?" Dr. Martin said in a scolding tone. "Well I only do it when it's too good to pass up." "Angel I'm serious now you have to stop talking to her in her mind. It's not good for Kathleen to have to close a link with her Father. Did you know Angel that she is picking up on your dreams? Can you imagine how confused she is going to be if you should have a dream of having sex with her mother? Can you imagine how hard it will be for her if you continue on like this into her teens? If you think its hard dealing with her now wait until you have to stand over her with a bat to beat off the boys at 12 years of age, because that is what is going to happen if you link your mind up to hers any longer." Dr. Martin had stood up to further emphasize her orders.

"Today Angel is the last time that you are to speak to her without speaking the words because if you don't do as I say then you run the risk of having seizures, or permanently disabled in some way or even possibly death. Now all I want to hear from you right now is 'Yes Mom I will do as you say'." "But…" "No, that is not the right word. Try again." Angel just looked at her and gave up. "Yes Mom I will do as you say." "That's a good boy. I am going to contact a couple of people that I know I can trust. If I can find someone to do the surgery Angel it may come down to us traveling to New Hampshire so that we can have it done at the convent Hospital. The surgery isn't the problem it's the surgeon that's the problem. I'll see you guys at the church. Rupert wants to take me to a shop he found so we will be leaving in a few minutes. See you later."

Hunter was still sitting on the couch. "Wow when Mary gets fired up she gets fired up. Don't forget Angel that it will be very easy for us to find out if you cheat. But that's okay because then Mary and I will get to see your masculine, finely chiseled body again. Wow." Hunter said as she got up and started making a sound like a trumpet playing the strip tease music while taking her jacket and blouse off. Before she went to far though Angel threw his towel at her and she went running out of the door and right into Mike who was looking for her.

"Oh hi Mike. Mary and I were just talking to Angel." "And can you tell me why that entailed taking your jacket and blouse off?" "I was just teasing him dear it was nothing serious." "Hmm. I guess I'll let it go this time, are you almost ready yet?" "Yeah, I just have to change. We have a couple of hours before Mass starts and I want to take a nap. Besides those hormone injections you're giving me are making me hot and you're the only thing that can cool me off." She dragged him by his tie back into their bedroom. She was humming the strip tease music as they went into their room. Angel could hear all of this as he sat in his chair.

Angel was just sitting and trying to think of how he was going to handle this with Kathleen. She was awake now and Cordelia was changing her so she could feed her.

"How am I going to explain this to her Cordelia?" "Well if I were you I would just wait and let her come up with the question as to why you haven't spoken to her in her head. Remember Angel that children her age will often accept a simple answer. Let's go downstairs I don't have anything for her up here."

Two hours later everyone was at Fr. Barris's church for Sunday Mass and the baptism of Buffy and Spikes baby. They took up two and a half rows in the church they had so many people that had been invited. Lorne was the only one that didn't go to the church for obvious reasons. For once all of the baby's that were going to be baptized were quiet and sleeping during the Mass. As it came time for the Baptism Spike was getting noticeably nervous. Angel was watching Spike as he rocked his daughter and cooed at her. He laughed at the sight. 'Never in a million years would I have thought such a sight would be possible'.

When Angel and Cordelia had to go up to the altar with Spike and Buffy Angel gave Connor his sister to hold. She started to complain about this but as usual Angel turned to her and gave her the 'Look', as Cordelia called it. He started to say something to her in her mind but he caught himself and hoped that the 'Look' would suffice. While they were up on the altar both Giles and Willow were taking pictures. Willow took still pictures while Giles had the movie camera going all of the time. Cordelia held Joyce while she was being baptized which suited Kathleen just fine. They knew if her Daddy held Joyce that she would let everyone know how well her lungs were doing. To everyone's surprise Wesley and Fred brought their sons up and Fred's parents stood as Godparents to both of the boys.

They all went back to the Hotel along with everyone else. David and Marissa came with their baby girl who was born just 2 months ago. In all they had 3 bassinets filled with babies. Fred had both of her boys in one bassinet since they were so small. David and Marissa's baby was in a bassinet by herself and one for Joyce while Jr. and Kathleen were in the playpen. The Sanchez family usually went to Mass with the rest but today they had gone early in the morning so that Connie and Lucinda could start on the banquet for the celebration. They had so many people at the Hotel that Cordelia had to rent another long dining room table for the guests. Cordelia had told Connie to feed everyone in the usual banquet style but to have everything at both ends of the table so that everyone could get their food faster. She had made pinto beans and white rice along with chili and mounds of tortillas, both flour and corn tortillas. Lucinda had made several different types of salads along with baked potatoes and breads of all kinds. At the middle of the table were large Main Lobsters that Angel had flown in from Main just the day before. Joaquin was in control of the barbeque grill in the kitchen. If someone didn't want Lobster then they told Joaquin how they wanted their steak. Connie would then take them to the people at their tables.

Connor had invited Professor Brandon to join them and he sat with Connor on one side and Lou sat on the other. Wesley and Fred were sitting at the extra table with their families. Of course Fr. Barris was there and sat next to Dr. Martin. Richard of course was there along with Bobby and his now fiancé cousin. Xander, Anya and Dawn had arrived late last night. Cylanda of course sat with Gunn. When everyone had finished eating they were sitting around and just talking when Spike stood up and hit his beer bottle with his spoon to get everyone's attention. Everyone stopped talking and looked at Spike.

"Buffy and I would like to thank everyone for coming to celebrate the baptism of our daughter. We would also like to thank Angel for hosting our celebration and for this wonderful feast he has provided. I guess I'll turn this over to Wesley now." Spike sat down and Wesley stood up.

"I know this came as a surprise for everyone but I called Fr. Barris last night and asked him if we could add the boys baptism onto the Mass today. I explained that their Godparents were here and they live in Texas and that we would be eternally grateful if he would allow us to have the boys baptized along with Joyce. The boys decided to make their appearance early and we thought we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. So that's our story and we're sticking to it."

Everyone clapped and the party went on. By 7 o'clock that night those that weren't staying at the Hotel were starting to leave. Buffy had started to go through the presents for Joyce. There were quiet a few duplicates so they gave those to Fred. The best one of all though came from Joyce's Godparents. They had given her a gift of $50,000 dollars that was to be spent on her college education. With that money and the interest it would accrue by the time she was ready she would have enough to go to any college she wanted to if she had the grades.

Just as everyone started to help clear the tables someone came in through the front doors. Angel approached the man. "Hello welcome to Angel Investigation can I help you?" "Yes I am Doctor Douglas Weinstein I was told to ask for a Dr. Mary Martin." Yes she's here I'll be right back. Angel went to the kitchen to see if she was there. "Have you seen Mom?" "She went downstairs to put some food in the freezer." Giles said as he scraped another dish and put it on a growing stack. Dr. Martin came up the stairs in the next minute. "Mom we have a Dr. Douglas Weinstein out in the lobby and he's asking for you." Dr. Martin went out to the lobby.

"Hello I am Dr. Martin." "I am Dr. Douglas Weinstein and I've been sent by Bishop Jack O'Connell. He gave me this letter to give you. It should explain everything."

Dr. Martin read the letter before saying anything else. When she was done she gave the letter to Angel.

Dear Dr. Martin:

Dr. Weinstein is an acquaintance of mine from my Seminary days. He is a surgeon who specializes in brain surgery. Dr. Weinstein was an intern at the time that I was in the Seminary. He is a friend that helped me with Angel when I found him unconscious and he helped me to take him to the Seminary basement and took care of him. Dr. Weinstein is a well known specialist in his field and I would trust him with my own life. I of course couldn't come with him since the press would be curious as to why I was visiting Angel Investigations.

Jack O'Connell

Dr. Martin and Dr. Weinstein had gone into the clinic and were looking at his Cat Scan pictures when he joined them.

Angel held out his hand to Dr. Weinstein when he turned around. "Dr. Weinstein I wanted to thank you for coming out here on such short notice. I know you must be a very busy man." "Your welcome, I was just telling Dr. Martin that I am very busy but it just so happens that I have this week off. I have my wife and grandchildren with me so that we could see Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm and all of the rest of the sights. My wife especially wants to take a tour of the stars homes. If you don't have any arguments Angel I would like to do the surgery tomorrow. If you'll look over here at this photo you can see that the blood clot is on the top layer of your brain. I don't think we will even have to shave all of your hair to get to it. Your lucky Angel that it's on the top and not inside of your brain if it was on the inside your prognosis would be very poor. Get all of the rest you can and no food or fluids after 9 P.M., okay?" "Okay, thank you." Angel left to go upstairs and Dr. Martin stayed to discuss the procedure with Dr. Weinstein.

Angel went into his room and then to the balcony where he sat in the dark and thought about what was going to happen tomorrow. An hour later Cordelia came upstairs with Kathleen. She found Angel still on the balcony. After she put Kathleen down for the night she went out to join him. Dr. Martin had explained to Wesley and Cordelia who Dr. Weinstein was and why he was here.

"How are you feeling? You see I have to ask because I can't feel your well being. You seem to have shut down completely." Angel didn't answer her for a while. He just looked at her and raised his hand to show her that he was praying the rosary. So she just sat quietly next to him with her arm through his. When he was done he just put his rosary in his pocket and sat very still and quiet for a long time. He thought of everything that he had gone through to become human again. He thought of his real mother and sister and how much he missed them. He thought of how much he loved Cordelia and how she would miss him if he should die tomorrow. He thought of his love for his friends and the memories he had of all of the things they had gone through over the last six years. His head was hurting he was thinking so much. He looked down at his wife and kissed her head. She had fallen asleep shortly after sitting down next to him.

"Cordelia wake up baby." Cordelia opened her eyes and rubbed them. "Cordelia would you mind doing something for me?" "No what is it?" "Come with me." Angel stood up and pulled her up and then into the bedroom where he turned one light on that was by the closet and away from Kathleen. Angel reached for the clothes bag that contained Cordelia's wedding dress. He hung it over the door and started to take Cordelia's clothes off and put the dress over her. He brushed her hair back and away from her face. He put pins in it to hold it back. Then he took her veil and put it on her head. He took the shoes out that she wore on her wedding day and put them on her feet. He then put his own suit on that he wore that day. When he was done dressing he took her hand and led her downstairs.

When they reached the first floor he put a Patsy Cline CD on. When the music "True Love" started he took Cordelia in hand and waltzed her around the Lobby, just as he had at the wedding reception. They danced to this same song over and over again. They didn't know it but they had an audience up on the second story balcony. The ladies were all crying as they watched them.

"You know we have an audience up on the second floor." Angel told Cordelia as he gracefully swung her around the floor. "That's okay Angel the ladies are all drooling over my handsome husband and thinking how lucky I am. Lets go back upstairs now Angel. It's 2 in the morning and you have to get some rest." Angel turned the CD player off and turned the lights off. He heard a couple dozen pairs of feet go running back to their bedrooms. He took Cordelia's hand in his and started back up stairs. Half way up he stopped and sat down on the step. Cordelia sat beside him.

Angel held Cordelia's hand in both of his. She could tell that he wanted to say something to her but couldn't find the right words. She saw his tears by the light of the second floor hallway.

"I don't know how to express how I feel about you Cordelia. Mere words cannot express how much I love you. If something should happen to me tomorrow that leaves me unable to express my love for you, don't forget this night." "I promise I won't forget Angel besides you don't have to worry about tomorrow." "How do you know for sure that everything will be alright?" "I have faith and trust in God." She kissed him then got up and reached for his hand to guide him back into the light of their bedroom where she checked on their daughter. Since Angel was ordered to rest there was no sex that night instead Cordelia snuggled into his comforting embrace and they went to sleep.

The next morning started early for Angel. He took a shower and cleaned his hair thoroughly with a special shampoo his mother gave him. By 8:30 he was downstairs in the clinic in his robe and pajama bottoms that he had borrowed from Wesley. Dr. Weinstein, Martin, and Hunter were there also and waiting for him. Dr. Martin had purchased a special plastic cover that formed a clean room of sorts within a room. The plastic room covered the bed that Angel would lie on and the surgical team. Hunter was going to serve as the anesthesiologist while Dr. Martin assisted Dr. Weinstein.

Everyone else was waiting outside in the lobby. Cordelia had left earlier with Lou to do some shopping. She had Kathleen with her. She told Dr. Martin that she was afraid if she stayed in the hotel during the operation that Kathleen might pickup on what Angel was going through and she didn't want that to happen. Gunn had followed behind her with his truck so that he could carry the bulk of the groceries. When it came time to pay the bill Cordelia's hand was shaking so badly that Gunn came up behind her and took the credit card from her hand. He passed the card thru the machine then helped her to sign her name. Everyone was staring at Cordelia and Gunn. Gunn explained that her husband was being operated on and she had gone grocery shopping to take her mind off of what he was going through. They didn't get back until 12 noon and the operation was over.

Lou was carrying Kathleen so Cordelia pulled up to the back and ran into the hotel and to the clinic. No one was in the clinic so she ran upstairs. She found Dr. Martin sitting by Angel and keeping watch over him. As usual, whenever she stood watch over him she had her rosary or prayer book in hand. Cordelia walked quietly over to the bed and kneeled on the floor. "How is he Mom?" "The operation went well and Dr. Weinstein removed the blood clot successfully. Angel hasn't awakened yet. We won't know if there was any damage until he wakes up."

Cordelia reached for Angels hand and kissed it then held it in her hand while she lay her head on their joined hands. After 30 minutes in that position she got up and went to the other side of the bed and lay down beside her husband.

By 3 in the afternoon Angel still hadn't awakened. Cordelia got up to go to the bathroom. When she came out Spike was in the room and talking to Dr. Martin. "What's wrong?" "Nothing I just asked Spike to come and relieve me for an hour so that we could go and get something to eat." Cordelia started to protest but Dr. Martin just raised her hand and said "No arguments please we need a break." "I guess your right I need to check on Kathleen anyway." They both went downstairs then to see what Connie had available. As they sat down to eat their sandwiches Cordelia was watching Lou change Kathleen's and Junior's diapers. After putting them both back into the playpen she put the dirty diapers into a plastic bag and held her nose. Lou let Toby smell the bag. He started sneezing over and over again. The 2 playpen inmates thought this was pretty funny and were laughing at Toby. This of course made Cordelia and Dr. Martin laugh at the two babies laughing at Toby.

"Babies make a home so much more like a home. They bring laughter to some of the darkest times." Dr. Martin said. Cordelia got up then and took their plates into the kitchen. When she came back out she picked up Kathleen. "Lets go and see if we can wake up your Daddy." "Daddy sleeping?" "Yes but I think it's time for him to wake up." Dr. Martin followed Cordelia back upstairs.

When Spike saw them come in he vacated the chair for Dr. Martin and stood to the side. Cordelia lay down on the bed with Kathleen. "Wake Daddy up Kathleen."

Kathleen leaned on her Daddy's chest and said "Wake up Daddy, wake up." He didn't open his eyes so she crawled up over by his head. Cordelia put her hand by Angel's bandaged head so that her daughter didn't accidentally hit it. Kathleen bent over and kissed each of his eyes gently then she put her mouth by his ear and said in what was supposed to be a whisper "Wake up Daddy, wake up." The way she did it tickled Angel's ear and he reached up to rub his ear. "Who's blowing in my ear? Is it Mommy?" "No Daddy it's me." Angel acted as though he didn't hear her. "Is it Grandma?" "No Daddy it's me, Kateen." "I know, it must be Toby." This made Kathleen angry so she climbed up on his chest and sat down then put her hands on either side of his face. She reached for his eye and forced his eye open and stuck her face close to his eye. "See Daddy it's me, Kateen." Angel couldn't help it anymore when she did that. He put his arms around her and hugged her.

"How are you feeling Angel?" Dr. Martin asked. "I feel very well thank you." "Wiggle your toes for me." Angel did as she said without a problem. "Do you think you could get up and walk around the room a little?" "I don't think that will be a problem." Angel sat up and threw the covers off. He stood up took his first step and promptly fell flat on his face. Dr. Martin held up her hands to stop Cordelia and Spike from going to him.

"Are you ready to try that again? A little slower this time please." Angel turned over and looked at her with a grin. "You knew that was going to happen didn't you." "I had a pretty good idea." Dr. Martin smiled back at him.

Spike helped Angel up and stood by him while he took a few steps more carefully this time. Dr. Martin noticed a slight dragging of his left foot but she thought he would improve with time. Angel walked across the room and walked back without any assistance and sat down on the bed again. "That was very good Angel now I want you to try and speak to Cordelia and then to Kathleen through the Link."

Angel put his head down and said something about the activities he had plans for tonight. Cordelia was already getting hot just from the way he said it. She picked up a magazine that was on her nightstand and started fanning herself.

"How does your head feel?" Dr. Martin asked Angel after Cordelia started to fan herself. "It hurts a little but it has always felt like that whenever I talk through the link."

"Okay try Kathleen now." Kathleen was sitting on the bed with her mother. She looked at her mother after a few minutes. "Who is Santa Clause Mommy?" Dr. Martin was watching Angel all of the time. She saw the look on his face when he was talking to his daughter. It was clear that he was in pain afterward.

"Angel I am going to tell you something and I want you to follow my orders to the letter or you're going to have problems again. I am telling you that you have to stop talking to your daughter through the link that you share with her. If you can close down the link then do it and I mean do it 'NOW'." Angel rubbed his temples. "Can't I do it a little at a time so that she can get used to the idea? She's going to think that I don't love her anymore if I just stop talking to her." "Angel your daughter is very intelligent. If you do it right she will understand and accept it." Angel was quiet for awhile as he thought about the risks he would be taking and the resulting pain he would have to endure.

"Would you talk to her for me?" Angel asked his mother. "Yes, I'll have a talk with her but you and Cordelia have to be there also and I won't say anything to her until she questions why you aren't talking to her." "Cordelia said the same thing." Angel said.

"That just goes to show she's a pretty smart cookie also." Dr. Martin said as she got up to leave. "Uh Mary, can you tell me if it's safe for me to leave tomorrow night? Do you think it will be safe for Angel to get into any fights that might occur?" Spike asked.

"From all that I can see Spike he's looking okay, but to be on the safe side lets wait until Hunter can see him tomorrow morning. Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll put another show on for us. I'm told that the usual denomination to use at these events is fives and tens so I have to go to my piggy bank to make sure that I have enough on hand." Spike didn't have a clue as to what she was talking about so he just looked at Angel. Angel had turned red.

"Apparently you are the one that can explain what she is talking about." Spike asked Angel. "Just before we went to church for the baptism Mom and Hunter came to talk to me. I was in the bathroom taking a shower when they came in so I didn't know they were here. It would have been nice if someone had told me they were here." Angel turned and looked at Cordelia as he said this. "As far as I knew it was just Kathleen and Cordelia in here. So I'm feeling pretty good and whistling to myself as I walked in with just my towel around me. Cordelia had all of my clothes laid out on the bed so I whipped off my towel and as I am a magnificent example of the human male I flexed my muscles and checked them out. That's when Hunter starts with the whistles, whooping and everything else just as though we were at a male strip joint."

Spike put his hand to his mouth and was laughing. He came over and sat on the bed next to Angel and put his arm around his shoulder. "Well Sire all I can say is don't feel to bad because I'm in the same boat with all of the women that I'm living with. At least you have other men you can talk to or that may be brave enough to stand by your side." Spike patted him on the back then left.

"I want you to stay in here and rest Angel. Two of the men will come and get you when it's time for Supper. Don't try to come down on your own because you're still dragging your left foot a little. I'll see you later." Dr. Martin gave Angel a kiss on his forehead then started to leave.

"What about me Grandma?" Kathleen reached up her hands when her Grandma turned around. "What about you?" "Kiss me too." "Oh okay I guess I can give you one also." She picked Kathleen up from the bed kissed her then gave her a hug and put her back on the bed. "What about Mommy?" "Okay Mommy too." She gave Cordelia a kiss also then turned to leave. "I'll be back in a minute with something for Kathleen Cordelia."

A few minutes later Dr. Martin came in with an old reading glasses container. She pulled out a chair for herself and sat down in front of Kathleen and gave her the container. "What's this Grandma?" Dr. Martin opened it and showed her what was inside. "This is a container that holds lots and lots and lots of Grandma's kisses." Angel and Cordelia could see that it was just a Kleenex that Dr. Martin had pressed her lips to after she put on some lipstick. "See this Kleenex. Grandma put it to her lips and put kisses all over it." Dr. Martin had taken the Kleenex out and unfolded it so she could show her all of the kisses she had put on it. "Now when you feel that you need a kiss from me or you want to give one of my kisses to someone like your Daddy or Mommy you can take this out and put it to their forehead and that's how you'll give them one of Grandma's kisses." She carefully folded up the Kleenex again and put it in the case and gave it to Kathleen.

"What do you say to Grandma?" Cordelia asked. "Thank you." Kathleen said as she hugged it to her chest. Dr. Martin left then and went back to her own room.

Later that night Gunn and Connor came up to escort Angel down stairs. "I feel like a dangerous prisoner that has to be escorted to the dinning room." Angel did as his Mother said though and walked between Gunn and Connor so that if he fell they would be able to catch him. As Cordelia followed with Kathleen she could see Angel drag his left foot a little. She was happy to see that he had improved slightly from earlier in the day.

Joaquin brought in large mugs of blood for the three Vampires while his wife and mother brought in bowls of spaghetti and spaghetti sauce. Connie had made two bowls of spaghetti sauce, one with red chili added and another without. She put a little card marking which was which. They also had put out salad and garlic bread.

Everyone was eagerly digging into the meal and the conversation was held to a minimum while everyone ate. Lou and Connor had fallen into the habit of married couples where Lou would attend to Connors every need. The only difference between them and a married couple was that they slept in different rooms. Everyone had noticed this. They all knew though that Connor was remaining firm on his decision that they wait until Lou finished High School and he finished college. Wesley and Fred had started to test Lou to see what she knew and had begun to bring her up to speed on the subject of History. Buffy was the first to break the silence.

"You know I actually used to think that Garlic was a deterrent for Vampires but as you can see it doesn't do a darn thing." Everyone laughed at her. "When did you try using it?" Dr. Martin asked as she took a bite out of her garlic bread.

"I put it up all over my bedroom window when I found out Angel was a Vampire and when Angelus took over for awhile." Buffy said as she fed some garlic bread to Spike.

The last one brought up bad memories for everyone so it was understandable when everyone welcomed a change of subjects.

"Wesley we need to go back up to the little town that we camped near. I told Chambeau we would meet him at the restaurant in the center of town next week Saturday at noon. I told him you would probably have questions for him about Lou and him and his son also. If anyone wants to go they are welcome. I have to tell you though that it takes eight hours to get there which means we have to get up early or else go up on Friday and stay at a small motel they have." Angel said as he sat back in his chair and finished off his mug of blood.

The first hand that went up was Cordelia's. "I'm in if Connie doesn't mind taking care of Kathleen for a couple of days." "Of course Mrs. Martin she can keep Junior company." "How about you Connor?" Angel asked. "Sorry but I have work to do. Term papers are due Friday and I have finals. Christmas is coming up in a few weeks and I am going to try and get some Christmas shopping done this weekend also."

"I'll call Richards and ask him to come and stay here for a couple of nights just in case you need him Gunn." Angel told him. "That sounds good to me."

"Since you're doing okay Angel Buffy and I have decided to leave tomorrow afternoon." Spike said but then he bent over close to Angel and whispered to him. ("We were going to leave tonight but Billy tells me that you made him a promise that you have to keep tonight.") Angel looked at him in surprise. "It's a good thing you told me because I forgot all about it. When do you think I can safely go into your bedroom?" Spike gave him a funny look. "I think you'll know, besides Buffy still doesn't want to have sex very much yet." Angel winked at Spike and they ended the conversation.

After dinner everyone went to their own rooms. Since Connor had a lot of school work to do Lou was spending the evening with Tara and Willow. They were teaching her how to play poker and since it wasn't much fun with only three they had gone to Dr. Martins and Giles room and asked them if they wanted to play. They ended up playing until shortly after midnight when Dr. Martin was yawning so much that Giles called a halt to the game so the old people could go to bed.

Angel had taken Kathleen down to the lobby where they had all of the children's books. Cordelia stayed behind to take a long soak in the whirlpool bath. Connie was still in the kitchen with her son in his playpen so Angel picked him up also and put Kathleen on one side and Junior on the other. Junior wasn't too interested and started fussing after only a few minutes of Angel reading the book so Connie took him. "I'm sorry Mr. Martin but he seems to be ready for bed." "That's okay Connie maybe he'll develop an interest after a few more months." Kathleen on the other hand seemed to inherit her fathers' love of books. She listened to every word he said and didn't ask any questions until he was done with the book. Of course the book was very short and he had chosen several in order to give Cordelia the time she needed by herself for awhile. One of the books was about Carl a Rottwieler that was a playmate and babysitter for his owners' baby girl. Kathleen liked this one because she said that was a story about her and Toby. By the time Angel was done with the third book Kathleen's eyes were closing so he took the books and his daughter and put her to bed.

Later that evening when the hotel was quiet he took the books and went to Spikes room. He didn't bother knocking on the door he just opened it quietly and went in. He first woke Buffy up so she wouldn't be scared when she saw him in her bedroom. Angel had talked to her about Billy's request some time ago and she understood that he would be visiting them at least once each month in the middle of the night in order to fulfill his promise to Billy. Angel went to the other side of the bed and very softly called out to Billy.

"Billy it's Angel. I've come to read you the stories that I read to Kathleen tonight." "Hi Angel. I thought you had forgotten your promise. Are those the books you read to Kathleen? Would you turn the light on so that I can see the pictures also." Billy turned to Buffy. "Do you mind if Angel turns the light on Buffy?" "No Billy I don't mind just keep your voice down so that you don't wake Joyce up okay?" "Okay Buffy I'll try to remember to whisper." Angel started to read the books. It was much slower going with Billy then it had been with Kathleen since Billy was asking a lot of questions. Angel finally had to tell him that he wasn't to ask any more questions until he was done reading the story. After he read the stories they talked about different things. Billy asked many questions. The questions that he asked is what made Angel believe that Billy was a small child when he was taken and made into a demon. He answered his questions that he knew he had asked before. It took a lot of patience to talk to Billy because he forgot about the question that he had asked before and received answers to. It was 4 o'clock in the morning before Angel told Billy he had to leave.

"Let's leave the rest of your questions for the next time I come to visit with you okay?" "Okay Angel. You promise to come to Sunnydale to come and visit me?" "Yes Billy I promise. Be good now and go to sleep." Angel gave Billy a kiss on his forehead. He was surprised when Billy threw his arms around his neck. "I am glad you're Spikes Sire Angel. I miss my Daddy so much. Good night Angel." "Good night Billy." Angel looked over at Buffy. She had awakened a moment ago and had seen the exchange between Angel and Billy. "You're a good man Angel with a heart of gold and an infinite amount of patience."

"I want you to know Buffy that I have talked to the Mother Superior at the Religious Order that Dr. Martin was in. I want her and the Sisters to meet Billy. I am going to ask them to pray for him. Only God can free him from Satan's hold when Spike leaves this world. I'll let you know when we will be going. It won't be at least until next summer though. I know that you two need to get used to being in your own home with your daughter. Good night Buffy." "Good night Angel." Angel left then to go back to his bed and wife.

The next day went by too fast and before they knew it, it was time for the Sunnydale gang to leave. Dawn, Xander and Anya had left the previous day since Dawn had to go to school and Xander had to get back to work. As always Anya was anxious to get back to the Magic Shop.

Angel, Wesley and Spike had been gone most of the afternoon. Spike had borrowed Hunters ring while they were gone during the daylight hours. Just 2 hours before, they had returned with a new Dodge Caravan. Spike told Buffy that they were going to need it in order to carry everything that she would need to take care of Joyce. Everything that they had received when Joyce was born was now packed into the van along with a new child safety seat for Joyce. Everyone came out to the patio when it was time for them to leave. It was a tearful parting for Giles. He gave his granddaughter a kiss then gave her back to Buffy. Buffy and Giles actually hugged each other. Buffy gave him a kiss on his cheek and said "Good bye Daddy." He smiled at her new name for him. He felt more at ease now showing her the affection that he felt for her. It took a while but Spike was able to finally get the girls to get in the van and take off.

Even though the Sunnydale gang was gone the Hotel still had enough extra people to keep Connie busy with the meals. Wesley's mother wasn't leaving until next week Monday and Fred's parents were leaving the day after. Wesley had taken a lot of movies of his new family and made duplicates for both his and Fred's parents. It made him sad that his father couldn't be there but it was just too dangerous to have him in the Hotel.

The rest of the week kept the men busy with clients and several of Cordelia's visions. By the time Friday came along they were glad to get away for a couple of days. Lou had been learning the Oriental Arts from Angel and she was doing well enough so that she went on a couple of the missions that resulted from Cordelia's visions. Connor went on one of the missions along with Lou. He was proud of the way she handled herself. He was amazed that she had learned so much from his father in such a short amount of time. Connor often found himself having to hold something in front of himself or crossing his legs just to hide the condition he often found himself in whenever he thought of Lou.

When Friday came Connor knocked at Lou's door early in the morning. "Who is it?" He heard Lou ask on the other side. "It's me, Connor." He said as low as he could. Lou came running to the door and opened it. "Come in." Lou whispered.

"I wanted to say good bye before I left for school. Today is the last day for finals and for the next two weeks I'll be off and we can do whatever you want." Connor pulled Lou close to him and gave her the best kiss that he knew how to give. When he pulled away he looked at her and from the look on her face he knew he had been successful. (She'll remember this kiss until next week.) He told himself. He let her go then and left. He was flying so high he jumped down to the first floor, grabbed his books from the dinning room table and ran to his van.

At 8 in the morning Cordelia was up with Kathleen. "Good morning everyone, Joaquin I wanted to tell you that this morning, after we leave, Xander will be coming in with about 10 of his men from Sunnydale. They are going to be turning the last 2 rooms in the hallway by the clinic into a chapel. This is a surprise that I planned with Xander when he was here. Angel doesn't know anything about it. As soon as we leave would you start emptying the rooms, you can store everything in the basement. They are going to do their best to get everything done before we get back. I bought 2 statues and a cross from Fr. Barris and he will be bringing them over tomorrow night. Remember now this is all a surprise for Angel. It's my Christmas gift to him.

"We will get it done even if I have to work all night tonight Senora Martin." Joaquin said. "I know you'll do the best you can Joaquin. Thank you." Cordelia said. After she fed Kathleen she nursed her then put her into the play pen with Junior. As she went to her room Wesley met her at the door. "Cordelia can I speak to you for a moment?" "Sure Wesley what's up?" "We need your help. Fred isn't producing enough milk yet to feed both of the boys. Do you think either you or Connie could help feed the boys. Dr. Martin said she may start producing enough milk with time but she may not ever produce enough. She suggested that we ask Connie and you to help." "Sure Wesley I still feel a little heavy with milk. I was going to use a breast pump but this will work just as well. When I get through I'll talk to Connie for you and she can take care of one of the boys whenever Fred needs it until I get back."

Cordelia followed Wesley back to his rooms. One of the boys was sleeping contentedly after nursing but the other one was crying his head off because he was hungry. "Cordelia thank you for coming. I tried nursing him but I didn't have enough left to satisfy him." Fred was in a near panic. "Calm down Fred lets see if Auntie Cordelia can satisfy our little man." Cordelia picked up David, who was the oldest one, and sat down with him on the big solid wood rocking chair that someone had given Fred. She put him to her breast and he grabbed on right away and started eagerly nursing. When he had taken all his little tummy could hold he went to sleep. "Okay he's done and sound asleep." Fred came and took David from her and put him into the bassinet with his brother. Cordelia cleaned herself then buttoned and hooked herself back up.

"I have my breast milk in bottles in our refrigerator if you need any at night Fred. Don't worry about using it because Kathleen is starting to use a cup to drink from now. The only reason why I'm still nursing her is to keep Angel happy now. Don't tell him I said that either Wesley." Wesley made a motion as though he was zipping his mouth shut. "Thank you Cordelia you're a life saver." Fred said as she put her son to bed.

Cordelia left then to go to her room. Angel was up and dressed already when she came into the room. "Are you all packed?" He asked her as she came in. "Yes dear all packed and loaded in the van. Wesley is packing right now. I haven't checked on Lou yet though." As Cordelia walked by him to make the bed Angel grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. He inhaled deeply of her scent. "Are you checking me out sir?" "Yes I am my love. I am checking to make sure that it will be safe for us to indulge ourselves tonight." "And what does your senses tell you?" "Houston we do not have a problem and the launch sequence can begin tonight." Cordelia pulled him to the bed and started kissing him. She nuzzled his neck then traveled to his lips and pulled on his lower lip before she invited his tongue into her mouth. While her mouth was busy with his she lowered her hands into his pants and reached for him. Angel sucked in his breath as she grabbed him to see if he was responding to her love making yet. When she felt him responding satisfactorily she pulled away and got up.

"What's the matter?" Angel asked. "Oh I was just testing the shuttles main engine to see if it was working alright. We haven't had sex in almost 2 weeks and I wanted to make sure that the surgery didn't damage any of the main controls. After all I don't want to get all worked up then find that the main engine doesn't work." "You Vixen. Why don't you check on Lou and I'll finish packing and make the bed, that should give me enough time to power down the main engine. Where is the princes?" "She's sleeping in the playpen with Junior. Has she asked you yet why you haven't been in her head lately?" "No, not yet." Angel answered.

Cordelia went into the bathroom first and checked her calendar. According to her calculations she should be ripe for the next three days but Angel didn't smell anything. 'Well if my calendar is right and I'm pregnant by the time we get home then we will know what was damaged during the operation.' For some reason she felt that it was urgent that she have her babies now. She smiled at herself in the mirror and removed the birth control pills from her purse and put them in the drawer. She left to go and check on Lou then.

Lou was coming downstairs just as Cordelia started to go upstairs. "Already to go and see your father and brother?" "Yes and I can hardly wait. Do I have time to grab something to eat?" "Sure in fact I'll join you." Just as they were sitting down to breakfast Angel and Wesley came downstairs. They left their bags at the back door and came and joined the girls. As they were all sitting and having their breakfast the phone at the Lobby counter rang and Cordelia went to answer it.

"Angel Investigation We Help the Hopeless." They all heard her say. After a few seconds she called for Angel. He was on the phone for a few minutes then hung up and went back to his breakfast.

"Is there a problem Angel?" Wesley asked. "Just a slight one, we won't be able to get back until Sunday because I forgot about Lou's father not being able to go out in the day light. When we saw him it was during the day but the day was heavily overcast and that was why he could be out. Apparently as I become more human my Boss is making my mind adjust to being out in daylight and it seems normal to me even though I can't be out for too long. Any way Lou that was your brother Tom on the phone he said it's to clear today for your father to come out and even be in the shadows or the light that comes in through the windows of the restaurant. He said most likely it will be like that tomorrow also. So they will be meeting us at 6 P.M. on Saturday."

"You still want to leave today?" Wesley asked Angel. "Yeah why not, Lou do you think you could find where your father and brother are living now?" "Yes we always stayed in the same place for the winter and another place the rest of the time. We moved to the winter home just before we left to meet up with you." "Can we get their by car or do we have to walk?" "We can get their by a 4 wheel drive but I don't think the van will make it." Lou answered.

"What about your SUV Wesley?" "Sorry Angel but it's at the dealer repair shop today. I thought this would be a good time to have the 4 wheel drive fixed." "Well I thought you might be able to spend some more time with your father and brother but I guess that's out unless you have another way of getting there." Angel looked straight at Lou and was able to get her to look at him. As they looked at each other, Angel's eyes changed slightly then back to normal again. Lou smiled when she caught on to what he was inferring. "Yes I can think of an alternative method. I'll be fine we used to do it all of the time." "Good then lets go. We'll meet you at the van Wesley." Wesley went up stairs to inform Fred of the change in plans and asked her to tell everyone else.

Within the next 15 minutes they were on their way. Several things were going to happen during this seemingly innocent excursion.

One, the last of Cordelia and Angel's family would be conceived this weekend. Two, Cordelia is going to learn something new about Angel and three Cordelia's supporters are going to win 'THE BET'.

TBC………………………….

I want to thank all of you that sent me reviews. I cannot begin to tell you how happy it makes me when I read them. They give me the encouragement I need to continue.

If anyone has an idea as to how I can have Cordelia win the bet let me know. I want her to win but as of the posting of this chapter I haven't a clue as to how I am going to make it happen.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The day started out with clear skies and remained clear throughout the day, which was unusual for this time of the year. The Santa Ana winds had ended two months ago so that meant there were no winds to blow the smog out of the valleys. It had rained the night before and apparently that had cleaned the air. Angel had been driving for four hours already and they were now getting close to the High Sierras. Wesley was sitting up front with Angel while Lou and Cordelia were sitting in the back sleeping. They had been talking continuously for the first three hours of the trip. Angel and Wesley had been listening to them. When the girls finally quieted down Wesley turned around to check on them.

"They're sleeping now. I don't know how women can find so much to talk about." When Wesley looked at Angel to tell him the girls were sleeping he noticed smoke coming from Angel's left hand. "Angel I think Angelus has reached his limit on exposure to the sun. You better pull over so we can switch and you can go to the back."

Angel looked at his hand. He didn't notice it getting hot until Wesley brought his attention to it. He immediately put his hand down to his side and out of the sun. "I think your right. Do you remember how to get up to the town we were at?" "Yes, no problem." Angel waited until he came to a rest stop that had signs informing you there were restroom facilities available. He knew the girls and Wesley most likely needed to use them. After Cordelia had delivered Kathleen he stopped needing to relieve himself so frequently and once a day was now the norm for him.

Wesley and Angel got out and opened both side doors for Lou and Cordelia. "Ladies it's time to wake up." Wesley called out to them. Cordelia and Lou squinted their eyes to try and block out some of the bright sun light. "Are we there yet?" Cordelia said as she came forward. "No we're just at a rest stop. I'm going to take over driving so Angel can get in the back and out of the sun." "Oh, I hope it has restrooms because I have to go." "Me too." Lou said. As soon as the girls exited the van they all headed for the restrooms while Angel climbed into the back of the van and opened the ice chest so he could put his hand into the ice cold water. 'Man does that feel good.' Angel said to himself.

After fifteen minutes his traveling companions returned. Wesley took over the drivers' seat while Lou was in the passenger seat and Cordelia went to the back to be with Angel. "Anyone want something to drink?" Cordelia asked. "Yes I'll take a bottle of water." Wesley said while Lou asked for a Pepsi. As soon as Wesley opened his water and drank half of it he started the engine and they got back on the road.

Angel and Cordelia were quiet in the back while Lou and Wesley were having a conversation about her history studies. After listening to them for awhile Cordelia reached into her large bag that she had stashed in the back. She pulled out a book that she had wanted to read but never seemed to have the chance. "How about if I read to you for awhile Angel would you like that?" "What is it?" He asked. "Don't laugh when I tell you." "Okay I promise I won't laugh." He said with a smile. "It's 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.' I've wanted to read this ever since I heard about these series of books. Everyone that I talk to says that they're real good and a lot of adults read them." Cordelia looked at Angel. "Well, do you want to hear it?" Angel didn't say anything for a few minutes. He turned to her then with a big grin. "To tell you the truth I've been curious also, but I didn't want anyone to catch me reading it. I knew what Gunn would say if he caught me." Angel raised his voice so Wesley would hear. "So we won't tell anyone will we Wesley and Lou." "Angel I've already started reading it to Fred. I've been anxious to continue the book because I got almost half way when Fred delivered the boys. Why don't you sit in one of the middle seats Cordelia so Lou and I can hear you also?"

Cordelia moved to the center seat and started reading the book. She was able to read up to the point where Harry received the gift of the Invisibility Cloak for Christmas when they arrived at the Motel they were going to stay at. They became so interested in the story that they didn't even stop to have lunch. While Angel continued reading Cordelia passed out the sandwiches that Connie had packed for them and opened a bottle of blood for Angel. Lou unwrapped Wesley's sandwich for him and opened a bag of potato chips for him also which made it easy for him to reach everything safely and continue driving. When Angel's voice started to go Lou took over then it went back to Cordelia. Everyone liked to hear Cordelia read because she brought her acting ability into play and made the characters seem more life like.

"Okay everyone where here. Shall we go and eat first or shall we register and get settled into our rooms?" Wesley asked everyone. "Why don't we go and get something to eat after we register. I don't think places stay open very long around here so we better get something to eat while they're still open." Angel said.

Wesley went to the motel and registered for 3 rooms and then asked if their was anyplace to eat in town that was still open since it was already 9 o'clock at night. "The only place that is open Angel is the local bar which serves hamburgers and tacos." "Do you ladies have a problem with going to a bar for dinner? It might be a little rough?" Angel asked Lou and Cordelia.

"As long as you promise to behave yourself I think we'll be okay." Cordelia said and Lou giggled behind her hand. "Ha! Ha! Very funny. I tell you once we get married a man's life is over Wesley. No more fun times anymore with the guys." "Yes that's true Angel but I would trade that in anytime for what we have now." "Well I don't know Wesley it's been so long since we had a good time I don't remember if it's worth giving a good night of drinking and fighting up. Let me see if she can refresh my memory." Angel pulled Cordelia to him and she gave him a very long kiss that entailed tongues doing major research in each others mouth. As they finally pulled apart Angel licked his lips and smacked them a few times. "Yup she has reminded me that it is worth my giving all of that fun time up."

"Okay then it's the local bar then. Behave yourself now Lou I don't want to have to bail you out of jail in the morning." Wesley told her. "I think I'll be able to restrain myself. Just for tonight though okay?" "Okay that's agreeable." Wesley drove to the one and only bar in town with the one and only restaurant that was still open.

As they got out of the van and walked into the bar they knew right away that they had better make it a short dinner. The patrons consisted of mostly men that looked like they were construction workers. Several of the patrons appeared to be well on their way to surpassing the legal limit of alcohol.

Angel took Cordelia's hand and Wesley took Lou's and they went to the furthest table. They quickly ordered their dinners and waited. They were all sitting at a table with Angel and Wesley on the side close to the bar. Cordelia looked at Angel as he eyed the men at the bar. She could practically see him oozing Alpha Male testosterone. The waitress brought their food over after just fifteen minutes. She watched the waitress take a second look at Angel and Wesley and lick her lips as she put the bill down by Angel. Cordelia put her left hand on Angels hand as the waitress put the bill down. She saw the waitress look at the wedding rings on her hand then looked at his left hand and saw his wedding ring. "All the good ones are always taken." The waitress said then left. "What did she say? Angel asked as he started in on his dinner. "Nothing important dear just eat your dinner so that we can get out of here." Cordelia said as she started in on her own dinner. Lou had seen all of this and decided she would talk to Cordelia about it later when they were alone. They almost made it out of the door without any confrontations.

As they were walking towards the door a drunk came up to Cordelia, completely ignoring Angel, and put his arm around her. "Where are you going so soon ladies, stay awhile and dance with us, have a few drinks." Wesley and Lou had already walked out of the door while Angel was right behind Cordelia. "Take your hand off of me sir or you will regret it." Cordelia said as she looked straight at him. "Come on now don't be like that sweetheart my friends and I would like to get to know you." Angel waited to see what Cordelia would do. He had spent many hours teaching her how defend herself. He waited like a tightly coiled spring, ready to go into action if she should need him.

Cordelia slammed her heal down on the mans foot as hard as she could but since it didn't have the immediate affect she wanted she brought her hand down into his crotch as hard as she could. As the man bent over she grabbed his head and flipped him over so that he landed on his back. She left him groaning on the ground and holding onto his family jewels.

After walking over the man that Cordelia left on the floor Angel bent down and said "Next time when the lady orders you to remove your hand I would advise you to do it." The construction worker sat up and just nodded. Angel left then to join the others.

As soon as Angel got in Wesley left for the motel. Angel and Cordelia's room were 2 rooms down from Lou's and Wesley's. While Cordelia went into their room . Angel escorted Lou to her room to make sure everything would be okay. Before leaving he asked her "How long do you think it would take for you to get from here to your Dad's winter home as a wolf?" "About 1 to 2 hours it all depends on if I have to go around anything that might be blocking my way." "Wow, it must not be to far from here." "Well it is a long way it's just that I can make it in 1 to 2 hours when I am running all of the way." "Oh. Well, let's wait until midnight and then you and I will leave. If anything should happen to you while your traveling up there your father would probably try to kill me. As soon as you get there let me know if everything is okay then I'll return." "Okay I'll see you at midnight." Angel left then to join Cordelia and tell her something new about her husband.

When Angel entered the room he could hear Cordelia in the shower. He didn't join her since he was going to be getting dirty anyway so he just turned the T.V. on and removed all of his clothes before he lay down. Midnight was 90 minutes away and he had to talk to Cordelia about it since she would have to let him out and in when he returned.

As she came out of the shower with nothing but a towel wrapped around her body she was wiping her hair with another towel. "Well I see your all ready for the nights activities." Angel raised himself on his elbow and patted the bed. Cordelia took her towel off and lay beside him and started to kiss him. Cordy it's nice that you have your engine already going and warming up but I need to talk to you about something." Cordelia was kissing Angels neck when he finally grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back.

"We can talk while we warm your engine up." She started kissing his neck again. Since he couldn't lie on the bed and talk to her he slid down to the floor and out of her reach unless she followed him.

"Now Cordelia I want you to sit right there and don't move no matter what happens, don't move and don't say anything until I'm done." Cordelia sat up against the headboard and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Okay I'm ready, shoot."

Angel got down on his hands and knees and concentrated on what he had to do. Right before Cordelia's eyes she watched her husband become a large wolf. She stretched out over the bed sideways and stared at her husband. "Ohhhhh, kinky." The wolf in front of her sat down and looked at her with his head tilted sideways. "You make a handsome wolf Angel." Cordelia got down on the floor in front of him and put both of her hands on either side of his head and ruffled it then gave him a kiss on his head." Angel licked her face all over then she started to scratch his side which made his hind leg start to try to scratch the same area.

Angel changed back then without any problem this time. After he checked himself he sat down and just stared at her. "You knew I could do that didn't you?" "To tell you the truth no I didn't. At least not until you went camping. You my dear husband forgot about the link between us. Normally I don't hear or sense what you are doing unless it's very intense. Like intense emotions or pain your feeling. Apparently when you did it for the first time when you came up here it had been a long time since you had changed into a wolf and the pain you were in passed to me through the link. I was with you when you, Spike and Connor went hunting also. Fortunately Angel your daughter was sleeping when this was happening." Angel rolled on his back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Well she won't hear my voice in her head anymore. I was able to shut down the link to her last night. All I can do is feel her well being now." Angel was quiet for a few minutes. Cordelia could tell that he was deep in thought when she saw one tear fall from the corner of his eye. She got off of the bed and lay next to him on the floor and reached up and wiped the tear with her fingers.

He turned and looked at her. "I envy you Cordy. I envy you because you have a special connection with our daughter that I can't have anymore." "No Angel I'm the one that envies you. You have a special love with our daughter that no woman can ever have with their baby. You share a love and relationship that I can only guess as to what it is like. Your daughter loves you so much that even at her very young age she feels an emptiness when your not there for her to talk to. The only difference between now and before is that you and our daughter will have to actually use your mouth to speak. But the relationship you share is still there. Now what are you going to be doing that you needed me to know about your other self?"

"Lou says that she can change into a wolf also so her and I are going to become wolves so that she can go up to her fathers winter home and then come back when her father and brother meet us tomorrow. This way she can have a little longer with her family. I don't want her traveling around as a wolf because there are always men out there that get a big kick out of killing wolves. I would never forgive myself if she should get hurt while she is supposed to be in my care. So at midnight I need you to go over to her room and be with her while she gets ready to change. She has a back pack that she's going to put her clothes in. After she changes you need to open the door for her since she can't open it with her paws. Then come and let me out and Lou and I will leave. I should be back sometime between 3 and 4 A.M."

Cordelia reached up and kissed him on the nose. "Yes my little fuzzy wuzzy." Angel slapped his head with his hand. "Don't tell me I'm going to have to listen to all of these cute little names from now on." "No it won't be from now on." Cordelia jumped back up on the bed and pulled the covers over her head then said "Sooner or later I'm going to run out of names." Angel jumped on the bed and pretended to eat her. She pulled the covers down and looked at him. "Just think Angel we can play Little Red Riding Hood and we can have a real wolf to play the part." Cordelia pulled the sheet off the bed and around her head. As she held it with her hand under her chin she pretended she was a little girl with a basket of goodies for her grandmother. Angel was roaring with laughter. He was laughing so hard that he had to hold his sides because his ribs were hurting.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Miss. Hood but I change only when I absolutely have to. It hurts too much to do it just to play sex games with you." "Oh Rats. You sure you can't do it just once in a while?" "Well maybe just once when we get home but you have to promise to give me a good massage. I also usually have a problem with my shoulder blade not going back into it's correct position." "Do you really? Oh my poor baby I bet that does hurt. So when can we do it then?" "You're not going to let me rest until I do it for you are you?" "I tell you what, I'll only remind you one day each month." Angel looked closely into her eyes and searched her mind for the truth." "Yeah, I see your plan. One day a month but a hundred times during that one day. You little……." Cordelia jumped up and grabbed her coat and threw it on while running out of the door. She was fast but not fast enough to miss Angels reach as he slapped her behind. As she went out the door he could hear a muffled OW as his hand found it's mark.

Angel got up then and pulled a bottle of blood out of the ice chest and warmed it up in the microwave. When he was done he changed into a wolf and waited for Cordelia to come and let him out.

When Cordelia arrived at Lou's door she knocked and said "Lou it's me Cordelia." The door opened and Lou let her in. When she closed the door Cordelia could see that Lou wasn't wearing anything under her robe. "Are you ready?" She asked Lou. "Yes I have my clothes in a back pack that I bought a couple of days ago. Here is my room card key that you can hold until tomorrow night." Lou took her robe off then and got onto her hands and knees and proceeded to change. When she was done and had checked herself out she picked the backpack up and went to the door. Cordelia signaled for her to wait then stuck her head out of the door and checked for anyone standing around outside. She didn't see anyone so she stepped to the side to let Lou out. After turning the lights out and closing the door Cordelia went to her own room and let Angel out. Angel greeted Lou then licked Cordelia's face in goodbye then left.

Cordelia watched them for as long as she could. She closed her eyes then and concentrated on sending Angel her thoughts. "Be careful Angel and may God go with you." She felt his love come back to her. She heard Wesley come out and stand by her. "He'll be alright Cordelia he did it when we were up here the first time." "I know Wesley it's just that ever since I had Kathleen I've had a nagging feeling that our days together are numbered and the count down has begun." Wesley put his arm around her then waited as she went back into her room and closed the door. He went back to his own room then and waited to hear Angel's safe return.

Wesley had intended to stay awake until Angel returned but one hour later he was asleep and didn't wake up until 11 in the morning. When he saw the time he reached for the phone and called Cordelia. The phone rang several times before she answered it. "Hello." She answered in a voice that told him he had awakened her.

"Cordelia did Angel return okay?" "Yes he came back around 5, he said he came across a hunter that shot at him but missed so he had to lay low for an hour before he could come back. Are you ready to go and have breakfast?" "No I just woke up myself. Give me a call when you're ready okay?" "Okay Wesley but I think I'll just go back to sleep for a little longer. Bye."

Cordelia put the phone back in its cradle then pulled the covers over her head. It was winter time now and they were up in the mountains so it was cold. Angel's body heat had slowly started to increase but it still felt cold under the covers. "Let's see if we can get your body to warm up some my stud muffin." She curled herself around him and pulled the covers up further. She started by running her finger nail over his stomach and chest very lightly. Angel responded by rubbing his hand over where ever she had touched him. Once again she ran her fingers over his chest then down his stomach and down to the hair between his legs. Cordelia wasn't getting enough of a response out of Angel so she thought she would go a little further and perhaps become just a little sadistic, just a little. She wrapped one, just one hair around her finger and pulled gently at first to see if she would get a response. Apparently Angel must have had a long way to run last night because even this little torture didn't wake him up. So she pulled a little harder.

While Cordelia was busy at one end Angels eyes were opening at the other end. When she pulled his hair again he sat up carefully and looked at her head under the covers. "That hurts you know!" He said it so loudly and suddenly that Cordelia let out a little scream and fell off of the bed as she tried to get her head out from underneath the covers.

Angel leaned over the bed and looked at her. "Were you trying to be funny or something?" "Why no Angel, what makes you think I was trying to be funny? It's just that I was cold and your body was cold so I thought we could do something to warm it up so that I could be warm under the covers while I'm lying next to you." Angel put his hands under her arms and pulled her up and on top of the bed. Then he centered himself on the bed and stretched out his arms and legs and looked up at the ceiling.

"You may commence with the procedure to warm me up." Cordelia just stared at him when he said that. At first she had a look of surprise on her face when he said that. It made her feel like a prostitute that was being paid to pleasure him. But then her look of surprise turned into a mischievous grin. "You just stay right their Mister Martin and I'll get ready for you." She went over to the dresser where her overnight bag was and reached into an inner bag and pulled out two pairs of handcuffs and laid it on top of her clothes. She started to put her makeup on and fix her hair then she picked up a small bag and went into the bathroom for a second then came out again wearing her bathrobe and grabbed the handcuffs.

"Sit up and lean against the headboard Angel." He did as she said and she put a couple of pillows behind his back because the headboard was made of wooden dowels spaced evenly through it. When she was done making him comfortable she asked him to give her his left hand then she put the cuffs on and attached it to one of the wooden dowels on the headboard. She then proceeded to do the same thing to the other arm.

"Now Mr. Martin would you like some blood to drink?" "Yes Mrs. Martin I sure would." Cordelia warmed him up a glass of blood and held it for him as he drank it. When he was done she wiped his mouth and a little of the blood that had dripped out of the corner of his mouth and fell on his chest. Cordelia called Wesley then when she remembered that he was waiting for her call.

"Wesley have you eaten yet?" "No and I am sure hungry are you guys ready yet?" "No that's why I'm calling you. We're kind of tied up here why don't you go ahead and bring us back some sandwiches. I'll take a Ham and cheese and Angel will have a Roast Beef sandwich with chips. When we're done with what we're tied up with I'll come and get the sandwiches from you." "Okay Cordelia. I should be back in an hour." "Thanks Wesley." Cordelia hung up the phone and went back to the bathroom. A few minutes later she came out with the bathrobe on and put a CD into the CD/radio player. She slipped back into the bathroom again. She looked around the door to the bathroom and looked at Angel and winked at him.

To his surprise the music Cordelia had put on was from the Strip Tease sequence from the movie Gypsy Rose Lee. As the music started she came out at a fast pace. It was kind of hard to copy the way Natalie Wood did it on the stage because she didn't have anywhere near the space that Natalie did. She did her best though as she removed her clothes a little at a time and when it came time for the dress to fall down she positioned herself by the bathroom and opened up a large fan in front of her as she let her dress fall to the floor. Cordelia ended the show by spinning around and around with the fan until she was standing by the wall leading to the bathroom. At the last second she dropped the fan and slipped back into the bathroom and the music ended. She picked up the fan again and opened it so that it covered her torso. She then proceeded to bow several times and went to the bed.

"How did you like my performance Mr. Martin?" "If my hands were loose I would still be clapping Mrs. Martin. Bravo! Bravo! Natalie Wood has nothing over you. Now if you would either proceed with the next step in pleasuring me, or unlock my hands, so that the young, handsome fan can ravage the beautiful actress that he has been stocking for several weeks." "I'm not done yet Mr. Martin." Cordelia put the fan over his face so that he couldn't see what she was doing.

For the next two hours they played some and had sex some. Cordelia was even able to get him into a position where the wolf was ravaging poor Little Red Riding Hood. He had Cordelia on her hands and knees and he took her in this position as he bite down on her neck. When he did that she almost lost her ability to support his body as well as her own. When they climaxed this time they were both too tired to even get up and onto the bed. Angel just pulled the blankets onto them as they laid on the floor. They slept then for an hour before the alarm rang that she had set earlier. She jumped up and turned the alarm off then. It was now 4:30 in the afternoon and they were supposed to meet with Chambeau at the restaurant at 6.

"Angel wake up we have to get ready to go to the restaurant." By 5:30 they were ready and waiting at the van for Wesley. He came out a few minutes later with his laptop computer and cell phone in a large canvas bag. "Let's go." Cordelia and Angel were hungry after the day's activities. Neither one of them had, had any solid food to eat since the previous night. Cordelia and Wesley were freezing so Angel warmed the van up as fast as possible then took off for the restaurant.

When they arrived they found the Chambeau family already inside where it was warm. As they went in Lou waved her hand and called "Cordelia over here." Lou had a big grin on her face. She seemed so happy to be with her father and brother. As soon as they came to the table Lou introduced Cordelia to her father and brother then they sat down and ordered coffee when the waitress came over. They all studied the menu and ordered before they started talking.

"I want to thank you Mrs. Martin for taking my daughter into your home and family. She has told us how much she has already learned from you already." "Please call me Cordelia. Lou has been a big help to me and the other women. We have a total of 4 babies in the hotel now and Lou is helping us all a lot. I don't worry about them whenever we ask her to watch our daughter and the rest of the children. You should be very proud of her she is having to learn a lot all at once and is getting by just fine."

"I'm sorry to interrupt everyone but I have to ask you a few questions Daniel. I remembered that you said you delivered your children yourself. Did you in anyway let their birth be known to anyone such as a doctor or a hospital?" "No I didn't. I was too afraid that they would find something unusual about them and take them away from me. Fortunately they were very healthy babies and they seemed to inherit my ability to heal quickly." "What about later on as they were growing up did you every try to get birth certificates for them or anything?" "No, as far as the community knows they don't exist on paper." "Okay then that is what I am going to take care of now. Actually I'm not the one that is going to do it. A friend of ours is real good at computers and is going to create birth certificates and social security numbers for both your children and you." Wesley set up his computer and placed a call to his network provider. He then sent Willow all of the information she would need then closed everything down so that he could eat while Willow worked on creating a paper trail for the Chambeau family.

The waitress brought over their order and they all dug in. Cordelia and Angel were hungry so they were quiet while they proceeded to eat their dinner. Thirty minutes later Wesley's phone rang. It was Willow and she was done creating the proper papers.

"Okay Daniel you now all officially exist on paper. I've opened up a Post Office box for you so we can send things to you. You should get your Social Security Cards in several weeks. We had yours and your sons cards sent to this Post Office box and Lou's will go to the hotel of course. Willow has created birth certificates for both of your children and you. Would you like me to keep these for you in our safe?" "Yes please." Chambeau answered. When you get those Social Security cards I want you to go to the bank and open an account. Then call me with your account number and I'll take care of everything else. What I need for you to do sometime this week is to contact your lawyer or whoever is handling your Swiss Bank accounts and have them send $50,000 to this bank account number in L.A. What I need to know is would you prefer to carry around cash or a credit card."

"I think I would prefer cash." Chambeau answered. "Okay then once the $50,000 is in the L.A. account I'll transfer $5,000 to the account at your bank. I don't want to send anymore then that because small town banks like the one here just can't handle the large amounts of money where as in Los Angeles they handle much larger amounts with ease. Plus everyone knows what everyone else is doing in a small town like this and a large amount like $50,000 would really start the gossip and that is what you want to avoid.

"Now the story that we usually use to explain why Spike and Angel can't go into the sunlight is they have a rare skin disease that will make them real sick if they expose their skin to the sunlight. I advise you to start making visits to town at least once each week for awhile. Your son can come in once in awhile by himself to do some shopping while he spreads this story. Tell people how eccentric your father is also and how he likes his privacy. Just remember that you need to keep your story consistent so that people don't become suspicious. Don't forget to check your Post Office Box at least one time each week. I will keep in touch with you through the mail.

"I know this is a lot that I'm throwing at you but it's all important things that we need to establish your existence on paper and now I have the most important part of this paper trail. We need for you to sign this paper that will give Angel and Cordelia guardianship over Lou. This will allow them to enter her into school and also any medical procedures that she may need. In other words you are giving them full control over her life. This will continue only until she turns 18 but some things will continue since she will still be covered under their medical insurance if she decides to go on to college."

Chambeau didn't say anything he just accepted everything Wesley said and signed all of the papers he was given.

As he finished Wesley placed everything back in his briefcase then packed up his laptop and cell phone. Now that the reason for them coming to see Chambeau was finished they were able to visit for awhile. Lou was sitting between her father and brother and was busy telling them about her experiences in Los Angeles and how much she loved being there. But she also let them know how much she missed them.

After two hours of taking up the booth in the restaurant Angel decided that it was time to go when he noticed Cordelia's eyes starting to close. "I think it's time to go Wesley and Lou. Chambeau if at any time you would like to come to L.A. I'll be more than happy to come out and get you. Lou if you want to you can spend a little more time with your father and brother and come back to the motel tomorrow morning." "No I think well say our goodbyes now. I've had a big day and I need my beauty sleep tonight."

Chambeau and his son looked at Lou then at Angel. "Where did she pick up talk like that?" Angel just pointed to Cordelia. "And who is it that you have to take care of your looks for? Do you have a boyfriend already?" "No Daddy it's just a saying. Cordelia said that a young woman needs at least 8 hours sleep each night or else you start getting dark circles around your eyes and if you're not careful you'll start getting bags under your eyes also." Lou didn't think that she should say anything about Connor yet.

Angel left a large tip on the table and took the bill up to the register to pay it. They all walked out to the van then and talked for a while longer. It was freezing though and Cordelia and Wesley were shivering. "I am going to get into the van now because I am freezing to death out here. Good bye Mr. Chambeau it was a pleasure meeting you." Cordelia shook his hand and his son's and got into the back of the van. Wesley was next then finally Angel and Lou. They left Chambeau and his son standing in the light of the restaurant and Lou watched them for as long as she could. They could hear her sniffling as they left the restaurant. She was sitting in the passenger seat so Angel put his hand on hers to comfort her. She smiled back at him. "Thank you for this weekend Angel." "Your welcome Lou."

As soon as they got back to the motel Cordelia said goodnight to Lou and Wesley and went running into their room. By the time Angel came in Cordelia was already in the bed with the covers pulled up over her head. He made a couple of cups of hot instant cocoa then crawled into the bed beside her. There were no activities that night since Cordelia was tired from the morning and afternoon activities. They sat up for a while just watching the news and drinking their hot cocoa.

The next morning they all got up early. Cordelia had checked out the location of the local Catholic Church and the times for the mass. By 10 A.M. they were on the road back to L.A. and Cordelia had started to read the Harry Potter book again and this helped to make the time go by fast. By 7 that night they were back in L.A. and at the Hotel.

As luck would have it they arrived just in time for dinner. They took a few minutes to greet the returning travelers then everyone sat down to eat. It was getting colder as the days got closer to Christmas so Connie had made Chili Beans and white rice. Since she had made a simple dinner that didn't take too much time she gave them a special treat of Sopapillas. These were essentially deep fried tortilla dough. When placed in the oil they would puff up like little pillows.

Connie, Joaquin and Lucinda brought in 3 large bowls of these Sopapillas and placed one at each end and the middle of the table.

"Oh! I've seen these before in Texas at a state fair. But they were selling them as snacks with butter and jelly." Fred said.

"So how do we eat these Joaquin?" Connor asked.

Joaquin pulled up a chair next to Connor and Connie brought him a bowl and spoon. They were all watching him closely. Joaquin looked for a Sopapilla that was just right. He grabbed one that had a light upper crust that had separated from the bottom part. He broke one end of the upper crust and started spooning in the rice and Chili Beans. He then sprinkled some green onions on the top and started to eat it. Everyone else tried it after watching him. Joaquin laughed at their response to this new food item. "We are going to make Mexicans out of all of you yet." They all laughed because they loved the way Connie cooked and were quickly becoming indoctrinated into the New Mexico type of food.

After Cordelia finished feeding her daughter she gave her a Sopapilla to keep her busy. Kathleen wanted her Daddy though and started to call to him to pick her up. As always Angel catered to his daughters wishes and picked her up.

Kathleen hugged him and then put her little hands on either side of his face so that he would look at her. "How come you don't talk to me Daddy? I miss you." "What do you mean? Daddy talks to you all of the time." "No Daddy in here." She pointed to her head. Angel knew that the time had come and he looked at his mother to answer Kathleen's question. His mother gestured for him to bring her over to her.

"Grandma is going to talk to you about why Daddy can't talk to you anymore like that, okay?" "Okay Daddy." Angel walked to the other end of the table and gave Kathleen to her grandmother. He started to walk back to his chair but Dr. Martin told him to pull a chair over and sit by her.

"Remember last week when Daddy had an Owie and Grandma had to fix it?" "You mean when Daddy had a big bandage on his head?" "Yes that's it. Do you know what caused Daddy to have that Owie?" "No, did he fall down and hurt his head like I did yesterday?" "No your Daddy has been having an Owie that had been growing inside of his head. See this is where we took out the Owie. Put your head down so we can feel the scar Angel." Angel did as she said and Dr. Martin felt for the scar. When she found it she put Kathleen's hand on the scar. "Do you feel the Owie?" Kathleen felt it for awhile. "Poor Daddy, does it hurt?" "No not anymore since Grandma fixed it." "Now that it doesn't hurt any more can you start talking to me again?" "No Baby." "When your Daddy starts to talk to you in here his Owie starts to hurt again." "You mean Daddy can't talk to me anymore?" Kathleen pointed to her own head. "No he can't but he can talk to you through here just like you and I are talking now." Dr. Martin pointed to Kathleen's mouth. Kathleen was quiet for awhile while she thought about it.

"Okay Daddy, I don't want your Owie to start hurting again. Can I still talk to Toby Gama?" "Yes you can continue to talk to Toby and your Mommy whenever you want." Kathleen reached for her Daddy and gave him a kiss and hug as Angel went back to his own chair at the other end of the table. As he sat down he had to blow his nose and wipe his tears.

"Why are you crying Daddy?" "I am crying because I am going to miss our time together in here." Angel pointed to her head. "That's okay Daddy cause I will always love you cause you're my Daddy and I'm your princes." "Yes you are my princes. No matter how many babies come to our home you will always be my very own special princes and nothing can ever change that. See I'll show you where your Mommy put you in my heart." Angel opened his shirt up and showed her the scar that was just above his heart where Wesley's father had stabbed him with the spike.

"See this scar here." He pointed at it while Kathleen bent over and looked at it. She put her little finger on it. "When you were born your Mommy took a little part of you and made a little cut into my heart and put it in there then closed it back up again and that is why you will always have a special place in my heart and no one can ever take it out." "I want some of you in me to Daddy so no one can ever take you away from me." "Okay but we have to wait until we see Aunt Willow again and she will be able to take a tiny part of me and put it into your heart to. Okay?" "Okay Daddy. Don't cry anymore okay, because you make me sad when I see you cry." "Okay I'll try." Angel put her back into her high chair then looked at everyone else. He realized then that everyone had been watching him talk to his daughter. They were all wiping their tears away and blowing their noses.

Joaquin brought a large envelope over to Cordelia and whispered something into her ear then left. Cordelia left the envelope on the table and went to get the phone then brought it back to the table.

"Uhmm…" She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "I am going to make a very important call here and I need everyone to be quite and to listen." She proceeded to call Buffy in Sunnydale then.

"Buffy, hi it's Cordelia. I need to ask you if everyone is there for your usual Monday night meeting? They are, good, can you put me on the speaker? Good hi everyone." Cordelia put the phone on the speaker so everyone at the table could hear her.

"I'll make this short everyone. I know that you all made bets as to whether I would be able to find a way to see the portraits Angel is painting. I want you to know that those of you that placed their bets on me have won." Angel stood up. "How did you get in? I even put a spell on the room that would prevent you from going in and looking at them. I know it worked because I got it from Willow."

"Poor Angel, so full of pride in his own abilities. The problem my dear husband was in how you phrased your spell and your orders to me to stay out of the room." Angel went over the words he used in his spell and his orders to her not to go into the room. He looked at the envelope and then at Joaquin who was standing by the entrance to the kitchen. Angel finally put 2 and 2 together and then slumped in his chair.

"So how did you do it?" Dr. Martin asked.

"She had Joaquin go into the room and take pictures. The spell was to prevent Cordelia from going in and not anyone else. By having Joaquin do it she obeyed Angels orders." Fred said. "How do you know this?" Wesley said. "I was here and I heard Joaquin going up to the 4th floor and I just figured out the rest now."

"I presume that is what is in the envelope that Joaquin gave you so pass them down so we can take a look." Wesley said. Cordelia didn't look at the pictures, she just passed them down.

Wesley opened the envelope and carefully looked at them. Everyone watched him as he turned the pictures this way and that way then held it close to his face then further away.

On the other side of the line they could hear Willow counting up the money she would have to pay. "Did you bet that I would win Willow?" "Yes because I had faith in you Angel and I didn't think that you would overlook anything." "Willow, Willow, Willow. How easily you give in." Angel said. He sounded as though his feelings were hurt.

Cordelia heard what he was saying and didn't like the sound of his voice. Wesley had passed the pictures on to Fred and the rest. Cordelia noticed his big smile as he looked at her. Then she looked at Angel and saw a smile touching the corners of his mouth. She went down to the other end of the table and looked over Giles shoulder as he looked at one of the pictures. She took the pictures and looked at all of them. You could practically see the steam coming out of her ears.

"You tricked me. You rat, you tricked me. You knew that I would find a way around your spell and your orders."

"What happened? Did Cordelia win or not?" Buffy yelled.

"Angel's paintings are still secure Buffy. He put some fake Picasso paintings in place of his paintings while we were out of town these past few days. Face it Cordelia he knows you too well." Wesley said as he got up and went into his office. He picked up the phone and told Willow to stay on the line so he could talk to her about what they did for Chambeau. He opened his office door and told Angel to take him off of the speaker.

Cordelia was still standing by Giles when he got up and reached for Dr. Martin's hand. "Come my dear lets get out of the line of fire."

Within the next minute Cordelia relaxed and took the pictures and put them in the trash. "That's okay Angel. This is a slight set back but all it means is that the bet is still on. What's that saying of your Grandmothers that you are always quoting Connor? Oh yes 'Don't get mad, get even.'" Cordelia picked up her daughter and started for the stairs. When she arrived at the top she turned around and yelled downstairs. "Come on Fred and Lou you have to come and help me to plot my next move. We can meet in my room."

"I guess we had better go and help her think of a way to get in to see those pictures or she won't stop talking about it." Fred said as she picked up one of her boys and Lou came and picked up the other one.

Before going into her room Cordelia went down to Giles and Moms room and knocked on the door lightly. Giles opened the door. "Hi Giles can I talk to you and Mom for just a few minutes?" "Sure Cordelia come in. Mary is lying down right now but she isn't sleeping yet." Cordelia walked in and went and sat on the side of the bed next to Dr. Martin. "Mom I've noticed lately how tired you've been looking lately. Why don't you and Giles go to Sunnydale for a few weeks and have a nice quiet vacation up there. You can stay at the mansion and stay in the master bedroom. Willow can get everything going for you." Dr. Martin looked at Giles. "It sounds awfully tempting, what do you think Rupert?" "I say start packing and I'll pull up the car to the back." "Okay then I guess I better call Willow to have everything turned on tomorrow and have the place cleaned."

"Oh wait Cordelia, Christmas is on Saturday and we have to be here for Christmas. How about leaving on Sunday morning after Mass?" "Okay then I'll still have Willow turn everything on and clean the place if it needs it. I'll leave you now to take a nap." Cordelia picked up her daughter and left without saying anything else. Mom was looking very tired and was actually getting dark circles around her eyes.

Giles had noticed how tired Mary seemed to be. He wanted her to stop working at the Hospital or volunteering at Dr. Fernando's free clinic but he knew that, that would be next to impossible. Apparently being stubborn was a family trait.

The next day Angel was in 412 all day and Cordelia didn't have a chance to see anything so she spent the day working on the finishing touches of the new Chapel that Xander was able to finish. All that was left was to clean it up and install the statues. She hadn't bought a crucifix yet to hang over the Alter so she packed up Kathleen and took off for a local religious store that Fr. Barris had suggested. Lou and Connor had taken off to the local Mall to go Christmas shopping. Gunn and Giles had agreed to buy the Lobbies Christmas tree. Everyone was busy and the Hotel was practically empty except for the Sanchez family, Dr. Martin and Angel. Toby was keeping Junior company all day while Connor was gone.

All of the Price family grandparents were gone now so Wesley and Fred had left with the boys to go shopping for Christmas also. They walked through the mall with their two boys in a large stroller that was big enough to put both of the boys in. Fred had gone into a small store that was too full of sales items to allow the stroller to be brought in so Wesley had to stay outside while she shopped. When she looked at Wesley walking the stroller back and forth she started laughing. She was thinking to herself that he looked like a proud Rooster with his first brood of baby chicks.

At the end of the day everyone came home loaded with bags. Connor and Lou had eaten already so they went upstairs to start wrapping their presents. Connor was helping Lou since she had never gone through something like this. She knew about Christmas but they had never done anything to celebrate it. She really didn't care that much about it because all she knew was that she had been able to spend the whole day with Connor.

Wesley and Fred had come back early since Fred was still getting used to being able to walk around minus two babies. Wesley was currently helping Gunn and Giles set up the Christmas tree in the Lobby while Fred was resting along with the boys.

Just as Cordelia pulled up to her parking space, which was marked with a special sign that Angel had made for her "VIXEN PARKING ONLY", she had a picture come into her mind that she knew automatically was the picture that Angel had just finished. He must have been staring at it for a long time. She could sense his love for her coming across the link as he stared at the picture. The picture was of her standing in her wedding dress as the trail of the dress and veil swirled around her and fanned out. She was standing at a one quarter turn to the side so that you could see a slight side view as she held her bridle bouquet at her waist. In smaller pictures he had painted Cordelia as a baby, a 12 year old, a teenager and then as he first saw her at a party in Los Angeles.

She wiped the tears going down her face when she realized it was getting dark. She picked up her daughter and went inside after she was sure that she looked okay and there was no sign that she had been crying. Before she went upstairs she stopped at her desk and called Sunnydale and let them know that the bet was off. She explained why then left to go upstairs. When Connor came home she asked him to bring in the crucifix and put it in the chapel after he was sure that everyone had gone to bed.

That night Cordelia made love to Angel in the best way that she knew. She pulled out her special card file that was in her mind. She had named the file "Things that Drive Angel Wild". These were tried and true methods that she knew were successful because she had tried them over the years. When she was through with him he needed to rest for a few hours. The orgasm he had experienced was so strong that he was actually taking at least fifteen minutes to regain his normal breathing and heart rate.

"Woman you can't do that to me too often or your going to have the first Vampire on your hands that turned to dust from mind blowing sex." Angel said as he lay on his back with his arms and legs spread. Cordelia had gotten out of bed and pulled a bottle of water and blood out of the refrigerator and brought them back to the bed. Angel straightened up and leaned against the head board.

"Are you okay Junior?" He looked down at his penis and lifted it up as he talked to it. "That bad woman almost blew your head off didn't she? Are the boys okay?" Both Cordelia and Angel looked at it as though they expected it to say something then laughed. Angel looked at his wife and thanked her for such a good time. He drank the rest of his blood then lay down and pulled her into his arms. They slept a sound and peaceful sleep the rest of the night after their exhausting activities.

The next morning their daughter woke them up as usual. As they lay there playing with Kathleen Cordelia brought up the subject of his mother.

"I was noticing Angel how Mom has been so tired looking lately. I suggested to her that they should go to Sunnydale and stay at the mansion for two or three weeks so she could have a good rest. She has been working at the hospital a lot and on top of that she has Dr. Fernando's free clinic on Wednesday. So it looks like she has taken my advice and they will be leaving the day after Christmas." "Yeah I've been noticing the dark circles under her eyes also. I think that will be a good idea for them to get away from everyone for awhile. You know this has given me an idea to fix up 2 or 3 rooms on the fifth floor for them. They'll be able to be far enough away to have some peace and quiet without all of the noise created by our young families." Angel got up then and went to take a shower. Cordelia joined him after removing Kathleen's sleepers and diaper.

By 9 o'clock everyone was coming out of their rooms and heading for the dinning room. Connie, Lucinda and Joaquin were bringing out the food as they all came downstairs. As Cordelia was making Kathleen's breakfast Connie went to her. "Mrs. Martin would it be alright for my husband and I to take off tomorrow and the day after so that we can do our Christmas shopping?" "Sure Connie no problem. Of course I can't make the awesome dinners like you do but I think we'll get by. If you want to leave Junior here while you are out I am sure that Lou wouldn't mind taking care of him." "Thank you Mrs. Martin, thank you very much." She went back to her work then and Cordelia went to feed her daughter.

Kathleen was feeling independent today though and decided she didn't want anyone feeding her. Junior was also starting to feed himself when he saw Kathleen doing it. In order to keep the mess to a minimum they put the two highchairs together and fed them pretty much the same thing. Toby in the mean time was getting all he wanted in the morning. The usual routine was to place the food and drinks in front of them and then to just stand back. Some times they would carry on long conversations that only they could understand and other times, in between spoonfuls Kathleen would talk to Junior just like she talked to the adults. Because of this Juniors vocabulary and pronunciation was improving. When they were done eating Toby would take over cleaning all of the food up from the floor, the chairs, the legs and the toes. Once the babies were removed he cleaned up the chair as well. "Thank you Toby you do an excellent job. Now if you could just learn how to use the disinfectant wipes you would be the perfect helper." Connie told him as she picked up Kathleen and Junior and put them in the playpen. She watched the two playing and carrying on long conversations while she cleaned the highchairs and floor.

That night they all got together and decorated the Christmas tree. Each person had their own special tree ornaments that they added to the tree. When they were done they all brought down the gifts that they had already purchased and wrapped. The tree didn't have enough room under it so the presents overflowed to the area around it and eventually took up one quarter of the lobby.

As the days progressed to Saturday Cordelia and everyone else watched and waited for Angel to add his presents. They were all curious what he was going to give his daughter and Cordelia. They were all pretty sure that he was going to unveil at least one of the paintings. He didn't go out shopping (or so he said) until the Friday before Christmas. On Friday he left early and didn't return until just before supper time.

"So where are all of the results of your day long shopping spree?" Cordelia asked when Angel came in with only 2 packages. He gave her a long story as to what he had looked at and then would put back because he thought that she would think that it was too much for such a little girl. To reinforce his story of having such a terrible day shopping he was actually able to produce a tear or two. That had the desired affect on her.

"Well, I'm sorry Angel but you get so excited sometimes that you buy things for Kathleen that she doesn't need or won't even take notice of. Most of the things that you want to buy for her will end up in the room gathering dust. Besides she has everything that she needs right now." Angel just put his head down and ate his dinner. Cordelia cracked then.

"Okay since your going to carry on like a big baby I'll let you buy her just one ridiculous item and that's all." Angel immediately had a big smile and gave her a kiss. "Thank you Cordy." When he went back to eating he looked at Wesley and gave him a wink. Wesley knew that he was playing with her and he had probably already bought something ridiculous, as Cordelia called it.

When dinner was over Angel went into his office to make a few calls. Fifteen minutes later he made his way upstairs and to his own room. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and he had, had a big.

While Angel had been busy in his office Cordelia had been busy in the Chapel with the finishing touches. She was making a finale polishing of all of the walls, pews, window sills, statues, alter, and crucifix. She had flowers delivered this morning for the chapel and she was busy arranging them. Saturday morning they would be opening presents and at that time she would give Angel her present.

Cordelia made it upstairs just in front of Angel. "Hi, what have you been doing? You smell of dust." Angel asked. "I was just in the storage rooms behind the clinic looking for some more wrapping papers for Fred." Cordelia started removing her clothes and getting ready to take a quick shower while Angel changed Kathleen and put her sleepers on. His little girl was already half asleep so he put her down and covered her without waiting to see if Cordelia wanted to nurse her. He covered her with a blanket and gave her a kiss. "Good night my little princes tomorrow night you will see Santa Clause for the first time and it will be a big and exciting day and night. Sleep the sleep of the innocent my little princes. Don't ever forget that your Daddy loves you." Angel put the night light on at the kitchen sink then went outside to say his prayers. When Cordelia came out this is where she found him. It was very cold outside so she wrapped a quilt around herself and poured herself and Angel a glass of wine. After Angel was done they sat quietly and watched the traffic on the freeway and the coming and goings of the jets at L.A. International Airport. Eventually Cordelia fell asleep and Angel had to put her to bed.

The next morning while Cordelia was busy with Kathleen Angel ran outside to get a special frame that he had ordered for the painting that he was going to give her for Christmas. He had asked Joaquin and Connie to come with him as he took the frame to room 412.

Angel removed the spell surrounding the room then unlocked the door and they all went in and he quickly closed the door. Angel went to a picture that was in the middle of the room and on an easel. Connie went to stand in front of it. "Is this the picture that you didn't want Mrs. Martin to see?" "Yes this is it. This is the one that I want you to hang in the Lobby Joaquin. I've already put up the hooks to hang the picture from. I am asking you to do this since your family isn't going to Mass until the Saturday morning Spanish Mass." "Can we see it now?" Connie asked. In answer Angel lifted the canvas covering the two paintings that he had ready.

Connie cried when she saw them. "They are beautiful Mr. Martin. They look so life like." "Joaquin I need you to put this one up in my bedroom on the wall that's on the right side of the bed, it won't be getting a frame and I have already put the hooks in it to hold the hanging wire. You'll see the other hooks in the wall." Angel pointed to the nude painting of himself and Cordelia. This is the one that Connie was standing in front of and crying. "No wonder she called off the bet." Connie put her hand to her mouth.

Fortunately for Connie Angel was so absorbed in looking at the painting that he didn't hear her. Joaquin said something to cover up what his wife had said. "We'll take care of it Mr. Martin. Do you want us to put the covers on them after we're done hanging them?" "No, and thank you. I'll give you the key to the room before we leave for Midnight Mass." Joaquin quickly pulled his wife out of the room.

When they left Angel sat down and just stared at the painting until he heard Cordelia calling him to breakfast. Before he left he locked the door and put the spell in place again then went downstairs. Everyone but Connor and Lou were at the dinning room table when he got there. "Do you know where Connor and Lou went Angel?" Cordelia asked. "Yeah he went to see Professor Brandon. He said he should be back by 12. Mom I have a serious question do you think you can handle it right now?" "Sure what's your question?" "We've never spoken about the little fat man that comes on Christmas Eve. If he pays a visit without the children being exposed to him first do you think that they will be afraid of him or even traumatized?" "Yes its quiet possible but if you start showing them pictures and reading a story about him they may be okay for his visit tonight. Instruct him not to make to loud of a noise it might also be a good idea to have Toby greet him since they trust him and he is their playmate."

"Joaquin and I are going to be gone for a few hours Cordy. We should be back by 12 or 1 o'clock." Angel said as he finished his breakfast and got up to leave. "Why don't you and Connie start getting the Princes and Junior used to the idea of you know who." He gave her and Kathleen a kiss as he left with Joaquin.

Angel and Joaquin jumped into his convertible and headed for South El Monte and a local stable. Angel turned into what seemed to be a private drive way but instead it took them to the back of the houses where a stable was located. As he came to a stop and they got out of the car an elderly man walked up to Angel and shook his hand.

"Mr. Martin I presume? "Yes I am Angel Martin and this is an employee of mine, Joaquin Sanchez." "Hi, I'm Douglas Granger, my helper told me you had come by and put in a request to have two special stalls built for your horses that are supposed to be delivered today." "Yes I wanted to make sure that everything was ready for them. Joaquin here will be coming over at least once each week to check on the horses and exercise them if my wife and I haven't come to take them out for a ride."

An hour later a man towing a horse trailer for two pulled up and unloaded two horses. People had gathered around to see the new boarders. Most of them were locals that had their horses boarded at the stable. As the handler backed out the horses you could hear a collective "Awww".

The first horse to be unloaded was a black Andalusian stallion. Angel took the reins from the handler. Joaquin noticed that the horse didn't try to get away from Angel. It was clear that he had put a lot of time into finding this horse. The next one to be unloaded was a beautiful Palomino mare. The mane and tail were almost white. Joaquin stepped up and took the reins of the mare. He looked at the mare carefully.

"Mr. Martin is this not the same horse that I've seen in the pictures on Mrs. Martins desk?" "No but she looks almost exactly like it." The handler had some papers for Angel to sign and then left.

"What are their names?" Joaquin asked. "This majestic animal is called Santana. The name fits, don't you think?" "Yes indeed it does and very fitting too." Angel stepped back and put his left hand on the horses mane then jumped up and swung his right leg over the horses back. Santana reared up and pawed at the air in defiance of this strange man. Angel held on tightly with his legs and grabbed onto his mane. As Angel petted his neck and spoke to him the stallion calmed down and allowed him to put him thru some moves to see how well he responded to him.

The people that had gathered to see the new additions to the stables clapped when Angel was done and dismounted. He had come prepared with some treats for the horses. He pulled out some small carrots and gave them to his horse and the mare.

"What is the mare's name Mr. Martin?" "Her registered name is Sue Bee because she was trained to take the bit by putting Sue Bee honey on it. When she got older she would always play with young foals and someone gave her the nick name of Aunt Bee. Get up on her Joaquin and ride her around the ring a little. Can you ride bare back?" "Yes that is how I learned to ride."

Joaquin did as Angel had and jumped on Aunt Bee's back without too much of a problem. Mr. Granger opened the gate to the arena for him and Joaquin gave Aunt Bee a slight kick to her sides and she walked into the arena. He rode her around the arena and tried several commands to see how well she would respond. They found Aunt Bee to be a gentle and responsive horse. Best of all, like Santana, she had no problem with Angel being a Vampire. As everyone watched her Santana called out to his companion.

"Apparently he thinks it's time for her to come back so why don't you bring her over and we'll put them in their new homes." As they left the stables Angel swore Joaquin to secrecy until tomorrow when he brought everyone out to see them.

Angel was so pleased with himself that he was whistling all the way home. As promised they returned by 12 Noon. No one was downstairs but he noticed that there were more presents under the tree. "If they put anymore over there we won't be able to sit in here." Angel turned when he heard Wesley come down the stairs carrying more packages. "More?" "Yup, more." Wesley said after he put the packages with the rest. He stood by Angel and they just looked at the mountain of presents. Wesley was the first to say something. "I can hardly wait to open them." They both laughed when Angel said "Me to." "It's going to be worse when the Sunnydale gang brings theirs also." "I guess we had better get the mountain climbing gear out because that's what we're going to need to get through here." Angel said as they both left then to go upstairs.

When Angel entered his room he found Cordelia feeding Kathleen. As soon as his daughter spotted her Daddy coming in she called to him. "Hi Daddy. Mommy read me a story about Santa Clause. She said that he comes and brings presents to all of the good little boys and girls. Do you think he'll come here Daddy? I'm a good girl Daddy. Everyone says I'm a good girl." Cordelia gave Angel a long suffering look. "I think we've opened Pandora's box. She hasn't stopped talking about him." "My poor baby." He put his arm around his wife and kissed her forehead. "If you make a sandwich for me I'll take her off of your hands for the rest of the afternoon so you can do whatever you want." "Thank you." Cordelia gave him a kiss as he took her place and proceeded to make him a sandwich with a large mug of blood.

Angel spent the rest of the day taking care of his daughter while Cordelia finished wrapping presents. When she was done they all laid down for a well deserved rest. It was going to be a long night tonight so everyone was taking the opportunity to take a nap.

Dr. Martin and Giles were the only ones that didn't have a lot of presents to wrap. Giles was concerned about his wife. She had been having headaches for the past couple of days and had been sleeping a lot.

"Giles?" "Yes dear I'm right here." "Giles, would you get Hunter for me please?" "I'll be right back." Giles went over to Hunters room and lightly knocked on the door. "Come in Giles." Hunter said. "Hunter could you come over to our room, Mary asked me to get you." Hunter went to their room as quickly as she could without running.

"What's wrong Mary?" Hunter asked her as she sat down beside her on the bed.

"I'm having a terrible migraine headache and I can't get rid of it. Can you think of something to give me?" "Sure Mary I'll be right back." Hunter went down to the clinic and was back in a few minutes with a syringe full of some drug. She went to sit on the side of the bed and raised Mary's skirt so she could give it to her in her hip. Hunter and Giles knew the headache was real bad because Mary had tears falling down her face. Hunter got up and pulled Giles with her out to the hallway.

"People that suffer migraine headaches are very sensitive to every external noise and light. I want you to fill a container with water and ice and use a hand towel to apply the cold water to her head and neck. Do that until she goes to sleep. She may and may not want to go to mass tonight. Turn everything off and unplug the clock. Make the room as dark and as quiet as you can. I'll try to keep everyone else quiet." Hunter left then and returned to her room. She listened to the Hotel and could hear everyone sleeping.

The Scooby gang arrived by 9 and it took them awhile to bring all of the luggage and presents in. As soon as they were done it was time to get ready for Christmas Eve Mass so they all went to their rooms to get dressed.

As they all gathered in the lobby Dr. Martin and Giles came down the stairs with their coats on. Hunter approached Mary. "How are you feeling Mary?" "A lot better I don't know what you gave me but it worked and along with a long nap that nasty headache has left me."

"Let's go everyone; it's going to be crowded." Angel started for the back doors. He carried a large diaper bag for Kathleen while Cordelia carried her. Angel had told Fr. Barris how many people he would have with him so he had told the ushers to rope off 3 pews. Besides Angel Investigation and the Scooby gang David and Bobbie said they would meet him there along with Marissa, their baby and Tina. David and Bobbie had been taking classes with Fr. Barris so that they could join the Catholic Church also but just like Angel and Spike though they couldn't receive communion. Fr. Barris stood at the alter as he looked at the group. He was amazed at how much the group was growing. The Christmas before had given them Kathleen, but now they had 5 babies and Tina was pregnant with Bobby's baby now. Bobby and Tina had come to Fr. Barris and asked him to marry them just 3 months before.

Seating arrangement had changed just slightly. Instead of Angel being at the end Giles was first along with Mary next to him. Angel and his family came next along with the newest member of the group, Lou who sat next to Connor.

The group didn't get home until 2 A.M. Connor called Prof. Brandon to let him know that they were home. Everyone knew that he was going to be coming so no one went to bed yet. Cordelia and Angel had gone downstairs with Kathleen before they went back to their room. Cordelia put some cookies with a glass of milk sitting in ice on a table in the middle of the lobby. "Who's that for Mommy?" "Well it's for Santa Clause. Remember in the story it said that we had to put it out for him before we go to bed."

Joaquin and Connie had Junior with them also except Junior wanted one of the cookies. "You can't have those Junior, they are for Santa Clause." "Santa Clause hungry?" He asked his father. "Yes he works hard all night long while he delivers presents to all of the good boys and girls." Junior seemed to except that explanation and kept quiet.

"Let's go to bed or else Santa won't come." Joaquin said as he picked his son up. Everyone started for their own rooms after that. When Connor and Prof. Brandon saw that the lights went out Connor went to the top of the roof and stood at the door leading to the inside of the hotel. He shook a bunch of bells that were supposed to be reindeer bells. In the mean time Prof. Brandon, dressed as Santa, took the elevator to the third floor and started walking down the stairs and saying "Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas everyone Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho."

As he walked down the stairs to the next floor and then to the first floor he could hear bedroom doors open, and the sound of everyone gathering at the second floor balcony. Connor had given him some small presents to put under the tree to make it look good. Toby came up behind him and the hair on his back went up. Then apparently he realized who it was when he got a chance to take in his scent. He lowered the hair on his back when his tail started wagging. Santa Clause reached out and patted him on the head and said "Hi Toby I know you've been a very good boy so here is your Christmas treat." He gave Toby a cookie then sat down and ate some also. Before leaving he drank all of the milk then walked out of the back doors. Connor was there to ring the reindeer bells as Santa gave a "Ho, ho, ho Merry Christmas everyone." Everyone was watching the children to see their reaction. Both Kathleen and Junior's eyes were as big as saucers. They both wanted to see what Santa had left but their parents where able to get them to go back into their rooms and to bed without too much fussing.

Cordelia and Angel went back into their room. While they were at midnight Mass Joaquin had put up the nude portrait of Angel and Cordelia but Cordelia was so busy with Kathleen that she didn't notice it. Angel decided not to bring her attention to it and instead waited to see how long it would take before she noticed the painting.

Cordelia was so tired that she didn't even have time to look around the room before she crawled into bed and before she knew it she was fast asleep.

The next morning since Kathleen had been up late she decided to let her Mother sleep until 9 A.M. She had already been entertaining herself for the past 30 minutes as she tried to figure out a way to escape her tiny prison. She had tried climbing over the rail but she couldn't get her leg over the top of the rail. She had been trying to chew her way out for several weeks and finally gave up. Out of frustration she had sat down and grabbed hold of the bars and pulled back and forth. Her eyes grew as big as saucers when one of them came loose in her hand. She tried squeezing her head through the bars and immediately became stuck. This happened at precisely 9 o'clock. Kathleen's own personalized alarm went off then. "Whaaaaaaaaaaa, Mommy, whaaaaaaaa, Mommy."

Both Cordelia and Angel jumped out of bed and went around the screen. They started laughing so hard that they almost couldn't help her get out. Angel ended up having to break another bar.

"How in the world did you break the bar off of the railing?" Angel asked after Kathleen calmed down. "I don't know it just came off when I pulled on it." His daughter answered. Cordelia and Angel just looked at each other. "It looks like I'm going to have to build her a special crib. She obviously has inherited some of my strength."

"My poor baby lets get you cleaned up and get you some breakfast." Cordelia hugged her daughter and started to clean her up. It wasn't long before they were headed downstairs. Connor and Gunn, the two biggest kids, were already downstairs and having a breakfast of cereal. "What, no eggs, sausages and pancakes?" "Heck no Cordelia we want to be able to start opening the presents and that stuff takes to long to make and clean up. Besides Connie told us she has a big dinner planned." Gun said as he shoveled the last of his cereal into his mouth. She looked at Connor and he apparently felt the same way since he was done with his cereal also.

"Well I guess its cereal for everyone then." Cordelia said as she put her daughter in her highchair. Everyone else started coming downstairs also. Spike (the other big kid), went right to the Christmas tree and was looking for the gift he had bought for Buffy.

"Wait a minute Spike don't you think we should wait for the Sanchez family to get back? They have presents under there also. I think you can wait for at least another 30 minutes. They should be back by 10:30 or 11 besides Christmas is for the kids and we have to get them fed first." Spike looked at Angel pleadingly. "Sorry Spike but she rules the palace now and that activity falls under her jurisdiction." Angel said. Spike looked at Buffy.

"Next year we're having Christmas at home so that we can open the presents when I want." Spike put the little stack of presents that he had found back with the rest.

"My poor baby, why don't you come over to the table and hold your daughter for me while I get some coffee for us and blood for you." Spike hung his head down and took his daughter from Buffy. Angel watched him play with Joyce for awhile until he saw his mother and Giles coming down the stairs.

"Good morning everyone and Merry Christmas." Dr. Martin said as they approached the dinning room. "Angel the nude portrait you did of you and Cordelia is beautiful." Everyone looked at Cordelia. "What did you say?" Cordelia asked Dr. Martin.

"I said the nude portrait that Angel did is beautiful." "What portrait, where did you see it?" "Didn't you see it, its right over your bed on the side wall?" Cordelia and everyone else but Angel went running up to the bedroom. After almost 15 minutes of staring at it Cordelia came down the stairs slowly. As she walked down the stairs she finally noticed the other painting on the wall by the Christmas tree. Angel had made one small change from what she remembered seeing through the link. He had changed her dress to a soft blue and had placed two diamond earrings on her ears. Everyone else looked at the painting also as they came down the stairs.

Cordelia stood in front of the painting and just stared at it. Angel came up behind her and put his arms around her. "Do you like them?" Cordelia turned around and hugged him. "Oh Angel they're beautiful." She kissed him over and over again and thanked him in between each kiss.

"Angel you did a magnificent job." Wesley said. If you're taking orders I would like for you to paint one of Fred. "I intend to make one of all of the women. It will be my gift to each of you." Cordelia wiped her tears with the back of her hand then let Angel go and returned to Kathleen. Angel saw the rest of the women wiping their tears also.

Cordelia brought Angel the biggest mug of blood that she could find along with a rare steak and two eggs. The rest all sat down to their bowls of cereal.

In the next few minutes the Sanchez family came in and greeted everyone with a Merry Christmas.

"Okay they're here lets open presents." Connor, Gunn, and Spike said as they went running over to the Christmas tree. Toby was all excited to. He was excited though because Connor was excited.

Cordelia gave up then and they all sat down around the lobby. The children were given their presents first. Most of their presents were clothes and a few toys. Kathleen got a walker so she could learn to walk by herself and strengthen her legs for walking. Both Junior and Kathleen were given toys that could be placed in the playpen that would help them to improve their hand eye co-ordination. Of course Wesley and Fred gave educational toys along with children's books. The present that got the most laughs though were the pajamas that Buffy gave Spike. One pair had little blue bunny's and the other one had big red hearts. Angel and Cordelia gave Buffy and Spike a movie camera along with a complete set of Spikes favorite soap opera, Passions on DVD.

Fred gave Wesley an old book that he had been searching for, for a long time. She said that she had found it by searching the internet and had bought it from a man that was selling it on E-Bay. So that he would believe her she kept the box and wrapping paper that had the return address on it. When she showed it to everyone Dr. Martin said out loud "Transylvania, you've got to be joking." "No that's why I kept the paper that the box was wrapped in because I knew no one would believe me." Fred said. Wesley was immersed in the book already and didn't hear what anyone was saying.

Giles had given his wife a small diamond studded Cross that he helped her to put on. Cordelia gave her a beautiful antique crystal Rosary that Father Barris had told her about. Everyone was curious as to what Angel was giving his mother. When all of the presents had been handed out Connor found an envelope on one of the branches of the tree. "Hey Grandma here is an envelope that's addressed to you from Dad." He handed the large envelope to his Grandmother then stood behind her chair.

When she opened the envelope she started crying. She gave the envelope to Connor to read to everyone. "It's a purchase order for an X-Ray machine and the equipment to develop them." Angel came over to her and they hugged. "Thank you Angel, thank you very much." "Anything for you Mom, and I do mean anything."

This is when Cordelia chose to give Angel his present. "And now I want to give you my present Angel." She took his hand and led him to the hallway underneath the staircase. She took out a set of keys and unlocked the door. "I want you to close your eyes Angel and don't open them until I say so." She opened the door then and pulled him in. "Okay Angel open your eyes."

Angel opened his eyes and just stared at the room. He walked up to the small alter and put his hands on it and then to the statues. One of the statues was of St. Michael standing over Satan with a sword. The best one that Angel liked though was the picture of Christ hugging a man as He welcomed him to Paradise. Angel was so overcome with emotion that started to shed a few tears. He pulled his mother over to the picture to show her. He hugged her then and pulled Cordelia into his arms and kissed her over and over again. "Now my beloved we have to travel over into the San Gabriel valley to see your other Christmas present. I want everyone to come and see it also. So let's close the hotel up and pile into the vans."

It took them a while to get ready since they had so many babies to gather supplies for. Once everyone piled into Cordelia's, Connors, and Spikes vans they took off. Gunn drove his own truck to the valley and everyone could see that he was carrying a couple of large items that were covered with a heavy canvas. The freeways were clear and it didn't take them long to get to South El Monte and the stables. When Angel pulled into the stables Cordelia's heart started beating faster. When all four vehicles pulled into the parking area Angel got out and opened the doors. As everyone exited the vans Angel called out "Watch out where you step everyone."

Vince, a young Indian boy that lived on the premises and took care of the everyday needs of the horses approached Angel and welcomed him and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. "Would you bring out the Palomino first." Angel whispered in his ear.

Angel could hear Cordelia's heart starting to beat faster and tears were starting to come down her cheeks. Angel guided everyone over to the arena while holding his wife's hand. Vince brought the Palomino into the arena and over to Cordelia.

Cordelia handed over Kathleen to Connor then walked into the arena. She was so happy that she was crying and laughing at the same time. Her hands were shaking as she carefully and slowly put them on the horse's neck. "What is her name?" "Her registered name is Sue Bee. Remember when we were in Ireland and I was having a hard time getting the horses to take the bit? You came out with a jar of honey and told us what you used to do to your horses bit in order to get her to take it. When I saw this little lady and she was calm around me plus her name was Sue Bee I knew that she was the one for you. Plus Mrs. Martin she was given the name of Sue Bee because it's the only brand of honey that she likes on her bit. Now her registered name is Sue Bee but her nick name that she responds to is Aunt Bee."

"Can I ride her?" "Wait not yet." Vince was bringing in another horse and stopped next to Angel and gave him the reins.

"This is my horse. He's an Andalusian stallion and his name is Santana. Appropriate don't you think?" Angel patted him on the neck and gave him some carrots that he had in his pocket. He gave some to Cordelia for her horse.

"Connor and Gunn would you bring the saddles over please?" Connor brought Cordelia's and Gunn brought over Angels. "In Connors van Cordy you will find some more appropriate riding clothes. Why don't you go and change while Connor and I saddle the horses." By the time they were done Cordelia came out in a new pair of jeans, a light, short sleeved blouse and a fancy Cowgirl hat. Connor gave her a leg up to Sue Bee's back and gave her the reins. Cordelia expertly ran Sue Bee through several dressage moves then came over to everyone else and dismounted. "Would you like to try her Fred?" "Oh can I?" "Sure she is very gentle and responds to a light touch to the reins." Connor helped her mount and she took off at a slow trot around the arena a few times while Angel rode along side of her. When she came back to Cordelia she dismounted and went running to Wesley. "Wesley I want one. One for you and one for me so we can go riding with Cordelia and Angel. Please, please can we get a couple of horses, please, please?"

They were all laughing at Fred. She looked like a little girl begging her Daddy for a car. "Okay anything for my girl." Fred jumped into his arms and encircled him with her legs she was so happy.

"Come on Connor you want to ride Santana?" Angel asked. Connor took the reins when Angel dismounted. "I didn't think you would ever ask me."

Connor jumped on Santana as Angel did by holding onto his mane then swinging his leg over him. "He needs a firm hand Connor. Don't let him think he is in command. Remember he is a stallion." Connor took him around the arena a few times then before he dismounted he went to the center and made him rear up onto his hind legs. To Connors surprise Santana then bucked him off and he went flying and landed on his behind.

Angel called to Santana in his mind and the horse obediently came to him. Connor got up and dusted himself off. "Are you okay?" Angel asked. "Yah, nothing hurt but my pride." Connor came over to Angel and did like Fred did. "Can I have one to Daddy, can I have one to, please Daddy please." "Is that supposed to melt my heart and get you a horse also?" Angel said as he laughed at Connor. "Well it works for Kathleen all of the time and it worked for Fred so I thought I would give it a try."

"Connor this is what Grandma's are for. I'll buy you a horse and pay for it's monthly upkeep until you graduate from Collage." Connor was so happy he went to Dr. Martin and picked her up and twirled her around while Toby ran around in circles and barked at them. "Thank you Grandma, thank you, thank you."

"Lets go home now everyone the babies are starting to fuss and I need to take a nap also. So put your new toys away Angel and Cordelia." "Yes Mom." Angel and Cordelia answered like two obedient children. Vince came over and took the reins of the two horses. Angel gave them each some more carrots before Vince took them away. Cordelia held onto his arm as they watched them walk back to their stalls. The stalls were new and had been constructed especially for them. They each had inside quarters that opened up to an outside stall. Special high quality hay and alfalfa along with bags of grains and oats were stored in a connected storage unit where they could also keep the saddles and reins for the horses. Angel was paying very well for his horses to be boarded at these stables plus he was giving Vince some money on the side to make sure that his horses were safe.

Everyone but Connie and Lucinda had gone to their rooms to take a nap when they arrived back at the hotel. Connie had a lot of food to prepare so she had her mother in-law and husband helping her while Junior was upstairs with Kathleen in her playpen sleeping. The only room that you could hear any noise in was Lou's. Both Spike and Connor were up there playing with Spikes new X-Box games. Buffy had kicked him out after he had woke up Joyce twice with all of the noise he was making.

In Angel and Cordelia's room they were all sleeping except for Cordelia. Since Angel hadn't had the time yet to fix the crib they had both Kathleen and Junior in the playpen. Angel was sleeping and Cordelia was resting her head on his back and staring at the picture he had painted. Eventually she closed her eyes and went to sleep also.

Dr. Martin was still awake and watching TV while Giles was sleeping. She had just hung up the phone after talking to Cylinda who was working at the hospital today and was scheduled to be off by 2:30 so that she could join everyone for Christmas supper. She had called Cylinda to ask her to bring a syringe full of a certain type of drug that was given to stroke patients that sometimes lessened the severity of the stroke. For the past several days whenever she tried to sleep she would have a recurring dream that she knew was telling her something because it was the exact same dream each time. She believed that it was warning her of her health. She wasn't sure why but something just told her to have this drug on hand.

By 2:30 Joaquin was going around to everyone's room and knocking on their doors lightly to call them to supper. By 3 o'clock everyone was down stairs and lining up to fill their plates with all of the food that Connie had made. When everyone was seated Dr. Martin called for everyone's attention.

"Let's hold hands everyone and give a prayer of thanks." When every one was ready and the Sanchez family joined them she started the prayer.

"Heavenly Father we want to thank you for all of this food that Connie and her family has made for us. We want to thank you for the addition of three new healthy, happy babies that have been given to us this past year. Most of all Father we want to thank you for everyone's complete recovery from the many medical problems that we have experienced this past year. Amen"

Everyone echoed her Amen then sat down and dug in. When they were done most of the men were leaning back in their chairs and unbuckling their belts and the first button on their pants. Since Angel had just some meat along with his Irish bread, that Cordelia had made, and his mug of blood he didn't have to undo his pants like the rest.

When everyone was done and it was quiet for a few minutes Cordelia pulled out a small wrapped box and gave it to Angel. "I have one more gift for you Angel."

"Wow, I think that since I've been working with you guys I've received enough presents to make up for all of the years I never got anything."

He carefully took the ribbon and bow off and opened it. The container was made for a pen set but this one didn't have a pen in it.

"It looks like a test for pregnancy." Angel just stared at it without saying anything. "Well what is it positive or negative?" Spike asked.

"It's positive." He looked at Dr. Martin then at Cordelia. "I don't understand, I never smelled your pheromones telling me that you were ripe. I know I still posses the ability because I can smell Tara, Willow and Dawn." The girls turned beet red at the mention of their names.

"The only answer to that Angel is that St. Michael is saying now is the time for your twins to be conceived. All good things happen in Gods time not ours Angel." Dr. Martin said.

"Did you know this was going to happen?" Angel asked his wife.

"Angel haven't you ever looked at that calendar I keep in the bathroom and the numbers that I mark on each day?" "I just thought you were keeping track of the days between your period so that I wouldn't bother you when you were on it and as a warning as to when I should just run and hide." Angel smiled when he said this and the rest of the men all laughed.

"Well it came in handy for that but it also told 'me' when I was ripe. So my handy dandy little calendar told me that we probably conceived our boys during the weekend that we went to see Lou's father." Angel pulled Cordelia's chair closer to him and gave her a kiss. "This is a Christmas present to beat all others." Angel continued to kiss his wife.

"Alright you two you have a bedroom upstairs for that. We don't need any pornography at the table." Connor said. Angel pushed Cordelia's chair back then. "Do you think we'll have much of a problem with the princes? You know how possessive she is of her mother's breasts." Angel asked Dr. Martin. "You won't have to worry Angel by that time Kathleen will have forgotten all about them."

Cylinda came into the hotel at that time and greeted everyone. She went to Gunn and gave him a kiss then went to get some food. After she sat down she pulled a small case out of her pocket and gave to Dr. Martin as she went to her seat. "Thank you Cylinda." "No problem, I did put this down to your name so you will probably get a bill for it sometime this month."

"So when are we going to go shopping for my horse Grandma?" Connor asked. "I'm sorry Connor but I won't be going with you to do the actual shopping. Your Dad is going to pay for the horse then I will be paying him. Okay?" "Okay Grandma but where are you going that you can't go shopping with us?" Dr. Martin looked at everyone else at the table and then at Angel.

"Grandma hasn't been feeling well Connor and her and Giles are going to Sunnydale and stay at the mansion for a few weeks while she rests. She isn't going to be working at the hospital anymore but she will do volunteer work at the free clinic once a week. Neither Giles nor I could talk her out of that. She can't go with us to look for the horse for you because they are leaving tomorrow." Angel told everyone. When he was done informing everyone of their plans he picked up his daughter from the highchair. She was already sleeping and didn't even wake up when her Daddy picked her up. He went down to his mother and bent down to give her a kiss then went into his new Chapel.

"I think I will go and sleep for a while. I seem to be very tired right now." Giles pulled her chair out for her and walked with her back to the stairs but then she stopped. "I am going to visit our new chapel for a few minutes Rupert." "I'll be waiting right here for you." Giles told her.

Dr. Martin walked back to the chapel. She took a few minutes to take a more careful look at the room and all of its statues and floors. Angel was sitting at the back and rocking his daughter back and forth. She took a seat next to him and put the foot rest down and kneeled for a while in prayer. When she was done she sat down next to Angel and put her arm through his. Neither one said anything for a while.

"Mom I know that something is going to happen but I don't know what. I am afraid that my Boss will take you from me while you are in Sunnydale. At the same time though I remember what you were told about none of us dieing for the next 20 years. I am holding onto His promise like it was a life line right now Mom because at the back of my head I hear a voice telling me that, that information only included Angel Investigation and Buffy's group. I'm hoping that it is just Angelus having fun with me. I guess I better get my little princes to bed now." They both stood up then and went back to the stairs where, as promised, Giles was waiting for her. She held onto both of their arms and they went up stairs.

The next day Giles and Dr. Martin left early in the morning. She said that she didn't want everyone to make a fuss over her. The Sunnydale group left that evening and the hotel felt empty. "You'll check on Dr. Martin and Giles everyday Spike?" Angel asked. "Sure Angel." They shook hands then and then the Scooby gang left.

For the next several weeks Cordelia had at least 2 visions each week and they were kept busy with clients as well. Angel and Connor went looking for a horse for him during the following week after Christmas. Connor chose a chestnut colored Andalusian mare. Before he had to go back to school Angel, Cordelia, and Connor all went riding along the riverbed that ran behind the stables. It was one of the reasons that Angel had chosen the stable. He didn't have to worry about getting back because of a heavy overcast to the skies and they were free to stay out all day. By the time they got back they all were walking funny.

"Long first ride Martin family?" Wesley asked as they all walked in. They were all walking as though the horses were still under them. Gunn came down and when he saw Wesley they started laughing so hard they had to sit on the floor. "I guess we should have made it a short first ride. I think I am going to go and soak my poor muscles for the next hour. Maybe my legs will go back to their normal shape. I suggest you do the same Connor." Cordelia said as she made her way up the stairs.

The next day Cordelia and Angel went out riding again for a short ride. Cordelia had convinced him that it would be the best thing for their sore muscles. When they got back he did feel a lot better. As they were soaking in the tub he said "I must admit that I do feel better then I did this morning." "I told you it would help. It's just a matter of getting our muscles used to riding again."

Connor and Toby came back from school at 3 in the afternoon. This semester he was going to be working with Toby as he was being trained for police work. Toby was so tired that he just walked up to their room and curled up in his bed. "How did he do?" Wesley asked when he saw them come in. "As you can see it was a very tiring day for him. He learned a lot of new stuff today. The instructor was impressed with him though."

"That's good. I know Kathleen and Junior really missed him. Since Toby wasn't here to break up their fights I had to intervene a few times." Wesley said. "Where is Dad and Cordelia?" "They went riding again today for a short time. Cordelia said it would help their muscles. They're still soaking in the Whirlpool though." He said with a smile. "So when are you and Fred going to get your horses so you can join us." Connor asked. "Fortunately she has been busy with the boys. They're starting to cut their first tooth and they're keeping her busy." Wesley went back to his office and Connor went to the kitchen looking for a snack.

That evening everyone went to bed early. Cordelia and Angel were tired from all of the sore muscles. Wesley and Fred were tired from all of the crying from the boys. Fred had finally asked Connie what she did for Junior when he started cutting his first tooth. She had told her about the plastic water filled rings that she would freeze then give to him to chew on. Fortunately Cordelia still had Kathleen's. When they gave them to the boys they were contented with gumming them until they fell asleep.

At 1 o'clock in the morning the phone rang in Angel's room. Cordelia reached over him to answer it. "Hello, Angel Investigation." "Cordelia I'm sorry to wake you but I need to speak to Angel." "Yes of course Giles." Cordelia shook Angel awake. "Angel it's Giles on the phone. He doesn't sound good." That woke him up fast. He took the phone from her, "Hello Giles, this is Angel is everything okay?" "No Angel it isn't. Mary had a stroke this evening. I called Spike to come over when it happened and he is with her now." "How is she doing?" "Not good, I think it was a bad one. Wait, Spike wants to talk to you." "Angel, this is Spike. She's awake and was able to tell me to give her the syringe that Cylinda had given her on Christmas. Would you tell Hunter and Mike that as soon as I can we will be heading for L.A. and we'll take her directly to the hospital. I think we should be their by 6 A.M." "Okay Spike I'll let everyone know."

Angel hung up the phone. "What's wrong Angel?" He laid down again and said "Mom had a stroke this evening. Spike is taking care of her right now but he said that they will be bringing her here and go directly to the hospital. Remember that box that Cylinda gave mom when she came in for Christmas dinner?" "Yes." "Apparently Mom must have had a feeling that this was going to happen and the box contained a syringe with a drug. She was able to let Spike know that he needed to give it to her. I have to let Mike and Hunter know. He said they should be at the hospital by 6 this morning. Try to go back to sleep Cordy, I'm going to go and tell Mike and Hunter.

TBC……………………………………..


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Why not take her to the hospital over here?" "They don't have the equipment that they'll need to find out what exactly has happened. We need to get her to L.A. where they have everything they need to find out what kind of stroke she has had and how to proceed with her treatment. Let's get her bundled up Giles and get her to L.A. as soon as possible." Spike ran upstairs and bundled Dr. Martin up in a blanket then took her downstairs and to the car where Giles was waiting.

"Get in the back and hold her Giles and I'll drive." Giles did as Spike said. Spike got behind the wheel then and took off for L.A. They arrived at 4 o'clock in the morning and Spike carried her into the emergency room. They all knew Dr. Summers at the hospital from when he came with Dr. Thompson for a delivery. Giles waited with Mary while Spike was talking to the Resident in charge of the evening Emergency room. He gave him all of the information describing the stroke and the drug that he had administered to her at her request.

"Apparently she had a premonition that this was going to happen and she had one of the nurses that worked here fill a syringe with a thrombolytic medicine." Spike told him. "That sounds like Dr. Martin. She's not one to wait around for things to happen. We'll be taking her upstairs in a few minutes and start testing her to see what has happened and hopefully confirm her own diagnosis. You might as well take her husband home. As I am sure you have determined already her stroke is at an end. We'll be putting her through a battery of tests to determine the exact cause of the stroke and hopefully prevent her from having another one." Spike nodded then turned and went over to Giles.

"Giles we might as well go now. They are going to be taking her upstairs to start a battery of tests to find out exactly what happened and determine her treatment. We'll come back this afternoon and see what they have found. I have to let Angel know what has happened and what is happening right now." "Yes I guess your right. She won't know that we're here anyway and my overextending myself won't do any good." Giles and Spike left then to go to the hotel.

When they arrived at the hotel Giles unlocked the door and they went in. As they walked in they were confronted by Angel and Connor who had jumped down from the second story balcony.

"Angel." Giles said. They looked at each other. Both men loved Mary. Both would give their life for her. Giles couldn't hold it back anymore. All the tension that had been building up in him since he saw his wife going through the stroke finally broke lose and he couldn't hold it back any more. Angel could sense his despair. He took Giles in his arms and let him finally let go of all of his grief.

As Giles finally opened the door to his grief his legs gave out and they both sank to their knees. Angel held onto Giles for as long as he felt he needed his support. After awhile Giles let go of Angel and just sat down on the floor, he didn't feel that he had the strength to get up just yet.

"Can you talk now?" Giles blew his nose and wiped his eyes. "We were having a glass of wine before going to bed. Mary said it helped her to relax so that she could sleep. After I had given her, her glass of wine we sat down and watched the evening news. She was leaning against me when I saw her glass starting to fall. I caught it just in time but I didn't say anything because I thought she had fallen asleep. When I got up I looked at her and her eyes were open. I said 'Mary are you alright'? She didn't say anything and continued to stare into space. I picked her up and took her into the bedroom. She looked like she was in an hypnotic state. I shook her and called out to her again. She looked at me with recognition in her eyes then passed out. I called Spike and he came over right away. Spike determined that she had, had a stroke. He told me to call and let you know."

"Okay then I take it that you've taken her to the hospital already?" Angel asked Spike. "Yes, after I talked to the Resident in charge of the emergency room he suggested that we go home and they would be taking her upstairs to start a battery of tests to determine exactly what kind of stroke she had. She wasn't awake when we left Angel and I didn't think that it would do us or her any good to sit around at the hospital just waiting for their findings. I told him that we would be back by 12 noon."

"How bad do you think it was?" Angel asked. "All I know Angel is that she was able to talk to me to let me know that she wanted me to give her the drug that was in the syringe that Cylinda had given her. I think Angel that she had a feeling or premonition that this was going to happen and that's why she wanted that drug to take with her. As to how bad the stroke was we won't know until she wakes up again. The affects of the stroke often doesn't show how it affected the patient until they wake up or as much as several days later. It's very important though that they determine what kind of stroke she had because they have to start the appropriate treatment as soon as possible."

Spike bent down to help Giles up. "Go to bed Giles. Would you like for me to give you something to help you to sleep?" "I think that would be a good idea, otherwise I don't think I'll sleep at all." "Okay I'll be right back. Wait here okay?" "Yes I'll be right here." Spike was back in a few minutes with a mild tranquilizer for Giles. "You want it in your arm or your neck like we do Angel." "I'll take it in the arm. I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to needles and taking it in the neck looks like it hurt a lot." Giles took his jacket off and Angel held it for him while he rolled up his sleeve for Spike to give him the shot. When he was done Angel gave him his jacket and Giles went upstairs and to bed.

"I'm going to let Mike and Hunter know what has happened and that I will be going to the hospital at 12. Goodnight Spike and thank you." Angel put his arm around Connors shoulder and they both went upstairs. "I have a test tomorrow Dad. As soon as I can I'll head for the hospital." "Okay Connor." Angel let Mike and Hunter know what was going on then he went to bed. Cordelia was still sleeping when he returned to bed. He lay beside her and put his arm around her. He always found comfort in her warmth. After 30 minutes of just lying beside her and looking at the portrait he got up, put his sweat pants and shirt on and made his way down to the chapel. He had brought his rosary with him. He knew he needed this form of structured prayer because his mind was wandering over to many memories. Angelus was working overtime and he knew that this would make him crawl into the furthest corner of his cage and become mute.

Two hours later Angel made his way back upstairs and to bed. He was finally able to sleep.

At 11 o'clock Angel woke up to Spike calling to him to get up so they could go to the hospital. "I'll be ready in 20 minutes." Angel jumped in the shower and was dressed and headed downstairs in 20 minutes as promised. Cordelia was already in the van and waiting for him with a thermos full of warmed blood. Lou was staying home with all of the children and the Sanchez family. Everyone else was in the van. Hunter and Mike had already left for the hospital earlier.

Angel drove up to the front of the hospital and turned the keys over to the valet. While he was taking care of that Cordelia was getting Mary's room number. As soon as Angel joined them they headed upstairs to the 5th floor and room 523. As they all came out of the elevator Mike and Hunter were waiting for them in the waiting room. Mike saw them stopping at the nurse's station and came out to greet them.

"Angel, everyone, come over here we were just waiting for Mary's doctor to come and speak to us. They've completed all of their tests. Here he comes now." Mike stood up along with the rest. A tall black man approached the group. His skin was more an olive tone then black and did not have the appearance of the average black man that lived in California. He walked with confidence in himself and looked as though he stepped aside for no one unless politely asked.

"Hi I am Dr. Kent I've been taking care of Dr. Martin." "Hi I am Dr. Mike Thompson, this is my fiancé Dr. Mikayla Hunter we are friends of the family and we frequently work with Dr. Martin." Mike continued to introduce everyone and saved Angel and Giles for last.

"And last but not least is her son Angel Martin and her husband Rupert Giles." "Giles? We have her last name as Martin." Dr. Kent asked. "Yes she kept her last name since everyone knew her by Martin so instead of changing everything she kept her last name." Giles said.

"Well lets sit down everyone and I'll let you know what we have found and what kind of treatment she is currently receiving. We have determined that Dr. Martin has had what is known as an Ischemic Stroke. This is a stroke where a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. It's the most common type of stroke. Usually this type of stroke results from clogged arteries which is what has happened to Dr. Martin. We are administering drugs to her right now to help dissolve the clot and hopefully this will take care of it. If it doesn't then we will have to go in and remove it. The drug that Dr. Summers administered to her right after the stroke helped her a lot and hopefully that will lessen the damage. She still hasn't regained consciousness so we don't know exactly what the extent of the damage is. The only thing that we can see right now is the facial muscles on the left side of her face are paralyzed. As soon as she wakes up we will be better able to determine what her condition is and what kind of treatment she will need from now on. For now I will let only her husband and son visit her. As I said she is unconscious and she won't know your there." Dr. Kent got up then and Giles and Angel followed him.

As they approached the room they found the curtain drawn and a lot of activity was going on in the room. "Let's wait here I think the nurses are doing something for her." After a few minutes one of the nurses pulled back the curtain and they came out.

When the first nurse saw the Doctor she said "She's awake now Dr. Kent. We were just cleaning her up for her husband and sons visit. You can go in now."

Angel and Giles followed Dr. Kent into the room but with a signal from him they stayed out of sight. "Hello Dr. Martin I am Dr. Kent and you are under my care. Can you tell me what your name is?" Dr. Martin looked at him. She didn't say anything at first and appeared to be trying to remember what her name was. Very slowly and quiet clearly she said her name. "My…..name…is…Mary…Teres….Martin. I ….am….a surgeon …. and a psychiatrist." She smiled as she finished. With the left side of her face paralyzed she looked odd as she spoke. "Yes that's very good. Let's see what else you can do. Touch my hand with your right hand." Dr. Martin once again took a moment to think about what she was being requested to do. She looked at her right hand and slowly raised it to touch his hand. They went through this routine with each hand and each leg. Although she could feel his hand when he touched her she could not control her left side.

Dr. Kent turned to Angel and Giles and signaled for them to come over to the bed. Both Giles and Angel approached the bed slowly. Angel let Giles go first. "Mary." Dr. Martin looked at him and after a few seconds recognition came into her eyes and she smiled and put her right arm out to him. Giles sat on the side of the bed and took her in his arms. He kissed her even though she couldn't respond very well. "I thought I was going to lose you Mary." Mary pushed him away and said. "I…am….still here. Not the same ….but….still…here." She hugged him again and whispered in his ear. "I still remember my big stud muffin." They laughed and he kissed her repeatedly. He stood up when he heard Angel clear his throat. "Do you remember your son?" Giles asked.

Mary smiled and put her arm out to him. "How could I …ever…forget my Angel." He went to the other side of the bed and hugged her and kissed her. "How are you feeling Mom?" "Better, I finally got rid of the headaches." She laughed when she said that.

Dr. Martin looked at them and said, "I want to go home." "Are you tired of us already Dr. Martin?" Dr. Kent said. "Yes, I want to go home….now." "Well I can't let you do that today but tomorrow we should have everything done and then we'll be able to discharge you, okay?" "No… I want to go home now."

"Is there anyway that we can take her home today. We have 3 other Doctors where we live and I am sure that we can get Cylinda to take care of her and she is an R.N." Angel asked.

"I'm sorry Mr. Martin but I can't discharge her today we are still waiting on certain bodily functions to prove that they are all still functioning normally. I promise though that tomorrow at 12 noon you should be able to take her home." Dr. Kent said.

"Sorry Mom you heard the Doctor. Be good now and maybe Dr. Kent will let Giles spend the rest of the day with you." Angel said as he held her hand. That got a smile from her and she reached for Giles. "Okay….I'll be good, but only if Giles can stay with me." Angel took a kleenex from the table at the end of the bed and wiped the drool coming out of the left corner of her mouth. "Can the rest come in to see her?" Giles asked.

"Yes but only 2 at a time and for only a short time each. Before I leave for the day I will be coming back to see if you can walk at all so get some rest okay." "Okay." Dr. Kent left the room then. "Angel…. would you brush my hair and ….braid it…. in one… big braid…. please." "Sure Mom. Let me go and get a couple of rubber bands from the nurses station and I'll be right back. Can you help her to turn around Giles so that I can fix her hair? I'll be right back."

As promised Angel was back in a couple of minutes and he proceeded to brush and braid his mother's long hair. When he was done he stepped back and said "How does that feel." "Better thank you." "I am going to bring Cordy and Fred in first Giles okay." "Okay Angel." When Angel left Dr. Martin turned to Giles. "Giles is Angel ….your son?" Giles looked at her then realized that there were some parts of her memory that were gone. "He's your son Mary." She answered with a simple "Oh."

Cordy and Fred came in and waited for Dr. Martin to look at them. Giles backed away from the bed so that they could each stand on either side of the bed. She gave no indication that she didn't know them and kissed and hugged each as though they were her daughters. When they left Dr. Martin asked Giles if they were related to her. Once again he had to explain who they were. He had to do this with each person that came in. When Spike turned to leave he stepped outside of the room with him for a second.

"Spike she seems to be getting worse in her memory. She has asked me how she knows each person that has come in and she even asked me if Angel was my son." "Giles that is why Dr. Kent wants her to stay here a little longer. They want to give her time to go through as many physical functions as possible to see if anything needs to be done to help her function as close to normal as possible. As she goes through the day make sure that you note if she remembers anyone. I am going to tell the Sanchez family to come here also to see if she remembers them. When you see Dr. Kent tonight let him know if she remembers any one at all. She seems to have a selective memory which explains why she remembers us but not how or why she knows us. I believe that Angel will be able to help her to remember more in much the same way that he used to talk to Kathleen. I don't think he had better try it though until we get her home. Just to let you know Giles I will be leaving tomorrow night to go home. She has Hunter here to help her and I am sure that between Angel and Hunter our Dr. Martin will regain her memory in a very short time. Making her go through all of the exercises that the therapist wants her to perform will be the hard part. I am sure that you realized by now that being stubborn and hard headed is a Martin family trait." "Thanks for everything that you've done Spike. I don't know what I would have done without you. Well actually I probably would have just called 911 but just knowing that you are in Sunnydale makes me feel more comfortable." Spike and Giles hugged then he left to join the rest.

Angel came in to say goodbye before they all left to go back to the hotel. "We are going to be going home now Giles. Call me when you're ready to come home. Connor said that he was going to come over once he was done with his classes for today. Good bye Mom. Promise me that you'll be good now." "I promise ….I'll be good. Don't …forget that I am home …. tomorrow." Angel gave her a kiss then left to join the others.

Wesley had to drive Dr. Martin's car home since Spike had to climb into the back of the van to get out of the sun. Fred had joined him and as they sat there taking in the interior they looked at each other. "Let's take the long way around." Fred said with a mischievous grin. Wesley went around the entire Los Angelus basin before he made his way back to the hotel.

"We thought you guys got lost or were mugged or something. Where have you been?" Cordelia asked. "Oh we just took the long way around and I do mean the loooonnng way around. Dr. Martins car is so nice to drive. So what are you guys doing?" Wesley asked.

"Angel was looking for you to help take Mom and Giles furniture upstairs to their new rooms. You came back just in time to help take their bed upstairs." Cordelia said as she headed downstairs to get Dr. Martin's sheets and blankets that she had washed.

After they had everything situated for Dr. Martin's homecoming tomorrow they had a quiet dinner in their own rooms. Connie had made a dinner that they could all easily put together. Everyone was thinking about Dr. Martin and how the stroke had affected her. Angel was quiet through out their dinner. When he was done he looked at his wife. "Let's go out for an evening ride with Santana and Aunt Bee." "That sounds like a good idea I'll be ready in just a few minutes." "Okay I'll get Kathleen ready to go and visit with her boyfriend." "Who is her boyfriend?" Cordelia asked. "Junior, I saw them in the playpen kissing the other day. It was so cute but for some strange reason I suddenly felt a green eyed monster looking over my shoulder." Cordelia came over to him and put her arms around his waist as he finished putting Kathleen's pants back on. "That's okay Angel I think it's normal for a daddy to be jealous of any boyfriends that come sniffing around their little girl. Fortunately for you right now at this stage of the game Junior is only sniffing at her nuclear waste diapers." They both laughed and Angel tickled Kathleen until she started laughing.

"Mommy and Daddy are going to go horseback riding for a few hours then we'll be home before it's time for you to go to bed, okay?" "Okay Daddy have fun. I love you Daddy." She gave her daddy a big kiss then reached for her mother. "I love you Mommy." She gave her mother a big kiss also then she wanted to be put into her walker. She was walking so well that she barely needed the walker and used it more as a backup to her legs when they got tired.

Cordelia and Angel made it out to the stables by 7. It was almost dark and Vince cautioned them about riding so late at night. "We'll be okay Vince. I can see very well at night." "Stay away from the bridge Mr. Martin we've had reports of a gang hanging out over there." "Okay Vince, thank you. We should be back in an hour or two." Angel and Cordelia took off down the street then. Santana was feeling frisky tonight.

"When we get to the dirt road we can give them their head. Santana feels like he needs a good run." As soon as they hit the dirt road Cordelia called out to him. "Last one to reach the river for the cross over and the big rock has to get up with Kathleen tomorrow morning." "You're on." Angel yelled back at her as he kicked Santana in his ribs and he leapt forward. He hated getting up in the morning since he was still having the urge to sleep during the day so he didn't hold Santana back at all. Before he knew it he was way ahead of Cordelia and couldn't see her so he reined in and listened for her. He couldn't hear or see her so he started back. He knew how tricky she could be so he walked Santana back slowly. The wind wasn't in his favor and Cordelia knew that. As Angel had backtracked almost 100 yards Cordelia pulled out onto the trail back where he had stopped and turned around. She waited for her scent to reach him. It was 5 minutes before he turned around and looked back up the trail. She waived at him then took off for the river. Even though Santana had tried his best to catch up she had too much of a lead on him and Aunt Bee reached the river before he did.

"What's the matter old man? You seem to be losing your edge Angel." As Angel came after her she turned Aunt Bee around and took off across the river and up the other side. It took him another 400 feet before he caught her, grabbed her and pulled her off of Aunt Bee.

"You little brat, I think my heart actually stopped a few minutes while I was looking for you. Don't scare me like that." Cordelia could see that her little game had backfired and he was truly afraid for her. "I'm sorry Angel I promise that I'll never do that again." She lowered her head and pressed her ear against his chest. "What are you doing?" "I'm checking to make sure that your heart is back to it's normal beat." "Why?" "I want to make sure that you'll be okay when I do this." She pulled away from him then and jumped onto Aunt Bee and took off for the stable.

"Just wait till I get her home." Angel said to himself. He jumped on Santana and headed after her. When Angel could see that she was on the street he guided Santana to the back of the stables and jumped him over the gates until he reached the street and pulled him to a halt and looked for Cordelia.

As Cordelia walked Aunt Bee back to the stables she was looking and listening for Angel. She concentrated on the link that they shared and for a split second she could see herself coming down the street. She knew where he was now and continued down the street at a slow trot. They looked at each other as she went past. He pulled up along side of her.

"How did you know I was up here?" "I have my ways and if I tell you then you'll know how and I'll never be able to get ahead of you again. So it is my secret my dear." She leaned over to him and pulled him over so she could kiss him.

As they arrived back at the hotel they saw Wesley and Giles coming in at the same time. They all stopped at the kitchen to get something hot to drink and a snack.

"How is she doing Giles?" Angel asked after they all had a chance to drink and eat something. "She's the same as you saw her. In some ways she has become more child like in her demands to do things. About an hour after you left she had forgotten that you had said that she had to stay one more day and started to demand that I take her home. It was at that time that we found out that she could stand but she could only walk by taking a step then dragging her left leg into position. The nurse and I watched her walk down to the elevators so she could get the exercise Dr. Kent wanted her to have. I then picked her up and carried her back to her bed. She threw a hissy fit but then calmed down when she saw that I wasn't going to give her what she wanted." Giles was laughing. "It was just like taking care of Kathleen except you could discipline Kathleen but you can't do it with Mary. For some reason when I threatened her with telling you about what she was doing she stopped and thought about it then calmed down and stopped fighting us."

"Well I think it's time for me to go to bed. Giles we have made up a new bedroom for you and Mom. Angel has been working on it since you left for Sunnydale and we just moved your furniture up there today. He thought it would be quieter up on the fifth floor. So don't go to your old room just head up to the fifth floor and all the way to the end. He gave you the room that is on the corner and you can see all over the neighborhood. Good night everyone. I'll pick up the little munchkin before I go upstairs Angel." Cordelia said as she put the dishes in the dishwasher then left.

Everyone had answered with a goodnight. Angel was quiet for a few minutes then he said "Tomorrow when we pick Mom up Giles I want to stop at the church on the way back. Will you do exactly as I say and don't ask me to many questions when we get there." "Sure Angel." "Good then I will see you tomorrow. Good night."

Wesley and Giles just looked at each other. "What do you think he is going to do?" Wesley asked Giles.

"I think he is going to ask his Boss for a special favor and if there is a price to be paid then he'll pay it. Goodnight Wesley." They both left then and Wesley turned off the lights. He checked the doors and made sure that the security system was on then went upstairs to his family.

The next morning Angel asked Cordelia to go with them to pick up Dr. Martin. Of course Cordelia had no problem with that and handed Kathleen over to Lou.

As soon as Dr. Martin saw everyone she had a big grin on half of her face. She was already up and dressed and just waiting for them. The nurse came in when she saw Giles enter the room. "Good afternoon everyone. Dr. Martin has been a good girl all morning. She kept reminding me to make sure that I told her husband and son how good she was and didn't cause any problems. She got up early this morning and asked one of the aids to help her shower and wash her hair for her. So she has been sitting in this chair patiently waiting for you to pick her up. Even Dr. Kent was surprised that she was doing so well."

Giles went to Mary first and gave her a kiss and hug then he backed away so that Angel could go to her then Cordelia.

"We can go home now?" "Yes we sure can." Giles said. "Excuse me but we need some papers to be taken cared of also Dr. Kent needs to talk to whoever will be the primary caregiver for Dr. Martin." The nurse informed them.

"Dr. Hunter will be taking care of her. She said that she can either come in and talk to Dr. Kent or they can talk on the phone." Angel told the nurse. "Okay then who will be taking care of the papers and the bill?" Before Giles could say anything Angel said that he would take care of it.

Angel came back in a few minutes with several prescriptions that they had to fill before they returned home. An aid followed Angel in with a wheel chair. With Angel there Dr. Martin didn't give them any problem about having to use the wheel chair she just obediently sat in the chair and let Giles push her out and downstairs. When the valet brought the van over Dr. Martin wanted to get into the van by herself and pushed everyone's hand away. After several attempts she admitted defeat and looked to Giles. "Gee that only took 3 minutes for you to admit you needed help I hope that will be the norm for you." Giles said. He reached for her hand but she pushed it away and reached for Angel instead. As Angel helped her to get into the van she looked over his shoulder and stuck her tongue out at Giles. His only response was to laugh. With only half of her face muscles working it made for a very funny looking picture.

Angel was quiet as he drove to Fr. Barris's church. He could hear his mother struggling to talk to Giles and it made his heart hurt for her. He pulled into the church parking lot and pulled over to the covered unloading area out of habit. Without saying anything to anyone he got out and went to the other side and helped Cordelia out then opened the side door and picked up Dr. Martin.

"Cordelia would you get the keys out of my pocket and you will find a key that has a cross marked into it. That key will open this door." She did as he said and opened the door for him. Giles followed Angel in then Cordelia closed and locked the door again. Angel had talked to Fr. Barris the day before and had asked if they could have the use of the church at this time.

Angel walked to the front pew and put Dr. Martin there then Giles sat next to her. Angel went up to the alter then and brought one of the tall alter candles over and placed it in front of Dr. Martin and lit it.

Angel asked Giles to follow him while Cordelia sat with Dr. Martin. "Giles do you think you can hypnotize her now? I only want her to go into a deep sleep." Giles was about to ask why then he remembered what Angel had said last night. "Okay Angel I'll try." Giles hypnotized her without any problem this time. As Angel asked he put her into a deep sleep. Angel reached over then and picked her up. He walked up to the alter and placed her on top of it. Then he kneeled in front of it and started to plead with God for her return to perfect health. He took his rosary out and began to pray. Cordelia saw him take out his rosary and she did the same. She didn't know exactly what he was doing but she was going to add her prayers to his. Fr. Barris had also entered the church and was adding his prayers to the rest.

After kneeling in front of the alter for three hours, in deep prayer, Angel reached out his hands and leaned against the alter. When he did this a very subtle mist surrounded him and the alter. Cordelia went to Giles and put her arm through his. Next to Angel a woman stood with her hand placed on his head. As they watched they could see her lips moving but they couldn't hear anything. After she was done talking she bent down and kissed the top of his head then the mist disappeared. After another 10 minutes Angel stood up and picked up his mother and placed her next to Giles.

"Bring her out of the hypnotic sleep Giles and tell her that she is going to be very sleepy when we get back to the hotel and that she will not wake up again until tomorrow at 9 o'clock in the morning." Without question Giles did as Angel instructed. When they entered the freeway again Cordelia called the hotel and let them know when they would be home.

When they returned to the hotel everyone greeted Dr. Martin with hugs and kisses. Everyone was on the verge of tears as they greeted her. They all felt that they had come to close to loosing her.

More than once she had to ask Giles who they were even though she had seen them just yesterday. When it came time for Kathleen to greet her grandmother it was clear to everyone that Dr. Martin remembered her.

"Hello my little ….. Godchild. Grandma ….missed you so much do you have a kiss for me?" Kathleen put her hands on both sides of her grandmother's face like she so often did to her mother and father. She stared at her grandmothers face and looked at each side carefully.

"What's wrong with your face Grandma?" Kathleen pointed to the left side of her grandmother's face. "This side is broke, it doesn't smile like the other side." "Well …… remember how when you're ……..mad and you have your ……grumpy face on and your Mommy tells you to smile or your …..face is going to stay like that?" "You mean like this?" Kathleen put her grumpy face on. "Yes exactly like that. Well when ….Grandma and …..Grandpa where gone I was missing you and everyone so much that I didn't smile at all and Grandpa said 'If you don't ….smile once in a while …..then your face is going to be ……stuck like that. I looked at your Grandpa then and I tried to give him a smile but all I could do was give him only …..half of a smile because one side was already broke. So …..yesterday Grandpa and ….Uncle Spike took me to the …..hospital and they did a ……bunch of tests on me and my doctor said "Well Dr. Martin the only way that you can get better is to go home and be with all of your family and give this to Kathleen because she is the only one in the world that can fill it." Dr. Martin reached into her deep pocket and found a note that she had asked Dr. Kent to write to Kathleen. She had explained to him how she was going to use it to explain to her granddaughter why she was having a problem.

"Here you are ……Miss Kathleen it is a ……prescription that only you can fill." "What does it say Grandma?" "It says;

To Kathleen Martin

Give 3 kisses a day to your Grandmother

1 kiss in the morning before breakfast

1 kiss in the afternoon before lunch

1 kiss before going to bed

Kathleen looked at the piece of paper carefully as though she was reading it.

"Okay Grandma here is your lunch kiss." Kathleen took her grandma's face in her hands and gave her a gentle kiss on each side then one on her lips.

"Why did you kiss me like that?" "Because I didn't want this side to get mad because I didn't give it a kiss too. So I gave each side a kiss so they would both be happy and the middle one was just for you." "With so much love being given to both sides I am sure that the …..sad side will be better very soon. Thank you." Dr. Martin gave her granddaughter a kiss and a hug then Giles gave her back to Angel.

"I think I would like to go and take a ….nap now everyone. For some reason I seem to be very sleepy. I'll see you all later tonight." She had walked into the hotel but now she was too tired to walk the rest of the way. "Can you get the …..wheelchair for me Giles? I don't think I'll be able to make it to our ….room."

Wesley brought the chair over that was in the corner of the dinning room. "Here you go Dr. Martin we brought it over for you already. It's been cleaned and dusted for you. I think this old wheel chair has been put through more use since we moved in then in all the years before." Giles helped her to sit in the chair. Angel and Cordelia then followed them to their rooms on the 5th floor.

"Angel would you wait out her in the hallway while Cordelia helps me get Mary settled in?" Angel waited out in the hallway with Kathleen. He put her down and let her walk up and down the hallway. She held onto her Daddy's hands at first but before they got half way down the hallway she was pushing him away from her. Of course she landed on her well padded rump 4 or 5 times but she didn't give up she just got back up and started again and before he knew it her Daddy was chasing her up and down the hallway.

Cordelia opened the door as Angel was chasing his daughter down the hallway. When Kathleen saw her mother she went running to her. "Come on you two you can come in now." Cordelia picked up Kathleen and went into the room. Angel followed her in and closed the door. The room was darkened and Angel saw his mother already in bed with her nightgown on. He went over to her and sat on the bed. He took her hands in his.

"Mom I am going to do something that you may find uncomfortable but it will let me help you with your memory. Once I do this you will be able to speak more easily. Do you mind if I do this?" "You're going to ……establish a …..link between us?" "Yes." Angel looked to Giles. "Giles I'll try not to be in her mind all of the time but I may not be able to block it out when your being, shall we say intimate. Do you mind?" Giles hesitated before answering. "I'll put up with anything Angel if it means it will help Mary to recover faster." "Good, I was hoping you would say that."

Angel reached out for his mother and put his hands on either side of her head. He closed his eyes then and concentrated on establishing a link between them. It wasn't easy because they weren't related close enough by blood or marriage. Cordelia and Giles watched him. Angel started to perspire he was concentrating so hard. Dr. Martin showed no reaction to his attempts to establish the link. Finally after almost twenty minutes he lowered his arms and lay down. Cordelia went to his side. She put her hand on the side of his face. He was warm to the touch and she found a trickle of blood coming from his ears. She went into the bathroom and ran cold water over a wash cloth and wiped his face and the blood from his ears.

"Angel, how are you feeling?" He opened his eyes and sat up. Cordelia helped him over to the kitchen table. Giles made some coffee for all of them. While they waited for the coffee Cordelia rinsed the wash cloth again put some ice cubes in it and pressed it to the back of Angel's neck. In a few minutes Giles joined them with the coffee.

"Angel, were you successful?" Giles asked. "Yes I was finally able to establish the link." "Angel you started bleeding from your ears again. You know that if Hunter hears about this she is going to tell you to cut the link." Cordelia warned him.

Angel looked at her with tears threatening to spill over. He reached for her hands and put both of his hands around hers. "Giles, would you call Wesley please and ask him to join us? I try to make him aware of anything that I do that may affect Angel Investigations." Giles went to the phone and called Wesley.

When Wesley came in Angel explained everything that he had done up until now except for the visit at the church. "Now I have something else to tell you that I haven't told Cordelia or Giles yet. Before we returned from the hospital we stopped at the church. While we were there I asked God to heal Dr. Martin. I prayed harder then I've ever prayed before. Finally after almost three hours Sister Margaret came to me. She told me that God could only give me part of my request. But even that small part was going to come at a high price. She explained to me that when we leave this world Christ does forgive us our sins when we admit our sins and ask for forgiveness and His mercy but before we can enter into paradise we must pay for those sins. She said it's kind of like when we were kids and our parents told us not to play in the mud puddle and we did anyway, we were so cute the way we looked all covered in mud that our mother would forgive us but before she would allow us to come into the house we had to remove our clothes and clean up and then she would clean our clothes. Usually we have to clean ourselves up after leaving this world but before entering paradise and the only place we can do that is in hell where we are scrubbed clean more or less. Some people, like Mom and Sr. Margaret, are given the chance to pay for their sins while they are still in this world."

"But how could Sr. Margaret and Mom possibly have sinned so much that they should suffer this much." "Remember when we went to see Sr. Margaret and Connor asked Mom the same type of question?" "Yes, she said that the sisters know more about what sin is and have more rules to follow, thus they have more rules that they can break and are judged more harshly when they do break those rules and commandments since they are the brides of Christ and should know better." "I have been given that chance also Cordelia and that is why I have to suffer so much. Sr. Margaret said that He would allow me to suffer for some of Mom's sins. She wasn't able to tell me what I will have to suffer but she did tell me how Christ will heal Mom. She said that her facial muscles would be healed and that I was to establish this link so that I could help her to remember things and how to speak normally more quickly.

I wanted to tell you three all of this because I will be gone for 40 days and nights to endure this suffering. You cannot come looking for me because if you should find me before the 40 days are up then I will have to start it all over again later.

Now I have to tell you the worst part of it Cordelia. I have to break our link together. As you've seen it costs me too much to help Mom and maintain our link."

"I understand Angel go ahead and do it now I know how much it is costing you." Angel reached for her and it took him only a few minutes to break the link.

"Angel does the link between you and your childe still exist?" Giles asked.

"Yes, that link is the only link that I cannot sever because I did not establish it, although I did make it stronger when I had to go looking for Cordy and Mom. As time passes though it grows weaker and will return to its original strength. It will only end when one of us dies." Angel stood up then and started for the door while still holding Cordelia's hand. He stopped and turned to the two watchers.

"What I have told you tonight cannot be repeated to anyone else until it is over. Try to carry on as usual. Tomorrow I believe the physical therapist will be here at 11 a.m. and he will start Mom on her therapy. Goodnight." Angel and Cordelia left then to be with their daughter.

Wesley and Giles sat down again when they left. "Is that all that happened Giles. Usually there is more." "You know Wesley I have never been one to be a very religious man. Even though I go to church with Mary every Sunday I still remain a skeptic. But what I saw today in that church Wesley has made a true believer out of me. After what I saw I think I will join the rest of you and convert to the Catholic Church. When we left the hospital we went to Fr. Barris's church. You know Angel has his own key to the church. Anyway he carried Mary into the church then asked me to hypnotize her so that she would go into a deep sleep. I did as he requested and when she was in a deep sleep he picked her up and laid her on the alter. Then our 250 plus years old Vampire knelt before the altar and stayed there for the next 3 hours. After 2 hours and 45 minutes Cordelia and I saw a soft white mist come down and surround Angel and the altar. In the mist I saw a woman dressed in a white nun's habit. She stood next to Angel and put her hand on his head as an adult would a child. She spoke to him for the next 15 minutes then she disappeared along with the white mist. I was so hypnotized by this event that I didn't notice that Cordelia had come over to my side and had her arm around mine. Mary has told me about this happening to him twice before but in the bottom of my heart I did not believe her. Wesley, today I became a believer."

Cordelia was hungry when they left to go to their rooms. "Angel I am going to go and make myself a sandwich do you want something? I know it's been a long time since you ate last." Now that you mention it I am hungry. How about a roast beef sandwich? I'll fix myself a mug of blood up here." "Okay, roast beef sandwich it is. Why don't you see if you can find our daughter while I get our sandwiches." Cordelia went to the kitchen while Angel went looking for his daughter. After trying a few doors he finally smelled her in Tara and Willow's room. He knocked at the door and Willow answered it. "Oh hi Angel are you looking for Kathleen?" "Yes I smelled nuclear waste over here and I knew she had to be in here." Willow laughed. "I just got through cleaning her up. You should see the new trick that Connor taught Toby. He knows when she has made a deposit before we do so Connor taught him to fall over on his side and play dead from the smell. It's real cute." Willow said as she bent down to pick up Kathleen.

Angel could hear Tara in the bathroom vomiting. "Is Tara sick?" "Heck no, she's pregnant." "Pregnant but who is the father?" "Didn't you know that both Tara and I have been trying to help Hunter and Mike have a baby?" "You what?" "Come in Angel and I'll explain the facts of life to you." Willow laughed as she asked him to come in and have a seat at the kitchen table. "Very funny." Angel said as he took a seat. "Now what's this all about? I know that Hunter can't have children."

"That sir is incorrect. Mike and Hunter found out that her ovaries are still producing eggs it's just that her body is to cold to sustain a pregnancy. So Mike has been giving her hormones to make her ovaries produce more than one egg at a time. When you said that you could smell three women that were ripe he checked Tara, Hunter, and I and we were all ready at the same time. So Hunter helped Mike get what we needed from him then he took about 10 of her eggs and put them together in a little Petri dish and made sure that they all got fertilized and started to multiply. Then he placed 5 in me and 5 in Tara. None of mine took because it was already too late for me but Tara was just right." "That means that she could possibly have 5 babies." "Yes but most likely they didn't all take." "Wow and I thought 1 was tough on the woman, I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must be for 5." "Well don't let Tara hear you say that she's nervous enough as it is. We called the midwife yesterday and she is sending us a bag of the tea she gave Cordelia." "Does anyone else know about this?" "You are the first one to know. We haven't told Hunter and Mike yet since they've been busy with patients and then Dr. Martin got sick."

Tara came out of the bathroom just as Willow finished explaining everything to Angel. She came over to the kitchen table and sat down. Willow grabbed a kitchen towel and put it into some ice water she had waiting for her. She put the towel on her neck and forehead. "How are you doing?" She asked Tara. "Tired, all I want to do is sleep right now." "Do you have some crackers in here?" Angel asked. Willow went to the cabinet and pulled out a box of Saltine crackers. "I had forgotten about these. Here Tara eat these it will make your stomach feel a little better." Tara took the crackers from Willow and ate a few. When she started feeling better she took the box from Willow and ate them steadily until her stomach started feeling better.

"I think that Cordelia still has some tea left and she doesn't seem to be having a problem with this pregnancy. I'll go and get some and I'll be right back." "Thanks Angel." Tara said as he went out of the door with Kathleen.

By the time he returned to his room Cordelia was already back with the sandwiches and something for Kathleen. It was late and way past her dinner time. Just as she started to warm Kathleen's food up Angel came in with her. "Where have you been?" "I've been talking to Willow. Do you have any of your morning sickness tea left?" "Yes." "Get it and let's go over to Willow and Tara's room. Tara needs some." She didn't ask the obvious question and just pulled the jar out of the cabinet and followed him back to the girl's room.

Willow had left the door open so they just walked in. "So Tara don't tell me you've been cheating on Willow?" Cordelia said with a smile. She proceeded to make some tea with the hot water Willow already had on the stove.

"Here you go Tara. Let it sit for a few minutes then you can drink it." Cordelia took one of the chairs at the table and Angel had taken the other one. "So Mike took my advice and you're the lucky one." Angel looked at Cordelia. "How did you know about this?" "I didn't know she was pregnant but I did suggest the possibility to Mike that Hunter's ovaries might still be producing eggs but since she was so thin her body may have stopped having a menstrual cycle. A woman's body Angel has to have a certain percentage of body fat or she stops having the ability to get pregnant. Plus since Hunter's body is so cold she couldn't sustain a baby anyway. I also suggested that if her ovaries were still producing eggs then maybe Tara or Willow might be willing to carry the baby to term." Angel looked at his wife.

"You are a constant source of wonderment to me Cordelia Chase-Martin." Cordelia bent over and gave Angel a kiss. "I'm glad I still have something left to surprise you with my dear. Let's go I have to feed the princess before she falls asleep. Make sure that you drink that after every meal Tara. The measuring spoon is in the bag and you use just one per cup let it sit for a few minutes after you put the water in. If you need me for anything else just let me know. Are you going back to Sunnydale or staying here while your pregnant?" "We're going to talk to Mike and Hunter first then probably leave after Mike confirms that I'm pregnant." Tara said. "Thank you for the tea Cordelia."

"This is going to make Hunter and Mike very happy." Angel said as they made their way back to their own rooms. Cordelia wrapped her arm around Angels and said "I have a feeling Angel that God is going to grant Hunters request that she be allowed to grow old with Mike and finally die. But I think she will have to live just a little longer than Mike because he is about the same age as Mom and is having a family late in life. It's good that their child will have so many children his or her own age to grow up with."

They went into their rooms then and fed Kathleen who was already sleeping in her daddy's arms. Cordelia wasn't nursing her anymore so they got her to eat just a little then put her to bed with a bottle.

The next morning everyone was up earlier then usual and came down for breakfast. Spike was still at the hotel and was going to be leaving as soon as the light would permit him. Hunter and Mike had come in late last night after a heavy day in the office. Connie had cooked Dr. Martin's favorite breakfast of pancakes. She also had platters of scrambled eggs and sausages.

Since Dr. Martin couldn't use her left hand Giles was buttering her pancakes and putting syrup on them then cutting them up. "Thank you my dear." "Your very welcome my little buttercup." "Wow, I need a glass of milk to wash down all of the sugar that's going around the dinning room." Gunn poured himself a glass of milk and drank it all.

"That's ok Grandma and Grandpa he's just jealous because Cylinda has been working long hours at the hospital this week and sleeping at her own apartment. He's been in dry dock for so long I caught him tracking in sand yesterday." Connor said. Wesley cracked up. "That's pretty good Connor, I'll have to remember that one."

Tara reached over across the table and gave Hunter an envelope. "What's this?" Hunter asked. "Open it." Willow said. Hunter opened the envelope and knew what it was right away. When she opened the envelope she turned to Mike and showed him. She started to cry and Mike hugged her. They went around to the other side of the table and Hunter hugged Tara. They were all crying and hugging each other. Cordelia and Angel were the only ones that knew what was going on.

"May I ask what this is all about?" Wesley asked what everyone wanted to ask.

"Willow would you explain to everyone why we are so happy." Tara asked. Willow proceeded to explain to everyone what they had been doing and what the envelope had that made Hunter and Mike so happy. Hunter went over to Dr. Martin and hugged her. She got on her knees next to her chair and held onto her hand. "Mary I think that our Lord has granted my request. This baby will be the beginning of the end for me. I believe he will finally allow me to grow old and die. Thank you Mary for all of your help and guidance." "You're welcome Hunter." Hunter kissed and hugged her again then went back to her seat beside Mike.

"I noticed that you're speaking more clearly now and without hesitation. Has a miracle happened with you also?" Spike asked. "I guess you could say that but my miracle came in the package of a 6 ft. 1 Angel. Angel established a link with me so that he could help me to learn to speak again. To do this both Angel and Cordelia sacrificed their link with each other so that he could be with me for awhile." Angel looked at his Mother and winked at her.

After breakfast Willow and Tara went with Hunter and Mike to his office so he could confirm Tara's pregnancy.

At 11 a.m. Dr. Martin's physical therapist came to help her with relearning how to control her arm and leg again. He was impressed by the gym downstairs. He gave Giles suggestions on things that they would need for Dr. Martin. She was being a good girl today and cooperated fully with the therapist. Giles knew it was because Angel was standing to the side and watching the whole procedure.

The next several weeks went on like this with daily workouts in the gym and then the therapist. After only a few visits to the speech therapist the rest of the sessions were canceled. The therapist told her that she was getting along just fine and didn't need her help anymore. When she said this Dr. Martin looked at Angel and winked at him. They smiled and he gave his mother a hug and kiss as he helped her out of the hospital where the speech therapist was located.

Two weeks after this last session occurred Angel told his mother and Giles that he was going to break the link with her because she was doing so well. Giles was happy about that. He hadn't been able to have sex with his wife knowing that Angel was listening. After he broke the link Angel listened to Dr. Martin as she had a long conversation with Kathleen. He didn't hear even the slightest delay as she went from one word to the next. After an hour of this Angel called an end to the visit. It was time for both his mother and Kathleen to have their afternoon nap.

"Come on you two it's nap time. Your Mommy is going to come looking for you if I don't put you down for your nap and Grandma has to take a nap also." Dr. Martin gave her granddaughter a kiss then they left.

Cordelia was in their room and she looked up as they came in. "I was about to come looking for you two. It's time for our nap young lady.

"Can I lie down on your bed Mommy?" "I don't mind but we need to ask your Daddy also." "Can I Daddy?" "I don't sleep in your bed why should I let you sleep in my bed?" "Because you love me Daddy and I'm your princess." Angel looked at her with a smile. "Well that is all true and I must say you gave me a real good reason. Can we go to the park when Connor comes home Daddy?" "Any thing for my little princes. Now go to sleep or you won't be going anyplace." Angel put her up on the bed and she crawled over to where her mother was and lay down. Angel closed the drapes and turned everything off then took his shoes and shirt off and lay down with his girls. Before going to sleep he reached over to Cordelia and re-established the link between them again. Cordelia put her hand up to the hand that was on her face. She lifted it slightly and kissed the palm of his hand.

"Hello my husband." Angel leaned over Kathleen and kissed Cordelia. "Hello my wife. Did you miss me?" "Always." They all went to sleep then and didn't wake up until 4 in the afternoon.

The first one to wake up of course was Kathleen. She crawled up on her Daddy's back and jumped up and down. "Wake up Daddy, it's time to go to the park." "If you don't stop jumping on Daddy's back I am going to turn you into a pretzel." Kathleen kept on jumping on his back and as her daddy promised he turned around and pulled her down then started to twist her legs and arms around by taking her arms out of her shirt and putting her feet through the arm holds. She couldn't get out of it so she pulled the only option open to her. "Mommmmmmmyyyyyyyy Daddy made me into a pretzel and I can't get out."

"Mmmmm, a pretzel. I think I'll have a bite." Cordelia pretended to start eating her tummy up and Kathleen started laughing so hard that she let some nuclear waste go. "Ewwwww you little Rug Rat." Kathleen just laughed. Cordelia got up and went to the dresser where she kept all of the things Angel would need to clean his daughter up along with a clothes pin. She put everything on the bed and then put the clothes pin on his nose.

"I guess this means that I have been elected for removal of all nuclear waste material." Angel said as he proceeded to clean his daughter up.

When he was done he cleaned himself up then and changed into more park like clothes. He picked Kathleen up along with a coat for her and went looking for Connor. They found him downstairs in the garden and playing with Toby. "Come on Connor let's go to the park." Kathleen said. "Okay let me take Toby in then I'll be right back." Connor took Toby upstairs to be with his Grandmother and told her he was going to the park with Angel and Kathleen. "Don't stay out to late Connor." "We won't Grandma." He took off downstairs then and joined Angel and his sister in the mini van.

The park was only five miles away and most of the traffic had left Los Angeles. The only people in the park now were people with their children just like Angel was doing. Connor and Angel had taken Kathleen to the swings and while Angel pushed her on the swing Connor kept an eye out for anything suspicious.

The danger wasn't in the park today though. Lilah was leaving the office early today and was on her way home as she passed the park. What she saw almost made her get into an accident. She wasn't quiet sure that she saw what she thought she saw so she made a circle around the park then went by again. She stopped as soon as she could where she could keep an eye on Angel and his children.

"Robert this is Lilah, get a team out here at the park that's close to the office. Yes that's the one. We have a special package that is just waiting for us to pick them up. Make sure that you have a strong tranquilizer to knock them out. You'll need enough for two. I'll be in the parking lot keeping an eye on them." She put her cell phone away and waited. They had wanted to get at Connor for so long. It was still a mystery as to how he could have been born to two vampire parents. The baby they could understand since her mother was human, but Darla was a cold Vampire. Within a few minutes a couple of white vans pulled up along side of her. She pointed out Angel and Connor and the team went into action.

Without knowing why the hair on the back of Angel's neck went up. Apparently Connors did also. "Let's go Dad. I feel danger near by." "Yeah, me too, but it's not danger I feel it's something evil." Angel stopped the swing Kathleen was on and picked her up. Both Connor and Angel turned then to head back to the parking lot. Their eyes were constantly scanning the area. As they came closer to the parking lot each of them felt the tranquilizers hit them in the neck. The one hitting Angel missed Kathleen's head by just inches. Kathleen started crying when her daddy fell. Angels last conscious thought was to protect his daughter. Her little leg was underneath his body and although it wasn't really hurt it was in an uncomfortable position and causing her some pain.

The crew from Wolfram & Hart quickly gathered the three up and put them in the back of their white van and took off for a safer location located in the bowels of Wolfram & Hart. Kathleen was crying all of the way. She was in so much emotional distress that it was picked up by her mother.

Cordelia was carrying a load of clothes up stairs that she had just washed. When Kathleen's call reached her she dropped the basket and almost fell backwards.

"Wesley." She screamed. Wesley had been downstairs in his office working when he heard her call out to him. He ran up the stairs to Cordelia. "What is it are you having a vision?" "No something has happened to Kathleen. She is crying real hard and she's scared. She is looking at Angel and he has a tape across his mouth and he's chained up. They have Connor also." "Who has them?" "I don't know, all I know is that she is scared." "They went to the park didn't they?" "Yes." "Okay let's start there then."

Wesley went to get Gunn, Spike, and Lou. He explained what was going on and they all jumped into his SUV. It was already starting to get dark by the time they started for the park. They found Cordelia's mini van without any problem. Wesley had a duplicate key so they checked inside for any evidence or note that may have been left behind.

"Spike, can you pick up their scent?" "Yeah it seems to be headed downtown." "Okay let's see if you can follow it." They got back into the SUV and Spike told them where to go. As they came to a large building Spike told Wesley, "This is it they're down there somewhere." They all looked at the sign in front of the building. In big bold gold letters the name WOLFRAM & HART was spelled out.

Lou started to get out. Gunn jumped out and grabbed her arm. "You can't go in there Lou. They'll stop you before you get to the receptionist." "Why can't I go in. They have all three of them in here. I can smell them. I know that they're in there."

"Lou these people are the very personification of evil. We can't help them right now. We'll have to make plans to get them out. Now get back in and well go back and get the van and return home." Lou reluctantly did as she was told.

When they returned home Cordelia was waiting in the middle of the lobby. Wesley went to her. "We couldn't find them Cordelia but Spike was able to trace their scent to Wolfram & Hart."

"Where is my daughter Wesley, I want Kathleen." Cordelia was crying and yelling at him at the same time. Wesley just hugged her. "We'll find a way to get her back Cordy. I promise we will get them all back."

Dr. Martin came out of the elevator shortly after Wesley returned. Giles was with her and without saying anything they went outside to her car. Giles had tried to talk her out of it but with Mary being a Martin he knew it was useless to try anymore so as usual he just did as he was told. What he had been told to do was drive to Wolfram & Hart.

When they arrived Dr. Martin just got out and with Giles help went into the building and asked to see Lila. She gave the receptionist one of her own cards to give to Lila. Dr. Martin and Giles took a seat in a very comfortable waiting area. It was 20 minutes before Lila was located and she came out to the Lobby.

Giles and Dr. Martin stood as she approached them. Lila put her hand out to shake their hands. Giles declined but Dr. Martin shook her hand. Because of Dr. Martin's stroke it was a little difficult for her to make herself understood since the left side of her face was paralyzed. The words came out clearly though when she asked for that which she came for. "Lila I want my Granddaughter back. She is just a baby and can't possibly be of any use to you." Lila looked at her for a moment.

"Because of what you did for me Dr. Martin I will get your Granddaughter for you. Wait here while I have someone bring her." Lila went to the receptionist's desk and called downstairs. She knew that this wasn't going to make the Senior Partners very happy but she would think of something to tell them. Besides they had already taken a blood sample from her and performed other medical tests that would tell them all about her physical makeup and her constant crying was getting on her nerves.

A woman came up the elevator a few minutes later. She had Kathleen in her arms. As soon as Kathleen saw her grandmother and grandfather she started reaching for them and screaming at the top of her lungs. "Grandma they hurt my Daddy and Connor. I want my Daddy and they won't let me go to him. I want my Daddy, I want my Daddy." To hear Kathleen crying and calling out for her Daddy left everyone else crying also. Dr. Martin gave her to Giles to hold. He could see that she had been crying for a while because her eyes were all red and puffy. He took out his handkerchief and wiped her eyes and got her to blow her nose. She put her head against his shoulder then and stuck her fingers into her mouth and started sucking.

"Lila, why have you taken my son and grandson? What do you intend to do with them?" "Dr. Martin I have given your granddaughter back to you because of what you did for me. We have Angel and Connor because we are curious about Connor and how he came to be. Two Vampires are not supposed to be able to have children. We intend to find out what Connor is made of. We have Angel because we have questions and he has the answers." "How long are you going to keep them?" Giles asked. "As long as it takes. Oh and you might as well contact the school that Connor attends. He won't be finishing out the semester. Good night." Lila turned and left then to return to her own kind of entertainment.

Dr. Martin and Giles left then and returned to the hotel. Cordelia could sense Kathleen's nearness so she came running downstairs as soon as she heard the doors open and close. Kathleen reached for her mother as soon as she saw her. Cordelia hugged her so tightly that Kathleen almost couldn't breath. She kept telling her mother how the bad people had hurt her Daddy and Connor and how they wouldn't let her go to her Daddy. Cordelia finally took her attention away from her daughter and looked at Dr. Martin. "What happened, did they say when or if they were going to release Angel and Connor?"

Dr. Martin looked to Giles to explain what happened. Wesley was standing by Cordelia. As Giles finished telling them what had happened and what Lila had said Wesley and Giles looked at each other. They were both thinking the same thing that this was the beginning of Angels suffering to pay for his Mothers sins and they were to leave him alone until the 40 days and nights had passed. It was late and they hadn't had anything since lunch.

"Why don't you go upstairs Mary and I'll see what Connie has in the ice box." Dr. Martin just nodded an okay and went to the elevator." He waited until Mary had gone upstairs.

"Wesley, what are we going to do? Everyone is going to be expecting us to do something." Wesley came over to the kitchen and sat down. "I knew that this was going to be the hardest part Giles when he told us not to do anything." They didn't notice Cordelia coming into the kitchen.

"You won't have to worry about that gentleman. I'll take care of that. If anyone asks you anything send them to me." "Okay Cordelia." Wesley and Giles answered. Cordelia took her daughter up to their room then. She busied herself with fixing something for her to eat but Kathleen would turn her head away when her mother would try to feed her. So she left the dish for her. She thought she wanted to feed herself but Kathleen just let it sit there and continued to suck on her fingers.

"Aren't you hungry Kathleen?" her mother asked her. Kathleen just shook her head and continued sucking on her fingers. "Okay Mommy will put it in the refrigerator and you can have it later if you get hungry." Cordelia wasn't feeling hungry either. She knew that this was what Angel wanted but it was going to be almost as hard on her as it was on him. She put Kathleen in her pajamas and she got ready for bed herself. Instead of putting her into her crib she placed her in the bed next to her and they both went to sleep. It was a restless sleep though because Angel's suffering came across to her through the link they shared once again.

In the bowels of Wolfram & Hart Angel lay on the floor of his prison cell. Even though he was in a prison cell they still had his hands and feet bound and a tape over his mouth. They had Connor in the cell next to him but he was free to move around. The cells were separated by a few feet so Connor couldn't reach over and free his father. Lila had come in and told them that Dr. Martin had come and picked up Kathleen. They were both thankful for that.

In the morning a group of men had come in to feed Angel and Connor. While the majority of the guards stood back with their guns aimed at their two prisoners two of them opened the doors and placed their food on the floor. Angel was given a 12 oz. jar of blood while Connor was given potatoes and eggs with a steak cooked rare and two slices of toast with butter and jelly and a large cup of coffee.

"I don't drink coffee. Can I have a large glass of cold milk?" "Sure kid." Connor didn't make any move to get free. He knew that they would shoot his father if he did. Although it wouldn't kill him it would cause him a lot of pain.

The other guard was too afraid to be so lenient with Angel. He asked another guard to help him lift Angel up from the floor and place him on a chair that he had brought in. The guard took the tape off of Angel's mouth and put the jar of blood to his lips. Angel drank it greedily. When he was done he asked "Where's the rest?" "That's all you get. They want you to stay alive but not to alive." The guard said with a laugh.

The guard feeding him the jar of blood stood back when he was done and another person dressed in a white lab coat came in. Angel was wearing a long sleeved coat and shirt and it was obvious that the technician needed access to his arm. "I need for you to release his right or left arm." "What for?" The guard asked. It was plain to see that his request made the guard nervous. "I need access to his arm so that I can get it ready to give him something to relax." The technician held up a syringe and smiled. The guard pulled out his knife and cut the top of Angels sleeve off then pulled both sleeves down then backed up and out of the way.

Angel could see that this was heroin. "Don't do it guys, it's been tried before and if you continue you'll have a visitor that you won't want to deal with." "They know about the actress that drugged you and Angelus came through. They figured a way around that so shut up and get ready to go on a long trip." Angel watched the technician ready his arm for the drug then administer it. When they were done they exited the cell and it was locked again. All of the guards exited the room and they were alone again.

"Dad what happened the last time you were given drugs." Angel was already feeling the affects of the drug. The room started spinning when he opened his eyes so he kept them shut. "Angelus came through temporarily. The drug I was given gave me an artificial feeling of perfect happiness and Angelus took over for a short time." Angel started laughing at the memories. "We were in my old apartment and Wesley tackled me into the elevator shaft and I was knocked out. When I woke up I found myself chained to the bed with heavy chains." Angel started laughing so hard that he fell off of the chair. "Apparently you're a happy drug user also." Connor couldn't help but laugh at his father.

Angel remained under the influence of the drug for the next 4 hours but before it could wear off completely they came back and gave him more. They kept him under the influence of the drugs constantly and he never had a chance to come down from it. While they were getting Angel hooked on the drug they were busy putting Connor through a battery of tests, physical as well as psychological. After the beginning of the second week they felt safe in removing Angel's restraints. He was constantly either sleeping or existing in a fog. He barely knew where he was most of the time and by the beginning of the third week Lila came down to observe the beginning of his questioning. As intended Angel was very cooperative and answered any questions that they asked. They wanted to know what Angel Investigation was doing these days and who all of the people were that were now living at the hotel. The biggest surprise was the news that they had all become so religious, as those questioning him had put it. When they came to a question that Angel was reluctant to answer they just delayed giving him the drug that he was beginning to crave. He eventually gave them the answer they wanted then they would give him the drug. All the time they were doing this they gave him only a minimum amount of blood to drink and by the beginning of the fourth week he was beginning to have a gaunt look to his face.

At the beginning of the fifth week they started testing Angel for his physical response to the periodic withdrawal of the drugs they were giving him. They were now keeping Angel and Connor in separate rooms but Connor could hear Angel as they started to torture him. They would let him come down from the drug long enough so he would feel everything that they were doing to him.

It wasn't so much what they were doing to him to see what he could withstand that bothered Angel. Angel had been assaulted physically more times than he cared to think about so it wasn't that and it wasn't the fact that Connor was here with him and going through a bunch of tests like a guinea pig. What Angel hated right now was the fact that all he could think about was his next shot of the drug. He was growing weaker and weaker as time went by because of the lack of blood and usually he would be craving blood right now, in fact that should have been the only thing on his mind. For a moment he thought of Cordelia and Kathleen and he had to concentrate on putting a face with those names. He had forgotten about his instructions from Sr. Margaret and why he was letting this happen to him. All Angel had on his mind was when they were going to give him the drug again.

Lila finally came down to observe one of the sessions with Angel. She watched from a room with a two way mirror into the room where they had Angel chained up and hanging from the ceiling. As she watched them torturing him she noticed how he seemed to be in more pain then he did the last time they had him for a short time. She saw Angel do something that she didn't think he could do. He started crying as they continued to hit him with the cattle prods. When he called out to God for help she knew that this was a different man than the one she had been fighting all these past years. This Vampire was vulnerable.

Lila called for the leader of the group of men that were torturing Angel. The leader went over to the other room. Lila gave instructions for Angel to be given one last shot of the drug he was currently being given then he was to be released with his son and dropped off at the back of the hotel. "We now have all of the information that we can obtain from Angel and his son. It's useless to continue to torture him." "Yes Mam. I'll see to their return immediately."

Lila left then to write her report to the Senior Partners.

It was 1 o'clock in the morning when a white van pulled to the back of the hotel and let out their passengers. Connor was having to practically carry his father to the back doors. Neither Connor nor Angel had the keys to the back doors anymore. They had neglected to return the contents of their pockets when they released them. He couldn't do anything but call for someone and kick the door to make a lot of noise.

"Wesley, Gunn open the doors it's Connor and Angel. Wesley, Cordelia were back. Help me." He kept this up until he saw the lights come on in the lobby. He could see everyone coming to the doors. Wesley went to the security pad and shut it off. Gunn opened the doors and grabbed Angels other arm and they carried him over to the couch in the lobby. After they were in Wesley turned the security alarm on again. He ran over to the couch then to check on Angel and Connor. Cordelia was crying as she hugged Angel. She pulled back though when she felt no response from him. He had his eyes open but they were glassy and he didn't seem to be able to focus on anything. She stood up then and joined the others around Connor.

"Connor what did they do to him. His eyes are all glassy looking and he doesn't seem to be aware of his surroundings." Cordelia asked.

"Wesley, Dad was given drugs from the beginning. They've been giving drugs to him every 4 hours. The only time they didn't was when they wanted to see how he responded when they denied him the drugs. During the last week they've been taking him into another room and torturing him. I know they were delaying his next fix during those times because I could hear him screaming. Wesley I've seen kids hooked on drugs and they don't feel any pain when they're high. You can practically cut off their hand and they wouldn't respond to the pain. I'm sure you've noticed how thin he is. They've only been giving him 12 ounces of blood a day. They said they wanted him to stay alive but not to alive. In other words they wanted him to be weak so that he couldn't cause them too much trouble."

"What did they do to you? You seem to be in pretty good health." Giles asked. He had heard the noise downstairs and got up quietly and tried not to disturb his wife who was still sleeping.

"They took pretty good care of me. From day one they were feeding me everything I wanted. They even gave me a tall glass of cold milk when I told them I didn't drink coffee. They kept us both in prison cells that were next to each other but far enough away so that I couldn't reach him. From the start they had him chained up and tied so that he couldn't move or speak. When they brought in my meal of potatoes, eggs, and a steak all they gave him was 12 ounces of blood. He was hungry almost all of the time Cordelia." Connor's tears threatened to spill over.

Connor looked at Wesley and Gunn. "The worst thing of all Wesley and Gunn was that neither one of us fought back. They held us hostage against each other and they threatened to come after Kathleen if we didn't cooperate. So we both took whatever they handed out. All they did to me though was put me through a battery of physical tests to see what I was made of. They seemed to be very curious as to how I could have been born of two vampires. Both Dad and I answered all of their questions so I don't understand why they continued to torture him Wesley." "He'll be okay Connor, your Dad always bounces back within a short time."

"Wesley you don't understand. Dad is a drug addict now. He craves those drugs over blood. We are going to have to chain him up in another 5 or 6 hours because he is going to do anything he has to, to get his next fix. There is one more thing Wesley. Lila came to me before we were released. She told me that while they were torturing Angel they found that he isn't the Vampire that he used to be. He doesn't heal the way he used to and most of all his psychological response to the torture is different. She said that she has been fighting Dad for a long time now and for some reason he doesn't respond in the same way. He feels pain more intensely now and doesn't recover from it very fast. I think Wesley and Cordelia that Dad has become more human then we all thought."

"Gunn we better get those chains out that we had him in when Dr. Martin wanted to talk to Angelus. We have no choice but to put him in the basement. I'm glad I bought the padding for the wrist cuffs. Connor, can you and Lou bring down one of the old mattresses from up stairs?" Connor and Lou left for the elevator. When the doors closed and they were alone Lou turned to Connor and hugged him.

"I was so afraid that I would never see you again." She kissed him over and over again and he responded in a like manner. As the elevator came to a stop they parted and headed for the empty rooms and started searching for a mattress. They came across the men's escape room they used when they've tied one on and they needed quiet and sleep to get over their hangovers. They chose a mattress and took it down stairs to the basement. Gunn and Wesley had already taken Angel downstairs and chained him up to the chains that they had attached to the steel loops that were sticking out of the cement floor. Lou and Connor put the mattress down close to the steel loop in the floor. They helped Angel to lie on the mattress. Wesley had taken Angels torn jacket and shirt off before putting the chains on him.

Through all of this activity Angel gave no response that showed he was even aware that they were there and helping him. Every once in awhile they heard him laughing at something that only Angel was aware of. Before leaving to get some sleep Wesley brought a lamp downstairs that he placed well out of Angels reach. He had finally quieted down and was sleeping now. Wesley knew that within a few hours he was going to start missing his next fix and Angel was going to start his walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It was going to be up to his friends to make sure that he came out of the other side of that valley.

TBC……………………………………………………………….


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Wesley went upstairs to try and get some more sleep before the battle began. On the fifth floor balcony Dr. Martin had been waiting for everyone to go back into their rooms. Giles had come back up to their bed thirty minutes ago and was now sleeping.

As the last light was turned off and she heard Wesley's door close she started walking downstairs instead of taking the elevator. It took a long time since she was taking one step at a time but she didn't want anyone to know that she was up.

Dr. Martin had been working hard at her physical therapy and was now able to use her left arm and hand to do simple tasks such as buttering her own bread. She could dress herself as long as she didn't have to raise her arm higher than her shoulder. Giles still had to help her to brush her hair and braid it or even put it into a pony tail. Difficult movements such as tying a bow, was still beyond her abilities yet.

Her memory had also improved dramatically. Both Hunter and Fred had been drilling her on anything to do with medicine. She practiced her reading and writing while reading books to Kathleen. Cordelia introduced Kathleen to writing while giving Dr. Martin the chance to practice as well. In helping Kathleen to learn to write she was helping herself to remember, what used to be to her, a simple task.

Dr. Martin still had a problem walking but was able to do it without having to hold on to anyone. She knew, better than anyone else, that the few weeks she spent with her son in her head helped her more than any thing else.

She made her way down the dimly lit basement stairs and held on tightly to the rail as she lowered herself down each step. When she reached the bottom of the steps she looked around and listened carefully. At first she didn't hear anything then she heard Angel moaning in his sleep.

Dr. Martin carefully walked over to the side of the basement where they had previously chained Angel up so that she could talk to Angelus. She hesitantly came closer to Angel. Her eyes wandered over his body as she checked his physical condition. She could see the evidence of their torture in his face. His skin was dry and had a gray cast to it. His cheek bones protruded under the skin and his eyes were more deep set then usual. She could see that he had tightened his belt to the last hole in order to keep his pants from falling off. The odor coming from Angel told her that he hadn't been allowed to take a shower in the five weeks since he had been gone. She looked over by the table that they used for folding clothes and saw a pile of Angels freshly cleaned clothes, a wash cloth, towel, and a bucket that she could put warm water in. As she gathered everything up she heard the basement door open and close. She watched to see who it was.

Cordelia came down the steps quietly. Some how neither woman was surprised to see the other. "You've come just in time Cordelia. You can help me bathe him and put some fresh clothes on him." Cordelia smiled at her then went to get the bucket and filled it with warm water then found a fresh bar of soap on the supply shelves. While Cordelia was getting the water Dr. Martin was taking Angels clothes off. She didn't want to take the chains off of him so she cut away the rest of the t-shirt. She laid several towels under him so that they wouldn't get the mattress wet.

As they started to bathe him Dr. Martin made note of all of the bruises and burn marks. As Cordelia started to clean his genitals she saw a deep red mark going through his scrotum. She called Dr. Martin to get her attention. "Mom, look at this." Dr. Martin looked carefully and manipulated the testicles. Angel moaned in his sleep it clearly caused him pain as she examined them. "I can't say for sure Cordelia but I would say that it's a good thing you're pregnant already because I think there is a good chance that Angel's boys were injured beyond repair. Let's not say anything to him though. Men take this kind of thing very hard." As they continued to clean him they found that the bottom of his feet had been burned to the point that the skin was peeling as the result of 2nd degree burns. When they turned him over they found more half healed burn marks. When they were almost done cleaning him he opened his eyes and stared at them then closed them again after a few minutes. It was apparent that he was still sleeping. They quickly finished then dressed him.

When they were done and Cordelia had either thrown away or put clothes into the washing machine she came back over to Angel and Dr. Martin.

"Mom I have to go back upstairs to be with Kathleen. She panics if she doesn't see or hear me when she wakes up now." "Okay Cordelia, I'm going to stay here with Angel until the morning." Cordelia came and gave her husband a kiss. "Thank you God for returning him to me." She hugged Dr. Martin also and gave her a kiss then went upstairs.

Dr. Martin grabbed a blanket then she lay down beside Angel and covered him. When Angel felt her body next to him he turned over in his sleep and put his arm around her waist and rested his head on her chest. Dr. Martin pulled the covers over herself then and put her hand on his head. "Rest now my son the next 5 or 6 days will be very hard on you and you won't get much sleep."

The next morning Giles came downstairs to the basement looking for his wife. He found her exactly where he thought he would find her. Angel still slept with his head on his mothers' chest but Giles could see that he was starting to crave his next fix. His head was starting to form sweat and it was soaking his hair. Giles went over to Dr. Martin and shook her shoulder gently. She opened her eyes and saw him.

"Good morning my dear." Dr. Martin said when the sleep cleared from her eyes.

"My dear, what happened to stud muffin?" Giles asked with a smile. Dr. Martin smiled back at him. "Not in front of Angel." She said quickly and put her hand over his ear. "Time for you to get up from here my dear. Angel is starting to go through withdrawals." Dr. Martin looked at him and could see the sweat soaking his hair. She figured it had been a good 12 hours since his last shot. As Giles helped her to get up she looked back at Angel and saw him curl up into a fetal position. They went upstairs then to get some breakfast.

Everyone was downstairs and having breakfast when Angel started yelling for Connor. Wesley and Cordelia were the first ones down the stairs. Cordelia went to Angel and held him. She looked into his eyes after she kissed him. He had a wild look in his eyes. He couldn't stand to look at her. He pushed her away from him.

"Get away from me Cordy, get away from me. I can't bear for you to see me like this. Wesley please take her upstairs and don't let her come down until I am done with this." Wesley went to Cordelia and took her arm. "Let's go Cordelia. It hurts him too much for you to see him like this." She resisted at first but then she went back upstairs without any more argument.

"Giles please take Mom upstairs also, the only woman I want down here is Hunter." Dr. Martin started to resist his order when Giles took her hand. Without warning Angel jumped to his feet and pulled the chains to their limit as he approached her. "I don't want you down here to see me like this. You know as well as I do that it is going to get worse. Now go and do as I said." Angel yelled at her then went back to the mattress and curled up. Dr. Martin had jumped up and was leaning against Giles when Angel yelled at her. Without further resistance she went with Giles up stairs. Tara and Willow followed them upstairs also.

When the women left Wesley and Gunn went to Angel. They each sat on either side of him. Angel looked at Gunn and grabbed him by his shirt. "Gunn you know where you can get me some heroin don't you. If you don't then one of your boys must know. I just need a little to help me withdraw a little at a time." Gunn pulled his hands off of his shirt. "You know that will never happen, Angel. You know as well as I do, I throw anyone that I catch doing drugs out of the group."

Wesley put his hand on Angels shoulder. "We'll be here for you Angel but the only thing we are going to give you is food and water. I'm going upstairs to get you some blood. Most likely you'll throw it up but at least you'll get some of it into your system." When Wesley got up and left Connor took his place. Angel lay down and put his head in his son's lap. Connor put his arm around his father. "I'm here Dad; I won't leave your side until you're done with it." Connor hugged his father closer then he started to cry. Connor thought of the time that he had wanted to make his Dad suffer when he thought he had killed Holtz. He remembered chaining him up in a coffin like box and throwing it into the ocean where it laid for three months until Wesley found it.

Wesley came down with a large jar of blood and approached the group. Connor straightened up and wiped the tears away when he heard Wesley. "Angel, sit up so you can drink this. It's just plain blood. I didn't think you could stomach any of the spicy stuff." Angel took it from Wesley and drank it greedily. "I want some more." Angel said as he gave him back the glass. "You better not have anymore for now. I'll get you some more in a couple of hours. Don't forget that they've been starving you for the past five weeks and your system isn't used to food of neither the liquid or solid kind."

Angel threw the jar at the wall. "That's all I've been hearing is no you can't have any more Angel. We want to keep you alive Angel but not too alive. So they starved me for five weeks Wesley. Well they're not controlling me anymore. I told you I want more so get it." Gunn and Connor had jumped up when Angel threw the glass at the wall. "I'll get you some more Dad. I'll be back in a minute."

As Angel sat back down again he started to scratch at the site on his skin where they gave him the shots full of drugs. He continued to scratch until he was bleeding. Connor came down with more blood and a sandwich for his father. Angel consumed both eagerly. He had been hungry, it seemed like, forever. Towards the end he was so hungry the thought of taking the blood of his guard entered his mind. But he pushed it down so that it was in the cage with Angelus.

As he paced back and forth he started to become more and more nervous. The pacing was supposed to help him consume the nervous energy that he felt, instead it fed it. As he paced back and forth he started to see ants all over the floor. He moved away from them but they followed him. "There are ants all over the floor guys. Get some poison to kill them." Angel shouted as he tried to back away from them. The further away he tried to get the more they followed him until he couldn't go any further. He tripped over something on the floor and fell backwards. He could see the ants advancing on him by the thousands. He tried brushing them off of his legs but there were too many. They were starting to bite his skin now. "Help me Wesley, help me. They're crawling all over me and biting. Help me get them off."

Wesley went over to Angel. He looked all over the floor. There were no ants.

"Angel there isn't any ants." When Angel remained agitated Wesley slapped him hard to get his attention. "Angel look at me." Wesley was holding his arms and shaking him. Angel's eyes wandered all over the place looking for ants. "Angel it's a hallucination. There are no ants."

Angel looked at Wesley then at the floor. As he stared at the floor he absentmindedly started to scratch his leg where he could feel the ants had bitten him. As he was looking for the ants the blood and sandwich Connor had given him started to come back up. He got to the bucket just in time.

Connor gave his father a glass of water to wash his mouth out. He took the bucket away when Angel was done and gave him an ice cold wash cloth to clean his face with.

Angel laid down for a while and slept. Connor sat beside him while Wesley and Gunn took a break.

When Angel woke up, it started again.

Angel sat quietly for awhile. That quiet lasted for about 26 minutes. Then Angel couldn't stand to sit any longer. He felt like he was going to jump out of his skin he was so nervous. He got up and started pacing back and forth. As he paced back and forth he started scratching at the site where they gave him the shots of heroin. For the next several hours he walked the same path as far as the chains would allow him. At one point he finally stopped, fell to his knees and doubled over in pain.

Connor jumped up and grabbed the bucket again. He got it to Angel just in time for him to vomit what was left of the blood in his stomach. Wesley grabbed a wash rag and wiped his face and mouth with it. Gunn gave him a bottle of water to rinse his mouth out with and Angel lay down for an hour then and slept peacefully. While he slept Gunn, Wesley, and Connor took the time to take a break themselves.

It was 3 in the afternoon when they went upstairs. Connor as usual was hungry so he started to make himself a roast beef sandwich. He grabbed a bag of chips and a glass of milk and went upstairs for a while to be with Toby. When Toby saw him for the first time when he came home he got so excited that he peed all over the floor like he did when he was a puppy. Connor didn't mind though because he was just as happy to see him as Toby was to see Connor. He spent as much time with him as he could now.

Gunn made a sandwich for himself and took a beer and chips upstairs to his rooms also. Wesley went up stairs to be with his family for a while.

Later in the evening they gathered again to check on Angel. As they were about to go downstairs Hunter and Mike came in. Mike had a bag of human blood and Hunter had a bag full of junk food. Most of it was Hershey chocolate bars though.

"How is he doing?" Mike asked. "As well as can be expected I guess. You can come down and see him if you want Hunter. You're the only one of the women that he will allow to see him. He didn't even want Dr. Martin down there." Wesley said.

They followed Wesley down to the basement. It was the first time for Hunter and Mike to see Angel. Hunter gasped when she saw his emaciated condition. They stood by the stairs where they could talk without disturbing him.

"Why is he so thin?" Hunter asked no one in particular. "They were only giving him 12 ounces of blood a day and nothing else. When he asked for more the guard said that was all he was going to get. He said they wanted to keep him alive but not too alive. It doesn't do much good to give him blood now because he just vomits most of it back up." Connor told them.

"What symptoms has he displayed so far?" Mike asked. "He's real nervous to the point that he can't sit still for long. He paces back and forth a lot and scratches at the site on his arm where I presume they gave him his shots. Earlier in the afternoon he was hallucinating and thinking that he saw ants crawling all over the floor and him. As you can see he is perspiring heavily but doesn't seem to have a fever. At least he didn't when we left him for awhile. I had given him some blood and when he demanded more Connor made him a sandwich and gave him more blood. He's very hungry but he can't keep anything down it just comes back up within just a few minutes. After that he goes to sleep. We were just coming to sit with him again when you two came in. Then of course as you can see we have him chained up. He has already tried to get Gunn to get him some heroin." Wesley said. He took them the rest of the way in and Angel looked up at them.

"Hunter is that you?" "Yes Angel it's me and Mike is here also. We brought you some candy. It will help to take the edge off of the withdrawals." "Hunter I am so hungry. They wouldn't give me more than 12 ounces of blood each day." "Angel I would let you have some of mine but you would just throw it up. Here eat some of the Hershey chocolate bars. It's all yours, and I promise that you don't have to share it with Cordelia." She tore the wrapping off and gave it to him. He took a bite then started to wolf down the whole bar. He grabbed another one from the bag and had that one eaten within seconds. He doubled over in pain then and grabbed at his stomach. He reached for the bucket and the candy bars came right back up.

Angel stood up and started pulling at the chains, he grunted with the strain on his weakened muscles. Connor was surprised when they actually saw the loop in the cement starting to move. That had taken everything that he had in him though and he collapsed on the floor, breathing hard. He didn't look at anyone when he opened his eyes. He just crawled over to the mattress and pulled the blanket around him and lay down. He was shaking so bad you could hear the chain links clinking against each other.

For the next four days Angel endured the withdrawals from the heroin. He had tried several times to pull the chains out of the floor loop and each time the cement gave way a little but to everyone's relief the cement kept a firm hold on the loop. At the height of his withdrawal he started to experience hallucinations again and attacked Connor, thinking he was a demon that was attacking him. After that Connor, Gunn, and Wesley stayed with him almost around the clock. On the forth and fifth day Angel had seizures. It took all three of them to hold him down when he was going through one of them. By the end of the fifth day his suffering seemed to be at an end. He was able to hold down the human blood that Mike had brought and was asking for more.

On the morning of the sixth day Angel woke up after sleeping for 12 hours straight and called out to Wesley. "Wesley, Wesley wake up." All of the men started to move.

"What's wrong." Wesley asked through half closed eyes. "I want to go to my room and see my wife and daughter after I take a bath. I know I stink like a skunk. I need for you to remove these chains though and someone to help me upstairs. I want to go to room 412 to take a bath. I don't want them to see or smell me like this." Wesley rubbed his eyes and woke the others up. "Come on guys, our patient wants to go upstairs to 412 and take a bath."

Connor and Gunn rubbed the sleep from their eyes and helped Angel upstairs after Wesley removed the chains. To their surprise Cordelia was already up there and had the bathtub going. She had put some of her bubble bath soap in the water and the scent was already permeating the moisture laden air in the bathroom. Connor and Gunn took Angel into the bathroom then left and waited in the room. Wesley helped Angel to continue standing while Cordelia took his clothes off. Angel sat on the edge of the bathtub while holding onto Wesley. He was so weak that his legs couldn't hold him up for long without assistance. He swung his legs over into the tub and sat down.

"Thank you Wesley, I'll call you when I'm done bathing him." Cordelia said. Wesley left then and closed the door behind him. While they waited for them the men went back to sleep. They hadn't been able to sleep very much for the past five days and their sleep deprivation was starting to catch up with them.

As soon as Wesley had closed the door Cordelia started to wash Angels hair. She hadn't made a move to kiss him and he was wondering why. When she was done bathing him she proceeded to shave him. When she was done he dunked his head below the water and rinsed his head and face. When he came up Cordelia put her arms around him and kissed him. She didn't let go of him for a good five minutes.

"Why didn't you want to kiss me when you first saw me?" "Because sir you were stinky. Wait here and I'll bring you a glass of blood." When Cordelia came back she had a large glass of warm blood and a bunch of pills for him to take. "What are those?" "Mom didn't think you would want to have a shot again for awhile so she gave me pills that she wants you to take. She said they're various vitamins and Iron to help you to start building your blood back up again. Now be a good boy and take these, then drink your blood." Angel took the pills then drank the blood in almost one gulp.

"Would you tell Wesley that I would like to get out now." "Sure baby." She gave him a kiss then and called out to Wesley. Connor had brought the wheel chair up while they were waiting for Cordelia to finish bathing Angel. Wesley let Angel hold onto him while Cordelia dried him off and dressed him.

"Do you think you could stand a proper meal now?" Cordelia asked. "Madam I think I could eat a horse right now."

Angel sat in the wheel chair and Connor pushed him downstairs and to the dinning room. Everyone else was waiting for them to come down before they started having breakfast. Lou had brought Kathleen down with her and placed her in her highchair. Today was going to be the first time that she would see her Daddy since he had been kidnapped.

As soon as the elevator opened and they all came to the dinning room table Kathleen started calling to Angel. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." She screamed and started crying. Angel reached for her and pulled her out of the highchair. He held her in his arms and hugged her as tightly as he dared. "Where have you been Daddy? I was so scared that those bad people were hurting you. Mommy and I cried almost every night Daddy, we missed you so much. Don't ever leave me again Daddy, promise that you'll never leave me again." "Daddy will do his best never to leave his little princes again. I missed you so much." Angel looked around at the table and saw that Tara and Willow were still here.

"Willow would you do Kathleen and I a favor please?" "Sure Angel, if I can do it I will." "I told Kathleen that when she was born her Mommy took a piece of her and placed it in my heart and because of that tiny piece of her she would always have a place in my heart and I would always love her. Now she said that she wanted a piece of me to be placed in her heart so she would always have a place in her heart for me. I told her we would have to ask Aunt Willow to see if you could do it. Can you think of a way to do that?" Willow acted like she was concentrating on the problem. "I'll be right back Kathleen; I have to look it up in one of my books."

When she came back Willow went to Angel and took Kathleen from his arms and put a chair between Angel and Cordelia. She sat down and put Kathleen on the table. "You know Kathleen you already have a piece of your Daddy in you." Kathleen lifted her shirt and looked at her tummy. "Where, I don't see it." "What are you looking for?" Willow asked. "I don't see an Owie like Daddy has." Willow still didn't understand. "She means a scar like mine." Angel pulled his shirt to the side so he could show Willow the scar over his heart.

"Yeah like Daddy's" "Oh, well the way your Daddy put a part of himself inside of you is different. You can't see where he put himself inside of you because he is all over inside of you. He is here and here and here and all over." Willow pointed to different parts of Kathleen's body. "How did he get inside of me?" "Well one night your Daddy loved your Mommy so much that a part of him came out and your Mommy loved your Daddy so much that a part of her came out." Willow said a few words and she made it look like a tiny golden sparkle of light came out of Angel then she did the same to Cordelia.

"Then the two lights joined together and they made a baby." Willow made the two lights join together.

"Then God touched the light and a little girl called Mary Kathleen Martin was created." Willow made the light burn brighter as though God had touched it. "Then the light went back into your Mommies tummy and stayed there for 9 months until you were done growing and you could breath on your own. Then when you couldn't get any prettier you came out to meet everyone and your Mommy held you in her arms and said 'Mary Kathleen Martin I want to introduce you to your Daddy' then your Daddy took you in his arms. He hugged you and said 'Hi Mary Kathleen I'm your Daddy.'"

"Is that why Mommy has that white light around her?" "Yes, can you see the white light?" "Uh huh, it sticks out all over Mommy." "Yes that's very good. Now do you understand why I don't have to take a piece of your Daddy and put it inside of you?" "Yes cause I already have Daddy inside of me. He's here and here and here and here and all over inside of me." "Yes that's right." Willow was proud of herself. She had explained to Kathleen where she had come from and she had accepted it. At least she thought she was done, but Kathleen was still looking at her.

"I still want an Owie like Daddy has." "Okay I'll give you an Owie. It's going to hurt now and you may cry, do you still want it?" Kathleen took a moment to think about it. "Yes, I can take it cause us Martin women are strong. That's what Mommy and Grandma say anyway." Willow smiled. Cordelia and Angel were so proud of their daughter. She had said it so clearly.

"Okay then here goes." Willow took Angels hand and made it look like she was poking his hand with a knife but in actuality she was poking her own finger. She showed Kathleen the blood. With her other hand she lifted up Kathleen's shirt and placed her finger against her chest. Then as Kathleen watched it the blood seemed to melt into her skin and in its place was the name DADDY." Kathleen looked at it carefully. "See Daddy and I didn't cry at all. Thank you Aunt Willow." "You're welcome Kathleen."

Willow put Kathleen back into her highchair and went back to her own seat next to Tara. "That was very well done Willow." Dr. Martin said. She had spoken with such clarity that it drew everyone's attention. Especially Angels. There was no trace of the previously paralyzed muscles on her face. She gave everyone a big smile. Giles reached for her hand and kissed it.

"When did this miracle happen?" Wesley asked. Without hesitation Dr. Martin said, "This morning when I woke up and went into the bathroom I looked in the mirror and there staring back at me was this." She pointed to her face and smiled. "When I looked at my calendar and counted the days I realized that it was exactly 40 days since Angel, Connor, and Kathleen had been kidnapped." Dr. Martin looked down at the other end of the table and at her son.

Angel carefully rose from his chair and by hanging onto each chair as he walked down to the other end he was able to make it without anyone's assistance. When he came to his mothers chair he went down to his knees and put his arms around her waist and hugged her. Dr. Martin put her hands on his head and began to stroke it as she quoted the Bible,

"Jesus said, 'For greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends'."

With tears in her eyes Dr. Martin looked up at the rest. "Now that the forty days of Angels suffering are over I don't think that he will mind my telling all of you why he didn't want anyone to come looking for him. When they picked me up from the hospital Angel took me to Fr. Barris's church. He told Rupert to hypnotize me and put me into a deep sleep. While I slept Angel put me on the altar and for the next 3 hours he knelt before it and prayed that God would heal me. After 2 hours and 45 minutes Sr. Margaret came to him and explained to him why this was happening to me and that God would only grant a partial healing if Angel would agree to suffer for my sins. Of course, Angel being who he is, agreed to this. He was told that his suffering would last for 40 days and 40 nights. Last night marked an end to his suffering." Angel looked up into his mothers face. "No woman could ask for a better son." Dr. Martin said as she hugged Angel.

After a few minutes they let go of each other and Angel made his way back to his own chair. He sat down heavily as though he was very tired. "How did you know that I had asked God to heal you?" He asked his mother. "Sr. Margaret snitched on you." His mother answered with a smile.

Cordelia brought Angels breakfast to him. She had cooked a steak and six eggs. Since he had been starved while he was being tortured his stomach had shrunk and he couldn't eat very much before he was full.

After they all finished their breakfast Wesley was the first to speak up. "Do you want to do anything about what they did to you and Connor, Angel?" "No but I do want to talk to Lila. Do you think you could get her on the phone then put her on the speaker?" "I'll see what I can do." Wesley went to his office and called Lila. To his surprise she answered on the second ring.

"Lila this is Wesley." "Yes Wes I've been expecting your call." "I am going to put you on a speaker Lila so hold on." Wesley made the appropriate switches and set up the speaker in front of Angel. "Go ahead Angel she is on the speaker."

"Hello Angel, I take it your withdrawal from the drugs is over now. I hope it wasn't too hard on you." "It was everything you hoped for, I'm sure, Lila." "Oh come now Angel you know that this was just part of the war between us. Did Connor tell you what I had said to him." "No Connor and I have not had a chance yet to speak privately." "Let me save you some time. I told him about what we had found out about you during our, shall we say, questioning. I told him that you feel pain more intensely and that you don't seem to recover from it as fast as you used to. We believe Angel that you are becoming more human than we previously thought. It was hardly worth torturing you. It wasn't as fun as it usually is."

"Maybe these last 40 days didn't do much for you Lila but it provided me with everything that I needed from you." "What could we have possibly given you Angel? We had you restrained so tightly that you couldn't have taken a pee unless we took some of the bindings off."

"You gave me something Lila that only you could possibly give. Connor is being groomed to take over Angel Investigation. He has never had to deal with you before and he hasn't had first hand knowledge as to how evil you people are. You kept him from going to his regular collage classes Lila but you provided him with the collage course that only you could teach. You taught him what kind of people run Wolfram & Hart. You taught him about the Senior Partners and who your god is. You taught him what true evil is Lila and I have to thank you for that." It was silent on the other side of the line for a few minutes.

"My pleasure Angel, if I can help you in any other way just let me know. After all we still have your sons to test after they are born." Lila hung up then and Angel did the same on his side. He was quiet for awhile. Then he pulled Cordelia to him and put his ear against her stomach. He listened carefully for a while. I can hear their heartbeats now. It's noisy inside. Cordelia put her hand on Angels head and closed her eyes and concentrated. Thru the link they shared she could hear their heart beat. It was soft but distinct.

The moment was broken then by Dr. Martins physical therapist coming in. Giles asked him to come to the table. "Come over here Manuel, I don't believe you have met Dr. Martin's son and grandson. They've been away on a case." Giles knew that Angel was too tired to walk over to them so he guided Manuel over to them.

Angel stood up as they approached him. "Manuel this is Dr. Martin's son Angel Martin and the owner of Angel Investigation, and this is his son Connor. Angel and Connor this is Mary's physical therapist, Manuel Martinez." Manuel shook hands with Angel and Connor.

"How is she doing Mr. Martinez? Is she being a good girl and following your instructions?" "Oh yes, she is very dedicated to getting better and returning to her usual self. I am almost positive that before the year is over she will have full control over her left side again. I noticed that she is no longer paralyzed on the left side of her face. When did this miracle occur?"

"I woke up this morning and it was back to normal. To tell you the truth though I think that it was the medicine that Kathleen was giving me three times a day." "And what kind of medicine was that?" Manuel asked. "It's called Three Kisses a Day medicine."

"I am so happy you are doing so much better Mary but let's go downstairs now and work on the rest of you." "Yes Sir." Giles gave her his arm and they went downstairs then.

"Let's go Angel it's time for you to rest now." Cordelia said as she got up and reached for his arm. "I think your right Mommy. Do you think she is right Kathleen?" "Yes Daddy, time for you nap." Kathleen stood up in her highchair and reached for her mother and said "Down Mommy, I want down." "I don't hear the magic word." Cordelia said. "Pleeease." Kathleen said. "That's better." Cordelia put her down on the floor and Kathleen walked to the wheelchair and tried to push it over to her Daddy. Connor came and helped her with the chair.

"Come on Daddy sit down." Kathleen grabbed Angels hand and pulled him over to the chair. Angel cooperated and sat down in the chair as she said. Kathleen then went to the back of the chair and tried to push it. After a while she gave up and went to the front of the chair and climbed up in her Daddy's lap. "You're too big for me Daddy. Connor is going to push you okay?" "Okay, I think that would be a good idea." Connor started to push the wheelchair forward then.

When they arrived upstairs and in the room Connor collapsed on the floor. "Whew, you guys are too heavy for me. I think I need a nap also." Toby had followed them upstairs so he came over and laid down next to Connor and put his head on his stomach. Angel got out of the chair and pulled his shoes, shirt, and pants off then crawled under the covers. While Cordelia was changing Kathleen Connor took his shoes off and laid on the bed next to Angel then he called Toby to lay beside him. When Cordelia was done with Kathleen she stood next to the bed with her daughter.

"There isn't any room for us now baby. Connor and Toby took up our side of the bed." "Yes there is Mommy. I'll show you, put me down please Mommy." Kathleen patted the bottom of the bed and called Toby. "Toby come here and lay down." Toby did as she said then Kathleen took his place and patted the bed. "Come on Mommy lay down here." Cordelia did as her daughter said. Kathleen lay down also. This peaceful scene lasted for about two minutes.

Kathleen sat up then crawled over Connor and pushed him away from Angel and squirmed her way in between them. "Hey he's my Daddy too you know. In fact he was my Daddy before he was yours." Connor picked Kathleen up and put her on his other side then lay down again. When Kathleen started to climb over him again he put his arm over Angel's chest and laid his head on his arm. The more Kathleen pulled at his arm or head the more Connor held on. Kathleen finally gave up. Connor and Angel were pretending to be sleeping but in actuality they had their eyes open a tiny bit.

Cordelia was talking to her daughter through the link they shared. Kathleen had a look on her face that let them know she was concentrating as though she was dumping a load of nuclear waste. Connor noticed that Toby wasn't reacting though so he knew it wasn't that.

"Connor please get up. You've had Daddy all to yourself for five weeks and I didn't get to see him at all. I missed him so much." That did it, she made her brother feel like a worm. Connor sat up then and scooted down to the end of the bed and held his little sister. "Your right Kathleen I was just playing a joke on you. You deserve to be with Daddy I know he missed you also. I'm sorry my little sister." He gave her a kiss then put her in between Angel and Cordelia. When he closed the door behind him Kathleen turned to her Mommy and giggled.

Angel turned over then and looked at them. "You told her what to do didn't you?" "Well I just helped her a little. Besides I have to start training her early on how to control men. She is going to have a lot of men to take care of and it's important that she know how to make them do what ever she wants." "Yeah I knew that was the way it was done. Poor Connor he doesn't stand a chance with you teaching 'both' Kathleen and Lou."

Angel leaned over Kathleen and made like he was knocking on Cordelia's stomach. "My boys are you listening to your Mommy. She's teaching your sister how to control you. Be forewarned." "Who are you talking to Daddy?" "I'm talking to your brothers. They're in your Mommy's tummy. Come here and see if you can hear them. Listen very carefully and don't say anything. You should hear their hearts beating." Kathleen put her ear to her Mothers stomach and listened very carefully. It took her awhile but she finally heard them and smiled." "What did you hear?" Kathleen sat up. "It goes thump, thump, thump, thump." She said real fast. Cordelia pulled her blouse down and said, "Okay it's time for Daddy to take a nap. You lay down also, after all you did push Connor out of the bed so you could sleep next to your Daddy." They all laid down then and took a nap. Angel went to sleep then and slept a deep restful sleep for the next four hours.

As Angel slept the nightmare of the past five weeks invaded his dreams. He dreamt that he was hanging from the ceiling. The guards were repeatedly hitting him with cattle prods on various parts of his body. Every time he screamed it brought forth a round of laughter from his tormentors. When the cattle prod was aimed at his genitals Angel screamed and continued screaming as he woke up.

Cordelia and Kathleen had awakened and gone downstairs two hours ago but when she heard Angel she ran up stairs. "Angel what's wrong?" She found him sitting up in bed and bending over as though he was in pain. She could see that the sheets were wet with his sweat. He didn't say anything in answer so she just went and sat beside him and put her arm around him. He finally turned his head and looked at her.

"Is Mike here?" "Yes, I believe they just came in and are in their rooms." "Would you get Mike and Hunter? Ask them to come here then leave us okay?" Cordelia looked at him carefully as though trying to read his thoughts. She kneeled down in front of him and pulled his head up. "Angel you know that there is nothing that you can't tell me. Whatever it is we can get through this together." Angel looked at her with so much love in his heart that it felt like it was going to burst at the seams.

"I'll talk to you after I talk to Mike okay?" "Okay Angel." Cordelia stood than and left. A few minutes later Mike and Hunter were knocking at the door. "Come in Mike and Hunter." Angel said.

"Cordelia said you wanted to see us." "Yes, I need your help. I don't want to bother Mom with this. When they were torturing me they were using cattle prods. Do you know what those are?" "Yeah, those are used to make the cattle move forward aren't they?" "Yes exactly but some people like using them on people to inflict pain and that is exactly what they wanted to do to me. Mike they hit me right near my boys and right now they are hurting real bad. I need for you to check them because they feel like they were fried."

"Okay Angel lay down." Mike told him. Hunter helped Angel to lie down and take his pants and shorts off. Mike put some gloves on that he had brought with him and proceeded to examine Angel. He could see how much it hurt him every time he manipulated his testicles. "Okay Angel I'm done." Angel pulled his clothes back up and sat up on the side of the bed. Mike was washing his hands then pulled over a chair in front of him.

"Well what do you think, have my boys given up the ghost or have they survived?" "This isn't my specialty Angel but I'm pretty sure that I felt scar tissue. I would say that your boys have been laid to rest for the rest of your existence. I couldn't feel anything else so I would say that Junior should function normally. A man doesn't need his testicles to have sex. All they do is provide sperm and that is their only function as far as sex goes. You shouldn't have any problem in making yourself and Cordelia happy. As for the pain I suggest that you take aspirin when they are hurting. If they start hurting to the point that it's always making itself known then I am going to suggest that you see a urologist. Okay?" "Okay Mike and thank you."

When they left Cordelia came in. "Well?" "Well what?" "Angel you know what I'm talking about." "If you get me 2 or 3 Tylenol and some warmed blood I'll tell you." Cordelia did as he asked then sat down next to him. Angel told her the same thing that he had told Mike and Hunter and he also told her what Mike had found.

"So in other words it will just take you some time to heal and I need to give you lots of babying." Cordelia said as she kissed him.

"Yes that is about the size of it." Angel turned to her and smiled. "I've been thinking of myself all of this time and haven't asked you how you and the boys are doing? Since you aren't having a problem with morning sickness I haven't been concerned with our pregnancy. How have you been feeling lately?"

"Oh as well as can be expected I guess. I thank God a lot for letting me get by without morning sickness. My clothes are already starting to get tight. I brought out all of my old maternity clothes and washed them yesterday. They're sitting down stairs right now waiting for me to iron them. You want to come down stairs with me and keep me company while I iron our clothes?" "Sure, I haven't anything else that's more important right now." Cordelia helped him to get dressed then he sat in the wheelchair and she pushed him to the elevator then over to the basement door. He had to walk the rest of the way.

When Mike and Hunter left Angels room they returned to there own. As soon as the door closed Hunter turned to Mike. "Why didn't you tell him the rest Mike?" "I told him as much as he needs to know right now. If Angelus gives him what he wants then it will be a moot point. If Angelus doesn't give him what he needs then perhaps the rest of the organs that provide a small amount of testosterone will step up their production. Either way he will either loose that which makes him Angel or he will continue as normal. For a normal human male this wouldn't be a problem but for Angel it could be the difference between night and day. I'm going to talk to Mary about this and I think that she will agree with me. You know as well as I do Mickey, that which makes a man a man is mostly in his head. If we tell Angel that he may have lost his primary provider of testosterone then he may start thinking like less of a man and it's important that he continue to think of himself as the Alpha male." "Okay Mike I'll bow to your expertise in this particular situation. I just hope and pray that Angelus is able to heal him as time goes by."

Later that evening at supper Wesley was able to give Connor some good news. "Connor I have some good news for you. Today I met with your Professors and explained that you had been kidnapped, along with your father, by a client's enemy. I told them that we had just been able to obtain your release. I explained to them how important it was that you complete your education as soon as possible. So they have agreed to give you one week to catch up on what you missed and to take the tests you missed. Do you think you can do it?" Connor was quiet for a few minutes while he thought about it.

"Yes I think I can if you help me. I only took three classes this semester because I knew that I would be working with Toby and I didn't want to push him too much. Since I can talk to him like Kathleen does it's been real easy for him so he won't be a problem. I guess I better get started on the studying part then." Connor stood up then and grabbed a couple of Tortillas. He hadn't finished his supper so he made a couple of burritos out of the Tortillas and what was left in his plate and headed for the stairs. He turned at the stairs though and when he saw that Wesley wasn't looking he made a face that told Angel that he was cussing Wesley out under his breath. Angel started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Wesley asked.

"I don't think he truly appreciated you working so hard in talking his Professors into letting him have a chance to pass his classes. He was at the stairs making weird faces at you."

The PTB's chose that time to send Cordelia a vision. Everyone saw her bending over and grabbing her head. "Okay guys The Powers That Be have decided that play time is over. Here is an address where you'll find a couple of young girl being chased by a couple of Vamps. Be careful though because I think the girls are heading for 3 others that are waiting for them." Cordelia quickly wrote down an address and handed it over to Wesley.

"Anyone else want to go play?" Wesley asked. They heard Connor come running down the stairs and yelling, "I want to play". "Your only job right now is studying mister." Wesley told Connor. Connor took the stairs one at a time going back up, his head hanging low. Gunn, Hunter and Lou got up to go with Wesley. Lou had been helping a lot with the clients and this was going to be only the second time that she would help with one of Cordelia's visions.

When they left Angel took his daughter out of her highchair and started walking upstairs. "Goodnight everyone." He said as he walked over to the elevator without saying anything else. Everyone knew how bad he felt when he couldn't go with them.

"I'll be up in a few minutes Angel." Cordelia called to him. "Okay." Angel answered then the elevator doors closed.

"How is he doing Cordelia?" Dr. Martin asked. "Not to bad. Right now he is resting a lot and eating. I think he understands how hard this was on his body and that he won't ever be able to heal and bounce back as fast as he used to. I think it is finally sinking in that this is what it is like to be human and he is accepting his new limitations. He hasn't fought me at all whenever I tell him to eat or take a nap. Well I guess I better be going before he starts calling for me. Before she went to her bedroom she went downstairs to get the clothes she had ironed that afternoon. Then she stopped to talk to Connie.

"Connie, would you leave out a small steak to thaw out? I'll be preparing it for Angel to eat later tonight. Thank you and goodnight." Cordelia said goodnight to the rest then went upstairs. She headed up to the third floor first to leave Lou's clothes on her door. Then she went to Connors room and gave him his then she was finally able to go to her own room. She found her husband sitting on the floor and playing with Kathleen.

Cordelia put their clothes away then joined Kathleen and Angel on the floor. Since Cordelia was there to play with Kathleen Angel drew back and leaned against the bed. Kathleen went over to the little book stand they kept for her books. She pulled one out and pretended to read. Cordelia went over to the bed and sat next to Angel.

"What's wrong Angel? You seem so tired and depressed." "I am. I feel so tired that it's a major effort for me to even lift my arm. Cordy, I want to get away for awhile but I feel to vulnerable right now." "You know what I think Angel?" "What do you think Dr. Cordy?" Angel said as he flashed a smile at her. "I think you are picking up on how I feel and that's on top of how you are feeling as you recover. Right now I am doing what Mom told me to do when I was pregnant with Kathleen and feeling depressed. Remember she told me to keep myself busy."

"You know Dr. Cordy I think you are right. My problem right now though is for me to rest and regain my strength. I think I am going to lie down and take a nap. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel more like working out a little. If I don't start exercising soon I'll lose these magnificent muscles that you like to look at." Cordelia pulled his head down to hers and kissed him gently. "I would try for more but I think you have to regain some of your strength or it would turn into a very short, unproductive sexual encounter. Because when I finally judge you to be strong enough our first sexual encounter since you were kidnapped will be a memorable one." Cordelia stood up then and pulled Angel up also. "Let's go out onto the balcony and say the Rosary. We haven't done it together in a long time and I've been teaching our daughter the prayers." "How is she doing?" "Not to bad, she has the Glory Be memorized and now she is working on the Hail Mary."

"That sounds like our little princes." Angel said as he picked Kathleen up and walked outside to the balcony. It took them longer than usual to do their prayers that night since they were going very slow to accommodate Kathleen. When they were done they looked at Kathleen. She was sitting between them, leaning against her mother's leg and sucking on her two fingers. Angel picked her up and prepared her for bed while Cordelia jumped in the shower. As he put Kathleen in the crib he noticed that someone had fixed the broken post in the rail. "Well at least our little escape artist can't get out in the morning."

Angel went to the bed and laid down for what he thought was just a few minutes while he waited for Cordelia. When Cordelia came out she had to pull his shoes and pants off since he was sound asleep and already snoring. She went around the room and turned everything off except the TV then she set her alarm for 2 a.m. so that she could get up and prepare the steak for him.

For the next two months this was how Angels day and night went. Each day he went down to the basement and slowly started a routine of exercises. As he became stronger he added on more difficult exercises. Each night Cordelia made a small snack or steak for him to eat. At the end of the two months she had him back up to his original weight and he was feeling a lot stronger.

Cordelia was now five months pregnant and had started wearing maternity clothes at four months. With two babies inside of her it was getting more and more difficult for her to bend over. She had started to potty train Kathleen and was being met with a lot of resistance from both Kathleen and her sons inside her. Connie had already potty trained Junior and Cordelia thought for sure that Kathleen would stop resisting once she saw Junior go to use his potty chair. It didn't seem to bother her one bit though that she had a diaper on and he didn't. One day after having to clean her daughter up after a particularly nasty nuclear deposit she asked Angel to help convince their daughter of using the potty.

"Sorry but Kathleen, in this instance, is yours. I think you'll agree that I don't have the right equipment. Connor and I will train the boys. Why don't you ask Connie how she got Junior to use the potty instead of his diapers?" "I did and she said the same thing as you did, more or less. She said that Joaquin did the training." "Didn't Joaquin say that he has a sister?" "Yes he does which means that Joaquin's mother had to potty train her. I'll be back in a few minutes." Cordelia left the room in search of Mrs. Sanchez.

Angel had energy to spare now and yet they didn't have any clients right now and Cordelia hadn't had a vision in the past 2 weeks. He looked at his daughter. "Let's go and see what kind of mischief we can get into Kathleen."

Angel picked up his daughter and put her on his neck. First he approached Gunn's room and listened. He knew Cylinda was off today. He didn't hear anything even though he knew they were in there. He knocked on the door. "No ones home." Gunn answered. "Hey Cylinda, can Gunn come out to play?" "No he's busy right now." "Oh well lets see if Uncle Wesley is busy." They went across the hall to the Price's. Angel knocked on the door. He could hear someone coming to open the door. Fred opened the door and came out into the hallway and closed the door. "Shhhh, the boys are teething and they've kept us awake all night. I just got them both to go to sleep. Wesley is sleeping also and I was just about to lie down also. So is this something important." "No I was just going to see if Wesley had something for me to do. Go get some rest while you can Fred. I'm sorry I disturbed you. Bye." Fred went back in then and Angel took off back to his room.

"Well there is only one thing left for us to do Princes. Let's go see if we can visit the Morgan's I bet they have swings for their little girl." Angel put his daughter down on the bed and called the Morgan residence.

"Morgan residence." The butler answered. "Hi this is Angel is David or Marissa busy?" "Yes Mr. Martin Mrs. Morgan is right here. One moment please." "Hi Angel." "Hi Marissa do you mind having at least two visitors, maybe three?" "Sure Angel come on over anytime you want. I'll let David know your coming." "Thanks Marissa we'll be over as soon as I can gather up my girls. Bye."

Angel called to Cordelia through the link they shared and told her about going over to the Morgan's. Within 30 minutes they were on their way. Cordelia left a note on there door and one in the kitchen for Connie telling everyone where they went.

By now the guards at the gate knew Angel and they waved him through. Marissa greeted them at the front door. "Hello and welcome." As usual Marissa curtsied to Angel and hugged Cordelia and Kathleen.

"Come in, come in. David will be back in a few minutes. He is having a meeting with his guards. Come out here on the patio. I have Stacy in her playpen out here." As they sat down Marissa noticed that Cordelia was wearing maternity clothes.

"Cordelia you're pregnant. Why didn't you tell me?" "I'm sorry Marissa but we've been so busy at home with one thing after the other happening I guess I just forgot to call you and let you know, but I'm 5 months along now with twins." "But you're wearing maternity clothes already. I didn't have to start wearing them until I was almost 6 months along. Any morning sickness this time?" "Thank heavens no." Cordelia said and Angel said the same thing.

"Oh yes I bet your happy about that Angel. David got sick right along with me poor baby." She winked at Cordelia and they both laughed.

"You women are sadistic you know that." Angel said with a smile. "Do you mind if I use your swing out here?" He asked Marissa. "Oh yes, please do." Angel took Kathleen outside to the fancy wooden swing set. He had put her down and let her walk over to the set to see what she wanted to do. Kathleen bypassed the swing and went right for the little house that she had to climb up to.

Cordelia and Marissa were watching them when David walked outside. He greeted Cordelia and called out to Angel and waved. The sun was still too high for him to go outside so he had a seat with the ladies.

"So what do we owe this visit to? Don't tell me Angel just wanted to use Stacy's swing set." "I think that was part of it, believe it or not, but also I think he has a lot of pent up energy and we don't have any clients right now and I haven't had any visions lately. I think he is hoping that you will let him play with some of your guards. Since Spike and Buffy aren't here he doesn't have anyone that he can test himself against. Connor has been busy with his summer classes and Hunter has been busy working with Mike."

"When are those two going to get married?" Marissa asked. "Oh, they were married last month. They didn't want a big wedding so Fr. Barris came over and performed a private wedding in our chapel and only a few people that they work with were invited." "We'll have to send them something. Have they had their Honeymoon yet?" David asked. "No, David had 4 women that were due the following weeks. Oh and guess what, they're going to have a baby. You've met Willow and Tara right?" "Yes we've met a couple of times. They are the witches aren't they?" Marissa asked. "Yes, well anyway I knew that Hunter and Mike would often talk about adopting a baby so I suggested to Mike that since Hunter was so thin she may have stopped having a period because she didn't have enough fat content in her body but her ovaries may still be producing eggs. I told him that even though Hunters body is to cold to sustain a pregnancy that Willow or Tara might be willing to carry it for them. So to make a long story short Mike tested Hunter and she is still producing eggs, they talked to Willow and Tara and they agreed to both try. Mike implanted 5 fertilized eggs in each Willow and Tara and Tara's took but Willows didn't. Isn't that wonderful, I am so happy for them."

"You mean Tara is expecting 5 babies?" David asked. Like Angel and Spike David had gone through his wife's pregnancy right along with her. The thought of how bad it would be with five babies almost made him feint. "It's okay dear you don't have to worry I doubt it if I would ever have 5 at one time." Marissa patted her husbands hand when she saw him space out for a second. Cordelia was laughing. She remembered Angel passing out when the women were talking about her future delivery. She never found out that it was an act that Angel had put on.

"The sun is starting to go down now so why don't you take Stacy and go play with Angel and Kathleen." Marissa told him to get his mind off of what it would be like to have five babies at once.

It was like watching 2 kids playing with their dolls. "I bet the next thing they are going to do is start competing as to who can dress their dolls the prettiest." Cordelia said.

"Hey, do you think you guys would like to come to a Pow Wow my tribe is having in two weeks? It's going to take place in Bakersfield this year." "That sounds like it would be interesting. Let me ask the rest and I'll get back with you. What goes on at a Pow Wow?" Cordelia asked excitedly. She had never been to a Pow Wow but she had heard of them when she had gone to New Mexico for a dressage competition.

"I guess you could call it a town meeting except it's a tribe meeting. We discuss problems people may be having or prospective business or existing business that the whole tribe owns. Then there are always a lot of games to play, sometimes we have a rodeo, then there are always the dances. My father will be coming to the Pow Wow this year and it will be the first time that he will get to see his granddaughter. Try to make your decision as soon as possible so that we can make arrangements for hotel rooms or if there aren't any available then we stay in T-Pees which are fancy tents or we can rent trailers to stay in. Please say you'll come Cordelia it will be so much fun." "Like I said Marissa I'll have to talk it over with the rest. We have four babies at home now and it's a big deal to have them all come. I'll try to get you an answer by tomorrow though."

Angel and David came in with the girls. "Did we have fun?" Cordelia asked. Of course David and Angel thought she was talking to the girls. "They had lots of fun. We went real high in the air didn't we?" Angel asked Kathleen. "Daddy made me go so high I thought I was going to fly Mommy. Then we played in the house and Daddy helped me go down the slide over and over again. Then we played horsy. I got on Daddy's shoulders and Stacy got on her Daddy's shoulders and we raced around the yard." "Who won the race?" Cordelia asked. "We did." Kathleen told her Mommy as she raised her hands up in the air.

David was sitting with his daughter next to Marissa when Kathleen was telling her Mommy what they had been doing. "We let them win didn't we Stacy." "Cause Kateen's Daddy is old so Daddy went slow." The adults all laughed. They knew that David had to come up with some excuse.

"Well Angel, Cordelia tells me that you would like to play with some of my guards now. Are you sure you can take it? Most of my guards are young men and vampires. I wouldn't want them to hurt you and then Cordelia to get mad at me." David said with a grin.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Yes I need to see if I can still do what I used to. You probably heard that Connor and I were kidnapped by Wolfram & Hart. They starved me and had fun torturing me. They kept me under control by getting me hooked on drugs for more than a month. It took me two months to recover from their one month of fun."

"Yes I heard. Angel don't you want to retaliate?" David asked. "I have to be very careful with them David. They have a lot of power on there side and access to a lot of magic that is all evil. Plus they have people planted all over. They even know that Cordelia is pregnant with twins. The last time they messed with me David I let Darla and Drusilla kill all of the senior staff. I could have stopped them but I didn't. They let only two of the staff live. Believe me David when I say sooner or later the opportunity will present itself right now though I would like to work out with some of your guards."

"How many do you want to take on?" "Give me five at first. If I do okay you can add on one at a time until they have me pinned. I want to work out with Richards first if he's here." "Okay follow me and well go to the gym. Do you need some sweat pants?" David asked as they started for the gym. "No I brought some. Cordelia I think we better leave Kathleen here to play with Stacy if that's okay with Marissa." "Sure, we can take them up to the nursery and our Nanny will watch over them. I'll bring Cordelia over after we deposit them." The ladies took the two girls upstairs while David and Angel continued on to the gym. When they arrived they found, conveniently, 5 guards working out. Three were vampires and the other two were human. The three vampires, of course worked out with each other since the humans couldn't offer any worth while competition.

David and Angel walked over to the 5 guards. "Men we have a guest. Angel here would like to work out with you for awhile." The guards all stopped what they were doing and looked at Angel. They all knew who and what he was. Especially that he was a Master Vampire. But they also trusted and respected him. "Sure Mr. Morgan, are you going to join us also?" "No I am just going to watch today. If I see you need help though I just might join you. You can change in that room over there Angel." David pointed to a door on the right side of the room that led to a room with lockers and showers. Angel had taken his sweat pants out of the diaper bag before Cordelia went upstairs with Kathleen so he went right in and changed.

"Fred, do you know where Richards is?" David asked one of the guards. "Yes Mr. Morgan, he's off today and went into town to visit his girlfriend." "Thanks." David said then he turned around when he heard Cordelia and Marissa coming in.

"Come on in ladies and have a seat. The show should start in a few minutes." David pointed to some seats that were lined up along the wall by the entrance. He joined them while they waited for Angel to come out. In a few minutes Angel came out dressed in a sleeveless t-shirt and sweat pants. He walked over to the mat and did a few stretching exercises to warm up. When he was done he stood up and the guards introduced themselves.

"Fred, which one of you is the most experienced in the martial arts?" Angel asked. "That would be me." Fred said. "Okay Fred I'll take the other two on first then you. If you see me winning then jump in. Don't hold yourselves back men and I'll try not to hurt you." Angel smiled as he said that.

The other two vampires stayed on the mat while everyone else stood to the side. Angel and the two guards bowed to each other then the exercise began. At first Angel hardly broke a sweat but as the two guards lost their fear of him they began to be more aggressive which is what Angel wanted. While one of the vampires pulled his attention towards himself the other came up behind Angel and attacked him with a kick to his head but at the last split second Angel turned and caught his attacker in mid air and hit him in his inner thigh. The other guard used the opportunity to kick Angel's legs out from under him and attacked him while he was on the ground.

Twenty minutes into the session Angel started to breathe heavily and was having a hard time catching his breath but he wouldn't give up. Cordelia was watching and thought it was time to call an end to it. She didn't want to make Angel look like he couldn't take it so she told her daughter, through the link they shared, to start crying and tell the Nanny that she wanted her Mommy and Daddy.

Fifteen minutes later Kathleen was brought in by the Nanny screaming and crying at the top of her lungs. Fortunately Angel was on the ground and still fighting with the two guards. When Kathleen saw her Daddy being kicked and hit repeatedly she wiggled out of the Nanny's grasp and went running to Angel. "You leave my Daddy alone, leave my Daddy alone." Kathleen grabbed onto the arm of the Vampire that was on the floor with Angel and bit it. Cordelia ran to get her daughter, putting on a terrific act I might add, while Angel grabbed her away from the Guard.

"Are you alright Daddy? That bad man was hurting you Daddy so I bit him to make him stop." Kathleen was crying all of the time and hugging her Daddy. Angel hugged his daughter and kissed her over and over again. "My brave little girl saved Daddy from the bad man." Angel looked at the guard and winked at him to let him know it was an act. The guard smiled back. "Now that you stopped the bad man Daddy and Mommy can take you home as soon as I take a shower and change okay?" Kathleen was sniffling and wiping the tears from her eyes. "Okay Daddy, but if you need me again you just call me okay?" "Okay my hero I will do just that." Angel got up and took Kathleen over to her Mommy. Cordelia stood up and took Kathleen from Angel.

"Did I do good Mommy?" Angel heard Kathleen and he asked Cordelia, "What did she do good Mommy?" Cordelia just smiled at him and just continued to comfort Kathleen. She waited to answer her daughter until Angel left to take a shower.

"You did real good, Mommy is so proud of you but you can't tell Daddy that we planned that okay? It has to be our little secret okay?" "Okay Mommy. We won't tell Daddy because it's a secret." Cordelia gave her a kiss then wiped her face to clean away the dirt and tears that left Kathleen's face dirty looking. "Honey stay here with Marissa okay. I am going to go over and talk to the guard okay?" "Okay Mommy."

Cordelia talked to the guard and told him that it was all an act for Kathleen. She asked him if he would go over to Kathleen and say that he was sorry for hurting her Daddy. The guards name was Jim and he said that he was used to things like this because of Stacy, Mr. Morgan's daughter. Cordelia backed up then and yelled at Jim and slapped his shoulder. "Now you go over to Kathleen and tell her you're sorry for hurting her Daddy." "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Jim said then he walked over to Kathleen with his head down. He had a towel in his hand and was playing with it as he stood in front of her.

"I'm very sorry for hurting your Daddy Kathleen. Please forgive me." Kathleen didn't know what to do. No one had ever said they were sorry for something they did. So she said the only thing she knew because her Daddy and Mommy were always saying it to her. "I forgive you but don't ever do that again, okay?" "Okay I promise." "Did she make you bleed Jim?" Mr. Morgan asked. Jim knew why he was asking. "No Mr. Morgan but I could have sworn she was a little Vampire from the way she bit me." Jim showed him where Kathleen had bit him. They could all see where her teeth marks still left an imprint but, thankfully, there was no sign of blood.

Angel came out of the dressing room and went over to the guards. Jim had rejoined them after apologizing to Kathleen. "Thanks guys for letting me work out with you. You gave me a good run for my money. This little session has shown me that I still need to build up my endurance. This becoming human again is very hard when your used to almost 300 years of strength and endurance being yours without even thinking about it. When I think I'm ready I'll be back. Thank you." Angel returned to Cordelia. "Let's get my hero back home Mommy."

Cordelia called Kathleen to her. She had been playing with a huge exercise ball. "I think it's time to get you home now. Did we have an accident with your new pull up pants?" Kathleen came over to her mother and bent over. "See Mommy they're dry. Daddy took me to the big potty in the back by the pool. Then Stacy's Nanny let me use her potty." Cordelia felt it then congratulated her. "I guess you're a big girl now. Now thank Mr. and Mrs. Morgan for letting you play in their back yard." "Thank you for letting me play on your swing set and with Stacy." "Your welcome Kathleen and you can come over and play anytime you want to." "Thank Marissa and David for letting you come over to play Angel." "Thank you Marissa and David." "You're welcome Angel." They had a good laugh as they walked to the front door. "If we didn't accomplish anything else today David at least we know we gave your guards a good laugh." "Yeah I heard them laughing at us making complete fools out of ourselves." "Anything for our little Princesses." Angel said as he threw Kathleen up then caught her. They said goodbye then left for home.

Kathleen was already sleeping when they arrived home. The Hotel was dark and quiet as they entered. Cordelia had called ahead and asked Connor to shut off the security. She had called Connor instead of Wesley because the Price boys were teething and the family wasn't getting much sleep. They didn't want to wake any of them up with a phone call. Sleep was hard to come by for Fred and Wesley these days.

Angel was tired so he climbed into bed after getting his daughter ready for bed. Cordelia had jumped into the shower as soon as they went into their rooms. As he fell asleep he was thinking 'I'm sure glad Cordelia hasn't felt like having sex since she became pregnant.' As Cordelia was drying her hair she was thinking, 'I wonder if Angel is too tired to have sex tonight. We haven't had it since before he was kidnapped'.

As she walked into the bedroom she could hear him snoring away. She just looked at him. "We're like an old married couple already." She walked over to the crib and checked on Kathleen then took her bathrobe off and crawled into bed and cuddled up to her husband.

She laid there for awhile thinking. 'I think it's time for the princes to have a bedroom of her own, starting tomorrow. I wonder who is going to cry more, Kathleen or Angel.' Cordelia went to sleep then knowing that it would be rough tomorrow.

TBC…………………………………………………….


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Angel woke up early the next morning, it was Saturday and he wanted to go jogging to start building up his endurance. He put on some sweat pants and a t-shirt then went knocking on Connor's door. "Come in Dad." Angel opened the door and Toby came to him to greet him then went out the door to take care of his business. "I need to start jogging to build up my endurance. You want to go with me?" "Yeah, where are you going to go jogging?" "I don't know, do you have any suggestions?" "Yeah let's go to my school they have a big track and a lot of people go out there in the morning." "Okay, I'll be waiting for you down stairs." Angel said then left.

Connor was dressed in a sweat suit with both pants and jacket. "Let's go. We'll take my van since it has a school parking sticker on it." Connor and Angel headed for his van while Connor called Toby to come with him.

When they arrived at the track they did some stretching exercises to warm up before starting to run. There wasn't anyone else on the track yet so they had it all to themselves. They continued running at a set pace for 2 hours. Connor noticed how his father was breathing hard. Angel finally stopped running as they came to the benches by the entrance to the track. He lay on the ground and just concentrated on catching his breath. Connor could hear his fathers' heart beating fast. After about 15 minutes Angel's heart returned to its normal beat and he sat up.

"Well I think that was a pretty good start, don't you?" Angel asked his son while he played with Toby. "Not bad for a Vampire becoming human again." Connor said. They were quiet for awhile while they watched the track start to become busier. Some people were jogging at a leisurely pace as they had and others were actually running more than jogging, while others were beginning their warm up exercises.

"You know Dad I've been thinking about how Angel Investigations is going to continue on when my children can no longer lead it." "What do you mean?" "Well I've inherited many of your Vampiric abilities because both you and Mom were Vampires and my children should have the same abilities since both Lou and I have the same type of parentage. What about after though, do you think that there will be other children out there that will have the same type of parents?" "I don't know son but I wouldn't worry about it though. I would just leave it in Gods hands if I were you. I think He has everything under control, after all look how He provided a wife for you."

Connor was quiet for a while then his face broke out in a big grin. "Having Lou just within my grasp and knowing that I could take her if I wanted to makes me realize how poor Spike must have felt when he fell in love with Buffy. Sometimes when I'm watching her I get to wanting her so bad that it hurts." "I know what you mean. That's how I felt before I married Cordy and was able to make love to her. Sometimes I wondered if she knew how she made me feel. Women can be real sadistic sometimes you know. They know exactly what kind of affect they have on us since we can't always hide it."

"We better get going Dad, your starting to smoke." They both jumped up then and ran back to the van. Angel got in the back where he would be completely out of the sun light.

When they came in the back they saw everyone coming down for breakfast. They said good morning to everyone as they ran upstairs to take a quick shower. They came back down to join everyone just as Connie and her mother were bringing out the food. Cordelia had Angels mug of blood all ready and waiting for him. He was hungry after his morning run and drank all of the blood at once.

After everyone was done eating and was just sitting and drinking their morning coffee Cordelia thought now was just as good a time as any to break it to Angel that she was going to start putting Kathleen in her own bedroom. Before saying anything she put Kathleen down and told her to go play. She waited until she was out of ear shot.

"Uh Angel, I want to start putting Kathleen into her own bedroom today. Connie and I talked about it and she would like to put Junior into his own bedroom also so we are going to put them in the same room for now so they can keep each other company. We fixed up one of the bedrooms on the third floor for them so Connie and her husband will be right by them in case something happens. Then of course we're right below them."

Everyone was watching Angel to see how he would react. They all knew how he reacted when Cordelia had suggested it several months ago.

"Okay, I guess it's time." Angel looked like a little kid who has been told that his blanky was going to be taken away. "When did you want to let her know?" "Now is just as good a time as any. I talked to Mom about it and she said that she started with taking the crib apart then they took all of her son's toys to his new room. Taking the crib down showed him that there was no turning back because he didn't have anyplace to sleep in his mother and fathers room anymore." "Okay let's go while I still have my nerve." Angel said. He rose from his chair and called Kathleen.

As they walked past Dr. Martin she winked at Cordelia when she looked at her. After Angel was gone and they heard his door close Wesley said, "Well that went pretty good. At least he didn't start crying this time." They all laughed. They all knew that this was going to be harder on Angel than it was on Kathleen and Cordelia was going to have a battle on her hands.

When they arrived in their rooms Angel turned and looked at his daughter. "Well my dear little girl today is the day that you are no longer a baby but a big girl that will no longer sleep in your mommy and daddy's room." While talking to Kathleen Angel pulled out the tools he would need to dismantle the crib.

"Why can't I stay in here with you and Mommy?" "Because you're a big girl now and only babies get to sleep in a crib in their Mommy and Daddies room. Big girls get to have there own room. Junior is going to be in there with you so you will have each other to keep you company." "But I don't want my own room Daddy. Don't you love me anymore?" Cordelia could see that Angel was beginning to weaken so she stepped in.

"Mommy and Daddy still love you Kathleen it's just that you need to have your own room now so that Mommy and Daddy can have there own room. When everyone becomes big girls and boys they stop sleeping in their Mommy and Daddies room. Do you see Daddy still sleeping with Grandma and Grandpa?" "No, but that's because Daddy is big and I'm still little." Cordelia looked at Angel who was smiling at her. "I think she won that argument."

At the look on Cordelia's face Angel knew he should shut up and start taking the crib apart. When he was done and everything was leaning up against the wall Cordelia grabbed a couple of plastic trash bags and started putting toys and clothes into them. Kathleen was putting her toys into her little wagon that she had been given for Christmas. They all went upstairs then to show Kathleen her new room that she would be sharing with Junior for awhile. They put all the toys away on a set of shelves, hung clothes up in the closet and put clothes in the drawers. All of the shelves, close closet, and dresser drawers were all built to children size. The regular toilet had a safety lock on it and two potty chairs were lined up on one wall. All cleaning supplies and shampoos were behind child safety locked doors or drawers.

Kathleen had her side of the room painted in pink and white while Juniors was in blue and green. Kathleen's bed had a canopy with white drapes hanging around it. The bed itself had rails that went down from the head to just half way down the bed. When Angel looked at the size of the bedroom the first thing that went through his mind was 'Now Cordelia can't say that there isn't any room for the giant Teddy Bear'. While Angel and Cordelia were moving Kathleen into her new bedroom Connie and Joaquin were moving Junior in also. Before the adults left Cordelia turned on a monitor so that they could both watch and listen to anything that was going on in the room and the bathroom.

The had set up speakers and visual monitors in both Connie and Joaquin's bedroom, also in Cordelia and Angels bedroom and one in the kitchen. While the two children were busy playing with each others toys the adults made a quiet exit.

While Angel and Cordelia were busy with Kathleen Mike had told Mary that he needed to talk to her about Angel's medical condition. They went into the clinic and sat down at Mary's desk.

"I wanted to talk to you about one of the injuries that was inflicted on Angel."

Mike said. "You want to talk to me about the injury to his testicles?" "Yes, how did you know?" "When Angel came home and the first night he was chained up downstairs, Cordelia and I went down after everyone had gone to their bedrooms and gave Angel a bath and put clean clothes on him. Cordelia noticed the red mark that went down his groin and through his testicles. I checked them and I told Cordelia that I was pretty sure that Angels baby making days were over."

"Well after Angel had been able to get a good nights rest he told Cordelia that he wanted to see me and Hunter. When we went into his room he told us that he felt like his boys had been fried and were causing him a considerable amount of pain. I checked them out and came to the same conclusion you did. I told him that I could feel scar tissue in them and that most likely his baby making days were over. I also told him to take aspirin for the pain and that if they should continue to be painful that he would probably have to go to a urologist since I didn't specialize in male anatomy. I didn't say anything to him about what the lack of testosterone may do to the way he thinks. I wanted to discuss it with you as to what you think we should do. Do you think that we should just wait to see what happens or should we pursue this further?"

"What does Hunter think about the problem?" Dr. Martin asked. "She said that she has never had to deal with a problem like this. What she can't understand is why Angelus hasn't healed the scaring." "I wonder if the problem is that Angelus doesn't understand what the testicles provide and the affect it can have on how Angel thinks and responds in a dangerous situation. Angels days of being the Alpha male may be over if we can't get Angelus to heal his boys." Dr. Martin got up from her desk and walked around for awhile.

"I think what I need to do is talk to Angelus and find out why he hasn't taken care of the problem. I also want to know why Angel has seizures so frequently when he is sick. Before we go any further with this though I am going to contact one of the Urologists at the hospital and ask his opinion on it. To tell you the truth Mike I've never heard of anyone going into the testicles and removing scar tissue."

"Do you think that we should discuss this with Angel?" Mike asked. "Not yet. Let me talk to a specialist first. By any chance has Hunter heard Angel and Cordelia having sex?" "She hasn't said anything. I'll ask her and let you know." "Okay, in the mean time I am going to have a talk with Cordelia. It could be that she just doesn't feel like having sex right now." "My patients usually tell me that they don't want it very often, earlier than usual in their pregnancy, when they are carrying more than one baby so that may be the problem."

"Okay then I'll talk to you as soon as I have some information. Right now I am craving a Dairy Queen ice cream cone and I think I know where I can find a pregnant woman to join me. I'll see you later." Mike left to go and find Hunter and Dr. Martin took the elevator to the third floor where she knew Kathleen's parents were moving their daughter's things in.

Dr. Martin slowly walked over to Kathleen's room. When she arrived she knocked on the door. Kathleen called out like she had heard her parents do. "Come in Grandma." Dr. Martin opened the door. "How did you know it was me?" Kathleen pointed to her nose. "I smelled you Grandma." Angel and Cordelia looked at her with surprise.

"Am I your first official visitor to your own room?" Kathleen went to her grandmother and took her hand and directed her over to the large white rocking chair. "Here Grandma you can sit here in my rocking chair. Sit down at the table Mommy and Daddy." Angel had to hold onto Cordelia's hands while she sat down on the small child's seat. Angel had to go so far down that he almost fell over when he sat down on the tiny chair.

"Would you like something to drink everyone?" They all knew that Kathleen was imitating her mother. "Yes I would like to have some hot tea please." Dr. Martin said. "And what would you like Mommy and Daddy?" "I'll have some hot tea also please." Cordelia said. "I'll have some coffee please." Angel said. Kathleen pretended to make some tea and coffee. While the coffee was brewing she got out her tea set and spoons. For napkins she gave them each a Kleenex tissue. She had little bags of pretend tea that she put into 3 cups since she was having some also. She also put a container of pretend sugar and milk on the table. She then pretended to pour tea into each cup then some coffee for her Daddy. All in all it was a grand tea party.

"Miss Kathleen Martin would you like to go to the Dairy Queen to celebrate having your own room now?" Dr. Martin asked her in a very formal way. "Why yes Grandma I would love to go with you. Are you going also Mommy and Daddy?" "If it's okay with Grandma we'll come along also." Cordelia looked at her watch. "Oh, it's almost 1 o'clock and Connie will have lunch ready then it will be time to take a nap so can we go after our nap?" "I think that will be satisfactory. What do you think Grandma?" "I think that will be satisfactory also." Dr. Martin got up and bent over and shook Kathleen's hand. "I want to thank you for a lovely tea party Miss. Martin the tea was delicious." Angel had to help Cordelia up after sitting so long on the tiny chair then he turned to his daughter and took her hand and kissed it. "Thank you Kathleen for a lovely tea party. I will look forward to our next tea party." Cordelia did the same except she curtsied as she thanked her daughter. "Thank you all for coming today. I will see you downstairs in a few minutes." The adults left and Kathleen closed the door after them. Cordelia opened the door a little and peeked in to see what she was doing. After a minute she closed the door and joined Angel and Dr. Martin at the elevator.

"What was she doing?" Angel asked. "She was pretending to clean her dishes and put them away." "That was so precious. Especially when she said 'I think that will be satisfactory'. I almost started laughing then. She was imitating everything you do Cordelia." Dr. Martin said. "I know, isn't she something? When you think they aren't paying attention to you they are actually watching you all of the time and learning." Cordelia started crying then and took out some Kleenex and blew her nose and wiped her tears.

"Angel our little girl is growing up. Before you know it she'll be going out on her first date." Angel put his arm around Cordelia. He looked at his mother and said, "Here I thought I would be the first one to start crying." Dr. Martin looked at Angel and could see tears threatening to spill over also.

They all exited the elevator and went to the table where everyone else was gathering. In another minute they saw the elevator open again and Kathleen came out and over to the table. Angel picked her up and put her in the highchair.

"Now that I have my own room Mommy and Daddy I think I'm too old to sit in a high chair." Angel looked at her and said, "You know Kathleen I think you are right." Angel got up and went into his office and came out with a couple of phone books. He brought over another chair and asked Kathleen, "What side do you want to sit on?" "Between you and Mommy." Everyone on Cordelia's side moved down to make room for the new addition. Angel put the chair in front of the table and the phone books on the chair. Then he lifted Kathleen out of the high chair and on to her own chair. The two phone books were just right for her. Angel sat down again and Connie and Lucinda brought in the food.

After lunch everyone went their own way to take care of whatever. The Prices went back to their rooms and put the boys down to sleep. Fred was now producing more then enough milk to feed both boys. She knew it wouldn't be long before their demands would be for more than she could provide and she would have to go to bottles and formulas. For now though she enjoyed the time she spent just nursing them. Wesley was being a big help to her. He would usually be changing one baby while she took care of the other. While she nursed one he would entertain the other until she was done with the one she had in her arms. When he was busy elsewhere Lou would often help her. As she sat in the rocking chair nursing her son she thought to herself, 'Lord this is going to be a very busy and noisy place when Cordelia delivers her twins'.

Dr. Martin went into the clinic to call several doctors that specialized in Urology, and a few psychologist that specialized in treating men with problems that involved the loss of what they thought was their manhood. She wanted to have as much information as she could get before she dealt with Angels problem.

Later that evening the opportunity presented itself for Dr. Martin to see how Angel was being affected by the sudden loss of his male hormones. Cordelia had a vision at 8:15 that evening. This was going to be Angels first chance to go after some demons and vampires since he had been kidnapped.

Cordelia had been in the kitchen creating an ice cream creation to feed her cravings. Angel came running in to see what the problem was. When she gave him the information as to where the attack was occurring he didn't seem to be as enthusiastic as she thought he should be after having been left out of the excitement for so long.

Angel yelled for Wesley, Connor, Gunn and Lou. They all came running down the stairs at once and grabbed weapons. They were out the door within minutes of Cordelia's vision.

"Angel didn't seem to be too enthusiastic about going on a mission." Dr. Martin nonchalantly mentioned to Cordelia.

"Yeah I noticed too. Do you think it has anything to do with his problem?" "Maybe, have you two had sex since he was kidnapped?" "No and I haven't encouraged him. Do you think I should?" "Yes but do it by enticing him. Remember how turned on he used to get when you were pregnant with Kathleen?" "Yeah he couldn't keep his hands off me. The bigger I got the more horny he became." Cordelia laughed at her description of Angel. Cordelia got up and grabbed another spoon for Mary.

"Help me eat this Mom. When I made it my cravings were bigger than my stomach. I promise I didn't put anything unusual in it." Dr. Martin started helping Cordelia eat the chocolate Sundae she had made. She hadn't put anything weird in it, like sardines or something, but she did put a lot of chocolate syrup, whip cream and cherries on top. Fred came down while they were eating the Sundae. "Can I help you eat that?" Sure grab a spoon. I was just telling Mom that my cravings were bigger than my stomach when I made it." The women spent the next 15 minutes just savoring the taste of the chocolate ice cream. When they were done they went to their own rooms.

Cordelia checked on Kathleen before she went to bed. Junior and her daughter were still up playing with Junior's toys. Even though the door was open she still knocked on it to let them know she was coming in. "It's time to go to bed you two. Put your toys away and get in bed and I'll read you a story." She was surprised that they did what she said right away without any arguments. "Okay what story would you like me to read tonight?" Kathleen said Cinderella and Junior said Winnie the Pooh.

"Okay why don't we do this, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Kathleen gets to choose which story I read. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Junior gets to choose. How does that sound?" Both said okay. "Okay then since this is Saturday that means that Junior gets to choose and he has chosen Winnie the Pooh so let me see what we have for Winnie the Pooh. Here we go." Cordelia started to read the story and by the time she was done they were both sound asleep. She turned on the little lamp that was on the dresser and closed the door. "This was just too easy. I just know they have something up their sleeve." She went downstairs then to her own room and crawled into bed.

It was 9:30 by the time Cordelia went to bed. It was 10 o'clock when she felt a little body crawl into bed next to her. She didn't say anything she just pretended that she was still sleeping. At 11 o'clock Cordelia was awakened again when Angel came in. She heard him go into the bathroom and take a shower. When he came out he removed his robe and pulled the covers up so he could lie down. Cordelia was turned toward him. She pointed down at their daughter. "She came sneaking in at 10 o'clock." "Do you think I should put her in her own bed again?" "Yes." Cordelia answered. Angel pulled his robe on and picked his daughter up and took her back to her own bed. Angel covered her up and gave her a kiss then left. Kathleen never woke up.

As Angel crawled into bed Cordelia snuggled up to him. "How did it go? Did anyone get hurt?" "No it wasn't too bad. I got to take some of my anger out on the attackers. I was beating one of the demons so bad that Wesley and Gunn had to pull me off him. When I regained my senses I could see that I had beaten it to death." Angel was quiet for a while. Then in a low whisper he said, "I didn't realize that I had all of that anger pent up inside of me. It was like my anger at what they had done to me had been kept dammed up inside of me and when I started to beat the demon up, that dam broke, I lost control and all of that anger came out." Angel put his hand over his eyes and began to cry. It was a deep sobbing cry that seemed to come from the depth of his very soul. Cordelia couldn't do anything but hold him while he let all of his frustration and anger pour out of him. "When they were torturing me I couldn't do anything because they said if I fought them they would start testing their cattle prod on Connor." Angel continued to cry for the next 10 minutes then he grabbed some Kleenex and wiped his face and blew his nose.

"Cordy?" "Yes." "Cordy, something has changed inside of me. I didn't care that much about going to stop whoever was attacking people. I didn't really get into it until I started beating that demon up. I think the only reason I went with the rest was because it was my job. Worst yet Cordy is that I don't even care about making love to you. I look at you as your getting bigger and I remember how I used to get turned on by just looking at you but now I am happy just having you by me. I think it has something to do with my boys being damaged when they were torturing me."

Cordelia just listened to her husband while he was talking. She didn't say anything until he stopped. She felt that he needed to get all of this out and was afraid that if she said anything he would stop.

"Angel I am going to talk to Mom and make an appointment with a specialist for you. When you first came home and were chained up downstairs you went into a deep sleep, Mom and I gave you a bath and put some clean clothes on you. When I was cleaning you I noticed the red mark going down your groin and through your testicles. I pointed it out to Mom and she examined them. She said she could feel scar tissue in them and that she was pretty sure that your baby making days were over but she couldn't say for sure since it wasn't her specialty. After you see the specialist we'll know better what we are dealing with okay?" "Okay I think your right because I can't continue like this. Don't discuss it with anyone else though. I don't want the others to know." Cordelia gave him a kiss on his forehead then and they went to sleep.

At 3 a.m. Angel was awakened when he heard Kathleen come into the room and crawl up between her Mother and Father and get under the covers. He just pretended to be sleeping because he felt better just having her with them right now.

The next morning when Cordelia woke up to run to the bathroom she noticed her daughter in bed with them again. When she came out she looked at the two. Angel had turned over in his sleep and held Kathleen close to him.

"Well I guess I'll let it go this time. I think Angel needs her more than she needs him right now." She just quietly got dressed and went down stairs. She still had an hour to go before she would have to get them up and start getting ready for church. Usually they would wait to have brunch after Mass but these days the boys were demanding nutrition to be sent down the pipe earlier. She started up the large coffee maker and made herself two scrambled eggs and a slice of toast. While she was busy in the kitchen both Wesley and Dr. Martin came down and grabbed themselves some coffee as soon as it was done.

"How did Angel sleep last night Cordelia?" Wesley asked. "He slept well but that was only after crying himself to sleep. He told me about beating the demon to death. He said he didn't realize that he had so much pent up anger in him. Mom he said that he feels like something inside him has changed. He thinks that it has something to do with the injury to his boys. We need to get him some help Mom. We need to find out if his boys are really dead and they've stopped producing testosterone. I did some research on the subject yesterday. From what I understand the lack of testosterone is what is causing these problems. He admitted to me that he isn't even interested in sex now. I told him that I would talk to you about it and possibly get him an appointment with a specialist."

"I think that you're right Cordelia but before I send him to a specialist I think I would like to talk to Angelus and find out why he hasn't healed Angel. I also want to ask him why Angel seems to have seizures every time he is sick. Those seizures can be very damaging to his brain." They went to sit down at the table while Cordelia ate her breakfast.

"Besides Angel's problems how did Kathleen do on her first night in her own room?" Dr. Martin asked.

"She's up there right now in our bed and in her Daddy's arms. The first time she crawled into bed with me Angel wasn't home yet. After he took a shower and lifted the covers to get into bed he found her snuggled up against me. He took her back the first time and put her into her own bed. Then he came back and we had our talk. Around 3 o'clock in the morning she came sneaking back into our bedroom and crawled into our bed between us. Since Angel is having such a hard time I thought I would just leave her with him. When I left he was holding onto her like I do my Teddy Bear when I'm having a hard time."

"Don't tell me you have a Teddy Bear also. Fred has one that she holds onto when she is feeling depressed. I thought once she had the boys that she would let it go but she hasn't. Sometimes I'll wake up in the morning and she'll have it between us." Wesley said.

"Wesley, Wesley, Wesley, don't you know that a woman that has a stuffed animal never gives them up. Children grow up eventually and sometimes husbands leave their wives but Teddy Bears are with you forever. Even Buffy has one. Remember her mentioning Mr. Gordo her stuffed pig." Dr. Martin and Cordelia laughed.

"I have to go and get ready for Church; it takes me a little longer these days." She stopped on her way back from the kitchen. "I am going to talk to Angelus tomorrow Cordelia. I don't want to talk to that demon on the Sabbath." She turned then and went to the elevator.

The rest of the day went quietly. Kathleen was made to take her nap in her bedroom once again. When Cordelia had a chance to talk to Connie she found out that Junior had crawled in to their bed also.

Just before everyone went to their own rooms Dr. Martin called Angel over to her by the elevator. "Angel I want to talk with you for awhile about what happened to you when Wolfram & Hart kidnapped you and Connor. Let's go up to 412. We haven't been up there together in a long time and I think its way over due." "Cordelia talked to you about last night?" Angel had his head down as she talked to him. "Yes but this isn't only because of what she told me. Come on let's go. You'll sleep better tonight after we talk."

Angel offered her his arm and they entered the elevator together.

Angel didn't go to bed until well after midnight. Cordelia woke up when he got into bed beside her. She turned over and put her arm around his chest and rested her head on his arm. "Have you been with Mom all of this time?" "No, she went to bed around 10:30 then I stayed there for a couple of hours just thinking. She wants to talk to Angelus tomorrow and try to find out why he hasn't healed my boys. She explained to me why I've been feeling the way I am and that before she sends me to a specialist she wanted to give Angelus a chance to set things straight. She doesn't think that he understands how important the testosterone hormones are to me. She thinks that I might be feeling worse than a normal human male because I am going through the pregnancy with you." Angel had turned towards Cordelia and had pulled the covers down from her stomach and started rubbing it. He stopped with his hand on her stomach and reached out for his sons minds. Cordelia put her hand on his and concentrated on listening for her sons. They both concentrated on sending them their love. Cordelia felt the boys move over so their heads were under their mother and fathers hands. After a few minutes Cordelia pulled her hand away and fell asleep again. Angel pulled the covers over Cordelia again then pulled her close to him and went to sleep also.

The next morning Angel and Cordelia woke up once again with Kathleen between them. Cordelia had awakened first and when she realized Kathleen was with them she gently shook Angel's shoulder. They both were lying on their sides and looking at their daughter. "What do you think we should do about this problem? She's become very good at sneeking into our bed. I didn't even feel her get under the covers." Angel said.

Connie and I talked to the two women that have gone through this before. Mom and Lucinda said that eventually they will stop doing this and start staying in their own beds. The only thing we can do is to keep putting them back in their own beds. Mom suggested that we ask Connor if he would let Toby stay with them for a few nights and see if they will feel better with him being there. She also suggested that we take away the stepping stool we have in the elevator at night."

"Well I guess I have to take her back then." Angel got up and pulled his pants on then picked his daughter up while she was still sleeping and put her in her own bed.

Later in the morning when everyone was heading downstairs Cordelia went upstairs to check on the two children. What she found was her daughter dressing herself in an orange colored shirt, pink pants, a green hat, and her cowboy boots while the color coordinated clothes she had laid out for her daughter the previous night still sat where she left them. "Why didn't you put the clothes on that Mommy laid out for you?" "Because I wanted to wear these." Kathleen said as she pointed to her clothes. Cordelia looked over at Junior who was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt that said 'I'm My Daddy's Carbon Copy' and a pair of cowboy boots. Cordelia decided not to fight it.

"Okay let's show everyone the clothes you picked out and have breakfast." Kathleen and Junior took Cordelia's hands and they all went down stairs.

As they arrived downstairs Kathleen let her mothers hand go and went running to her grandmother and grandfather. (Kathleen's tactics were a prime example of the saying 'When all else fails Ask Grandma'

"How do you like the way I dressed Grandma and Grandpa?" Giles picked her up and sat her on the edge of the table. "Well let's have a good look at you. What do you think Grandma?" By saying it like this Grandpa dumped it in Grandma's lap.

"Well I think that you look just fine for a little girl named Kathleen that has chosen the clothes she wants to wear for the first time. Go sit down now so we can have breakfast." She gave her a kiss then her Grandpa put her down and she went running to her Daddy to help her get into the chair. "How do you like my clothes Daddy?" Angel looked at her and rubbed his eyes. "Wait right here and I'll be right back." When he came back he sat down and put his first pair of sunglasses on and two pieces of cotton in his ears. "Why did you put your glasses on and cotton in your ears Daddy?" "Because your clothes are so bright and loud that I had to protect my eyes and ears." "See Mommy Daddy likes my clothes too." Kathleen was satisfied now that her Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma had given their okay. While Cordelia just rolled her eyes up and started eating her breakfast.

"Don't worry about it Cordelia, it's easier to just let it go for now than fighting her about how she looks. I promise you that as she gets older you will wish for these simpler days." Dr. Martin said. "Yeah I guess your right. When she comes home with a piece of metal going through her tongue or through her nose I will remember these days." "My little girl would never do that, would you princes?" "If you don't like it Daddy then I would never do it." Cordelia just rolled her eyes up and said "We'll see. Don't forget that old saying Angel. Never say never."

After breakfast Angel left for awhile. No one knew where he went because he just told Cordelia that he would be back in two hours. Since he didn't offer an explanation she didn't ask. But she knew that he was suffering from depression because she started to feel it also.

Angel went to Fr. Barris to talk to him for awhile. He had called him early in the morning to see if he would be available later. He had a long talk with him about all he had been going through and what he had done to the demon. While they were talking, Fr. Barris started to realize that Angel was entering into a deep depression. After 90 minutes of listening to him Fr. Barris made an excuse to go to his office to cancel a previous appointment. When he was in his office though he called Dr. Martin and let her know that Angel was at the rectory and seemed to be going through a deep depression.

"I know Fr. Barris, Cordelia is having a problem also. I think what is happening is that they are feeding on each others depression and it's just getting worse. I'll send someone to come and get him." "Okay I'll keep him busy." Fr. Barris went back to Angel and continued to let him talk. Thirty minutes later Gunn and Connor showed up. Fr. Barris let them in and took them to one of the back rooms in the rectory where they had been talking.

As they walked in Angel stood up. "What are you guys doing here?" "I called Dr. Martin Angel, as we were talking I realized that you were in a deep depression. Dr. Martin said that Cordelia was having the same problem and she thinks you're feeding off of each other so that it will only get worse." "Dad, Grandma gave me this syringe to give you. She said it would make you sleep for a few hours until the depression passes then you and Cordelia should be alright." "Okay but let me get into your van first then you can give it to me." Angel thanked Fr. Barris for everything then they left and Connor gave his father the syringe as soon as he was in the back of the van.

Thirty minutes later they were at the hotel. Connor and Gunn carried Angel into the hotel and to his bedroom. Dr. Martin was in there with Cordelia. "Thank you Connor and Gunn. I need you two to go out into the hallway and just wait there in case I need you okay?" She saw the looks on there faces. "It's nothing against you it's just that I have to talk to Angelus about something very personnel that I don't think Angel wants generally known. If he chooses to let you know then he will talk to you about it but I am going to leave that up to him." As the men left Hunter and Mike came in and pulled some chairs close to the bed.

Dr. Martin then turned her attention to Angelus. "Angelus can you hear me?" Angel moaned in his sleep. Dr. Martin took this as a sign that he was fighting with Angelus. "Angel I need to talk to Angelus. Can you let him speak to me?" Angel's eyes opened then and Angelus looked at Dr. Martin. "Well hellllooo Mama. I didn't think we would ever have to talk again until your 5 years were up. Which I might add is coming up just around the corner." "Let's cut the crap Angelus and get right down to why I wanted to talk to you. Why haven't you healed Angels testicles or boys as men usually call them?" "He doesn't need them to function. We can still have sex. He only needs them to make babies and from what you've told him he has fulfilled his duties and he no longer needs them."

"Wrong answer Angelus, I thought you knew everything. Angel has to have fully functional testicles in order to have the hormone testosterone. The hormone testosterone is what suggests to Angel that he wants sex it also tells him to get out there and fight the good fight. Right now Angel doesn't care about anything. He is having a deep depression right now and since Cordelia is having a period of depression right now, they are feeding off of each others depression which is making it worse. Now do you understand why you need to heal them?" Angelus thought about it for a minute. "What if I can't heal them?" "If you can't then your days of having fun beating the crap out of other demons and vampires are over, because those hormones are what makes him a Master Vampire. Don't you remember when he became a Master Vampire that he was always looking for fights including arguments with Cordelia? He became so insufferable that Cordelia called Spike up and told him how Angel was acting and Spike was the one that told him that he was becoming a Master Vampire and to just go out and kill some demons and vampires to get rid of that extra testosterone that was being dumped into his system."

"Yeah I remember." Angelus said.

"Okay now that you understand why he needs those hormones I have another question for you. Why does Angel have seizures even when he doesn't have a fever?"

"His body is fighting me when I am trying to heal him. It's not something that he is aware of or can control. In fact when I try to heal him now he may very well have another seizure." "Why is his body fighting you?" "Don't ask me ask his boss, but I am guessing it's because he is becoming human again. It's not natural for his body to be healed so quickly anymore but I'll get bored if I have to wait around for his body to heal naturally. It has to do with the natural electricity that goes through the human body. I am sure that you've seen how when a wound heals you can see what looks like electricity dancing across the wound as it heals. Well that's me healing him and his body doesn't like that extra electricity. It upsets the natural flow of its electricity. Try to think of it as when you touch a hot wire and how it makes you act."

Dr. Martin turned and looked at Hunter. "Does that sound about right to you?" "Yes it sounds logical." Hunter said. Dr. Martin turned back to Angelus. "I must say that you have been very cooperative Angelus and I want to thank you, but it's time for you to go back into your cage now." Dr. Martin ran her hand gently over his eyes and Angelus went back where he belonged.

"How long do you think we have to wait before well know if Angelus was successful?" Mike asked. "I don't know for sure but I would guess within the next few days. Cordelia will be able to tell us for sure." "You mean Angel will be crawling all over her after going without sex for so long?" "You got it. I know you've told them that Angel isn't to give Cordelia the Vampire Special when she goes into her 3rd trimester so we'll just have to wait to see a big smile on her face in the morning."

Hunter and Mike got up from their chairs then. "Are you going to stay with them until they wake up?" Hunter asked. "Yes I think I better. I think I'll just take a nap over here on the couch. If you see Rupert will you tell him where I am? He went to his shop this morning to work on getting it ready to open in two weeks."

Hunter and Mike left and Dr. Martin grabbed a blanket and pillow and went to lie on the couch to take a nap.

Two hours later Cordelia woke up and ran to the bathroom. When she came out she went over to the refrigerator to get something to drink. She was feeling a lot better now. She rubbed her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair and that's when she noticed Dr. Martin on the couch. Cordelia grabbed a Cherry flavored cola and went to the couch.

"Mom." Cordelia shook her shoulder gently. "Mom wake up its Cordelia." Dr. Martin opened her eyes and sat up. "Oh, hello. How are you feeling now?" "Better, have you been in here all afternoon?" "Yes, when they brought Angel home I had a long talk with Angelus." "How did it go?" "Very well, I explained to him why Angel needed his boys back in working order and he told me why Angel has seizures so often. He was very cooperative for once." Cordelia gave her the cola. "Thank you this is just what I need." "I'm going to go and check on Kathleen then I'll be right back." "Okay I'll stay here with Angel until you get back."

When Cordelia came back with Kathleen Dr. Martin left to go to her own room. She was getting hungry so after she took care of herself she went to check with Connie to see what she was making for Supper.

"How is dinner coming Connie? I'm awfully hungry for some reason." "It will be ready in about 30 minutes Dr. Martin." Connie answered. "What are you making?" "Pork Chops, Spanish rice, and a choice of peas, corn or string beans for Supper and Jell-O with whip cream for desert. How does that sound?" "That sounds perfect. Can I help you with anything?" "Oh no, Dr. Martin, as Lucinda would say, that would not be proper, especially for you." "Why especially for me?" "Because you are Mr. Martin's mother and that is a very high position and deserves the very highest respect. You are the only one that can override Mr. Martin. Not even Mrs. Martin can do that." "I didn't know I was so powerful. Okay I'll leave so that I don't get you in trouble with your mother in law."

Dr. Martin went upstairs to her room and called Rupert at his new store. "Magic Shop." Giles answered. "Rupert this is Mary, are you coming home soon? Connie said Supper will be ready in 25 minutes." "Yes my dear I am leaving for home right now." Giles hung up the phone and locked the door and left for the hotel.

Just as Giles was coming in everyone else was coming downstairs for Supper. Angel was looking a little tired. "What's wrong Angel, aren't you feeling very well?" Dr. Martin asked him. "As a matter of fact I'm not." Angel slowed down and bent down so that only his mother would hear him. "My boys are causing me quiet a bit of pain. I had to take some aspirin before I came down." "That's probably because Angelus is trying to heal them. I had a very productive talk with him when Gunn and Connor brought you home. He didn't know that you needed your boys to provide the hormone testosterone. I explained to him that if he wanted to ever go out on a fight again or have fun time with Cordelia he needed to heal them. I explained to him that you didn't feel like doing either one without that hormone. He thought all they did was made babies." Dr. Martin and Angel went to the table when they were done talking.

Angel held his mother's chair out for her then went to his own at the other end of the table. Angel didn't feel like eating very much so he just had a mug of blood. "Aren't you hungry Daddy?" "No sweetheart Daddy isn't feeling too good so I thought I would just have my drink." "Let me feel your head like Mommy does." Angel bent down so Kathleen could touch his forehead. She reached up and touched his forehead with her little hand. "Does he feel warm or cold?" Cordelia asked her daughter. "I'm not sure. Let me kiss your head Daddy." Angel bent down further so she could kiss his head. Kathleen licked her lips and had a very thoughtful look on her face. "Well what is you diagnosis Ms. Kathleen?" Dr. Martin asked.

"I believe he has a fever Grandma." "He does? Well what do you think he should do when he gets through with his Supper?" "I think he should go right to bed and no visitors for the rest of the night." Kathleen was being quiet serious about the whole thing.

"May I ask why you think that this should be the treatment for your patient Dr. Kathleen?" "That's what Mommy always says." Everyone had a good laugh. Kathleen was a very intelligent little girl but just like all children she came up with whoppers sometimes. Since she spoke so clearly she was easy to understand and this always made these little pretend times so much more entertaining.

"Well if that is what Mommy always says then it must be the right thing to do. Make sure you do as Dr. Kathleen says Angel otherwise she might take away your television rights." "Now you know I always do what my Doctor tells me Grandma." Angel said.

As everyone finished their Supper Wesley thought now would be the time to talk to Lou and Angel about a trip he had to make. "Lou, I have to go and see your father next weekend. I've already sent a letter to him to let him know I need to meet with him. I should receive a call from your brother soon." "Oh that would be terrific. I miss them so much. It's been a long time since I've seen them. Connor, can you go with us this time?" "I think I can. I don't have a class on Friday so we'll have to make it a quick trip and come back on Sunday for my next class on Monday." Lou looked at Wesley. "I think that can be done." Wesley said.

"Connor do you think you could let Toby sleep with Junior and Kathleen for a few nights. I am hoping they'll feel more comfortable with him in there guarding them and stay in their rooms." "Sure I don't think he will have a problem with that. But that means that I have to have a replacement for him. Kathleen since I am going to let Toby sleep with you can I borrow your Teddy Bear? I might get lonely and I'll need someone that I can hold onto." "Okay Teddy can go with you but I have to talk to him first and tell him that it is just for a few nights okay?" "I think that will be okay. While you're talking to Teddy I'll talk to Toby."

Cordelia looked at Angel. His head was drooping and he was perspiring profusely. She got up and touched his forehead. "Mom he's burning up. Come on Angel let's get you to bed." Angel started to get up then he collapsed. "Mike. Where is Mike?" Angel called out he was curled up into a fetal position.

"I'm right here Angel. Are they hurting real bad?" "Yes they feel like their on fire." Mike turned around. Someone help me get him to the clinic. Gunn came over and took Angels right arm and Mike took his left. They lifted him up and half dragged him to the clinic. Dr. Martin and Hunter followed them in. "Connor would you bring just 2 bags of ice into the clinic." "Sure Grandma."

It took Dr. Martin a little longer to get to the clinic since her left leg still didn't work as well as it used to. Connor made it into the clinic before Dr. Martin did.

"Here is the ice Mike." "Thanks just put them on the counter then you can leave." Hunter was helping Mike and Gunn get Angels clothes off while Dr. Martin stood to the side. "Thanks Gunn you can leave now." Angel fell off of the bed then as he started to have a seizure. Hunter grabbed a tongue depressor that Dr. Martin had wrapped with tape just for Angel. Mike held Angel's mouth open while she put the tongue depressor in his mouth so that he wouldn't bite his own tongue. Now that they knew why he was having the seizures they refrained from giving him any antibiotics. As soon as they made sure that he couldn't hurt himself they just stood back and waited for the seizure to pass. It lasted almost 5 minutes.

When the seizure was over Mike turned him over and checked his groin and testicles. The red mark that went from his groin and down to and through his testicles was almost gone as electricity danced across the area. With Hunters help Mike put him back on the bed. Dr. Martin had two towels filled with ice. She gave one to Hunter to put over his groin and testicles and the other she put to the left side of his neck. Mike removed the tongue depressor while Dr. Martin applied the ice. The blood going into his brain was closest to the surface as it ran alongside his neck and thus was easiest to cool at this point. Hunter had filled a container with water and ice. She dipped a towel in the ice water and put it over Angel's chest.

After applying the ice for 15 to 20 minutes Angel started to come around.

"Let me guess, I had a seizure again." "How did you guess?" Dr. Martin said with a smile. "Because I feel like I've been dragged over 10 miles of bad road." "Well the good news is that it looks like Angelus was able to heal your boys. We won't know if he was 100 successful though until either you start showing more interest in fighting or you give Cordelia a good time. We're going to let you rest here for awhile Angel, then well get Gunn to help Mike take you up stairs." Dr. Martin gave him a kiss on his forehead.

After helping Angel to put his shorts and pants back on Mike called Gunn to help him take Angel up stairs to his bed. When he was settled into his bed Dr. Martin came over and sat on the side of the bed. "How are you feeling now? Are you feeling any pain at all?" "No, it's completely gone now. Right now they feel so cold that Cordelia is going to have a hard time finding Angel Junior." "Well you have a good nights rest and I'll see you in the morning. I believe Dr. Kathleen is waiting to check on her patient. Good night Angel." "Good night Mom and thank you for everything." Dr. Martin had started to get up but she sat down again. "No Angel it's I that should be thanking you. You suffer so much for everyone. I think that when God finally calls you home the church is going to be overflowing with all of the people that know you and that you have helped." Dr. Martin gave her son a kiss then left.

Cordelia came in with Kathleen so she could check her patient. As soon as Angel had collapsed Cordelia and Connie took the children upstairs so that they wouldn't get scared seeing Angel sick. When she went upstairs to get her daughter Kathleen took her toy Doctors Bag with her. Cordelia put her daughter on the bed and Kathleen crawled over to her Daddy.

"Hi Dr. Kathleen." "Hi Daddy. How are you feeling now?" "Much better then I did before. As you see Doctor I am in bed getting rest just like you told me to do." "Let me take your temperature to see if you have a fever." Kathleen did all of the things that she had seen her grandmother do. "You are doing much better now Daddy. I want you to have a good nights sleep now." She straightened up the covers; as best she could since she was sitting on them, and gave her Daddy a kiss then she picked up her Doctors Bag and got down from the bed. "Good night Mommy and Daddy." "I'll be up in a few minutes to read you a story okay?" Cordelia said with a smile. "You don't have to Mommy Connor said he would read us a story tonight so you stay and take care of Daddy." "Okay Doctor, good night."

"My daughter, the Doctor." Angel said with a smile. "How are you feeling?" "The pain is gone and my mind seems to be clearer now. For a while I felt like I was going crazy. All of the things I like to do were no long interesting. I most regretted not wanting to make love to you. Now it may be too late, at least, for a while anyway." "What makes you think that I don't want to engage in our favorite pastime?" Cordelia said as she started to get undressed. "I'm going to jump in the shower. Are you feeling hungry now that you're feeling better?" "I am but I'm more tired right now than anything else. I don't even have the strength to join you." Angel closed his eyes and went to sleep and Cordelia went into the bathroom to take a shower. When she was done she put her robe on and went upstairs to check on her daughter and Junior.

She carefully peaked in the room. She wasn't surprised at what she found. Both Junior and Kathleen were on the floor with Toby. Kathleen and Junior had taken the bedspreads off of their beds and put it on the floor. Then they each pulled their blankets off of their beds and laid down with Toby. Both children had their hands on Toby. Connie had come to check on them also. "I think they will sleep in their own rooms tonight." Cordelia said. "Yes, I think so too. How is Mr. Martin doing?" Connie asked. "He is feeling much better. He always has a seizure whenever he gets sick. Mom said Angelus told her it's because he is becoming human and his body fights him when he tries to heal Angel now. It's just unnatural for the human body to heal as fast as Angelus makes Angel's body heal. Well I think that I'll go back to my other baby. Goodnight Connie."

Cordelia started to leave then she turned back to Connie. "Uh Connie, if I can talk Angel into going away for a couple of days could you take care of Kathleen for me?" "Yes of course, that won't be a problem." "Good, it will probably be our last chance to have time for each other before I deliver. Good night." Cordelia and Connie went back to their husbands then.

The next morning Cordelia woke up before Angel and as usual had to run to the bathroom. When she crawled back into bed she started to run her finger over his back real lightly. "Cordelia stop that it tickles." Angel said into his pillow so that his voice sounded muffled. She didn't stop but she did change where she was running her fingers. She ran her finger nails down his back and all the way down to his left and right cheeks then up again. Angel turned over so he could look at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked her. "I am trying to see if your engine still works. Because if it does I want to go to a nice hotel by ourselves and have some fun before I become too big to have any fun. What do you think about that?" "I think that sounds like a good idea. Let's see if my engine is in perfect working condition again."

Angel pulled Cordelia to him and started to kiss her lips lightly as though tasting them. After a few tastes he kissed her with his mouth open and let her tongue go into his mouth. He pulled on it gently with his teeth. He pulled back and started kissing her cheeks then her eyes ever so gently. His love for her flooded his inner being until he felt that he couldn't contain it in himself. He let his love for Cordelia flow out into his hands and his mouth where he let it run over her shoulder and neck. His hands ran over her body and around to her back and then to the front where they ran circles around her enlarged stomach. His mouth found her breasts and he suckled for a long time. With practiced expertise he bit down lightly so that he withdrew a small amount of blood. Cordelia gasped as he started to drink from her. She wrapped her hands around his head and held him to her breast. She didn't want him to stop. It had been a long time since they had made love and she was just as hungry for him as he was for her now. She could feel his erection becoming longer and harder as he continued to drink from her. Finally he stopped but instead of licking her breast so that the blood would stop flowing he pulled back and watched the blood trickle down her breast and onto her stomach. Before it went onto the sheets he caught it with his tongue and licked her clean.

It had been so long since they had made love that everything he did to her sent waves of ecstasy through her whole body. When she thought she couldn't stand anymore he turned her over and entered her and began to thrust himself inside of her. He did it gently and carefully at first until he was sure that he wasn't going to hit her stomach as he thrust himself inside of her. When he was sure that she was alright he started to do it more rapidly. Just when he sensed that she was about to climax he manipulated her so that he could reach her shoulder. He changed his features into that of a Vampire and bit down hard on her neck. Cordelia let out a loud moan and called out his name softly. As he started to drink her blood he continued to thrust himself inside of her more quickly until she climaxed and called out his name loud enough that she put her hand over her own mouth. As she collapsed he caught her and held her up as he continued to thrust himself inside her. He pushed himself inside of her harder a few more times until he climaxed also. He did it twice more until he felt his body pumping the semen out of his body and into Cordelia. He was careful not to fall on top of her but landed at her back where he continued to hold onto her and they remained connected. As they lay there, breathing hard and letting themselves bathe in the ecstasy and the aftermath of there love making, Angel carefully cleaned her neck by licking up every drop of blood. They lay there quietly as they started to breathe more slowly. Angel didn't withdraw from her instead they just lay there with his arms wrapped around his beloved wife and they fell asleep.

Two hours later they awoke again. Cordelia had turned around in her sleep and was curled up next to Angel's chest. Of all of the things that Cordelia missed when she was pregnant, being able to lie on her stomach was missed the most.

Angel opened his eyes and looked at Cordelia. He kissed each eye gently then pulled back to see if she would open her eyes. "Wake up my beloved." Cordelia opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Good morning my husband, I want to report that all engines are in perfect working condition." She reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Let's get up and soak for a while in the whirlpool." Angel got up first and pulled Cordelia up. "Let me have a few minutes alone and I'll start the tub filling up." "Okay, I think I'll warm up some blood. I'm starving." It was 8 in the morning now and they soaked in the whirlpool for a good 30 minutes.

At 8:30 they were about to get out when they heard a light knock at the door. "It's Kathleen and Connie." Angel said. "Who is it?" Cordelia called out. "It's me Mommy." "Who's me?" "Me, Kathleen." "Oh, okay you can come in. Is Connie with you?" "Yes Mrs. Martin." "Would you take her clothes off Connie and send her in? Were in the Whirlpool." "Okay, will you be coming down for breakfast soon?" "Yes, we'll be there by 9." Connie started to help Kathleen remove her night clothes but Kathleen wanted to do it herself.

"I can do it." "Okay just let me unsnap your pajamas then you can remove the rest okay?" "Okay." After Connie unsnapped all of the snaps she told her to go into the bathroom when she was done then she left.

Kathleen started doing everything early, such as talking, feeding herself, walking and such. Reaching the terrible 2s before she actually became two years old was no exception to the rule. She had told Connie she could do it herself but when she actually tried doing it she got stuck. Connie had missed one of the snaps around the waist of Kathleen's pajamas and she couldn't get it off. She went running into the bathroom fuming with anger because she couldn't get the top of her pajamas off.

"Mommy, I can't get this DAM pajamas off." This was a mistake on Kathleen's part. Cordelia looked like her blood pressure was going to hit the roof she was so angry and shocked by what she heard her daughter say. She stopped and took a deep breath before she said anything. "Kathleen, I want you to take a deep breath." Kathleen was still trying to get out of her pajama top. Cordelia held her arms and hands still until she had her daughter's attention. "Do as I said Kathleen, stop and look at Mommy, now take a deep breath like this." Cordelia took a deep breath to show her daughter. Kathleen stopped struggling and took a deep breath as her Mommy showed her.

"Now, Mommy is going to show you something. Put your fingers like this and your thumb on the other side of the snap like this. Now try to pull the snap apart." Kathleen tried pulling it apart by doing as her mother said but was unsuccessful. "I can't do it." Kathleen started to cry.

"Why are you crying?" Her mother asked. "Because I get so mad when I can't do something like everyone else can." "Kathleen when you want some water and you can't reach your bottle what do you do?" Kathleen looked down and played with the snap. "I ask someone bigger then me to help me." "So what should you do when you can't make the snap come apart?" "Ask someone bigger then me to help me." "Okay, would you like me to help you take your pajamas off?" "Yes please." "Okay Mommy will help you then you can get into the tub with Mommy and Daddy and take a bath okay?" "Okay." Cordelia unsnapped the pajamas and helped her daughter take her pajamas off. Then she picked her up and put her into the tub.

Kathleen's burst of anger was forgotten within seconds. "Good morning Daddy." "Good morning Kathleen." Angel picked his daughter up over Cordelia's head and gave Kathleen a kiss. When he put her back down in her mothers lap Cordelia proceeded to wash her and when she was done they got out of the tub. Angel didn't play with his daughter as he usually did because he knew Cordelia was still angry about hearing her daughter use profanity. Angel very rarely used profanity and he could probably count on one hand the amount of times that he had. He was just hoping it wasn't him that she was copying.

Cordelia was still quiet as she went upstairs to dress Kathleen. Angel went ahead and joined everyone else at the table.

"Good morning everyone." Everyone answered Angel with a good morning.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Mike asked. In answer Angel stopped as he was walking to his chair and turned, looked at everyone else and beat his chest and gave a Tarzan yell. "Tarzan is back in the building and everything is now in perfect working order, thanks to Angelus." Dr. Martin, Hunter and Mike started laughing because they knew what he was talking about.

"Angel went ahead and took his seat while Connie brought in his breakfast. She had fixed a rare, medium size, filet mignon with some eggs for him as Cordelia had asked. Joaquin brought him his blood in a large glass along with the Irish bread Cordelia made three times a week." Angel thanked them for the magnificent breakfast. "Did Cordelia tell you to make this for me?" "Yes Mr. Martin. She calls down every morning and asks me what I am making and sometimes she tells me what to make for your breakfast. This morning she called and said I was to make this for you for your breakfast."

"By the way, is Cordelia to tired to come down for breakfast this morning?" Mike asked with a big grin.

"No, as a matter of fact she is upstairs getting Kathleen dressed. I am giving everyone fair warning. She is mad, and I mean volcano, red hot, mad. Kathleen got angry when she couldn't unsnap her pajamas. Kathleen used a bad word." "What did she say?" Dr. Martin asked. "Kathleen said, and I quote 'Mommy I can't get this DAM pajamas off.' I thought Cordelia was going to hit the roof. But she kept her cool. I don't know if she is saying anything to her about it right now or not but like I said I am giving you fair warning. All I can say is I hope I'm not the one Kathleen was copying." Angel started eating his breakfast then before it got cold.

Cordelia came out of the elevator a few minutes later. "Good morning everyone." Everyone returned her greeting. "Ask your Daddy to put you on your chair Kathleen while I get your breakfast and mine." Kathleen went to her father and reached up her arms. "Would you please put me in my chair Daddy?" "I think I can do that for my princes." Cordelia had a small plate with one small pancake and a spoonful of scrambled eggs on it for Kathleen. She quickly buttered the pancake and cut it up for her daughter. Everyone could tell that Cordelia's mind wasn't on what she was doing because she forgot to put syrup on the pancake.

"Can I have some syrup Mommy?" "Oh I'm sorry honey Mommies mind is elsewhere right now." Cordelia poured some syrup on Kathleen's and her own pancakes then started eating.

Dr. Martin could see how upset Cordelia was. "Okay Cordelia, Angel has told us what Kathleen said. You might as well get it off of your chest before you get sick trying to hold it in."

Cordelia took a sip of her coffee and then took a deep breath. She stood up and walked over and stood behind Angel and put her hands on his shoulders.

"I think that you will all agree with me when I say that even though Angel is head of the family and of course Angel investigation I have never used my position as his wife to make any demands of anyone. That is except for things pertaining to our home, except that isn't power that I have just because I'm his wife it's because I am responsible for certain things. Anyway I am going to use that power now. I am not only asking I am demanding that everyone refrain from using profanity while they are in our home. I am sure Fred, Mom, Hunter, and Connie will agree with me that we don't want our children to grow up hearing such crude language. They will hear it enough when they are old enough to go out of the Hotel doors and have to mingle with society.

I myself never use it and I have never heard Angel use it around me. I think that both Angel and Wesley can tell you that I can use the English language quiet satisfactorily to get my message across without using profanity. That's all I have to say about this now." Cordelia sat down then and started to eat her now cold breakfast. After tasting it she got up to warm it up. When she sat down again Lou backed up her chair and came and stood between Cordelia and Angel. Cordelia put down her fork and looked at her. Lou was obviously nervous as she stood there.

"Uh, Cordelia and Angel I want to tell you that I think she picked it up from me. I've said that word several times since I've been here. My father used to say it all of the time when he got mad so I didn't know that it was inappropriate. I promise that I won't ever say it again if you'll let me continue to stay here." Cordelia stood up and hugged Lou. "Oh Lou we would never send you away over something so simple. Please just don't say things like that around the children again, okay?" "I really am very sorry. Please forgive me. I promise from now on I'll ask Connor if the things I say sometimes are alright." Lou let go of Cordelia and picked up Kathleen and hugged her. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble with your Mommy Kathleen. Please forgive me." Kathleen hugged Lou and gave her a kiss. "That's okay Lou I'm used to getting into trouble. I promised Mommy I wouldn't ever say that bad word again." Kathleen then put her mouth next to Lou's ear and whispered "I know what to say to get Mommy to forgive me and love me again." Angel tried to hide his face as he started laughing at what his daughter said. He started to laugh so hard though that he started coughing and almost threw up his breakfast. Everyone else was laughing at Angel laughing at his daughter.

"And what may I ask is so funny?" Cordelia asked. "I'll tell you later." Angel said. When Kathleen was done eating Angel put her down so she could go outside and play. Connor and Wesley had made the garden bigger recently and put in some grass and a sand box for Kathleen and Junior. Since none of them knew anything about working with wood Angel had hired a carpenter to build a little playhouse for the children. The women had worked on the plans as to how they thought it should look and also be safe. It wasn't finished yet so the children had been told to stay away from it. Which, of course, they ignored. Lou had gone out also to keep an eye on them.

"Now that they're outside why were you laughing so hard?" Cordelia asked.

"Kathleen told Lou 'I know what to say to get Mommy to forgive me and love me again.'" Cordelia knew she should be angry with her but she couldn't stop laughing. Everyone else was laughing right along with her. "I guess you're not the only one she knows how to manipulate." Cordelia said when she got her laughing under control.

"Now that you seem to be your old self again Angel do you mind telling us what was wrong with you yesterday? And for that matter what was wrong with you for the past week?" Wesley asked.

"I told them that it would be up to you if you wanted them to know. Hunter, Mike and I talked it over and at Mike's suggestion we decided that this was to personnel for me to be telling anyone about it without your permission." Dr. Martin told Angel.

Angel was quiet for awhile. He looked at Cordelia. "What do you think I should do? Do you think they have the right to know?" "Yes, they need to know that you are more vulnerable now. They need to know that the time is getting closer when you will give control up to Connor as far as the fights go. That time is still 10 or more years away but it is getting closer."

Angel took Cordelia's hand and kissed it. "You are so young Cordelia and yet so wise in many ways." Angel looked at the rest and especially Wesley.

"As you know when Connor and I were being kept imprisoned at Wolfram & Hart they tortured me not only by starving me but everyday they used a cattle prod on me. One of the times that they used it on me they hit me low in my groin area. When the electricity in that cattle prod hit me it traveled downward and through my testicles. It more or less destroyed them and they stopped functioning. The worst part of this was that they stopped producing all of that testosterone that gave me the desire to engage in battle or even to have sex. In a normal human male this would not normally have such a devastating impact on the mind but for me it was devastating. As I have told you before when I reached a certain age my boys started to produce even more of that very important hormone. When I do certain things that are the mark of a Master Vampire it is because of that extra testosterone that I can do it. Just as Buffy is able to do what she does because of the extra adrenaline that is pumped into her blood stream when she needs it so it is with the testosterone.

When I finally got over the addiction to the heroin that they had been giving me I started to feel a lot of pain in my groin. I asked Mike to check my boys and he told me that he was pretty sure that they had been damaged beyond repair. But it was Mom that came up with the idea that Angelus didn't understand why I needed functioning testicles and that perhaps that was why he hadn't healed them. So when I became extremely depressed the other day and Cordelia did also she sent Connor after me along with something to make me sleep for awhile. She took that opportunity to have a talk with Angelus. She found out that Angelus thought that I didn't need my boys anymore because he thought all they were for was to make babies. Mom explained why I needed them functioning and if he ever wanted to have fun fighting demons and vampires again or to even have sex again he would heal them. She also took the opportunity to ask why I almost always have seizures when I am hurt or just sick as I was when I had the measles. Angelus told her that I had them because I was becoming more human and my body would fight Angelus's efforts to heal me, since it isn't normal for the human body to heal so fast, and that is why I would have the seizures. That of course was also why I was sick yesterday."

"So your Tarzan yell was a sign to Mike, Hunter and Dr. Martin that everything was now in perfect working order once again?" Wesley asked. "Yes it was, and to celebrate Cordelia and I will be taking off for two or three days to get away for awhile and just have some time for each other before she gets to big to have sex and I am once again put up in dry dock. Wesley and Fred would you like to go with us? I know that you two have been having a hard time of it with your boys teething and all. You two look like you need to get away for awhile. Connie and Lou are here to take care of them plus we have 3 doctors that live here. It will give Mike a good opportunity to see what it is really like to actually be around children 24 hours a day."

Wesley looked at Fred. "Would you like to go?" "Yes, I think it would be a good idea for us to get away by ourselves for awhile. The boys will be okay with so many people around to take care of them and I can give you 100 of my attention." Fred said. She put her hand on Wesley's and gave him a kiss.

"It looks like we'll be joining you then. When do you want to leave?" Wesley asked. "Let's leave around 3. We'll be able to get out of the city before the heavy traffic starts. I'll make the reservations for tonight. We better go to the bank first so we can have lots of playing money. I don't suppose you would like to go Mom and Giles?" "I can't, I still have a lot of work to do in the store if I'm to be ready for opening day. You can go Mary." "No I think I'll stay and help Connie and Lou take care of the children."

Angel rose from his chair and said, "Okay then let's go and get some money. Is their anything you want us to pick up ladies?" "Yes, we're all out of Hershey chocolate bars and you better pick up some dry ice so we can pack some blood for you." "Yes Mam." Angel said as he saluted Cordelia. Wesley and Angel were gone for two hours. Most of the time was taken up looking for dry ice. As soon as they returned Angel called the MGM casino in Las Vegas and made reservations for two of their suites. By 3 o'clock they were on the road. Wesley was driving Cordelia's van since the sun was still high in the sky. Cordelia had bought a Books-on-Tape for Harry Potter and the Sorcers Stone so they could all listen to it. As it got lighter everyone changed seats during one of the many stops for Cordelia and Angel to go to the bathroom. Angel took the drivers seat and Cordelia and Fred sat in the back where they could talk and dish out the snack that Connie had packed for them. Wesley sat up front with Angel.

The girls were busy talking at the very back of the van so Wesley thought it was okay to talk to Angel about something Dr. Martin wanted him to do. He knew that Angel could hear him if he spoke low so the girls couldn't hear him.

"Angel since you were having a problem with your boys I wanted to talk about something Dr. Martin told me. She told me that I needed to get a vasectomy because it would be too dangerous for Fred to get pregnant again. She said it would be a lot easier for me to get it done then it would be for Fred to have an operation to get her tubes tied or for her to be on birth control pills." "So what is the problem? You're just getting the delivery tube tied off so none of your sperm can get through to her. Everything else will still work. Mom says that it just gets reabsorbed by your body. When we were up in 412 and she was explaining to me what was wrong with me she showed me some pictures of exactly what our boys' look like inside. I never realized there was so much in those guys. Anyway she also told me how a vasectomy is performed. She said it's a very simple operation that only takes a few minutes. She said that most guys just take it easy for a couple of days and sit around with a six pack of cold beer between their legs as they drink it. I'm going to have it done myself since Cordelia doesn't want anymore children after the twins are born."

"When are you going to get it done?" "After the twins are born and Cordelia is able to show me how much she appreciates my sacrifice." Angel said with a smile.

"I don't know Angel. The whole thing is kind of scary." "Wesley after what just happened to me getting a vasectomy is a walk in the park. Even though my boys were dead before I could still have sex it's just that without the testosterone I really didn't care anymore." Angel could tell that Wesley was still reluctant to have it done.

"You know Wesley the main reason why I am going to have it done is because of what Mom told me about how birth control pills work. Birth control pills were originally used to regulate a woman's period because some women don't have a regular 28 day menstrual cycle. What the birth control pill does is regulate their period and forces their body to drop all of that blood that is in their uterus in preparation for any fertilized eggs. Which means, even if they have been impregnated it still gets flushed out, and that is the same thing as murder to me, because I believe that you are given your soul from the time that fertilization takes place. When Mom explained this to me I promised myself that I was going to get it done so that Cordelia would never have to take birth control pills again. Right now she doesn't have to because she's pregnant. Just think of it Wesley you might have created a dozen babies that all died because Fred was on birth control pills."

"Yeah but Angel it's nothing but a few thousand cells that gets flushed out. It doesn't even resemble a baby yet." "Then tell me Wesley why is it that Cordelia was able to sense it when we were successful in making Kathleen and the twins. She said that it's hard for her to describe it but that she felt something like a tingling feeling at the moment that it happened. That kind of feeling doesn't come from an "IT"."

"What do you mean an "IT"." "That is what people call a baby when they want to talk about abortion. They refer to a human being as an "IT" or a fetus when they want to justify killing an unborn baby." Wesley was quiet for the next twenty miles.

"I guess your right. We men are so absorbed with our own comfort and the macho image that we maintain in our own minds that we are willing to sacrifice everyone around us that we love. Don't let me lose my nerve now when we get back, because I'll tell Dr. Martin that I want to do it as soon as we get back."

"That's good Wesley and just to show you that I really believe in this I'm going to tell Mom that I want mine done at the same time."

Wesley turned around to check on the girls since it was so quiet in the back. Fortunately they were sleeping.

When he turned around he could see the lights from Las Vegas shining in the night sky. He called out to the girls to wake them. "Ladies wake up we are coming into Vegas now."

"Uh, Angel pull over please, I have to go now." Cordelia said as she started squirming. There wasn't anything around yet where she could go to a bathroom.

"If you can't wait Cordy I'll have to just pull over to the side and Fred and I can hold blankets up okay?" "Okay but do it now please. I think the boys are using my bladder for a punching bag."

Angel was able to find a wide enough area where he was able to park the van side ways. He jumped out and helped Cordelia out and grabbed the blanket so the oncoming traffic lights wouldn't hit her. She barely made it. Wesley laughed when he heard her sigh in relief. Angel helped her get back in the van. After closing the side door he went to the other side himself and took his turn. When he was done he jumped back into the van and they kept driving until they arrived at the hotel.

It took them just a few minutes to sign in since they had two of the upper class suites. Angel had expressly requested two suites connected to each other. It was 10 o'clock by the time they checked in and were shown their rooms. Cordelia was tired so she went to bed to get a few hours of sleep. Apparently Fred was also because Wesley came knocking at Angels door. "You ready for some fun?" "Yeah let's go, Cordelia is sleeping right now. I told her I was going to go and play for awhile." "Fred too."

Angel and Wesley liked playing the machines so they were gone for awhile among all of the lights and noise created by the machines. They went to the cashier first to turn some $100 bills into 20s. Angel headed for the dollar machines where as Wesley headed for the quarter machines. Angel didn't realize that the casino was surrounded with mirrors.

Wesley had been stopping to put quarters in machines as he walked along. When one paid off he pulled out the chair and sat down. After a couple of hours, and $100 poorer he went looking for Angel and found him at a machine with the lights flashing and the lights around a Harley Davidson motorcycle flashing on and off and sirens announcing that he had won the jackpot.

The first thing that went through his mind was that Angel was now the center of everyone's attention. He looked up at the mirrors surrounding the area. It didn't hit him at first when he looked in the mirror but he realized later on that he could see Angel in the mirror. He made his way over to Angel.

"Congratulations you just won the jackpot and this Harley Davidson Motorcycle." The representative from the MGM said as he shook Angel's hand. Angel was smiling from ear to ear. He spotted Wesley in among all of the people surrounding him. Angel signaled for Wesley to come over to him.

"Congratulations you lucky dog, do you think Cordelia will let you ride it?" Wesley was patting Angel on the back and looking at the machine. For the next hour they were with the manager of the casino as Wesley gave him all of the information they needed to deliver the Motorcycle and all of the information for tax purposes.

Apparently Angel was real hot because he also had buckets of silver dollars to turn in as well. When they were done with management they bought a bottle of the most expensive Champagne that they could find and went up to Angels room. Wesley went to get Fred and bring her over. They knocked on the door and Angel let them in. Cordelia was up also and rubbing her eyes.

"Okay what is all of this about?" Both Cordelia and Fred asked.

Angel didn't say anything. He just opened up the champagne and poured everyone a glass. He made sure that he only gave Cordelia a half of a glass.

"Ladies you are looking at the biggest winner at the jackpot this evening. I won a 2006 Harley Davidson Motorcycle. Before I hit that though I was winning at the dollar machines and I won almost $10,000 in one jackpot after another. I am hot tonight. I don't think I could lose if I wanted to.

Angel pulled out a bundle of $100 bills and counted out $2,500 in four stacks and gave one to Wesley, Fred, and Cordelia. Both Fred and Cordelia gave him a kiss as he gave them the stacks of money.

Wesley put his arm on Angels shoulder and shook his hand. "Angel I have something else to tell you about that you have won." "You mean the manager had something else to give me?" "No I just found out about this gift that your Boss has given you." Angel had a puzzled look on his face.

Wesley just guided him over to the large mirror that was in the living room and turned him towards it. Angel stared at his reflection. Cordelia came over to his other side and put her arm around his arm. They all just stood there for a few minutes looking at Angel's reflection. As he looked at himself he walked closer to the mirror and touched it. The tears started to fall as he continued to stare at himself. He turned then and hugged Cordelia. As he held her he said "It's been so long since I've seen my own reflection. Not since we rescued Fred from that crazy dimension. This though, this is permanent and not just for a short time. He turned then and grabbed onto Fred and Wesley and hugged them. He let them go after a while and turned back to the mirror.

"No wonder you fell in love with me Cordy, I am a handsome man." He turned then and showed that he was just kidding. Cordelia threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Now do you understand why I was so scared when you were wearing Hunters ring while we were in Ireland?" "You don't ever have to worry about that my dear. Is anyone hungry?"

"I could do with a sandwich. Let me see what Connie packed for us. I don't want too much to eat." Cordelia went through the picnic basket that Connie had packed for them. Angel pulled out some blood for himself. Fred and Wesley pulled out some sandwiches for themselves and some potato chips and Frito's. While Angel was warming up his blood in the microwave Cordelia and Fred pulled out some soft drinks that were in the ice chest. "Do you want a ham sandwich or a roast beef sandwich Angel?" "I'll have the roast beef." He said as he came back to the table with his blood.

"I wonder when you will be able to stop drinking blood Angel." Fred asked as she started in on her ham sandwich. "Just about next to never. As long as Angelus is with me I'll still need blood to survive." Angel finished his sandwich and went to the mirror and stared at his reflection.

"Cordelia, when did I start having gray hair?" "Oh about 3 or 4 months ago." "Why didn't you tell me?" "To tell you the truth I really didn't think anything of it. Besides I think it makes you very distinguished looking." "Wesley is getting gray hair too." Fred said as she shoved the last piece of sandwich in her mouth. She poured herself and Wesley some more Champagne and was about to make a toast when she noticed he had gotten up and was next to Angel looking at himself in the mirror. "What gray hair?" Cordelia and Fred just looked at each other. They drank the rest of their drinks and started throwing away the papers and cans of cokes. Cordelia took out the rest of the drinks and put them in the small refrigerator along with her milk. She left Angels blood in the ice chest and put the lock on it that she had brought.

Fred grabbed Wesley's arm and pulled him away from the mirror. "Common Wesley lets go to our own rooms. This is our first night of peace and quiet and I don't want to waste it. Good night Angel and Cordelia." Fred said as she continued to pull Wesley's arm while he continued to fuss with his hair.

Cordelia locked the door after them as she answered with a good night. She turned everything off as she went to the bedroom. Without any lights Angel finally realized that Fred and Wesley were gone. He drank the rest of his blood then rinsed it out and left it in the sink. He went into the bedroom then and got undressed and jumped in the shower. It was a large shower surrounded in glass with a full body spray. Cordelia joined him after disrobing. Angel had bathed already so he helped her to bathe herself. It was getting harder for her to do it since her stomach was getting so big. When he was done bathing her she turned around so that she was facing him. She stood on her toes so she could reach his lips. Angel started to make love to her but she took his arms and put them behind his back.

"Tonight it's my turn to do the lovemaking." Cordelia said as she continued to kiss him on his neck and going down his chest. She stood in front of him and pushed him down to the seat that was in the shower. She proceeded to give him the kind of sex that all men like. As he climaxed he gave out such a loud moan that she had to put her hand over his mouth. He put his face between her breasts as he continued to moan and call out her name as his body continued to pump out his semen. "Woman you could make Satan himself call out your name." He kissed her gently in thanks. Let's go to bed now. Even though you did all of the work I am tired. Winning a Motorcycle is tiring. " Cordelia turned off the shower and they got out. They both slept well that night and didn't wake up until noon.

Angel woke to the sound of the telephone. As Cordelia came out of the bathroom she heard Angel say "Yeah we'll be ready to go downstairs in fifteen minutes." He hung up then and looked at his wife. She had come out of the bathroom with nothing on. She had been styling her hair and putting her makeup on. Angel was starting to get turned on just watching her as she gathered her clothes so she could get dressed. She pulled out a t-shirt and shorts and socks for him and threw it at him.

"Don't you think it's time for you to get dressed?" "I'm debating as to whether I should jump you or get dressed." It seemed that ever since Angelus had healed him he was constantly thinking about having sex with Cordelia. When she threw him his clothes she saw him starting to get aroused. She went over to him and put her clothes in his lap as she seductively teased him. "Help me put my clothes on please." She ran her hands over her stomach and her breasts. She knew how Angel got turned on by the sight of her pregnancy. As he helped her dress she held onto his shoulders and gave him easy access to her breasts. Just as he reached for them she pulled back. "We'll never get dressed if you start that again." He looked up at her and stood up fast and gave her a swat on her behind. "Owe! What did you do that for?" "You knew exactly what you were doing to me you little Vixen. Sit down while I put your socks on." Cordelia complied. She was starting to have a hard time reaching her feet now. Her stomach got in the way now days and she usually needed help getting dressed. Angel helped her finish dressing then he finished dressing himself. They reached the door just as Wesley knocked on it.

"Let the fun begin Ladies." Wesley said. "How are you two doing?" Fred asked. "We had a nice, restful sleep." Cordelia answered.

"Did you enjoy your first evening away from the boys?" Cordelia asked. "Since I'm still breast feeding my breasts were full of milk last night and were hurting something awful. I had used the breast pump earlier but they were full again half way through the night and I had to ask Wesley to empty them. After that I was okay." Fred said. "Fred! Do you have to tell them about everything we do?" Wesley exclaimed. "Don't get excited Wesley. Remember that Angel did it for Cordelia all of the time to make her start producing more milk." Angel just smiled at Fred. She was so open about everything. In a way she was like a child in that nothing was to sacred to talk about in the open. Angel looked at Wesley, his face was beat red.

"That's okay Wesley; Cordelia thinks nothing about embarrassing the hell out of me also." Angel said as he put his hand on his shoulder.

The rest of their little holiday passed in the same way. They spent most of their time in the casino that day while the night time was put aside for a show, dinning and a little dancing. After dinner they took a nap before hitting the casino again. Angel was still hot so he was winning left and right. Cordelia was happy to play the quarter machines and hit a few jackpots but put it right back in. Fred liked to play blackjack because she could count the cards but since she didn't bet very much she didn't draw anyone's attention. When Angel and Cordelia said they were going back to their rooms Wesley went looking for Fred. He found her at a Blackjack table and watched her playing a few hands. He finally pulled her away from the table when he saw what she was doing.

"Fred Price what you are doing is illegal and if I ever catch you doing that again I am going to take you over my knee and give you a good spanking. Do you understand?" Fred lowered her eyes. "Yes Wesley." "I think you've had enough gambling for one day." He took her hand and started for the elevators. Cordelia and Angel had been standing close by and heard Wesley scolding Fred. As they stood in the elevator the men were standing by the door and Fred and Cordelia were standing at the back. Cordelia and Fred looked at each other and smiled. Fred pulled out a wad of paper money to show Cordelia how much she had won. Wesley and Angel turned around when they heard their wives giggling like two school girls. Fred quickly put the money back in her purse.

"Fred I want you to put that money, you were showing Cordelia, into the suitcase. On Sunday when we go to church you are going to put all of it into the collection basket. Do you understand?" "Yes Wesley." "We have more than enough money my dear so that you do not have to cheat." "Yes Wesley." Fred and Cordelia exchanged glances again. They made sure they didn't make any noise this time. They just gave each other a smile and Fred mouthed the word to Cordelia, 'Watch'.

As the doors to the elevator opened Fred was able to produce some tears and was sniffling. She knew that it would make Wesley feel like a worm for scolding her.

As they exited the elevator Wesley turned to Fred and saw her tears. He pulled her into his arms and said, "I'm sorry I scolded you Fred but what you were doing was wrong. It goes against what I believe in. To me cheating is the same thing as stealing." He gave her a kiss on her forehead and wiped her tears away with his handkerchief. As Fred had her head against Wesley's chest she looked at Cordelia and smiled. She straightened up as Wesley said goodnight to Cordelia and Angel. Like a little girl she held his hand as he walked back into their rooms.

Cordelia busted out laughing as soon as they entered their own suite. "What's so funny?" "Fred, she is not as innocent as she seems you know." "I know. She used to be innocent but after associating with you she has become corrupted. Poor Wesley, he just doesn't know what he is up against." "Are you going to tell him?" "No as they say 'ignorance is bliss'."

"Well at least the whole evening won't be a total loss. They are going to have sex like little bunnies tonight." Cordelia said as she put her arms around Angel and gave him a kiss. You want to act like little bunnies on our last night or are we going to stay one more night, because Mister I am telling you right now that you will probably be in dry dock for the next 4 months or so. Our sons are getting big so fast that I get tired easily now and I am going to need your help just to get around pretty soon."

"If you don't mind, yes I would like to stay one more night. Why don't you go to bed and get some rest. I'm going down stairs to play some more and I'll ask Wesley if he wants to stay one more night." He gave her a kiss then turned and left. He knew it was quiet next door so he knocked on their door lightly. Wesley came to the door.

"You want to go and play some more?" "Yeah, let me tell Fred where I'm going." Wesley was back in a minute and they headed for the elevators. "Fred sleeping?" "Yes, I left her a note just in case she wakes up before I get back." "Cordelia asked me if I wanted to stay one more night and I said yes. Do you want to stay?" "Yeah, we may not get another time like this for a long time. Besides I have a lot of kissing up to do after making her cry." Wesley said. Angel debated with himself as to whether he should tell Wesley what was really going on or not.

"You don't have to argue with yourself if you should tell me what she is doing or not. Don't forget that I've known Cordelia for a long time also. I saw those looks Fred and Cordelia were giving each other. On top of that Cordelia was having a hard time hiding her smile." "Well it seems that Cordelia has taught us well. Do you think I should tell her that you know what was going on between them?" Angel asked. "No! That would really ruin it for us. If we play our cards right they will be giving us the best sex ever instead of us having to do all of the work." Wesley and Angel were laughing so hard that they had tears coming out of their eyes.

They played for several hours before they finally were tired enough to go to bed. By then it was 3 o'clock in the morning and they had nothing but sleep on their minds. By 9 am though Fred was saying how sorry she was and Angel was getting all he could before he was anchored into dry dock for the next four months.

By 1 o'clock they were up and ready to eat. Cordelia called in for room service after asking Wesley and Fred to join them for Brunch. By 2 they were having a leisure meal together. After having a large glass of blood Angel was leaning back in his chair. "Well what shall we do on our last night?" "Let's go downtown and see the light show." Cordelia suggested. "That sounds good. I haven't been downtown in a long time. I think the last time I was there was when Elvis got married." The rest looked at Angel. "Really Angel? You're not pulling our leg?" Cordelia asked. "No, I was working my way across country and happened to be renting an apartment and working at one of the casinos. Back then things were kind of sparse and it was nothing like it is now. They happened to need a body guard for one night and I was off so I applied and became one of the many body guards he had."

"It's too bad you can't write down your experiences Angel. It would make a good book for you to pass down to our children and grandchildren. Just think of it guys, when we are gone and then our children die there won't be anyone that will remember us or about the things we did. All we'll have is Angel Investigation that will continue for a long time to come, I hope." Cordelia said.

"That's not 100 correct Cordelia. The Watchers Chronicles will have a lot of what we have done. I'm still making a lot of entries in them except I'm very selective of what I report on." Wesley said as he got up and poured himself some more hot tea and offered some to everyone else.

"Well Cordelia their really isn't any reason why he can't write a book on his life. In fact it may be very helpful to future generations. Just like we do when we have a problem and we research books for how to solve a problem they will have another book to look to for information. Best of all Angel, if you want to, you can have a separate book on Demons, Vampires and Wolfram & Hart." Fred said to Angel.

"I'll think about it and most likely I will do it if for nothing else than to help Connor and the generations to follow. Let's go downstairs. I'm getting depressed thinking of my impending mortality." Angel said as he got up.

"Why are you getting depressed after finally getting what you've always wanted?" Fred asked.

"Because Cordelia and I will then be separated for a length of time." Angel turned to Cordelia and took her into his arms. "Lets go so we won't get any further into this depression. Are you feeling one of your pregnancy depressions?" He asked her. "No this is just a sadness depression. I think we need to get going. I don't want to dwell on it anymore." She gave Angel a kiss then went to get her purse while the rest put everything onto the cart and pushed it into the hallway.

The rest of the day was spent playing the machines. Wesley reminded Fred that she was to stay away from the Black Jack table. After a couple of hours at the machines, which didn't seem to be paying off at that time, Angel decided to try the Crap table. Wesley had never played it so he followed along. They were there for an hour and not doing very good until the girls joined them. All of a sudden Angels luck changed and the chips started to pile up in front of him. Wesley tried his luck also and was having beginners luck. By the time they left they had a pile of chips that they needed help in carrying to the cashier and turning them in. When the cashier counted it all up he turned over $11,550 to Wesley and $23,000 to Angel. They both went to a local branch of their bank and deposited all of the money into their private accounts.

When they were done they picked the girls up and took the taxi cab to the downtown area and had a nice quiet Supper and took it easy while waiting for the show to start. Cordelia wanted to sit down so she sat at one of the quarter machines and started putting in quarters. As soon as the other three machines next to her were free the rest sat down also. It wasn't long before Cordelia noticed people started to gather outside as it started getting darker.

"Let's go I think the show is going to start soon." The difference between the temperatures inside and the outside of the casinos was like night and day. When you opened the doors to go outside during the summer it was like walking into a wall. It was hardest on Cordelia since she was carrying two extra passengers so she held onto Angels arm as they waited for the show to start.

As the show started everyone's eyes were on the lights overhead as the computerized pictures flowed across the lights. Angel saw the pick pockets going through the crowd and pulling wallets from purses and of those men that kept their wallets in their pants pockets. When one of them tried lifting Cordelia's wallet he grabbed his wrist. "Ply your trade elsewhere my friend." The man cried out in pain and dropped her wallet. Angel let him go and he ran off. "Why did you let him go?" Wesley asked when he heard Angel talking. "I would have had to answer too many questions."

They left and returned to the hotel as soon as the show was over. Cordelia was tired and anxious to go to bed.

"We'll see you tomorrow morning Wesley and Fred. My little Momma here is tuckered out." Angel said as he opened the door to their suite and escorted Cordelia in. She waved goodnight and went in directly to the bedroom. Sex was out of the question tonight because she went into a deep sleep almost immediately.

Cordelia woke up at 4 in the morning. Her legs were hurting her. She called out to Angel in a low voice. "Angel, wake up." He didn't even move. "Angel, wake up." She called out louder and jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "Huh, what's wrong?" "My legs are swollen and they're hurting. I guess I did too much walking today."

Angel got up and grabbed some pillows from the living room and put them under her legs so they would be higher than her head. "How do they feel now?" Angel asked as he sat down on his side of the bed.

"Better, thank you. They were hurting so much before that it woke me up." "Do you know if you can take anything for it or is there anything else that I can do?" "No, when Fred was having the same problem Mike just told her and Wesley to just put her legs up higher than her head. He said that she should avoid taking anything if at all possible."

"Well maybe I can make your heart start beating faster and then as your blood starts flowing through your legs it will pick up all of that nasty water that's making them swell up." As Angel was saying this he was kissing her and removing her nightgown. As his kisses went down her neck he used his teeth to grab the string holding the left and right side of the nightgown together. Without using his hands he pushed the nightgown to the side and sought out her breast. He listened carefully as his mouth and tongue found her nipple and began to play with it. As he played with her nipple and started to suckle he could hear her heart rate increasing. Angel pulled back and looked at her.

"Cordelia I wish that there was some way that I could take out my heart, put it on a scale and measure the amount of love I have for you. I would then be able to truly show you how much I love you. Until that day comes this is the only way that I can show you." Angel reached for the bottom of her nightgown and pulled it over her head and tossed it to the side. He then proceeded to worship at her temple. He kept this up until she couldn't hold it back anymore. Angel picked her up and entered her as she lay on her side with her leg over his arm. He pumped her a few times then stopped and lowered his hand between her legs. He rolled his index finger around her center as she gasped when he touched her.

"Angel, my Angel. Make this last one the one that I'll remember when I'm to big to have sex anymore." She grabbed his hand from between her legs and put each finger deep into her mouth. When she was done she continued to kiss his hand then put it back down between her legs. Angel played with her some more than started to pump her more rapidly. Just as she was about to climax he slowed down and put his hand on her breast and started to play with her as his mouth sought out her ear lobe and neck. He licked her neck as though he was going to give her the Vampire Special. He knew he couldn't do it again so soon since her blood was now nourishing their sons. Instead he just let her think he was going to do it by his careful attention to her neck. She let out a moan as she started to feel close to her climax again. She was so close that she could hardly stand it.

"Do it now Angel, do it now. I am going to blow a gasket if you don't take us to the top of that mountain now." "But Cordy you told me to make this last time the one that you will remember during those nights when you want sex but you are to big to have it." In response she dug her nails into his arm. Angel gave her what she wanted and they both climaxed at the same time. He pumped her a few more times until he started to shudder with the effort that his body was putting into giving her all that he had to give her. As his body emptied itself inside of her he removed his arm from underneath her leg and let it go down slowly. After a few minutes he rolled over to his side of the bed so that he faced her. As Cordelia's heart rate started to slow down Angel remembered why he had started making love to her in the first place.

"How are your legs feeling now?" In answer she said "What legs?" He smiled then and pulled the covers over them again. When he had the covers straightened out again he lay back down and pulled her close to him. They went to sleep then and didn't wake up again until it was time to leave.

Cordelia was feeling much better in the morning as they quickly took a shower and packed to leave. Angel called next door to see if the Prices were ready. Then called for someone to come and pick up their luggage. Before leaving they had breakfast. They all still had a container of quarters so they stopped in the casino and made a final donation to the machines. This time it was Cordelia's turn to win and she hit a jackpot for $12,000 on a poker machine. They took her picture with the machine showing her winning with a royal flush. When all of the bells and lights stopped she wanted to play some more but both Wesley and Angel grabbed her by the arm and made her walk out. She grabbed her bucket of quarters just before they pulled her off of the chair and she held onto it tightly and wouldn't let them take it. When Angel tried to take it to the cashier she said, "No this is going into Kathleen's piggy bank."

Angel gave the valet the ticket for the van and they loaded everything up and took off before Cordelia could wonder off to another machine. As they took off they didn't notice a blue jeep following them. As they made their way back to Los Angeles the blue jeep hung way back biding his time until the van would stop. Finally as they were coming out of the mountain Angel had to pull over for Cordelia once again. This time though there was a rest stop with a couple of cars spaced far apart. A family was at one of the cement picnic tables having their Dinner and another car had an elderly couple walking their dog.

Cordelia and Fred ran into the woman's bathroom as soon as he parked. Angel and Wesley went into the men's after Angel locked the van. When they came out they saw a blue jeep parked next to their van and blocking everyone else's view of the vans sliding door. As Angel and Wesley came out they stopped and looked at the map that showed them how much further they had to go. Angel spotted the jeep. "Wesley, doesn't that jeep look familiar?" "Yes I believe it has been following us since we left Vegas." "Why don't you drive and I'll get into the passenger side after you let the girls in on your side. I think this guy is using his jeep to hide what he is going to do." Wesley nodded okay. He explained to the women that they were to get into the van on the drivers side.

They all walked to the van like nothing was wrong. A man came out of the men's room just as they started to walk to the van. He walked quickly and came up behind Angel. He held a knife to his back. "Don't turn around. I've been tailing you since this afternoon buddy. I know how much the lady won and that she took her winnings in cash. Give me the money and you can go your way and I'll go mine."

Angel turned slowly so the guy wouldn't get excited and do something that he would regret. As he turned and looked at the guy he put his vampire face on. Unfortunately for Angel he scared the guy so bad that he shoved the knife into his stomach, pulled it out, then jumped into his jeep and took off. Wesley had seen Angel put his Vampire face on and how the guy took off. Angel almost collapsed but he didn't want Cordelia to get excited right now. He took his handkerchief out and placed it against the knife wound and got into the van. He was hoping that Angelus would step up to the plate and heal him before they got home.

"Everything okay Angel?" Cordelia asked. "That guy took off like a bat out of hell." "Yeah, when I turned towards him and put my vampire face on he almost had a heart attack." It took everything he had in him to keep the pain out of his voice. Once again though he forgot about the link he had with Cordelia. He felt it when she had to pee, and her cravings and every time she had morning sickness when she was carrying Kathleen. What Cordelia felt though when Angel was hurt was just a sense of being uncomfortable like something was wrong but she didn't know what. Right now she didn't think anything of the discomfort she was feeling because the boys were very active right then when she felt the first stab of pain.

"Owe! You little monsters you hurt Mommy." Cordelia talked to her stomach. "What's the matter are they kicking you?" Fred smiled as she asked. She remembered how active her boys were during the last few months. "Yes, at least I think it was one of them that kicked me in the front. It must be getting crowded in there."

Angel suddenly realized that she was feeling his pain. He tried to sleep and hoped that the blood flow would soon stop. They only had two hours more to go before they would be home and he told himself he could make it. Angel leaned his head against the window and passed out. The girls were taking a nap so Wesley didn't think anything of Angels sleeping.

It was 8 o'clock when he finally pulled up to the back of the Hotel. "Alright everyone we're home." He heard Cordelia and Fred starting to wake up and stretch. Wesley pressed the buttons to open both sliding doors on the van. He looked at Angel and saw that he still hadn't woke up. After helping the girls out he went over to the passenger side and knocked on the window to wake Angel up but didn't get any response. Now he knew something was wrong. When Wesley opened the door Angel fell out and into his arms. He saw the blood then that was all over Angel's clothes and had fallen onto the seat. Angel opened his eyes when Wesley caught him. He turned his head and started to vomit blood that had bled into his stomach from the knife wound. The wound, on the surface, had stopped bleeding though and had started to heal. Now that he was awake the blood that had gone into his stomach was irritating it and it had only one way that it could go to empty itself quickly.

Wesley held Angel until he was done then laid him down on the pavement and went inside to get help. Only Connie and Joaquin were downstairs. "Joaquin come and help me. Angel has been hurt." Joaquin put the dish towel down that he was using to dry the frying pan Connie had washed and he ran outside to help.

Joaquin was too short to help carry Angel though so he ran in to get Gunn. In a few minutes everyone was coming outside to help with him. Cordelia had gone upstairs to see Kathleen so she didn't hear any of the commotion downstairs. Kathleen was so happy to see her mother that she was literally screaming with joy. Fred came in the door and calmly asked Cordelia to come downstairs. She told the children though to stay in there room for now while they unpacked everything. Connie had come in and told them to start getting ready for bed and to put there toys away. Dr. Martin had been helping Giles all day at his store and had gone to bed early so no one bothered her. Mike and Hunter had gone to his home for the night.

Cordelia and Fred followed the men into the clinic. Wesley was removing Angels jacket and shirt. Cordelia was the one that used to take care of Angel so she went to his side. Both women had seen Dr. Martin work so many times that they knew what to do. While Cordelia checked the wound Fred checked his blood pressure. She found it to be very low even though his heart was beating fast.

Cordelia had found the upper layers of the wound had already healed so she just busied herself on cleaning him up. Fred had checked the refrigerator for fresh blood and found two bags of O Positive. She grabbed one of the bags and everything else that she needed to start replacing the blood he lost. Cordelia had gone upstairs to clean up and bring Angel a clean pair of shorts and his robe. When she came back down Angel had awakened and was talking to Fred.

Angel was explaining to Fred why he hadn't said anything to anyone when he was stabbed. "I didn't see any purpose in getting Cordelia upset when she couldn't do anything yet. I guess I passed out as I tried to sleep."

Cordelia hit his shoulder. "Don't you ever do that again Angel. Don't you realize that you broadcast what you're feeling? What I thought were the boys kicking me inside was apparently you feeling the pain from the knife wound." "I'm sorry Cordy, I didn't know. Have you been feeling everything, even when I was crucified?" "No, it didn't start until sometime after we were married." She gave him a kiss then looked up at the bag of blood. Fred looked at it also and saw that it was almost empty so she checked his blood pressure again and found it to be closer to normal for Angel.

"We'll let this bag empty Cordelia then he can get up and the guys can help him go to bed." Fred was looking at Angels stomach and where the knife went in. She noticed a slight discoloration of the skin. She put the palm of her hand on his stomach and pressed down a little. When she did Angel let out a yell. "What are you trying to do, push my guts out?" "Oh be quiet you big baby." Fred said. She went over to the phone on her desk and called Dr. Martin.

"Hello, Dr. Martin I'm sorry to wake you but could you come down to the clinic. Angel had a little run in with a guy that wanted to rob us and got stuck with a knife. The wound seems to be healed on the outside but I felt his abdomen and it felt hard and it hurt him when I pressed on it. I think he is still bleeding inside. Okay I'll see you in a few minutes." She hung up and went back to Angel and Cordelia.

"Angel I called Dr. Martin because I think your still bleeding inside. That's why it hurt so much when I pressed on your abdomen. She told me to give you a shot to make you sleep. It should only take a few minutes to fix the problem." In response to Fred's information Angel sat up and turned to the side. Get me a pail Cordy I'm going to be sick." Cordelia gave him a pail just in time. It was all blood. Dr. Martin came in right after he emptied his stomach.

Cordelia showed Dr. Martin the content of the pail. "Well welcome back son. I see you couldn't end your little vacation without getting into trouble." Dr. Martin was looking down at Angel. She grabbed a paper towel and wiped the blood from his mouth. "Angel did you have a seizure yet?" "No I didn't." Angel said. "Okay, is your stomach starting to hurt again?" "Yeah, I think it's starting to fill up with blood again." "Okay then apparently Angelus is unable to make the knife wound heal all of the way. Fred and Cordelia are going to help me fix you up okay?" "Okay, can you give me that pail again?" Dr. Martin gave him the pail again and he promptly emptied his stomach into it again."

It only took Dr. Martin about 30 minutes to close up the wound in Angel's stomach. Gunn and Wesley helped him to get to his own bed when she was done. During the night he had, what Dr. Martin was now calling, his healing seizure. The next morning he was able to get up and have breakfast with everyone else.

They were all talking about their time in Vegas and how much money they had all won, especially Angel. "Your not actually going to let him ride that, are you Cordelia?" Fred said. "What do you mean is she going to 'let me' ride it. I am the head of this family and if I want to keep my motorcycle and ride it whenever I chose to I will do it." Everyone else could see the smile on his face but Kathleen didn't. She thought he was serious, so she hit the table with her spoon and said "No you're not Daddy. Mommy said you can't because you would probably go out and get hurt. You don't want to do that do you Daddy?" "No baby I don't because then I wouldn't get to see you grow up."

Angel saw the smile on Cordelia's face. "Are you done with your breakfast Cordelia?" "Uh, yes I think so." She answered with a last sip of her coffee.

"Good because I have something to discuss with you." Angel put Kathleen down since she was done with her breakfast. "Go and play with Junior Kathleen."

Angel sat back down and just look at his wife. "You have got to stop this Cordelia." "Stop what?" She asked innocently. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." "Well Mom is the one that gave me the idea to use Kathleen." Angel looked at the other end of the table. Dr. Martin looked at the ceiling as though all of a sudden she found the pattern on it very interesting.

"Giles will you please do something about your wife." Angel asked. "Yes I think I will have a discussion with her about my policy of non interference." Giles got up and pulled his wife's chair out then took her hand and pulled her up. "Come dear let's have that discussion now." Giles pulled Dr. Martin to the elevator. All they heard from her was a soft reply of "Yes Dear."

"Wesley are you going to be leaving tonight or tomorrow to see Chambeau?" "We'll leave this afternoon as soon as Connor gets back from school." "Okay then come dear lets go and have that discussion. "As Angel pulled Cordelia's chair away from the table and grabbed her hand they heard the same thing from her as they did from Dr. Martin. "Yes Dear."

As Angel was pulling Cordelia behind him he heard the phone in the Lobby ring and went to answer it without letting go of Cordelia's hand.

"Angel Investigations, may I help you?" "Yes Tom. Okay, she's right here, just a minute." Angel looked sad. "What's the matter?" Cordelia asked. "I'll tell you in a second." Angel put the phone on hold then he stepped to the outside of his office and looked at the dinning room table. "Lou I have a call for you." Lou came running to the phone. "Who is it?" "It's your brother Tom."

When Lou took the phone Angel walked out of his office with Cordelia in tow.

"It's Tom Chambeau; he said his father died last night."

TBC…………………………………………………………………….


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Angel and Cordelia stood outside of the door while Lou was talking to her brother on the phone. They could hear her crying. When she hung up the phone Cordelia went to her. She held her as she cried. "My Daddy is dead Cordelia, my Daddy is dead and I'll never see him again. I don't even have any pictures of him that I can show to my children so they can know what their Grandfather looked like." Angel walked over to the door and Lou let go of Cordelia and went to him. They spent the next hour just letting her cry and tell them all about her life with her brother and father.

"Lou did you tell your brother to just stay at the motel and that we would be their as soon as we could?" Angel asked her. "Yes he said that he is at the motel and he would wait for us." "Okay then, why don't you go and pack." Angel told her. "I have some things that I'm washing. When there done then I'll pack." "Why don't you concentrate on that then and I'll give Connor a call to see if he can come home early. As soon as he comes home and can pack well leave." Angel gave her a kiss on her forehead then let her go. Cordelia went to Connie and told her to pack enough food for 3 days for 4 people and Toby. Angel went to tell everyone else what had happened.

"Lou just had a call from her brother that their father died. I'll be going with you Wesley. Do you happen to know if Connor was going to be having a test today because I would like to call him and ask him to come home early so we could leave as soon as possible?" "Yes he is so I wouldn't do that if I were you. Professors have a dim view of such interruptions." Wesley answered. "I can call and tell the professor to tell Connor to call home as soon as he is done with the test." "Good, I guess I better go and get some more dry ice. Do you happen to have the phone number of the motel in the town? Well need to make reservations for the next 2 nights. We shouldn't need anymore time then that to bring him home or do you have business to take care of there that will take longer?" "I don't know but just in case I think Connor better bring his van just in case he has to come back before we can. You know Angel we have to come up with a story for his death. There is a paper trail on him now that has to be satisfied in order for Lou and Tom to inherit all of his money. I have control of all of his estate as I do you but we still need a lot of legal papers to take care of plus we have to talk to Tom now before we leave. We have to come up with an excuse for not having a body."

"Yeah that's right. Well let's call him now because I have an idea as to how we can take care of the problem of not having a body." Angel followed Wesley into his office so they could both talk to Tom.

"Hi Tom, this is Wesley. I'm sorry about your father but we have a serious problem we have to take care of. Angel is here with me. I am going to put you on a speaker so we can both talk to you and hear you at the same time okay?" "Okay Mr. Price." "Tom this is Angel. How did your father die?" Tom was quiet for awhile.

We were hunting by this steep cliff that is about a mile from the cabin. Dad hadn't had any blood to drink since the day before and he was a little weak. When Lou was with us we would usually go hunting as wolves. Without her though, our usual tactics of running down a prey didn't work very well so we haven't had much luck. Don't tell her that though she'll feel that it was her fault that he died. Anyway there are a bunch of large boulders with only about 15 feet between them and the cliff. As we approached these boulders we could smell a cougar but we couldn't tell where it was. We also could smell a deer nearby and we could hear it breathing hard. Dad said it wasn't quite dead yet and he could smell a lot of blood coming from just around the boulders. He was so hungry that he didn't hear the cougar above us. When he did it was too late, the cougar had jumped us as we were heading for the deer. Dad pushed me out of the way and the cougar and Dad fell over the cliff. That was three days ago. I had to change into a wolf to get down to the bottom of the cliff. I found my Dads backpack and rifle right by a dead tree that had a branch sticking up straight. I figured that he had landed on it because I couldn't find any blood to show that he was still alive. I did smell him all over the area though which I presumed was his ashes. I left his backpack and his rifle there and left. I was pretty sure that we would have to notify the police."

"Okay Tom you did just what you should. We should be there sometime late tonight. Is there very many people staying at the motel?" Angel asked. "No I think I'm the only one here right now." "Okay we are going to make some reservations for ourselves. Do you have enough money with you to pay for the room and eat?" "Yeah I have my ATM card and I had a couple hundred dollars at the cabin." "Okay Tom like I said we'll be there late tonight." Wesley hung up the phone then.

"What did you have in mind for explaining Chambeaus' death?" Wesley asked. "I was thinking that we'll make it look like wolves took off with the father's body. Tom has made a good start of it by not walking as a man over to where his father's body landed. When we get there Connor, Lou, Tom and I will go to the area and leave footprints all over and tear up his backpack. Well tell the police that Tom couldn't get down off of the cliff without help. Most likely well find either all of the cougars body or bits and pieces of it near the tree which will help to collaborate his story. Why don't you call the motel now and then the school? I'm going to go and get some dry ice then I'll be right back. We can use some of Cordelia's winnings from Vegas so that we don't have to go to the bank." Angel left then and Wesley called the motel again to make reservations.

Wesley was able to talk to someone at Connors school and they then let his professor know about Daniel D'Chambeau's death. As soon as the test he was taking was over the professor gave him the news and Connor returned home.

As soon as he came through the back doors he ran up to Lou's room. He stopped and took a deep breath so he could be calm when he saw Lou. Connor knocked at the door. Lou like everyone else that was at least half Vampire could smell the person on the other side of the door. Connor had barely touched the door when it flew open and Lou threw herself into Connor's arms. She started crying again as he walked her back into her room and sat down on her couch. There wasn't much he could do but just hold her and let her cry. Toby had followed Connor into her room and he could sense her sadness. In his own way he tried to comfort Lou by licking her tears away. She let go of Connor and hugged Toby.

Lou let go of Toby and looked at Connor. "I guess I've cried enough for now. I better save at least some of my tears for when I see Tom." She smiled at Connor and wiped her tears away and blew her nose. "You better go and pack now and I have to finish mine." Connor hugged her once more and gave her a kiss. He meant for it only to be a quick kiss and then leave but he felt himself prolonging it. "I love you Lou D'Chambeau. When you graduate from High School I will take you for my wife and we will be together until death we two shall part for awhile. I am sure God already has plans for Tom, he just doesn't know it yet." He let her go then and left to pack his things.

By 2 p.m. they were on the road. Connor drove his Van along with Lou and Toby. Wesley and Angel rode in his SUV. While Wesley had his vehicle in the garage for regular maintenance recently he had them darken the windows all around except for the front. This allowed Angel to sit in the back and out of the Sun Light. It was a good 8 hours drive to the town that the Chambeau's lived by so Angel took the opportunity to take a nap. When he woke up again they were pulling into a gas station to fill up. Everyone got out and stretched their legs and use the facilities.

When everyone came out Angel and Toby were waiting at Connors van. "Would you like me to drive for awhile Connor? I've been sleeping since we left L.A. so I'm fresh." "Why don't we find a place to eat because I am starving then we can switch okay?" "Okay that sounds good to me. How are you doing Lou?" "I'm doing okay, I was sleeping most of the time we were traveling also. I wish Connor would let me drive but he's afraid I'll scratch up his poor precious van." "Well you did just get your learners permit and we are out in unfamiliar territory." Connor said. He called Toby to get into the van again then pushed Lou into the passenger side of the van. They all loaded up then and got onto the road again. In another hour they saw signs for a Bob's Big Boy next to the highway so they continued until they came to the exit.

"Man am I hungry." Connor said as he rubbed his stomach and put his arm around Lou. "You're always hungry." "Yeah but I'm a growing boy, besides I use up a lot of energy running circles around these old guys over here." Wesley and Angel just looked at each other. "I would say something but then I don't want to make him look bad in front of Lou." Angel said with a smile. They all walked into the restaurant and took a table. Toby hadn't been fed yet so Connor ordered a rare steak for him. He explained to the waitress that it was for his dog so he would like it to be given to him at the end of their meal. They all gave the waitress their orders then. Connor of course ordered a large medium rare steak with a baked potato and salad along with dinner rolls. After he put that away he ordered a slice of blue berry pie. They all just stared at him. "Where does he put it?" Wesley asked. Lou lifted up Connor's shirt and showed them a bulge where his stomach was. "This is where it is now. In a few hours it will be gone. Dr. Martin said that he is just one of those lucky people that can eat until it's coming out of their ears and never gain a pound." She had a disgusted look on her face.

"What's the problem? Why are you guys so disgusted?" "Because the rest of us have to watch what we eat and exercise in order to keep in shape, where as you eat whatever and as much as you want and never gain an ounce."

"That's okay Lou when you start having my grandchildren you can make him go on a diet like Cordelia makes me do after she delivers. Since I feel her cravings all of the time I eat almost as much as she does which means I have to lose weight also. That reminds me I have to stop and get some Hershey chocolate bars." Angel said as he got up to pay the bill. The waitress brought over the steak for Toby then everyone got up to leave. Connor let Toby out and poured some water into a bowl and gave him his steak.

Everyone stood by Connor's van as they watched Toby enjoy his steak. The waitress had given Connor a bag full of steak bones that Toby could enjoy when they were at the motel. When Toby was done Connor took him over to the side where there were plenty of trees for him to inspect and leave his mark. When he was done tagging a dozen or so trees he came back to Connor and sat in front of him. "Are we all done?" Connor asked him and Toby wagged his tail and looked at him as though to say 'Yes that was fun leaving my calling card on all of those trees. Now what do we do?' "Okay let's go."

They walked back to the van and Connor threw his keys to his father. "Come on Lou I'll let you drive my SUV." Wesley said as he threw the keys to her. She squealed in excitement then turned around and stuck her tongue out at Connor. So Connor walked over to Wesley and solemnly put one hand on his shoulder and said 'Goodbye Wesley it was nice knowing you'. "Ha, ha, very funny." Lou said. Everyone loaded up and they took off. Wesley told Lou to follow behind Angel as they got back onto the highway.

Several hours later they pulled into the Motel where Tom was. Wesley noticed that Lou was already starting to cry in anticipation of seeing her brother. Angel went in to register them. When he came back he handed out a key to Wesley and Lou. "Where is mine?" Connor asked. "You and I have to share a room. The one Wesley reserved for you is having plumbing problems and the rest of the rooms were reserved for a hunting party that's in town." "Oh no! Cordelia says you snore now." Connor said. Angel grabbed him by the neck and made out like he was punching his lights out.

"Here Connor you can have my room. Angel and I have shared sleeping quarters many times and I'm used to his snoring." Wesley gave him his card key. "Thanks Wesley you're a life saver." They got back into the vehicles and drove over to their rooms. Lou parked in front of her room. Angel's and Wesley's room was 2 doors down from hers and Connors was on the other side of Angels. "Where is Tom's room Wesley?" Lou asked. "It's on the other side of your room." They all walked over to Tom's room and Lou raised her hand to knock on the door but Tom was already opening it. When they saw each other they both hugged and cried. After a minute Tom let his sister go and stood back so that they could all come in.

They spent the next hour listening to Tom tell his story again as to what happened and how their father had died.

"Is the cliff very far from here Tom?" Angel asked. "No it's maybe an hours walk from here."

"Okay everyone we have to provide a reason for why there is no body to recover. The four of us are going to change to wolves, go up to where the cliff is and then down to where your father fell. We will then proceed to provide wolf tracks and tear at your fathers back pack. This will make it look like wolves took off with your father's body. Tom can you tell if it rained up there since your father went down?" "Yes it rained pretty hard just yesterday." Tom answered. "That's good because then we have a plausible reason for not seeing any blood around. I know we're tired right now but we have to get this done tonight so that we can notify the police tomorrow. Let's put our luggage into our rooms then come back here. Lou you can change while you're in your room. Give your key to Wesley so he can let you out. Tom and Connor can come over to our room and well change their. Then Wesley will let us out and then we'll leave. We should be back before daylight Wesley. We can get some sleep then Wesley, Tom and I will go to the Sheriff and let them know about the accident. We can tell them that we need their help to recover your fathers body Tom." They all left then to put their things in their rooms. Thirty minutes later Wesley went over to Lou's room and knocked on the door. "Lou, are you ready?" In response he heard a whimper so he opened the door and let her out then they went to his room where the others were waiting. Wesley looked around to make sure no one was up and around the parking lot then he opened the door and 3 wolves came out and greeted Lou then ran off to the forest with Tom in the lead.

While they were gone Wesley used the opportunity to get some sleep. At 5:30 he heard scratching at the door. When he opened the door three wolves and Toby walked in. One more wolf was waiting outside for him. "Come on Lou and I'll let you in your room." When Wesley got back to his room Angel, Tom, and Connor had already changed back to their human form. Tom and Connor pulled their pants on and went to their own rooms. Everyone was tired and all they wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed.

"How did everything go?" Wesley asked Angel when he came out of the shower. "Good, we left lots of tracks around the tree and tore Daniel's backpack up. We left the rifle where it was and made tracks leading away from the tree and down the canyon. I had Tom go back to his cabin and bring some clothes back with him along with a pair of boots. Luckily Daniel had put on clean clothes before they left to go hunting and his old clothes hadn't been washed yet. I told Tom to cut himself and spread the blood all over the clothes then we tore them up." Angel sat down for a minute. "You know Wesley I hated having to use Tom and Lou like that but I needed enough tracks to make it look like a pack of wolves had been there. I could smell a bear in the area and I knew he was following the smell of blood. Having bear tracks around the site will make it look even better. I'm going to try and get some sleep now. Good night." Angel crawled into bed and was out in seconds. Wesley noticed that he didn't even snore which meant he went into a deep sleep right away.

Later in the day after everyone had their breakfast they all went to the local sheriff and reported Daniel D'Chambeau's death and asked for assistance in retrieving his body. While Angel went with Tom, Connor and the sheriff, Lou went with Wesley to the bank to take care of her fathers accounts. He explained that Tom was going to come and live with him in Los Angeles so all money was to be transferred to Lou's account. The manager at the bank recognized Wesley from when he came to open the accounts for Chambeau. He had also spoken with him on the phone on a number of occasions. The manager usually handled anything to do with Chambeau because he had a very large account.

Angel, Connor and Tom came back with the Sheriff to let Lou know that they couldn't find her fathers body and that it looked like animals had taken it. Lou gave the expected response. Angel thanked the Sheriff for all of his help and let him know that he would be taking Tom home with him since he already had legal guardianship over Lou. Everyone in town knew about the Chambeau family since Tom had done as Wesley instructed and talked to a lot of people whenever he came into town for supplies. They were all sorry to see him go since a lot of people found him to be a very polite and helpful young man. Whenever he was in town he would go out of his way to help people, especially the elderly. When the Sheriff explained all of this to Angel he thought that Tom would fit in perfectly with the family.

The next day the Sheriff used his personnel jeep to take Tom to his cabin that he had shared with his father for so long. Lou went with them also so she could gather anything that she had left there. It took a little longer then they expected since Tom and Lou kept on remembering the times that they had, had up here. When they finally came back Connor came out to greet them. He had expected Lou to still be crying and was surprised to see her smiling.

"Why are you smiling?" Connor asked her as he held her. She pulled away and she looked at her brother then Connor and said "While we were coming back down from our cabin I suddenly remembered what Grandma told me before we left." "And what was that?" Connor asked. "She said that we should remember all of the good times we had while we were together and be thankful for them. She also said that our father will always walk these mountains in our memories and because of that he will never die." She turned then and gave her brother a kiss on his cheek. She thanked the Sheriff for all of his help then she picked up her things and went to her room.

The Sheriff looked to Connor. "I thought they didn't have any other relatives left?" "Oh you mean Grandma. Actually she's my grandmother and Lou just started calling her grandma since I do." "I don't mean to pry into your private lives but I noticed that you two seem to be very close." The Sheriff asked.

Connor was a little embarrassed, but he looked straight at the Sheriff and said "That young girl is going to be my wife Sheriff when I finish collage and she finishes high school which should happen at the same time. You see I'm taking courses so that I can go into police work with the L.A. police for awhile then take over my fathers business which is Angel Investigation and Lou will be by my side." Connor looked at Tom and saw him standing with his mouth open. "I take it this is the first time that Tom here has heard of this." The Sheriff said when he saw the look on Tom's face. "Well, tell Mr. Price that he can come by my office before you leave tomorrow and I'll have the death certificate for him." He shook Connor and Tom's hand then got back in his jeep and left. Connor picked up two of the boxes that they had brought back with them and helped Tom take them into his room. "I'll help you take these in my future brother in law. If you want to talk we'll talk if not then I will be going to bed since we have to get up early tomorrow to go to church then leave after we have breakfast." Tom was emotionally tired also so Connor just left the boxes in his room and then went back to his own room. Toby had been in the back of the Motel all of this time chasing rabbits but he quickly returned when he heard Connor whistle for him.

The next day they all went to church. Tom had never been to church and their father hadn't talked about God. Everything he knew about God and his Son was from the family Bible that his father had. He never read it but he had kept it to record his marriage to their mother and their birth and then their mother's death. At first when he started to teach his children how to read and write he used the family Bible but later he went into town and bought books that were more age appropriate. Both Tom and Lou had read the Bible from beginning to end because for a long time it was the only other book in their home. To Lou and Tom the Bible was just a book that they learned to read from. They had no one to help them to understand that the Bible was a true life story.

When they first went into the church Tom was holding Lou's hand. Whatever Angel, Connor and Wesley did Lou and Tom copied. Angel led them up to the front of the church then told them to wait there and he would be right back. He then went to the back and talked to the priest. Just before Mass started Angel rejoined them.

During the Mass Lou and Tom heard their fathers name spoken by the priest. He said that the Mass was being offered for the soul of Daniel Francois D'Chambeau who died in an accident several days ago. When he said this tears started falling down Lou's face and they didn't stop until the Mass was over. As they exited the church Lou thanked Angel for having the Mass offered for her father.

After living at the hotel for a month and going to church every Sunday Lou had gone to Connor and asked him about God. Connor sent her to his Grandmother.

"Angel, do you think that my Mother and Father are in heaven?" Lou asked softly as they exited the church and returned to their vehicles.

Angel stopped, turned and put his hands on Tom and Lou's shoulder. "I honestly don't know Lou and Tom. I know that you must have been told by Grandma how I do what I do because I am fighting for my redemption. I suffer a lot because I sinned so greatly before I was turned and for a while after. I cannot say for sure what has happened to your father and mother because I didn't know your mother at all, except for what little your father told me about her, but I did know a little about your father and he told me that he never killed anyone in order to have the blood he needed to survive. Instead he lived alone in the mountains and killed animals for their blood. Do you understand about how you and Tom were born?" He thought about what he said then thought he better explain himself further.

"What I mean is do you understand that it is supposed to be impossible for two Vampires to have children?" "Yes, Daddy said that as far as he knew it should have been impossible for Mother and him to have conceived and for our mother to carry us to term and give birth. He said that normally mother's body was very cold like his was but while she was pregnant with us she was warm. He thought that, that is why she was so sick after we were born. Her body started to get cold almost from the time that we were born." Angel looked at Wesley as though to say 'Very interesting'.

"What I am trying to get at Lou and Tom is that God brought your father and mother together. Just as he brought Connors mother and I together and we had him. Because I believe that God is somehow controlling things to a certain degree I believe that he would not have chosen two bad people to produce you and Tom. So to answer your question, yes, I think it is quiet possible that your mother and father are or will eventually be admitted into heaven." Let's go and have breakfast now and then we have to stop at the Sheriffs office and pick up your fathers death certificate."

Of course Lou and her brother rode with Connor in his van. Wesley was driving his SUV and had looked over at the van loaded with what he thought of in his mind as the 'younguns'. "You know Angel I was just thinking that in that Van is the next generation of Angel Investigations. It won't be long now before we will have to start letting them go on most of Cordelia's vision assignments." "I don't know about you Wesley but I for one will be happy to turn it over to them. I've been thinking Wesley that as soon as it's possible I want you to stop going on any of the missions." "Why? Is it because I'm the one that always gets shot? I know I don't have as much experience in fighting as you and Gunn but I think that I can hold my own." Angel could tell that he hit a raw nerve with Wesley.

"I'm sorry Wesley, I should have explained my reasons for saying that. I want you to stop going on the missions because you have become too important to Angel Investigations and the family for me to risk your life. If we were to lose you we would have a hard time recovering. I just depend on you too much to risk loosing you. Besides it just isn't necessary for you to continue fighting when we have so many younger people here. As soon as Connor can take over I'll no longer go on missions. You and I deserve to be able to spend as much time as we can with Fred and Cordelia. I had a lot of fun with you guys when we went to Vegas. Except for that last day I was able to forget, for the first time, that I am a Vampire. I was a regular guy that was on a 3 day vacation with his wife and friends." Wesley felt like a worm. No, lower than a worm, he felt like the lowest form of a one celled life. 'I'm an amoeba', he thought to himself. After a few minutes of silence he said "Well, as long as you put it that way I guess I'll comply with your wishes." Angel just looked at him. Wesley smiled back at him and they both cracked up.

Wesley followed Connor into the Sheriffs office parking lot then he went in with Tom while the rest waited outside. The Sheriff gave Wesley the death certificate and expressed his condolences to Tom. "We're going to miss you Tom. Especially Mrs. Baker at the store, she was telling me how many times you went out of your way to help her do things that she could no longer do by herself. I don't think that there is a person around here that doesn't have something good to say about you." "Thank you for telling me this. Here is a map that shows where we have our summer and winter homes. Wesley here helped my dad to buy the land that their on. When we were old enough Lou and I helped our father to build our winter home, but he built the summer home by himself without power tools. There not big places but they were the homes where Lou and I grew up. There's no power in them and the only lights are by oil or candle. But there is a wood stove and running water in the house. Lou and I wanted to give these keys to the town so that they can use them whenever they want to. We discussed just giving the homes to the town but Wesley and Angel convinced us that we may not want to see them now because they remind us that our parents are dead, but later on we may want to come and live here when we get to old to work. By then the memories that are there will be precious to us. In return for their use all we ask is that nothing be changed except where repairs are needed." "Thank you Tom. Any time you want to go home for awhile just notify me and well make sure no one is there and they are clean."

Tom put out his hand again to say goodbye but the Sheriff hugged him. "Goodbye son. Take care of yourself and your sister. Make sure you keep in touch. Just send the letters to me and I'll post them outside." The Sheriff shook Wesley's hand then they left.

Tom got in Connor's van and they took off. Wesley and Angel followed. Wesley told Angel what had happened in the Sheriff's office. They were quiet for a long time after they left the town.

It was quiet as they were going along. All of a sudden Angel said 'Wesley the first place that you come to that has ice cream you have to stop. All of a sudden I am having a terrible craving for a chocolate Sunday with a mound of whip cream and chocolate syrup running down its sides." Wesley looked at him at first as though he were crazy, then he just said "Cordelia?" "Cordelia." Angel answered. Angel was keeping a close eye on all of the signs announcing what was ahead. He finally spotted a sign for a Bob's Big Boy. "There Wesley, there's a restaurant up ahead. Get ahead of Connor so he'll know to follow us." Wesley was laughing at Angel because he was acting like a little kid that was going to his favorite ice cream place. He sped up and Angel yelled at Connor to follow them.

When Wesley finally pulled into the parking lot Angel jumped out and ran into the restaurant without waiting for the rest. Before the others even opened the restaurant door Angel had ordered his Chocolate Sunday. The rest joined him at the large booth. It hadn't been that long since they had, had breakfast so Wesley and Connor just ordered coffee while Lou and Tom ordered cokes. The waitress came over with the biggest Ice Cream Sunday that any of them had ever seen and put it in front of Angel along with 5 spoons. "Dig in everyone because I can't possibly eat this by myself. Cordelia's cravings often cause my eyes to grow bigger than my stomach." When Angel took his first bite he felt like he did when he hadn't had any blood in a long time and finally was able to have some. He just let the chocolate syrup, whip cream and ice cream melt in his mouth. Lou and Tom watched him and started laughing. Wesley and Connor were used to Cordelia's crazy cravings. The rest then picked up their spoons and they all dug in. Even with all of them helping they couldn't finish it off. After Angel put away half of it by himself he finally put his spoon down. He was feeling pretty good as he paid the bill and left the waitress a big tip. They all followed him out the door and to the vehicles.

Connor let Toby take care of his business again and run around a little. The lot in back of the restaurant was cleared dirt and was used by truckers. Connor brought Toby's Frisbee with him and played with him for awhile. Angel went to take a nap in the back of Wesley's SUV. After awhile they got back on the road and when they were just 100 miles from L.A. Angel sat up and told Wesley to pull over. "Wesley hurry up and pull over, I'm going to be sick." Wesley honked his horn at Connor and pulled over as soon as it was safe. Connor saw him and pulled over then backed up. They stopped just in time to see Angel jump out and run to a tree. They could see him leaning against the tree and vomiting the contents of his stomach. Wesley followed him and stood by in case he needed him. After ten minutes or so Angel finally straightened up and came back to the vehicles. He didn't say anything he just crawled into the back of Connors van and onto the bed in the back. Tom joined Wesley in his SUV and they all took off again. Lou found some large plastic cups in the supplies Connie had fixed for them. She filled one with water and left the other one empty.

"Here Angel take some water into your mouth and clean it out then spit it into this cup." Angel did as she said. When he was done he just lay down and said "Thank you." She wiped his face with a cold towel then he went back to sleep. Lou emptied the contents of the cups out the window then threw them in the trash bag. When she was done tending to Angel she went and sat up front with Connor. Toby got up on the bed with Angel and licked his face then lay down beside him. When they pulled into the back of the hotel it was 11 p.m. and Angel was just waking up. As Connor walked his father in Dr. Martin was just coming out of the kitchen. She took one look at him then she turned to Connor. "Double chocolate Sunday with plenty of whipped cream and chocolate syrup?" "Right on the button." Connor said. "Went down okay, but it only paid him a visit." Connor said with a smile. "Well your wife is upstairs in the same condition." Dr. Martin told Angel. Connor helped his father to climb the stairs and helped him undress then held the covers up while Angel just more or less fell into the bed. Dr. Martin came in with something for their stomachs. After Angel and Cordelia drank the contents they went to sleep. Dr. Martin and Connor turned the lights off and closed the door.

Lou introduced Dr. Martin to her brother Tom. Dr. Martin went to Tom and hugged him. "I'm sorry for your loss Tom. I'm Connors grandmother. You can call me Grandma if you want. Lou we fixed up the room next to yours today. Why don't you show him the room and where everything is along with the kitchen. If you are hungry Lou can make you a sandwich if you like. This is your home now Tom, feel free to come and go as you please. Tomorrow morning well all talk. Let him know about the children we have in the house Lou just in case he hears crying or wakes up to see two pairs of little eyes staring at him. Goodnight everyone." Dr. Martin left the young people to either go to bed or get something to eat.

"I'm going to leave you in Lou's hands Tom. I'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast then I have a 10 o'clock class." He gave Lou a kiss on her cheek then left. Toby licked her hand then followed Connor to bed. Lou and Tom sat up most of the night talking. He had lots of questions about Angel and everyone at Angel Investigation. He was most curious though about the exchange between Connor and Dr. Martin about Angel.

"From what Connor has told me, Angel has some kind of link with his wife Cordelia. He can feel everything that she feels when she's pregnant. What happened this afternoon was a direct cause of that link. Connor said that Angel was craving that chocolate Sunday because Cordelia was craving it." "Why was she craving a chocolate Sunday?" "Because she's pregnant." "What does that have to do with her craving chocolate?" Lou looked at her brother and realized that their father had never talked to him about woman and what makes them tick.

"Tom I think that you should save those types of questions until you speak to Grandma. She's a doctor and she can explain these things to you much better then I can. Between Cordelia and Grandma I've learned a lot about my own body and a mans body. They've taught me all about what happens between a man and a woman when they have what they call sex. These were all things that I guess Daddy was too embarrassed to talk to us about. Why don't I show you to your room and show you how everything works."

Lou took her brother next door to his own room. "This is all mine?" "Yup, tomorrow well bring up some food to put in the refrigerator." Lou opened the door of the refrigerator. "Oh, look they already stocked your refrigerator with cokes, eggs, everything you need to make a sandwich. Wasn't that nice of them? Let me show you how to operate the microwave." Lou went through everything showing him how to operate the appliances, the TV, and where all of the cleaning supplies were. "I'm going to bed now if you should need me just knock on my door." Lou hugged her brother and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I'm happy you're here. I'm sad that it had to happen because Daddy died but I'm happy that you're here. I don't feel so alone now. I like everyone here but it's just different when you have family with you also. Good night." She let him go then and returned to her room.

The first thing Tom did in his new home was take a shower. At the cabin they bathed by the stove with a pail full of warm water that they heated on the stove. When Lou was with them they would bring in a large round pail that they did the wash in. She would heat up the water then the men would clear out so she could at least sit in the large pail and bathe. She would do this only once a week except for when she was on her period. Then she bathed every day. Otherwise she would just heat up some water and take it into her room.

Tom felt like he was in seventh heaven. He stayed in the shower until he started getting sleepy then he finally went to bed. He slept better then he had at the motel. Except for eating once a day from his supply of food that he had brought with him from the cabin and calling Lou, he didn't do anything but think of what happened to his father. The whole scene played over and over again in his mind and each night he would fall asleep from exhaustion. He didn't bother to even bathe until he knew that he would finally be seeing his sister.

The next morning Lou came knocking at his door. When she didn't get a reply she opened the door and went to the bed. "Tom wake up." Lou said softly. When she didn't get a response she went to the freezer and pulled out an ice cube. As quietly as she could she walked over to the bed and put the ice cube on his neck. As soon as it started to melt he jumped up. Lou had seen Tom's naked body many times before since she did all of the doctoring for both her Father and brother. "What did you put on my neck?" Lou showed him the ice cube. "You brat." He jumped her and started tickling her until she was crying.

Connor heard all of the noise on the 3rd floor and ran upstairs. He leapt up to the 2nd floor balcony then to the 3rd. He ran to Tom's room and found Tom and Lou on the floor wrestling. "If you two are done, why don't you get dressed Tom?" Connor was shocked that Lou was in here playing with her brother while he was naked. "Come on Lou lets go down stairs. Everyone else is downstairs and I would like to introduce you Tom before I have to leave." Lou released her brother and went to Connor. Connor closed the door and pulled Lou downstairs with him.

"Why are you mad?" Lou asked when they were in the elevator. "Because you were in there playing with him when he didn't have anything on." Connor answered. He was so mad that his face was red. While Connor was upstairs Angel and Cordelia had come downstairs. Everyone that was at the table was listening as Connor yelled at Lou and Tom.

"Why Connor Martin, I do believe you are jealous." Lou said as she approached him and pressed her body against his. This caused an immediate response from Connors body. Lou put her arms around his neck and kissed him. Connor couldn't help himself, without thinking he grabbed Lou and slammed her body against the elevator wall with his own. He reached out and pressed the stop button. He started to kiss her and his kisses started to travel down her body. Before he could go too far Lou pushed him away. "Not yet Connor, I just wanted to show you how easy it is for me to turn you on. You will never see me do that with Tom because he is my brother. I love him, but I love him as my brother. We were playing and that was all. I've seen my brothers naked body before when he would get hurt and I would have to take care of him. I took care of both my father and brother. In fact shame on you for even thinking their was anything between us." She put her hand down to his crotch and felt his erection underneath his jeans. Connor almost exploded. She pressed the 1st floor button again and the doors opened.

"I think you had better go to your room and cool down. I am going to get something to eat." Before she walked out of the elevator she pressed the 2nd floor button. The doors closed and Connor sank to the floor. As soon as the doors opened at the 2nd floor he ran to his room. He quickly jumped in the shower and let the cold water run over him. By the time he got dressed again it was time for him to go to his classes. He quickly pulled out another pair of shorts and jeans and got dressed. He ran downstairs and went to the table. He didn't say anything to Lou he just went to the side board and put a couple burritos together. Before leaving he signaled for Angel to come over to him by the door.

Angel went to his son and bent down as Connor whispered to him. "Please talk to Cordelia Angel, if she teaches Lou anymore on how to torture me I am going to have a melt down and you'll have to wait until one of my brothers is old enough to take over from you. When I went upstairs to see why she was screaming I found Lou wrestling on the floor with her naked brother. I know that they are brother and sister but for some reason I felt the weight of a green eyed monster on my back and whispering into my ear. But that's not what got me going though. It was what she did to me when we got into the elevator. I have to go before I have to change again." Connor ran out of the door with Toby because today's class was going to be with him. Angel wiped the smile off his face then went back to the table.

By now Tom had come downstairs and Lou was introducing him to everyone. When everyone moved over on one side Lou brought him a chair then showed him over to the sideboard where the food was. They let Tom and Lou eat before saying anything. They were all talking about the condition Angel was in when he returned.

"That must have been a powerful craving for it to reach you so far away." Fred said. "It must have been because the craving was so bad that he practically jumped out of my SUV before I came to a complete stop. He ran into the restaurant and already had the Sunday ordered by the time we got in. That Sunday was so big and dripping with so much chocolate syrup, whip cream and about a dozen cherries that he couldn't finish it off even with us helping him." Wesley told them all.

"We know how it was because Cordelia was going through the same thing. I happened to come down stairs after my nap and found her in the kitchen with every carton of ice cream that we had. She was making a mountain of a Sunday. She didn't even bother to scoop out some of them. She just cut out the other end of the container and pushed it through. When she sat down before her creation it was taller than her. I called everybody down and we all helped her to eat it. By the time we were done the kids had to be given a bath because they had ice cream and chocolate all over themselves. Fred had even brought down David and Robert to help eat the chocolate." Dr. Martin said.

"Let me guess, later that evening she started getting sick." Wesley said. "When we were about an hour away from home he told me to pull over so he could bring it all back up." Angel just looked at Cordelia. "You and your cravings are going to be the death of me." "That will be funny if the boys are born hating chocolate." Cordelia said as she had her last sip of coffee.

"Angel can you rub my back it's hurting. The boys are getting so heavy that their pulling at my poor spine." Angel got up and started to rub her back. "How's that?" Angel asked as he started to massage her back. "That is perfect. Do you think you could tell the boys not to sit on my bladder so much also? It seems like they have me going to the bathroom every few minutes." Angel got on his knees next to her chair and put his hand on her stomach. Everyone could see the boys move until their heads were under his hand. When he was done they separated their behinds a little so they weren't sitting on their mother's bladder. "Thank you my dear their little butts are now on either side of my bladder."

Angel went back to his chair. "By the way everyone I called Buffy this morning and invited them to come over for the next two weeks. I want them to meet Tom and Lou. Mom I would like for you, Spike, and I to go to New Hampshire for a few days. I want the Sisters to meet Billy. Could you contact Mother Superior and ask her permission for us to pay them a visit?" "I don't think that will be a problem. I'll let you know what she says. What day would you like to go?" "Wednesday if that is okay. Buffy said they would be here tonight and I'm going to need the time to convince Spike to go." "What if he doesn't want to go?" Giles asked out of curiosity.

"He'll go. He's my Childe. He knows what Daddy will do if he refuses or gives me any problems."

"Mr. Martin, what does that mean?" Tom asked.

"Since your father never killed for his blood Tom he never would have turned anyone. But when a Vampire takes blood from a human he can turn that human into a Vampire also by making them feed on their Vampire blood. When that happens the new Vampire is known as their Childe. My demon Angelus only turned a few people into Vampires but one of them was a girl named Drusilla who turned Spike into a Vampire. Now the Vampire that turned you is supposed to teach you how to kill and turn other people into Vampires and such. Drusilla was a little crazy and didn't understand that she was supposed to teach Spike how to survive. So Angelus took over his training and that is why I refer to him as my Childe."

"But I thought that Angelus lost control of your body when you were given your soul back. So technically speaking Spike is Angelus's, the demons, Childe and not Angel, the man's, Childe. Am I or am I not correct in that?" Tom asked.

"You are correct but because both of us reside in the same body I guess you could say we share parenting where Spike is concerned. It's just that I've been taking care of him ever since I was given my soul back." Angel answered. He looked at Wesley and Giles.

"Wesley and Giles, why haven't you two asked me a question like that?" The two men looked at each other and just laughed. "I guess we always understood it as being like you said so we didn't really have to ask we just accepted it that he was your Childe and not strictly Angelus's." Wesley said.

Angel started to get up when he said, "Tom I want you to go with Dr. Martin this morning, she is going to give you a physical and see if you can do the same things as your sister or if you're different in any way. When she's done with you I want you to work with Wesley and Fred. They are going to test you to see what you need help on so that you can go to school along with your sister in the fall. Then tonight, if Connor has the time, you will go with Lou and Connor to go shopping for clothes and anything else you may want or need. Your going to be pretty busy for the next couple of days but then things will calm down to a regular routine. Starting tomorrow you are going to start training with Lou and I in the martial arts. Do you have any idea what we do here Tom?"

"No sir I don't." Tom looked like a scared mouse that had been put into a maze for the first time and he didn't know which way to go or what was expected of him.

Angel proceeded to tell him all about their work and his special connection with St. Michael the Archangel and God.

Tom already had a lot of respect for Angel but that bar had just been raised a few notches.

"I think that you've rendered Tom speechless Angel." Gunn said.

Dr. Martin and Giles stood up also. "I'll see you tonight my dear." Giles gave his wife a kiss then left. "Let's go Tom I promise that it won't hurt too much." Dr. Martin said as she pushed her chair back in and headed for the clinic. Tom followed her obediently.

"And what are you going to be doing today my dear?" Cordelia asked Angel. "I didn't have anything planned, why do you have something planned for me?" "As a matter of fact I do. Connie and I are going grocery shopping and I need Joaquin to bring his truck along with my van. I was wondering if you could take care of Junior and Kathleen?" Cordelia asked with the sweetest smile she could produce.

"I thought your back was hurting." "It is but I'll just get into one of those little motorized chairs they have at the store." "Okay, since you asked so nicely." Angel helped Cordelia up then gave her a kiss. "Be careful now and don't over do it okay?" "Yes, I'll be careful. Tomorrow night after Fred gets done with Tom we are going to go baby clothes shopping. So make sure your time is free to go with us." "I think I can clear my schedule." Angel left then to go to his office and Cordelia went upstairs.

Everyone was busy the rest of the day. Since Connie, Joaquin and Cordelia were gone Lucinda made lunch for everyone. Angel spent most of his day upstairs with Junior and Kathleen. Kathleen even made lunch for her Daddy and Junior. While Angel was busy doing paper work downstairs Kathleen and Junior had come down with her little red wagon and went shopping just like her Mommy was doing.

"Excuse me Mrs. Sanchez but could you help me with shopping for lunch." Lucinda thought they looked so cute standing in front of her holding onto the wagon.

"Well let me see what we have. Here is a loaf of bread, some ham, or would you prefer peanut butter and jelly Miss Kathleen." "I think it would be easier for me to make peanut butter and jelly." Kathleen said in a very thoughtful way. "Okay then here is the jelly and the peanut butter. Would you like potato chips or Fritos?" Kathleen put her finger under her chin and leaned her head to the side. "I think we should have both. Don't you think so my beloved." Kathleen said as she looked at Junior. "I think that sounds like a good idea sweet heart." Lucinda almost busted out laughing. "Do you need anything else? How about milk?" "Yes please." Lucinda poured some milk into a pint sized plastic container. "Is that all you need now?" "I think that is it. Thank you." Kathleen said. Lucinda put everything into a plastic bag along with a spoon to spread the peanut butter and jelly on the bread. For bread she had given them little cocktail sized bread. She watched them as they made their way back to the elevator. She wished she had, had a camera.

Just before lunch was ready she asked Angel if he had been invited to lunch with his daughter. "Yes I forgot to tell you that well be having lunch in the kids room." A few minutes later Lucinda brought Angel a glass of cold blood and a roast beef sandwich. "Here Mr. Martin I think you had better eat this before you go upstairs. Miss. Kathleen and Junior came shopping for lunch a few minutes ago and I don't think peanut butter and jelly on cocktail bread will be filling enough for you." "Thank you Lucinda." He said with a smile.

Once again that afternoon Angel had to sit on a tiny chair that he almost fell over trying to sit on. He thought to himself 'Anything for my little princes'. At the end of the luncheon he tried getting up but his legs had been bent for so long that he needed help.

"Help me get up guys." Kathleen took her Daddy's left hand and Junior took his right hand and pulled as hard as they could but he didn't budge. "Okay Daddy I'm going to count to three then well pull and you try to stand up okay?" "Okay." "Here we go Daddy, 1,2,3 pull Junior." There was a lot of grunting and groaning but they finally got him up. "Thank you Miss Kathleen. I am going to return to my office. When you're done cleaning up in here call me and I'll come and take a nap with you." "Okay Daddy."

Angel went downstairs and finished some paper work on a case he had just finished working on. Cordelia was always on him to keep track of all of his expenses. When his daughter called by yelling at him from the 3rd floor balcony he was more than happy to go and leave the unfinished papers on his desk and go upstairs.

When he came into their room he found the bedspreads from their beds on the floor and spread out neatly with their small pillows on each side and what appeared to be his pillow from his bed in the middle.

"Are you ready to take a nap now?" "Come on Daddy. See we made a place for you to sleep here too." Kathleen grabbed her fathers hand and pulled him down. Angel took his shoes off and his jacket then laid down in the middle. Kathleen put a blanket on him that looked like it came from his bed also. When she had it just right she lay down beside him and pulled the cover over her. Junior curled up under his arm on the other side and before long they were all sleeping.

When Cordelia, Connie and Joaquin came back they went upstairs to check on the children. Cordelia went to her room and got her camera to take a picture. What they saw was Angel lying on his stomach, Kathleen turned on her side and holding onto his arm while Junior was practically sleeping on top of Angel. Connie closed the door quietly.

"That is so cute. Can you have a copy made for me also?" Connie asked Cordelia. "Sure, no problem." Cordelia went to the second floor then to get everyone to help bring the groceries in and put them away. Lucky for Connor he came in just as they finished putting the last of the groceries away.

"What timing or were you down the street waiting and giving us enough time to put the groceries away?" Gunn asked Connor. "I am innocent I tell ya! Innocent! Besides since Toby was locked up in a kennel most of the day I took him to the park to get some exercise. I have some studying to do Cordelia and then I'll be taking Tom and Lou to go shopping if that's okay with you?" "Sure Connor. Tom is upstairs with Fred and Wesley right now and Lou is putting things away upstairs." When they put the last of the groceries away Cordelia went upstairs to rest. She was dead tired and her ankles were swollen from her being on her feet too much. After going to the bathroom she poured herself some iced tea then gathered some pillows at the foot of the couch and lay down and put her feet up on the pillows. She turned the TV on but never got to see what came on because she went to sleep as soon as she laid down.

When she woke up around 7 p.m. she found that she had a blanket on her. She tossed it off and went to get up but couldn't quiet make it. So she just sat there and called Angel. "Angel come and help me. I can't get off of the couch and I have to go to the bathroom." Giles just happened to be passing in front of her room when he heard Cordelia call out. He knocked on the door. "Cordelia this is Giles do you need some help?" "Yes Giles come in." When she heard the door open she told him she was on the couch.

"Giles, would you help me get off of this couch please?" When he came over she held out her hands and he grabbed hold of them and pulled her up. "Thank you, now if you'll excuse me I have to go to the bathroom." Giles left then and returned to his room.

Cordelia was starting her eighth month next week and she felt like a beached whale. She searched for Angel in her mind and found him downstairs fixing their dinner to bring upstairs.

While they were having dinner upstairs the Sunnydale gang came in. Connie knew they were coming so she had made plenty of food for the extra people. Angel and Cordelia heard someone knocking at the door. "Come in Spike and Buffy." "Hello, hello." Spike said. "We came to join you and find out why you wanted us to come down to sin city." Angel took a spoon full of mashed potatoes and flipped it at him. Spike was about to return it when both Buffy and Cordelia said "Boys, boys, let's try to act like adults." They both obediently answered with "Yes dear."

When they were done Cordelia served everyone some coffee. "My goodness Cordelia you're huge." Big mistake on Spike's part. Buffy reached over and slapped the back of his head. "Owe! What did you do that for?" "You inconsiderate, unfeeling bastard. That is no way to talk to a pregnant woman. Now apologize." Spike put his head down. Then he looked at Cordelia as she continued pouring the coffee. It suddenly occurred to Spike that he had better make it a good one or he was going to be in a lot of pain very soon.

"I am very sorry Cordelia. I don't know what overcame me. My demon came through for a second and I spoke as a child would please forgive me." "I forgive you Spike because I know that you are ignorant when it comes to peoples feelings. When you're in your Doctor mode you do just fine but when it's just Spike, a mean spirited, twisted little twerp that would still be existing in a mausoleum in the cemetery if it wasn't for Buffy I……………" Cordelia stopped and took a deep breath. "No I won't say that, I'll have to go to confession if I lose control and say what I want to say. I left that Cordelia behind a long time ago." Cordelia poured Spike a cup of coffee then sat down again.

"Anyway as I was going to say before you were so rude to my wife I wanted you here because we have a new addition to the family. Daniel D'Chambeau died last week and I brought Tom here to live with us. When I came home Mom told me that Sr. Margaret paid her a visit. She told her that Tom was to go and live with you and Buffy in Sunnydale for the summer. Wesley and Giles don't know it yet but Tom is going to go to England and become a Watcher and he will become Joyce's watcher. Both Buffy and Spike knew that when Sr. Margaret gave instructions that it was coming from God Himself, and no one questioned God.

Angel saw the look on their faces. "Don't worry Buffy and Spike, Tom is a very nice kid. In fact Spike, after hanging around him for a while he may teach you how to be kinder and more respectful of other people's feelings."

"What's the other reason you wanted us to come here?" Spike asked.

Angel took a deep breath and prepared himself for Spikes reaction.

"Spike I want you to go with me to New Hampshire to see the Sisters at the Order that Mom was in. I want to introduce Billy to the Sisters and ask them to pray for him that God will take him away from Satan when you leave this world and let him join his family. I believe Billy is an Innocent that was taken by Satan when he was very young and didn't understand what he was consenting to. Christ or God the Father are the only Ones that can possibly save him. Will you do this for Billy?" Spike was quiet for awhile while he thought about it.

"Okay I'll go. Not because I know you will probably try to beat me senseless if I don't go but because I believe as you do." "What do you mean 'try' to beat you senseless?" "Come on now Angel we all know that as you become more human that you're not as strong as you used to be." Spike said. He knew that what he was saying was the truth so he said it with a little more of a light touch.

"You know Spike that is the part of my redemption that I am finding to be the hardest to deal with. Every time one of Cordelia's visions send us out to a fight I have to deal with the fact that I'm not as strong as I used to be. That endless well of strength is no longer their. Hells bells Spike I even get tired giving Cordelia a good time more than once without having at least an hour of rest and sleep."

"I know what you mean Angel. When I was a teenager and first found out that I was the Slayer I was constantly complaining about wanting to be a normal teenager. The time came later that the watchers put me through a test where I had to show my ability to think my way through a problem. Without my knowing it Giles was hypnotizing me and giving me some kind of drug that would essentially take away my Slayer powers. I can tell you that I was scared when I was being chased by just a group of boys that wanted to play with me, if you know what I mean. I went running through an alleyway calling for help and no one would help me. I thank God that Giles was keeping an eye on me and rescued me with that beat up old car he used to have. I was never so happy to see it. I can tell you that I didn't complain as much after that. The first thing I did after the drug wore off was go after those boys. I baited them, drew them into that same alley then cleaned their clocks."

"Connor told me that you have been going jogging every day now to build up your endurance. He said you can jog longer than an ordinary person but you take longer than you used to, to get your heart rate and breathing back to normal." Spike said as he got up to get some more coffee. He offered it to anyone else and Buffy held her cup up.

"After Wolfram & Hart got through with me I was having a hard time with breathing. I talked to Mom about it and she said that I had to start training my lungs to function more normally now. They had made due with very little oxygen getting into them and passing it on to my blood for so long that now I more or less had to train them to do it again." "Mom and Hunter told him that under no circumstances was he to keep the link with me when I went into labor this time. They said it could very well damage his brain permanently this time." Cordelia said as she put her hand on his.

"Since Spike is going with you Angel you better make those reservations for Wednesday evening." Cordelia said as she got up and started to put the dishes in the sink to clean. Buffy got up and helped her.

"Well I uh, kind of made the reservations already." "You were that sure that I would go huh?" "If there is one thing that I know Spike and that I am one hundred percent sure of it's how you will react to a given situation." Angel said with a grin.

"Hey, I just realized that Kathleen isn't in here." Buffy said as she dried the dishes that Cordelia was washing. "Yeah we put her and Junior into the same room. You should see it Buffy it's so cute. I have her side of the room all pink and white with a canopied bed and Juniors side of the room is green and blue and looks more boyish. The first day we put her in there she had her Daddy, Mommy, and Grandma over for tea. It was so cute. She talked just like I do when I have someone visiting up here."

"What about at night? Did she cry when she had to stay in her own bed?" "Are you kidding? Not that little Imp. She waited until later when she thought I was sleeping. Angel and the others had gone out on a mission from my vision so I was alone and had gone to bed early. When he came home and lifted the sheets to crawl into bed there she was. He took her and put her into her own bed and then came back. At 3 o'clock in the morning she came sneaking in again. This time we let her stay. The next night she did the same thing and Angel put her back into her own bed when she went back to sleep. The next morning though Connie and I went to Mom and Lucinda and asked them what they did with their kids. They both said you just have to keep putting them in their own beds and eventually they'll stay. What really worked though was Mom suggesting that we have Toby stay with them a few nights so that they would feel safe. You should have seen it Buffy when we checked on them they had pulled their bedcovers off and put them on the floor together then they had Toby lay down in the middle then they each pulled their blankets off of the bed and put them over Toby and themselves. After that they didn't come back to our beds anymore."

"Spike insisted that we start putting Joyce in her own room. He says he can't get his engines going when he knows his daughter is in the same room. So we have my old room fixed up for her but she starts crying all of the time and won't stop until we take her downstairs with us." Buffy said.

"You know what your problem is Buffy?" Angel asked and he looked at Spike. "No what?" Buffy asked. "You need to make a playmate or two for her. Didn't Mom say that you were going to have twins also? Maybe it's time to work on getting those two going, or you could get her a puppy. You don't need a big German Shepard like Toby but you can get a Golden Retriever. I hear their real good with kids. Or maybe a Collie." Angel knew that if Spike said anything other than something positive he was going to be in hot water.

"Yeah Buffy didn't Dr. Martin say that we were supposed to have twin boys. Yes that sounds real good to me. Besides I'm tired of being the only man in the house." He picked up Buffy and tossed her over his shoulder. "Your ripe girl so let's get busy." "Goodnight Cordelia and Angel." Buffy said as she threw the dish towel at Angel.

"Wait Spike, put me down, I have to put Joyce to bed. Can she sleep with Kathleen Cordelia?" "Sure, I think they'll both fit. Maybe she'll leave you alone tonight so you can work on making her two brothers."

"Come on Spike let's put the kids to bed so Buffy can have the time to get real sexy for you tonight." Angel said as he got up.

Spike put Buffy down and the men went to look for their daughters. They found them all in Kathleen and Junior's bedroom. They peaked in before making their presence known. What they found was poor Junior playing the daddy to two dolls while Kathleen and Joyce went shopping. Kathleen was holding Joyce's hand as she went to their shelves of toys and pretended they were shopping. Joyce would say 'I want dat' and Kathleen would answer with the inevitable 'No you can't have that'.

Angel and Spike pulled back from the door way and did their best not to laugh to loud but Kathleen and Joyce with their inherited vampire hearing, heard them in the hallway. They went to the door and peeked out. "Hi Daddy." Both girls said when they saw their fathers in the hallway. Both Spike and Angel melted then. As they picked up their daughters Joaquin came upstairs to put his son to bed. Unlike Angel and Spike he didn't let Junior wrap his daddy around his little finger and delay going to bed. When Angel and Spike wanted to help their daughters put their pajamas on Kathleen said, "No Daddy and Uncle Spike, Joyce and I will go into the bathroom and change". "Joyce needs help Kathleen. She's still too small to do it herself." "I'll help her Uncle Spike." Kathleen and Joyce picked up their clothes and went to the bathroom and closed the door.

"I wonder where that came from." Angel said. "Kathleen sure is growing up fast." Spike said. "Didn't you ever establish a link with Joyce?" "The way my mind works? I didn't dare, besides my poor little girl will have enough psychological problems to work her way through without my screwed up thoughts to deal with." "Yeah I guess your right. I had to cut the link between Kathleen and I when I started having problems with that blood clot, plus Mom said that Kathleen was getting to old to have her mind linked up with mine, especially when Cordelia and I were having a party. She said if I continued with the link that I would have to be chasing all of the boys away from her with a bat when she is 12."

While Angel and Spike were sitting on Kathleen's bed they watched Joaquin. Junior already had his clothes off and was putting his pajamas on while his father put his clothes in the hamper. He jumped into bed as soon as he was done and his father gave him a kiss then turned to leave. As he started for the door he noticed Angel and Spike staring at him. "How did you do that?" Angel asked.

"He's a boy. You'll see the big difference when you have your two boys. I feel sorry for you guys." Joaquin left then smiling. The girls came out from the bathroom and went over to their fathers. Joyce was holding onto her sleeper bottoms while holding onto Kathleen's hand with her other hand. Kathleen's pajama top was buttoned except for the last button which was hanging on the bottom without a partner and the button hole on the top was without a partner.

"I couldn't close the snaps on Joyce's sleepers Uncle Spike so would you do it please?" "I think I can do that for the little munchkin." Spike took a diaper out of Joyce's suitcase and put it on her then he put the pajama bottom back on.

"How come Joyce wears a diaper at night Uncle Spike?" Kathleen asked as she watched Spike put a diaper on Joyce. "Joyce just started learning how to use a potty chair so Aunt Buffy wants to put a diaper on her at night just to make sure that there are no accidents. She said after a week of no accidents then she'll put on training pants."

"I think something is wrong with my pajamas Daddy." Kathleen said as she turned to Angel. "What makes you think there is something wrong with it?" "Because it's not even, see." She pointed to the button on the bottom. "Oh, well let's see if we can fix this." Angel unbuttoned the pajama top. "See, now when you start putting the buttons into the button holes you can start at the bottom. Put the two ends together then start putting the buttons into the button holes from the bottom up." Angel held the two ends together while Kathleen started buttoning her pajama top. When she was done she looked at it and said, "Hey that's a pretty good trick Daddy, your pretty smart. You're not as dumb as you look." Angel just looked at his daughter then at Spike who was laughing.

"Where did you hear that?" "Hear what Daddy?" "You know that phrase 'you're not as dumb as you look'." "That's what Connor says to me all of the time." Angel didn't say anything else he just got up along with Spike and they put there daughters in the bed.

"Go to sleep now." Angel and Spike gave their daughters a kiss then started to leave. "Daddy aren't you going to read us a story?" Angel looked at Spike. "Rats."

They went back in and Angel looked at the books on the book shelf. "I've read all of these for you at least 3 times already. Let me go downstairs to the library and I'll bring back new ones okay?" "Okay Daddy but you promise to come right back?" "Yes and just so that you will be sure that I come back I am going to leave Uncle Spike here as your hostage." Angel left then to get some new books while Spike sat on the floor playing with Juniors toys. Angel was back in a few minutes and kept one book and put the rest away. It took him another 15 minutes to read the story to the girls while Spike read another book to Junior since he said the one Angel was reading was to girly.

Spike and Angel finally returned after almost 1 ½ hours. "What took you two so long?" Cordelia asked. "You know the usual. Does Kathleen always go to the bathroom now to get into her pajamas when you put her to bed?" Angel asked Cordelia. "Oh, well that is something new she started a few days ago. It seems that our little girl has had an epiphany." "An epiphany?" "Yes, apparently it has just dawned on our little girl that Junior is different from her." "Oh that has finally happened. I guess I can't take a bath with her anymore." "I think that will be okay for now because I'm always leaning against you when she takes a bath with us. First time she notices a ponytail between your legs though, that's the end of that."

Buffy got up from the table and said, "Lets go to bed my dear." Buffy took Spikes hand and pulled him up. "You have to go to work." Buffy said with a smile.

"When do you guys leave?" "Wednesday at 9 o'clock at night. I couldn't get anything else on such short notice. I have to go and tell Mom so she can call the Sisters." Angel left then and Cordelia started to get ready for bed. She was tired and her legs were swollen again.

By the time Angel came back she was already in bed with a bunch of pillows under her feet and fast asleep. He could feel her pain but he couldn't feel the discomfort of the swollen legs. He remembered being able to feel that when she was carrying Kathleen. All of a sudden he realized that he was picking up on her depression and it was at that time that he noticed her Teddy Bear on her other side so he headed downstairs to the chapel since she had something to hold onto for now.

To his surprise he found someone that he didn't expect to find. Giles was in the last pew with his head down. He knew Giles had joined the adult class at Father Barris's church for those that wanted to join the Catholic Church. Angel just went inside and sat at the front. He still had his prayers to do so he pulled out his rosary.

When Giles thought he was finished with his Rosary he quietly stood up and went to sit next to Angel.

"Angel, can I talk to you about something that is bothering me?" "Sure Giles."

"As you know Mary is almost 10 years older then me. I was wondering if you know how much longer we will have together." "No Giles I don't. All I know is what Mom told all of us, that no one will die for at least 20 years. By then Mom, I believe, will be around 76. When I was young you were known as an old, old, old person at that age. Very few people reached that age. In fact, I personally, have known only two people that reached that age. One of them was the old Gypsy woman that first gave me my soul back and laid that nasty curse on me. The other one was the old midwife that delivered babies in our village. She didn't deliver Kathleen because she was busy that year with babies being born on the other side of the village so my mother had two women that were the old ladies apprentices. Why are you asking?"

"I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Especially after she had the stroke. I don't think I ever thanked you for all that you've done for her. I cherish every moment I have with her now. Some times I think about all of the people that you have affected since you started fighting for your redemption. Do you know that the only ones that haven't converted to the Catholic Church are Gunn and Willow? There are hundreds and hundreds of people that are still alive because of you Angel."

"You know Giles, I don't know if it's Angelus being funny or if it's an actual thought of my own, but I was just wondering if I could trade some of those lives I've saved, in for a smoother ride to my own demise." Giles started laughing. "Do you think St. Peter is keeping accounting books on such things?" Giles and Angel were both laughing now.

"You are terrible, I'm going to tell Mary." "Tattletale." Angel said. They sat there quietly for a while.

"I think I'll go and join Cordelia now." Giles got up also and they turned the lights off as they left. "I told Mom that we'll be taking off at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. It was the only one I could get on such late notice." "Okay, I know you'll take good care of her Angel." "I'll do my best Dad." Angel took off down the hallway while Giles took a swing at him with his leg and of course he missed.

The next day was an interesting one to say the least. Everyone came down for breakfast by 9. Lou and Tom came down last since Tom was used to his Dads schedule which was night time. Angel had forgotten that Dawn usually spent the summer with her father so he wasn't going to get to see what happened between Tom and her.

Angel stood up and introduced Tom to Buffy and Spike. They all sat down after introductions were made. With the extra people at the table Cordelia had asked Angel to bring down the table in Kathleen and Junior's room while Joaquin brought the chairs. They put the table and chairs right by the dinning room table where the children could be watched. They had one of the family hoping that they would make a big mess since he was the official vacuum for the kids. Toby stood at the 4th side of the table and Kathleen had brought a plate over for him and all of the children gave him some of their food. What happened next was a big surprise to everyone.

Kathleen went to her father and asked him to make everyone be quiet so she could say their breakfast prayer. Angel tapped his glass with his spoon in order to get everyone's attention. "Kathleen wants to give a breakfast prayer so she has asked that everyone be quiet."

As soon as she saw that everyone was quiet she said "Everyone bow their heads now." Everyone saw Toby put his paws on the table and put his head down on his paws.

"Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for all of this food and for all of Daddy and Mommies friends. Amen." "Amen." Everyone answered.

If it had been at night time when their was no day time lights they would have still been able to see what they were eating because Angel and Cordelia were just beaming with pride.

"Thank you Kathleen that was very nice." Dr. Martin said. "You're welcome Grandma. Toby did good too didn't he." "He sure did. Did you teach him how to do that?" "No grandma. I guess he saw Junior and me doing it so he copied us."

"When are you going to get a wife for Toby Angel. I would like to have one of his pups." Spike said. "I'll talk to Connor about it since he's his dog."

"Is everything set with the Sisters Mom?" "Yes they will have someone meet us at the guest house as before. It will feel odd that I have to now stand on the outside when we go there."

"Do you regret ever leaving?" Giles asked as he held her hand.

"Never in a million years. I view my time in the convent as just another phase or chapter of my life. I believe when we have life changing conditions in our life it means that whatever God wanted us to experience or learn during that time has been completed and it's time to move on. My whole life has been geared towards coming here and helping Angel. Just as Jesus Christ was sent into this world as a man so that he would understand what we feel and how men think so that he would be better able to help and guide and judge us, I was given my life experiences so that I would be better able to understand and help Angel and the rest."

"What about Angel Mom, why do you think he has been put through so much?" Cordelia asked.

"I think we talked about this once before but for Lou's and Tom's sake I'll say it again. Angel made bad decisions at the beginning of his life. Instead of going the right way which would have lead him to help his father run the farm and to help provide for the family he chose to go his own way. Angel in his youth chose to be concerned primarily with himself. He wanted to have fun and fun for Angel meant drinking every night until he was drunk and finding a young girl that was willing to give up her virginity to him. Unfortunately this led to Darla who turned him into a Vampire.

Some how Angel came to St. Michaels attention. He manipulated Angel until he was given his soul back. It was at that time that Angels education started. Every thing that he experienced after that was used to teach him something. Fortunately he was intelligent enough to learn from them. It wasn't until he was directed to Buffy and her friends that he started to actually help people who were being attacked by demons and other vampires. For reasons that I won't go into, Angel came to Los Angeles and with the help of Cordelia started Angel Investigations. Shortly after, Wesley joined Angel Investigation and then Gunn. St. Michael, who had become Angels Guardian Angel when he was given his soul back felt that Angel needed help. He was in love with Cordelia but they couldn't be together because of the curse that the old lady had put on him. Just to let you know Tom and Lou the curse was a spell that the old lady had put on Angel that said if he ever had a moment of pure happiness he would lose his soul again and Angelus, his demon, would take over again. Anyway St. Michael went to God and explained all of the problems that Angel had, which wasn't being made any easier by the PTB.

To make a long story short, I was sent by St. Michael to help Angel to learn to deal with his problems and to set him back on course fighting for his redemption. Angel didn't know it but he had been chosen to be Gods champion here on earth. In order to help him to fulfill his duties as His champion I put Angel through intensive therapy so that he could learn about himself and how to handle his problems.

St. Michael is through educating Angel. The decisions that he makes now in how he handles problems and how he helps people is the result of all of his previous years of training. Tom and Lou I want to tell you that Angel and I have a mutual friend that comes to me in the form of a dream usually, she passes on to me orders from St. Michael. Spike, Sr. Margaret has told me that Tom is to go and live in Sunnydale until school starts so that he can help you and Buffy. Willow will help him to study any subjects that he needs to improve on so that when he does come back in September he will be able to go to school with Lou. From what Wesley tells me about Lou, their father did a good job of teaching them about the basics of Math and English and they only need help in History or the Social Studies or whatever they call it now days."

"Why does he have to come to Sunnydale?" Buffy and Spike asked at the same time. "God has his reasons and it's not good to question him. He sees things differently then we do Buffy and Spike. I will tell you that Tom needs to learn to socialize since he has spent all of his life up until now with just his father and sister to interact with. Tom needs to learn to be a teenager so let him go places with the other teenagers. If possible tell Dawn she needs to go back with you to Sunnydale. Dawn could help Tom a lot in learning how to hang out, as they say, with people his own age. She'll also be able to help him to learn how to hold back on his own natural abilities when interacting with regular people. Are there any question on the orders that you have been given." No one said anything. "I take it then that you have no objections Spike and Buffy?" Dr. Martin looked directly at them.

"Tom do you understand what is expected of you for the next two or three months?" "Yes Dr. Martin." Tom answered. "Tom I know that I am throwing a lot at you right now but God has a lot of plans for you and it's important that we get started. When you come back for the school year you will also start receiving lessons so that you can join the Catholic Church. Angel has told me that even though your father didn't have you baptized he himself was raised in the Catholic Church and this influenced much of what he taught you and Lou about God. I know that Lou has said that your father rarely talked about God or the church but I can tell you that everyone that was raised in either a Catholic, Baptist, Protestant, Jewish or whatever is influenced by these churches in some way. Tom you are the only one out of everyone else that is being told that you are to join the Catholic Church. Everyone else has done so because they chose to do it of their own choice. I will personally teach you. My husband here, Rupert, will teach you about demons and Vampires. Angel will teach you about the martial arts. Essentially what will be happening is that you will be attending two schools through out the year."

"May I ask something?" Tom asked. "Yes go right ahead." Dr. Martin answered. She got up to get herself a cup of coffee while listening.

"I have two questions. First I would like to know why Lou doesn't have to go through the same thing. She has told me that basically she has been working with Cordelia mostly, learning the martial arts from Angel, and studying with Wesley and Fred."

"Lou, have you talked to your brother about your relationship with Connor?" "Yes I have." "Then I guess I can talk about you without shocking your brother right?" "Yes I have told him most of what I already know or Connor and I have decided on." Lou said with a smile. They could all see that she was embarrassed about talking about herself and Connor. Her cheeks were taking on a definite red shade.

"To answer your question Tom Lou is being groomed to stand by Connors side as he takes over Angel Investigation so it isn't necessary for her to have so much schooling. Fred is the one that told Wesley and I that you would be the one to take over from Wesley. Most of the people sitting at this table right now will leave this world within the next 30 years. Wesley will be here the longest because he will see to it that all children have the schooling that they need to fulfill their positions within Angel Investigations.

You Tom will stand by Connors side in much the same way that Wesley has stood by Angels. You have a lot to learn though before you can take that position though. Now what is your second question?"

"Do you mind if I call you Grandma like Lou does?" Dr. Martin smiled. "Yes, remember I said you could call me Grandma when you first came and I don't think Rupert will mind if you call him Grandpa." Dr. Martin grabbed her husbands hand as though asking if it was okay. "I have no problem with that." Giles said. As Dr. Martin stood up she said "Buffy, Spike, and Angel would you please follow me up to room 412. I need to talk to all of you about something unrelated to all of this."

Angel, Buffy, and Spike got up to follow Dr. Martin upstairs. "I guess the rest of you have now been dismissed." Angel said. "What did you guys do this time? You're in trouble now. Sisters going to get out that old ruler and it's going to be whack, whack, whack." Gunn said as he laughed. Angel went over and stood behind his chair and put his hands on Gunn's shoulders. "I think I now know what your purpose is here at Angel Investigations that is besides backing me up in a fight. Do you know what that is Gunn?" Angel applied a little more pressure on his shoulders. "As a matter of fact I do Angel. Dr. Martin finally told me what my primary purpose is." "What did she tell you?" Angel applied just a little more pressure until Gunn gave out a little groan.

"She said my primary purpose was to tease you mercilessly so that your head would never grow so large that they would have to have the doors enlarged." Gunn jumped up then and ran out the back door and to his truck before Angel could tackle him. Angel just went to the elevator and joined Buffy and Spike.

"You guys are like kids over here, no wonder Mom has to come to Sunnydale once in a while to get some rest." Buffy said while laughing at Gunn and Angels display of childishness.

"When did you start calling Dr. Martin Mom?" Angel asked as they made their way to the 4th floor.

"When Giles and I had a mutual adoption and I started calling him Daddy. Since Dr. Martin is his wife, I now have the right to call her Mom." "Do not. She's my Momma." "I'm going to tell Daddy." "Tattletale." Angel stuck his tongue out at Buffy as they exited the elevator. Of course she did the same to him. Angel put his arm around Buffy. "If our situation doesn't fit the saying 'Oh what a tangiled web we weave'. First I was your boyfriend, your lover, your Daddy, now your brother. If our relationship isn't one for the books I don't know what is." "There is nothing about my life that is ordinary Angel. Ever since I was told I was the Slayer my life has been nothing short of spectacular."

Angel knocked at the door of 412. "Come in." Dr. Martin answered. Angel, Buffy, and Spike walked in. Angel took his usual chair while Buffy and Spike took the couch. Dr. Martin had her chair turned so that it faced the couch.

"Buffy and Spike I have something very serious to discuss with you. I'm bringing this up now because we have been given the opportunity to do something about the problem." Dr. Martin said. She looked very serious which made Buffy nervous. She picked up Spikes hand and held it in both of hers.

"Buffy I know that you know where Dawn comes from and that she isn't really your sister. In every way that you could possibly think of she is human except in one way that no test that science can come up with that could prove the existance of. Do you know what that is?" Spike gave Dr. Martin her answer. "A soul."

"Exactly, Dawn is missing that very thing that Angel prizes so greatly. The monks that gave Dawn human form could not give her a soul because only God can do that. I know that you both love Dawn very much. The reason that I have chosen to speak to you now is because of Angels faith in God. Because of his faith in God he believes that God can give Billy what Satan took away from him. Because of his faith in God he has suggested that we could ask God to give Dawn a soul just as we are going to ask the Sisters to pray for Billy."

Buffy and Spike were quiet for a while. "What do we have to do?" Spike asked.

"It's very simple Spike. All you have to do is ask the Sisters to pray for Dawn. Ask them to pray that God will grant her a soul. Explain to them what Dawn is and what she means to you and Buffy." Spike kept his eyes down. He got up and walked over to the window and pulled the shade back. He stood back where the sun couldn't reach him then he stepped forward just a little and put his arm out so that it was now in the sunlight. At first nothing happened then his skin started to smoke and then burst into flames. He let it burn for 15 seconds then quickly pulled it back. Buffy had jumped up and grabbed a towel that she soaked in water. When Spike pulled his arm back she threw the towel on his hand and arm.

Spike looked at Dr. Martin. "This is all supposed to teach me how important a soul is, isn't it?" "I would say that, that is a possibility, but nothing has been said to me." "I remember what Fr. Barris told me when I made my confession. He said I didn't really care about heaven, he said the only reason I wanted to go there was because I knew that Buffy would be there." Spike said as he turned around and looked outside. He made sure that he was out of the direct sun light as he stood there.

"You know Dr. Martin I've tried to understand where you are all coming from. I've tried to understand why we should honor God and His Son. I'm sure you realize that all of the insane, murderous things that I have done are not from my demon but from me. I taught him how to kill efficiently. Just as Angelus taught me. Billy didn't know how to be sadistic, he didn't know how to grab a persons head just right to break it. He didn't know how to rape a woman or even why a man likes to do it and then kill her." Spike turned around and looked at Angel. As he looked at him tears started to fall.

"Angel I am so afraid that I am having such a hard time learning that He is going to make me suffer the way He did you. I don't know if I can take it Angel. For as long as I live Angel I will never forget seeing you up on the cross and how badly damaged your body was. As I helped Dr. Martin patch you up I couldn't understand why you clung to life. I know I told her that you should heal but I really didn't think you would. And the pain Angel, the pain was the worst. I knew how badly you suffered because when your in extreme pain you radiate what your feeling to those people you have a link to. We don't feel everything that you do but we get the general idea." Spike sank to his knees and was crying uncontrolably. Angel went to his side.

"Why are you crying Spike?" "Because I am afraid. I am afraid that I won't succeed as you did. I am afraid that I will be stuck in hell for eternity and I will never see those that I love again. I am afraid that Billy has a better chance of going into heaven than I do. Angel I am afraid that God will never forgive me for the things that I have done, because that was me doing everything as a Vampire Angel. It wasn't Billy. When Billy was in control of my body I told him what to do. At least you have the excuse that Angelus was in control and their wasn't anything you could do to stop him." Spike was holding onto Angels waist by now. His head was in his lap and Angel had his arms wrapped around Spike and holding him.

"Spike I want you to listen to me." Spike sat up and looked into his Sire's eyes.

"Spike you will succeed. Do you know how I know this?" Spike just looked at Angel. "No I don't, but I know your going to come up with something very wise or something like that." Spike managed to produce a smile.

"I know that you will succeed because you never would have cared about these things before and now you do. Spike don't worry about tomorrow, learn to leave it in His hands. He won't give you anymore than you can stand. How long it takes for you to learn though depends entirely on you."

Angel made Spike let go of him and stand up. "I am going to go and get some sleep Spike, I suggest that you and Buffy do the same thing." Buffy came and put her arm through Spikes arm and they walked out together.

Dr. Martin looked at Angel and said with a smile, "You know Dr. Martin you are getting pretty good at that." Thank you Dr. Martin I've had good teachers. They walked back to the elevator and they both entered. Angel rode the elevator to the 5th floor even though he was going back down to the 2nd. When he arrived in his suiet of rooms he found Cordelia already sleeping. It was getting towards the end of her pregnancy and she could just barely move on her own. Most of the time she needed help to get up from the bed or couch. She rarely picked up Kathleen anymore because she was just to heavy for her. He finally took off his shoes, pants and shirt and lay down beside her.

By 5 p.m. Angel was up and taking a shower. While he was in there Cordelia came in and after wetting her hair Angel started to wash her hair for her while she held onto the hand rails he had installed for her. She was so big now that her center of gravity was different and she would often lose her balance while trying to wash herself. After she fell in the shower Angel insisted on installing the hand rails. When he was done washing himself and her they both got out and he dried her off while she dried her hair.

"What am I going to do Angel while your gone?" "What do you mean?" "Who is going to help me take a shower?" "Well you could always ask one of the other women to help you. How about Lou, would you be comfortable with her helping you?" "Yea I guess so. I guess she is the only other one or maybe Buffy. She'll get to see all of the problems she'll have when she is pregnant with her twins." Cordelia turned around so Angel could help her put her, what Angel called her pregnancy panties, on then her pants. She put her bra on by herself since her breasts were starting to hurt her. After Angel dressed himself they went down to the lobby for dinner then. While they were in the elevator Cordelia said "Come home as soon as you can Angel because I have a feeling that our boys are going to be born very soon now."

"Isn't this a little early?" Her statement got his full attention. "No they are done growing right now and all they're doing is putting on weight. I think this would be a good time for them to come out because I feel like my belly is going to split right down the middle if I have to carry these guys much longer. Don't forget Angel to break the link between us once I go into heavy labor." Cordelia turned to him and pressed him against the wall. "After all my dear even though it's your body that does so much for me I need your mind to be fully functional in order for you to make love to me with so much skill." She gave him a kiss then let him go.

When everyone was downstairs and at the table Connie and her mother in-law brought out the food. She had made all kinds of fixings for burritos. When everyone was done Angel got up. "Are you all packed Mom and Spike?" They both answered with a yes.

"Since we won't be gone very long Wesley I'll take my car and leave it at the airport. I believe you have the Sisters phone number right?" "Yes I do." "Okay then I'll be waiting for you two at the back." Angel picked up Kathleen. "I wish I could take you with me princes so the Sisters could see what a beautiful little girl you are. Then they would be able to see what they predicted came true." "What did they pedict Daddy?" "When the Sisters saw your Mommy and Daddy they said 'those two will make beautiful babies together'. If they could see you I could say see you were right, Kathleen's Mommy and Daddy made a beautiful little girl called Mary Kathleen Martin and she is the apple of her Daddy's eye." Kathleen's only response was to smile and give her Daddy a hug. "Don't get into any trouble now Daddy and take care of Grandma and Uncle Spike okay?" "Okay princes, I will do my best." He gave her a kiss again then put her down. Cordelia started to get up but he pushed her back down. "Sit down my dear and just give me a kiss goodbye." "Come home soon Angel." Cordelia kissed him goodbye and stood up. "I am leaving their safe keeping in your hands Connor." Connor said good bye and Angel left. He had already put his suitcase in his car along with a small suitcase full of containers of blood for Spike and himself.

Their flight took off on time and they arrived in New England at 2 A.M. the next morning. By the time they arrived at the Convent it was almost 4 o'clock. Sister Cecile had left a note on the door along with a note saying that Mother Superior would see them at 12 noon for lunch. It was summer time so they didn't need the fireplaces to warm up the place. Everyone went to bed as soon as they got their. Dr. Martin was too tired to do anything else. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

TBC………………………………………………………………………..


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Dr. Martin was the first to get up. Angel had started the water heater last night so she was able to take a nice warm bath and soak her left leg. The strain of having to constantly work at controlling it was very draining. The muscle in her hip was often very sore at the end of the day. When she heard Spike and Angel starting to move around she got out and got dressed. When she was done she went and knocked on Angel's door.

"Angel can you braid my hair for me please?" Angel came and opened the door. "Sure, do you want to do it here or in your room?" "All of my pins are in my room so do you mind coming over there?" "I'll be there in just a few minutes." Angel said as he put his shoes on and tied them.

It only took him 20 minutes to braid her hair and style it the way she wanted. Spike had come in a few minutes after he started and was watching him. "This sure reminds me of watching Angelus do Darla's hair." When Angel was done he stood back and looked at his work.

"How do you like it?" "It's perfect, thank you very much. It's still hard for me to raise my arm up to style my hair. I can shampoo it okay now but to do intricate work is still beyond me. When I go to the convent I'll see if I can talk to the physical therapist to see if she has any ideas to help me get better control over my arm and hand." Dr. Martin got up then and took her robe off. For a second Angel and Spike made a move to run out of the room.

"It's okay Angel and Spike. Did you think I was naked underneath my robe?" Both of the men hem hawed around their answer. "Well no we uh didn't uh think uh."

"I had my robe on to protect my clothes from any hair that was falling." Dr. Martin was almost completely dressed and only had to slip on her skirt over her head. When she was done and checked the mirror to make sure that everything was in place she said "You know Spike and Angel when I was a nun I never looked in the mirror." "Why, what did you think it was going to do to you, steal your soul away?" Spike said jokingly.

"No Spike. Have you noticed how Angel looks in the mirror a lot now that he can see his reflection?" Dr. Martin said as she pulled out a long black wrap and tied it around her shoulder. "As a matter of fact I do. Any day now I expect to see him kiss his own reflection, he is so in love with himself." "You're just jealous that I can see myself and you can't." Angel said.

"What I am trying to get at is he suffers from the sin of pride and worst of all vanity. Have you ever read the Imitation of Christ Angel?" Dr. Martin asked. Angel realized then that she was in full teacher mode right now.

"Yes, it just so happens that I read it last year. It's now one of my meditation books." "Very good, I couldn't have chosen a better one for you. Do you remember what the author says about vanity?" "Yes." Angel turned to Spike and quoted from the book "Vanity, vanity all is vanity except to love the Lord thy God." Angels face was red.

"That's okay Angel after all it's been over 250 years since you saw your own reflection. I am sure that Christ will make allowances for that. To get back to your question Spike, vanity is the reason I never looked at my own reflection. Otherwise I would busy myself with how I looked and not with God's work. Just as a new bride has her mind constantly on her husband so it is with the brides of Christ." Dr. Martin started for the door then and Angel and Spike took it as a signal that class was over.

Before they had left L.A. Spike had asked Hunter if he could borrow her ring so that he could walk out into the daylight. It felt nice to walk out into the daylight for once.

Since it was now 11:45 they walked directly to the entrance of the convent. Before Dr. Martin opened the door she stopped and said "Be good you two or I'll make you suffer for it when we get back home." Both Angel and Spike said "Yes Mam." Dr. Martin knocked at the door and little Sr. Cecil opened the door. It wasn't quiet 12 noon yet so Dr. Martin knew that they were still observing the morning silence. Sr. Cecil greeted Dr. Martin by pressing her cheek against hers on each side. Since Sr. Cecil knew Angel she put her hand out to shake his. As usual though Angel took her tiny little hand in his and kissed it. Sr. Cecil blushed. She didn't know Spike so she just smiled and nodded to him and he did the same. Sr. Cecil took them over to the waiting room and she whispered to Dr. Martin that Mother Superior would be with her in a few minutes.

They all sat down then and waited. In a few minutes Mother Superior and her assistant came in to greet them. Dr. Martin stood right away and greeted her in the usual manner. She let her go after a minute and let Angel greet her. When he let her hand go he stepped back. In a low voice she said "And this must be Spike or would you prefer Dr. Summers?" As Spike took her hand and kissed it he said "Spike will be fine Mother Superior."

"Let's go to the guest dinning room the Sisters have already taken in the food." As they were walking Mother Superior noticed Dr. Martin was having a problem with her left leg but she didn't say anything. She walked into the dinning room and went to the end of the table. Angel took the chair on her right side and Dr. Martin and Spike went to the left. Mother Superior remained standing and so did the others. She offered a prayer of thanks giving and they sat down. Angel held Mother Superiors chair out for her and Spike took care of Dr. Martin. Mother Superior pointed out the pitcher next to Angel. She didn't say what was in it she just pointed it out. Angel opened it and looked inside and smiled.

"Give me your glass Spike." Angel poured him some blood and then filled his own glass. They took a sip of the blood. "Lamb and it's made the way Cordelia makes it." Both Angel and Spike drank the blood greedily. They hadn't had any since the day before and they were both hungry for it. Everyone started to make themselves a sandwich then. When they had finished their lunch Mother Superior started the conversation.

"How are you doing since your stroke Mary?" "I am doing pretty good Mother. I still have a problem with my left leg and I can't quiet lift my left arm to do things like fix my hair. Angel helped me a lot when he created a link between our minds and he taught me how to speak correctly again in a much shorter time then it would have normally taken me. Sometimes when my therapist or Giles is making me exercise my leg I get tired and uncooperative and that's when Angel gives me, what Cordelia calls the look, and I start cooperating." Dr. Martin smiled at him.

"What is the look?" "It's Angel's way of telling someone that he isn't very happy with them. Show Mother Superior Angel." Angel gave her the look then smiled. "Actually I didn't develop the look it just came into existence when my daughter started giving us problems. I used to have a link with her but I had to end it because of certain problems. I guess that was when the "look" came into existence. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I tried it on Mom and it worked. I gave her the look and she started to perspire and she started shaking all over. It was pitiful. I was so embarrassed for her that I had to close my eyes and turn away." Dr. Martin threw her napkin at him. "I did not you little liar."

"Okay she is right I am over exaggerating. She was just perspiring heavily." "Try it one more time Angel." "Okay, okay. She was perspiring heavily because she was working hard at doing what her therapist said." They were all laughing by the time Angel finally gave the whole truth.

Angel gave a large document envelope to Mother Superior. "What's this?" She asked. "In your hands you have a picture of everyone at Angel Investigation and Buffy's Sunnydale gang. Best of all Mother is a picture of my daughter, Mary Kathleen Martin.

We have two more people that have joined us recently but I was unable to get one persons picture because he just joined us 2 days ago. I thought you would be interested in seeing how God is guiding my group to be able to continue on without Vampires. One of the two newest members to join our group is a girl named Louis D'Chambeau. Two days ago her brother Tom D'Chambeau joined us when their father Daniel Francis D'Chambeau died in an accident when a cougar attacked him and pushed him over a cliff. Daniel D'Chambeau was a Vampire and he fathered Tom and Lou with another Vampire. They have many of their father's powers just like my son Connor has many of mine and his mother's powers. Lou and Connor fell in love from the moment they saw each other. Have you ever heard of the Italian thunderbolt hitting a man when he sees the woman he is going to marry?" "Yes I have, my family is Italian and my father always told us about the thunderbolt hitting him when he met my mother." Mother Superior said.

"Time is getting short Angel and I am sorry to interrupt our talk but we will have to talk about your little girl later if we have time. Right now I need to know what it is that you would like to talk to the Sisters about this evening." Mother Superior asked as she made herself another cup of tea.

Angel proceeded to tell her all about Billy and Dawn and how he would like to ask the Sisters to pray for them. Through all of the time that Angel was talking Spike was silent. When Angel was done Mother Superior looked at Spike. "Spike is this something that you want for Billy?" "Yes Mother I do. Billy is all that Angel said. He is what you would call an Innocent. When you hear him speak you'll understand. As for Dawn, it's like they say, it doesn't hurt to try and next to Buffy I love Dawn. I think of her as my younger sister. She would always come and keep me company whenever I was depressed because Buffy had rebuffed me. Best of all she always tells me what to do in order to get back into her good graces. She is the little sister I used to wish I had. Mother Superior if you knew Dawn you would never suspect that she wasn't one hundred percent human."

"Okay Angel and Spike tonight after supper we will all be gathered in the recreational room and you can make your requests to the Sisters at that time. Spike I want you to think of what you would like for yourself as well. I haven't heard you ask for anything for yourself yet. Even Angel asked us to pray for him. If you think about it Spike I think you will believe in the power of prayer when you look at all of the good things that have happened to him since he came here. Nothing that you could possibly request could be beyond Gods capacity to give.

Dr. Martin and I will leave now she has requested that she be allowed to visit with the Sisters. At 3 o'clock we will be having Vespers in the chapel if you would like to attend." Mother Superior and Dr. Martin left then. Before they could walk out of the door though Angel called to her "Mother Superior I brought a gift for Sister Cecil could I give it to her as I leave here?" Angel pulled out a large Hershey Chocolate bar to show her. Mother Superior smiled. "Yes Angel and tell her that you showed it to me and that I gave my permission." Angel and Spike were free to do as they wanted now except to go into the convent beyond the hallway that led to the dinning room.

"Let's go back to the guest house. I think I can do with a nap." Angel said as he walked to the door. As they passed Sr. Cecil's desk Angel thought he would make her day and visit her for a few minutes.

Angel sat on the edge of Sr. Cecil's desk. "How have you been doing since I last saw you Sr. Cecil?" "I have been doing ok, thank you. My arthritis is getting worse but I can still be the porter and still serve the community." Angel picked up one of her hands and held it in his. The joints in her hand were swollen with Rheumatoid arthritis. He knew that every movement must be very painful. He kissed her hand then turned it over and placed the chocolate bar in it. "This is for you Sister. I already asked Mother Superior if I could give this to you and she said yes." He closed her hand around it as far as it would go. Sr. Cecil's eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"Oh thank you Angel. I will put it in the desk and save it for when my arthritis is hurting real bad. Then I will think of you and say an extra Rosary for you. Now I have something to share at Recreation and the other Sisters will be so jealous."

"Sister! Would you really do that?" Spike asked. "Oh yes." Sr. Cecil held her finger to her lips and said "Shhhh don't say anything though, I'll save it for one of the long winter nights when everyone is tired then I'll bring it out that I was given this chocolate bar by Angel. It will give me something to talk about for a long time to come."

Angel stood up and gave her a final kiss then they left.

Angel and Spike walked quietly back to the guest house until Spike said "I wonder what a person like Sr. Cecil could have possibly done during her lifetime here." "What makes you say that?" "She seems so child like; I was wondering if she was mildly retarded." "Sr. Cecil isn't retarded she is just old. Mom told me that Sr. Cecil just seems retarded because she sleeps a great deal and because of that her brain is starting to shrink and that is what makes her child like. Her thoughts don't consist of anything more than greeting people, taking their coats during the winter time and praying. When the mind doesn't have any challenges it tends to stagnate and becomes complacent with life. It's a classic example of the saying 'The spirit is willing but the body is weak'."

Angel and Spike entered the house and didn't say anything more. They both went to their rooms and took a nap. Their Vampire blood still called to them to sleep during the day light hours even though they didn't live as Vampires. Even though Spice had borrowed Hunters ring for their little trip he still found an aversion to the daylight and it seemed unnatural to him.

At 2:30 that afternoon Dr. Martin returned to the guest house to rest for awhile before the evening meal. Even though she had only been up for a few hours she was already tired. She had been spending the last couple of hours with Sr. Francis who was the hospitals head pharmacist. Sr. Francis was the one that Dr. Martin had asked to check into a drug that would allow Angelus to be free for 24 hours. The five year mark that she had agreed to with Angelus wasn't to far off in the future. She had also stopped in and visited David Williams father who had suffered a stroke five years ago. He was still alive and had improved somewhat. She was happy to see that he remembered her.

When they returned to the convent for Supper they saw a limousine in the front of the convent. Dr. Martin had an idea who it might be but she didn't say anything to Angel and Spike. When they entered the front door Sr. Cecil took them to the waiting room. John Williams and Bishop Jack O'Connel rose from where they were sitting. Both Angel and Dr. Martin were surprised to see them both. Dr. Martin went to John and hugged him and Angel went to the Bishop. When they all separated Angel introduced Spike as Dr. William Summers. Spike shook Johns and Jacks hand.

"So John I understand that you're the one that decked Angel with one punch. I sure would have liked to have seen that." Spike said with a big grin on his face.

John's face turned red. It was clear he was embarrassed about the way he acted back then. "Please believe me Mr. Martin when I say that I am very, very sorry for acting in such a childish way. I am truly very sorry that I did that. I had no right to do it." John offered his hand in friendship this time and Angel took it.

"Apology accepted John besides you need to save your arm for her husband." Angel said with a grin and Dr. Martin gave him a dirty look which made him smile even more. John looked at Dr. Martin. "Don't tell me you're married already."

Fortunately Mother Superior came in to save the day. "Bishop O'Connel what do we owe this visit to." "When John called his father to check on how he was doing he told John that Dr. Martin was here. So of course I had to come along with him." "You are all welcome to come and have Supper with us. I have to let the Sisters know that we have two more people for Supper. I'll be right back." While she was gone John started to drill Dr. Martin about her new husband. Jack, Angel and Spike stepped away from them so Jack could drill Angel as to what had brought him here. Angel proceeded to tell him all about Billy and what they were going to ask the Sisters for.

"Since John doesn't know anything about you I'll get him to leave after Supper. If you don't mind I would like to join you when you go to talk to the Sisters." Angel turned to Spike. "Do you mind Spike?" "No not at all." Spike answered. Mother Superior came back and called them all to join her.

They all had a nice peaceful Supper. Mother Superior had, had the foresight fortunately to have the Sisters remove the pitcher of blood from the cart. It was too late though to change the large rare steaks the cook had made for Spike and Angel. John and Jack just looked at them. "Well I guess we know who the favorite around here is." Jack said. "Oh I'm very sorry Your Grace, would you like a steak also?" Mother Superior asked. "No, no Mother I was just pulling Angels chain. This is just fine." To show how much he liked his fish he dug in.

Dr. Martin in the mean time was telling John all about her stroke and how everyone at the hotel had helped her to recover to the point that you could barely tell that she was still having a problem with her left leg. She pulled out her wallet and showed him a picture of Giles. "But Mary, he looks like he is about my age. I thought you didn't want to be with me because I was so much younger than you." Everyone looked at the other end of the table. Dr. Martin looked to Mother Superior for help. When she saw the smile on her face she knew she would have to go it alone.

Dr. Martin stood up. "Excuse us everyone but John and I have to have a long talk." Dr. Martin pushed her chair back in and turned to leave. John didn't get up though. "I would follow her if I were you John she has ways to make you sorry you didn't do what she said." John got up after taking just a few seconds to think about Angels warning. He didn't move fast enough though because just as he was apologizing to Mother Superior they heard Dr. Martins voice again. John quickly left then. Everyone laughed when he left.

"Poor John, he has been in love with Dr. Martin ever since his mother tried to commit suicide and she talked her out of it. He was really hurt when she left to go to Los Angeles." Mother Superior said. The rest of the meal was eaten in a lot more quiet atmosphere. When she was done Mother Superior stood and said "If you would excuse me gentlemen I am going to make sure that the Sisters are ready for you. I think it would be best if John left Your Grace since we don't want him to know about Angel and Spike." "I'll take care of it Mother." The men all stood up as she left the room.

They felt freer to speak now that the others had left. "So what have you really been up to Angel since I last saw you?" "Oh nothing much. Just making babies and becoming human again." "Becoming human again, how are you accomplishing that?" "A lot of suffering and a lot of hard work." "I thought you boys were dead so how in heavens name are you able to make babies." "Well you'll never believe it Jack but that is what Mom came to help me with. She was sent to help me learn how to deal with my peculiar problems and as a side benefit she has proven to me that we don't die our bodies are just super efficient. Best of all Jack she has brought not only me but everyone but two of our people either back to the Catholic Church or converted to the Catholic Church. I can now go out into the sunlight for at least four hours and I can now look in the mirror and see my handsome face look back at me. The first thing I did when I saw my own reflection was to say 'No wonder Cordelia fell in love with me'." Angel smiled when he said that. "Yeah you should see all of the lip marks on the mirrors because he is constantly kissing his own reflection." Spike said.

"When did you start calling Dr. Martin Mom?" Angel laughed at Jacks question. He was wondering how long it would take for him to catch that.

"Dr. Martin and I came to fulfill something in each other that was missing and that we both needed. I guess you could call it a mutual adoption. I told her that I thought of her as my mother because she had more or less given me life again when she proved to me that I never did die. It's just that when we are turned our body's slow way down and become super efficient. She helped me to understand that my demon Angelus and I are two entirely different entities and that everything that happened when he was in control was not my fault but his. Plus since Sr. Margaret died Mom is now the one that tells us what God wants us to do. We kind of get our life altering orders from her now. Sr. Margaret visits me once in a while but mostly she talks to Mom."

"Tell me you're going to write about your life Angel, because I'll be the first one to buy the book." Jack said. "As soon as I get the chance I'm going to start that book and one on demons and such." Angel said. Dr. Martin came in at that time. "Lets go they're waiting for us. Bishop O'Connel, John has left but he said he would call for your own chauffeur to come for you." "How is he doing?" Jack asked. "I think I was able to make him understand my feelings for him were strictly platonic and that our difference in age had nothing to do with my feelings for him." "You know that he was very much in love with you?" "I know but I just couldn't return the kind of love he wanted."

They entered the large recreational room where all of the Sisters were sitting. As the Monsignor walked in they all rose. He stopped and signaled for them to all sit. While Mother Superior was telling everyone what they were here for Spike took his jacket off and rolled up his sleeve so Dr. Martin could give him a shot to make him sleep. They had brought in a special chair for Spike to sit in while Angel was talking to Billy. When Mother Superior was through talking she gave the mike to Angel. Since Spike was going to be incommunicado for awhile Angel used the time to tell them about Dawn and requested their prayers for her that God would grant her a soul. When he was done he heard his name being called.

"Angel, what are we doing here?" Billy asked. He sounded scared. Angel turned and sat next to him and put his arm around him. Billy had his head down and when Angel sat next to him and put his arm around him Billy turned and hid his face in his arm.

For the next hour Angel talked to Billy and made him relax. At first Billy was afraid of the Sisters. He didn't know why he was afraid; he just knew that he was afraid. As Angel continued to talk to him though he slowly lost his fear of them and Angel even got him to talk to one of the Sisters. After an hour of talking to Billy he thought that the Sisters had seen enough. "It's time for you to go to sleep now Billy. Is there anything you would like to say to the good Sisters?" "Yes there is but I don't know if it would be okay for me to say it." "Just go ahead and say it and if I think it's inappropriate I'll stop you okay?" "Okay. Thank you for letting me come and visit with you and can I have one of those string of beads to play with?" One of the older Sisters stood up and walked over to Mother Superior to request permission to give her rosary beads, that she had hanging from her belt, to Billy. She was given permission and she walked over to Angel and Billy. "Here Billy you can have mine." Billy looked at Angel to see if it was okay to take it. "Go ahead Billy. Don't forget to thank her." "Thank you Sister. Are you sure you won't need these?" "No you can have these. Most of the Sisters don't wear their rosary beads any more because they make a lot of noise so you can have these. Take care of them now." "Oh I will Sister. I don't think my master will like me having them but Angel said I could and he won't let anyone take them away from me will you Angel." "No Billy I won't and when I'm not there then Buffy will be there to prevent anyone from taking them away from you." That got a smile out of him. Billy hugged the beads to his chest."

"It's time to go to sleep now Billy. I'll see you in another month when I come to read you another book. Good bye Billy." Angel placed his hand over Billy's eyes and Billy went back inside of Spike. Angel continued to hold Spike while he slept and proceeded to tell the Sisters why he had brought Billy to see the Sisters. When he was done and the Sisters all left Angel continued to hold onto Spike while Mother Superior and Dr. Martin left. Mother Superior asked her secretary to call for the Bishops limo then she sat down with Dr. Martin and discussed what had just happened.

After thirty minutes had passed Spike started to wake up. "How did it go Daddy?" Spike said as he struggled to get his mind going again. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"How did it go Daddy? Is he just being sarcastic or does he really call you Daddy?" Jack asked. He wasn't used to Spikes little games to bug the hell out of Angel.

"He's being sarcastic, just ignore him and he'll eventually go away." Angel said in answer.

"Angel would you mind leaving us for awhile so that I can talk to Spike privately?" "Sure Jack, be a good boy Spike or you know what Daddy will do to you." "Yeah you and who else?" Angel just slapped Spike on the back of his head and left the room. He went to the waiting room and took a seat. He was very tired for some reason so he just let himself go to sleep while he waited for Dr. Martin.

Thirty minutes later Dr. Martin came looking for Angel. She had checked the recreation room and found just Spike and Bishop O'Connel. Her next stop was the waiting room. She knew he had to be here since he was told before that men were not allowed to go anyplace in the convent without an escort. She was surprised to find him sleeping. She shook his shoulder gently. "Angel wake up baby. Angel wake up." Angel opened his eyes and looked at Dr. Martin. "Are you ready to go now?" "Yes, let me go get Spike and Jack." Angels back was hurting him and he knew exactly where it was coming from.

He called Cordelia to check up on her. He heard the phone ring 5 times before she answered it. "Hello." Angel knew something was wrong now. "Cordelia this is Angel. How are you feeling?" "My back is killing me Angel and your not here to rub it for me." "Why don't you get Buffy to do it for you?" "I would but she went out with Lou." "Well its night time over here baby and were getting ready to go back to the guest house. Our return flight is at 5 p.m. eastern time. So try to tough it out until I get home. Isn't Mike or Hunter there?" "No, there staying at Mike's tonight. I asked Wesley to do it but he turned 3 shades of red so Fred tried it but her hands aren't strong enough. Can't you come home sooner Angel?" "I already tried but they don't have any flights until the one were scheduled for." "Okay I guess I'll just have to try and tough it out. Good bye." "Good night." Angel hung up his cell phone and got up from the couch. He thought he better get up and walk around or he was going to fall asleep again.

Dr. Martin, Spike and Jack came over to the waiting room. "Did you have a nice little talk with Spike Jack?" "Yes I did Angel and that's all you're going to get out of me."

"Let's go everyone the Sisters have all gone to bed which is where we should be." Dr. Martin pushed them all out the door as she locked it and closed it. The Bishops limo was outside waiting patiently for him. The Bishop promised that he would be out to L.A. next year for his vacation. They all said good bye and he got in his Limousine and left while Angel, Spike and Dr. Martin started back to the guest house.

The next day Dr. Martin left early to visit with the Sisters. Mother Superior had made it a special day where they would dispense with the days silence so that they could talk to Dr. Martin. Many of the older Sisters were calling her Sister Mary and Dr. Martin took it in stride. She was enjoying herself immensely. They had their last meal with the Sisters instead of having it separately in the guest dinning room. Angel and Spike were feeling a little weak from the lack of blood but just in time Sr. Pauline brought a pitcher of lamb's blood out for them. Both of them quickly drank their first glass of blood then filled up their glasses again and drank this one more slowly.

Mother Superior had chosen 10 Sisters to eat at the same table with them. Among those that were chosen were some of the Sisters that performed the more menial tasks of the convent and rarely saw anyone outside of the convent doors. Three of the Sisters were Doctors, some were nurses and one of them was Sr. Cecil. She was just beaming she was so proud of the fact that she knew Angel.

For once Spike was a perfect gentleman. He knew he had better be or else both Angel and Dr. Martin would make him suffer for it later. Besides which he was the center of attention for the Doctors and Nurses. They were asking him all kinds of questions on how things were done back when he was going to medical school. They found him to be endlessly fascinating. Many of the things they had today were unheard of when he was going to school. The Sisters usually had a rest period after lunch but today the Sisters at Mother Superiors table were allowed to linger. The other Doctors and nurses were pulling up chairs also as they finished their lunches. Spike was just beaming with pride that he was the center of the Sisters attention and not Angel for once.

Today it was Angel that had to end the lunch. At 2 o'clock he got up and said, "I'm sorry Sisters but it's time for us to leave now. Our flight is at 5 and we have to be at the airport at least an hour before we take off and I also have to return the van I rented." Angel went over to Dr. Martin and pulled out her chair for her. Everyone said their goodbyes and Angel and Spike thanked the Sisters for letting them come and make their requests of them. Dr. Martin and Mother Superior were crying when they said good bye. They didn't think that they would see each other again. Angel took Mother Superiors hand and kissed it and Spike did the same. Angel was having a hard time getting Dr. Martin out the door and it was getting late. To her and everyone else's surprise he picked her up and walked her out of the door. Dr. Martin waved good bye to everyone as he took her out of the convent. He continued to carry her because she was crying.

"You can put me down Angel I'm alright now." He put her down gently and held her hand as they walked back to the guest house. "Don't worry Mom you'll see them again." "No Angel I won't." Angel didn't ask her how she knew.

They had all packed before they went to the convent so all they had to do was load the van and leave.

They had to take a small plane in Manchester and then a large airline in Boston. They made it to the one in Boston just in time. Half way through the flight Angel started feeling uncomfortable. He looked at his hand. He thought he had fallen asleep for a minute and had dropped his drink in his lap. The drink was still there so he knew it wasn't that. He got up and looked at his seat, but it was okay. Dr. Martin was sitting next to him and she asked what was wrong.

"I don't know but I just had the strangest feeling that I was all wet. I thought I had fallen asleep and dropped my drink. I guess I must have been dreaming." He sat back down again and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew right away that Cordelia had gone into labor and the feeling of being wet was her water breaking. He hid his face behind Dr. Martin. She leaned forward a little until the pain was over and he straightened up.

"Cordelia's in labor isn't she?" Dr. Martin asked. "Yes, her water broke and that's why I thought I had spilled my drink. Before I left she said that she felt as though she would have the boys early." "Well were all prepared. I rented a couple of incubators just in case we needed them. If she is just starting she should be okay until we get their." Angel looked at his watch; they had about 90 minutes to go before they were supposed to land. He went over to Spike who was across the aisle from them. "Spike Cordelia has gone into labor so as soon as we land I am going to get the car. I'll come around and pick you and Mom up. It's a good thing we didn't bring very much so we won't have to wait for any luggage." Angel sat back down again and pulled out a large Hershey chocolate bar and started to eat it. He was feeling nervous and eating the chocolate bar helped him to calm down.

As soon as they landed and the elevator was attached to the plane he was out of the door. Spike saw the look on the stewardesses faces. "He wife just went into labor and he wants to be there." They gave him understanding looks.

Spike and Dr. Martin arrived over at the pickup area just as Angel pulled up. They arrived at the hotel just 20 minutes later. Angel didn't even bother to park the car he just pulled up at the back and ran into the Hotel and up the stairs, three at a time. He burst through his bedroom door to find Cordelia removing the sheets from the bed. Fred was in there helping her.

As soon as she saw him Cordelia went to Angel and they kissed and hugged. "How are you feeling?" "Not to bad, except for that first contraction I haven't had another one." "Did you contact Mike or Hunter?" "I left a message at his office and his house. I didn't see any reason to call his pager yet." Fred was pulling the rest of the sheets off of the bed and threw them on the floor to take downstairs later. She was removing the plastic sheet off of the bed that Cordelia had put on the mattress when she felt that she might go into labor soon. Angel helped Fred to make the bed up again then took Cordelia downstairs.

"I thought you might be here." Angel said to Dr. Martin who had gone directly to the clinic along with Spike. She had been washing her hands when they came in.

"Okay Cordelia you know the routine." Angel helped her to get up on the examination bed. He pulled the stirrups out of the end of the bed. Dr. Martin examined her cervix while Spike took her blood pressure, temperature, and pulse.

"When was your first contraction Cordelia?" Dr. Martin asked. "About 6:30 this evening. My water broke first then I had the contraction. "That sounds like the same time you felt it Angel." "Yeah, I thought I had dozed off for a second and dropped my drink on myself then when I felt a sharp pain I knew what it was." "I had to lean forward so he could hide his face behind my back. That would have been funny if his face had changed and someone saw him. I would have had a heck of a time convincing the person that they had been dreaming.

Well Cordelia your cervix has barely opened. I could barely get one finger in it. You know this is going to be rough since your water broke so early." "Yes I know." "What does it mean?" Angel asked as he helped Cordelia to sit up.

"It means it's going to be a dry birth. Also since her cervix hasn't opened very much yet it means it will probably be a long night and perhaps day." Dr. Martin took Cordelia's hands in hers. "If you want a Cesarean Cordelia we can do that. There is no shame in taking it the easier way. I know you are a strong woman but this might be a long labor. It could be anywhere from 6 to 19 hours. Hopefully it will be less than 10. Once the first one is born the second one should come comparatively fast. I know your real tender right now so if Mike comes in within the next couple of hours I'll ask him not to examine you again okay?" "Okay Mom that will help a lot. Can I get down now?" "Sure honey try to keep yourself busy. Take a walk around the hotel. If you're hungry get something to eat, your going to need your strength. Sleep if you can. When your contractions start occurring every hour make sure you stay inside where we can monitor you. Now let me ask you something. Do you have any plans for Kathleen to be associated with your labor or delivery?" Cordelia looked at Angel.

"I really haven't given it any thought, but I think she is too young to see her Mother in pain. I don't want this to have a negative impact on her mind. I think I'll ask Lou to keep the children busy up in there room or do you think we should let Lou see what it takes to bring another life into the world?" Cordelia asked. "I think she should see what you're going through. She has absolutely no idea as to what happens except for what I gave her to read. She is totally innocent when it comes to such things Cordelia. I know she has learned a lot from you but most of it has been the psychology of marriage or as Angel and Connor see it, 'How to control the men in your life'." Dr. Martin said. Cordelia looked at Angel and blushed. She didn't know she was being so obvious.

"Yeah, that reminds me Missy. Connor asked me to tell you to stop telling her how to do such things because Lou is getting so good at it that he can barely keep from jumping her." Dr. Martin and Cordelia laughed. "It's not funny ladies it hurts for a man to get an erection and than not be able to do anything with it, especially the way you used to get me going before we got married. That's why we always take cold showers to cool down." "I'm sorry Angel; I promise I'll tell her to let up on him. Help me down now please." Angel lifted her up easily and put her on the floor.

"Lets go for a walk outside in the back." Cordelia asked as she put her arms around Angel's waist. "Angel I want you to break the link with Cordelia right now before you leave the clinic." "Yes Mam." Angel put his hands along side of Cordelia's face and he reluctantly severed the link. When he was done he lowered his hands and looked into Cordelia's eyes. "How do you feel?" Cordelia asked him. Angel lowered his eyes and took her hands in his and kissed them. When he looked up he had a blood red tear running down his cheek. "Alone. I feel like God just turned away from me." "I love you Angel and that is truly the tie that binds. We are bound together and not even death will separate us." She pulled down his head to hers and kissed him lightly.

"Let's take that walk so that Mom can go and see Giles. After putting on that little display for her she is going to go and jump his bones." "Get out of here and let me clean up in here." Dr. Martin said as she shoed them out the door.

Angel walked slowly so that Cordelia wouldn't have to try to keep up. After only one trip around the back yard she had to sit down. "Would you rub my legs for me Angel they're hurting a lot." "Let's go inside first and you can lie on the couch in our bedroom. Would you like me to carry you?" "Would you please my big strong stud muffin?" Cordelia asked as she held out her hands to him. Angel picked her up and took her inside and put her on the couch. He gathered up some lotion and a towel. When he came back Cordelia was sleeping so he just sat down and started to rub her feet. They were swollen with all of the water she was retaining. Her legs showed a few varicose veins. He had heard that they were painful.

"My poor baby you have suffered so much to bring new life into the world." Angel kissed her foot and continued rubbing them. He turned the TV on and found something to watch. After a while he fell asleep also. Two hours later he was awakened by Cordelia's next contraction. He held onto her hands and talked her through the pain as he had heard Buffy do when Kathleen was getting ready to be born. When the contraction passed she lay back down and took several cleansing breaths.

"That was a strong one." She said after she regained control of her breathing. Angel wiped her face. He could see that it must have been very painful because he had to wipe away tears. "Cordy you know there is still time for a Cesarean." "No Angel, not unless I absolutely have to. Like our little miracle upstairs says, 'We Martin women are strong'. Although I just might threaten you with something terrible but I won't mean it."

Kathleen came running into the room and over to the couch and to her Daddy. "Daddy how come you didn't come and say hello to me when you came home?" "I was kind of busy with your Mommy. Besides what are you doing up so late? You're supposed to be sleeping." "I was sleeping but then I heard you downstairs. What are you doing?" "I'm rubbing your Mommies legs and feet because they are all swollen and are hurting." "Can you rub my feet too?" "Okay but lets go back to your room okay?" "Okay Daddy. Can you carry me?" "I don't know your getting pretty big you know. You might break my back." Angel got up and picked up his daughter with a lot of grunting and groaning. He picked up the lotion then took his daughter upstairs. Angel took his time rubbing Kathleen's feet and before long she was sleeping again. Her daddy covered her up again and kissed her goodnight. "Good night Daddy." "Good night sweet heart." He left then and went back to Cordelia.

Mike and Hunter were in the room when he got back. "Hi Mike, Hunter." Angel said as he came over to the couch. "She seems to be doing okay. We saw Mary when we came in and she explained what she had done already. Unless you start picking up the pace a little it looks like your going to have a long labor. Why don't you go to bed and try getting as much sleep as you can. Give us a call when the contractions start getting to 1 hour apart okay." "Okay." Angel said. Mike and Hunter said goodnight and left to go to their own room. They had been working all day and had gone to his house first but when he listened to his recordings they thought they better spend the night at the hotel. Mike was getting more tired these days and was seriously thinking of giving up obstetrics since all of the late night deliveries were the reason he was so tired. He was close to Mary's age and when she had her stroke it made him realize how old he was getting. He wanted to be around to at least see his child turn 20 so he knew he had to cut back on his work schedule. Working out every other day was enabling him to keep up with Hunter but he knew eventually he was going to start having to slow down.

When Angel returned to his bedroom he found Cordelia in bed and sleeping. He took his clothes off and crawled into bed with her. He couldn't sleep. His mind kept racing along a road that had signs on the side telling him about all of the possible problems that could occur with the delivery. Angel reached over and put his hand on Cordelia's stomach. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his sons. To his surprise his sons moved their heads under his hand. "Hi my boys, I don't think you want to come out yet do you? You just hold onto the sides and don't come out no matter how much your Mama tries to push you out okay?" Angel heard a very soft voice say "Okay Daddy." He moved his hand away then and reached for Cordelia's hand.

"I don't think they are going to be born today Cordy." "What makes you say that?" "Because they are moving around freely and answering to my call." "I don't think so either. I think it's going to be at least another week. Come back to me Angel. I feel lonely and cold when we're not linked together." Angel reached up and established the link again. Since he was almost one hundred percent sure that their would be no birth day today he didn't see where it would be dangerous for him.

Now he was able to sleep, Cordelia went back to sleep also. At 11 A.M. the next morning Mike, Hunter and Dr. Martin came in to check on Cordelia. What they found was Cordelia and Angel sitting up at the table and having a breakfast of soft boiled eggs on toast. "Good morning everyone." Both Angel and Cordelia said.

"I guess this means there won't be a birth day today." Mike said as they all took a seat. Hunter poured them all some coffee and started another pot going.

"No, no babies today. Early this morning I put my hand on her stomach and the boys moved their heads under my hand. When I did that with Kathleen she didn't respond. Mom said she was probably concentrating on what she had to do to come out."

"In other words 'Mrs. Martin', the contractions have stopped." Mike said in a bit of a sarcastic way. "That's correct. No babies today." Cordelia answered with a smile. "Okay then this is a good thing then. Hopefully we can keep them in there for another month. Then they'll be full term and have a much better chance of survival. I think what would be best is for you to stay in bed until you deliver okay?" "Okay, I can use a rest anyway. It's very tiring carrying these boys around. Besides we still haven't chosen names for the boys and we'll have time now. It won't be long before you'll have your own baby to choose a name for Hunter." Cordelia said. Mike put his arm around Hunter and said, "Tara had a miscarriage. We received a call from Willow yesterday morning. Tara started bleeding and no matter what the midwife tried it wouldn't stop. After an hour of heavy bleeding they knew she had lost the baby." Cordelia held her arms out to Hunter and she went to Cordelia.

"I'm so sorry Hunter." Cordelia held her while she cried in her arms. This was the first time that she had the chance to share her pain with another woman.

"Uh, Mike and Hunter, Lou told me something that I thought you might be interested in. I didn't tell you before because you had Tara pregnant with your child, but when Wesley and I went to pick up Tom Lou told us that her father had told them that when their mother was pregnant with them she was warm as a normal human. After she delivered Lou and Tom she became cold again and their father thought that this sudden change is what made her so sick."

Hunter had stopped crying and sat up when Angel had told them that Lou's mother was warm while she was pregnant. She looked at Mike. "Do you think it could be possible?" "We could try but the first thing you have to do Mickey is gain some weight to see if your period would start again once you have enough body fat. Remember when I did the test everything looked normal." Hunter jumped up into Mikes arms and wrapped her legs around him. "I will Mike, I will. I'll eat a meal at night like Cordelia had Angel doing when he was recuperating. I'll do my best Mike I really, really will." She kissed him over and over again. "Okay then you better start now because you didn't eat anything last night." They left then to go downstairs. Dr. Martin left with them. She had stayed quiet through the conversation between them. She was thinking to herself that she hoped for Hunters sake that she would be successful and soon because Mike wasn't getting any younger.

For the next 3 weeks Cordelia was a good girl and stayed in bed while Angel waited on her hand and foot. At the end of the 3rd week Cordelia was in her room while reading a book to Kathleen and Junior. Angel had stepped out to take care of a client and was due back any minute. Lou was sitting and listening to Cordelia as she read the story. She liked listening to Cordelia because she made the people and animals come to life as she changed her voice for the different characters.

"And the Prince lifted the princes onto his beautiful white horse and they rode off into the sunset. The end." "Okay you two it's time for you to go to bed." Lou said as she took the book from Cordelia so she could put it away in the kid's room. Kathleen climbed up to the couch so she could give her Mother a kiss good night, then she pulled her blouse up so she could see her stomach. She put her ear to her mother's stomach and listened then she added her hand. She had a look of concentration on her face like Angel did when he talked to his sons. She lifted her head then and kissed her Mommy's stomach and said "I'll see you tomorrow." "I'll see you tomorrow to." Cordelia thought Kathleen was talking to her. "No Mommy I was talking to my baby brothers." "How do you know they will see you tomorrow?" "Because they told me." "How did they tell you since they can't talk yet?" "They gave me a picture of you and Daddy holding them." "But how do they know what we look like?" "I told them. Good night Mommy. Tell Daddy I said good night and here is another kiss you can give him okay?" "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." Junior climbed up and gave Cordelia a kiss good night also. "Good night Mrs. Martin." "Good night Junior." They both ran off then and to the stairs with Lou.

Angel came in a few minutes later. He didn't come near her because what ever it was that he killed left a funky smell on him. After he took a shower and took his clothes down to the basement he came back and crawled into bed next to his wife. Cordelia took her usual position with her head on his arm.

"How did it go? Do we have another satisfied customer?" "I think he'll be happy with the results of our encounter." "How did you do tonight?" "I had a nice quiet night. I read a girlie story to Kathleen and Junior. At least that's what Junior calls them. Something else peculiar happened also." "What happened?" "Kathleen gave me a kiss goodnight then she lifted my blouse up and put her ear against my stomach then she put her hand on it and she had a look on her face like you do when you're trying to communicate with the boys. When she was done she did as she usually does and kissed my stomach and said 'I'll see you tomorrow'. I thought she was talking to me. When I asked her about it she said that her brothers told her they would see her tomorrow. I asked her how they could tell her that because they can't talk yet. She said they gave her a picture of you and me holding them. I said how they know what we look like. Our daughter said that 'she' told them then she gave me another kiss that I was to give to you." Cordelia gave Angel a kiss then and said that was from Kathleen.

"I'm glad that we talked to her so much about her baby brothers. I was so afraid that she would be jealous of your time with them. Maybe that trick that Willow pulled made her feel more secure." "I hope so. Well I guess I better get to sleep if the boys are going to be born tomorrow. Good night Angel." She gave him a kiss and snuggled up more closely to him and went to sleep. Angel laid awake for awhile then finally went to sleep also. It was now 11:15 p.m.

At 6 in the morning Cordelia rolled out of bed. She had to go to the bathroom so bad. While she was sitting on the toilet she started to feel the baby's head coming down. She quickly got up and went to the bed and shook Angel.

"What's the matter?" Angel asked as he rubbed his eyes. "Angel I was sitting on the toilet and I could feel the baby's head coming down. Call Mike." A powerful contraction took hold of her at that time. She sat down on the bed while Angel held onto her. He knew it was going to hit him any moment. He let her go when he felt her pain. The pain felt like a red hot poker had been shoved through his groin. When it finally passed and he regained control of his breathing he called Mike and told him what had happened and that he was taking Cordelia to the clinic. When he hung up he quickly broke the link with Cordelia. Then he pulled on his pants and picked her up. He had her downstairs within a minute. As he placed her on the bed she had another contraction. This time though she screamed with the pain of the contraction.

"Angel help me I can feel the baby's head crowning. He quickly helped her to scoot down and placed her feet in the stirrups. When he checked her he could see the baby's head crowning. Mike and Hunter came in just in time. Mike saw Angel at the end of the table. "The heads crowning Mike." "Your doing fine Angel. Go ahead and push Cordelia." Hunter went to the other end of the bed and held Cordelia up so she could push. "Okay Cordelia keep pushing until the count of ten. Cordelia gave it all she had and Hunter started counting. It seemed that it was taking a long time for her to get to ten.

At the other end Mike was coaching Angel. "Okay Angel put your hand under the babies head as it comes out." As Cordelia pushed the babies head came out. "I got his head Cordy." "Give it another push Cordelia and we should have your first son out." Mike told her. "Okay one more time Cordelia." Hunter said as she lifted her up again. As Cordelia gathered her strength again she gave it another push and Hunter started to count from 1 to 10. As Cordelia pushed the babies shoulder started to appear. "Run your finger around the babies shoulder Angel. If it's too tight then gently turn him counter clock wise. Angel did as he said and was able to get one shoulder out and then the other slipped out easily and his first son was born. From out of no where his mother was there to help with a clamp for the umbilical cord and a pair of scissors. "Here you are Angel." Angel looked at her and took the scissors. He cut the umbilical cord between the two clamps. While he was doing this Mike was clearing the baby's nose and mouth of any fluid. As he cleared the baby's throat the baby let out a loud cry. Angel laughed and showed their first son to Cordelia. "Let me have him Angel so I can clean him up and check him. Then I'll bring him back." Dr. Martin said as she took his first son from him.

While Angel was delivering his first son everyone else had heard the commotion and came downstairs.

"Do you have a name for him yet Angel and Cordelia?" Spike asked as he did the paper work and Dr. Martin cleaned the baby up and weighed and took measurements.

"Charles Nicholas Martin." Gunn was beaming he was so happy that they named the first one after him. "Good choice for a man." Gunn said.

Angel went to wash his hands before he touched his wife again. When he came back to her she had her eyes closed. He gave her a gentle kiss. She opened her eyes and wiped the blood red tears falling from his eyes.

"He is beautiful Cordy. For as long as I live Cordy I won't ever forget that moment when he came out and I actually received him in my hands from you. I, Angel Liam Martin actually delivered my own son." "Well I did have something to do with it you know." Cordelia smiled as she wiped away his tears.

"Here we are Cordelia and Angel. Here is your first baby, Charles Nicholas Martin, 5 lbs. 6 oz., 21 inches long. And everything is where it is supposed to be." Dr. Martin put their baby in Cordelia's arms. They only had a few minutes to hold him when the second baby made its presence known. While they were waiting for the second baby Mike had put monitors on Cordelia's stomach so they could listen to the second baby's heart beat. He didn't like the sound of the heart beat.

"Cordelia we have to get the 2nd one out now. I know you don't feel like it but see if you can push it out. Dr. Martin took the baby and put him in the incubator and went back to help. Angel helped Cordelia to sit up while she pushed and Mike counted to 10. Her efforts didn't produce any baby. Mike pulled over the Sonogram while Hunter put gel on Cordelia's stomach. He didn't like what he saw.

"Angel see if you can get your son to turn around so that his head is pointing down. Right now his behind is on Cordelia's cervix. I don't want to do a Cesarean at this stage but if you can't get him to turn around then I will." He didn't want to tell them that the baby's heart rate had slowed down a little.

Angel put his hand on Cordelia's stomach and concentrated. They could see the baby move his head so that it was under his hand. Very slowly Angel moved his hand until it was just above her cervix. He kept it there while Cordelia had her first contraction.

"Okay Angel you can remove your hand, he's pointed the right way now and has started down the birth canal." Mike pushed the Sonogram away and Hunter wiped Cordelia's stomach. Since the birth canal was already stretched from his brother being born the second baby came a little faster which suited Mike just fine? It took another 20 minutes before the head could be seen. With the next contraction Cordelia let out a blood curdling scream but she still gave it her all and the baby's head started to crown.

"Come on Angel you want to deliver your next boy." Angel went to the other end and sat down on the stool that Mike vacated. When he saw all of the blood coming out of Cordelia he had an overwhelming desire for the blood of his son that was being born.

"I can't do it. There is too much blood." Angel stood up and backed away. Spike went to his side as Angel fell backwards and turned away from everyone as he crawled to the corner of the room. "What's wrong Angel?" Spike put his hand on his Sires shoulder.

"Spike I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to pull my son out of Cordelia and drain him dry just like Angelus would do when he had control of my body." "Stay where you are Angel, you have your Vampire face on. I'll be right back." When Spike stood up Mike and Dr. Martin were looking at him. As he looked at them he put his Vampire visage on. He quickly turned it back to normal when he saw understanding on their face. Cordelia was in between contractions and she saw what was going on.

"Angel get your butt over here and help me deliver your son." "I can't Cordelia Angelus is trying to tell me to kill him and take all of his blood." "I don't give a shit, tell him to shut up and get over here or you and Angelus will be in dry dock longer then 2 months." Angel was able to get up then after doing what she said. Spike gave him a large glass of blood that he had heated up in the microwave. After drinking it in two gulps he went over to stand by Cordelia. He held onto her as she gave another push to deliver their son. When she was done she looked at Angel and in front of everyone she yelled at him. "I swear Angel if your penis didn't help to give us such a good time I would pull it and cut it off right now." She didn't have time to say anymore because another contraction hit her and she gave the final push to deliver her son.

"Here we go guys we have the 2nd boy." Hunter put the clamps on and then she gave Angel the scissors to cut the final physical tie to his mother. Hunter was busy cleaning the baby's air way when he gave a loud cry to tell everyone that he was here. Mike gave him to Dr. Martin to clean up and perform the usual measuring and weighing. "What are you going to name this one Angel and Cordelia?" Spike asked.

"We couldn't come up with a second name yet so we were going to let Kathleen name her little brother. Connor would you go and get her please." While they waited for Kathleen Cordelia successfully expelled the afterbirth and Mike started to clean her up so that Kathleen wouldn't have to see or smell the blood. Just as he finished up Connor came in with Kathleen. Angel came and took Kathleen from him.

"Good morning Mommy and Daddy." "Good morning sweet heart. We have a present for you." "Where are they Mommy?" "What do you mean where are they?" "My brothers, they said they were coming out today and I know that must be the present." Hunter and Dr. Martin brought the two incubators over so she could see them.

"These two babies are your little brothers, what do you think?" Angel said as he walked over to the incubators. Kathleen looked at them carefully. "Eww their ugly." Everyone laughed. "Give her to me Angel." Angel gave Kathleen to her mother and brought their sons over so that they were right next to the bed.

"Your brothers look like that because they just came out of Mommy and it was crowded in Mommy's tummy. I think maybe they kept on hitting each other with their elbows and fists accidentally. You wait though in a few days they'll look as pretty as Aunt Fred and Uncle Wesley's boys. What we wanted you to come down for though was to help us name one of your little brothers. This one here was born first and his name is Charles Nicolas. Now we want you to name the second one that was born just a few minutes ago. Can you think of two names?" Kathleen took this very seriously.

"Can I think about it for awhile?" Kathleen asked. "Yes you certainly may. After all it took your Mommy and Daddy almost a month to come up with Charles Nicolas. When you decide on a name I want you to go to Grandma or Uncle Spike and tell them what name you have chosen because they are the ones that are filling out the birth certificates and then they are going to put the name on a bracelet that they will put on this one. See the one that Nicolas has." "Okay Mommy I think I'll go and have breakfast and think about it real hard. Can I show them to Junior and Joyce?" "Yes you sure can."

Junior was being held by his father who was standing at the door with the others and Buffy was holding Joyce. They both put the children down and Kathleen took Joyce's hand and Junior just followed. Kathleen was acting very grown up as she took them over to the incubators. Junior was the only one that was tall enough to see the babies.

"Can you pick us up Daddy?" Angel picked both of the girls up so they could see.

"See Joyce and Junior these are my new baby brothers. This one is Charles Nicolas and this is the one that I have to name." "How come you have to name him?" Junior asked. "I think my Mommy and Daddy don't want me to feel like I am being left out." Angel almost dropped the girls. "Put us down now Daddy please?" As soon as he put them down Kathleen took Joyce's hand and said "Lets go and have breakfast and you guys can help me decide on a name for my brother." As Kathleen led her little gang out and to the dinning room everyone just watched them and laughed.

"Our daughter never ceases to amaze me. She is a born leader." Angel said as he watched Kathleen take her two partners in crime to have breakfast. When Angel looked at Cordelia her eyes were half closed.

"Can I take her to our bedroom now Mom?" "Yes I think she has earned some sleep. She has been working very hard this morning. We'll take care of the boys. Are you hungry Angel? I can bring up something for you." "Yes I think I could do with 3 scrambled eggs and 2 slices of wheat toast." "Okay I'll bring them up in about 20 minutes."

Angel wrapped up Cordelia and picked her up. "Come on Mommy you've already had a big day." Everyone else had left to go and have their breakfast. Angel took Cordelia upstairs and put her to bed. Since he had severed the link between them when she went into labor he wasn't tired like he had been when Kathleen was born. Dr. Martin came up later with his breakfast. She had brought up her own breakfast as well. She wanted to talk to him about what happened when his 2nd son was being born. She waited until they were done eating.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened when Mike called you to deliver your 2nd son. Do you want to tell me what happened?" Angel put his fork down and took a sip of his coffee. "When I saw all of the blood coming out of Cordelia Angelus hit me with demands that I take my son and drain him dry like he used to do with babies when he was in control of my body. It took all that I had to resist him and crawl away."

"He seemed to back down when Cordelia yelled at you and threatened you with being in dry dock for over 2 months." Angel laughed. "Yeah he enjoys the sex just as much as I do. Cordelia has become a very good sex partner. You can guess at how well by how fast Angelus backed down." They both laughed at that last remark.

Angel grew quiet after awhile. He had a serious, pensive look on his face.

"You know Mom I was just thinking that for all of us, our time together is starting to wind down now. All we have to do now is to raise children, fight demons, and save damsels in distress, or so the saying goes."

"There is something that I think Lou would like for you to do before her memories of her father become dim." "I think that we are thinking of the same thing. Before they, and I forget, I think I would like to draw and paint a picture of their father. That way then they can have a picture to show their children what their grandfather looked like." "Yes that is exactly what I was thinking also." Dr. Martin got up to get some more coffee and poured some more for Angel. She could see that he still had something on his mind. She just sat down and didn't say anything.

"I was thinking yesterday about the differences in the ages between Connor and his sister, brothers and the Price boys. I think that we will all stop being able to fight long before our children are able to take over. Since God has granted me my wish to become human I won't be able to continue that much longer. Have you been told yet how this will all work out?"

"Yes Sr. Margaret has explained to me how this will all work out. I cannot tell anyone though until the proper time. I can tell you one thing though. You've seen how Kathleen, Joyce and Junior are almost inseparable when Buffy and Spike are here?" "Yes, I think it's so cute the way Kathleen holds Joyce's hand and takes care of her." "Who do they remind you of?" Dr. Martin asked. Angel thought about it for awhile then she saw his face brighten.

"Kathleen, Joyce and Junior are like Buffy, Willow and Xander." "Yes exactly what I thought also. Anyway something catastrophic will happen to Sunnydale in the future and the Scooby gang will come to L.A. I cannot say what will happen nor when and that's all you're going to get out of me." She got up then and started putting the dishes in the sink and started to wash them. Angel got up and dried the dishes as she finished with each then put them back on the tray. When they were done Dr. Martin went to check on Cordelia. She felt her pulse and found it to be nice and strong.

"Why don't you go and take a nap with your exhausted wife now. We'll bring the boys up for their first meal tonight." Angel bent down and gave his mother a kiss. "You get some rest also there are more then enough people here to take care of the boys and I'll take the tray down later." "Yes I think I will go and take a nap also I'll see you tonight."

As his mother left and closed the door Angel closed the drapes, turned the kitchen light off, removed his clothes and slipped in beside Cordelia. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead as she turned towards him.

Downstairs Kathleen, Joyce and Junior had gone outside to play but never stopped talking about what name they would give the youngest of Kathleen's brothers. Connie and Lucinda were listening to them as they were playing. Connie had grabbed her video camera when they started listening.

"I like Toby." Joyce said as she filled one of the toy buckets full of sand. "Yeah that's a good name. We all like Toby. He takes care of us all of the time and doesn't tell anyone that we're doing something that we're not supposed to do. Now we need to think of only one other name." Kathleen said. Then she put her index finger under her chin and turned her head sideways. Connie and Lucinda were having a hard time controlling their laughter.

"You know what I think?" Kathleen said. "What?" Both Joyce and Junior asked.

"I hear Daddy and Grandma talking to St. Michael all of the time. I think we should call him Saint Michael Toby. What do you guys think?" "That's good." Both Joyce and Junior answered. "Let's go tell Uncle Spike." Kathleen said as she picked up Joyce's hand and helped her up. Since she was covered in sand she brushed it all off and took off her shoes and shook it until she didn't get anymore sand out. Although Kathleen was taking care of Joyce and making sure she didn't have any sand on her she forgot about herself. As they went into the hotel Connie saw Kathleen leaving a trail of sand behind her.

"Kathleen you forgot to clean the sand off of yourself. Please go outside and brush it off of your clothes." "Okay Mrs. Sanchez." Kathleen and her gang members helped her brush off the sand an cleaned her shoes off. When they were done they all took off looking for Uncle Spike. "How come we're going to Uncle Spike and not Dr.Martin?" Junior asked as they made their way upstairs to the 2nd floor. "Cause Uncle Spike is more fun."

Kathleen knocked on Spike and Buffy's room. Spike opened the door. "Come in everyone. Who's this cute little girl you have with you Kathleen and Junior?" "It's me Daddy. " "Who's me?" Spike asked as he picked his daughter up. "We came to tell you the name we chose for my baby brother." "Okay let me get my paper. Come over here to the kitchen table." Spike put Joyce down and pulled out the birth certificate and a blank piece of paper.

"Okay what name have you picked?" "Saint Michael Toby." Kathleen proudly announced. Spike didn't even crack a smile. He knew how serious Kathleen was taking this.

"Okay that is a very good name for a boy but the title Saint isn't a name it's a title like for instance you've heard us say that your Daddy is a champion but we don't call him Champion Angel, we just call him Angel. The title Saint is a description just like Champion is a description. It tells you what kind of person Angel is. Do you understand?" Junior and Joyce shook their heads and said no while Kathleen said yes.

Kathleen proceeded to explain to Junior and Joyce. "Uncle Spike is saying that Saint isn't really a name. Well just call him Michael Toby then Uncle Spike." "Okay then your new baby brother will be called Michael Toby Martin. Wait a minute now, you know what?" "What?" Kathleen answered. "I think maybe we should put down on the birth certificate Tobias so that his name will be Michael Tobias Martin. That way then his friends won't be able to tease him and say 'Ha, ha, you were named after a dog, ha, ha'." Kathleen conferred with her two compatriots. "Okay Uncle Spike we agree that Tobias will be better, but we are still going to call him Toby, okay?" "That sounds good to me then he will be able to tell his friends 'My name is Michael Tobias. Toby is short for Tobias'." Spike turned around then and wrote the name down on the birth certificate as Michael Tobias Martin. He got up then and shook their hands.

"Congratulations Mary Kathleen, Joyce and Junior. You did a good job. Tonight I will give the birth certificate to you're Mommy and Daddy Kathleen." He went to the door then and opened it for them. "Are you going to go and play downstairs now or up in your room?" "I think we will have lunch now. Thinking up names is very tiring. Bye Uncle Spike." "Bye Daddy." Kathleen and Joyce said as they went to the elevator to go upstairs to their room. Spike laughed to himself as he closed his door.

Later that evening at 7 o'clock Cordelia finally woke up. She stretched her arms and legs. Angel had been up since 5 o'clock and was sitting on the couch and reading. Cordelia carefully got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. It took her awhile to relieve herself since she was so sore and everything had been pushed out of their usual position. When she was done she started the shower. "Angel would you come and help me take a shower?" Cordelia called out as she took her clothes off. After a few minutes Angel came in and joined her in the shower. He carefully washed her hair and the rest of her body since she said she was too sore to bend down and her stomach was still large and wouldn't go down for awhile.

When he had her dressed in a clean nightgown again he helped her back into bed and dressed himself. Just as he was pulling his pants on he heard a light knocking at the door. "Come in Mom and Hunter." "How is Cordelia doing?" Dr. Martin asked. "You can ask her yourself she's awake. We just took a shower and she's all nice and clean again." Hunter and Dr. Martin came in and went over to the bed.

"How are we doing Mommy?" "I feel a lot better now that I'm all clean once again. How are my boys doing?" "Your boys are doing just fine. They've been sleeping all this time also. I don't think they'll be ready for their first meal until tomorrow morning. Are you two hungry?" Dr. Martin asked. "Yes, I'm starving." Cordelia said. "Okay then I'll be back in about 30 minutes with your dinner." Dr. Martin and Hunter left then.

"How are you and Mike doing Hunter? I heard about Tara's miscarriage." "We're doing okay. Did you hear about what Angel told us about Lou's mother?" "Yes I did. I also heard that Mike said you had to work on gaining weight to see if your period would start again so how are you doing?" "Well it's been hard. I've always been thin but I am trying my best. I started eating more and I set my alarm at night so that I'll get up and eat. So far I've been able to gain 5 pounds but I feel terrible. I feel so sluggish and just tired." "Well, give yourself some time Hunter your body needs to get used to the extra weight. I would say that you need to gain at least 20 more pounds before your body will kick into high gear." Hunter just moaned and sat on the steps. Dr. Martin sat next to her. "Mom it's been 3 weeks and all I've gained is 5 pounds and I feel so terrible. I don't know if I can do this."

"Mickalub Thompson, do you want a baby or not?" "I do but I've never weighed more than I do now." "Now you've had more than enough experience to know how to gain weight. I notice that you don't exercise like the others do so if your feeling bad then start exercising to turn that extra weight into muscle instead of just fat. Let's go now I have a dinner to make for my two favorite kids. Cordelia needs her calories so she can start making lots of milk for her two boys. Poor Angel, with two babies to nurse Cordelia won't have anything left for him. I hope he doesn't start sucking his thumb." The two women went to the kitchen laughing at the picture that put in their heads.

Dr. Martin made the usual rare steak for Angel and warmed up some rice and chili beans for Cordelia. Before taking up the tray she made sure she had the bottle of Beano on the tray. When she arrived at there door Angel opened it before she could knock. "She's sleeping again." Angel whispered. "Okay here are both of your dinners. Why don't you just put a plate over her food and put it in the refrigerator for later. I'll see you tomorrow morning." "Thank you and goodnight." Angel said as he took the tray from her and closed the door.

At 2 in the morning Cordelia woke up again and was ravenous. After going to the bathroom she warmed the food that she found in the refrigerator and sat down in front of the TV to eat her dinner. She was falling asleep half way thru her dinner so she just put it on the coffee table and lay down.

Across the street in the abandoned building there were two humans with high tech listening devices. Five mikes were pointed to the Hotel that contained Angel Investigations, one for each floor. The two men were a team that traded off every eight hours with two other men and they in turn were relieved by two others. The six men had replaced a three man team that had started listening 45 days ago. When Cordelia's water broke and she had several contractions they had been quickly replaced by the 6 men. Wolfram & Hart new when each contraction started and how far apart they were. They had heard Dr. Thompson tell Cordelia to stay in bed. They had heard everything and they had reported everything each morning to Lila.

"This is Douglas Mam. Mrs. Martin had the two boys this morning. Apparently she is going to be resting the rest of the day. It's quiet in their room right now. Dr. Martin had told her to rest. Do you want us to do anything right now Mam." "No Douglas we won't take them for a couple of days. They need to nurse at least for a couple of days. Then we will make our move. Continue to monitor the Hotel and give me reports as usual." Lila hung up with a smile. She went to her desk to write her report to the Senior Partners.

TBC……………………………………………………………………………….


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Early the next morning Cordelia was up and looking for her babies. Angel was walking down the hall trying to get a feel for the boys. He couldn't sense them at all though. "Stay right here and I'll go to the 3rd floor to see if they are in Lou's room." Angel leaped up to the 3rd floor and went to stand in front of Lou's room. He picked up their scent here but it wasn't strong enough to say that they were currently here. He walked towards the Sanchez's room but still didn't pick up anything. Next he tried the 5th floor and his mother's room. Their scent was strongest here so he knocked at their door lightly but didn't get an answer. He knocked a little harder then. This time he heard Giles come to the door.

"Good morning Angel, I presume you're looking for your sons?" Giles whispered. "Yes do you have them?" Giles opened the door wider. Angel came in and saw a bassinet next to the bed by his mother. He looked inside and saw the boys all bundled up and laying side by side. Angel pulled the bassinet out to the hallway. "Thanks Giles." Angel carefully pulled the bassinet over to the elevator and went down to the 2nd floor then to his bedroom where Cordelia was waiting.

"Here we are Mommy." Angel pulled the bassinet in and closed the door. Within a few minutes they heard a soft knock at the door. Can I come in Mommy and Daddy? Angel opened the door and let his daughter in. Kathleen wasn't the only one that came in though. She had brought her gang with her. "Well I see everyone is up early. Good morning." Cordelia said. Everyone said good morning and came over to look what was in the bassinet.

"We gave a name to Uncle Spike, Mommy and Daddy." "And what did you name your little brother?" Angel asked as he took a seat on the bed next to Cordelia.

"We named him Michael Tobias Martin." Kathleen said. "That's a very good name but why did you name him Michael Tobias." "We named him Michael because I always hear you talk about Saint Michael all of the time so we told Uncle Spike we wanted to name him Saint Michael but Uncle Spike said Saint wasn't really a name so we shortened it to Michael. Then we wanted the second name to be Toby because Toby is our friend and he takes care of us all of the time and plays with us. Uncle Spike said that kids might tease him about being named after a dog so he said why not name him Tobias that way he could tell kids that Toby was short for Tobias. So that's why his name is Michael Tobias." "Well that is a very good name isn't it Daddy." Cordelia said. "Yes that's a very good name. I especially like Michael. We can call him Mike which is short for Michael." Angel picked up his youngest son and said "How do you like your name Michael Tobias?" In answer his son started crying.

"Let me have him Angel." Cordelia opened Michael's blanket then checked his diaper. It was wet so she got up and put him on the bed. "He's wet Angel why don't you check Nicky?" Angel picked up his other son and kneeled down by the bed and took the outer blanket off. "Yup, he's wet also." Cordelia brought a couple of diapers over along with some baby wipes. She got on her knees like Angel and they started to take the diapers off. Kathleen helped Joyce to get up on the bed and Junior, Kathleen and Joyce watched the two newest additions to the family being changed. Just as they pulled the diapers off and the air hit them they both shot a stream of urine. Fortunately Cordelia had taken care of plenty of baby boys when she was a teenager and knew enough to keep the dirty diaper on where she could protect herself. Unfortunately Angel didn't know about this trick and his son got his robe all wet. He quickly covered him but his son was quicker on the draw. He looked at Cordelia as she laughed at him.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" "I'm sorry I forgot they did that and I just unconsciously covered Michael." Kathleen's gang was all laughing at him. "Eww you got pee all over your bathrobe Daddy." Angel went ahead and changed his son's diapers and bundled him up again. Cordelia climbed up on the bed and opened her robe so she could give Michael his first meal. The girls and Junior got on either side of her and watched what she was doing. Cordelia pulled her nightgown strap down and cleaned her breast then put her son to her breast for the first time. He didn't want it at first but when she squeezed her nipple a little into his mouth he latched on and started suckling.

Angel was watching the kids watching Cordelia. "Do you think they remember being nursed?" "I don't know why don't you ask them." Cordelia told him.

"Junior do you remember your mother feeding you like that?" "No, she said she did when I saw Mrs. Price feeding her baby but I don't remember." "I guess that is something that we forget easily." Angel said. "Yeah but you men remember real fast." "Why Mrs. Martin, shame on you saying that in front of these innocent little minds."

"Do you have your towel so you can burp him?" Angel got up and pulled a clean towel out of the closet. He came back to the bed and after another 10 minutes Cordelia gave him Michael. She cleaned herself up then reached for Nicky. Angel had placed him on her lap before he took Michael from her. Nicky took to her breast without any encouragement. Angel put Michael to his shoulder and started to gently pat him on the back. "How come you're doing that Daddy?" "I'm patting him on the back because babies get air into there tummies when they nurse and you get it out by lightly patting them on their backs. If you listen you'll hear him burp up the air." The children became very quiet while they listened and were rewarded with a soft burp from Michael.

"Would you like to hold your brother?" Angel asked Kathleen. "Can I?" In answer Angel wrapped Michael back up and put him in his sister's lap. Junior and Joyce sat closer to Kathleen and looked at her little brother.

"Daddy can I talk to Michael and Nicky like you and I used to talk." "You mean like when I talked to you in here without anyone else knowing what we are saying to each other?" Angel pointed to her head. "Yes like that." Angel could tell that Kathleen was very serious about this.

"Yes I think you can but let's wait until they are a little older okay. Mommy said you talked to them when they were still inside her with pictures just like you do when you talk to Toby, is that right?" "Yeah I put my head to her tummy and they told me they were going to come out the next day by showing me a picture of you and Mommy holding them." "What made you think they were going to come out the next day?" "I just guessed since I was saying goodnight." "Okay we are going to try something later when they wake up again. When you hear me calling you I want you to come to our room and well try talking to them okay?" "Okay Daddy. Can I bring Joyce and Junior?" "No I think it would be better if it was just you Mommy, me and Connor if he is back home then." "Okay Daddy." Cordelia gave Angel Nicky and took Michael from Kathleen and put him in the bassinet. "Why don't you 3 go and get dressed now and stay in your room until Connie calls you for breakfast okay?" "Okay, bye Nicky and Michael." Joyce and Junior echoed Kathleen's goodbyes and they all climbed down from the bed and went upstairs.

By the time Angel and Cordelia were ready to go downstairs it was 9 o'clock. Cordelia had put on another nightgown after taking a shower with Angel. She still tired easy and thought she would spend another day in bed resting. Angel pulled the bassinet to the elevator and then to the dinning room. Everyone else was either at the table having coffee or coming down the stairs now.

"Good morning everyone." Angel and Cordelia said. "Good morning, how are you two doing?" Dr. Martin asked. "We are doing okay and except for Nicky and Michael, we are starving." "Michael, is that the name Kathleen picked out?" Connor asked.

"You'll be happy to know that they named him after your dog also. His whole name is Michael Tobias Martin. According to your sister, her and her gang had decided on Saint Michael Toby. When they went to Spike though he was able to convince them that Saint wasn't a name but a title and Toby wasn't a good name because the other kids in school would tease him about being named after a dog. So they changed it to Michael Tobias. Kathleen made it clear though that they were still going to call him Toby."

Lou and Tom were coming down the stairs with the children following them. Lou and Tom had Joyce between them and were swinging her down to each step since she was so small and could barely make it by herself. As they made it to the bottom the children went running to the dinning room. Kathleen came to a stop just as they made it to the entrance of the dinning room. As she was taught she greeted everyone and Joyce and Junior copied her. To no ones surprise though they all went and gave Toby a hug and a good morning kiss then went to sit at their table. Toby took his usual position as the fourth kid.

When the children sat down and Toby took his position at the children's table Connie, Lucinda, and Joaquin turned and stood where they were after bringing in the food. When Kathleen saw that everyone was quiet she started the Morning breakfast prayer. "Thank you Jesus for another day, thank you for the food we have, and most of all thank you for my two new brothers Charles Nicholas and Michael Toby. Amen" Everyone echoed her Amen and then got up to get their food. Angel got up and made a plate for both Cordelia and Kathleen while Buffy made one for herself and Joyce. Connie made one for Junior and then waited until everyone else was finished getting their food then she dished up her own along with Joaquin, and Lucinda. Connor made a little dish for Toby so that Kathleen and the rest wouldn't give him some of theirs. Everyone concentrated on their food for awhile before striking up a conversation.

When Angel finished his breakfast he sat back in his chair and was biting on his thumb nail. Dr. Martin saw him and softly called out to Hunter and pointed at Angel. Both women started laughing so hard that they were choking. Mike and Giles were patting their wives back to help them clear their throat.

"What is so funny that you two started choking?" Dr. Martin was reluctant to say anything. Hunter though had no reservations. She was always speaking up and embarrassing someone. Angel was her favorite target.

"When we checked on Cordelia yesterday Dr. Martin made a comment when we left their room, she said poor Angel wasn't going to get any time with Cordelia's breasts since she had two babies to nurse. She also said 'I just hope he doesn't start sucking his thumb instead'. When we looked at him it looked like that was what he was doing."

Cordelia reached over to Angel. "My poor baby are those bad women picking on you again?" "Yes they are. I swear if it isn't Gunn, then it's Spike when he's here, and if it isn't Spike then it's Hunter. What's worse is that my own Mother is picking on me also. Kathleen, would you come here for a minute please?"

Kathleen came over to her father and put her arms out to him. "What's the matter Daddy?" "Aunt Mickey and Grandma are picking on me. I want you to change them into cats so that Toby will chase them around the hotel for a while." "Okay Daddy. How long do you want them to be cats?" "Oh I would say 10 minutes will be long enough." "Okay Daddy, are you really, really sure that you want me to do this?" "Yes I am really, really sure. It will teach them that you are my protector and no one should tease me because you will teach them a lesson if they do." "Okay Daddy here it goes." She looked at Hunter and snapped her fingers. All of a sudden there was a loud bang and Hunter disappeared.

Mike and everyone else jumped up. "Oh my God Kathleen what did you do?" Then they heard a loud "Meow." Mike lifted the clothes that Hunter had been wearing and underneath the clothes he found a light brown, long haired, female cat. He carefully picked her up and held her close to his chest.

Everyone was standing and had their mouths open as they stared in astonishment at what Kathleen had done. Giles was afraid that she was going to do the same thing to his wife. "Kathleen don't you dare change your grandmother into a cat." "I won't Grandpa. Besides I don't think Grandma will tease Daddy anymore will you Grandma." "No I won't tease him anymore about that particular subject." She said with a little chuckle.

"Why are you so calm about this?" Giles was turning red he was so angry. "What if she can't turn her back?"

"Everyone sit down and calm down." Dr. Martin said. When she saw that everyone was sitting she stood up. "Willow, come out here please?" Willow came out and everyone looked at her. She had a sheepish look on her face.

"You're the one that changed Hunter, right?" Dr. Martin asked when everyone sat down. Mike was still holding onto Hunter and petting her while she was licking his ear and purring.

"No uh...actually Kathleen did it but I taught her how to do it." Willow and Tara pulled up chairs by Kathleen and Angel. Tara gave Mike a large towel to hold Hunter in then she went and sat down next to Willow.

"Kathleen remember the words I taught you to turn an animal back to a person?" "Yes." "Okay then I want you to turn the cat back into Hunter. Think of what she looks like then say the words I taught you." Everyone was watching Kathleen as she looked at Hunter then snapped her little fingers as best she could. In the next second Mike was holding Hunter in her human form and doing his best to cover her with the towel. Hunter grabbed her clothes and went over to the kitchen and put her clothes on then went back to her seat next to Mike.

"Kathleen please come over here?" Dr. Martin said to her granddaughter. Angel put his daughter down and she went running over to her grandmother who picked her up and sat her on the table.

"I want you to listen very carefully to what I am going to say now. Do I have all of your attention?" "Yes Grandma." "You must never, never ever do what you just did to Aunt Hunter or anyone else ever again unless Aunt Willow or Aunt Tara is standing right next to you and they tell you to do it. Do you understand?" "Yes Grandma." "Do you understand why I am telling you not to do it unless they tell you to?" Kathleen looked at her grandmother and nodded her head but then said no. Her grandmother smiled at her.

"I'll try to explain it better then. What you just did to Hunter hurts their feelings and scares them. Do you know what would happen to Toby if you should change him into a human?" "No." "If you changed Toby into a human he would be so afraid that he may die of freight because an animal cannot understand what is happening to them and they might be so afraid that they die from being scared. When you change a human into an animal or anything else they could become very, very sick. Now the only reason Hunter didn't get sick is because she knew what was going to happen. We let you change her because I wanted to teach you a little lesson in a way that you would understand. Now I want you to go to Aunt Willow and she is going to make you forget the words that she gave you to change Aunt Hunter okay?" Kathleen looked down at her hands. Then she looked at her Grandmother.

"I'm sorry Grandma I only did what Daddy told me to do." Kathleen was crying buckets.

Dr. Martin wiped her granddaughter's tears away and gave her a hug. "Kathleen you didn't do anything wrong. This was just a lesson. Sometimes when I am teaching your Daddy something I let things happen that hurts his pride because that is the best way for him to learn. And since you are just like your Daddy I had to do the same thing with you as I do with him. Do you understand now?" "Yes Grandma." Dr. Martin gave Kathleen a hug and a kiss then put her down. Kathleen went to her Daddy and reached up for him to pick her up. "I'm sorry Daddy." "You didn't do anything wrong princes. Grandma was just teaching you a lesson." Kathleen hugged her daddy again and whispered something in his ear. Then she got down and took Willows hand and they went to the back porch together where Willow made her forget the words to change a person.

"What did she say?" Dr. Martin asked when she saw Angel laughing. "She said 'I'm sure glad Grandma doesn't teach me all of the time'." Everyone started laughing.

"Okay everyone let me explain why we put this little play on for Kathleen. The last time that Willow and Tara were here they told me they had caught her performing magic without even saying the words that are usually spoken to perform the magic. In other words Kathleen has a lot of power in her little body she just doesn't understand how things work yet or why she shouldn't do some things. Last week Friday I had a conference call with Willow, Tara, and Hunter. In discussing the problem of how to handle this little miracle child we came up with this little theatrical play. As I so often do with Angel I let things happen and then explain what was going on and why things were happening the way they do. I just had to make things a lot simpler for Kathleen. Since I wanted to give this lesson to Kathleen and Tara and Willow wanted to come and see the new additions to the family we did it today before Kathleen saw Tara and Willow.

Angel and Cordelia your daughter is a very powerful little girl. She just doesn't understand what she is capable of. I'm sure everyone understands that they can't request or even suggest certain things to Kathleen because she just may very well be able to fulfill your requests. Also Angel because of what we know about Kathleen now I think it would be best if you and some of the others, that are capable of changing into wolves, do it in front of her and see if she can do it."

"I don't think that is a very good idea Mom. If she is able to change into a Wolf, which I don't think she can, she may not be able to change back." "Angel I suggested to Mary that we do this. Even though Kathleen is only half Vampire she has so much power that she may be able to do it if she wants to bad enough. Don't you think that it would be better if her Daddy was right by her side?" Hunter said. Angel thought about it. He looked at Cordelia and she nodded a yes. "I guess your right. Since she has Cordelia and I as her parents I guess it's a given that she will try it on her own. We may run into a bit of a problem with her now. It seems that Kathleen has become, shall we say, modest. When the Summer's family came Spike and I went upstairs to get the girls ready for bed and Kathleen insisted that Joyce and her go into the bathroom to change."

"Why don't you try doing it with just Cordelia, Kathleen and you in the room? I know that you frequently take a bath with her so maybe she'll be okay." Dr. Martin suggested. "Or why don't you just leave your shorts on when you change or would that present a problem?" "I've always taken everything off. Have you done it like that before Hunter?" "Sure, the clothes usually don't present a problem. You change and they just fall off." Hunter answered. "Okay then I guess I'll try it like that then."

"Mom, have you been told anything as to why Kathleen has been given so much power?" Cordelia asked. She sounded like she was afraid for her daughter.

"Yes I have Cordelia. Don't be afraid for her though. She is being given all of the time she needs to learn everything she will need to finally destroy Angel Investigations number one enemy." "Wolfram & Hart." Angel said.

"Yes, exactly when she will do it though I don't know. All I've been told is that she will be the one to finally destroy them. They are an affront to God. You are His Champion Angel but Kathleen is the instrument by which He will destroy Wolfram & Hart.

Needless to say Kathleen must be home schooled until she is old enough to go to High School. Let her make the choice as to whether she wants to continue at home or go to public school. All of the other children will have to be home schooled as well up until the time that you are confident that they will not make a mistake and talk to their friends about what you all do here and about our Vampires. Connie and Joaquin this will have to include Junior also. Just to let you know your son is destined to work with Angel Investigation. I was not told though what he will be doing.

I have one last thing to tell all of you. For the first time my information is for Gunn." Gunn's eyes grew wide. He had never been given any instructions or information before in all of the time that Dr. Martin had been with them.

"This year, for Christmas, you are to bring all of the children in your group for Christmas dinner. At that time Fred will tell us which of these children will join Angel Investigation. The one she chooses will be sent to school to become a lawyer. This person will be very good at what they do and will be able to fight and beat Wolfram & Hart at their own game. They will also continue to work with you to provide legal advice or help to the poor." Dr. Martin saw a disappointed look on Gunn's face. She knew that he had expected to be given something that was more important to do.

"Gunn, would you come here and kneel beside my chair? You are so much taller than me that I often find it uncomfortable to talk to you while I am standing next to you. I keep on thinking that you're going to pat me on the head and say 'Go and play now little girl'." Gunn got up and did as Dr. Martin asked.

Dr. Martin pulled Gunn's hands onto her lap. "Gunn, God is very pleased with what you do. Eventually, in the years to come, Angel Investigations will do more of the type of work that you do. You and Cylinda will have one child. It will be a boy and he will look a lot like you. This child though will not follow in your foot steps in exactly the same way. Your son will give his life to God. He will become a priest that will work with the poor. His dedication to the poor will come from his father. You will instill in him your dedication and love of the poor." Dr. Martin looked into Gunn's eyes and raised his hands to her lips and kissed them. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. I know that you don't feel like you are doing anything important Gunn but your work is more important than anything that the rest do. Because you Charles Gunn take care of God's forgotten children and because of that He showers you with his love.

I have one last thing to tell you. It is God's gift to you. Your sister was allowed to come to me. She has told me to tell you that she is very happy in heaven with your Mother. You are not to feel that it's your fault that she was turned into a Vampire and that it was you that had to end her body's existence in this world because her soul went to heaven when the Vampire killed her." Gunn put his head in her lap and started to cry. Everyone knew how guilty he felt about having to stake his sister.

Cylinda had come over to Gunn and put her arm around his shoulders. She took him over to the couch in the lobby where he could get control of himself. When he was able to he went back over to Dr. Martin. She looked up at him as he stood beside her chair.

"Thank you Dr. Martin for telling me all of this. I feel a lot better knowing my sister is happy. I have just one thing to ask" "I think I know what you're going to ask but go ahead."

"You think God will be angry with me if I continue to pick on Angel once in awhile?" "No I think he understands that Angel needs to be brought down a peg or two once in awhile. Besides a little humility is good for his soul." "Hey, I'm right here you know. If your going to let him humiliate me at least talk about it when I'm not around. You won't let him do that to me will you Cordelia?" Angel used his big brown puppy dog eyes to get her to do what he wanted.

"I'm sorry Angel but I can't overrule Mom. I'll run interference for you as much as I possibly can though." Cordelia told her husband as she got up and gave him a kiss. "Let's take the boys upstairs now so I can get some rest and feed them." Angel, like a good husband did what Cordelia said and started pulling the bassinet to the elevator. Everyone started to get up and to do their own individual jobs. Connor had a class that he had to get to while Lou and Tom had school work to do with Wesley and Fred. Angel and Cordelia took the boys upstairs and changed their diapers first. For the second time Angel forgot to leave the diaper covering the boy until he could put the new one on. As Nicky aimed and fired his shot of urine right in the middle of his father's shirt. Angel just looked at Cordelia.

"Everyone seems to be picking on me today." Cordelia came over and showed him how to diaper the boys so they didn't get a chance to pee on their father. They took the boys over to the bed then so she could nurse them. She hadn't started to produce milk yet but fortunately the boys weren't demanding anything more.

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At the building across the street the Wolfram & Hart agents were continuing to monitor all of the rooms. One of the men that had been listening to Dr. Martin felt bad about doing what he was doing. He had been helped by Gunn and his kids many times before he started working for Wolfram & Hart. He had started with just cleaning the building and then started working in the mail room as soon as there was an opening. He had worked hard and moved up quickly. Now he was going to have to do something that went against his own personal ethics. He had heard from others though that anyone that went against any orders that you were given would somehow mysteriously disappear. He had to think about what he could do to help them. Ricky Knowles was no fool. He wanted to help but he wanted to continue to work for Wolfram & Hart. He didn't want to ever be in a position again where he needed help from someone else to get his next meal.

Lila was in her office setting up the activities for the night. She was in her office trying to come up with an idea of what to do with Angel to make sure that he couldn't come after his sons for at least a few months. She knew information they had on Angel told her that they didn't have to get as drastic with him as they have in the past. He would take longer to heal now since he was becoming human again. She reached for her phone and punched in a number. "Records, Shirley speaking." The young woman on the other end answered. "Shirley this is Lila, please send up the latest medical records on Angel to my office ASAP." "Yes Mam I'll bring them up myself." "Thanks Shirley." Lila turned off the phone. 'I think Angel that your records will be able to give me an idea.' Lila thought to herself.

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After feeding both of her sons Cordelia laid down for a nap. Angel had gone downstairs to do some paper work. When he was done he sat back in his chair with his feet up on his desk and started drawing a picture of Daniel Francois D'Chambeau as he remembered him. When he was done he would show it to Lou and Tom for any corrections that were needed.

At 1 o'clock he went up stairs to help Cordelia with the boys. She had just finished feeding them and was changing their diapers before they went downstairs. "Where have you been all morning?" "I was doing some paper work and then I started on a portrait of Lou and Tom's father. I wanted to get it done before I forget what he looks like. Then since it was almost time for lunch I thought I would come up and help you but you seem to be all done." "Yes aren't you lucky. Let's take them downstairs." Angel picked up Nicky and put him in the bassinet while their Mother did the same for Michael.

Kathleen and her gang came and gave the boys an official escort. When they arrived downstairs Connor came in also followed by Toby. Toby had been to school also and was ready for his afternoon nap. First though he wanted to introduce him to his new baby brothers.

"Angel and Cordelia is it okay if Toby can see the boys now?" "Sure, come here Toby." Angel commanded him. Toby came over and stood in front of Angel's chair. "Kathleen why don't you come over here and introduce Toby to your new baby brothers?" "Okay Daddy." Kathleen came over and took off her brothers receiving blankets that her Mother had them wrapped in. "Toby this is my new baby brother Charles Nicholas and this one is my new baby brother also and his name is Michael Tobias. But we really named him after you. Just so that you don't get confused we call him Michael for now." Angel and Cordelia were holding the boys down where Kathleen and Toby could reach them. Kathleen stood on her toes and gave each of her brothers a kiss. Then she stepped back so Toby could kiss them. Instead Toby approached the boys carefully and started sniffing them. First he smelled their little feet then their hands. When it came to their heads he licked them. When he was done he sat down and looked at Angel.

"Apparently Toby has accepted them. Connor have you tried to connect with the boys like Kathleen has?" "No, not yet." "Try it then, it will help you to recognize your brothers well being and you will be able to more easily find them if anything should happen." Connor put his hand on each boy in turn and opened up a link between the boys and him. "It's going to be kind of hard to find their minds right now since all they do is eat and sleep." Angel told Connor.

"Can I hold Michael?" Connor asked. Angel was holding Michael so he handed him over carefully. "He's so much smaller than Kathleen was." Connor said as he held him in his hands the way Angel usually did. "Well it was pretty crowded in their. We're lucky they weighed as much as they did." Cordelia said. She put Nicholas back in the bassinet then took Michael from Connor and wrapped him back up also and put him in with his brother. They were so tiny they both fit into the bassinet without any problem.

Everyone was almost done with their lunch when Angel said "Lou and Tom I want you to stop in my office when you get through with lunch. I drew a picture of your father as I remember him but I need for you to take a good look at the picture and tell me if I need to make any changes. After all you saw him every day of your lives and I only saw him a few times." Tom and Lou looked very happy about the news of a picture being drawn of their father.

"Angel, Buffy, Spike and I are going to go to Rupert's new magic shop and help him with the final preparations to open it this weekend. I'll let you know if we are going to have dinner elsewhere tonight." Dr. Martin said. "Okay Mom. I think I'll be taking a nap with my family. As all good vampires should be doing." "Do you really still feel the need to sleep during the day?" His Mother asked him. "Yes as a matter of fact I do. I don't think that will leave me until I am finally rid of Angelus. In fact ever since I got my soul back I've been able to be active during the day without any problem, but if I have the opportunity I will sleep until nightfall."

After a few minutes everyone started to get up and go their own way. Connor went upstairs to do his homework. He didn't like leaving it until Sunday night. He sent Toby to go and play with the kids while he completed it. Kathleen, her gang and their guardian went upstairs to play. Toby knew from experience that this usually led to a nap which is exactly what he wanted to do since he had been active since early in the morning. The Price boys were still too young to play with the older children so their parents took them upstairs to play in their playpen and take their nap. Both Gunn and Cylinda had gone up to their suit some time ago. Dr. Martin had given him a lot to think about.

Angel told Cordelia he would be right back to take the bassinet upstairs. Lou and Tom followed him to his office. "Here it is. Look at it real good and think about what I need to change and I'll be right back as soon as I take the bassinet upstairs." Angel gave the drawing to Lou and Tom then went back to the dinning room to take his sons to their room. A few minutes later he was back to see what they wanted him to change.

"Well how does it look?" Lou and Tom looked up from the picture they were looking at as they sat on the couch. Lou got up and threw her arms around Angel. "It's perfect Angel, it is perfect. Neither Tom nor I can find a problem with the picture. Thank you, thank you very much. She gave him a kiss on his cheek then went upstairs. "And you Tom, what do you think? Is their anything you want me to change?" "No Sir, nothing, that's our father." Tom got up and gave Angel the drawing. He kept his head down so Angel wouldn't see his tears as he walked by him. Angel knew though.

Angel went and checked on the kids before he laid down for a nap with his wife. Kathleen and Junior were making a bed for all of them on the floor when he went in. He didn't say anything he just watched as they pulled the bedspreads off of their beds and carefully laid them on the floor. Like a responsible babysitter she asked Joyce if she had to go potty first then took her into the bathroom and closed the door. Toby went to the door and sniffed. While they were in there he apparently had to go also so he went running out the door after acknowledging Angels presence then went running downstairs and to the back. By the time the girls were done Toby was back. Junior took his turn once the girls were done. He didn't bother to close the door though he just went ahead and took care of business then washed his hands and helped Kathleen put the pillows down for all of them. When they were ready Kathleen told Joyce to lay down then Toby. Junior and Kathleen carefully covered them with a blanket then they lay down. Angel made a quiet retreat back to his own room where he laid down with Cordelia.

After everyone had a nap Angel went upstairs to get Kathleen. The children were all playing with Toby. Poor Toby was being dressed up in some of Angel's old shirts. He had been delegated to be the cashier at a grocery store.

"Kathleen I need you to come and spend some time with your Mommy and Daddy. Why don't you put your toys away because I have to take Joyce to her Mommy and Daddy's room okay?" "Okay Daddy." The children all picked up their toys and put them away in their proper place. This was one thing that both Connie and Cordelia insisted on and the children were taught this as soon as they could understand. Angel took the shirt off of Toby and he shook himself all over when Angel removed it. Angel didn't know if it was folded or hung up so he just gave it to Kathleen.

When they were done putting everything away Angel led them all to the 2nd floor. He sent Junior downstairs and he took Joyce to Spike and Buffy's room. Spike opened the door before Angel could knock on it. "Hi, I brought Joyce over here because I'm going to be busy with Kathleen. I didn't think you would want to leave her up in the kid's room with just Junior." "That's good. She seems to mind Kathleen better then Junior. Well good luck." Angel nodded then he went to Hunters room to get her. When they went back to his suit Kathleen went running to her Mother on the bed. Cordelia had both of the boys on the bed with her and was feeding them. Hunter went to the bed also and took Nicky from Cordelia when he was done nursing. Cordelia gave her a towel so she could burp him while she started feeding Michael. As Hunter finished each of the boys she wrapped them up again and put them in the bassinet with a blanket on each. Cordelia then pulled the bassinet so that it was safely tucked in the corner of the room then sat on the edge of the bed. She patted the bed and called Toby who jumped up and sat beside her.

Angel picked his daughter up and sat her on his lap while he was at the table.

"Kathleen, have you ever wanted to be a dog like Toby and play with him?" "I have played with him Daddy." "I don't mean play with him like you were upstairs but as a dog." Kathleen looked down as she played with her blouse and avoided his eyes.

"Kathleen, have you done it already?" "Not all the way." Cordelia could see that her daughter was afraid she was going to be punished if she told her Daddy what she had done.

"Kathleen, Daddy isn't going to be mad at you if you tell him the truth. He just wants to see if you can do it." Kathleen looked up at her Daddy and put her left hand out. To everyone's surprise Kathleen turned her left hand into a paw. "That's all I did. I got scared because I didn't know I could do it." "When did you do that?" "The week after Joyce was here last. I was missing her and Junior was busy helping his Daddy. So it was just me and Toby. We were upstairs in my room and I looked at him and thought 'I sure wish I was a dog too Toby then we could chase each other around the house'. That's when I tried thinking of myself as a dog and as I thought about it my hand started to change. I got scared though and it changed back to my hand." Kathleen showed her Daddy her hand so that he could see that it was okay.

"Okay Kathleen, it was good that you stopped. Daddy is going to show you how to do it now okay?" "Okay Daddy." Angel went over to the side of the room and took all of his clothes except for his shorts off. He came over to the side of the bed where Kathleen was sitting next to her mother. He thought of a wolf and slowly he turned into a wolf. He did it slower then usual so that his daughter could watch each part of him change. As Hunter said would happen his shorts just fell down when he stood up. He went over to Cordelia and licked her face then to Kathleen. Kathleen was giggling away and hugging her Daddy. Angel went over to Toby then and started to play with him as dogs do. Kathleen was laughing and clapping her hands. She jumped down from the bed and took her clothes off then changed into a Wolf cub without any problem. Angel didn't notice her doing it because he was playing with Toby. When Kathleen started playing with Toby Angel stepped back in surprise. He looked over at Hunter. She just smiled at him.

Kathleen and Toby continued playing for the next 30 minutes. Toby was very careful with her as he would with any puppy. Once though her thoughts were only on playing with Toby and she bit down on his ear too hard and drew blood. Toby whined in pain. He turned and disciplined her by pushing her down with his foot and growling at her. Cordelia started to yell at Toby but Angel stepped on her foot to quiet her. Like Angel Hunter new what was going on.

Kathleen got the message that she went to far and she laid on her back in submission. When Toby took his foot off of her she wiggled back into his good graces and in her own puppy way said she was sorry.

Angel called an end to play time by calling to Kathleen. Obediently she came over to him. She came and licked his face then sat down in front of him since he didn't start playing with her. He talked to her by putting the picture in her mind that she was to turn back into her human form and he would do the same.

For a moment he didn't think she could change back because she just looked at him. Angel put the picture of her in her mind as he saw her then he stood up and began to change back into his human form. Kathleen just watched him change back. Just as before though she changed back into her human form in half the time that it took Angel. She ran over to him and jumped in his arms. Angel hugged his little girl and kissed her.

"I did good huh Daddy?" "Yes baby you did real good. How did you change back, did you think of the picture I gave you?" "Yes, I just looked at that picture and changed back." "How did you do it though? Did you do it one foot at a time or your hand or what?" Angel asked. He looked over at Hunter. He couldn't tell what she was thinking from looking at her. He gave his daughter his full attention again.

"No I just looked at the picture you gave me and I changed back." Angel just looked at his daughter. He was amazed at the power his daughter had that she could change her form with just a thought.

"How are you feeling do you hurt anyplace?" "No, I'm cold right now. Aren't you cold Daddy?" "Yes I am, go ahead and put your clothes back on." Angel got up and put his shorts and pants back on but not his t-shirt and shirt.

"Kathleen, stay here with Mommy. I'm going to go and see Mike with Hunter then I'll be right back okay?" "Okay Daddy." Hunter got up and followed Angel outside. She could sense his pain and thought he must have dislocated his shoulder again.

"Did you dislocate your shoulder again?" "Yes and it's killing me." Angel said as he cradled his arm now that they were out of the room. "I don't remember it hurting this much before." "Remember what Lila told Connor, you're more human and you are beginning to feel everything more as a human. Apparently our demons dampen the pain so that we don't feel it as much. That's also why you can take bullets and such out of your own body without outside assistance. I dare say you won't be able to do that anymore without passing out." Angel started to collapse to his knees but Hunter held him up. "Just a few more steps Angel."

Angel took a deep breath and continued on to her room. Hunter opened the door without knocking. Mike was sitting in front of the TV watching a movie.

"Mike we need to put Angels shoulder back into its socket he's in a lot of pain." Hunter guided Angel to one of the kitchen chairs. Mike came over and held onto Angel while Hunter manipulated his arm until she felt his shoulder go back into place. Angel gave out a loud yell as it slipped back into place. He was breathing hard as the pain started to dissipate.

"Turning human isn't as easy as you thought it would be is it?" "No but you'll find out soon enough." "What do you mean by that?" Hunter asked. "Mike lean down please." Mike did as Angel said and put his ear next to his mouth. Angel said something to him and then got up and went back to his room. Mike followed him to the door, closed it and locked it when Angel left.

"What did he tell you?" Mike didn't say anything he just started to unbutton his shirt and take it off. When he was done taking all of his clothes off he went over to the TV and turned it off. Hunter was half way out of her clothes when he approached her. Mike pulled the rest of her clothes off and threw her on the bed.

"Get ready Mrs. Thompson because Angel said you're ripe and we both know what he means by that. Apparently you've gained enough weight to put your baby making parts into full operation." He didn't say anything more. They spent the rest of the day making love. They stopped only when Mike was exhausted and needed to rest.

Angel returned to his room as soon as the pain became more manageable. As soon as he approached the door he knew something was wrong. He couldn't sense Cordelia, Kathleen and the boys. He knew without looking that they were gone from the Hotel. He opened the door and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He looked to the patio door. It was wide open. He took one step forward and smelled other, unfamiliar scents in the room. Within the next second three men jumped him. Two held onto his arms and another hit him on the back of the head several times with a pipe until he collapsed. As he went down the last thing he saw was Toby who apparently had also been hit.

No one noticed that the Martin family was missing from supper since everyone else had told Connie that they were either going out to eat or ordering food. Angel had sent Junior to his Mother and Joyce had been taken to her parents. No one tried to check on the Martin family until it was time for the children to go to bed.

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Lila had given the order to take both boys. When contacted again and given information that Cordelia and the older daughter was in the same room she gave the order to take all of them and return with all of them to Wolfram & Hart.

"Has Angel been taken cared of exactly as you were ordered?" Lila asked. "Yes and no Mam." "What do you mean yes and no?" "Yes we were able to hit him on the back of the head exactly where we were told to hit him, but it took several hits to bring him down Mam. We also had to hit Connors dog Mam. He attacked us as we tried to take the family." "That's okay; bring them in as fast as possible. Make sure that you leave as quietly as you went in. I'll meet you at the back entrance." Lila was very happy right now. 'Three strikes and your out Angel. Who's the winner now?' Lila thought to herself as she walked down to the back entrance to Wolfram & Hart.

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Connie sent Junior upstairs to see if Kathleen was going to be sleeping with her parents tonight. Fifteen minutes later Junior came down stairs. "Mommy Mr. Martin and Toby is on the floor sleeping and I can't wake him up." "Where is Mrs. Martin?" "I didn't see her anyplace and I called her and Kathleen but they didn't answer. Nicky and Toby are gone too." That got Connie's attention. She knew that Joaquin was in their suit of rooms so she called him.

"Joaquin this is Connie would you go to Mr. Martin's room and check on them. Junior said that Toby and Mr. Martin are on the floor sleeping and he can't wake them up." "Call Mr. Price and tell him to meet me at Mr. Martin's room." "They went out to eat with Mr. and Mrs. Summers." "Okay I'll call you as soon as I get to Mr. Martin's room." Joaquin quickly ran downstairs and to Angels rooms. He found the door open and Angel and Toby unconscious. He went out to the second floor balcony and called out for his wife.

"Is he all right?" Connie asked when she heard him call her name. "No it looks like someone hit him and Toby. Is Dr. Martin in the hotel?" "No, Dr. Martin and Mr. Giles are at the new Magic Shop." "What about Dr. Thompson and Hunter?" "I think they're in there room." "Okay call everyone on their cell phones and tell them to come home right away. Tell them it's an emergency." Connie went to the phone and started to make calls while Joaquin went to Dr. Thompson and Hunters room and knocked on the door. He pounded on the door until someone came to the door.

"What are you trying to do, wake the dead?" Dr. Thompson said as he opened the door while pulling his robe on.

"It's Mr. Martin Dr. Thompson; it looks like someone hit his head. There is blood all over the carpet." Mike and Joaquin ran to Angel's room, Hunter was right behind him. When they reached the room Mike and Hunter both knelt on the floor beside Angel. Mike checked for a pulse, it took a few minutes but he finally felt one. He checked the rest of his body for bleeding. He looked up at his wife but her attention wasn't on Angel but of the room itself. "What's wrong?" Mike asked her. "Where are Cordelia and her children?" Mike jumped up. Joaquin, who was in the room also, started to look around the room. He quickly checked the bathroom while Mike checked the closets and the other side of the bed. Joaquin then went to the balcony. It was here that he found the means of entrance for the kidnappers.

"Mrs. Thompson." Hunter joined Joaquin on the balcony. The first thing that hit her was the scents of seven different men coming on the balcony. The filed bars on the child proof railing struck her. It was apparent that the bars had been filed ahead of time and replaced. She went back into the room when she heard Connor come in.

Connor went to Angel as soon as he entered the room. When he saw that Angel was still alive and being taken cared of he looked for Toby. He found him over by the couch where he had been thrown. He knew right away that he was still alive. He almost lost it right then because Toby didn't respond to him. He felt the blood all over his head.

"Joaquin come over here please." Connor went to the bathroom and grabbed Angel's bathrobe and went back to Toby and wrapped him up in it. As Joaquin approached him Connor picked Toby up carefully in his arms. "Let's go to your truck Joaquin. I want you to take Toby to the emergency vet. Tell them that someone broke into our house and hit him when he went after the robbers. Give them my name as his owner and tell them I am being detained at home with the police. Connor took Toby downstairs to Joaquin's truck and placed him on the front seat. As Joaquin got into his truck he looked at Connor. "Do you want me to tell them to put him down if there is no hope for him?" "No, tell them to do whatever they have to too save him. Money is no object. As soon as I can I'll be there." Connie got in then and held Toby's head in her lap. As they drove away Connor gave himself a moment to cry for his friend. He turned then and ran back into the hotel.

For the first time Connor became the Cop that he was training to be. More then that though, Connor became the leader of Angel Investigations while his father was out of commission.

TBC…………………………………………………………………………..


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Connor ran back into the hotel and to the clinic where everyone seemed to be gathered. As he entered the clinic he saw all of the Doctors surrounding the bed where Angel was laying. He stood to the side along with Wesley.

Connor had filled out quiet a bit since being enrolled in school to study for Law Enforcement. His shoulders were more broad and muscular and his stomach showed a six pack. He kept his hair short like his fathers. On more than one occasion Cordelia and Dr. Martin caught Lou practically drooling when she was watching him without him knowing it. "Down girl down. You're going to become dehydrated if you don't stop drooling over him." Cordelia said. "I know but I just can't help it. I loved him from the moment I saw him but now, my God, he's magnificent looking. Hold me back ladies I think I'm going to lose control any minute now and jump his bones." They all had a good laugh but Cordelia knew how she felt. She had gone through the same thing before Angel and she started sleeping together.

As Connor stood to the side with Wesley they listened to the Doctors talking about Angel. They had stopped the flow of blood and cleaned the wound on his head. His skull had been hit so hard and so many times that each time his skull was struck it drove pieces of bone further into his brain. Mike, Hunter and Spike were all looking to Dr. Martin as to what to do. She was a surgeon they were not.

"Angel needs surgery to get those pieces of bone out of his brain. I am going to contact Dr. Weinstein to see if he can operate and whether he can come out here or if we have to take Angel over there." Dr. Martin told everyone.

"Why can't you do it?" Wesley asked. Dr. Martin came over to Wesley. "Wesley I'm getting to old to perform surgery that takes as long as this one will take. I'm over 60 years old now. My eye sight isn't as good as it used to be and for this type of surgery it just comes down to endurance. It's going to take quiet a few hours to complete." She patted his hand then and went to her desk to make the call.

"Let's go Connor we can't do anything here. We need to find Cordelia and the kids." Hunter overheard them talking and she came over. "I think it was a well planned kidnapping Wesley. Joaquin and I found that the bars on the patio had been sawed through before and the bars put back into place. Angel and I hadn't been gone very long before he returned. So they didn't have enough time to do it then. This whole thing was planned and they knew exactly what was going on in the room when they took the opportunity of Angel's absence. They must have been monitoring the hotel from across the way again. I think I'll buy that property and tear the building down it's been used to monitor this place too often." Hunter told them.

"I'm going to call Mr. Morgan and tell him what happened. I'm hoping that they can help us. This is going to take some planning Wesley." Connor said. "Your thinking this was done by Wolfram & Hart again?" Wesley asked. "Yes, when I went upstairs I picked up the scent of someone that was guarding us when Angel and I were being held by them. Plus remember that Lilah had told him that they were just waiting for the boys to be born. They must have taken Cordelia and Kathleen just because they were there." Connor went to Angel's office and called David's house. David told him that they would be ready by the time they arrived.

Spike and Hunter accompanied the rest to David Morgan's house. A stranger to everyone else but Connor also met them at the gate to David's house. When he drove up to the gate he told the guard at the gate that the other car was with them. They both drove up to the house and Connor waited to introduce the other man until they were asked in.

David and Marissa greeted them. "Mr. Morgan this is Jack Cooper he's an L.A. Police Officer and a friend of mine. Jack and some other men will be helping us." David showed them all to the Dinning room where they could all sit while they decided as to what to do. Connor told Jack to sit by him and when David joined them Connor stood up. "Everyone I would like to introduce Jack Cooper. Jack is a Los Angeles Police Officer. Jack knows all about me and Angel Investigations. He leads a special group of officers that fight the same things that we do. This group is not officially associated with the Police Department but the L.A.P.D. is unofficially aware of them and often supplies them with whatever they need to fight the underworld of demons and vampires that infest Los Angeles.

Jack's group is well aware of Wolfram & Hart and what they really do. We were introduced to each other through Professor Brandon. I've taught this group a few things and they've taught me a few things. I thought it would be a good idea to have them work with us on our current problem because they know what the law will permit and what it won't. I felt that this was important since we will be dealing with one of the biggest law firms in California. I don't want them to have a foot to stand on if they try using the law to get back at us. I have apprised Jack of our situation and he has offered his groups assistance. I've told him all about all of us so he knows everyone by name." Connor introduced each person so that Jack would be able to attach faces with names. Wesley was surprised when Connor referred to Cordelia as his step mother.

When Connor was done introducing everyone Jack brought his attention back to Hunter. He found it hard to believe that such a small, beautiful woman could possibly be so old and have so much power. Most of all Jack thought of the special vampire sex she gave her husband and how lucky he was. Connor saw how Jack was looking at Hunter. Apparently they were good friends because Connor hit Jack on the back of his head. "Owe, what did you do that for?" "She's married." Connor said. "Hey I can still dream can't I?" "Just make sure that it doesn't go any further." Connor sat down again.

"I'm opening it now to any suggestions as to how we can go about retrieving my family." Connor said.

"How do we know for sure that your family is being kept at the downtown main office of Wolfram & Hart?" Jack asked.

"When I went to my father's room I picked up the scent of one of the men that was guarding my father and me when we were being held against our will in the lower levels of the building. My sister is also talking to me by giving me pictures of where they are being kept. She showed me the elevator that took them down and the number on the door where they are being kept."

Can you ask her if her mother and brothers are alright?" Wesley asked.

"No not unless I am right by the building. Kathleen's mind is more powerful then mine is in that respect and that is why she can reach me but I can't reach her."

Connor looked to David Morgan. "David, do you or any of your men have any suggestions as to how we can handle our problem?"

David looked at his men. They all shrugged their shoulders. "We've never dealt with anything like this before. Needless to say Wolfram & Hart is protected from top to bottom with spells, guards and demons that can sense the approach of any Vampire or demon that aren't supposed to be there. I was hoping that Willow or Tara could come up with something."

"Anything that we could do would have to happen fast in order to get past the sentinels." Willow told them. "When we perform magic it gives out a loud noise that every other witch, warlock, vampire or demon can hear."

Everyone was quiet while they were thinking about the problem. While there was a lull in the meeting the servants brought in refreshments and sandwiches. When they all sat down again Wesley spoke up.

"You know we have all been thinking of just forcing our way into the building. Why don't we try taking Dr. Martins approach to the problem?"

"What was that?" Jack asked.

"When they kidnapped Angel, Connor and Kathleen Dr. Martin and her husband just drove over there during the day and asked for Kathleen back. She told Lilah that she couldn't possibly do anything for her and to her surprise Lilah gave her back without any problem. We may find that they really don't want the boys but just wanted to show Angel that they could take his family any time they wanted to."

"You used to have a personal relationship with her didn't you Wesley?" David asked.

"Yes but I don't think that will help any. Lilah knows I'm married to Fred now. I loved Fred even back when I was seeing Lilah and she was very jealous of her."

"Well as I am sure Dr. Martin would say 'It doesn't hurt to try'."

"Okay then first thing tomorrow morning I'll go and ask for them. I have to tell you though that I might have to leave right after. Dr. Martin was trying to talk to the surgeon that operated on Angel before to see if he could come out here or if we had to take Angel over to New Hampshire for him to operate on him." Wesley said.

"Okay then if Lilah doesn't return my family or you're unable to be here to ask for them then we will have to consider taking them forcibly. We can't all go in through the front so I suggest that Jack and his group go through the front as police officers, David's group could come in through the back as delivery men. The Angel Investigation team could come in through the underground tunnel. We'll do this all at night when they have the least amount of guards active." Connor looked at everyone to see if there were any objections or if someone had a better plan. No one said anything so he continued.

"Okay then David can you get a couple of large delivery trucks like a UPS truck and uniforms?" "I don't think that will be a problem."

"As soon as we hear from Wesley I'll let you all know what we are doing."

"What will I say to the receptionist when we go in? I can't say this is a raid." Jack asked.

"Ask for Lilah and tell her the truth. Tell her you've tracked kidnappers of the Martin family to this location." Connor said.

"It would be better if we had a search warrant Connor. We have a judge that works with us. It may take as much as 48 hours to get it though."

"Why so long?" Wesley asked.

"I'm not sure but I think he was going to be taking some time off sometime this week. If he is working well get it tomorrow, if not it may take 48 hours."

Connor looked at everyone at the table. Then he looked directly at Wesley.

"I've talked about this with Dad Wesley. This is one of the reasons I took up law enforcement. I want Angel Investigations to start working within the law whenever possible. I think you would agree that it's the best way to proceed when working with Wolfram & Hart. Apparently Dad's Boss, as he refers to Him, agrees with me and that's why we are going to put someone through law school. Like I said though if we can't get my family back this way then we'll go about it the tried and true way."

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"Mommy, when are we going home?" Kathleen asked her mother as she laid on the king size bed with her and her brothers. "I don't know baby. I know though that your Daddy and brother won't stop trying to get us back."

"I've been talking to Connor Mommy." "You have? What did you tell him and what did he tell you?" "I didn't say anything to him I showed him pictures of the elevator we came down in and the door of our room. I don't think he can talk to me because he hasn't said anything or given me pictures. I think I'll go to sleep now, goodnight Mommy." "Goodnight Kathleen." Cordelia said as she tried to go to sleep herself. After a few minutes Kathleen said "Mommy?" "Yes baby." "Mommy I can't feel Daddy anymore." "I know baby I can't either. Go to sleep now and maybe things will be better tomorrow." Cordelia was scared. She knew that something must have happened to Angel because he would have been here already. The worst thing though was that, like Kathleen, she couldn't sense him. It was as if he was dead. The tears started falling then and she finally cried herself to sleep.

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Dr. Martin had finally been able to contact Dr. Weinstein. He had a full schedule and would be unable to come to California. He said he could do the surgery on Friday if they could get him to the Sisters Hospital. Fred had got onto the computer and looked for a flight that would go straight through to New Hampshire. There was none this close to Friday that would have the seats they needed.

"Okay Fred see if you can schedule a private jet to take us all the way to Manchester New Hampshire. Schedule it for tomorrow morning. You have my credit card number if they need one. It will just be Wesley, Rupert and I accompanying Angel. I am going to go and get some sleep." Dr. Martin left then to go and take a shower and get some sleep. She checked on Angel before leaving. They had him on a hospital bed so she felt safe in leaving him alone. She put the rails up on each side then removed the empty bag of blood they had going into his stomach. She checked his eyes again and still didn't find any response. She knew Angel was in a coma. She picked up his hand and kissed it. "You don't get to die yet my boy so just consider this a little rest." She turned then and left to go upstairs.

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When the meeting broke up Wesley, Gunn, Connor and the rest returned to the Hyperion. Fred was just finishing scheduling a jet for Dr. Martin when everyone came in to check on Angel. Wesley and Fred greeted each other then they went to Angel's bed.

"Dr. Martin just went to bed about 30 minutes ago. She finally got a hold of Dr. Weinstein. He is to busy to come out here but he can make some time to take care of Angel on Friday morning if we can get him there on time. It's too late for me to get the amount of seats we would need for Angel to be lying down and then for the rest. So Dr. Martin told me to hire a jet to take them to Manchester New Hampshire. I was just finishing with the arrangements when you all came in. We have to have Angel and Dr. Martin at the Airport by 10:30 A.M. I've scheduled an ambulance to pick him up and take him to the airport. They will be here at 9 A.M. Dr. Martin has already talked to Mother Superior at the hospital and she will take care of scheduling the operating room for Friday. Let's go to bed everyone we can't do anything else right now and I'm sure they are taking good care of Cordelia and the children. I'm just going to let Dr. Martin know what time the ambulance will be here." She gave Wesley a kiss then went upstairs.

Wesley approached Angel's bed and stood beside Connor.

"You did very well tonight Connor. Your father would be proud of you." "You know Wesley all I can think about, as I'm looking down at him, is all of the hatred I used to have for him when I first came back. I used to feel so guilty about what I did to him. Now though I think that God let Holtz take me to the other dimension so that I would be a lot older and able to take over from Dad when he needed me to. If I had grown up in this dimension I would have still been way too young to even help.

It's a good thing that I'm between semesters right now. At least I don't have to worry about missing any classes. Well I guess I better go and check on Toby. I'll see you in the morning." Connor bent down and kissed his fathers forehead. "Goodnight Dad, I hope we have everyone back with us by this time tomorrow." Wesley just held onto Angel's hand, squeezed it then let go and left with Connor.

Connor went to his room and called the emergency vet. "Airport Emergency Vet may I help you." The receptionist answered. "Hi this is Connor Martin, earlier in the evening I sent Joaquin Sanchez over there with my German Shepard Toby. He had been hit on the head by a robber that broke into our home. I am just calling to check on his condition." "Yes Mr. Martin, Toby is doing okay. Dr. Hendrix took X-rays of Toby's head and didn't find any damage to his skull. So it looks like he just suffered a concussion. We are going to keep him for a couple of days so we can keep him under observation. Dr. Hendrix feels that he will be okay though because he is awake now and has taken some water and food. You can pick him up the day after tomorrow." "Thank you very much. This conversation has taken a load off of my mind. I'll see you on Friday then." He hung up the phone then and just lay back on his bed. He was exhausted and just fell to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The next morning every one was up by 6 A.M. in order to get ready for the days activities. Connie had been up since 5 so that she could fix breakfast for everyone. Giles made Dr. Martin sit down and have some scrambled eggs and toast. She had wanted to start getting Angel ready for the trip and skip her breakfast. She reluctantly did as her husband said and started to eat her breakfast quickly. "Mary slow down, you'll make yourself sick." Giles told her. "Yes dear." Dr. Martin knew he was right but she had so many things going through her head at the moment that it was hard to make herself slow down. When he told her to slow down she leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath and a sip of her coffee. "That's better, now Cylinda is already in there getting Angel ready for the trip and packing everything that you may need to take care of him." Dr. Martin took her time eating her breakfast as her husband had said. When she was done she looked at him. "May I be excused 'now'; I've eaten all of my breakfast?" Dr. Martin said with a smile. Giles got up also and pulled out her chair. As she got up and started for the clinic Giles gave her a good swat on her behind as she passed by him. "Owe, what did you do that for?" "Because you were being a little brat." Giles said as he followed her to the clinic. As they left they could hear Joyce and Junior laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Spike asked his daughter. "Grandpa gave Grandma a spanking." "It just goes to show you that even Grandma's can be bad girls huh?"

"Where is Kateen Daddy?" "Kathleen is still with her Mommy and they are away visiting a friend." "When is she coming home Daddy?" "I'm not sure Babe but soon I hope."

When the kids where done they went outside to play. Both Lou and Tom went outside to keep watch over them. Lou had to get down and play with them and invent games to play since Kathleen was usually the originator of the games they played.

Dr. Martin was inside the clinic helping Cylinda to get Angel ready to travel. They had changed the bandage on his head and put extra padding over the wound. They then put a supporting brace under his neck so that his head wouldn't be lying against the surface he was on. She knew that Angel's body was acting more human now and he had told her that he was having a bowel movement every 4 or 5 days now and urinating several times a day. Because of that information she put a catheter in him and extra padding under him. By the time the ambulance arrived they had him bundled up and ready to go along with bags of blood to feed him through a tube Dr. Martin had put into his abdomen earlier. As the ambulance drivers came in with their bed to transport him Wesley and Connor helped to lift Angel on it. Both Wesley and Giles had already put their suitcases into his SUV.

Before Dr. Martin got into the back of the ambulance she turned to Connor. "When we come home again I am pretty sure that he will be awake again. In what condition though I don't know. Those pieces of bone that were driven into his brain have done a lot of damage. When we do bring him home I'll be expecting to see our family here and waiting for him." "I'll get them back Grandma even if we have to go in and take them forcibly. We have everything under control and we should have them back, one way or the other, tonight." He gave her a kiss and hug then helped her inside of the ambulance.

Connor shook Giles and Wesley's hand. "Good luck Connor." Wesley said as he pulled Connor into his arms. The ambulance was leaving so Wesley and Giles got into his SUV and followed them.

Connor went back inside along with the rest. Lucinda came out with the phone. "Connor you have a phone call." He took the phone from Lucinda and said hello. "Connor this is Jack, the judge was still here and once I explained to him what has happened he gave us the Search Warrant. He told me that we would have to come up with something more concrete though to support our reason to search the premises." "Okay Jack I'll be there as soon as I can. We can put our heads together and come up with something." He hung up then and went inside. He hadn't eaten yet so he grabbed a couple of large tortillas that Connie made fresh everyday along with chopped up meat, lettuce, onions and such so that anyone that was hungry could just throw together a burrito and pop it in the microwave. As he was making his breakfast he felt someone tugging at his shirt. When he looked down he saw Junior.

"Connor?" "Yes Junior." "Connor where is Toby?" "Toby had to go to the hospital Junior. The bad men that came here last night hit him on the head and knocked him out. I called the hospital last night and they said he was alright and was awake. The nurse said that the Doctor wanted to keep him there for two nights to make sure that he was okay. Tomorrow morning if everything is okay I'll be bringing him home." "Good because Joyce and I missed having him to play with. Do you think I could go with you to pick him up from the hospital?" "Well see Junior, if everything is working like I want them to then you will be the first one I come to get to go with me okay?" "Okay Connor." Junior ran to the elevator then to go and play in his room.

When Junior left Connor turned to Connie. "I forgot to ask you if it was alright if he goes with me to pick Toby up." "No problem. If he isn't safe with you or your father then he isn't going to be safe with anyone." "Thanks Connie. Has anyone told you what is going to be going on today?" "No, I just know about your father." "We are going to be attempting to rescue Cordelia and my sister and brothers. You might want to have food ready that people can just come in and get when they are hungry. If for some reason I am going to have a lot of people here I'll try to let you know ahead of time. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause." "Don't worry about it Connor. I can prepare things that are delicious and nutritious and can be thrown together real easy." "Thanks Connie, by the way where is Joaquin?" "He went to the stables to exercise Santana, Aunt Bee, and your horse Opie." "Good it's been a long time since my Dad or I have been able to go riding. Connor grabbed his burritos, a can of Pepsi and left for his van.

Lucinda walked in from where she was working downstairs. Lucinda had been cleaning the bed sheets and towels from all of the rooms. She had asked Tom to bring up the basket load of sheets and towels so that Connie could help her fold them. They had heard Connor talking to Connie and had waited until he left.

"It's as if he has changed into a man overnight." Connie said when they came next to her and watched Connor leave. "Yes I think that he will do just fine when he takes over Angel Investigations." Lucinda said.

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Jack was waiting for Connor in the Collages football stadium. They shook hands as Connor approached the group of men. Most of them had their police uniforms on since they were on duty.

"We have had some tremendous luck dropped into our laps Connor. Someone is truly watching over your family. One of the men that works for Wolfram & Hart and was assigned the task of spying on your family has come to our rescue. It turns out that this guy used to be one of the poor people that Charles Gunn's group helped to feed and clothe. To pay him back for his kindness he dropped this off at our police headquarters." Jack gave Connor a large envelope. Inside he found a thin wallet with the owner's drivers' license and ID card for Wolfram & Hart. There was also a note that stated 'This wallet belongs to one of the men that kidnapped the Martin family. Handle it carefully and you should be able to lift fingerprints off of it and compare them to the ones in the apartment. I saw him take off his gloves and put his hand on the bassinet and table where all of the baby things are kept. He was the only one to do this. You will find my fingerprints on his wallet as well. I had to use my bare hands to lift his wallet. Don't try to trace me, I have no police record. Tell Gunn that this is in thanks for what he did for me when I was young, out on the streets, and hungry. Please burn this letter when you get through reading it. My life may depend on this letter being completely destroyed.'

"Have you been able to lift the fingerprints?" "Yes we have. We need for you to take one of my more experienced guys over to your home so they can look for fingerprints." Connor pulled out his cell phone and called home. Fred answered the phone with the usual greeting. "Fred this is Connor." "Hi Connor what's up." "Has anyone gone into Dad's room since last night?" "As far as I know no one has touched it." "Okay I need for you to put a sign on it so that no one will go in there. Ask Connie and Grandma Sanchez if they went in there at all. I'll be over there shortly to look for fingerprints." He hung up without saying anything else.

"What time are you planning on going into Wolfram & Hart?" Connor asked. "Tonight at 8 P.M." "How long do you think it will take for you to search the place?" "About 2 hours or slightly more since it's so big. Here is your uniform, hat, and glasses. I don't want you to say anything while your there. Stay in the back of the group. Several guys are going to surround you. Try to keep your head slightly down while you're in there. The only reason for you joining us is to search for your sister's mind. If you come across them do not try to do anything. We discussed this with Morgan and his men and have decided it would be better to locate the room they are in and to extricate them later by force. This way they will be able to deny that they were ever there and we can apologize about our intrusion and that we had bad information from someone that was probably trying to make trouble for them. Everyone is happy and we get your family back."

Connor picked up the uniform along with the hat, reflective glasses and the belt that is loaded down with police equipment. "Okay Jack I'll let the rest know the way it is going down and well get those fingerprints back as fast as possible." "How is your father doing?" Jack asked. "They had to take him to New Hampshire where the surgeon is that will be operating on him. My grandmother chartered a private jet to take them there this morning. As for my Dad we won't know how he will be until he wakes up because right now he is in a coma." "I thought their demons were always able to heal them fast." "Remember when I said that there were some things that I couldn't tell you about because it would be dangerous for my Dad if people knew too much about him?" Jack nodded a yes. "Well this is one of them." Connor got up and one of the other officers got up also and followed him.

When they arrived at the Hyperion they quickly lifted the fingerprints from both the bars surrounding the patio and several unexpected places that apparently the informant had been unable to see from his view point. Apparently the same person that had touched the bars had also been the one to fill a bag full of diapers, blankets and everything else that he thought would be needed to take care of the boys. While doing this he frequently touched doors, drawers, and cabinets. They were able to lift the best fingerprints on those areas.

After the officer left Connor went to Fred's room and knocked on the door. Fred opened the door. "Connor, come in." Fred stepped back to let him in. "I just wanted to check with you to make sure you were okay." "We're doing just fine. The boys are asking were Daddy is but other then that I'm just keeping myself busy and my mind off of what is going on." "I wanted to let you know that I am going to leave Lou and Tom here to take care of everyone. Buffy, Spike, and Hunter will be coming with us. If you want Fred we can take you over to the Morgan's house. Mr. Morgan will still have guards watching over his family and home." "No I think we'll be okay. Willow said that she was going to put a protective spell over the hotel before she leaves." "Okay then I'm going to go and get some rest before I have to leave. I'm going to go with the rest of the police officers and search Wolfram & Hart. I'll stop by so you can take some pictures of me in my police uniform and mirrored glasses." Connor smiled. He left then to get some rest, but before he lay down he called the Veterinary hospital to check on Toby. He felt a lot better after he heard the receptionist say that he was doing fine.

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Wesley and Giles waited in the reception area of the hospital while Dr. Martin was getting Angel situated. Dr. Weinstein was scheduled to perform the surgery at 8 A.M. tomorrow morning. The nurses wanted to shave Angels head tonight but Dr. Martin explained that it had to be done just one or two hours before the surgery because his hair would grow back unusually fast. When all of the nurses were gone Dr. Martin pulled a chair over to the bed.

"Angelus I want to talk to you." Dr. Martin said. Angel's eyes opened but he didn't turn his head or speak. Dr. Martin knew that it was because of the injury to Angel's brain. If Angel couldn't speak or move when he was in control then of course Angelus couldn't speak or move, but she didn't need for him to do anything but listen.

"Angelus I want you to understand what is going to happen tomorrow and what I need for you to do or rather not do. I don't want you to attempt to heal Angel at all until the surgery is over. Dr. Weinstein isn't fully aware of who or what Angel is. I don't know in what kind of condition Angel will wake up to afterward, or if he will wake up at all. The surgery Angelus will remove the pieces of bone from Angel's brain, but he needs you to help him to heal. He is going to have a hard time getting better." Dr. Martin closed her eyes and put her head down on the bed and tried to think of what she should say in order to get Angelus to do what she wanted.

"The time is coming Angelus for you to be given your 24 hours but Angel may not be able to move when it comes time for you to control his body unless you cooperate with us in helping him to recover. Go back to sleep now Angelus." Dr. Martin put the chair away and turned the lights down then she reached for his hand and kissed it and put it under the blanket. "Goodnight my son."

Dr. Martin went to the reception area where she went to Rupert who opened his arms to her. He held her as she cried. Giles knew that her tears were partly from her exhaustion as well as her fears for Angel. "It's getting late Mary. One of the Sisters said that they took some sandwiches down to the guest house for us. Let's go and have our supper so you can go to bed and be rested enough for Angel's big day tomorrow." Dr. Martin put her arm thru her husbands arm then reached out for Wesley. He offered his arm and they all walked back to the guest house.

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It had been two days now since they had been kidnapped. Yesterday a man dressed in a white coat had come in and taken some blood from the boys and Kathleen. Later in the day they had come and taken Kathleen. She screamed when they took her away and Cordelia had done her best to fight them off. She was able to rake her fingernails across the face of the one that pulled Kathleen away from her. The man that had pulled her off of the technician hit her and knocked her out. When she came to she immediately went to the boys. They were alright though and hadn't been touched. Cordelia went into the bathroom and straightened herself up. She knew she had to get control of her emotions or the boys would pick up on it. Worst yet was that if she didn't control herself she could stop producing milk which had started just yesterday.

She tried to get control of her emotions by going about taking care of the boys. It wasn't until late in the day before they brought Kathleen back. When they did bring her back one of the guards was holding her in his arms. She didn't look like she was in a natural sleep. Cordelia screamed when she saw how pale her daughter looked. Lilah came in after the guard.

"She's alright Cordelia; they just gave her something to make her sleep. It seems that your little girl has developed quiet a few gifts since we last saw her. She tried all kinds of things to get away from the Doctors." The guard put Kathleen on the bed and Lilah took a chair at the table that was in the room.

"Let me tell you all of the things your daughter did. First she turned one of the technicians into a mouse then she turned one of the guards into a cat which proceeded to chase the mouse. If it wasn't for our resident Warlock we would have lost a perfectly good technician. We are still looking for the guard though. It seems that he ran out of the door as soon as someone opened it. Your daughter then turned herself into a young wolf and was almost able to get out of the building before we caught her. She didn't change back to her human form until we threatened to take her brothers away permanently. By the time we caught her it seems that she had left pee all over the floor. Since her urine is clear you don't find the puddle until someone screams as they slip on it."

Cordelia had her head turned away from Lilah so she couldn't see her laughing. She didn't say anything to her to let her know that she knew about her daughters talents.

"What did you do to her?" "In order to make sure that she didn't do anything else we gave her a tranquilizer. The technicians did one test on her to see how powerful she was but couldn't get anything. Tomorrow we'll be calling in a more powerful Warlock that can read her to see what she can do. We won't be doing anything more with your boys. Our experience with your daughter has shown us that your children need to grow a little before their powers are evident. Goodnight Cordelia." "Lilah I would be very careful if I were you. Kathleen is the apple of her Daddy's eye. If you should harm her in anyway you'll live to regret it." Lilah just smiled at her and left and Cordelia turned back to her daughter.

"It seems my little princes that you don't need the words to do things, just the thought alone seems to be sufficient for you. It's a good thing you're a good little girl and mind your Mommy and Daddy."

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At 6 o'clock Connor woke up. He could hear everyone else getting ready to go to their respective groups. As they all met downstairs before leaving Connor stopped to talk to Gunn quietly.

"Gunn I wanted to tell you that information that was given to us to help in giving us an excuse to search the Wolfram & Hart building was given by someone that you and your kids helped a long time ago. It seems that one of the workers that have been watching us was on the streets, poor, and hungry when they were young and found help from your group. This person wanted to make sure that you understood that it was directly because of what your group did for him that he is helping us."

Gunn was all smiles. "Thanks for letting me know Connor. I'll pass that on to my kids when this is all over."

Everyone else except Lou, Tom, Fred and the Sanchez family left the Hotel and Willow put a protective spell on the building. She gave Fred the words to say to bring down the spell. Everyone understood that they had to call her before they returned so that she could bring the protective spell down. Mike Thompson was the only one that was outside of the protective blanket of the spell. He was staying at his own home so that he could be free to go to the hospital if he was called.

At 8 o'clock 4 L.A.P.D police cars came to a stop in front of Wolfram & Hart. Everyone unloaded and went into the building and to the receptionist.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist asked as though it was a common thing to see 16 police officers come into the building all at once.

"I am Officer Jack Cooper with the Los Angeles Police Department. We have a Warrant to search the premises for Mrs. Cordelia Chase-Martin and her 3 children. We have evidence that they were kidnapped by at least one of your people." "One moment please while I see if our CEO is still in." The receptionist called upstairs to Lilah's office. "Lilah Morgan." "Ms. Morgan we have a group of Police officers down at the reception desk with a warrant to search the premises for a Cordelia Chase-Martin and her children." "I'll be there in a few minutes." Before going downstairs Lilah called the supervisor of the guards. "Bill here." "Bill this is Lilah Morgan. I want you to bring down the fake wall that goes over the entrance to the cell you're guarding. We have police officers that are performing a search." She didn't need to say anything more because Bill had performed the same task many times before. He flipped a switch on his console that would lower the fake wall. The men guarding the cell knew when that happened they were to return to Bill's office for further instructions. The room was sound proof and no further action needed to be taken. Inside the room Cordelia heard something coming down and covering the door. The lights went out, except for a small night light that they had installed, when the wall came down. She thanked God she had asked for the night light.

When Lilah came downstairs the receptionist introduced Officer Cooper to her and he gave the same statement to Lilah that he had given the receptionist.

"May I ask what this evidence is that is accusing us of kidnapping these people?" Lilah asked. "Everything is stated in the Warrant Ms. Morgan but what it comes down to is that we were called in on a kidnapping that had taken place at the Hyperion Hotel which is the home of Angel Investigation. When examining the crime scene we were able to lift the finger prints of one of the men that was involved in the kidnapping. We found that he works for Wolfram & Hart." "May I ask for this man's name?" "I was instructed by the D.A.'s office not to divulge the name since valuable witnesses or participants in the crime seem to mysteriously disappear if Wolfram & Hart is involved."

Lilah smiled then looked more closely at the Warrant. "Okay officer this seems to be in order. You can proceed."

"Thank you Mam." Jack said then signaled to his men to start the search. Connor had done as Jack had instructed and kept his head down. He didn't take off his glasses until he went past Lilah. Connor kept with the group that had been ordered to start from the underground parking lot and work their way up. As he arrived on the floor that was 2nd from the bottom he immediately started to pick up Kathleen's scent. He also picked up something else which he thought was peculiar. He smelled wolf, and a young one at that. He continued to act like he was searching each room while he was following the scent. He was so intent on following the scent that he didn't notice one of his sister's messages. Before he knew it his feet went flying into the air while he landed on his behind and his head just barely missed the corner of the wall. One of the custodians that were trying to clean up all of Kathleen's pee helped him up.

"I'm awfully sorry officer. One of the workers was carrying some samples and didn't realize he was spilling it. I've been trying to find all of the spills but it looks like you found one first." Connor got up and thanked the man and continued following the scent. As he continued to look into each room he came to the area where his family was located. Their scent was strongest here. He leaned against the fake wall and pretended to clean his shoe off. His mind was working on contacting his sister though. Unfortunately Kathleen was still sleeping. He went into the room across from there prison cell and pretended to search the room while his mind was working on entering Kathleen's sleep to tell her to get ready because they were going to be coming home pretty soon. As soon as he knew she had received the message he continued on with his fake search. After everyone spent 2 hours of searching they all met up at the lobby again. Lilah was there waiting for them.

"Ms. Morgan we apologize for this intrusion. I'm sure that you'll be happy to know we didn't find anything. The kidnapper has apparently already moved the victims. Thank you for your cooperation and good night." "Goodnight officer." Lilah turned and left. The supervisor of the guards walked with her back to the elevator.

"Do you think they found anything?" "Yes they most definitely did. That was Connor, Angel's son that was among the officers. I want Cordelia and the children moved to our alternate site in Santa Barbara immediately. Call me once they are there. Kathleen is too big of a prize to let her go."

When Connor got into the car he called David and Gunn and let them know where his family was located and they were to make their move now before they could move them.

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Kathleen got off of the bed and went around to the other side where her mother was. She pulled at her mother's clothes and said "Mommy, Mommy wake up." "What's wrong sweetheart?" "Mommy Connor was here. He said that they are coming to get us now so we have to get ready to go." "When did he tell you this?" "I was sleeping and he woke me up and told me to get ready." "Okay, Mommy has to go potty. You had better go also then well get Nicky and Mike ready okay." "Okay Mommy but he said to hurry." Cordelia went into the bathroom and relieved herself and made sure that Kathleen did also. She threw some water on her face then went to change the boys and bundled them up again. She threw all of their things into their baby bags and sat down and waited for their rescue.

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David and his men made their move as they pretended to deliver boxes to the back. More of his men were in another van that was parked out of sight of the guards shed. Buffy and Spike headed the way into the building from their position. They made their way to the floor just above the basement parking lot where they kept the limousines and the executive's personal vehicles. They were met with all kinds of opposition from the guards but because of the many vampires he had among his guards they had no problem. They had a lot of men to fight because of the move they were about to make.

The Angel Investigation crew was running into opposition as well but it was of a different type. Several Warlocks and demons were using magic to prevent them from getting too close to the room where the Martin family was being kept. The fake wall had been raised and they were just getting ready to take them. Everyone stayed behind Willow and Tara who were fighting them. One of the guards on the other side opened the door to the cell and went in. He didn't come out though. Another guard went in along with a demon. "Don't try anything my dear or we'll take your brothers away and you'll never see them again." He could see that Kathleen was about to do something but she quickly lowered her hand when the demon threatened her brothers. Cordelia held her daughter close to her. Just as they were about to take them out of the room Connor came in behind the demon, grabbed his head and gave it a quick twist. He heard a satisfying crack and the demon dropped to the floor. The two other guards that had come in with the demon backed off. While Connors back was turned he heard more guards come in and he turned around. The guards this time had guns. Connor quickly stepped in front of Kathleen and Cordelia and shielded his family with his own body. He heard the guns go off and that was the last thing he remembered. Buffy and Spike came in and quickly dispatched the guards as their attention was on Connor. Spike went to Connor and threw him over his shoulder while Buffy and Hunter each grabbed one of the boys and pushed Cordelia and Kathleen in front of them as they exited their prison cell.

They all made for the parking lot below them where David's group and the L.A.P.D. group were fighting the guards. Spike put Connor down and helped to push the guards to a corner of the parking lot. Someone had pushed all of the fake boxes out of the back of the delivery truck and they started to load everyone up. After they had loaded up Angels family Spike picked up Connor again and jumped into the back of the delivery truck. Jack followed Spike and as soon as everyone was in the drivers took off.

As soon as it took off Jack went over to where Spike was checking Connor. He pulled his shirt open. They all let out air they had been holding in when they saw the bullet proof vest Connor had on. Spike continued to check him over. He knew Connor must have been hit someplace because he could smell blood on him. He took the vest off of him so that he could get a better look. He finally found two bullets holes in his left shoulder. Spike pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the blood off. "He'll be alright the bullets went in and came out through the front."

"Will Connor be all better Uncle Spike?" "Yes sweetheart he sure will. In fact look you can see him healing already." Kathleen and everyone else looked at Connor and they could see the holes in his shoulder start to close. New skin was covering the bullet holes by the time they arrived at the Hotel. Connor was awake now. He got up and jumped out of the back of the truck with Spikes help. Cordelia and Kathleen came out next and they both went to Connor and hugged him. He hugged them back and kissed them both. Connor picked up his little sister then and hugged her some more.

"Did I do good Connor?" "Yes my little sister you did real good, except for when I came across one of your little puddles and fell on my behind. Daddy is going to be real proud of you when we tell him what you did to help me find you."

"Where is Angel Connor?" Connor postponed his answer by turning to all of the men in both trucks. "Thank you everyone for helping us get my family back. If you should ever need our help please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you." Connor led his family back into the Hyperion.

When they were inside Fred came running to Cordelia and they both cried as they hugged each other. "We'll put the boys to bed Cordelia. Come with us Kathleen it's time for all princes to be in bed." Kathleen took Buffy's hand. "But I want to see my Daddy first. I want to tell him how I turned the bad people into a cat and mouse and how I almost got away by turning into a wolf puppy." "Your Mommy will talk to you tomorrow when you wake up. Let's get you to bed for now okay?" "Okay Aunt Buffy. Where is Joyce?" "Joyce is going to sleep with us tonight but tomorrow night you, Joyce and Junior can all sleep in your own beds okay?" "Okay." Hunter was already upstairs and changing Nicky when Buffy came in with Kathleen. Buffy took care of Mike and they put them both in the bassinet.

"I think I'll stay in here tonight. Mike is at home and I don't feel like driving all the way over there tonight. Besides I don't think Cordelia should be left alone tonight she'll need someone to talk to." Hunter said.

Downstairs Connor, Fred, Gunn, Willow, Tara, and Spike were sitting and explaining to Cordelia what happened to Angel and where he was right now.

"No wonder I couldn't sense him. Spike could you give me something so that I can sleep, something that won't get into my milk and affect the boys. I'm so tired and I can't handle anything more right now."

Spike went into the clinic and pulled out a mild tranquilizer. He knew that it wouldn't take much to put Cordelia to sleep. She didn't look like she got more than a couple of hours of sleep during the past 2 days. When he came back to the dinning room table he found Connor taking her up to bed. "She fell asleep as soon as you walked away. I think I'll go to bed now also. Lou is sleeping on your bed with Joyce. Good night Spike." Fred told him. "Okay goodnight Fred." Gunn went around checking all of the doors. He put the security alarm on and Willow replaced the protective spell again. They weren't taking any chances tonight.

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Early the next morning Dr. Martin got up so that she could go to mass with the Sisters. They were all going to be praying for the surgery to go well today. Dr. Weinstein would be here at 8 and he was scheduled to begin at 9. Dr. Martin had paid for a special scope that Dr. Weinstein would need for the surgery. They had delivered it yesterday and a technician was sent from the company that manufactured it to set it up. Everything had been cleaned and made sterile in preparation for the surgery.

After Mass, Wesley and Giles had joined Mother Superior and Dr. Martin in the dinning room for breakfast. It was now 8 o'clock and Dr. Weinstein had joined them for some coffee before he went in to scrub for the surgery.

"You're not going to assist me for the surgery Dr. Martin?" "No, not today it's going to take too long for me. Ever since my stroke I don't seem to have the stamina to go through a long surgery so I'll just wait with everyone else in the waiting room. If you should need me send someone out to get me and I'll come in."

"Any estimate as to how long it will take Dr. Weinstein?" Wesley asked.

"No you can never tell with these things. I myself never know until I actually finish because I never know what I'll find." He got up then to go to the hospital.

"Who is going to assist him Mother?" "Sister Diana is our new chief of surgery and she will be assisting. Plus they have a sister that is an experienced surgical nurse for brain surgery. We had to order some special instruments for the surgery and Sister Martha went to the surgical supply house in Boston to pick them out. John took her and another sister down to Boston in his helicopter. Both of the sisters were so excited when he landed on the front lawn. At least I think they were excited, it could be that they were scared out of their wits."

Dr. Martin reached for Mother Superiors hand. "I am so happy that I got to see you again. When we left last time Angel said that I would see you again but I said 'no I won't see her again'. I'm glad to see that he was right and I was wrong."

"By the way John and Bishop O'Connel will be here later today. John said that he wanted to meet the man that stole you away from him." She had a smile when she said it so Dr. Martin took it as a joke.

"I think I smell Cinnamon Buns baking so I think I'll go and try to sweet talk Sr. Pauline out of one when they come out of the oven. Does anyone else want one? She makes the lightest Cinnamon Buns I've ever tasted." "I'll have one." Both Wesley and Giles answered. "I'll meet you in the waiting room." Dr. Martin put her head up and smelled the air. "I believe I should be there in 30 minutes." She left then to go to the kitchen.

Mother Superior was laughing as Dr. Martin left. "She always could smell the odor coming from the kitchen and guess almost exactly how much longer it would take for the buns before they were ready." Mother Superior got up then. "Let's go gentlemen; I'll take you over to the hospital. They have set up a camera in surgery so that we can watch on a television at the nurse's station."

Dr. Martin had a whole tray of buns when she joined them at the nurse's station. "Look what I have." All the sisters came running to get one. Dr. Martin had brought enough paper plates for everyone. She took 3 of the buns over to the waiting room for Giles and Wesley. "Do you want to come over and watch the surgery with us?" Before she finished saying it both men said "Eww NO!" They looked at each other and laughed.

"Well I have to in case Dr. Weinstein needs me. I suggest that you two go to a couple of movies because this is going to take awhile." Before the men left they took a chance and went to look at the monitor. Dr. Weinstein was starting to cut away at the surrounding area of the broken skull bones. "What part of his brain are the broken pieces of bone in." Wesley asked. "The cerebrum mostly but it looks like some of it might have gone into the cerebellum. They had to have hit him pretty hard to make it spread out like that." Dr. Martin said. "Okay that's enough for me. We're going to take your advice Mary and do some sight seeing." Giles said as he grabbed Wesley's arm and pulled him toward the door.

As soon as they got into the car that Wesley had rented Giles said "Let's find a library. I want to find out what kind of damages to expect."

Wesley headed for the local library after asking for directions. They quickly found a medical book on the brain as soon as they were given the location of all books related to anatomy by the librarian. Wesley and Giles had their heads together as they read the explanation for what the Cerebellum and Cerebrum controlled.

They both sat back as they digested the information they just read.

The Cerebrum controlled the higher functions such as speech, thought, vision and memory where as the Cerebellum controlled motor functions such as walking, vision and such.

"My God Giles, this is going to be so hard on him, and poor Cordelia. With two new baby boys to take care of we're going to be lucky if she doesn't have a complete breakdown by the end of the 1st month." Wesley put his hands over his eyes. He didn't want Giles to see him crying for his friend. Giles put his hand on Wesley's arm. He'll be okay Wesley. I don't know how he will do it but somehow Angel will come through it all in one piece just as he always does and when he trips and falls we'll be there to catch him and encourage him to continue. And Cordelia, what can I say about Cordelia except that she is a strong woman. When Mary and Spike where working on Angel after he was crucified I crumbled when I saw his back and how much damage there was to his skin but Cordelia just took a few moments to cry then she took a deep breath and continued to help them fix him."

After a while he heard Wesley laughing. "What's so funny? First you were crying and now you're laughing."

"When you said the word fix I was remembering what Angel and I were talking about when we were going to Las Vegas. I was telling him that Dr. Martin had told me that I needed to have a vasectomy because it would be too dangerous for Fred to have anymore children. She said that it wouldn't be fair to Fred to continue to take birth control pills which can cause all sorts of problems when it would be so easy for me to just have a vasectomy. I told him how reluctant I was to have it done. I know it's completely illogical but just the thought of having anything cut; tied, or removed where my boys are concerned is very disturbing. Angel told me what he thought about it and that he was going to have it done also because he and Cordelia didn't want anymore children and he didn't want her to continue to have to take birth control pills because of what they did but that he was going to wait to have it done until Cordelia was able to show her appreciation for him making such a sacrifice." They both started laughing and everyone around them shushed them. Wesley got up to put the book away and they left as quickly as they could.

Wesley and Giles stood outside watching the people go by. All of a sudden it started getting cold so they got back into the car. "Wow that got cold fast." Giles said as he put his gloves on. "Yeah they said on the radio that a cold front would reach us around noon. That was like a rolling wall though. Look there is the local theater do you want to go?" "It doesn't look very interesting. I think the movies are more geared toward teenagers. You can go if you like and I'll wait for you at the coffee shop." "No, I'm younger then you old boy but I'm not that much younger. Let's go to the book store then we can go back." Wesley said. "That sounds good to me." Giles said.

Wesley and Giles spent several hours at the book store then returned to the waiting room and checked in at the nurse's desk. "Where is Dr. Martin?" "Dr. Weinstein finished removing the pieces of bone out of the patients brain then called Dr. Martin in to help him. He is putting a new type of plastic plate in his head right now to cover the area where the skull used to be. He had called her in to ask her what kind of plate she wanted him to use and after she called someone in Los Angeles she told him a plastic plate." "Okay we'll wait for her over here." Wesley and Giles took a seat and started reading the books they had bought.

Two hours later Dr. Martin and Dr. Weinstein came over to them. "How did it go?" Wesley was the first to ask as they all sat down.

"I believe I was able to get all of the pieces of bone out of his brain. We took another X-ray while I still had him open and we couldn't see any bone left so we closed him up. If he is going to wake up then he should wake up by tomorrow morning. Well I have to go and check on some patients. I'll call and check up on Mr. Martin tomorrow morning. I left some instructions with the nurses as to what to watch out for and to call me if certain symptoms should occur." Wesley and Giles stood up. They shook his hand and thanked him for all he had done. Dr. Weinstein left then and returned to town.

"Can we see Angel now Dr. Martin?" Wesley asked. "He's still in a coma Wesley and the nurses are getting him settled right now. We'll only be in the way. Why don't we go back to the Guest House for now I can do with a rest. After supper we can go and see him. Besides I want to call home and check in with Cordelia. I got a message on my pager that they were able to rescue her and the children last night." Since Wesley and Giles had been out they still had the car in the front of the hospital so they drove back to the Guest House. Dr. Martin was tired so she went right to their room to take a nap.

Later in the evening after supper they all went to visit Angel. She checked the records that the nurses kept. They gave the beats per minute along with the length of time that they felt his pulse. Dr. Martin was especially interested in his temperature since it always went up when he was healing. She went out to the nurse's station and returned in a few minutes with straps to hold Angel down. Wesley and Giles helped her put them on his wrists and ankles. She had two more that she put further up his arm so that he wouldn't pull out any of the needles in his arm. Wesley and Giles put the last one around his waist. A nurse came in with another rather unusual strap. The nurse and Dr. Martin put this one on. They put extra pillows under his head then placed the strap over his forehead and chin. It was clear that Dr. Martin was trying to make sure that Angels head moved as little as possible.

"Angelus, this is Dr. Martin." They could see Angel's eyes moving under his eyelids. Just when they thought that he wasn't able to make Angel open his eyes, they popped open and he looked straight forward. Wesley and Giles came closer to the bed.

"Angelus the surgery has been completed but Angel is still in a coma. I want you to start to heal him now. We have his body strapped down so that he can't injure his head or pull any of the needles out." Angelus closed his eyes again. It took a few minutes but they finally saw that Angel's temperature was going up. Perspiration started to appear on his face. Dr. Martin took his temperature. It was 101. They all took seats while they waited for the inevitable to start.

After 20 minutes Angels hands and legs started to shake. They were strapped down pretty good so he could just barely move. Dr. Martin was still worried about the back of his head though so she got up and held onto his head while the nurse did the same on the other side. They did this just in time as his head started to move up and down. Angel went through the seizure for another 10 minutes then suddenly stopped. Dr. Martin checked his temperature again. It was down to 98 and continuing to go down. She took the head strap off and started to take off the bandages. The nurse was astonished that the skin showed no signs that he had just come out of surgery four hours before. Dr. Martin covered his head again. While she was doing that Giles and Wesley took the other straps off.

Dr. Martin called out to her son. "Angel, Angel wake up sweetheart. It's time to open your eyes now." Nothing happened so she tried the one thing that seemed to be so ingrained in his memory that he always answered to it.

"Angel me boy, your Da is waiting for you to help him with the milking. Wake up now before he comes after you." Angel's eyes started to move under his eyelids. She tried again but called out louder this time. "Angel me darling boy get your behind out of that bed before I come up with some cold water." "Angel finally opened his eyes and looked at her but said nothing."

"Angel, do you know who I am?" Dr. Martin asked. Angel tried to talk but nothing but meaningless sound came out. Dr. Martin used her handkerchief to wipe up the saliva that was coming out of the corner of his mouth. Wesley and Rupert were standing at the end of the bed. Wesley couldn't stand to watch his friend go through this so he covered his eyes and turned away. He went to the window and appeared to be looking out. Rupert could hear him crying for his friends suffering.

"Angel, can you understand what I am saying?" Once again he tried to say something but nothing but meaningless sound came out. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate but all he could produce was the meaningless sound. He was starting to get scared and the blood red tears started to fall.

"Angel if you can understand what I am saying I want you to blink your eyes twice." When she said this she nodded her head up and down and pointed to her eyes and blinked them twice.

"Angel, do you know who I am?" She asked once again. This time Angel blinked his eyes twice. "Okay that's good. Do you remember being hit on the back of your head when you went back into your room?" He took a minute to think about it then blinked his eyes twice.

"When you were hit on the back of the head they did it so many times that they drove parts of your skull into your brain. We had to bring you over to my old hospital for Dr. Weinstein to operate on you. That was at 9 this morning and you were in surgery for 6 hours. Before you went into surgery I talked to Angelus and told him not to make any attempt at healing you since Dr. Weinstein doesn't know the whole truth about you. About 40 minutes ago we came in and strapped you down, including your head. I then told Angelus he could go ahead and try to heal you. You went thru the seizure for about 10 minutes. He has been able to replace the skin over the surgical area but we still have you bandaged in order to protect the area. Your skull was so broken up that Dr. Weinstein couldn't piece it back together so you have a special piece of plastic that is making up the rest of your skull and protecting your brain. I had them put in the plastic at Hunters suggestion. Do you understand all that I have told you?" Dr. Martin once again wiped Angel's mouth and the blood red tears that were still falling. He blinked twice then closed his eyes.

"You're inability to speak is to be expected Angel. At supper tonight we will be speaking to a speech and physical therapist that will tell us how to help you regain your ability to speak and walk and become your old self again. I want you to go back to sleep now and rest. We will be going home tomorrow and I am going to give you something to make you sleep because you'll get to tired if I don't. Go to sleep now." She gave him a kiss on his forehead then turned the lights off again and they all left.

Dr. Martin walked out of the room and to the nurse's station. She wrote something down on his chart and told the nurse to hook him up to a pint of blood to feed him and that he was to be given another pint at 12 midnight.

"Let's go its supper time and I'm starving." They walked over to the convent in silence, each deep in their own thoughts. When they entered the convent Dr. Martin asked Sr. Cecil if she would let Mother Superior know that they were here and ask her if they could have the Speech and Physical Therapist join them for supper. Dr. Martin led Giles and Wesley over to the waiting room. "I'm going to go into the chapel for a while Rupert. I'll be back when I hear the call for supper." Giles put his arms around her and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "He'll be alright Mary. Angel always pulls through. He suffers a lot and sometimes it takes a while but he always pulls through." "I know Rupert. It's just that I need to renew my strength right now." She left to go into the Chapel then and Giles sat back down on the couch.

Wesley turned the television on to listen for tomorrow's weather. After 20 minutes they heard the bell calling the sisters to supper. Dr. Martin returned along with Mother Superior and two men. Wesley recognized them as Bishop Jack O'Connel and John Williams. They all shook hands as the men were introduced.

The inevitable came just as they sat down. "So Rupert you're the man that stole my Mary from me." John said point blank. "From what Mary has told me John she considered you as a close friend……….and that is all. When Mary and I, shall we say connected, your name never came up."

"John you told me that you were going to behave yourself if I let you come with me." Bishop O'Connel said.

"I know and I apologize. I promise that I'll be good from now on." The tension in the room just cooled down. Bishop O'Connel looked at Mother Superior. She had a big smile on her face. "Do you find this amusing Mother?" "As a matter of fact Your Grace I am actually having fun. Ever since Mary left and married Rupert I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I didn't think I would ever get a chance to see this again. Two men fighting over one woman, it's always nice to know you still have what it takes to attract 2 men at the same time isn't it Mary?" "Mother Superior shame on you." Dr. Martin said as she started to laugh at the whole situation. Fortunately for John the two sisters that Dr. Martin had invited arrived.

Dr. Martin stood up and introduced everyone. "Sr. Lucy is a physical therapist here at the hospital and Sr. Diana is a speech therapist here. Because of the injuries to Angel's brain I asked Mother Superior if the sisters could come and talked to us and let us know what to expect from Angel at the beginning and what we can do to help him recover.

For the next hour the two Sisters told Dr. Martin, Wesley and Giles what to expect at first and how to help Angel relearn the skills he needed to lead a normal life. Sr. Lucy said that she would give them a list of machines that they could get that would help them to help Angel. Sr. Diana also gave them ways to help Angel regain his ability to speak correctly. "Don't be afraid to push him to the point that he gets mad. Get used to it because it happens frequently." She gave them a list of children's toys that she uses to get them to recognize things and put names to them. "If Angel doesn't show significant improvement within the first six months then he most likely will never return to his regular self." Both therapists agreed on this.

"If we're all done here I would like to go and see Angel before I leave. When are you returning to L.A. with him Dr. Martin?" Bishop O'Connel asked. "Tomorrow afternoon. The same jet that brought us here will be taking us back. I have an ambulance due to pick us up at 10 A.M. and we should be ready to take off by 12 noon." Mother Superior thanked the sisters for their time. Everyone got up then and walked over to the hospital and Angel's room. Dr. Martin had called ahead to make sure that he didn't have any bags of blood hanging that he was being fed.

The room was almost completely dark when they arrived. Dr. Martin walked in first and turned on a light that was over Angel's bed. She turned the television down that she had ordered to be kept on at all times.

"Angel, Angel wake up baby." She gently shook his shoulder but didn't get a response. She checked his eyes to see if he had slipped back into a coma but she found him to be in a normal deep sleep. She called out louder this time. "Angel Liam Martin, wake up." Very slowly Angel opened his eyes and tried to look at his surroundings. His eyes weren't cooperating though. They wanted to move around a lot and it took all of his concentration to make them look in the direction he wanted them too. His eyes fell on Dr. Martin at last and he just stared at her.

"Do you know who I am Angel?" He continued to stare at her. He frowned then and tried to say something but he was only able to produce unintelligible sound that meant absolutely nothing.

"Angel I want you to blink your eyes twice for yes and once for no. Do you understand?" He blinked twice. Dr. Martin picked up the phone and called the nurses desk and told her to send everyone in. She brought her attention back to Angel and noticed that he had saliva coming out of his mouth and down the side. She looked at the bed table and saw some Kleenex which she used to wipe his mouth. When everyone came in she asked Wesley and Giles to come closer. She put her hand on Giles shoulder.

"Do you know who this is?" Angel stared at Giles. "Is this Fred?" Angel blinked once and smiled. That simple smile told Dr. Martin that he knew who Fred and Giles were. "Is this Giles?" Angel blinked twice. "Do you know who I am Angel?" He blinked twice. Wesley stepped forward and held Angels hand. "Angel, it's me, Wesley. Do you remember me?" Angel looked at him. He concentrated real hard on how to speak. He made an attempt to speak but it didn't come out right. He tried again. Angel stared at Wesley he tried to say his name again. Finally, as though a locked door finally blew open he said it. "Wesey."

Wesley grabbed him and hugged him. "Yes, yes it's me Wesey." Angel couldn't grab onto Wesley but he didn't have to because Wesley was hugging him so tightly that it was enough for both. Both men cried tears of joy. There wasn't a dry eye in the room.

Bishop O'Connel asked "Wesey? I thought your name was Wesley." Wesley put Angel back down on the bed. "It is but Wesey is what his daughter, Kathleen, called me when she was first learning to speak." Angel tried to reach for Wesley's jacket to tug at it but his arm didn't cooperate. "I think he is trying to get your attention." Bishop O'Connel told Wesley. Wesley turned back to Angel. "Your….turn…..care…..me." "Yes I will help to take care of you, and I am going to be just as mean to you as you were to me when I didn't want to exercise." They smiled at each other then Wesley stepped back.

Dr. Martin signaled to the Bishop to come over and talk to Angel. She didn't want the visit to continue too much longer because she could see Angel was getting tired.

"Jack….friend." Angel said slowly. "Yes I am Jack and a friend. I think that you are going to be okay Angel. I think it's going to take longer than what you are used to but be patient and remember that it would take perhaps years for a human with the same injuries to heal. Can I give you a special blessing Angel?" Angel just blinked his eyes twice he was to tired to try to talk. He closed his eyes then and Bishop Jack O'Connel gave him the blessing and made the sign of the cross over him.

When he was done he said "I really don't know why I'm giving you my blessing because with your connections I should be asking you to give me your blessing." Angel gave him a weak smile then closed his eyes.

"Let's go everyone he's gone back to sleep. I'm afraid we've tired him out." As they left Dr. Martin stopped at the nurse's station and left some instructions for tomorrow.

When Dr. Martin joined them they continued walking to the front of the hospital and out to Jack's Limousine. Jack said goodbye then and got into his Limo and left while Dr. Martin, Giles and Wesley returned to the guest house. They were all tired and went to bed as soon as they could.

The next morning Dr. Martin called Hunter. She knew they would probably still be in bed but she was too tired to call her last night.

"Hello, Hunter Thompson here." "Hunter, this is Dr. Martin." "Hello Mary how is everything going?" "Angel had surgery yesterday as you know and I was able to wake him up in the afternoon. I called Hunter to let you know when we should be arriving and to ask if the hospital bed has been set up in Cordelia's room." "Yes Mary the men set it up yesterday. I have all of the supplies that we'll need for him." "How is Cordelia doing?" "You know Cordelia she's been thru this with Angel so many times." "This is going to be different Hunter. Angel has to be taken cared of now as any human would. He will have to be hooked up with a catheter until he learns to walk again and I'm afraid he'll have to be cleaned up when he has his rare bowel movements. He's pretty helpless Hunter and he tires easily right now. We just took the feeding tube out of him this morning but I don't think he'll be able to eat solids for awhile." Mary took a moment to blow her nose and wipe her tears. By the sounds she heard over the phone Hunter had a good idea as to what was happening.

"It's terribly depressing to see such a man become so dependent on everyone around him. I know it's going to be very humiliating for him to have to be taken cared of for all of his personal needs." "It's something that just can't be helped Mary. I've had to take care of many patients like that. I try not to think of it in a personnel way and never say anything that would make them feel even more humiliated." "I know Hunter, and I've taken care of many patients like that also, but Hunter you never realize how humiliating it is until you have to go through it yourself as I did when I was raped and then my stroke." There was a pause for awhile while she got control of herself. "The ambulance I scheduled should arrive by 3 o'clock. Let everyone know okay?" "Okay Mary I'll take care of it. Goodbye." It was still 3:30 in the morning so Hunter decided to delay telling Cordelia what Dr. Martin had said until later in the morning.

At the hospital they were getting Angel ready for his trip home. They gave him a glass of blood to drink to see if he could take it okay. Someone had to hold the glass for him but otherwise he did okay in keeping it down. They took the tube out of his stomach that was being used to feed him since he was now able to eat. After Mass and their breakfast Dr. Martin went to the hospital to check on Angel.

She found him just starting to doze off again. "Angel its Mom." Dr. Martin said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. When he opened his eyes again she continued. "Are you ready to go home now?" Angel nodded a yes. "I didn't heeeaaaarrrr you." Dr. Martin said with a smile. Angel looked at her. She could see him struggling to say something.

"Angel, don't try so hard. Just say it." He thought about what he wanted to say.

"Yes." He said with an explosive breath. "That's better. I remember someone else doing the exact same thing to me. If only I could remember who it was." Dr. Martin folded her arms under her breasts and tapped her chin. "If only I could remember. Oh well sooner or later I'll remember." She gave a wicked little laugh then. That got a laugh out of him.

"Okay Angel play time is over. The ambulance is going to be here to pick you up soon so I am going to send you to La La Land as Spike calls it. You should sleep all through the trip home." Dr. Martin gave him the shot in his arm since the nurses had taken all of the needles out of him. She waited with him until he fell asleep then bundled him up again and put the brace under his neck.

Giles and Wesley put the luggage into the back of the car and drove over to the hospital to wait for the ambulance. They approached Angel's room quietly and caught Dr. Martin sleeping while leaning on Angel's bed and holding his hand. Instead of waking her up they just left and went to the waiting room until the ambulance came.

Thirty minutes later one of the nurses came and told them that the ambulance was here and had come in to get Angel. Mother Superior was there to say goodbye. Dr. Martin and Mother Superior hugged before she got into the ambulance to travel to the airport with Angel.

By 12 noon they were on their way to Los Angeles.

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By 9 o'clock Connor was having breakfast with everyone else. He had helped Fred bring David and Robert down stairs. More accurately though he brought the boys downstairs since each one had grabbed onto one of his legs and Connor walked to the elevator with them sitting on his feet. Connor seemed to be just one of those men that children loved. He never became impatient with their stories or conversations although some of the children would become impatient with him because he would make them speak more clearly. He would often tell them 'I don't understand you; you have to speak more clearly'. Best of all though he was Toby's master and he would let Toby play with them all of the time.

Today Connor was going to pick up Toby from the Veterinary Hospital. The children were at their table eating while David and Robert were in their highchairs by Fred. The Price boys were just starting to learn to feed themselves. Cordelia had the bassinet with her boys all bundled up inside.

With so many people gone Cordelia had invited the Sanchez family to come and sit with them.

"I'm going to go and pick up Toby today Joaquin is it okay if Junior comes with me?" "Yes that would be alright. I want you to be on your best behavior Junior." "I will Papa. Is it time to go now Connor?" "Not yet, let me have my last cup of coffee okay?" "Okay." Connor was about to learn his first lesson about dealing with more than one child at a time.

Kathleen and Joyce were hearing about this trip for the first time. "Can we come too?" "Boys only this trip girls." Connor said.

"That's okay honey we can go to the store with Buffy and buy a homecoming present for Daddy okay?" Cordelia said. "Can we buy a present for Toby also because he's coming home from the hospital too?" Kathleen asked. "Sure I don't think well have a problem doing that. Connie can I leave the boys with you for one or two hours, they've been fed and changed already and are just sleeping?" "Yes, I'll be in the kitchen most of the day making Mr. Martins favorite foods." "Connie I'm sorry I didn't tell you, it didn't occur to me that you might be cooking something for Angel but he isn't eating any solids yet." "That's okay I should have thought of that myself. I'll be happy to take care of the boys though." "Thank you Connie. We shouldn't be to long. Buffy and Joyce are going with us."

Cordelia and Buffy took the girls shopping for balloons and flowers to put in the room while Connor and Junior went to the vet to pickup Toby. Before going to the Veterinary Hospital Connor stopped at a local butcher and picked up some fresh blood for Angel and asked for a 3 lb. 2" steak for Toby's home coming along with the largest leg bone that they had. When Toby saw Connor the assistant couldn't hold on to his leash so he just let go. Toby ran and jumped into Connors arms and he fell over. Toby started licking him all over his face. He was so happy to see him that, like a puppy, he peed all over the floor while Junior clapped his hands and laughed. Toby stopped long enough to go and lick Juniors face all over. Then he made for the door. He made it quiet clear that he wanted out of this place. Connor was still laughing as he put Toby's choke chain on along with his leash.

Everyone was back home by 12 noon. Both Joyce and Kathleen went running into the hotel to see Toby. Before the women knew it the children were on the floor with their faces being licked from ear to ear and giggles could be heard all the way upstairs to the 3rd floor.

The rest of the afternoon for the adults was spent getting the bedroom ready for Angels arrival along with monitors to watch him if no one was in the room with him. After lunch the children had gone upstairs with Toby to play for a while then take their naps.

At exactly 3 P.M. The ambulance pulled up at the back of the hotel and Wesley pulled up behind it in his SUV that he had left at the airport. Connor and Gunn were waiting with the clinics bed. Giles helped his wife get out of the back of the ambulance. The ambulance attendants came to the back and pulled out the bed from the back. They could see that Angel was still sleeping when they pulled him out so they all spoke softly when Connor and Gunn helped to transfer him from the ambulance bed to the clinic bed. After Dr. Martin signed the papers that the driver gave her they left.

They took Angel up to his bedroom and placed him in the hospital bed. They cleared out for a few minutes while Hunter and Cylinda got him settled in. When they were done Hunter opened the door and they all came in but he was still sleeping. After going to the bathroom to freshen up and let her hair down Dr. Martin came to her son's bedroom.

"He's still sleeping Dr. Martin and we didn't want to wake him up until you said it was alright." Cylinda said.

She went to the side of the bed and called out to him. "Angel, Angel wake up son." Angel's eyes began to move under his eyelids. He opened his eyes and appeared to be looking around. His senses told him who was in his bedroom.

"Angel everyone is here to welcome you home. Just to let everyone know he can't see very well yet but as you know he can sense you. He tires easily so I am going to ask you all to leave for now and you can come in later or tomorrow to welcome him home. Right now I think he would like to have some time with his immediate family. Spike, can you stay please?" Everyone else left except Spike and Angel's family.

"Cordy?" For the first time since Angel was brought in Cordelia stepped forward and to his bed. Angel struggled to lift his arms to her but could just barely move them at all. Cordelia couldn't hold herself back anymore though and she jumped on the bed and hugged him, kissed him all over his face and hugged him again. He couldn't do anything but receive her kisses. They both were crying. After a while Cordelia just rested her head against his chest and listened to his heart. She finally looked at everyone looking at her. Connor was holding Kathleen who had previously tried to get away from him so she could go to her Daddy.

Cordelia slid off of the bed and took Kathleen from her brother. "Come and say hello to your Daddy Kathleen." She put her on the bed and told her to stay on his side. As soon as her mother let her go she reached for her Daddy's neck and just hugged him for awhile. Angel wanted to put his arms around her so bad that the tears just quietly ran down the side of his face.

"Where were you Daddy? Those bad people came and took Mommy, Nicky, and Mike and me away and they hurt Toby when he tried to help us. But Connor came and rescued us Daddy." Connor came closer to the bed. "I rescued you but I wouldn't have been able to if you hadn't left me signs to tell me where you where." Kathleen put her finger to her lips and said "Shhhhhh. Don't tell him, Grandma told me not to do it unless Tara or Willow was with me. He'll get mad at me." "I don't think he will this time, but it's just for this one time okay." "Okay then I guess you can tell him." "Kathleen changed one of the technicians into a mouse when he tried to perform a medical test on her. Then she turned one of the guards into a cat who then chased the mouse. When they tried to grab Kathleen she turned herself into a wolf and was able to worm her way out of their grasp and out the door. While she was running all over the place she was peeing all over the floor. If it wasn't for that it would have taken me longer to find her. They had pulled a false wall over the room they were keeping them in. In fact she had left so much in front of the wall that I found it when I slipped in one of her little puddles." Kathleen and her Daddy were laughing. Cordelia and Spike had heard it many times already.

"Your son is a natural leader Angel. As soon as you were found on the floor he took over as though it was something that he did every day. You won't have anything to worry about while you are recuperating. Which I believe will start tomorrow?" Spike looked at Dr. Martin with the question.

"Yes I think it will be time. Every day that you wait Angel will be another day that you add on to your time for recuperation. Tonight for supper I want you to come down stairs."

"No." Angel said out of the blue. "What was that?" Dr. Martin said. She was a bit surprised that he had said no.

"No, here ….only." "Why not?" Dr. Martin asked. Angel looked at Cordelia then Dr. Martin again. ….me."

"I think he is trying to say that he doesn't want to go downstairs because he doesn't have control over his body functions yet."

"Angel do you trust me?" Dr. Martin asked as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Yes." "Then trust me when I say that you need to start moving around just like I did the day after my stroke. And you Mister are to start moving around by going down stairs for supper tonight. Every one will love seeing you again and it will help you to exert yourself a little bit. Well have you fixed up so that no one will know that you are having a problem."

"No." Angel said again.

Spike, Connor and Cordelia looked at each other in surprise. Angel had never said no to his mother. He had never defied her authority over him as a mother would automatically have over her child.

Kathleen started to say something to defend her Daddy. Cordelia picked her up off of the bed and walked to the door and stepped out for a second.

"Don't interfere Kathleen, this is between your Daddy and Grandma. Go play with Joyce and Junior now." Her daughter took off then to find her companions and Cordelia went back inside. As she walked back in she heard Dr. Martin say "Angel Liam Martin you will do as I say. And we all know that I always get my way one way or another and believe me you will be downstairs for supper tonight."

Cordelia, Spike and Connor all looked at Angel to see what he would do or say.

"No."

"Let's go Spike and Connor so Angel can rest. Cordelia give your husband a 12 oz. glass of blood please so that he will have the strength he needs for tonight." Dr. Martin said as she walked out of the room. Spike and Connor followed her as instructed. They didn't dare look at Angel as they walked out. Cordelia followed them to the door. When they were all in the hallway Dr. Martin turned around when Spike put his hand on her shoulder.

"What are you going to do?" Dr. Martin just looked at them and raised her eyebrows a couple of times then turned and left to go upstairs and get some rest. Spike and Connor went downstairs to tell everyone what happened.

"Before lying down Dr. Martin called the local hospital and asked to be connected to the supervisor of Nurses Aids.

TBC……………………………………………………………


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

After every one was gone Cordelia went back into the room and warmed up a 12 oz. glass of blood. She put a straw in it and held it for Angel while he drank it. When he was done Cordelia lay down beside him and pulled his arm around her neck and held onto his hand. They both went to sleep then.

Nicky and Mike had their own agenda though and next on their list was being fed. Their cries woke both Cordelia and Angel up. Angel was tired from so much activity and went back to sleep while Cordelia got up and fed the boys.

While Angel was sleeping Dr. Martin was calling in some muscle to take care of her son. She tried getting some big, well muscled me to handle him. She had called the Supervisor of Nurses Aids at the hospital first to see if they had any that were off duty but the only two she had were on duty for the next eight hours. As she sat at her desk thinking of where she could get her hands on two big men she remembered seeing two guards at David Morgan's house that would fill her requirements. Each one must have been well over 6 ft. tall and 250 pounds or more. The muscles in their arms looked like they could give them all the power they needed to crush cement blocks with their bare hands. She called Marissa Morgan up and told her what had happened and that she needed to borrow two of David's guards for a couple of hours. "I don't think that will be a problem Dr. Martin. Do you think it would be okay for us to come and see Angel and the twins tonight?" "I don't think tonight would be good Marissa, Angel gets tired easily and I am going to have him downstairs just to get him moving for the first time since his surgery. Why don't you come next week Saturday for supper? I think he'll be in better condition to receive visitors. As it is right now the rest of the people here, except for his immediate family, haven't been able to visit with him yet. About 95 percent of his time is spent sleeping right now."

"Okay Dr. Martin. Is it okay if I send over some flowers and balloons?" "Yes that will help to perk him up a lot." "When do you want the men over there?" "We usually have supper at 7 so why don't you send them so they are here by 6:30. Thanks Marissa."

At 6 o'clock Cordelia was up taking care of all of her babies. Angel's catheter had come out and Cordelia had called Hunter to show her how to take care of him. Before Hunter came in she asked Cordelia to come downstairs for a minute. She wanted to make sure that Angel couldn't hear her.

"Cordelia I am going to show you how to put a different kind of catheter into Angel. It's going to go into a bag that we will strap to his leg. This is the kind that is used when a person can get up and move around." "You mean that Mom is going to make him get up and come downstairs whether he likes it or not?" "Yes but don't get mad at her because Angel has to get up for at least 15 to 30 minutes. As it is he has already been allowed to sleep and stay in bed for too long. The longer he is allowed to do this the longer his recovery will take. We want you to make him talk as much as possible and let Kathleen and her gang play in the room as much as possible. If they can't keep him awake then that will mean he is real tired and should be allowed to sleep. Let's go get him ready for his little trip. Hopefully he won't need the catheter for very long they can cause a lot of bladder infections."

As they started up the stairs two men came in through the front doors. The men were so big that they almost blocked out the light. They went up to the lobby desk and Fred greeted them. Hunter and Cordelia didn't hear anymore because they were at Angel's bedroom door. Hunter showed Cordelia how to put the catheter in his penis and then attach the bag to his leg. Angel just closed his eyes and tried not to think of what was being done to him. He had never been so humiliated in all of his existence. When they were done Hunter left. They could smell the food Connie was cooking. Cordelia could tell he was taking in the scents.

"I hungry." Angel said. "Are you hungry for solid food or just blood?" "Connie food." He smiled when he said it. They heard a soft knock at the door. Dr. Martin came in when Cordelia opened the door. She came and stood at the foot of the bed. "Are you ready for your little trip downstairs for supper?"

Angels only answer was "NO". His answer didn't seem to bother his mother at all. "Are you sure you don't want to go Angel? Connie is cooking up some mighty good food. She made her chili beans and rice just for you. She also made some sopipillas. You sure you don't want to come down stairs for that delicious supper." Angel looked at her trying to gage her resolve to get him down stairs.

"No, eat…..here." "No I won't let them bring it up here. You can have blood up here and that's all." Angel turned his head away from her like a child.

"Okay Angel, don't forget that this was your decision." Dr. Martin went to the door and said "Come in gentlemen." Angel turned and looked at the door. He couldn't see their features but he could see how big they were. One of the scents he picked up was familiar to him. "Richard?" "Yes it's me Angel and I brought a friend with me his name is Ronny. We often play football on opposite teams and we play the Quarterbacks." "Why….here?" "We came at Dr. Martin's request." "Why?"

Dr. Martin came over to the side of the bed. "I didn't want to put your friends in the middle of our little power war here. So I called Marissa to see if I could borrow two of their biggest guards to help me with you. I know you can't really do anything but since we can never really tell what Angelus is capable of I didn't want to take any chances. Plus I wanted to show you who has the real power here." Dr. Martin was smiling as she brought over the new wheel chair she had bought for Angel. "Okay gentlemen put this shirt on him and put him in the chair."

"No. I …don't ….want ….go." Angel was angry now that she was going against his wishes. Richard took the heavy shirt from Cordelia and Ronny pulled Angel forward and pulled his legs over the side of the bed. Angel was unable to resist although Dr. Martin could see that he was trying. When they had the shirt on him both Richard and Ronny picked him up and placed him in the wheel chair. Cordelia put a blanket over Angels lap and tucked it in around him.

"Okay let's go." Dr. Martin said. Before they went out the door Angel looked at Dr. Martin. He had his blood red tears threatening to spill over. "Mom…..please…..no make me." Her heart started to soften but she knew what she was doing was for his benefit. "I'm sorry Angel but it's for your own good." Richard continued out the door and to the elevator. As he pushed Angel out of the elevator and towards the dinning room Angel could sense a lot of people in the room. He could also smell a lot of flowers and he could see some large shapes floating in the air. He guessed these to be balloons. As he was pushed to his end of the table he heard everyone stand and start clapping. They actually saw Angel blush as he put his head down.

"Thank you." Angel said as he looked up and smiled. Joyce and Junior came over and put their arms out to him so he could pick them up but he had no control of his arms and hands yet.

"Uncle Angel can't pick you up Joyce and Junior." Cordelia said. "Why?" "Because his arms don't work right yet. Maybe if you ask the gentleman nicely he'll pick you up so you can give Uncle Angel a kiss." Joyce turned and looked up at the man standing by Angel. "Excuse me but would you pick me up so I can give a welcome kiss to Uncle Angel?" Ronny picked up Joyce and Junior and put one under each arm and let them kiss him. When he put them down he went back to standing beside Angel.

"Why did you get Richard and Ronny here instead of asking one of us to help Angel?" Spike asked.

"Since Angel was refusing to come down stairs for supper I didn't want to put anyone on the spot and have to choose between Angel and me since you all know it might put you in hot water with either one of us. You guys should have seen him pouring on the sympathy getting big brown eyes. You know the kind he uses Cordelia." "Yes I sure do. He's used them so much on me that he even got me to say 'I do'."

In answer Angel used his big brown eyes and said "I'm hungry." "Okay I guess I can get you something to eat." Cordelia started to put some chili beans and rice in a bowl along with some onions. She gave him a couple of Beano pills first then started to spoon up the beans and rice to him. "Hot." Angel yelled. "I'm sorry baby; here drink some of my milk." Cordelia held the glass of milk up for him as he drank it. Everyone was very conscious of the fact that Angel needed everything to be done for him. Angel felt everyone's eyes on him. Cordelia blew on the food to cool it then tried it herself, just as she used to do for Kathleen when she started to eat solid foods, she judged it to be cool enough and gave it to Angel. After only 4 spoonfuls Angel turned his head and said "No more."

Angel seemed to be uncomfortable with something. "Cordy…..tight." "What is tight?" Angel was struggling with the words he wanted to say. "Cordy….too tight." When Cordelia couldn't figure out what was too tight she had an idea of who would be able to understand him. "Kathleen, come here please." "Yes Mommy." "Can you understand what your Daddy is trying to tell us is too tight?" "He said the belt around his chest is too tight." Angel smiled. "Yes, yes." Richard undid the crib sheet they had used to put around Angels chest to keep him from falling forward. Since it was too short to give him more room they ripped it in half and joined the two ends then put it around him again. "Is that better?" Richard asked. "Yes….better. Thank you." "No problem Angel, no problem."

The meal continued then without any more problems. Connor was sitting on Angels left side and would help him drink his glass of blood. Thirty minutes into the meal Angel was trying to tell Cordelia something but she couldn't understand.

"Angel when they hit you we lost the link between us. Can you see if you can re-establish it again?" They could all see that he was very tired but he wanted to try anyway. Richard positioned Angel's wheelchair closer to Cordelia as she pulled over more. She took Angels hand and put it to the side of her face. Angel closed his eyes and put his head down and concentrated. They could see perspiration beading up on his forehead. He put his head up and said "I can't. Kathleen, come Daddy." Kathleen came over again. "Yes Daddy." 'Help me establish a link between your mother and me.' Kathleen heard him say in her mind. "I don't know how." Kathleen said. No one could hear what Angel was saying so what Kathleen was saying sounded funny.

'Put one hand on my face and the other on your Mommy's face and imagine that you are putting a wire between your Mommy and me, okay?' "Okay Daddy I'll try." Kathleen did as her Daddy said and imagined that she was dressed up in a hard hat and climbing up a telephone pole that looked like her father then she reached out and touched the other pole that looked like her mother. She could feel her fathers mind going through her and to her mother. 'Okay you can let go now.' Kathleen lowered her hands and smiled.

"Where did you get the idea of climbing up a pole dressed like a telephone girl?" Cordelia asked her daughter. "When we were playing in the back yesterday I saw a man dressed up like that and he went up the pole with a long wire that was attached to the other pole." "Can you remember which wire he attached to the pole in the back?" Connor asked his sister. He got up and followed his sister to the back. She pointed out the wire she saw being attached to the pole in back of the hotel that carried their electric and telephone wires. "You did real good Kathleen. I think I'll take you to school with me and make you an honorary police officer." Kathleen just looked at him as though to say 'are you crazy or something?' "You little rascal." Connor said then chased his sister back into the hotel as she ran as fast as she could. She was laughing as he chased her so she couldn't run quiet as fast as she wanted to.

"Well is it what we think it is?" Wesley asked. "It's from across the street alright." Connor said. "Didn't you say you were going to buy that property across the street Hunter?" "Yes I did and I've already contacted a real estate lawyer to look into it. She contacted me this morning with the name of the present owner and I'll give you one guess as to who owns it." "Wolfram & Hart." Wesley answered. "Yes, how did you know?" "Angel asked me to look into it when we first moved in here. As soon as I told him who owned it he told me to drop it." "Why did you tell him to drop it Angel?" Everyone looked at Angel. His head was down and they could see that he was sleeping.

"I think it's time for Angel to be put back to bed." Dr. Martin said. Cordelia reached over and took the napkin off of his chest then Richard pushed his wheelchair back to his bedroom and with Ronny's help they put Angel to bed. Cylinda followed them in and when they left she took the leg bag off of him since he was lying down now and put a regular catheter in him.

Dr. Martin stayed at the table so she could talk to everyone now that they had seen Angel and how things were for him.

"Well what do you all think now that you've seen how he is?"

"He'll get better won't he Grandma?" Connor asked.

"Yes Connor he can get better and he will but it's going to take longer then what you are all used to. The length of time that he takes to heal will be longer because he is more human now. I want to explain the difference in what I went through with my stroke and what Angel has gone through. The symptoms are the same but the causes are entirely different. With a stroke normal pathways have been blocked but can return to normal by either surgery or through medication, they clear by themselves or the damage is permanent. When I was recovering from the stroke I was relearning how to speak, read, walk correctly and so forth. The knowledge of how to do these things were still there but I had to develop knew pathways to get to that knowledge and it was just a short walk. It was kind of like building a bypass around a city. For Angel though there is no possible way to get around the accident that has occurred. For Angel it's like an earthquake has occurred and has completely cut and separated portions of his brain and a deep chasm now exists." Dr. Martin paused for a moment and let everything she had said so far sink in.

"Before the surgery I spoke to Angelus. I told him not to attempt to heal Angel until I said it was okay. I told him that the Doctor that was going to be operating on Angel didn't know everything about him and it would be in his best interest not to let him see things that couldn't be explained away. I spoke to Angelus again yesterday and told him he could go ahead and heal Angel. Of course I took precautions to make sure that he couldn't hurt himself once the expected seizure started. When Angel awoke his ability to speak was much worse then it is now. Since then his ability to speak has improved by the hour. But that is all that has improved. His ability to control his eyes, move his hands or arms or even his ability to sit up is non existent. His vision is very poor. He can see light and shapes but very poorly. He recognizes all of you because of his heightened ability to smell our different scents. If you were to ask me how fast I thought Angel will get back to normal I would have to say that I have absolutely no idea.

Starting tomorrow we will start Angel on his rehabilitation therapy. Before we left the hospital yesterday Wesley, Giles and I had supper with two of the Sisters that are the Speech and Physical therapists at the hospital. They told us what to use to help Angel relearn how to speak, walk, and basically take care of himself and hopefully return to full health again."

"I thought Angel had broken the link between himself and Kathleen." Gunn asked.

"He did. I think he was able to speak to Kathleen inside her mind because of Kathleen herself. That little girl is showing a lot of special abilities. From what Connor tells me she can do magic without having to even say anything like Willow and Tara does. Now that Wolfram & Hart know about Kathleen have you taken any steps to protect your little sister Connor?" "Lou and Tom are with the kids all of the time when they are on the outside of the hotel and beyond the security sensors that we have and the spell that Willow puts on the hotel at night their isn't much else that we can do. Kathleen is getting pretty good at taking care of herself also plus she can talk to me whenever she wants to. I'm the one that is the weak link when she speaks to me. Where as I have to be close by to speak to Kathleen she can reach me over great distances."

"Well I think I am going to go up to our room my dear Rupert and prepare myself to give you 100 percent of my attention." "Grandma please, there are children present." Connor said as he was blushing. "Why, the kids have gone upstairs to play with Toby." "I know I was talking about Lou, Tom, and myself." Connor laughed as he said it. "Besides its weird thinking about you and Grandpa doing it." Connor, Lou, and Tom looked at each other and said at the same time "Ewww." The rest were laughing at them.

"Did you take your Viagra Grandpa?" Giles stood up, grabbed his wife and bent her over backwards on the table on an area he cleared with one sweep of his arm. "Ah my beautiful wife you still have what it takes to get me going. I don't need any drugs to get ready for you my sweet." Giles kissed Mary with a long passionate kiss. Buffy had been quiet most of the night but when she saw the senior citizens putting on a show she spoke up. "Giles please, control yourself." Spike started laughing when he looked at Giles and Mary then at Buffy. She was turning beet red while Willow and Tara just turned away with their hands over their eyes. Mary was starting to tear Rupert's shirt off while he had his hand going up her back and unhooking her bra. Mary skillfully pulled it off and out through one of her sleeves and threw it towards the other side so that it landed, just by chance, on top of Buffy's head. Rupert lifted Mary off of the table when he heard a man clearing his throat behind him. Mary looked at Richard in surprise and embarrassment.

"Will you need us any longer Grandma?" "No Richard, you and Ronny can sit and have some supper if you want." "No thank you, we're barbequing a Lamb tonight so were kind of anxious to get home. Goodnight everyone. If you should need us again Connor don't hesitate to call." "I will, thanks Richard. I apologize for my grandparents' childish display Ronny. Sometimes these old people just get out of hand." Connor said.

Rupert picked up his little wife and threw her over his shoulder and took off for the elevator as Richard and Ronny left through the front doors. That was the last they heard from the so called old people for the rest of the night. Everyone else left the table then and went to their own bedrooms.

Cylinda had helped take care of Angel and taken all of his vitals before she left. Cordelia was taking care of the boys now and feeding Nicky while Mike waited patiently in the bassinet. Mike was a very quiet baby and in some ways he reminded her very much of Angel. He lay in the bassinet just staring at the small toys that dangled from the hood of the bassinet. Not Nicky though, Nicky was usually the one that had to be fed first or he would throw a tantrum if he didn't get what he wanted immediately.

As soon as she had the boys back in there bassinet Cordelia went to bed. It had been a very busy day and she was tired. Even though Angel was in another bed and not beside her she still felt secure. Just knowing he was in the room was enough.

It was 9 o'clock when Cordelia went to bed. Four hours later she was awakened by Nicky demanding attention. She got up and changed them both then settled down in the rocking chair to nurse Nicky. He emptied one breast and was hungry for more so she put him to the other breast and hoped that he would leave some for his brother. A few minutes after he latched onto her other breast he was apparently full and went back to sleep. "What am I going to do with you Nicky? You're so greedy I'm surprised that you left anything for your brother." Cordelia quickly burped him and put him back in the bassinet. As soon as she put him down though he woke up again and started crying.

"Give him to me." Angel said. "I didn't know you were awake." Cordelia said as she picked up Nicky again. She pulled Angels arm over so she could put Nicky in the curve of his arm then she put a couple of pillows between his arm and the rail on the side of the bed. She picked up Mike then and hoped that she had enough left for him. What little was left satisfied him and he went back to sleep. Cordelia checked on Nicky and he was sleeping once again until she tried picking him up and putting him with his brother.

"Leave him with me. Nicky is going to be like me before I was turned I think. But Mike is going to be the best of both of us." "Yes I think so also. Are you hungry?" "No I'm good." She gave him a kiss and went back to bed.

Cordelia slept until 9 the next morning. She was surprised that Nicky hadn't started crying yet. 'Maybe I can take a nice peaceful shower before I have to take care of them again.' She went to the bathroom and took her time taking care of herself this morning. She had left the bathroom door open in case Nicky started crying. When she came out Angel was awake along with their boys. To her surprise though Nicky wasn't crying but just lying in his fathers arm and staring at him.

"Did you sleep well Daddy?" "Yes, Nicky did too. Since he is still being quiet why don't you take care of Mike first?" Cordelia did as he suggested. She was surprised at how much better he was able to talk now. As she sat down and put Mike to her breast she looked at Angel. "You seem to be speaking much better now." "Yes it is the first thing that I concentrated on healing. Last night when I woke up again I did as the Tibetan Monks taught me. They said to imagine that something was happening that would heal a wound whether it was a physical wound or a mental wound like the one I was suffering when Buffy died. So last night I imagined that I was building a bridge between the two sides of the wound in my brain and apparently it worked. But I still can't move anything and my eyesight hasn't improved. I can make my eyes stop moving so much but I can't see clearly yet. I can't even see my sons face."

Cordelia was ready for Nicky now that Mike was back in his bassinet. All through the process of changing him and feeding him he remained quiet and not so demanding. He didn't try to drink her dry as he usually did and went to sleep again without raising a fuss when she laid him down next to his brother.

"Now that you're done with the boys Cordy I am sorry to tell you this but I think my diaper needs to be changed also." Cordy checked him and found that he was right. She got everything together before she started to clean him up. Cordy knew how embarrassing this was for him so she quickly took care of him and didn't say anything that would cause him more embarrassment.

"I am going to see what's cooking downstairs Angel and I'll be right back." "Okay." Before leaving Cordelia turned the camera on so he could be monitored while she was gone.

When Cordelia arrived downstairs everyone was at the table. "Good morning everyone. I have some good new this morning Mom. When Angel woke up this morning he was speaking normally and without any hesitation whatsoever." Cordelia grabbed some eggs, toast and coffee and sat down. Dr. Martin let her eat her breakfast before asking her anything.

"So did he have an explanation as to how this was accomplished?" "Yes he said he used the mind technique the Tibetan Monks taught him when he went there to learn to cope with his suffering over Buffy's death. He said that when he went to sleep last night he imagined that he was building a bridge between the two sides of his brain that had been cut and apparently it worked."

Everyone was quiet for awhile. "That man can pull more rabbits out of his hat then a veteran magician." Dr. Martin said.

"Well when are we going to start him on his physical therapy." Connor asked.

"This morning after he has had his blood I want you to put his sweat pants on and you men can bring him downstairs." Dr. Martin instructed.

"If you men are done with your breakfast I would appreciate it if you would leave the table because I need to talk to our two resident Doctors about some girly stuff." The men cleared out without asking any questions. Cordelia laughed when they all got up at once and cleared out. She got up and went to the back doors and called Lou in. When just the women were at the table Cordelia brought her coffee over to Dr. Martins end and sat down.

"Okay Mom Buffy told me what happened after I left last night. Tell us did you really go upstairs and make out big time with Giles." Cordelia laughed as she asked her question. "Yes of course we did. Why you young people think that it's disgusting for older people to have sex is beyond me. You know you will all be there sooner or later. And you Hunter, Mike is a year older than I am, do you think his age has diminished his sex drive that much?" "No that man won't need Viagra for a long time to come. I can practically do chin ups off of him he gets so hard." That started off another round of laughing.

The women didn't know it but the men were all upstairs on the 5th floor and using Connor and Spike to tell them what the women were talking about. Mike was turning 3 shades of red.

"Angel told me how Mike described the Vampire Special you give him. He said when the men went camping and were hiking to some hot springs Mike was having a hard time keeping up. They stopped for a while so he could catch his breath. When Spike looked at Mike he could see that he was a little pale so he asked him if Hunter had just given him the Vampire Special the night before. Mike told them that every time Hunter gives it to him he feels like the head of his penis is going to explode and that he is glad that he has enough property around his house so that no one can hear him yelling Hunters name."

Hunter just leaned back in her chair with her hands interlaced behind her head. "What can I say girls but when you got it, you got it."

"What's the Vampire Special?" Lou asked innocently.

"I'll explain it later Lou because if I tell you before you and Connor get married you might just jump Connor before. That poor guy is having enough of a hard time as it is. Our water bill has gone up since you moved in with us." Cordelia said. "Am I using too much water? It didn't occur to me that you had to pay for the water we use." Lou said seriously.

"No it's not you that's using the cold water, it's Connor. I think every time he has to speak to you he has to take a cold shower." Cordelia explained. "Oh! It is fun getting him going. If it hadn't been for the fact that he had a class to get to, one time, I would have finally broken his oath to not have sex with me until we both graduate." They all laughed at how devious Lou was getting.

"I really did need to ask you Mom and Hunter if you have any idea what I could do about increasing the amount of milk I am producing. Nicky isn't satisfied with what he is getting from just one breast. Last night I had to give him my other breast as well. I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough for poor Mike. Fortunately what Nicky left for his brother was just enough. When Fred had David and Robert Connie and I were able to help but now the extra bars are closed."

"The only thing I can suggest Cordelia is to use your breast pump frequently to encourage your breasts to produce more milk faster. Other then that you may have no choice but to go to bottles." Dr. Martin said. Cordelia moaned and put her head down on the table. "I know, I thought I would just ask to see if anyone had heard of something. Can't you give Willow or Tara some kind of drug to make them start producing milk? There are four milk producers between them and they aren't being used."

"I'm not sure if there is anything on the market, I'll have to ask Mike. It really doesn't make any difference though because most likely by the time they started to produce milk you would start producing enough. No, I think it would be best to just do as I said and just keep some formula around just in case Nicky starts demanding more than you can give." Dr. Martin said and Hunter agreed. "Oh well I guess your right. At least there is one good thing about this problem. I'm starting to loose my baby making fat because my body is using up a lot of calories just to make the milk."

"Wesley was sure glad that my breasts didn't shrink down to their original size when I weaned the boys. I was wearing an A cup before I got pregnant and when I was breast feeding I had to change to a B cup and they haven't shrunk down yet. He was so glad the night I asked him to empty my breasts instead of feeding it to the boys. The next morning he started acting like Angel and went to the boys crib and said 'Their mine now boys and I can have all the milk I want. Yahooo!'" All the women started laughing. The men on the 5th floor had to put their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing to loud because it was poor Wesley's turn to turn 3 shades of red from embarrassment.

"I guess I better go and take care of Angel. We should be ready for the men to come and get him in about 30 minutes." "Okay Cordy well be ready." Hunter said.

After Cordelia had fed Angel his blood she put his other catheter on him and some sweat pants along with a t-shirt and a flannel shirt that she left open. She then wrapped up the boys and put them in their bassinet and waited for someone to come and get Angel.

A few minutes later Connor and Spike came up to help with Angel. Spike elbowed Connor in the arm. "Watch me get Angel going." He whispered.

The door was open so they just walked in. "Well is Daddy all ready to go?" Both Cordelia and Connor looked at Angel.

"That's okay Spike I'm just keeping a score card in my head and when I'm able to get around again, which we all know I will sooner or later, I'll tally up that score card and then I'll get back at everyone that took advantage of my paralysis." Angel said then gave his best wicked laugh.

Spike gave an involuntary shudder. "What's wrong?" Connor asked. "Nothing, it's just that I felt like someone just walked on my grave and …………………danced an Irish jig." Angel, Connor and Cordelia laughed. Spike pulled Angel up in a sitting position while Connor pulled his legs over the side of the bed. Once they had him in the chair they tied him in with the sheet they used the night before. Connor pushed Angels chair to the elevator while Cordelia picked up Nicky and Spike picked up Mike and they all proceeded to the basement.

Once they got to the door of the basement it was decided that it would be easier for Connor to put Angel over his shoulder and carry him down the stairs to the basement while Gunn and Wesley picked up the wheelchair and took it downstairs. After Angel was settled in the wheelchair again Dr. Martin came over. Everyone finally noticed that she had changed into some sweatpants herself along with one of Giles T-Shirts and a flannel shirt since it tended to be cooler in the basement.

For the next 90 minutes Wesley and Dr. Martin put Angel thru all of the exercises that the physical therapist had recommended. Cordelia helped put Angel through some of the exercises so that she could help him go through them as frequently as he could take it without getting too tired.

For one week Angel went through these exercises and tried very hard to do as he was told, but at the end of 7 days he still couldn't do anything more than hold his head up for a longer period of time. At the end of the 7th day they were all downstairs and having supper. Cordelia was trying to give Angel another spoon full of food when he turned his head and said "No more."

Connie was bringing in some tapioca pudding for everyone when she saw Angel refuse anymore food. "Would you like something else to eat Mr. Martin?" "No thank you Connie I'm just not that hungry." Cordelia gave Angel the rest of his blood then started eating her own dinner which was cold so she got up and warmed it up in the microwave. Angel let her finish her dinner before he said anything.

"Mom and Wesley I want to thank you for working so hard with me so that I can move on my own again but I think it's obvious that it isn't working." Everyone was quiet for a moment because they all knew that what he was saying was true.

"Your correct Angel, your not showing any improvement and you should be showing something by now. I think I've known you long enough to know that you have something up your proverbial sleeve because you do not give up this easily." Dr. Martin said in response.

Angel just looked at her and grinned. "Remember how I was able to start speaking normally again?" "Yes, you said you used the mind techniques that the Tibetan Monks taught you."

"Yes but what I want to do now is more extensive and more involved. I need for you to show me exactly how the brain is mapped out. I believe I saw a picture of this in one of Spikes medical books that I was reading when I had to spend the night at his vacation hut when Cordelia threw me out during our honeymoon. I then need for you to show me on the map where my brain was cut into by the pieces of bone. I need either a large TV screen or movie screen that will show me the building of a bridge over and over again. Get me films on the building of the Golden Gate Bridge, London Bridge, in fact any and all types of bridges. Once I've seen these films the picture can be stopped but I need the sound to continue at a much lower level.

What I am going to attempt to do is create new pathways or bridges over the areas that were cut. This may take me as long as a week or as little as a few days. I don't want to make the same mistake I did when we were in Ireland so I am going to need someone by me almost constantly once I put myself in a trance. Most importantly of all though is that I will need someone to call me back and out of the trance."

"How will we know when your ready to come out of the trance?" Wesley asked.

"You should be able to start seeing me move my arms and legs. They may be jerking motions at first. You can try getting me to do different things like Mom did when she hypnotized my younger self."

"How can the films help you Angel when you can't see clearly enough to make out the picture?" Dr. Martin asked. "Set up your teaching schedule so that, that is the first thing we work on." Angel said.

Gunn brought his coffee over to Angel's end of the table and sat down. Angel looked at him. "Do you have a question Gunn?" "Yeah, exactly how do you do this little magic of yours? Because I can't for the life of me figure out what good all this set up is going to do."

"Well I can show you how to do it. You still get those sinus headaches?" "Yeah, in fact I have one right now." "Okay, do you remember those heavy cylinders they used to use when they were planting a new lawn? They would put down a truck load of stinky fertilizer then work it into the ground then throw the grass seed on the dirt. Then some people would use these cylinders to press the seed into the dirt." "Okay I remember."

"I want you to sit back and relax and listen only to my voice. I want you to imagine that you have two little men inside your forehead pushing those cylinders. They are starting from the middle and just above your nose. Imagine that they are starting to push the cylinders now. They have to go slowly because they are very heavy. What they are pushing the cylinders over is your sinuses that are like large bags full of water. They are so full that they are pressing in on your nerves that go over your head. The men have to go slowly or the bags will burst. As they push the cylinders the water in the bags is starting to come out of the sides. As they get to the end of the bag they flip the handle on the cylinders so that they can now push them back over the bags again. Very slowly they push the cylinders over the bags of water and there is a little less water in them each time they push the cylinders over the bags. Look at the bags, they have less water in them don't they because the water is continuing to come out of the sides and running down the drain." Dr. Martin and Wesley were sitting near by and watching Gunn. They noticed a small trickle of water coming out of his nose. Gunn sat up then and pulled his handkerchief out and wiped his nose.

"That's a neat trick." Gunn said. "How are your sinuses?" Angel asked. Gunn ran his hand over his forehead. "It's not completely gone but it's a lot better then it was." "If you were to continue doing as I directed until you felt that your sinuses were drained it would stay that way for a much longer amount of time then it would if you took an over the counter drug. Now you have an idea of how I will attempt to fix my own brain." Angel said. He was barely able to keep his eyes open now, he was so tired. "Spike, can you take Angel back to his bed now? I think he needs to rest now."

After Cordelia removed Angels napkin from his chest Spike took Angel upstairs while Cordelia and Dr. Martin brought the boys over. Nicky was hungry and was starting to demand attention so as soon as they arrived in their bedroom Cordelia changed both boys. Nicky was still screaming as loud as he could. He was making so much noise that his brother started crying also. While Cordelia and Dr. Martin were taking care of the boys Spike got Angel settled in. "Do you mind if I put your regular catheter in you Angel? I've done it for a lot of women but I've never done it to a man." Spike asked after he had him settled on the bed.

"Sure as long as you don't start getting envious and taking pictures." "Ha, ha, very funny. I believe I satisfy Buffy well enough. Dr. Martin, should I feel anything different as I push the tube up the urethra?" "Yes go a little slower at first because you have more of a curve as it passes by the prostate, after that it will feel the same as a woman." Spike proceeded to change the catheter in Angel. When he was done he removed the rest of his clothes and pulled the sheets and blanket up to and under his arms. In the mean time Nicky was screaming his head off.

"Why don't you give me Nicky Cordy and take care of Mike first. That way he can get his fill before Nicky drains you dry." Angel told her. Cordelia gave him Nicky and put him under his Daddy's arm then put a pillow between Angels arm and the rail of the bed. Spike was watching her do this and noticed how Nicky quieted down almost immediately.

"What do you do Angel to make him stop crying?" Spike asked. "I talk to him in his mind. It's not a link just a light touching of my mind to his. It gives him something to think about besides his empty stomach.

Cordelia was nursing her other son while Angel took care of the noisy, demanding one. When she was done Dr. Martin took him so that he could be burped. She held Mike for awhile and rocked him as he went to sleep. "He's such a good baby. He doesn't seem to cry very much." "No he doesn't, in fact he is the exact opposite of Nicky. Angel and I were talking about him the other night. He seems to have inherited everything that is good in the both of us and Nicky has inherited everything that is bad in us. Of course it's mostly Angels bad since I don't have very much." She smiled at him as she said this. "Yes I can't argue with you there. Connor will be lucky to get him to work at all since he'll be up late and hitting the bars until late at night. Hopefully I'll be here long enough to get him to grow up and not make the same mistakes I did." They were all quiet for a while then as they thought of the future and how short it will be for some of them.

"Well this one is sleeping now. I think I'll put him in the bassinet and go and start looking into getting those x-rays and pictures of the map of the brain. Goodnight Angel and Cordelia." "Goodnight Mom." Angel and Cordelia said at the same time. When Nicky had his fill she laid him down next to his brother after burping him.

"Do you mind staying here for a while Spike while I go and take a shower?" "Sure, no problem." "Uh Cordy I sure would like to take a regular bath also and get my hair washed. I'm tired of feeling this bandage on my head and I don't think it's really necessary any more." Cordelia looked at Spike and thought about the logistics of giving Angel what he wanted. The whirlpool bath had curves in it to act as a chair of sorts.

"Okay Angel I think we can do that. Right Spike?" "Yes I think we can fill the tub up half way, bath him, then fill it the rest of the way and let him soak a little." "Okay let's do it then."

It took them a good hour to give Angel what he wanted but when they finally got him tucked in again he went right to sleep. "Thank you Spike I think he'll sleep straight through tonight. Good night." "Your welcome and goodnight." Spike went to his own bedroom after checking on his daughter upstairs first. He found the girls in bed together with Joyce laying with her leg over poor Kathleen and holding onto her. Junior was in his bed and Toby was on his own bed that they had made for him. Spike went back downstairs to Buffy and called it a night.

The next morning Connor brought in a box full of DVD's on the building of various bridges. It was Monday so he had classes to attend. He was going to have a heavy schedule this semester so that he could finish with school as soon as possible. Angel was awake and Cordelia was giving him a mug of warmed blood. "Dad I am going to have a heavy schedule of classes this semester so that I can finish with my schooling. Since I am going to be too busy to help with any of Cordelia's visions or the business I asked Spike and Buffy to stay here until I graduate. Since Wolfram & Hart know about Kathleen's abilities I don't feel safe with you out of the picture. Now if you're successful in coming back to a full recovery we won't have to worry about it and we can proceed with your previous orders. Is that okay with you?" "Yes Connor that sounds good. If you need any help you know you can always call on Richard." "Yes he has already offered his help. I have to go now." They could hear him jumping down the stairs to the Lobby.

"As soon as he can take over Cordelia and the boys are big enough for us to leave them for awhile I want to go away for a few months. If Wesley and Fred want to I would like them to go with us. Have you ever talked to Fred about her parent's home?" "Yes she has some pictures that she has shown me. They have a large place that they just run cattle on now and a foreman that runs things for them since they're getting along in years also. You know they've invited us to come out and visit them whenever we wanted. We could take the horses with us and go riding every day."

"That sounds good. When my mind gets tired of trying to bridge the gaps in my brain I'll stop and rest by thinking of those days to come. If you think I'm starting to look tired take over from Mom and talk to me about what we can do at the ranch. Talk to me about the wind blowing in our faces as we ride over hill after hill." Angel started to cry as he thought of what he was going to have to go through.

"What's wrong Angel. You know you can tell me anything and I'll understand." Cordelia said as she started to shed her own tears. She went to the bed and lay down beside him then pulled him into her arms.

Cordelia and Angel didn't realize it but the monitor had been left on and Dr. Martin, Hunter, Mike and Spike where watching and listening in the clinic.

"I am so tired Cordelia. I feel as though I am tired all the way to my soul. If it wasn't for the fact that I would miss you so much I would ask God to take me now."

"Cordy I don't want to try to heal my mind yet. I think that if I tried it now I would probably fail because I am too tired." He waited to see if she would say anything but she was silent.

"Cordelia I want to go to sleep for at least a month. I can slow all of my organs down so that it seems as though I am dead but I won't be. I want the men to put me in one of the rooms on the fifth floor or else in the basement. I need to be in a dark and quiet place. The next thing I am going to ask you to do Cordy is going to be the hardest." She looked up at him with fear in her eyes at what he was going to ask of her now.

"I need for you to stay away from me during my month long sleep. Every time you come near me, even when I'm in a deep sleep, I sense your nearness to me and I start to wake up." Cordelia let out the breath she was holding. She had been afraid that his request would be worse. Then something else came to her. "Angel what if Angelus takes control of you again like he did in Ireland?" "Hunter will help me to go to sleep. She told me that she has put herself to sleep at least 4 times so she has my complete trust and I am asking you and everyone else to do the same. She has already helped me do it once before. When I first met her it was because I almost went crazy with grief when I was given my soul back and my mind was very tired so she showed me how to rest as only Vampires can rest. When she helps me I don't have a problem with Angelus."

"When do you want to do this?" "As soon as possible." "Okay Angel I'll go and talk to Mom and Hunter and well find a place for you." Cordelia kissed him long and hard. She knew she wouldn't be able to come near him for the next 30 days. She got off the bed then and wiped her tears away then went to find Hunter and Dr. Martin. When she went to turn the monitor on she realized that they probably already knew about it.

Cordelia made her way to the clinic after taking a shower and dressing. All of the resident doctors were still in the clinic.

"You all heard what he wants to do?" "Yes." Dr. Martin answered for everyone.

"Since Angel trusts you Hunter to take him through this, I trust you also. Our only problem right now is to find a place to put him for the 30 days that he wants to sleep." Cordelia said.

"Hunter and I were talking about the problem Cordelia and we both think it would be best if I took him home with me and placed him in the old Crypt that I used to live in at the Sunnydale cemetery. I've excavated lower levels to the Crypt and I have a bed down there that I can place him on. Its dead quiet down there, no pun intended. There is some electricity so that Hunter can go down there when ever she wants to." Spike told Cordelia.

"Mom do you think we have to worry about the fact that he is more human this time." "We were talking about that also. Hunter doesn't know for sure but feels it would be better if we continued to have the catheter in him and set him up with extra padding on the bed. In other words just as he is now, we will also have to set him up so that he is fed periodically. Hunter feels that it should only be necessary to feed him once or twice a week. If he doesn't pass any urine after a week then she'll take the catheter out since it can cause infections."

"Okay then he wants to do this ASAP." "Do you want to put him under before we leave Hunter?" Spike asked. "Yes I think that will be best. In fact we can do it right now and by the time we leave he should be in a deep sleep."

Everyone left the clinic then and went upstairs to Angel's bedroom. He had asked Cordelia, through the link they shared, to bring Kathleen with her so he could explain to her what was going to happen. Kathleen came running to the bedroom. She had figured out on her own how to get up onto the hospital bed. She had seen the little box that her Grandma used to use in the clinic before they had the fancy exam bed that went up and down. She asked her Grandma if she could borrow it while her Daddy was sick. She kept the box by the bed but out of the way so that when she came in she pulled it over by the bed and climbed up to give her Daddy a kiss.

"Mommy said you wanted talk to me Daddy." "Yes I do. Daddy is very, very, very tired from being sick for so long. So I am going to go to sleep for 30 days and you won't be able to see me for those 30 days. You can't try to talk to me in our minds either because then you would wake me up and I would have to start the 30 days over again okay?" "Why are you going to be sleeping for so long Daddy? You told me that you weren't going to get sick and leave us anymore." "Yes that's true but I didn't say exactly that. I think that if you think about it you will remember that I said that I would try not to get sick again." "Okay Daddy." Kathleen was starting to cry now. "Don't cry baby or you're going to make me cry too." "I can't help it Daddy. When I think of how long you're going to be gone from Mommy and me I get very sad and that makes me cry, see." Kathleen sat up and pointed to her tears. Cordelia wiped her eyes and helped her to blow her nose.

"I want you to do something else for me Kathleen. Do you know how to pray all of the Rosary now?" "Yes Daddy." "Okay then every night I have to pray the Rosary but I won't be able to because I am going to be asleep for 30 days. Will you pray the Rosary for me and before you start each night I want you to offer your prayers for all of the sins that your Daddy committed when he was a bad boy a long time ago. You can sleep with your Mommy while I am sleeping and you can pray the Rosary with her each night okay?" "Okay Daddy I promise and I promise to take care of Mommy and Nicky and Mike." "Give Daddy a big kiss and a hug that is so tight that it will last you and me for the next 30 days." Kathleen did as her Daddy said and gave him a bunch of kisses all over his face then hugged him as tight as she could. After a while Cordelia picked her up and held her for a minute. "Goodbye Daddy, I love you." "I love you too Kathleen." By now everyone was shedding silent tears. Cordelia took her daughter to the door and told her to go and play with Joyce and Junior.

"So what have you guys decided you're going to do with me?" "We have decided that you need to go home with Spike and Buffy and me." Hunter said. "I still have my old crypt that I used to stay in before Buffy and I got married. I still use it when that dirty villain PMS comes to the house to stay for a few days. Then I take Joyce and we run for cover. I have a bed, refrigerator and TV down in the lower level. We're going to put you down there and Hunter will stay there with you. That way you will have complete quiet and there won't be any danger of someone waking you." Spike said. "Since Spike can't leave until it's dark we won't be taking you to Sunnydale until then. I want to help you go to sleep now though Angel. I can sense how tired you are and I can't see any reason to delay it." "I think I had better break the link between us before I go to sleep Cordelia or else I might make you sleep also or at the least make you want to sleep more than usual." Cordelia went to the other side of the bed and sat down next to him. She bent down, gave him a kiss and put her head next to his. Angel broke the link and she sat up.

"I want you to leave now Cordelia or else I won't be able to concentrate on what I have to do." Angel told her. He wanted to reach up and touch her face so bad that his right arm started to shake. Cordelia picked it up and kissed his hand then opened his hand and looked at the mark of his mothers ring. She kissed the palm of his hand gently then turned and walked out of the room.

"Okay Angel, close your eyes. Do you remember how you did it the last time you slept?" "Yes." He answered as though he was already sleeping. "Okay then lets go down another level. You can no longer feel the bed under you. You can no longer feel anything that is touching your skin. You are floating in space and you cannot feel anything but the warmth of the room." Hunter waited another 10 minutes. Dr. Martin and Mike were watching Angel and the monitors that gave his heart beat and respiration. While this was going on Wesley and Giles came in. Spike got up from the chair he was sitting in. He held his finger to his lips to tell them not to talk then motioned for them to follow him.

"What's going on?" Wesley asked as soon as they arrived in the hallway.

"Angel wants to go into a deep sleep that only Vampires can do. We can put ourselves into such a deep sleep that we seem to be dead and we can exist like that for a long time. Hunter said that she has done it sometimes for as long as 10 years. She told us she would do it when she would get bored and tired of life. If you think of how old she is you can understand that having existed that long she was bound to just get bored with life. Hunter helped Angel do this once before for a few months. It was sometime after he had been cursed with his soul again and he was into the guilt trip big time. He heard about Hunter and asked her to help him. So that is what she is going through right now. When he goes down into a deep sleep Buffy, Hunter and I are going to take him to Sunnydale with us tonight and I am going to put him into the Crypt that I used to live in. I've kept it in a livable condition and the famous bed is still there. Hunter will stay with him during the first few days to make sure he is okay then check on him once each evening. Since he has become mostly human his body still has to be nourished so we'll feed him through a tube that we'll put through his nose and down to his stomach. Now when he goes into this hibernation of sorts his body will slow way down so Hunter thinks we will only have to feed him once each week and since we don't know if his body will still produce waste we'll keep him hooked up with a catheter. Don't say anything when we go in because he should hear only Hunters voice until he is all the way down."

Wesley and Giles followed Spike back into the room. They heard Hunter talking to Angel as she took him further and further down. It was a good thing that Angel couldn't move because at one point Angelus came through but Hunter quickly took Angel into a deeper level of sleep and Angelus went back into his cage. It took her another 30 minutes before he was down far enough that he could now obtain complete rest. His mind could rest now and do nothing but remind his body to breathe once every hour and his heart to beat every hour. The rest of his body functions continued at a drastically reduced rate also.

Hunter stood up and walked away from the bed. "You can talk now and we won't wake him up. He is now in a deep hibernation type of sleep."

"Where is Cordelia? I would think that she would want to be here when he is going through this." Giles asked. "Angel asked her not to come near him again until it's time for him to come out of it. He told her that her nearness to him would make him come out of the sleep and he also broke the link they share." Hunter answered.

"Why did he want to do this now?" Wesley asked. "He told Cordelia that his mind is very tired and he was afraid that he would be unsuccessful in constructing the bridges in his mind to enable him to move again since he was so tired. He told her what he wanted her to do. He talked to Kathleen before we started so that she would understand that she couldn't try to talk to him until he woke up again. It was so sweet the way she accepted what he told her. That little girl has so much love for her Daddy that she was crying when he told her to give him a kiss and a big hug that would last them for 30 days. I think we were all crying when she did that. Cordelia had to take her away from him she was hugging him so tightly."

"Let's go and take a nap until it's time to leave Mickey. You'll have a long night ahead of you." Mike said as he put his arm around Hunters shoulder. He noticed that she felt warmer then usual. Since she had been taking hormone treatments her temperature had gone up closer to a normal temperature but now she felt warmer.

"Let's go downstairs to the clinic instead. I want to check you. You feel warmer than usual." "Yes I have been feeling unusually warm lately. I just chalked it up to the hormone treatments though."

When they arrived at the clinic they found Dr. Martin gathering up supplies for Hunter to take with her for Angel. "Hey you two, I thought you were going to rest for tonight's trip." "We were on our way but then when I put my arm around Mickey I thought she felt unusually warm so I thought it would be best to check her. You can never be too careful with those hormone treatments." Mike told Dr. Martin. She came over and felt Hunters forehead then pulled out a thermometer to check her. When it beeped she pulled it out and read it out loud. "Mrs. Hunter-Thompson your temperature is exactly 98.2. I do believe my dear that it is quite possible that you are pregnant." "Let's not get too excited yet. It could be just the hormones." Mike took a sample of her blood and grabbed a pregnancy tester and gave it to Hunter. "Do you think you could put some urine on this?" Hunter took it from him and ran to the bathroom. She hadn't had to go today yet so if she had any in her bladder it would be the first urine of the day. Ever since she had started the hormone treatments she had started to go more often then she usually did which was two or three times a month. Now she was going at least three times each day. About 30 minutes later she came back into the clinic and gave the stick to Mike. "We have to wait 10 more minutes." She told them. After 10 minutes Mike looked at the stick and Dr. Martin was checking her blood sample. With so many women in the building she had bought all of the supplies she needed to test their blood.

"Well what does it say?" Hunter asked. She was trying to be calm but she felt like she was going to take off like a rocket if he didn't tell her within the next second.

"My dear Mickey it says that we are pregnant." "Your blood test says the same thing." Dr. Martin said. After she let Mike go she went to Dr. Martin and hugged her.

"Apparently God has blessed your marriage Hunter with a baby of your own. You will now know joy and pain and something that you have wanted for many years. You will know death." Dr. Martin told her. "Did God tell you this?" Hunter had tears pouring down her cheeks. Dr. Martin put her hands on each side of Hunters face and said "Yes and you will live for a long time after your child is born. He has given you many years to see your child grow up and for you to become a grandmother." Dr. Martin told her. She pulled Hunter to her and they hugged each other as they both cried for joy.

"I am going to go and thank Him Dr. Martin." When Hunter left Mike went to Dr. Martin and hugged her also. Dr. Martin stood back from Mike and held his hands in hers. "Mike, how do you really feel about Mikalob having a baby at such a late time in your life?" "I love her Mary and I am happy for her that she is finally getting everything that she has always wanted. Most of all Mary I am glad that I was the one that God chose for her husband and the one that was chosen to help in giving her a baby. I know that I will probably never see my child grow up to have their own child but I will treasure each moment that I am given to be with them both. I've decided to close down my practice Mary so that I can spend what time I have left with my family. I have more than enough money to take care of us and Mickey has her own money also." Mike hugged Mary again then left to join Hunter in the chapel.

Dr. Martin was happy for them. She thought of her own mortality and decided to go and be with her husband as long and as much as she possibly could. He had gone to his shop this morning so she went to join him. The grand opening had been postponed many times and Giles was bound and determined to open this coming weekend. Since Angel was going to be in Sunnydale and sleeping she was going to help him open his shop come hell or high water, as the saying goes. She changed into some slacks and a light blouse that she could perform some manual work in. Before leaving though she got on the phone and called Xander in Sunnydale.

"Hello Xander this is Dr. Mary Martin." "Yes Dr. Martin how is everyone?" "Well Angel is coming back with Buffy and Spike so he can get some rest. Buffy and Spike will explain everything to you when they see you tonight or tomorrow. I called you about work Xander. I need a contractor to build a gym onto the back of the Hyperion and I need it built within 30 days. Do you think you could do it?" "With enough money Dr. Martin you can do anything. It just so happens that I will be finishing my current job next week Friday but I can get things going by this coming Monday. I'll come to L.A. on Friday night and bring some plans of a Gym that I built for someone else last year." "Thank you Xander I knew I could depend on you. I'll see you on Friday then. Do you think that Anya could come with you, Giles is finally having his Grand Opening of the Magic Shop II this weekend?" "I'll check with her." "Okay Xander Goodbye." Dr. Martin hung up the phone and let Connie know that she was going to work with Giles at the shop and wouldn't be back until just before supper.

While all of this was going on Cordelia was unable to go anywhere near her own bedroom since Angel had told her to stay away since he would wake up if he sensed her nearness to him. After Hunter and Mike left the chapel Hunter went to Cordelia and told her what was going to happen to Angel. When she gave her the news of her pregnancy it helped to brighten her day. She was truly happy for Hunter that she would have what she had wanted for so many, many years. When Kathleen heard that her Aunt Mickey was going to have a baby she just shrugged her shoulders and said "I guess we better start buying a truckload of diapers from now on." Cordelia and Hunter laughed at the truth of it.

By the time it was getting dark everyone was coming back to the hotel for a last supper together. Hunter had explained everything to Connor as to what happened with Angel and where they were going to be taking him while he slept and rested.

"I think we had better call David Morgan then and ask Richard if he can come and help us out while Angel is gone. As you know Wesley I have taken a heavy load of classes so that I can be finished with school by December and I just won't have the time for anything else." "Okay Connor I think that would be a good idea. With Gunn, Lou and Tom I think they will be able to handle anything. I will help only if they need me, otherwise I will not be taking part in any battles anymore. Your father and I talked about this and he told me that he didn't want me fighting anymore because of the work that I have to do and all that I am responsible for. I think we need to ask Willow and Tara to stay with us for a while so that they can maintain the security spell that protects the hotel and our resident miracle child. Maybe they can help her to learn a few things about her powers."

"Okay Wesley can you call Richard and David?" Connor asked. "Yes I'll take care of it." "I have some studying to do so I will take my leave now. Lou would you come with me into Angels office for a minute?" As Connor got up he turned to Spike who had also stood up to leave the table. "Take care of him Spike, our Daddy is helpless now." "I'll take care of him brother." Spike said. They hugged then Connor left to go to Angel's office where Lou was waiting for him.

As soon as Connor entered the office he closed the door and drapes. He then went to Lou and didn't say anything he just grabbed her, put his arms around her and kissed her. Lou felt her legs become like rubber. They wouldn't support her anymore as she gave herself to Connor. He picked her up and put her on the couch. He started to remove her blouse when he suddenly stopped and sank to the floor. "What's wrong Connor?" "I want you so bad Lou but if I take you now I will break every rule that I have set up for both of us. Will you marry me Lou D'Chambeau?" "Yes Connor I will marry you." Connor pulled her off of the couch and into his lap and kissed her hard and long.

Connor got up before he lost complete control of himself. "I want you to go and tell everyone that we will be getting married as soon as you graduate and tell Cordelia that she can start planning now because I want a big church wedding." He kissed her one more time then left to go to his studies. A second later he came into the office again and went to kiss her again. "Study hard Lou and if you can take the GED test early then do it." He left again and this time he ran up the stairs and into his room. He tore his clothes off and jumped into a cold shower. He stood there for a while and just let the cold water run over his body. He leaned his head against the wall and said "Please God help me to be strong. I need to concentrate on my studies and I can't with her on my mind."

Lou just stood there for a minute while she straightened herself up and composed herself. She walked over to the table and cleared her throat. When she was sure that she had everyone's attention she gave everyone the news.

"Connor has told me to let everyone know that he has proposed to me and I have accepted. He also told me to let you know Cordelia that you can start planning the wedding now because he wants a big church wedding as soon as I graduate. He also gave me instructions that I was to try to graduate early and pass something he called the GED test." They were all just staring at Lou. Especially her brother who was looking at her with his mouth open.

Dr. Martin was the first one to recover. "Well let me be the first to congratulate you Lou. Apparently all the things that Cordelia has been teaching you, even though Angel told her to stop, has accomplished what you wanted." Cordelia and Lou exchanged glances then looked down at their food and were suddenly hungry. They both started laughing and turned beet red at being caught.

"That's okay girls we all do it in one way or another." Dr. Martin said so they wouldn't feel so guilty. "What do you mean you all do it in one way or another? I thought I was the one that made the initial move." Giles said to his wife.

"Oh please, if I hadn't taken the initiative you would still be in Sunnydale." "What did you do to entice me into your web?" Giles asked. All the men were curious to hear her answer.

"Well lets see, first I have to tell you that I had an accomplice that was able to tell me when there was at least one of the girls putting out what Angel calls those sexy pheromones. That was when I would direct the conversation to talking about their sex lives as frequently as possible. Then there was the one where I play with my hair. I knew how much you loved my long hair so I would often play with it in some way. Oh and there was the times when I would have a hot flash and I would have to open up just enough buttons. Then there was the exercise sessions downstairs when Buffy was working out with you and I would come downstairs with Cordelia to work out also. You were staring at me so much that Buffy almost knocked you out when you failed to put up the gloves she was aiming at." They were all having a lot of fun at poor Giles expense.

"Didn't you ever realize Giles that Dr. Martin wore an unusually short shorts for her. She never exposes herself like that except when she was setting the hook with the appropriate bait. Did it ever occur to you men that usually when we women are busy working and we have to pick something off of the floor we bend our knees and pick it up but when Mom was down stairs and she had to pick something up she would bend from the waist so you could see as much as she wanted you to see. Poor Giles you were so easy to reel in." Cordelia told him. Dr. Martin got up and wormed her way onto Giles lap.

"I wanted you my sweet and since I never really had the time to hone my man baiting skills I asked Cordelia to help me and she reminded me of all of a woman's bag of tricks. Since Lou had been around only men all of her life she didn't know about a woman's arsenal of tricks so Cordelia helped her to get the man she had set her sights on."

"And what about Angel Cordelia did you bait him and reel him in?" Wesley asked. "I didn't use all of my skills on him at the beginning. At the beginning it was just as a friend so I just gave him a glancing blow. It wasn't until later when our friendship starting heating up that I started to dig into my bag of tricks." Cordelia smiled at everyone and reached up and tossed her hair back over her shoulder.

Spike got up then and said "I think it's time to get Angel and load him up ladies. I'm giving you ladies thirty minutes to be downstairs with all of your luggage. I'm going to go and pull the van over to the back and put the seats down. Dr. Martin I'm going to need to borrow your carrier so that I can transport Angel back and forth." "Sure Spike, I'll get the bag of supplies I put together for you Hunter." Dr. Martin said as she got up and went to the clinic.

As Spike had ordered everyone was downstairs with their bags and all of the supplies that Dr. Martin had gathered up for Hunter to take care of Angel. Since Cordelia couldn't go back into her apartment with Angel in there Fred had gathered up some clothes in case he needed them. Fred also took the films of bridges that Connor had gathered for him along with a picture of the Martin family.

Spike came in along with Connor, Gunn, and Tom. They had the gurney with them and the carrier board on top of that. Dr. Martin checked Angel one last time. His respiration was almost non existent and his skin was cold to the touch. Hunter had told her that it was normal since his body was concentrating its energy on his internal organs. Angel's hair had just started to grow back since the nurses had shaved his head completely for the operation. It used to grow back within just a few days but now with Angel being more human it was taking longer.

Spike and Hunter pulled the sheets and blanket over Angel so that he was well covered for the trip. They got on one side of the hospital bed and pulled the opposite side of his body over towards them so that Tom and Connor could place the carrier board under his body. Then they placed the gurney next to the bed and pulled the carrier board onto the gurney. After strapping him to the gurney they took him downstairs to Spikes van and slid the carrier into the van.

Tom pulled Hunter to the side and gave her a lasting kiss. "Take care of our baby Mickey. If you should feel even a twinge I want you to call me do you understand?" "Yes Daddy I promise." They both smiled then and gave each other a last kiss and Hunter climbed into the seat next to Angel. Spike had left one side of the third row of seats down and Joyce's car seat was strapped in here. Poor Joyce and Kathleen had cried when they had to say goodbye. Kathleen had hugged her and said "Bye girlfriend, I'll miss you." To everyone's surprise Kathleen traced the sign of the Cross on Joyce's forehead just like she had seen her grandmother do so often. Since Cordelia didn't think it would be a good idea for Kathleen to get to close to Angel they had said goodbye in Kathleen's bedroom. Joyce hugged Junior goodbye when they went to the van. Toby was standing by Connor so Joyce went to him and gave him a big hug and a kiss on his nose. Toby gave her a kiss back by cleaning all of her tears away. Her Daddy picked her up then and strapped her into her car seat. He wiped her tears away and made her blow her nose in his handkerchief. "Don't cry anymore sweet heart you'll see Kathleen again when we bring Uncle Angel home again okay?" "Okay Daddy." Joyce said as she continued to sniff and wipe her tears away with the back of her hand.

Spike and Buffy said their goodbyes and then got into the van and pulled out of the hotel parking lot. When they arrived at Sunnydale Spike went directly to the cemetery where Xander was already there and waiting to help take Angel down into the crypt. Hunter was going to spend the night with him to make sure that he was doing okay. Most of her days and nights would be spent watching over him as he rested in his deep sleep.

Dawn would often come and spend her free hours with her. She had started to like Hunter ever since she had fallen in love with Mike. Dawn would let Hunter practice hypnotizing her and Hunter would help Dawn with her homework. "You make history more fun. Angel is kind of dry he doesn't make it sound as real as you do. You make me feel like I'm right there and experiencing it with you. You should be a teacher Hunter." Dawn said one day. "I think I'll tell Wesley that he should make you the kids history teacher. I always do real well on my History tests when I study with you. You make it so real that I retain the information easily and just sail thru the tests."

Back in L.A. Cordelia was missing Angel every night and she had both Kathleen and Lou sleeping with her at first. Fortunately she had started to produce enough milk to satisfy both Nicky and Mike. Without Angel there Nicky was throwing a fit if he didn't get what he wanted when he wanted it. Finally on the second week of sleeping with her mother Kathleen got up and went to the crib that the boys were sleeping in now and she started talking to Nicky in his mind. After she had started to do this Nicky would start screaming and wouldn't stop until his sister came, as soon as Kathleen projected her thoughts into his mind he would quiet down.

One night after Cordelia had changed the boys and fed them Nicky was continuing to cry until Kathleen projected her thoughts into his mind. "What do you do to make him stop crying Kathleen?" Her mother asked her. "I asked Grandma if she had any suggestions to make him stop crying and she said I should learn an Irish lullaby and sing it to him because he is a lot like Daddy and Grandma said she used to sing it to him when he was sick and having a hard time sleeping." "Maybe if you teach me how to sing the song I can do it too and then we can take turns putting them to sleep when they wake us up at night." Kathleen proceeded to sing the song for her mother that her Grandmother taught her. They were in bed at the time and singing their Irish Lullaby song until Kathleen was satisfied that her mother had it right. Cordelia laughed at her daughter. She talked like she was so much older. Dr. Martin had said that Kathleen spoke more like an adult because she was the first baby at the hotel and no one would speak to her in baby talk. They would always ask her to repeat what she was saying more clearly because they couldn't understand her and tended to speak to her as an adult instead of a child.

During the day Cordelia kept herself busy with gathering wedding magazines and going through them with Fred and Lou. Dr. Martin was busy helping Giles at his new Magic Shop II and Wesley was busy with the construction of the new pool and gym in the back of the hotel. It was November now and Angel had been at Sunnydale for 4 weeks. He was due to come home next Thursday and Cordelia and Kathleen were getting excited. The men had set up a flat screen TV that hung from the ceiling and could be put close to Angel so he would have a better chance of seeing the picture.

During the last week Hunter had been running the films on bridges being built. She had told everyone that even though Angel was still in a deep sleep external sounds would start to be heard more, he would start to dream more and at this time he could learn from the films.

On the Monday of the week they would take him home Hunter started to talk to him in a low voice. She spoke to him of creating bridges across the gaps in his brain that she would describe as chasms. She told him his brain needed a bridge to be built so that his thoughts could cross the chasms and get to the correct side of his brain, then he would be able to see better and move his arms and legs as he wanted them to. To make sure that she wouldn't lose her voice while talking to him throughout the day she recorded her first session with him so that she could rest while the recording was running and continuing to feed him information and instructions.

On Wednesday night Hunter hooked Angel up to the heart monitor so she could see how he was doing that night. She started giving him a pint of blood three times a day.She explained to Spike that his heart should slowly be starting to increase in the number of beats per hour then finally per minute by tomorrow. To help Angel to achieve this Hunter didn't leave his side for the last 24 hours. Because she didn't want to give Angelus a chance to gain control she had to constantly be on watch with each increase of his heart beat.

By 12 noon on Thursday Angel's heart beat was now at his normal rate. His respiration was normal and he was beginning to talk in his sleep. Hunter went to his bed and sat at the chair that she usually occupied. She had left for a few minutes to go to the side of the room and throw up. Her morning sickness was making her miserable but she refused to leave Angels side. She could hear Buffy coming into the crypt on the upper level.

"How is he doing?" Buffy asked as she quietly came over to the bed. "He is starting to wake now. I heard him talking in his sleep a few minutes ago."

As Buffy stood there Angel opened his eyes. He was having a hard time focusing on who was by his bed. He knew from the scent that it was Buffy and Hunter but he couldn't see them clearly. Without thinking he raised his right arm and rubbed at his eyes to clear them of the sleep that left a film over his eyes. Buffy and Hunter looked at each other and smiled.

"Good afternoon Angel." Hunter said in between the bites of crackers that Buffy had brought her. Angel tried to say something but his mouth and throat were dry. Buffy gave him a glass of water with a straw. He drank the whole thing then tried to talk again. "Good afternoon. What day is it?" "It's November 14th and Thursday afternoon. Yesterday made 30 days that you were in a hibernation sleep. Do you remember why you went into a hibernation sleep Angel?" Hunter asked softly.

Angel was quiet for a while. He was trying to remember what had happened before he went to sleep. "Yes I remember everything now. I remember that I couldn't see very well before but I can see you quiet clearly now. I remember that I couldn't move my arms and legs before but now look." Angel moved his arms and pointed to his toes where they could see him moving his toes slowly under the covers. Angel reached up and felt his head. "Thank goodness my hair is almost completely grown back so that I don't have to listen to Gunn making any wisecracks. But most of all I am so hungry that I think I could eat a whole cow by myself." "Would you like to sit up now?" Hunter asked. "Yes, please."

Both Buffy and Hunter had to help Angel sit up. He was weak after lying on his back for so long. "How's that?" "A lot better thank you. When do I get to go home?" "Tonight as soon as it gets dark enough for Spike to go out and so that people can't see our van here so easily." "I thought this must be Spikes former home. And this must be the bed were you did the dirty deed." Angel put his hand over his eyes. "I am just scandalized that I have been laying in the very bed where, where,I can't bring myself to say it." Buffy and Hunter were cracking up. "Well you certainly have improved your mood. I remember one time after waking up from one of my long sleeps I almost killed the first person that looked at me cross eyed or at least I thought he was looking at me cross eyed. It turned out though that the poor guy really did have one eye that looked way into the center. I felt so bad for almost killing the guy that I tracked him down later after opening my practice and fixed it for him." Hunter said as she stuffed some more crackers in her mouth. "Buffy would you go and get me something to eat please because I am so hungry." "Sure I'll be back as soon as I can." Buffy said as she climbed up the stairs to the upper level.

"Hunter now that she is gone can you take this catheter out of me?" Hunter had a mouthful of crackers so she just got up and put some gloves on and removed the catheter and the urine bag and placed it all in the trash bag.

"I see Mike must have been successful that night I told him you were ripe for the taking." Hunter was finally able to swallow the crackers and drink some blood to wash it down. "Yes isn't it wonderful." Angel held his arms out to her and she went to him and as they hugged each other Hunter was crying she was so happy. After awhile she pulled away from him. "Angel if I should die after I deliver will you take care of Mike and the baby?" "Hunter you won't die. You'll have both Mike and Mom there to help you. We have no idea why Lou and Tom's mother died. It could have very well been because of complications from the delivery that their father didn't know anything about."

Hunter sat up then and wiped her eyes. "Yes I guess your right. Even Mary said that I will live to see my first grandchild born." She looked up at Angel and said "Never would I have thought in my wildest dreams Angel that you and I would live to marry and have children." Hunter stared at Angel for a minute then she leaned over, picked up his hand and kissed it. "Thank you Angel for not killing me when I begged you to." "You're welcome Hunter." Angel said in reply.

After Hunter wiped her blood red tears away she asked Angel "Would you like me to give you a sponge bath." "Yes I would like a bath, 30 days is a long time to go without one I must be rather odorous." "No you're not really, remember that your body has been very cold and you only moved when I moved you to keep your body from developing bed sores. Plus Buffy helped me to give you a sponge bath at least twice each week." "And did you girls have fun." "Yes we did, we took a whole lot of pictures and we are just waiting for Willow to get back so she can put it up on the internet." Angel just grinned at her. He was starting to get tired and sleepy. Hunter was able to finish bathing him just a few minutes before Buffy got back along with Spike and Joyce.

"Hi Uncle Angel." "Hi princes. Are you all ready to take me home and see Kathleen again." "Yes and I can hardly wait. I even asked Mommy and Daddy if we could move to your house so Kathleen and I can play all of the time. We're girlfriends just like Mommy and Aunt Willow are girlfriends." "And what did your Mommy and Daddy say about you moving to my house?" "You know, the usual, Mommy and Daddy work here in Sunnydale." "I tell you what maybe when you take me home you can ask your Mommy and Daddy if you can spend a couple of weeks with us." "Can I go for a visit Mommy and Daddy?"

Buffy and Spike looked at each other. Buffy nodded okay. "Okay Joyce if Kathleen's Mommy says it's okay then you can go over in two weeks okay. I am saying 2 weeks because I am sure that Kathleen will want to spend some time with her Daddy before you go over." "Okay I think that will be acceptable." They all laughed because she was mimicking Kathleen so exactly.

Buffy had brought enough food for everyone to eat with Angel. He was hungry but Hunter wouldn't let him eat too much because his stomach wasn't used to solid foods. When they were done Hunter told Angel to get some rest before it was time to leave. "But I've been resting for 30 days." Angel said like a child that didn't want to go to bed when told to. "Angel, do as I say and don't argue with me or I'll tell Mary." "Oh, alright tattletale." Angel put his head back on the pillow and was sleeping within minutes. Hunter looked at Joyce who was right next to her. "Joyce always remember, girls grow up but boys almost never do no matter how old they get." "That's what Mommy says all of the time too."

Buffy, Spike and Joyce left then to get ready to leave in a few hours.

By 9 o'clock that night they were pulling up to the front of the Hyperion. Angel was sitting up in the second row of seats with Hunter. "Why don't you go to the back?" Angel asked Spike. "This is where Wesley told me to unload everything. He said he would show me where to park later." Angel could hardly wait to see his family so he didn't question Spike any further. Cordelia, Kathleen and Connor were out in the front waiting for them along with a wheelchair. As soon as Spike opened the side of the van Cordelia ran to Angel and kissed him. When she backed away Kathleen wormed her way in between them and climbed her way up into the van and Angels lap. She kissed him on the cheek and hugged him for a long time. When Cordelia and Kathleen gave the men some space they helped Angel to get out and put him in his chair. Even though Angel could now move his arms and legs he had very little strength in them. Connor and Spike had to more or less pick him up and place him in the chair.

When they had him settled in the chair Angel grabbed Connors arm and pulled him down to him so that Connor had to kneel on the ground. Angel then pulled Connor into a bear hug. When he let him go Connor said "Welcome home Dad, welcome home." Angel wasn't that surprised to see tears in Connors eyes. Their relationship had changed so much since Dr. Martin had come to help him.

"Where is everybody else?" "They're in the back of the Hotel waiting for you." Cordelia said. She pushed Angel's wheelchair while the rest brought in their bags. Kathleen and Joyce had already run into the Hotel. As soon as they entered the Hotel Angel noticed the wheelchair ramp at the side of the stairs that went upstairs and in back of the post that helped to support the second floor. As Cordelia came back out to the Lobby she stopped and pulled out a long black scarf. "Okay Angel they don't want you to be able to see what you're going to see yet so I have been instructed to place this blind fold on you. When she was done and was sure that he couldn't see she pushed his chair up the other ramp and out of the back doors.

Angel felt himself going up a ramp but then was wondering why they weren't going down another ramp. He felt his chair going down a rather long walkway and then thru another pair of doors. Then he had a sense of being in a large room.

Cordelia took his blindfold off and everything at first was dark. Someone turned the lights on and Angel had to rub his eyes so he could see clearly after having the blindfold on.

"Surprise!" Everyone shouted.

TBC……………………………………………………………………………….

28


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Surprise!" Everyone shouted.

"Look Daddy a gym and a big swimming pool. Grandma had it built all for you Daddy so that you can get better." Kathleen said as she was jumping up and down.

"How did you get this done so fast?" Angel asked as he wheeled himself over to the equipment. "Well it's like Xander said to me 'Dr. Martin with enough money you can do anything'."

"I see you guys are going to have fun putting me through the meat grinder tomorrow." "Oh you don't know how much we have been waiting for this, especially me." Wesley said.

As Angel was looking at everything Cordelia was constantly holding his hand while Kathleen was sitting in his lap. It was obvious that they wanted to spend some private time with him.

"Thank you Mom for all of this." "You're welcome Angel. I think maybe it's time for you to go to your room now." "Yes I am tired but I would like to try one thing if you don't mind." "No, go ahead; what would you like to try out?" Angel wheeled himself over to the bars that would allow him to try to walk. "Wesley and Gunn, would you help me to get up please?" They came over and each took one of his arms and lifted him out of the wheelchair. With their arms around his waist they put him between the two bars that he could use to support himself as he tried to walk. With much difficulty Angel moved his legs while supporting himself with his arms. Three steps is all he had in him but it was enough to prove to himself that he could now control his legs and arms. He knew that it would take him several weeks at least before he could give up the wheelchair but eventually he would. Before he could collapse to the floor Wesley and Gunn came and caught him.

Angel was sweating when they put him back in his chair. "At least I know I can do it. Put your sweat pants on tomorrow guys because I'll want to start early. I am sick and tired of being in a wheelchair so much and I don't intend to spend any more time in it then I absolutely have to." "Be careful Angel you won't be able to recover your strength over night. This is going to take several months at least." Hunter told him. She went over to some equipment that was lined up on the wall. She grabbed a couple of hand grips and gave them to Angel. "Keep these with you at all times Angel and use them to strengthen your grip. Let's take small baby steps at first. Don't try to push yourself too hard or you will hurt yourself. Right now I want you to forget the rule of 'No Pain No Gain'. When your body starts hurting too much it's telling you to slow down."

Angel took the hand grips from her and started trying to squeeze them together. He could barely make them move let alone close them. "Let's go Cordy I want to see Nicky and Mike." "Goodnight everyone and thank you again Mom." Everyone returned his goodnight then left the gym and went to be with there own families. It had been a long day for Angel and he was tired. But it was a good tired and not the life draining fatigue he was feeling before he went into his thirty day sleep.

As Cordelia pushed Angel's wheelchair into the room Lou stood up. As usual she had been guarding the boys while Cordelia was gone from the room. She came over and greeted Angel as though he was her father. "How are you doing now?" "A lot better then I did before I went to sleep. How is Nicky and Mike doing?" "They were sleeping but when I could hear you coming down the hallway they started to wake up." Cordelia came over and picked up Nicky and gave him to Angel. Instead of crying as he usually did Nicky was quietly staring at his father. His father gave him a kiss on his cheek but when Nicky felt his whiskers he wiped at his face. "He doesn't like your whiskers." Cordelia said. Lou took Nicky from Angel and Cordelia gave him Mike. Nicky started to cry until Lou started talking to him and singing him his Irish Lullaby in almost a whisper.

Mike was looking at his father and laughing at the feel of his whiskers on his little hand. The boys were starting to notice other things besides whether their stomachs were empty or if they were uncomfortable in any way. Angel touched Mikes mind with his. He established a link with him that was less then the one he had shared with Kathleen. He had done the same with Nicky some time ago. It was one of the ways he was able to make him quiet down. This link would tell him where they were at all times and of their well being. "You better take him Cordelia, my arms are getting tired and I might drop him." Cordelia and Lou put the boys back into their crib.

"Would you like me to help Cordelia put you to bed before I leave?" Lou asked Angel after she helped Cordelia settle the boys down. "Yes that sounds good to me." Cordelia pushed his wheelchair closer to their regular bed instead of the hospital bed that was still in the room. Lou took most of Angel's weight on herself and with Cordelia helping they lifted him and placed him down on the bed. He was able to sit up by himself now. "I can take care of him from here Lou thank you. Say goodnight to your father Kathleen and go to bed." Kathleen came over and gave her father a hug and kiss again then left with Lou.

It took Cordelia only a few minutes to remove Angel's clothes and help him to lie down. She quickly removed her own and got under the covers with him. He had gone to sleep almost instantly after laying down. Cordelia was content now though. As far as she was concerned the earth had been going backwards when he left but now everything was now normal and the world was going in its correct direction again.

The next morning they just stayed in bed for a while. Cordelia brought Angel up to speed on all of the goings on at Angel Investigation. Angel wasn't surprised by the news of Connor and Lou's impending wedding. "My poor son he should just go ahead and have sex with Lou. Before my soul was made permanent all I could think about was being able to have sex with you and go all the way. If it wasn't for Angelus taking over and your little bat I would have taken you long before our wedding night." "He's not as weak as we are Angel. It seems that ever since he decided to work with you instead of against you his moral values have stepped up a notch as well. I can tell you that Connor has an iron will because all of the stuff that I've been teaching Lou hasn't made him cave in yet. I only had to go through half of my tricks before I had you in my clutches."

Angel stared at Cordelia. "Do you mean to tell me that you had your sights set on me way before I made any advances towards you?" Cordelia raised herself up on her elbow. "I wanted you Angel from the get go. But if I had waited for you to get your nose out of your usual brooding mode Kathleen would have still been a twinkle in your eye. And speaking of our miracle princes you should have seen her when you left. She slept with me each night so that I wouldn't be lonely. By the second night she started helping me by making Nicky stop crying so much. I asked her what she was doing to make him quiet down and she told me that she had asked Grandma how she could make Nicky stop crying so much. Mom told her to learn to sing the Irish Lullaby that she sings to you when you're having a hard time sleeping. So Mom taught her the song and all Kathleen has to do is walk up to Nicky and just touch him and he'll quiet down. She said she talks to him in his mind and sings the song. She was so cute Angel when I asked her to teach me to sing the song. She had me sing it over and over again until she thought I had it down pat. She would say 'No Mommy like this' then she would sing it again and I had to get it just right before she would give me her seal of approval."

"Well we better get up so that I can start on my road to recovery." "You don't want to have something to eat first?" "Nothing solid just a glass of blood please." Cordelia warmed up a glass of blood for him then took care of the boys. She gave Angel one of the boys to change then sat down to give them their breakfast. Nicky was being good now that his Daddy was back. They were staying awake longer now and Angel was able to play with them a little bit after they had been fed. He was able to make them just squeal with laughter. While Angel entertained the boys Cordelia took the chance to take a shower. When she came out someone was knocking at the door. "Come in Spike." Angel called out.

"Are you ready to start your day? Wesley and Gunn have already had their breakfast and are waiting for you downstairs. Wesley is especially anxious to get started with your torture session." Spike said as he came in and took a seat at the kitchen table.

"Yeah why don't you help me get my sweat pants on and a t-shirt." While Spike helped Angel Cordelia finished getting dressed herself then put some clothes on the boys for the first time. They had been too small for any of the clothes she had for them but they were finally able to fit into the little jumper suits Fred had given her. After Spike helped Angel to the wheelchair Cordelia gave him one of the boys to carry while she carried the other one. She didn't trust his arms to be strong enough yet so she put a sling around his neck and arm that would help him to hold onto one of the boys.

When they arrived at the gym Angel couldn't help it when he saw Wesley with a big grin. "You just can't wait can you? I bet you were down here at 6 this morning just to make sure I didn't start without you." "Close but not quiet right. I was here at 8."

For the next 3 hours Wesley and Gunn had Angel going through a routine that the therapist had given Wesley and Dr. Martin. For the next 2 weeks this was Angel's schedule, three hours in the morning and 3 hours in the late afternoon. When Wesley and Fred where busy teaching the children then Gunn and Spike put Angel through his routine. By the end of the second week Angel was able to walk short distances with the aid of crutches and within another week he discarded those and used a cane. During the Thanksgiving holiday Connor was able to work out with Angel and gave Gunn and Wesley a break. To build up his endurance they did ten laps around the large pool at first and added a lap every day. Connor had been teaching Kathleen and Junior how to swim when ever he could but now he gave them more of his time and the lessons lasted longer which suited Kathleen and Junior just fine.

Spike, Buffy and Joyce left on the Sunday evening after Thanksgiving. Cordelia had told Joyce and Kathleen that Joyce could come and spend two weeks at the Hotel for the two weeks before Christmas because Uncle Wesley said that there wouldn't be any school for those two weeks and that's why they had to wait until then.

Both Connor and Lou had been spending a lot of time in their rooms studying which was good because Connor needed to keep his mind on his studies. The evening before the Christmas holiday started Lou took her GED test. Connor had been taking finals all during the week so he had gone to bed as soon as he got home since he had been getting only five hours of sleep each night. At 7 that evening Lou knocked on his door to call him to supper.

He called out for her to come in. "Are you coming down for supper?" Lou asked as she opened the door. She was shocked at what she saw when he took the pillow off of his head. "My goodness Connor you're all red." "I know and I'm itchy and can't stop scratching." Lou grabbed Connors shirt and pulled him up from the bed." Let's go and see Grandma." Everyone else was sitting at the table but when they heard Connor and Lou come down stairs and calling Dr. Martin they all went to the clinic.

"What's wrong Connor?" She could see how his skin was all red and he was constantly scratching. "I don't know, when I was driving home from my last class I started itching so bad. I took a shower and I was able to go to sleep for awhile afterward, but when Lou woke me up I started scratching even more." Dr. Martin and Wesley looked at Connors skin. Both thought they knew what it was. Dr. Martin went to the drug cabinet and pulled out a small vial and filled a syringe with the contents.

After she administered the shot to him they could see him start to relax within minutes. "Let's go and have supper everyone. You'll be okay now Connor I believe the rash is the result of your nerves being on edge all week. I gave you a mild sedative. You should sleep pretty good tonight. I went through the same thing when I was going through a finals week. Apparently Wesley did also." "You should have seen me Connor your rash is nothing compared to what I had. I had hives and was in bed for the next 4 days." Wesley said. Just thinking about it was making him itch.

Angel lightly kicked Cordelia under the table. When she looked up he looked towards Lou. What she saw was Lou staring at Connor with a far away look in her eyes while Connor was barely staying awake.

"Lou, why don't you help Connor to go to bed I think his head is going to fall in his plate any second now. You can take him something later tonight when he is able to keep his eyes open for at least a few minutes." Lou looked at Cordelia and saw her wink at her. "Yes I think that would be a good idea. Come on Connor lets put you to bed." Connor was already sleeping though. Lou shook his shoulder. "Connor wake up so you can go to bed." Connor looked at her with one eye shut and the other open. "I think that would be a good idea. Goodnight everyone." Connor said as he got up and put his arm around Lou's shoulder. She helped Connor to his bedroom and everyone heard the door close once and that was it.

"If that guy doesn't come downstairs tomorrow morning with a smile that goes from ear to ear I'll have to say he is a lot better man then I am." Gunn said. Everyone looked at him and started laughing. It was a good thing that Tom had gone out that night with some of Gunn's boys. They were going after a nest of Vampires that night and they had asked for his help.

After everyone else went to their rooms Angel and Cordelia heard Connors door open. Cordelia went out into the hallway and saw Lou walking back to the stairs. She stopped in front of Cordelia. "Well he went to sleep and hasn't awakened again." "Later tonight Lou around 2 or 3 in the morning, go and make him a big sandwich and take it to his room. I think he will be well rested by then." Lou smiled at her then went to her own room.

As Cordelia had suggested Lou set her alarm for 2 in the morning. She put her sexiest nightgown on and went downstairs to make a big Dagwood sandwich for Connor then went upstairs and lightly knocked on his door. He didn't answer so she opened the door and went in. Toby woke up and greeted her. He scratched at the door and Lou let him out which suited her just fine. She really didn't want an audience her first time with Connor.

Lou put the sandwich on the kitchen table and went to join Connor on the bed. She blew into his ear several times before he woke up. He looked at her with only one eye open. Connor propped himself up on his elbow and took a good look at her. "I believe you've been talking to Cordelia again." "Guilty as charged." "You know the rule that I am trying to stick to Lou. Please don't make it harder on me then what it already is." "Why are you being so obstinate Connor?" "Because even though I realize that Holtz was not my father and many of the things he taught me were wrong and were told to me in order to fulfill his wish of killing my father, this having sex before marriage is not part of that hatred. It is part of his Puritan upbringing. Even the Catholic Church says that sex before marriage is wrong and that we should wait until we give ourselves to another person in marriage. I also understand that many of the moral lessons that the Church teaches us is looked upon as antiquated theology. But if you think about it Lou many of those rules were given to us to protect us. Look at what has happened in the world today Lou. People have either no moral values or low moral values and because of that there are diseases like AIDS, STDs and worst of all the killing of unwanted children. Our society has taught women that it is there right to choose what happens to their own bodies and some even call unborn babies nothing more than parasites. They give them names such as " It " or " Fetus " instead of Baby. They do whatever they can to convince women that they have the right to kill a person that they don't have the time for or are an intrusion on their lifestyle as long as that person is still in the woman's body. Do you understand now Lou why I want us to wait?"

Lou felt like a harlot that was doing her best to entice a man that wanted to be faithful to God and his beliefs. "I'm sorry Connor, please forgive me. It's just that when I see you, especially with your shirt off, I just want you so bad that it's all I can do to keep myself from jumping you right then and there." "I know how hard it is, believe me I know exactly how hard it is. I must take 2 or more cold showers a day."

Without saying anything else Lou got up and said goodnight then left. Connor jumped up and took 'another' cold shower.

The next morning Connor went to Angel and Cordelia's room and listened at the door for a few seconds to see if it was okay to go in. He heard them talking so he thought that this was just as good a time as any.

Connor knocked on their door. "Come in Connor." Angel called out. "Good morning Angel and Cordelia, can I talk to you for a few minutes?" Angel and Cordelia looked at each other when they saw how serious he looked.

"Is something wrong? You look so serious." Angel asked. Using his cane Angel got up from the bed, where he had been changing Nicky, and went to the kitchen table where Cordelia gave him and Connor a cup of coffee. Connor played with his cup for a while.

"Cordelia Lou came to my bedroom this morning dressed in a very sexy nightgown. I am sure that you know her intent was to get me to cave in and have sex with her. I also know Cordelia that you have been coaching her on what to do to get me to breakdown and take her before we are married. I also remember asking Dad to tell you to stop coaching her. I am pretty sure that he did what I requested and you have ignored what I and Dad asked." Connor had tears that were threatening to spill over as he looked at Cordelia.

"I am going to ask you again Cordelia to stop encouraging Lou to come after me. I can't begin to tell you how hard you're making it for me to stick to my own rules and beliefs. I had a long talk with her this morning and explained why I didn't want to have sex with her until our wedding night. By doing this Cordelia I am not saying that I think that any of you were wrong when you had sex before you were married, I am just saying that for me it's wrong. I want Lou to remain pure and for her to give herself to me as pure as she was the day she was born. These beliefs were hammered into me almost daily by Holtz and I just can't separate myself from these beliefs so easily." Connor paused for awhile.

"Ever since I first saw Lou I haven't had sex with anyone else and although I can't give myself to Lou as pure as I am asking her to be I'm doing my best to be as pure as I can. Besides going to confession before our wedding I am also going to ask Grandma to test me to make sure I'm clean." Connor paused for awhile.

"Will you do this for me Cordelia? Please." That did it. Connor knew he had won her over with that last please.

Cordelia got up and hugged him. "I'm sorry Connor I didn't know you were so committed to this. I'll talk to Lou and tell her that we have to stop what were doing otherwise we may drive you crazy." She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Dad please, don't get mad at Cordelia for going against my wishes. Grandma told me that for a woman like Cordelia it's in her blood to help any woman that asks for her help in catching a man." "I won't beat her too badly. At least not where it will show but don't be surprised if you see her wince every time she goes to sit down for awhile." Angel said with a smile. Connor got up and went to say good morning to his brothers. "Don't spank her too much Dad, after all she did give us Kathleen and my little brothers here." Angel got up and joined him at the crib. "Yes I guess your right we do owe her for them. How about if I spank her just 5 times?" "That sounds about right. I'll leave you to your husbandly duties now." Connor smiled at him then left. A second later though he opened the door again. "Uh Dad don't put too much force behind your hand after all I am asking her to plan my wedding." "Okay son, I'll keep that in mind."

When Connor left Angel slowly approached Cordelia. She took a few steps back. "Now Angel I said I was sorry. You're not really going to spank me, are you?" Angel kept on advancing on her. Cordelia started to run for the hallway but Angel grabbed her arm. "Come on now Cordelia take your punishment like an adult. You know you were wrong in doing what you did, especially after I told you to stop it." Angel pulled a chair over where he could sit down. Then he pulled Cordelia over so that she was standing in front of him. She hadn't dressed yet and all she had on was a nightgown and bathrobe. "Wait a minute Angel let me lock the door. I wouldn't want Kathleen to come in and see her Mommy being spanked by her Daddy." When Cordelia came back she stood in front of him and untied her bathrobe and let it fall to the floor. She had her hair pulled back and being held with a large clasp. She slowly reached for the clasp and pulled it off and let her hair fall then shook her head so that it would fall down her back. Then very slowly she pulled off her nightgown and tossed it to the side. Angel looked at her. She had lost most of the weight she had gained during her pregnancy. He felt as though he was going to have an orgasm just looking at her. He knew that Cordelia knew exactly what she was doing.

Very slowly Cordelia lowered herself and stretched herself across his lap. When she felt he had looked over the merchandise enough she said, "Okay Angel, I'm ready to take my punishment." Angel ran his hand over her cheeks very slowly. They were so round and perfectly formed. He lowered his head and kissed each one of them then drew back and ran his hand over her back and through her hair. Then he pulled back his right hand and gave her 5 wops on the behind just like he told Connor he would.

When he let go of her and helped her up she looked at him with tears in her eyes as she rubbed her behind. "You did it, you actually spanked me, I didn't think you would do it after that performance I put on." "I knew that was why you were doing it. Now maybe when I tell you to stop doing something you'll do what I say." Cordelia went running into the bathroom and Angel grabbed his cane and went downstairs for breakfast.

Everyone was downstairs and eating their breakfast. When Angel put his own breakfast together and sat down everyone noticed that Cordelia wasn't with him.

"Where is Cordelia Angel?" Dr. Martin asked.

"She is upstairs tending to her bruised pride. We had a few words this morning about something that I forbade her to do and she did anyway." Dr. Martin and everyone else but the men stared at him. Lou was the only one of the women that still had her head down and continued to eat her breakfast. It was apparent that Connor had told them what happened.

They all knew what he meant and collectively decided to mind their own business. Dr. Martin was the only one that was about to say something else when she felt Rupert's hand on hers. He looked at her and shook his head but Dr. Martin started to say something anyway. "Angel you didn't really spank her did you?" Everyone was surprised when Giles said "Don't interfere Mary this is between Angel and Cordelia." "But Rupert." "Mary unless you want the same thing I would advise you to sit down and finish eating your breakfast. In this matter it is between Angel and Cordelia, a husband and wife, and not your son and daughter in-law. Now sit down and finish your breakfast." Mary looked at Rupert and decided to obey his wishes. She answered with a "Yes dear" and sat back down and finished her breakfast without saying anything more.

Cordelia didn't come down to get something until everyone had left the table. Her pride couldn't take the men's looks of 'It serves you right for doing what you were told not to do' and the women's looks of pity.

Mrs. Sanchez, Joaquin's mother, was in the kitchen when Cordelia came in looking for something to eat. She didn't dare look her way, other then when she walked in, she just said good morning and grabbed a bowl of cereal. She knew Mrs. Sanchez probably approved of Angel spanking her for doing something that he told her not to do. Mrs. Sanchez said something to Connie in Spanish. Cordelia went over to Connie and whispered to her 'What did she say?' "She said a woman that disobeys her husband shows a lack of respect for him." Connie said. "Do you think I was wrong in helping Lou to try to get Connor to cave in?" Cordelia whispered. Connie looked at Cordelia, "Yes." Cordelia was surprised at her answer; she didn't say anymore and just finished her cereal and went back to the boys.

While Cordelia was busy elsewhere Angel had gone to Wesley's office looking for him. "Hey Wesley would you come over to the clinic with me I noticed that Mom was in there doing an inventory of her supplies." "Sure Angel what did you need?" Wesley asked as he got up from his desk and walked to the clinic with him. Angel nonchalantly put his arm around Wesley's shoulder. "We have to ask Mom to do something for us and this is the perfect time to get it done. Cordelia is ready to have sex now and if I get this done now she will forgive me for spanking her." Wesley started to walk the other way but Angel had a firm grip on his shoulder.

"I am not ready for this yet Angel. I don't need to try to get on Fred's good side, besides I'm having second thoughts about this." "Come on Wesley be a man and take responsibility for making sure that Fred won't be put in danger any more by getting pregnant again. You don't want her to die do you?" "No." "Okay then be brave and let's go in together." Wesley thought he might as well do it now because he didn't think Angel would let him go anyway.

The two men walked into the clinic together. Dr. Martin turned and looked at them when they walked in. "Do you boys need something?" She asked as she continued to mark down on a supply sheet what she had and what she needed.

Angel took a deep breath and let it out slowly while Wesley just hung his head down. "Mom, Wesley and I would like to get a Vasectomy." Dr. Martin turned and gave 100 percent of her attention to them now.

"When would you like to have this done?" "Right away or I may lose my nerve and I can hold onto Wesley for just so long." "Okay let me get a hold of Mike and Hunter. I am going to need their help to put you to sleep and with Hunter helping me we can get you both done right away. I'll call you when we're ready." Angel kept a firm grip on Wesley's shoulder all the way back to the second floor. When Angel arrived at his room he let go of Wesley's shoulder.

"Don't chicken out on me now Wesley." "I won't." Wesley said as he went back to his own rooms. "Let's not tell the girls until Mom calls us okay?" Angel said just as Wesley got to his own door. "Okay." Wesley answered. They both went into their own rooms then. Cordelia was busy folding laundry and then started to put clean sheets on the bed. Angel put his cane on the chair and helped her. When they were done he helped change the boys. Cordelia didn't say anything about what happened that morning until they finished cleaning the boys and she settled down on the bed to feed Nicky and Mike.

"Angel, I'm sorry I went against what you and Connor wanted. When I went downstairs to get some cereal Mrs. Sanchez was in there with Connie and she told Connie something in Spanish but somehow I knew her remark was about me. I asked Connie what she had said and Connie told me she said 'A woman that disobeys her husband shows a lack of respect for him'. I asked Connie if she thought I was wrong in helping Lou to make Connor cave in and she said yes." Cordelia was quiet for awhile then she looked up at Angel and said "Please don't ever think that I don't respect you Angel. I will always respect you and I am sorry if what I did made it look like I didn't. Please forgive me for being so disrespectful towards you and Connor."

Angel sat on the bed next to her with Mike in his lap. "All is forgiven my Beloved." He lowered his head and kissed her gently and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Two hours later Dr. Martin called Angel. When he answered the phone she said "We're ready for you Angel. Bring Wesley down with you also. Hunter will take care of him while I take care of you." "Okay Mom we'll be there in just a few minutes. It may take me a little longer though if I have to pry Wesley's fingers off of the door frame." He hung up then and took Cordelia's hand. She had just put Mike back in the crib and both boys were sleeping. "Let's go Cordelia." "Where are we going?" She asked as she followed along. "We're going to get Wesley and Fred and then we're going downstairs to see Mom." He went to Wesley's door and knocked on it. Wesley answered it. "Okay Wesley Mom's ready for us." Wesley saw Cordelia so he grabbed Fred's hand. "Let's go downstairs to the clinic Fred and don't ask any questions until we get there okay?" "Okay Wesley." The boys were sleeping so she felt safe in leaving them alone. Cordelia and Fred just looked at each other questioningly.

When they reached the clinic they saw all three doctors waiting for them. They had the gurney next to the exam bed. Dr. Martin came over with a couple of hospital gowns. "Take your clothes off boys and put these on." "What's going on Mom?" "Your husband's ladies are going to make the ultimate sacrifice and have a vasectomy. They don't want you ladies to have to take birth control pills for the rest of your child bearing years. It should only take us about 30 minutes or less once their out." Angel and Wesley were taking their clothes off and giving them to their wives. Both Cordelia and Fred grabbed their husbands and gave them a hug and kiss then let them finish getting ready for their noble sacrifice.

Every thing went okay and an hour later they were starting to wake up. Wesley woke up first. "How do you feel?" Hunter asked him. "Sore." Wesley answered as she helped him to sit up. Fred was standing next to the bed with the wheelchair.

"Take it easy for the next 3 days. Stay in bed the rest of the day and take some aspirin if you start hurting too much. If he has any swelling Fred just give him an ice bag. One of us will check you tomorrow Wesley." Hunter helped him off of the gurney and into the wheelchair. As they passed by Cordelia Fred told her that she would bring the wheelchair back down in a few minutes. "Okay Fred." Angel was starting to wake up now. "How is my big stud muffin doing?" "Okay." He said in a high pitched voice then cleared his throat and said Okay again. She gave him a kiss on his cheek and said "You were so brave to do this Angel. I'm going to take good care of you and anything you want you can have if it's within my power to give it." Fred came back with the wheelchair then went right back upstairs. Mike came over and helped Angel off of the bed and onto the wheelchair. "Give him an ice pack for the swelling and aspirin for the pain." Mike told Cordelia. "I'll take good care of him." Before they left the clinic Dr. Martin called to Cordelia. "You know they are going to milk this for all it's worth." "I know Mom but after such a big sacrifice they deserve it." Cordelia helped Angel up to there room's and treated him like a King for the next two days. Knowing how fast he healed Cordelia figured he should have been able to get up and around by the next morning but like Dr. Martin had said he was milking it for all it was worth.

On the morning of the third day both Angel and Wesley came down for breakfast. It was apparent to Angel and Wesley that everyone knew about their Vasectomy. The main clue was when all of the women stood up clapping for them and their taking the initiative to take on the problem of birth control from the women.

Cordelia was still attending to Angels every need and want. After Fred put the boys in the play pen she went back to her seat and attended to Wesley. "Would you like me to fix your plate up for you Wesley?" "Yes please." Connie had made pancakes and waffles, eggs and sausages. There were also fresh strawberries and bananas already cut up. Whip cream and several different types of syrup was also put on the table. Fred made up a plate of a couple of waffles with whip cream on the top with slices of strawberries and bananas with a side of two fried eggs. She put this beautiful plate in front of Wesley along with a kiss on his cheek.

Cordelia had done the same for Angel except he had the pancakes with two eggs on the side with sausages. His pancakes were smothered in margarine and maple syrup. She had also made him a large cup of French vanilla coffee.

A couple of days later Fred and Wesley heard a lot of noise in Angel and Cordelia's room in the middle of the afternoon. Then they heard furniture being pushed along on the wood floors. Fred looked at Wesley. She could see a gleam in his eyes as he approached her slowly. He pushed her up against the kitchen table and started to unbutton her blouse. As he started to kiss her he said "Any time any place will now be put into practice and after so long of being in Dry Dock I am going to need a lot of practice." After a few minutes Angel and Cordelia could hear crashing coming from Fred and Wesley's room. They just smiled at each other since they knew that the same thing that was happening in their room was happening in the room next door. "Any time any place." Angel said in between kisses.

The next two weeks were nerve wracking for Lou and Connor as they waited for their grades and to see if they graduated. Angel and Cordelia hadn't announced yet who they had chosen to be Nicky and Mikes Godparents so they decided to give them something else to think about for awhile since they had chosen Connor and Lou as their Godparents. They chose to announce it at Supper that night.

As everyone sat down at the table, and before the food was brought in, Angel tapped his glass with his fork to get everyone's attention.

"Because of everything that has been going on this last couple of months Cordelia and I are late in having the boys baptized. We would like to ask two of the people at this table to take on that chore of taking care of the boys if something should happen to Cordelia and me. Lou and Connor, would you accept the responsibility of being Nicky and Mikes Godparents?"

Connor stood up and Lou did also. "Yes Dad I accept the honor of being their Godparent." "Yes Angel and Cordelia I accept also." Lou went over and gave Cordelia and Angel a kiss. "Thank you for thinking that I am worthy of this honor." Lou said. Connor came over and shook his fathers hand and gave Cordelia a kiss on her cheek. The boys were sleeping in the play pen so they left them alone and went back to their chairs.

"Well now that, that's over when are we going to go and buy the Christmas tree for the lobby?" Angel asked no one in particular. "I think we can go tomorrow Angel." Wesley said. "Before we all leave the table I want to give Connor and Lou these envelopes that came in the mail today." Wesley passed down the envelopes to Lou and Connor. They each tore open their envelopes and everyone was quiet while they read their test results.

Connor jumped up and down and let out a big whoop. "I passed 1st in my class." Angel and Wesley went over to him and congratulated him. Everyone else was congratulating him as well when all of a sudden he became quiet. He realized that Lou wasn't jumping for joy. "Lou, how did you do?" Connor asked her softly.

"I didn't pass. I missed it by just 4 questions. I'm sorry Connor. I know how disappointed you must be in me. It looks like I am going to have to go to High School until the end of the next semester and take the tests again." She left the letter on the table and ran to her room. Fred grabbed the letter and read it carefully. "Connor, go and tell Lou that she was sent the wrong letter. This letter is for a Louise Chambers." Connor jumped up to each balcony until he reached the 3rd floor.

Connor knocked on the door. Lou didn't answer it and he could hear her crying. "Is this the room of Louise Chambers?" Connor called out real loud. He could hear her stop crying and blow her nose. In the next minute he heard her unlock the door and open it. "What did you say?" "I said is this the room of Louise Chambers because that letter you opened is addressed to a Louise Chambers." It took a minute to register with Lou as to what Connor was saying.

"You mean that I may have passed?" "Yes you certainly may have. Fred is checking right now." Lou ran downstairs and looked for Fred. She found her in the clinic and on the phone. Lou and everyone else was sitting in the lobby and watching Lou walk back and forth. After 30 minutes Fred finally came out. She didn't look too happy. Lou came and stood in front of her with the tears already starting to fall. "What did you find out?" Lou asked as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"Lou I am so sorry. With all of your studying you only ……..PASSED FOURTH IN YOUR GROUP." Fred shouted. She hugged Lou. When she let go though Lou was still staring at her. Then Fred saw her eyes go up into her head and Lou fell to the floor in a dead faint. Hunter was the closest one to her. She lifted Lou's eye lid and checked her pulse. "She's okay she just fainted." Hunter slapped her face lightly. Lou opened her eyes and looked at Fred. "Did you say that I passed Fred?" "Yes you passed fourth in your group." Lou reached for her and hugged her. Fred helped her up then Lou turned around and looked for Connor. He was standing right behind her. Lou jumped into his arms and he landed a great big kiss right on her lips and he didn't care who was watching.

Everyone was clapping for her. Connor finally let her down. With tears in her eyes and a smile on her face she said "Thank you, thank you everyone. All of those hours of studying was worth this moment." Lou said as she wiped her face and blew her nose with the Kleenex that Fred gave her. Tom, her brother, came in at that time and she went running to him and hugged him. "I passed Tom, I passed fourth in my class." "Congratulations Lou, Dad would be proud of you." "That's not all Angel and Cordelia asked Connor and I to be Godparents to Nicky and Mike." "My goodness but you guys have been busy. I'm going to go and take a shower before I get dirt all over the floor. I'll be right back to hear the rest of your news." Lou let her brother go and watched him go upstairs. "What's wrong, I thought he would be happy for me."

Angel came forward and put his arm around Lou's shoulder. "He'll be okay Lou. He's just feeling a little left out of everything and missing your father right now. I'll go and have a talk with him and hopefully he'll be okay after a good nights rest. At least that's what Cordelia always tells me and it always works." Angel gave her a kiss on the forehead then made his way to the elevator. Angel didn't join Cordelia in bed until late that night. He remained awake for the next couple of hours thinking about Tom and what he could possibly do to help him. It occurred to him that what Tom needed was a girl friend. Angel jumped out of bed and pulled his pants on then went down to Gunn's room and gave it a light tap on the door. He knew Gunn and Cylindia were in there together. By listening to what was going on he thought he must have interrupted something so he just left and went back to his room. He wrote Gunn a note telling him to get a hold of his friend in Covina and tell him he will have a customer tomorrow night. He slipped it under his door then went back to bed. He was able to sleep now that he had found a solution to Tom's problem.

The next morning at breakfast he announced to everyone that all of the men were going to be going out tonight to paint the town red in celebration of Connors passing of all of his finals. "Cordelia I want you girls to have a celebration of your own." Angel knew that Joaquin was in the kitchen so he thought he would ask him if he wanted to join them. "Joaquin would you and Connie come here for a moment?" "Yes Mr. Martin." Joaquin said as they came to the table.

"Joaquin we men are going to be going out to paint the town red would you like to go with us? The women are going to have a party also to celebrate Lou's passing her GED also but they are going to be staying here. I am sure that they would like you to join them Connie." Joaquin and Connie looked at each other and Connie put her head down while Joaquin gave Angel his answer. "I thank you for the offer Mr. Martin but I don't think that it would be proper for us to party with our employers." Angel said something to him in Spanish and Joaquin answered in Spanish. Angel stood up and looked at Dr. Martin. He paused as though thinking about his next move. "Mom, would you come with me please? Joaquin and Connie would you stay here for a few minutes please?" "Yes Sir." Joaquin answered.

Angel and Dr. Martin went to the kitchen where Mrs. Sanchez was sitting and cutting onions. "Mrs. Sanchez I know that you are the one that is telling your son and daughter-in law that it is not proper for any of you to become too personal with us. Mrs. Sanchez is it because of a problem that you have with me and what I am?" "No Senior Martin. I have no problem with that, but I have worked for many families and my mother and father before me. It has always been a rule for us that the workers stay separate from the family that they work for. We are poor working class people Senior Martin and it is not good for my son and his wife to mix with the higher class of people that we work for."

"Mrs. Sanchez I want you to understand that although most of the people here work for Angel Investigation, of which I am the owner, none of us see each other as co workers but as family members. If you recall my mother has told us that your grandson, Junior, will become part of the Angel Investigation family. Although your son takes orders from me it's not because I see him as my employee but as a co worker. It takes a lot of people doing all different kinds of work to keep our home running properly. Before your family came and joined us Cordelia and Fred did all of the work that your family does. Now they are busy raising the next generation of Angel Investigations and no longer have the time to keep this place running properly. I am asking Joaquin and Connie to join us in having some fun because you are all part of our family now and we wouldn't feel right if we were to have fun and Joaquin and Connie were left behind as though we didn't like them." Angel sat back and waited for Mrs. Sanchez to think about what he said.

Dr. Martin hadn't said anything while Angel was talking. "Would you leave us alone for a few minutes Angel?" Angel just looked at her then took his cane and went back to the dining room.

Fifteen minutes later Dr. Martin came out with Mrs. Sanchez. Dr. Martin went over to her chair and Mrs. Sanchez went over and stood by her son. "Senior Martin I have reconsidered what you have said and I believe it will be alright for Joaquin and Connie to join all of you in your party. I will take care of the children tonight ladies so that you can all have fun and relax." "Thank you Mrs. Sanchez." Angel said.

"Okay everyone at 7 o'clock we men will meet here and I think we can all fit in Connor's van. Needless to say ladies we men will not be here for supper." They all got up from the table then and went their separate ways. Angel called out to Gunn. "Gunn did you get my message?" "Yes, everything is set up for 8:30 tonight." "Good job."

Angel went to the gym to get some exercise in before the afternoon. He was still having to rely on his cane so doing exercises that would help him to do away with it was top on his priority list. One of the things that he wanted to do with the 2nd generation was to go up to the San Gabriel Mountains and run with the wolves. He wasn't sure if the problem that caused him to use a cane in human form would show up as a wolf and using four legs. He thought he would try it but he wanted hunter with him just in case he had a problem.

"Hi Hunter, can you give me a few minutes of your time in the gym?" "Sure Angel I'll be right there." She walked into the gym with Kathleen and Toby following her.

"Well, I didn't know you were babysitting." Angel said when he saw his daughter and Toby come in also. "Cordelia was busy with the boys so Kathleen and I have been spending some quality time together haven't we?" "Yeah Daddy, Aunt Mickey has been showing me how to do some magic." Thru the link she told her Daddy 'I know it's not real magic Daddy but I don't tell Aunt Mickey that.' He just smiled at her and winked.

"Okay Hunter I asked you over here because I am still having a problem with my left leg. I thought of changing to a wolf and seeing if any weakness in my leg would show up that you could see." "Okay Angel go ahead." Hunter said. "Can I do it too Daddy? I haven't ever played with you as a wolf." "I don't see why not. Do you need Aunt Mickey to go with you?" "No I can do it by myself now. I play all of the time with Connor and Toby." "Okay, since you're a big girl now go into the girl's bathroom and change and I'll go into the boy's bathroom and meet you out here."

Kathleen ran into the bathroom and was out in just a few minutes. She came out and ran over to Toby. Since she was four years old now she was almost as big as Toby but of a more slight build. You could easily tell that she was a young wolf that could be interpreted as a teenage wolf. Toby still knew who she was though and they started playing but stopped when Angel came out. Both Toby and Kathleen went to lick his face and lay down in front of him as he stood over them. It was how all wolves greeted him whether they were Vampire wolves or real wolves or dogs as with Toby. He gave his signal that it was okay to play now. He had decided to play a game of follow the leader and started running around the gym and climbing onto tables and machines.

Hunter was watching him all of the time and watching him favor his left hind leg. She couldn't see anything wrong with the leg. His problem seemed to be more of a problem that was being caused by his favoring the leg and thus keeping it weak. "Angel, come here." Hunter called out to him. The little pack of wolves and dog came running over to her. "Lay down Angel so that I can check your left leg." Angel complied. She checked his left hind leg by feeling the muscles and tendons. The muscles in his lower leg seemed to be smaller then it should be. The bones felt like they were nice and strong though. She got up and went to the phone by the doors and called the Lobby. Fred answered. "Fred this is Hunter. Is their any strangers in the Hotel?" "No just those that live here." "Okay tell everyone to keep the stairs clear for awhile. I am going to be leading a group that will be using the stairs to exercise." "Okay Hunter."

Hunter went to the doors that went into the Hotel and locked them in the open position then she went back to the gym and locked those doors in the open position. She stopped in front of the group of animals and said "Okay I am going to go and change and when I come out I will be the leader and everyone will follow me okay?" Angel and his daughter gave a grunt kind of bark.

When Hunter came out again she was a beautiful dark colored wolf. Her hair was just a little longer then a regular wolf. The rest greeted her then she took off into the hallway to the Hotel lobby and up the stairs. Hunter led her little pack up and down and up and down all five flights of stairs several times. After the third time she could see Angel starting to limp a little so she called an end to the exercise by running back into the gym and just laying down on the mats so they could cool down and regain their normal breathing. When she felt that they had all cooled down enough she jumped into the pool and did several laps before climbing out and going to the ladies room. Kathleen followed her in and they took a shower. When they came out they found that Angel had already gone up stairs.

When Angel had changed back his left leg was hurting him a lot so he went up stairs and thought he would soak in the whirlpool for a while. When he was done with soaking in the whirlpool he asked Cordelia to massage his leg. By 7 o'clock the rest of the men were down stairs and waiting for Connor and Angel. Spike yelled at the bottom of the stairs. "Let's hurry it up you two beauty queens. I tell you guys ever since Angel has been able to see his reflection it's been next to impossible to get him away from the mirror." Spike had his back turned to the stairs so he didn't notice both Angel and Connor making their way to the back by using the back stairs. Just as Spike finished his speech Connor came through the back door and said. "Common guys we've been waiting for the past 15 minutes." They all went running to the back then and piled into Connors van.

The first stop was Covina and Gunn's friend. As Angel did for Connor he also did for Tom. They dropped him off for his movies and his first sexual encounter. Connor was over 21 now so he went to the bar along with the men and had a couple of beers and that was all since he was driving. Three hours later they went to pick up Tom. From there they headed for the San Gabriel Mountains and bought some food to take up to the mountains with them. Angel was driving so he pulled into a dirt road once they passed the San Gabriel Dam. Before leaving the van Angel put his Forest Ranger sticker on the van so no one would bother them. He led the men half a mile up the trail and along side of a stream where a pool had been made. This is where they were going to spend the next several hours eating barbequed chicken, ribs and drinking beer. The night was warm so the water was warm. They hadn't had a storm for the last several weeks so the water was clear. When they were all covered with barbeque sauce Angel and Spike took off their clothes and jumped into the water. The rest followed their example. When Joaquin took his clothes off the other men tried not to stare at him. It had formerly been agreed upon by all of the men that Angel and Giles were equal in being the best equipped men among them, but then they saw Joaquin. Spike was the first to state the obvious.

"Angel and Giles you have just been deposed from your pedestal. Now that Joaquin has joined us it's clear that he belongs on that pedestal. It's a wonder that Connie can walk each morning." All of the men stood up and bowed to Joaquin. Joaquin stood up and started to pound his chest like Tarzan and gave a loud Tarzan yell. They all had a good laugh. After they had cleaned themselves of all of the barbeque sauce Angel climbed out of the pool and put several more logs on the fire so they could dry off. When Spike, Connor and Tom came out he told them "Why don't you take Connor and Tom for a run Spike. I was going to do it myself but that exercise that Hunter put me through really tired my leg out and I don't want to over exert the muscle in my leg so soon."

"That sounds like fun. Let's go boys." Tom, Spike and Connor all stood up a little ways away from the fire and changed into wolves. As soon as they were sure they were okay they took off.

"That is always unnerving too watch." Wesley said. He was starting to get cold so he got dressed again. All the other men did the same. Angel got up and listened to the night air. He could hear them running down a prey. By the time they came back Wesley, Giles, Gunn and Joaquin had fallen asleep next to the fire that Angel had kept going. They were covered with dirt and mud so they jumped into the water after changing back to their human forms and cleaned themselves.

They didn't get back to the Hotel until almost 6 in the morning. The women let them sleep until 12 noon then woke them up for Lunch. Fred lifted the covers off of Wesley's feet and started to tickle them with a feather. "Stop it Fred." "Get up Wesley, Dr. Martin has been waiting for you. She wants you to meet her over at the Dairy Queen as soon as you can." "Why over at the Dairy Queen?" "I don't know. All I know is that you and Gunn are to meet her over there ASAP and she said to make sure that Angel doesn't know where you are going."

When they arrived at the Dairy Queen they saw both Giles and Dr. Martin. They bought their ice cream then joined them at their table. "So what's up Grandma and Grandpa?" "Very funny spoiled rotten brat. Don't you remember an agreement I made with Angelus almost five years ago?" "Yes I do and Gunn has already been working on your son's playpen." "You guys must have had a good time last night, because you are just full of wisecracks today." Dr. Martin said as she eyed her husband, Wesley and Gunn. The men gave her big smiles in return. "Where is Spike? How come you didn't want him to join us?" Wesley asked. "Buffy and Spike left to go back to Sunnydale an hour ago. They wanted to get back so they could start doing their Christmas shopping tonight. They left Joyce with us until after Christmas."

"Well what have you done and where?" "I have some of my boys helping me to set up Angel's play pen in the middle of the desert in Death Valley. There is a small community just before you reach the hill that separates California and Nevada. It's on the outskirts of Death Valley. About 10 miles into Death Valley from this town there is a small valley of sorts that is surrounded by huge boulders. We have started to construct the cage for Angelus. All we have left is to put the top on and to put a large enough tent up to protect him during the day. We should be finished with it by next Saturday." Gunn said as he ate the last of his ice cream Sunday.

"That's good. The Monday after we'll take Angel out there. Make sure Wesley that we have the copy of what was said five years ago. If it's okay with you two I'll give Angel something to make him sleep for at least 8 hours on Monday night. How long will it take us to get there Gunn?" "About 3 hours maybe a little longer." "So if I give him the drug at 4 A.M. we should have him there in time to wake up by twelve noon." "Correct." Gunn answered. "Good, with any luck then we can be done with this before we have to start concentrating on Christmas." When they were done with their ice cream they all went their own way.

Giles and Dr. Martin went to the Magic Shop, Wesley and Gunn went to an Army Navy store to look for a tent that was big enough to cover the Playpen.

Cordelia and Lou had left to go shopping for her wedding gown while Connor took Tom to go shopping for their wedding clothes. Before they left Connor had asked Cordelia when she would be ready for the wedding. "I'm not sure Connor. Although we have been planning the wedding we only found out last week that you two were ready to have the wedding. So give me a week to find out when I can get everyone scheduled, but I am trying for the end of January." "The reason I am asking is that I also have to tell the L.A.P.D. when I will be able to start working. Do you think I will be safe in telling them that I can start at the beginning of March?" "Yes I think you would be safe in setting that date. That will give you more then enough time to have your honeymoon and settle down enough so that you can be separated for at least 10 hours." Cordelia gave him and Lou a big smile. They all separated for the day then while Connie took care of the children along with Fred.

Connor and Tom had gone to a men's store to be fitted for their tuxes. Cordelia had given them a clipping of the style that they were to order. Tom was too young to go to a bar so Connor took him to one of his favorite restaurants. The local Green Burrito that was in Los Angeles. They took their bags of food and Connor drove to the alley behind Caritas and they sat and ate their food. While they sat and ate their food they talked. They talked about last night mostly and Tom's first sexual encounter. It turned out that they both had the same women teach them about sex.

"I want you to know Connor that I think that if you're even half the man that your father is that you'll be a good husband to Lou and I'm glad that it's you that she fell in love with." Connor reached over and shook hands with Tom. "Thanks Tom." "By the way, why did you choose to come to this alley way?" Connor didn't answer him right away. After a few minutes he said "Cordelia told me that this is where I was born and where my mother killed herself so that I could live."

"So we both lost our Mothers when we were born." Tom said as he looked over the alley way. "Did they know why your mother thought she had to kill herself so you could live?" "No. All Angel knows is that she came to them two days before I was born and that she was in labor for most of that time. He said that some how she knew that I couldn't be born unless she died. He said she told him to tell me that she loved me then she staked herself in the heart, she turned to dust and I was left there lying on the rain soaked pavement with my mothers dust on me and the rain washing her away. I come here once in awhile to talk to her. Everyday when I pray the Rosary I pray for her soul. Once I understood that a persons soul leaves their body when they are turned I knew that there was a chance that she could go to heaven. Father Barris explained it to me that just like my father my mother would not be held accountable for what her demon did when it had control of her body. She only had to answer for her sins before she was turned and for the short time that Wolfram & Hart arranged for her body to be brought back from the dead and given her soul back. Before my mother was turned she made her living as a prostitute and was dieing of one of the STD diseases. When Wolfram & Hart brought her back the STD came with her and she started die from it again and it was too far advanced for modern medicine to do her any good. She wasn't of any use to Wolfram & Hart after she failed in turning my father again so they located Drusilla and had her turn my mother again. That was when my father killed my mother's body so that she wouldn't have to suffer anymore. He told me that even though they don't have a soul any longer their consciousness is still part of the body but is unable to control their own body."

"That's why my father killed our mother also. He said he couldn't stand to see her suffer any longer. I guess we're more alike then we knew." "Yeah I guess we better get back. It looks like it's going to rain." Connor started his van up and they were back at the Hotel within just a few minutes. It started raining buckets just as they came through the door.

"Where have you two been?" Angel asked as he was just coming back from the gym. "We went to get fitted for our monkey suits then I took Tom with me while I visited with Mom." "I hope you ordered the suit she told you two to get." Angel asked with a worried look on his face. "You know I did. I'm not stupid enough to go against what I am told to wear during their wedding." "That's a wise decision. As long as you understand that this is there wedding and you are just there to say 'I Do' you'll do just fine." Angel went upstairs then to take a shower. Hunter had put him thru a workout again and his leg was hurting again but not as much as it did the first time she had him running up and down the stairs.

As soon as he could Angel headed for David Morgan's house. He had already contacted Greg Steele, David's dog trainer, to make sure he would be available today to take him to look at some puppies.

After Wesley and Gunn found the tent they needed they took it to store at the warehouse that a lot of Gunn's kids lived at. When they were done they went shopping for the Christmas tree for the lobby. By 6 o'clock everyone was back at the hotel and came out to help with the Christmas tree. The tree was 8 feet tall so it took all of the men to carry it in and set it up.

"Well what do you think Cordelia?" Gunn asked her since she was the one that had to give her okay. She walked around it to see if there were any bare spots. She took her time and checked it to also see if it was too dry to be in the hotel where it would cause a fire when the lights were on all night. "It gets my stamp of approval. You guys did pretty good. Well I don't know about anyone else but I'm too tired to decorate it tonight so what do you say we do it tomorrow?" Everyone agreed. As Cordelia turned to go back upstairs to get the children for supper she had a Vision and had to sit down. Angel grabbed a tablet of paper and pen and ran to her side. After 5 minutes the Vision was over and she took the paper and pen from Angel and wrote down an address.

"What did you see?" Connor asked. "There were 10 of them chasing after something but I don't know what it was. The group had a mixture of demons and vampires and they were chasing someone up at the Forest Lawn cemetery." Cordelia said as she rubbed her temples. "I think we better all go since there are 10 of them." Connor said as he gave the paper to his Father. Angel gave the paper back to his son. "You take this son, I'm still having a problem with my left leg." Connor smiled at him and joined the others at the weapons cabinet. He picked up his bag full of stakes, including the special one for Toby, and they all headed for his van and Gunn's truck.

"I'm glad you did that Angel. You can kind of consider this as a small vacation before Connor starts working at the Police Department." Cordelia said as she turned and continued up the stairs. When they sat down for Supper there weren't too many people at the table so everyone at Dr. Martins side moved down to Angels. The children remained at their table and as usual Kathleen led the prayer of thanksgiving.

Fred and Wesley's boys Robert and David were starting to feed themselves now and wanted to sit at the table with the rest of the kids instead of being stuck in their highchairs. "Mommy we want down so we can eat with the others." Robert said as he tried wiggling out of the highchair, but Fred had put the tray close to their chests so they couldn't worm their way out. "No Robert, you and David have to stay here because there isn't any room for you at the children's table. Isn't that correct Uncle Angel?" Fred said.

"That's right but maybe tomorrow we can find something bigger that can hold all of you along with Toby. So be good now and stop acting like babies, because if you continue fussing then I'll start thinking that you're still too young to sit with the other children." The boys stopped as soon as he said that. "We'll be good Mommy." The boys started eating the rest of their food then while being perfect angels.

"How is business going at the shop Rupert?" "Very well my dear, very well indeed. Ever since the Christmas shopping season started after Thanksgiving business has really started to pick up. I think I'll ask Willow and Tara to come and help me during the weekends since that is when we have the highest amount of shoppers coming in." "I can help you Rupert." Dr. Martin offered. "Yes dear and I really do appreciate it but you tend to give a look of puzzlement whenever a customer asks about something like a David's Eye, which is the new name for Eye of Newt." Giles was patting Mary's hand when he said this. Angel was laughing at what Giles said. "Yes I have to admit that some of the things that your customers ask for give me the creeps. When I had one person ask me for the hand of a mummy I almost lost it. It took all that I had not to go 'Ewww yuck'. Yes I think you had better ask Willow and Tara."

"I used to make my living by collecting 'Eye of Newt' when I lived up in the northern part of China. It was easy to collect up there and I used to bypass the middle man and send it directly to London once each year. My Swiss bank account became quiet fat from the money off of those. In fact that's where Angel and I met up for the second time. He helped me to collect them and other ingredients that year." Hunter told everyone. "Wait a minute, after what you just said I don't think that 'Eye of Newt' is what it sounds like so exactly what is 'Eye of Newt'?" Dr. Martin asked.

Hunter, Giles, and Angel were laughing. "I have some in the basement Mom, I'll be right back." Angel got up and walked down into the basement where he kept a locked cabinet. He came back in a few minutes and gave his Mother a small bottle. "This Mom is Eye of Newt." Dr. Martin opened it and looked at it. She poured a tiny amount into her hand and smelled it. "This looks like a flower or rather the center of a flower." "That's exactly what it is. It's the dried center of a pink flower that grows in the higher mountain ranges of China." Dr. Martin put it back in and closed the bottle then started laughing at herself. "I thought you were talking about the little lizards eyes. In my mind I was picturing you two collecting all of these little lizards that you were killing then plucking their eyes out." They were all laughing at her and the picture she had painted.

Kathleen was listening to them talking. She came over to see the contents of the bottle that her Daddy had given Grandma. "Can I have some Grandma?" Dr. Martin put a couple in her hand. Kathleen carefully looked at them. The other children came over to look at it and let Toby smell them. Then she surprised everyone by taking them to the large planter that held a palm in it. She rubbed them between her hands and threw it on the dirt in the planter. She said the word GROW then backed up. Within minutes a tall plant about 3 feet high grew and then pink flowers started to pop up all over the plant. At a much slower rate the flowers opened and displayed delicate pink petals with a soft yellow center. Kathleen pulled one branch off and took it back to her Grandmother.

"Isn't it pretty Grandma?" "It sure is, in fact it reminds me of the soft pink and white blanket I bought you for your Baptism. Can I keep this?" "Yes Grandma it's for you." "Thank you I am going to put it in a glass of water and put it right by my bed so that it will be the last thing that I see when I go to sleep and the first thing I see when I open my eyes." Kathleen's Grandma gave her a thank you kiss then.

"Were going to go and play in our room now Mommy." Kathleen said. "Do you think that David and Robert could go and play with you?" Fred asked before they left. "Sure Aunt Fred. Junior and I will take care of everybody." Fred put the boys down and they went around the table to Kathleen. "Okay everybody let's hold hands." With Kathleen in the lead she held onto Joyce's hand, Joyce held onto Robert's hand, Robert held onto David's and David held onto Junior. She led everyone over to the elevator, closed the door and they left for the third floor.

"Isn't she something? Kathleen is going to be a natural mother and she is going to do real well in leading the others as they go through life." Dr. Martin said as she looked at the elevator go up.

"You should have seen them Mr. and Mrs. Martin. One day when Mr. Martin was taking care of them for the day Kathleen came into the kitchen along with Junior and her wagon. She told me that they were going to have lunch in their room and she was going to fix sandwiches for her Daddy and Junior. When I was done giving her a supply of peanut butter and jelly I asked her if that was enough. She put her finger under her chin and looked at everything and said 'I think that will be sufficient, do you agree Beloved?' Junior replied 'I agree sweetheart'. Then they pulled the wagon back up to their room." Mrs. Sanchez told them.

"Where did they get that from?" Dr. Martin asked Cordelia and Angel. "Angel calls me Beloved sometimes and I've heard Connie call Joaquin Sweetheart sometimes." "Beloved? That's a rather poetic and romantic term that I have never heard anyone in real life use. Does it have a special meaning to you?"

"Beloved is an ancient term used among Vampires. The story goes that when a Vampire finds that special person that they will have an all consuming love for them. That person will save them and cause their soul to be returned to them. That person is called their Beloved and they are what, now days, you call a Soul Mate. For me Cordelia is my Beloved even though my soul has already been returned." Angel reached for Cordelia and kissed her gently.

"You never told me how you got your soul back Hunter. Did you find your Beloved at one time?" Dr. Martin asked. Hunter looked down at her hands and remembered a ring that was there four thousand years ago.

"Yes I did. Shortly after I was turned my brother introduced me to a young man that when I saw him I knew that he was my Beloved. We loved each other as much as Angel and Cordelia love each other. Some how, and I don't know how they did it, but my Beloved and brother were able to have my soul returned. But like so many other people in my long life my Beloved died and my brother shortly after. Until Mike came into my life I was alone. My heart was empty. I had casual physical relationships with other Vampires and people like I did with Angel but I wouldn't let it go any further then that. I didn't want to hurt as much as I did before."

Just as Dr. Martin was about to go to Hunter Mike came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. Hunter had her head on the table and was crying so she didn't see her husband come in. Mike very quietly walked over to his wife and pulled the chair out that was next to her and sat down. Very gently he put his hand on her hand and said "You will never again have to walk alone Mickey. I will be by your side until I leave this world and if I am allowed to I will walk beside you in spirit. We will have a baby that you will raise up to be an exceptional person. You will raise our child with four thousand years of saved up love. Best of all Mickey I want you to remember that you have me to lean on now. Listen to my heart Mickey, from the moment I saw you I knew that its soul purpose from then on was to beat for you. You are my Beloved Mickey." Mike pulled her onto his lap and hugged her. "I've been so alone Mike, I've been so lonely for so long. No one can possibly understand what it is like to live for four thousand years. Hold me Mike, hold me tightly." Hunter was crying so hard that her chest started to hurt.

Hunter grabbed at her chest. "Mike my chest hurts." Angel came over and listened to her heart and lungs. "I think she's okay Mike. I think she is just tired now and needs to rest." "How do you know?" Mike asked as he held Mickey close to him. "I know because I've cried like that before and since my heart and lungs were not used to so much activity they started to hurt. The pain though redirected my thoughts. The result was that they slowed down again and the pain went away. Angel ran his hand over her hair and she started to calm down.

"I think I'll take her to bed now. She has to deal with hormones that she hasn't experienced in four thousand years and piled on top of everything else it's dragging her down. I started to turn over my practice to another Doctor today and by the end of January I will be able to spend all of my time with her." Mike picked Hunter up in his arms and took her to there bedroom where he stayed with her the rest of the night. Everyone else left to go to their own rooms also.

The rest of the men finally came back at 10 o'clock. Connie had left food in the refrigerator for them so that all they had to do was put it into the microwave. They were so hungry they didn't even bother to clean up first. Each one filled up a plate full of the cold food and took it to their individual rooms to eat after they cleaned up.

The next day Hunter was feeling better and joined everyone else in decorating the Christmas tree. Each person brought out their own personnel Christmas ornament and put it on the tree also. When they were done everyone started to bring the presents down, that were already wrapped, to put under the tree. Gunn was gone all weekend while he was finishing up the preparations for Angelus to come out for 24 hours.

At 7 P.M. on Sunday night Wesley received a call from Gunn saying that all of the preparations had been completed and they were ready for Angelus. Wesley let Dr. Martin know. Since they were all just making their way downstairs for Supper Dr. Martin put a small vile into her pocket that she had sitting on her dresser. She made her way over to the kitchen first and made out like she just wanted to help take the food in and offered to take Hunter and Angels drink into them. While she had her back turned to everyone she pulled out Angels mug slipped in the contents of the vile then took it into him. As everyone sat down to eat Angel was drinking his blood and then started to have some of the rest of the food. Half way through his dinner he put his fork down and leaned back in his chair.

"Don't tell me you're full already." Cordelia said. "No, all of a sudden my stomach started hurting." Angel jumped up and headed for the bathroom in his room. Cordelia followed him. When Dr. Martin was done with her dinner she went upstairs to check on him. The door was open so she walked in. "How are you doing?" "Terrible, I think everything I've eaten or drunk today has come up again. I was feeling okay until I started eating tonight." Dr. Martin sat down on the bed beside Angel and checked him.

"You know what I think Mr. Martin. I think you have the good old fashioned flu. It usually hits you like this, hard and fast. Don't give him anything but water and 7-up Cordelia because everything else will come right back up. If you're lucky it will be just the 24 hour flu. If you're not lucky then it will be longer. I'll come to check on you around 4 o'clock to make sure you're not becoming dehydrated. Make sure you clean your hands carefully before you touch Mike and Nicky Cordelia or else you could spread it to them." "I will Mom, goodnight." "Goodnight." Wesley knew what was going on because Dr. Martin had informed everyone what she was going to do to prepare Angel for his transportation. Willow and Spike had already left for the desert so they would be ready by the time they got there. The whole cage was covered in a tent so that Angelus wouldn't be exposed unless absolutely necessary. They had rented a truck and Fifth Wheel trailer along with a generator to fuel all of the electric lights and trailer where they could wait for the 24 hours to pass.

At 4 in the morning Dr. Martin was dressed and ready to get Angel ready to get on the road. She opened the door to Angel's bedroom as quietly as she could and turned the night stand light on. As carefully as she could she gave him a shot to make him sleep for the next 8 hours. When she put the needle in his arm Angel woke up. "What are you giving me?" "Just some antibiotics to help you get better faster, you have a little fever and I don't want to take the chance of it getting worse. Next year I'll have to make sure that I give you a flu shot along with everyone else. It didn't occur to me that you had become human enough to need it. Go back to sleep now." Dr. Martin left the room then and joined everyone else at the dinning room table.

"How is he doing, does he suspect anything?" Wesley asked. "No, I told him that I was giving him some antibiotics because he had a slight fever and I didn't want it to get any worse." "How long do we have to wait before we can put him in Connors van?" "Let's wait at least 30 minutes." Dr. Martin went into the kitchen and made herself a couple of scrambled eggs and toast then took it back to the dinning room table. When she was done she took her plate into the kitchen and left them in the sink. "I'm going to go and wake up Cordelia so she can feed the boys and get ready to go." Wesley nodded at her and took his own plates to the kitchen. Connie had prepared some food for them last night already and filled several ice chests full of food. Connor had bought several blocks of dry ice to keep blood in the ice chest cold for the resident Vampires along with some human blood for Angelus. All of the supplies went into Wesley's SUV. Each person took only a small bag with a change of clothes. It was winter time now so they were more interested in keeping warm in the desert night then they were concerned with staying cool during the day. Wesley had made sure that he retrieved the most important item that they were going to be carrying. That item was the quote of what was said between Angelus and Dr. Martin when she had agreed to let him out for 24 hours if she couldn't find a drug that would allow him to be free for that time.

When Dr. Martin went upstairs she found Cordelia already up and nursing the boys. "Are you almost done with them Cordelia?" "Yes Mom, they woke up when you were in here apparently." "When you're done I want you to get dressed in some jeans and a light blouse. Then pack something for tonight because where we are going is going to be very cold at night. You don't have to worry about the boys because I found a woman at the Free Clinic that I volunteer at that agreed to come and feed the boys for the next 24 hours. She is starting to wean her own baby and she says she has more then enough milk to feed the twins." "But where are we going and what about Angel?" "Angel is going with us now don't ask me anymore questions and do as I say. The men will be up here in a few minutes to get Angel. I'll explain everything to you once we get on the road. I've already left a note for Kathleen. Now hurry up."

Cordelia did as she was told and put the boys back into the crib and quickly got dressed and packed with the clothes she was told to bring. Within a few minutes the men were up stairs with the flat board that was used to transfer people and transferred him to the gurney.

When Xander had built the gym he also took the opportunity to build a covered entrance way for a vehicle as large as an ambulance to fit in. It was coming in very handy right now since it had been raining all night. The men quickly loaded Angel into the back of Connors van along with Gunn, Wesley and Tom. Giles, Fred, Cordelia, Hunter, and Dr. Martin were in Cordelia's van while Mike drove since Dr. Martin wanted to talk to Cordelia. Mike would only allow Hunter to go with them if she promised to stay back from any involvement in handling Angel.

After explaining everything to Cordelia she was quiet for a few minutes. "All I can say Mom is that Angel is going to be thoroughly pissed when he recovers from this and is told why. I think once he has time to think about it though he'll understand."

"Well I'll deal with that once Willow puts his soul back in. Does anyone want coffee?" Dr. Martin asked. She handed out the coffee then they rode the rest of the way in quiet. Each had there own thoughts that were keeping them company. Within 3 hours they were pulling into the location where Gunn had set up what he called Angels playpen. The first thing they did was to unload Angel and put him into the cage. Dr. Martin checked him to make sure he was still in a deep sleep. Spike and Willow had arrived only an hour before and were waiting for everyone else and Gunn who had the key to the trailer. Buffy was pregnant with their twins so she had driven, along with Tara, directly to the hotel.

By 11:45 A.M. Willow was preparing to remove Angel's soul along with Wesley to help her. Gunn and Connor had removed Angel from the carrier and any type of clothing he could use to do damage to himself or others.

As soon as Gunn and Connor came out and double locked the door Willow started the incantation to remove Angel's soul.

As she said the last words they could all see what looked like a wisp of smoke come out of Angel and go into a glass container that Willow was holding in her hands. She put the lid on as soon as he was completely in the container. She placed the container in a padded bag that she then put around her neck and shoulder. They all sat down then and waited for Angelus to wake up.

At exactly 12 noon his eyes started to open. He rubbed at his eyes. They had the tent sides down and all flaps either overlapped each other enough so that no light came in or they were attached with Velcro. They illuminated the inside with several oil lamps.

Angelus sat up and looked around carefully and rubbed at his eyes again. He looked around at his cage. Carefully so that not even the sand was disturbed when he stood up, Angelus made his way around his enclosure. He tested the door by pulling on it back and forth and when it didn't give even an inch he walked on to the next section and especially the corners.

Finally he made his way over to his jailers. "Stand up and face me Mary." Dr. Martin stood up and walked into the light but made sure that she stayed behind the line that Gunn had marked by wood slats. She had been told that this was the limit of Angels reach.

"You think you're pretty clever don't you?" "I don't think it Angelus, I know it." "This is not what we agreed on." "But it is Angelus. I said I would have Willow remove Angel's soul if I couldn't come up with a drug to release you for 24 hours so that you could control Angel's body within 5 years. It has been almost 5 years and I have not come up with anyway of releasing you to control Angel's body. So here we are, Willow has removed Angel's soul and you can now control his body." "Yes that is correct. But look at what you have placed me in. I am still imprisoned in a cage. All it is, is another cage, just larger."

"Yes, that's true, it is just another cage. You must have known that we would never let you out to kill and torture people Angelus. Even if you thought that I was unfamiliar with you and I wouldn't know how tricky you could be surely you knew that Wesley or one of the others would instruct me on how we had to deal with you." "Wesley, yes good old Wesley. Angel loves you as a brother you know. He loves and trusts you so much that he has given you complete control of his finances. If you were really smart Wesley you would let me out and you would have all of that money to yourself. You don't know it Wesley but one of your boys is going to become very sick and your going to need all of that money just to take care of him. He is going to live a long time and it will take money, into the millions, to take care of him now and after you and Fred are gone. All that money that Angel has in those Swiss bank accounts will come in handy."

Wesley didn't react in any way. He just continued to watch Angelus, but Dr. Martin knew that the seed had been planted and even though Wesley knew that Angel would provide for him and his family, she knew that the seed that Angelus had planted would wait and slowly grow.

"In all of my studies and from Sr. Margaret and St. Michael I have all of the information I need on you Angelus and how you would talk to people and try to turn us against each other. You must know that God would not permit you to be let loosed again in the world. One hundred years ago you were restricted by how far you could walk or ride a horse as to how far your evil could reach out into the world. Now though we have cars, jets, telephones, Cell phones, the World Wide Web and your evil could reach around the world in a matter of hours instead of days. So don't waste your time and energy Angelus these people know you too well."

Angelus walked to the bars of his cage and grabbed the sides. He started to try to pull them apart. They could see his muscles straining with the effort. Then without warning he changed to his full demon persona. When he had changed completely they heard the metal creaking as it started to feel the strain of being pulled out of their original shape. Everyone stood up. Gunn raised the machine gun to his side and pulled the safety clip off. Wesley readied the tranqualizer gun. While Connor and Spike just stood with a spike in their hands.

The bars held though. Angelus was only able to push them apart a little. After pulling and straining his muscles to the limit he finally gave up and sat down on the floor of his prison. He changed back into Angel once again. Dr. Martin walked over to him. She had her arms at her back and she walked slowly.

"Are you done now?" Angelus just looked up at her. He was breathing heavily and perspiration was pouring down his face. "Yes, for now."

"Do you know where you are Angelus?" "No, but by the looks of the ground I would say in the desert." "Yes that is correct. You are in Death Valley and there is nothing but desert for hundreds of miles around. If you did get loose you would be caught by the sun before you could get anyplace. Since we have 24 hours for you to be in there I am going to go and take a nap and prepare some lunch for everyone. Would you like a glass of blood? We brought some human blood for you." "How thoughtful of you, yes I would like some thank you." "How about a sandwich also?" "Yes thank you." Angelus replied with a sweet smile.

Dr. Martin left then and went into the trailer. Connor, Spike and Gunn stayed behind to guard Angelus. Since Angel's body had to relieve itself several times a day Angelus went over to the other side of the cage and emptied his bladder through the bars and into the sand. They could hear him mumbling something but all Connor and Spike could hear was '!!!!! Human.'

After a while the women brought Connor, Spike and Gunn something to eat and drink. Wesley brought a large Styrofoam cup full of blood along with a Styrofoam plate with a large sandwich and potato chips on it. He put the cup and plate on the sand in front of the cage. Angelus drank the blood greedily and gave it back and asked for a Root Beer if they had it. This surprised everyone because no one could remember Angel ever drinking Root Beer.

The rest of the day went on like this. Angelus remained quiet and just laid in the middle of the cage. Wesley had been keeping an eye on Angelus like the rest but after thinking about how he was reacting to his situation he decided that they had better talk about this. "Let's go into the trailer people, I don't believe he'll try anything for now." Everyone that had been sitting outside went into the trailer and took a seat.

"I asked everyone to come in here because I think we are going to have to split up so that while some are keeping an eye on Angelus the rest will be sleeping. At 11 o'clock we'll switch. I think we have to do this because I think Angelus has something up his sleeve and we have to be awake and watchful. The only time that we don't really have to worry is during the daytime, but we're coming to the night time and as we all know that is when Angelus is at his best, it's his element. Anyone have any thoughts on this?" Wesley asked as he looked at everyone.

"Okay then since no one has anything to add I suggest that we have Dr. Martin, Cordelia, Tom and Mike watch him until 11 and the rest of us can try to get some sleep."

The first shift went outside along with a carafe full of coffee. It was 4 P.M. when they separated into shifts but it was already starting to get cold in the desert. In the far corner of the cage a Rattlesnake came in under the tent flap. It looked around and tasted the air. He was on the trail of a mouse that had run under the tent flap and crossed the cage as it made a beeline for the underside of the trailer while everyone had been inside. Everyone had already brought out their heavy coats and some blankets. The women were talking by themselves while Tom and Mike were building a fire. When Tom sat down again after getting the fire going he checked on Angelus. He was in the same position he had been in before, laying down with his arms folded behind his head.

Angelus had been listening to everything he even heard the snake starting to make its way through the cage. The snakes mind was just on the mouse and did not care about the people around or in the cage. It was heading for its home for the winter where it would hibernate for the next two or three months and it wanted that last meal of the mouse before he went to bed. Unfortunately for the snake it came too close to Angelus and as it came close to him he reached out for the snake faster then the snake could strike. Before Dr. Martin and Cordelia could react Angelus threw the snake at Dr. Martin. Tom was just as fast though and he caught the snake as it flew through the air. He ended its life quickly by pulling out his hunting knife and cutting the snakes head off while he stepped on the head. Tom held onto the other end of the body with a tight grip so that the blood wouldn't run out.

"Do you want the blood Angelus?" Angelus came over and caught the snake as Tom threw it to him. It was a large snake so he just held his head back and held the cut part of the snake over his mouth and squeezed it so that the blood would flow out faster. When he was done he threw it back to Tom. "Skin it and cook it." Angelus told him.

Cordelia, Dr. Martin, and Mike were watching Tom and Angelus. Mike felt like his heart was in his throat it was pounding so hard. They all watched as Tom expertly slit the snake from one end to the other and pulled the skin off of the snake. He pulled the intestines out and threw them into the fire. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dr. Martin get up and reach for the snakes head.

"Don't touch that Dr. Martin. The head is just as dangerous dead as it was alive." After wrapping the snake around a green branch and placing it over the fire he went back to the snake head and picked it up with his knife. He brought it over to Cordelia and Dr. Martin and showed them the head. "See the fangs?" "Yes." Both Cordelia and Dr. Martin answered as they looked closely at the head. With a dried twig Tom pushed on the fangs and they saw a drop of poison come out of the fang. He looked back at them then took the head and threw it in the fire. He checked the snake and repositioned it so that it would cook more evenly. When it was done he let it cool then gave it to Angelus. When he was done eating it he looked at Tom. "Your Daddy taught you well. That was pretty good. Eating solid food is about the only thing about turning human that I like. The Vampire I had before Angelus was like Spike. He never stopped eating solid food and one of his favorites was snake."

All of the time that Angelus was talking to them he was leaning on the gate to the cage and had his hands over the lock. In his hand he had a long nail that he had found in the sand that was just beyond the bottom plate of the cage. It was old and had obviously been there in the sand for many years. He had bent the end of the nail and he was using it now to try and open the lock.

"Back away from the door Angelus and leave the nail in the lock." Tom said as he brought up his rifle. Cordelia also pulled up Wesley's arrow loaded gun. Angelus looked at Cordelia.

"You wouldn't do it." "Try me. I know exactly where to shoot. Because I love Angel you know that I promised him that I wouldn't let you hurt anyone again using his body." Angelus looked at her a little longer. He tried to weigh her determination against his own. Finally he moved his hands slowly and moved away from the door and lock. He continued to back up until he was in the middle of the cage. Tom went to the lock and checked it. Angelus had tripped the first lock but hadn't pulled it apart. Tom checked both locks and relocked the first one and threw the nail into the fire.

That was the last time that Angelus tried anything with this group. Tom stayed for a while with the second group while Cordelia, Dr. Martin and Mike went in to get some sleep. Tom stepped to the other side of the trailer to let Wesley and the rest know what Angelus had tried and about the snake. When he was done he went into the trailer to get some sleep. Before he went to bed though he took the snake skin and put it into a plastic bag and put it in the ice box, he had plans for that skin.

Angelus was being a good boy for the next 4 hours then at 1 in the morning without any warning he changed into his true demon form. Everyone jumped up out of their chairs as Angelus jumped up and reached for the bars that formed the top of the cage. He swung his body back and forth until he had enough momentum built up and then threw himself at the cage door. Everyone raised their weapons and aimed them at Angelus when they saw and heard the hinges bending. But Gunn had given plenty of extra metal that went through the loops and it still had a ways to go before it would slip out of the catch.

Angelus gave it several more tries then finally gave up and returned to Angel's face and body.

"Have you had enough Angelus?" Wesley asked.

"Yes, I think so." Angelus was breathing hard and lying on the ground. "I think I'll go to sleep for awhile. Do you think I could have a blanket? Angel's human body is demanding more warmth to be comfortable." "I can't do that Angelus but I will build the fire up so that it will be warmer in here. Would you like some warm blood?" "Yes that sounds good."

Connor went into the trailer and warmed up some blood and gave it to Angelus in a styrofoam cup while Wesley built the fire up and started another one at the other end of the tent. Within 30 minutes the tent was warm enough for Angelus to feel comfortable enough to go to sleep.

At 7 A.M. the next morning Dr. Martin, Cordelia, Tom, and Mike came out to relieve the others so they could get some sleep before they had to place Angel's soul back in his body and return home.

"Would everyone like to have some breakfast before you try to get some sleep?" Cordelia asked. "Yes!" The men all answered at once. They even heard Angelus say yes as he came to the cage wall closest to the trailer. "Hey Wesley you guys are falling down on the job. It's getting cold in here again."

"What's the matter Angelus are you feeling Angel's human benefits?" Cordelia asked. "Yes and it's a nuisance." Angelus walked over to the far side of the cage and relieved himself then went back over to one of the fires.

The rest were laughing at him as he held his hands out to get warm. "Laugh it up sweet heart, just get in there and get me a cup of warmed blood a rare steak and 4 eggs sunny side up with two slices of toast with lots of butter on them. If I have to put up with peeing then Angel can put up with the extra calories." Cordelia went back into the trailer laughing at what Angelus said.

Wesley had the fires loaded with wood again and the tent was starting to get warm again by the time breakfast was ready for everyone. They had a large grate that they had put over the fireplace so that Cordelia could use a large frying pan to cook the potatoes and eggs over. Dr. Martin was using the other fire place to cook some sausages and she had a large pot of coffee percolating the old fashion way. It took Gunn a while to find one big enough for all of them. At the last minute and after everyone else had been served Cordelia and Dr. Martin started cooking the eggs and steak for Angelus. His steak and eggs had to be cut for him since they couldn't allow him to have a knife. Fortunately Cordelia knew how Angel liked his food so she prepared everything according to what he liked. Dr. Martin gave him his blood along with a cup of coffee.

"Give me the food and drinks Cordelia and Dr. Martin and I'll serve it to Angelus." They did as Spike said then cooked their own food and sat down to eat. Every ones eyes were on Angelus as Spike served him his food and drinks. Angel wasn't allowed to approach them until Spike backed up then he sat cross legged on the ground and proceeded to have his breakfast along with the rest.

If it wasn't for the fact that Angelus was in a cage you would think that you were watching a group of people that were out camping and were just having breakfast together.

When they were all done and the dishes had been cleaned they all sat down and had one last cup of coffee. It was now ten in the morning and Angelus only had two more hours before he would be put back in his cage inside of Angel. Spike, Connor and Gunn went into the trailer to get some sleep while the rest stayed outside. Dr.Martin was sitting with Cordelia and Giles and talking about last night. Angelus got up and walked over to them and put his arms through the bars of his cage and leaned on it.

"So Dr. Martin it looks like you successfully pulled one over me. Did you plan all of this to get back at me for raping you?" "Of course not Angelus." She answered. Cordelia put her hand on Dr. Martin. "Be careful Mom."

"Come now don't tell me that you don't remember such a memorable day? You were crying but I could feel you getting into the moment, shall we say. That first time I entered you gave you some pain but by the 5th time I screwed you, you were having a good time and within a few minutes you would have reached your first orgasm in a long time. Then you had to call that loser to come and help you. All I can say is that your conscience must have taken over. After all good little nuns aren't supposed to enjoy things like that anymore, are they?" Angelus was watching the look on both Dr. Martins and Giles face. When he saw Giles look of anger as he turned to his wife he knew he had been successful with his fantasy story. 'Bingo, I hit the mark'. Angelus said to himself.

TBC……………………………………………………………………….


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Is that true Mary? Is that why you never wanted to answer my question about what happened that night? Every time I wanted to talk about it you avoided my inquiries." Angelus could hear Giles heart beating faster as he questioned his wife.

"What? Don't tell me you never told Giles how much you enjoyed our little encounter. All I can say Mary is that I hope Cordelia looks as good as you do when she reaches her fifties. It's very unusual for a woman of your age to have breasts that are still so firm. But the best part of all Mary was how tight you were. You were like a virgin."

Dr. Martin had her head turned away from Giles. She couldn't bear for him to see the tears that he was causing. She was afraid that he might consider her as tainted merchandise now and not want to have anything to do with her again. Cordelia saw her tears though and she got up and put her arms around Dr. Martins shoulder. Wesley had come over and put his hand on Giles shoulder.

"Giles Angelus is baiting you and you're reacting exactly as he was hoping. He's doing this to get back at your wife for helping Angel and taking him out of the hell hole that he had him in." Giles closed his eyes and tried to control his reaction to what Angelus had said.

Cordelia took a moment to compose herself. She was going to practice some of her own brand of torture before Angelus was put back where he belonged.

While Cordelia still had her arm around Dr. Martin she said to Angelus "Come now Angelus you know what your saying is just an attempt on your part to get Giles riled." Cordelia walked back to her chair and pulled it over by the wood that Gunn had put down as a caution not to go any closer to the cage. She had a long, wide, cotton skirt on that she was using to her advantage. As she sat down again she spread her legs apart and leaned forward with her hands on the chair between her legs. She saw Angelus turn his gaze exactly where she wanted him to look.

"One day Angelus when we women were alone we started to compare notes on our husbands. Between the four of us we figured out that you are not as big or as long as you brag about." Cordelia changed her position and when she did so she moved her skirt around and lifted it high enough when repositioning it so that Angelus would get a good view.

"Did you know Angelus that all men have an erection at least once each night while they are sleeping? One night I took my cloth measuring tape out and I actually measured Angel's length and circumference. I told the other women what I had done and they did the same thing to their men the next night. The day after that we compared notes and because Fred is such a whiz at math she figured out that there is a direct correlation between a mans height and the length of his penis. It seems that the taller a man is the longer his penis is when he has an erection. Now we have all seen that you, Angelus, are shorter when you are in your true form which pretty much tells me that you are lying about you're own personal attributes. We confirmed this when we were able to get Mom to talk about her own personal experience with you. Since she was, as you said, so tight she could feel you as soon as you entered her." Cordelia sat back and rearranged her skirt again. She put her hand to her forehead and gave a look of concentration.

"Now what was it she said, oh yes, she said … it was a…. short experience." Cordelia, Dr. Martin and Hunter started laughing and making hand gestures that gave an impression they were measuring a short penis.

All of this had the desired affect on Angelus. He suddenly changed into his true form and started to try to pull the bars apart. When this failed he went to the cage door and started to repeatedly throw himself at the cage door. Gunn and the rest were watching the bolts and latch carefully. Angelus was able to bend them but they continued to hold. When he admitted defeat he just fell to the floor and roared his anger at Cordelia who had finally stopped laughing when she saw the latch on the cage door bending.

Before saying anything else Cordelia composed herself. "Isn't it time to give Angel his soul back Wesley?" "It sure is. Willow would you start getting ready please." Wesley said as he turned around and looked for her.

"I'm over here Wesley and waiting for you to give the word to start." Willow had everything set up with the jar holding Angel's soul in the middle of a circle she had drawn in the sand.

"Go ahead Willow and start." Willow started to say the words as Angelus redoubled his efforts to escape his cage and go after Cordelia. When Willow said the last words she removed the lid from the jar and they saw what looked like a wisp of smoke come out of the jar and swirl around the inside of the tent, around Cordelia and Dr. Martin then into Angelus.

Everyone stood then and watched Angel. After a few minutes he opened his eyes and looked around the tent. He slowly got to his feet and walked to the cage door. "Do you mind letting me out now?" Gunn took the keys to the locks out and unlocked the door. Angel went into the trailer and looked for Cordelia's purse. When he found it he pulled the keys to her van out and just walked to the van, got in, started it up and left. Everyone stood and just watched him drive off. Cordelia was the first one to move. "Well that went rather well I think. I guess it's time to close up shop and return home." Everyone was quiet as they started putting everything away. "What about the tent?" Cordelia asked. "It'll be okay some of my boys should be here pretty soon to start taking everything down. Wesley I'll need for you to drive my truck so I can drive the truck that's pulling the trailer. I have to return it to a place in West Covina so follow me okay?" Gunn said. "Okay." Wesley answered then they finished loading up the trailer and left.

Several hours later they arrived at the Hyperion. Cordelia walked into the kitchen. "Connie did you see Angel come in?" "Yes Mrs. Martin. He came in just 30 minutes ago and went upstairs. He asked me to make him a roast beef sandwich and a mug of blood along with a beer that he wanted me to send up to his bedroom with Joaquin. When Joaquin came back he said Mr. Martin had told him to put it on the floor next to the bath where he was soaking. He looks very tired."

Cordelia went upstairs to the third floor first to see her daughter. She was in there for a good thirty minutes while the children all tried to tell her at once what they had done while she was gone. When she was finally able to leave the room she went down to Fred's room, where Mrs. Sanchez said the boys were, and checked on them. The woman that she had hired to nurse the boys had just fed them and put them to bed before Cordelia had come in so she didn't disturb them. She paid the woman, thanked her, and walked her down to the front door. Fred was anxious for news on what had happened but Cordelia promised her that she would talk to her after she took a bath and took care of Angel.

When Cordelia opened the door to her own rooms she saw the dim lights in the bathroom. She closed and locked the door quietly. Angel was still in the whirlpool bath. She knew that his muscles must be very sore from Angelus so she went out to the hallway where there were extra towels in the hallway linen closet. Cordelia took these and placed a sheet then a large bath sheet towel on the floor. Before calling Angel she pulled out the massaging oil that they used and warmed some up in the microwave.

Cordelia made sure she locked the bedroom door then opened the door to the bathroom again and called to Angel. "Angel I want you to come out here. I am going to give you a massage." Without saying anything Angel got out and went over to the sheet and towel that was on the floor and laid face down. Cordelia disrobed then spread the warm oil over his back and started to massage his sore muscles. She had lit a few candles and had his favorite music playing softly. As she started to massage him he finally spoke to her.

"Cordy." "Yes Angel." "I love you Cordy." "I love you Angel."

When she was through giving him a massage she went into the bathroom and filled the whirlpool bath with fresh warm water and put bubble bath and eucalyptus oil in the bath water. When it was done filling up she called Angel to come in. He dutifully came in and sat in the tub while she climbed in and sat between his legs. After bathing she turned the whirlpool on and they just soaked for a good half hour. When she heard him snoring she knew it was time for them to get out.

Cordelia put her husband to bed then lay down beside him. They slept until late in the evening. "I'm going downstairs to get something to eat, do you want anything?" "Yes but I'll come down also." Cordelia threw on one of her heavy nightgowns, a robe and her fluffy slippers and went down stairs. After being in the warm whirlpool bath water the air seemed cold to her. Angel pulled on his sweat pant suit.

"That is a sure sign that you two are now officially an old married couple." Connor said as he came out of his bedroom. Toby was up with the children so he was alone. "What's a sure sign?" Angel asked Connor.

"Cordelia has a heavy long nightgown on and fluffy slippers and you're wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants." Connor answered.

"Did you hear him Cordelia; do you think that we are an old married couple now?" "Yes I think we are. We know each other well enough that we know what each other is thinking. You know like when I stripped in front of you and let you examine the merchandise 'just before you spanked me for coaching Lou'." "Yea but then I sacrificed myself and had a vasectomy just so that you wouldn't have to take birth control pills anymore." "Okay you topped me with that one." Cordelia said as she opened the refrigerator to see what kind of leftovers were inside. She pulled out a few bowls and filled up a couple of dishes with some rice, vegetables and beans and put them in the microwave. As they were eating their supper they heard someone out on the porch.

"It's Grandma Cordelia. Grandma and Grandpa still aren't talking after what happened this morning." "What happened this morning?" Angel asked. Cordelia and Connor proceeded to explain to Angel what had transpired between Angelus, Dr. Martin and Giles.

When they were done with supper and had cleaned up they were just about to leave when they saw Giles go to the back porch. When Giles closed the door they snuck over to the window overlooking the porch and got on the floor and listened. Angel had to tell Cordelia what was going on. They sat there for the next 15 minutes listening to what was being said. When they heard chairs being moved they jumped up and ran up stairs and to there room.

As Dr. Martin headed for the elevator she stopped and turned to Giles. "I hear the pitter patter of large Vampire feet and his followers. Let's take a side trip to the second floor." As Giles and Dr. Martin arrived at the second floor they walked down the hallway and slowed down as they arrived at Angel's room. "Gee I hope none of our Vampires or their offspring heard us downstairs. Let's go to bed now and we can spend the rest of the night making up." They made real loud kissing sounds and Dr. Martin said "Oh Giles stop that you're going to drive me crazy." Giles picked her up in his arms and she giggled loudly all the way back to the elevator.

The next morning everyone was downstairs having breakfast but it was rather quiet. When Angel was done eating he cleared his throat and said, "Mom Cordelia explained to me why you let Angelus out by having Willow remove my soul for 24 hours. I was very angry with all of you yesterday for doing it but I understand why you did it and why you had to keep it from me that you were going to place Angelus in a cage. But Mom, you can't possibly understand how painful it is to have your soul taken from you. The only thing that I can possibly suggest that you imagine is for you to wake up one morning and find yourself in Hell as you understand it." Everyone was quiet.

"Almost five years ago Angel you were having a problem with Angelus talking to you about Drusilla and telling you it was all your fault for Drusilla going insane. At the time he was talking to you so much that you came very close to going into the same world that Drusilla lived in. What happened yesterday was the result of a deal that I made with him so that he would stop torturing you with that issue. I made the deal Angel because I was not ready to lose you yet. But if you say one more thing about it I am going to, to, …………I am going to sock you right in the nose." Angel was so shocked by her reply that he couldn't think of anything else to say except "Yes Mam."

"Just in case anyone wants to know I talked to Mary last night and apologized for being such a pompous Ass. I stupidly held it against her as though what Angelus did to her was her fault. As Angel put it once I'm just like any other red blooded man and just like any other red blooded intelligent man I tucked my tail between my legs and begged her forgiveness." Giles said as he cleaned his glasses.

"Is their anyone else that wants to air their feelings or thoughts on what happened yesterday before we all go our own ways for the day?" Dr. Martin asked everyone.

Gunn cleared his throat. "Did you have something Gunn?" "Uh yes I do. Dr. Martin is it true what Cordelia told Angelus about all men?" All of the women started laughing but none of the men were laughing they were all just looking at Dr. Martin.

"Gunn the only part of what Cordelia told Angelus that was true was the first part. All men, from the time that you are very young, have an erection at different times during a 24 hour period." Dr. Martin said. "The rest of what I told Angelus was nothing but pure fiction Gunn. I wanted to get back at him for what he was doing to Mom. From his reaction to what I said I am pretty sure that I was successful." Cordelia said.

"Did Angelus tell you what Cordelia had said to him Angel?" Gunn asked. "No but Cordelia told me about it. Gunn stop and think about what we saw when we took Tom and Connor out to party and that should tell you that what she said wasn't true." Slowly but surely Gunn started to grin. Then the men started laughing. Connie happened to come out of the kitchen to see if anyone wanted more coffee. The men's eyes were constantly on her and how she walked.

Connie noticed this. "Is there something wrong?" She asked no one in particular. Cordelia came to Connie's rescue. "No Connie everything is just fine. Since there are only two weeks left before Christmas do you and Joaquin need some time off to do your Christmas shopping?" "Yes, would tomorrow be alright with you?" "Yes that's fine. In fact you can start today if you'll look for something for me?" "Yes of course." "We still haven't had a chance to go and look for a larger table for the children can you do that for us?" "Yes we can do that, in fact I know of a place that has used furniture. I can look for one that looks like this one and all we'll have to do is cut the legs so that it's their height." "That sounds perfect, so after lunch you can start taking the rest of the day off and the next two days." "Thank you Mrs. Martin." Cordelia turned around and the men quickly took their eyes away from Connie.

As Cordelia returned to the table she reached over and lightly slapped Angel up the side of his head. "Oww! What did you do that for?" Angel yelled. "Angel Liam Martin you are projecting your thoughts. Put it back where it belongs and zip it closed." "But Cordelia I can't help it. I don't know how to control it. Hunter can you help me?" Angel looked at Hunter and pleaded for her help.

"Angel I can't help you because I can't do what you do. The only reason Spike can do it is because he is your childe. You're just going to have to do like Cordelia said." Hunter just smiled at him.

"Well I'll do my best to control it but I'll need you to tell me when I slip, okay?" "Okay. Who wants to go horse back riding? We haven't taken Santana and Aunt Bee out for a run in a long time. You probably need to take Opie out for a ride also Connor." "That sounds good. Lou I don't suppose you know how to ride a horse?" Connor asked.

"Does she know how to ride? Hah! She rides like she was glued to the horse. Most of the time she doesn't even use anything to guide the horse." Tom told Connor.

"What did you ride up in the mountains?" Connor asked. "There was a small horse ranch in a valley that was on the other side of the mountain where we lived. I used to just take some carrots and a rope and call to one of the horses like Kathleen does Toby. When it came to me I would reward it with a carrot then jump on its back. Sometimes I would use a rope to guide it but most of the time I just gave him a picture of where I wanted to go, or run, or jump."

"Did anyone ever catch you?" Connor asked. "Yes, one night the owner caught me riding one of his horses. He told me at first he was thinking of throwing me off of his ranch but then he watched me and saw how the horse would just come up to me and let me jump on their back without even a bridle to guide them. He said he was so impressed he decided to allow me to ride his horses as long as I didn't use just one all of the time because I was running it down too much. So he asked me to use a different one each time I went riding. He gave me a bridle for the horse so they would get used to them but that was all I used." Connor got up and just gave Lou a kiss. "Well let's get going then. They have horses at the stables that we can rent. Tom, do you know how to ride?" Connor asked. "No, that isn't for me. When Lou would go horseback riding I would usually change to a wolf and run with her."

"Okay we'll meet here in 20 minutes then." Angel said. As they were heading out the door though they were stopped by three little people.

"Where are you going?" Kathleen asked. "We're going to go horseback riding do you want to go?" Angel asked. "Yes, yes, yes." They all answered as they were jumping up and down. "Go and get a jacket and we'll wait for you." Cordelia told the three children.

Mrs. Sanchez came around the corner and said "Now you know why parents learn to discuss such things when the children aren't around." She was laughing as she went into the kitchen. Angel saw Joaquin just coming in from the gym with a mop.

"Joaquin we're going horseback riding and taking Kathleen and Joyce is it okay to take Junior with us?" "Yes that will be okay. He knows how to ride." "Okay then would you tell Connie that we will be going out for lunch." All three of the children came running out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. Junior came over to his father.

"Papa is it okay if I go with everyone to go horseback riding?" "It's okay Junior, Mr. Martin already asked me. I want you to be a good boy and mind Mr. and Mrs. Martin alright?" "Yes Papa. Bye Mama." Connie barely had the time to yell Good Bye before her son went running out of the door.

Cordelia called the stables and asked them to saddle up their horses along with an extra one. She let him know that Lou was an experienced rider.

When they arrived at the stables it was already 11 o'clock and Angel had been out in the sun light for an hour. "Okay everyone I only have another 2 hours before I have to be back. I'll take Kathleen with me, Connor take Junior and Lou can take Joyce." "I want to go with Aunt Cordy." Joyce cried. "Well you can't because we found out that Aunt Bee likes to lie down in the water if she feels it touch her tummy. Aunt Cordy will be okay but you might get hurt and if that should happen your Daddy would hurt me. You don't want that to happen do you?" "No I guess not." Angel picked Joyce up and started tickling her. "What do you mean you guess, you little rug rat." By the time he gave her to Lou she was glad to be up on the horse with her. Angel gave Kathleen to Cordy then mounted Santana and reached for his daughter.

They quickly made their way down the street and to the open field leading to the river bed. Since it had rained recently the river was a little high so Cordelia had to keep encouraging Aunt Bee to keep moving or else she knew she was going to lie down in the water. It was just too inviting to her and Cordelia could feel her starting to lie down. "Angel she's going to lie down." Within the next few seconds Aunt Bee gathered her legs together and practically jumped out of the water. Toby followed right behind her.

"Did you tell Toby to do something?" Cordelia asked Angel. "No, did you Connor?" "I saw him coming right behind her and I told him to nip at her rump. I think she got the message." "Once she gets it in her head to lie down in the water that's all she can think about." Cordelia said.

For the next two hours they had fun playing follow the leader. Cordelia took the lead and went through all of the fields. At one point Junior told Connor "Let's go fast Connor so we can beat Kathleen and Joyce." "Okay hold on. I'll see you back at the stables slowpokes." Connor yelled then gave a kick to Opie's ribs then quickly left the others behind. "Go Daddy, go. We can't let them win." Toby was running after Connor and Angel gave a swift kick to Santana and he lurched forward. Santana had a competitive nature and he ran as fast as he could to catch up. Since Lou had a rental horse she wasn't sure as to what it could do so she took it easy going back. Cordelia went with her to keep her company.

"Thanks for keeping me company. I didn't know what my horse could do and I know that there is a fence in the back of the stable that they have to jump in order to get to the front." "Well I thought I would keep my future daughter in-law company." Lou smiled when she said that. "It's hard to believe that I'll be Mrs. Connor Martin pretty soon. At times like this I miss having a mother to grow up with. My Dad did his best but it's just not the same." Lou said as they walked their horses back.

"I know what you mean. Although my mother and father are still alive they never showed any interest in me. They were always off having fun and even when they did take me along on their trips during the summer I was always left with a Nanny. I can't begin to tell you how happy I was to have Dr. Martin here when I was pregnant with Kathleen." Cordelia reached over and put her hand on Lou. "Don't worry Lou because when you have your first baby both Grandma and I will be here for you." "Come on Lou let's go faster so we can see if Kathleen won or Junior won." Lou gave a light kick to her horse's sides and they started going faster. When they finally made it to the stables they saw Angel and Connor unsaddling their horses and wiping them down. Both Kathleen and Junior were helping by wiping their legs down.

"What took you two so long?" Connor asked with a smile. "I didn't know what my horse could do so I decided to go by way of the street because I knew you had to jump the fence in the back." Connor came and took Joyce from her while Lou got down. "Here you better hold onto Joyce. She's too little to be left to walk around all of these big horses." Lou took her from Connor and went to sit on a bench that was by a tree.

On the way back they stopped at a McDonalds and Kathleen was talking non stop about her ride with her Daddy and how they had caught up to Opie and Connor. By the time they got back home and put the kids down for their nap Angel and Cordelia were worn out while Lou and Connor had gone out again to do some Christmas shopping after taking a shower.

The rest of the two weeks before Christmas went pretty much the same way. Kathleen and Junior seemed to be fighting more than usual until Dr. Martin was watching them one day and was able to figure out what the problem was. After supper one evening after the kids had gone upstairs Dr. Martin told them what she thought the problem was.

"Now that the kids are gone I can tell you what I think the problem is between Kathleen and Junior. Connie and Joaquin, can you come in here for a second please?" The Sanchez's came over to the Dinning room. "I'm sure you're aware that Kathleen and Junior have been arguing a lot lately?" "Yes." They both answered.

"Well Lucinda and I put our heads together and we figured out what the problem is. If you recall Kathleen and Junior started to argue a lot when Joyce came here. It looks like Junior is jealous of the time that Kathleen gives to Joyce. We have a bit of a problem here now. It's not healthy for the kids not to have any interaction with other children of their own sex. They don't develop their social skills when they have what amounts to nothing but siblings to talk to and it's particularly hard on Junior because he has nothing but girls to play with. Junior needs to be able to play with other boys his age. Now even though we have four other boys in the house they are way too small for Junior to play with. Kathleen has Joyce to play with once in awhile and all of the women in the hotel.

"Gunn do you have any small children in your group, you know children Juniors age?" "We recently had two boys join us that have smaller brothers and sisters. I know for sure that one of them is Juniors age and another one is about a year older I think. One is African-American and the other is Chinese I think." "What about the girls, do you know how old they are?" Dr. Martin asked as she fixed another cup of coffee for herself.

"To tell you the truth I haven't paid too much attention to the girls. Cylinda I saw you talking to them last week do you know how old they are?" "One of the girls is a year older then Kathleen and she and her brother are twins. The other girl I think said that she is four and a half years old. She is the African-American girl and her name is Suzy. I'm not positive Dr. Martin but I think that she is developmentally retarded. If she could spend time with Kathleen I think it would help both Suzy and Kathleen. Because Kathleen acts like a child that is much older she would be a good influence on Suzy who can barely speak. Suzy would be forced to speak more clearly and leave her baby talk behind her. Her brother has told me that the foster parents they were with didn't bother to make her say her words clearly what they did instead is guess at what she wanted and talk to her as though she was a baby and they kept her in diapers all of the time they were with them. He knows that she isn't stupid because he has seen her figure out how to do things on her own. It was for these reasons that her brother took her and left a note saying that they were going to go and live with their older brother."

"Aren't they looking for the children?" Fred asked. "Fred, children are often taken in by families and never reported missing so that they can continue to collect money from the government." "How is having her here going to help Kathleen?" Angel asked.

"Angel our daughter has very strong maternal instincts. Having someone like Suzy around would give her an outlet for those maternal instincts and also having a child older then her will give her someone that she can communicate with on a more equal level. I tell you when our daughter gets herself a man she is going to start having babies like a regular bunny." Cordelia said. They all started laughing at the way she put it.

"So Wesley it's kind of up to you and Fred as to whether we should have these children spend most of their time here. You would be taking on three more children to teach. In the evening they can go home with their brothers." Dr. Martin said.

Gunn looked at Cylinda and she nodded at him.

"Dr. Martin Cylinda and I are starting up a Home for teenage boys and girls that have younger sisters and brothers. The teenagers will be allowed to live at the home with their siblings as long as they stay in school and stay out of trouble. We're working with a welfare worker to start this place up. Remember the woman that you got to nurse Mike and Nicky while we were gone?" "Yes as I recall you were the one that told me about her." "Well she is the one that will take care of the little kids and more or less make a home for them in exchange for a salary that will be paid by the government. It will be a way that kids can stay with their brothers and sisters instead of the only family that they know being torn apart. Mrs. Benton lost her husband less then six months ago in an accident. I think that she must have been very much like Kathleen when she was little because she loves children and has taken in several of my kids. When her husband died though she couldn't afford to have the children live with her anymore and she came to my attention because of her problem."

"So what do the rest of you think?" Dr. Martin asked everyone, including Connie and Joaquin.

"I have no problem with the arrangement so it's mostly up to Wesley and Fred." Angel said. Wesley and Fred were quiet for awhile.

"Well Fred it really comes down to you since you do most of the teaching now. I really only work with Tom now and I am going to be tied up with Giles after Connor and Lou's wedding. Giles has asked me to help him with the reorganization of the Watchers Council so we will be going to England for two to three weeks." Wesley said.

"Sure I don't think their will be a problem. What are a few more kids anyway? I can always call on some others to help me if I need it." Fred said. She knew if she said no that she would be the bad guy. Besides it will give her boys someone else to play with.

"Okay then I guess that's that then our little problem is solved."

"This place is going to be noisy and busy from now on." Connor said.

"Well ladies Lou and I need help in addressing and stuffing envelopes with wedding announcements. I need your list of guests that you want to invite Connor." Cordelia announced.

"Why so early? The wedding isn't until the end of January right?" Connor asked. "Yes but we need to give people time to return their acceptance envelopes so that we can give a total number of people that will be attending to the caterer and the baker that will be making the wedding cake. Then we have to decide whether to have the reception here or at a hall. I am pretty sure though that we will have the reception here because of some of our friends looking kind of unhuman like. Then last but not least you have to decide where you want to spend your honeymoon." Cordelia looked at Lou and raised her eyebrows a couple of times.

Angel saw her and gave a warning "Cordelia." She put her head down and rubbed her behind and said "Yes dear." "What's wrong Cordelia?" Dr. Martin asked even though she knew the answer.

Cordelia looked at Dr. Martin and said "You know why." "I do but I was told to keep my nose out of my sons business or I would get some of the same medicine."

Lou didn't understand what they were talking about. "What happened Cordelia?"

"Your future Father in-law told me to stop giving you advice as to how to get Connor to cave in and when I didn't do as he said he gave me a spanking. He hit me five times because that's what Connor asked him to keep it down to. And you know Angel's hands are pretty big. When I went into the bathroom and looked at my behind in the mirror I could actually see his hand print on my behind. So I am giving you fair warning that if Connor tells you not to do something you better not do it because he is most likely going to give you a spanking also. If it wasn't for the fact that Angel sacrificed himself and had a vasectomy he would have still been in dry dock."

Lou looked at Angel in surprise. "Did you really do that?" Lou asked Angel.

Angel just looked at her and made a gesture that showed he was spanking Cordelia. "Whop, whop, whop, whop, whop. I didn't think you were actually going to do it after that little show I put on." Angel imitated Cordelia's voice.

Cordelia was smiling at him which encouraged him to continue when Connor asked what kind of show she put on. "She stood in front of me and disrobed and let her hair down. You know that sexy thing that women do with their hair." Angel made like he was letting his hair down then fluffing it up. "Then she stretched herself across my knees and I tell you men this women almost had me to the point of exploding just looking at her. She stretched herself out across my knees and said 'Okay Angel I'm ready for my punishment.' Now I knew exactly what she was doing so I played along with it for a minute and rubbed my left hand over her behind then up her back and through her hair, just to throw her off track and let her think she had accomplished her goal, then with my right hand I gave her 5 good whacks. When I helped her up she stood in front of me, rubbing her behind and said 'I didn't think you would actually do it'." "And you know Mom I can't even complain to Kathleen and have her turn him into a toad because she would probably just say "Daddy must have had a good reason to spank you. Daddy wouldn't have done it unless you were a bad girl. You just wait Angel Martin when our boys grow up they'll stick up for their Mommy all of the time."

"You wouldn't ever do that to me would you Connor?" Lou asked him. "I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me." Connor almost couldn't get it out he started laughing so hard.

Dr. Martin got up then and started helping to clear the table so they could help Cordelia and Lou address and stuff envelopes. "If you men don't want to help I suggest you make yourself scarce for a few hours." Most of the men cleared out. When Angel got up to leave also Cordelia grabbed onto his shoulder and pushed him back down.

"You're not going anyplace Angel and you either Connor. Angel you have beautiful handwriting and Connor you do to so you two are going to be addressing these envelopes." Cordelia gave them each pens, a list of names and addresses. "Lou, you and I will help write addresses and names also." Dr. Martin had gone in to the kitchen to get a Cherry Cola and was just sitting down when Cordelia was handing out the assignments.

"Do you want me to address envelopes also?" Cordelia, Fred, Hunter and Lou all said at the same time "NO!" They surprised themselves and all started laughing at the same time. "Sorry Dr. Martin but your just like all other Doctors. It's a miracle that we can decipher your writing. You can stuff envelopes and close them so you better get yourself a sponge and a dish of water."

"Yes Mam." Dr. Martin did as instructed and dutifully sat down and waited for them to start giving her envelopes.

After about 30 minutes Angel and Connor were starting to groan and moan. "How many of these do we have to do?" Angel asked. "Three hundred and thirty five." Cordelia answered. Angel just looked at her but didn't dare say anything when he saw the look on her face that told him 'shut up and continue writing'.

When they were almost done two people came in through the front doors of the hotel. When Cordelia looked up she reached for Angels hand without looking at him and pulled him with her as she stood and walked over to the couple.

Everyone else was watching them as they walked over to the couple. Without any clue as to who these people were they saw Cordelia stop in front of the couple.

"Angel I would like to introduce you to my Mother and Father. Momma and Daddy this is my husband Angel Martin." Angel stepped forward and offered his hand to Mr. and Mrs. Chase. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Chase. I'm happy to finally meet you." Angel noticed that Cordelia wasn't making a move to greet her parents with any kind of warmth.

Angel turned to Dr. Martin and motioned for her to come over. When she stood beside him he introduced her. "Mr. and Mrs. Chase I would like to introduce you to my Mother Dr. Mary Martin." This, of course, brought out a reaction from Mrs. Chase.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Chase reached out and shook her hand with genuine smiles. They then turned back to their daughter. "Aren't you going to give us a kiss and hug Cordelia?" her mother asked. She held her arm's out to her daughter then and took her into her arms. Cordelia responded stiffly. Her father hugged her also but she responded to him a little more warmly. When she separated from him she said "Come and sit over here at our dinning room table. We were just addressing invitations for Connor and Lou's wedding next month. Connor is Angel's son from a previous marriage and Lou is his fiancée. Angel and I are Lou's guardians. Lou and her brother joined us recently when their father died in a hunting accident." Connor and Lou each stood and shook their hands. She introduced Hunter then. Hunter was starting to show her pregnancy now and had a maternity blouse on. She stood up when Cordelia turned to her. "This is

Dr. Michaela Hunter-Thompson. Her husband is a doctor also and they stay with us occasionally." Since she was on the other side of the table they just nodded their greeting to her.

"When is your baby due Dr. Thompson?" Mrs. Chase asked politely. "We believe in June although it may be the end of May." "Let me take your coats Mr. and Mrs. Chase and please have a seat over here. Angel why don't you and Cordelia move down here and I'll ask Connie to bring in some coffee." Dr. Martin told them as she took their coats. When she returned from the kitchen she sat down in her usual place while Angel and Cordelia were on her right and Mr. and Mrs. Chase were on her left.

"So what do we owe this visit to?" Cordelia asked her parents. "Why? Can't we just come and visit our daughter and her family?" "You didn't respond to my invitation to you to my wedding. You didn't respond to my announcement of our children's birth so why would I expect you to come here now out of the goodness of your heart?" Cordelia kept a smile on her face at all times. Dr. Martin and Angel felt that these were legitimate questions so they didn't say anything.

"Well dear you know how much we travel and we didn't receive those invitations or announcements until well after they were done. Your father took some time away from his work for Christmas so we just thought we would come and visit with you for two weeks." "I see what are you doing now day's father?" "I'm still in the export import business and it keeps me pretty busy traveling around the world. Buffy tells me that you run a private investigation business Angel." "Yes I own Angel Investigation and along with several other people we run it together. They are more of my co-workers rather than my employees. We also all live here at the Hyperion and it's the reason why I chose this old Hotel. We recently had it renovated when we were expecting Kathleen, our daughter."

"Why didn't you ever call me Momma? Why didn't you at least come and see your granddaughter when you finally returned home and saw my announcement. You may have had to go somewhere else right away but that wouldn't have stopped you from calling. It's been 8 years since I left Sunnydale Momma why didn't you ever try to contact me?" Everyone was quiet and waiting for a response from Mrs. Chase.

"I have no excuse Cordelia, we've just been too wrapped up in ourselves and we've always been like that and you've always known it."

"Yes Momma but it doesn't make it right. I'm going to allow you to stay here for exactly two weeks. I am sure that you will be bored by then and want to go on your next trip." "Thank you Cordelia." Mr. Chase said.

"I think we have a room that you could use. Do you think it would be okay if I give them 412 Mom?" "Yes I don't think that we'll be using it for the next 2 weeks." Dr. Martin saw the look on Mrs. Chase face when Cordelia addressed her as Mom.

"Would you like to go upstairs for awhile to settle in?" Angel asked as he got up. "Yes that would be nice we have some luggage out in our car." When Angel, Connor and Mr. Chase left Cordelia got up also and started for the elevator. "Come with me Momma and I'll show you to your room and where everything is." Mrs. Chase followed her daughter to the elevator without saying anything. Cordelia noticed how her Mothers eyes where taking in the interior of the Hyperion. She didn't say anything more to her Mother as she showed her the way to her room.

As they arrived at the door Cordelia said "Here we are this will be your room while you're here. Dr. Martin usually uses this room as her psychiatric office. I usually keep the refrigerator stocked with different types of cola. You will find coffee and tea in the cabinets. I can bring some food up that you can use to make sandwiches with if you want. We have a family that works with us they take care of the cleaning of all of the first floor, the hallways and all maintenance. Connie Sanchez does all of the cooking for us. Each person takes care of their own rooms, their own laundry and so forth. While you're here I'll take care of everything for you, please don't bother Connie with a lot of demands. Besides taking care of all of the cooking and cleaning on the first floor she has a husband and son. Along with her Mother in-law they all live on the 3rd floor."

Mrs. Chase put her things down on the bed and waited for her husband and Angel to bring in the suit cases. "Would you like something to drink Mom? As I recall you like A&W Root Beer." "Cordelia would you sit down for a minute please?" Cordelia pulled out a Diet Pepsi for herself and a Root Beer for her mother then sat down across from her.

"Cordelia your father and I are aware of what Angel is. We remembered you talking about him when you were in High School. We came here to find out if he turned you into the same thing that he is." Cordelia just sat and looked at her. Angel and her father came in just then and they were loaded down with suit cases.

"I see where you get your packing skills from now Cordelia." They put everything down by the bed or on it. There must have been six suitcases in all.

"Angel and Daddy would you come and sit down for a second please?" Angel and Mr. Chase came and sat at the kitchen table.

"Angel I just found out why my parents are here. They think that the reason I married you is because you turned me into a Vampire also." Angel sat back in his chair. He looked at Mr. Chase and not at Mrs. Chase. Angel reached for Cordelia's hand and Mr. Chase's hand. He put Cordelia's hand in her fathers. "You've felt how cold my hand is Mr. Chase does your daughter's hand feel cold like mine? It feels warm and full of life doesn't it Mr. Chase. Cordelia and I have known each other for a long time and she accepted my marriage proposal knowing full well what I am. Down stairs on the 3rd floor and the second floor in our bedroom you will find the products of our love. They are all fully human and their souls firmly attached. They are sweet innocent children that love their Mommy and Daddy just as much as we love them."

"Why are you so concerned about me now Daddy? You never cared that much before. You never even called me at the hospital when I fell on a metal bar and it went right through my side. I am going to ask you one last time, why are you here?"

Cordelia's parents couldn't look at their daughter.

"I'm in trouble with the IRS again and I don't have the money or the property to pay them this time. We are here to see if I can borrow the money from you to pay them off. We've seen the mansion that Angel owns and this old Hotel, it takes a lot of money to keep these places up. We've seen all of the improvements to the grounds at the mansion and now that we see this Hotel and all of the remodeling that has been done we know that you have the money that we need."

"How much do you need Mr. Chase?" Angel asked.

"One hundred thousand dollars and I need it by the end of this year or I go to jail for tax evasion." They were all quiet for a while.

"What's the matter Daddy didn't you learn anything from the first time?" "Apparently not baby." "I'm going to let Angel handle this Daddy. Angel it won't bother me one bit if you decide not to give it to him. I think I better warn you though if you give him the money he needs he'll come back for more over and over again." Cordelia got up then and left to go and check on the boys.

"I am going to give you the money Mr. Chase under one condition." Mr. and Mrs. Chase both gave out a big sigh of relief.

"Thank you Angel, thank you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this." "You may not be so thankful once I tell you the condition Mr. Chase." "I'll do anything you want Angel." Mr. Chase had been sweating before Angel had told him he would bail him out with the IRS. He wiped his face with his handkerchief.

"What is the condition Angel?" "From now on Mr. Chase my colleague and one of my lawyers will take care of all of your financial dealings. From now on when you want to purchase anything that costs over $1,000 dollars it must go through my colleague Mr. Price. For now you will stay here for the two weeks that you promised and you will respond with nothing but love for your daughter and our children. I am going to tell Wesley what is going on and you are to tell him everything that he wants to know. From now on Mr. and Mrs. Chase you will stay at home for at least six months out of the year so that on those occasions that we are in Sunnydale you can come and visit your daughter and grandchildren or we can visit you. I don't want you to complain to her or even mention what is being done. If I chose to I will let her know."

Angel went to the phone and called Wesley in his room and asked him to come up to room 412. When Angel opened the door he took Wesley out into the hallway and explained what was going on and what he wanted him to do. Wesley just patted Angels hand and told him "I'll take care of it Angel and between Jackson and I well keep your in-laws in line." Wesley laughed as he turned around. "What's so funny?" Angel asked. "Did you ever, in all of your almost 300 years of life, ever think that someone would say that to you?" "Never ever." Angel said as he walked away laughing.

Wesley went into the Chase's room and took down all of the information that he would need to clear up their problem.

Cordelia was in their bedroom and feeding the boys when Angel entered their suite of rooms. He went and sat down next to her on the couch and picked up Nicky. They were getting bigger and bigger every day. They each had their own high chairs at the table now and were in fact using the high chairs that the price boys used to use. Kathleen spent a lot of her time with her brothers. Cordelia would often take them upstairs to the children's room where both Joyce and Kathleen would mother them. The boys were more ruff then the girls were so Toby usually stayed out of their reach. Connor and the rest found out about this one night when they were out in the back play area and they heard a loud yelp come from Toby. Kathleen went running to Toby, as did Connor, and checked him to see if he was alright. They looked into Toby's mind to see what happened and he gave them a picture of Nicky pulling on his ear and biting it. Both Connor and Kathleen babied him for awhile but Toby made sure that he stayed out of reach of Nicky for a long time after that. Mike was a lot gentler with Toby and he didn't mind Mike playing with him.

"Did you give my father what he wanted?" "Yes but I put rules on him that he would have to follow. Wesley and one of my lawyers, Jack, will take care of him. You may find your father calling here once in a while because of the rule I gave him to follow." "Are they still going to stay for 2 weeks like they said or are they going home now that they have what they came for?" "They're going to stay two weeks so they can get to know you again. I warned them though that they may get mowed over if they stayed in one spot too long here. Especially on Christmas day. By the way did you rent a couple more tables yet for Christmas, don't forget that Mom told Gunn to bring all of his kids over for Christmas dinner."

"Oh my goodness Angel I completely forgot." By the look she was giving him he knew she was pulling his leg. He just laughed at her.

"Is there anything else you want me to do today my beloved?" After Cordelia put the boys down for their nap she came back over to her husband and sat across his legs.

Cordelia started to play with his shirt. "You know we haven't had any special Cordelia and Angel time for awhile and to tell you the truth I am getting rather ravenous." "And what are you hungry for?" "Well I thought tonight would be a perfect time for us to have a little role playing." "And which game would you like to play tonight?" Cordelia reached over to the CD player and pushed the play button. After a few minutes the song "Hey their little Red Riding Hood" started playing. You promised me that we could play it once in a while and we haven't played that game at all yet."

Angel picked her up and put her on the floor. "Well since you want to keep me up late tonight I better take a nap." Angel got up from the couch and took his shoes, pants and shirt off and lay down to take his usual nap in the afternoon. Cordelia did the same and crawled in under the quilt with him. They spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping along with their sons.

By 5 in the evening both Cordelia and Angel were up with the boys. Nicky was demanding attention and since his brother was raising a ruckus Mike apparently thought he would voice his opinion of the situation also.

"What is the problem my dear boys?" "I think they're hungry. Apparently your milk isn't enough for them anymore." "Well let's take them downstairs and see what Connie is cooking."

When they arrived at the dinning room they found both Mr. and Mrs. Chase talking with Dr. Martin and Giles.

"We have been having a nice little talk while all of the younger people in the hotel have been taking a nap. Lou wanted me to tell you that they finished addressing all of the invitations and her and Connor took them to the Post Office." "Okay Mom, thanks. Did they say they would be back in time for supper?" "Yes they said they would be back in time."

"She calls you Mom?" Mrs. Chase asked. "Mrs. Chase I can't keep calling you Mr. and Mrs. Chase, if you don't mind telling me, what is your first name?" "My first name is Lillian and my husband's is Joseph." "What do you prefer Mr. Chase, Joseph or Joe?" "My friends call me Joe." "To get back to your question yes Cordelia has called me that ever since Angel and I had a mutual adoption. Angel and I are distant cousins only." Dr. Martin proceeded to tell the Chase's all about Angel and her relationship. By the time she was done Cordelia had made some food for her boys and brought out two little dishes. Angel already had them in their highchairs and two towels on the table.

"Okay Nicky lets try eating solid food." Nicky closed his mouth down tight and turned away. Angel showed him how good it was by eating some. When he saw his Daddy eating what was on the spoon Nicky thought he would try it. Once he got a taste he opened his mouth as wide as he could. After that Angel couldn't shovel it in fast enough. Cordelia didn't have any problem at all with Mike. By the time they were done feeding Mike and Nicky everyone was coming in for supper. Connor and Lou had come in just a few minutes before when they helped Joaquin bring in the children's new larger table.

Everyone was looking at the new table. Kathleen and Joyce were jumping up and down and clapping. "It looks just like the big table doesn't it Daddy?" "It sure does and it's so shiny. Whoever you paid to do it did a good job. Did you tell them to send me the bill?" "No Mr. Martin. This table is a gift to all of the children from my wife, mother and I." "Well on behalf of all of us I want to thank you." Angel shook Joaquin's hand and all of the children thanked him as well. Kathleen wouldn't let any of the other children sit down until she put one of the old table cloths on the table. They each had their own chairs that looked just like the big ones also.

"Kathleen, before we start supper I want to introduce you to a couple of people." Cordelia took her daughters hand and went over to the other end of the table where her parents were.

"Kathleen this is my Mother, Grandma Lillian and this man is my Father, Grandpa Joseph. They are here for a visit during the Christmas holidays." Kathleen put her hand out and said "Hello. Where have you been I don't think I've ever met you before?" "We've been traveling around the world. Your Grandpa Joseph has a business that requires him to travel frequently." "Oh." Kathleen said. Then she turned to her new Grandfather and shook his hand. "Hello Grandpa Joseph. Can I go now Mommy?" "Yes sweetheart." Kathleen ran back to her table and sat down next to Junior who had taken the end chair.

"That was Kathleen our oldest and the two boys in the highchairs are our two youngest. The young boy at the end of the table is Joaquin Sanchez Junior and the little girl is Joyce Summers, Buffy and Spikes daughter. The two twin boys are Wesley and Fred's sons. This is Dr. Mike Thompson, Dr. Hunters husband. As you can see we are overflowing with doctors."

Cordelia and Fred helped Mrs. Sanchez to bring the food in and put them on the side bar so everyone could serve themselves. As usual the children were served first and Connor prepared a dish for Toby. When everyone had their plates full they all sat down but no one started to eat. Mr. and Mrs. Chase started to eat but stopped when Dr. Martin told them to wait a moment until a thanksgiving prayer was given. Kathleen tapped her glass with her fork like her Daddy had shown her. When everyone was quiet she proceeded with the prayer by starting with the Sign of the Cross. "Thank you Jesus for this delicious meal that Grandma Lucinda has prepared for us and we want to thank Mr. and Mrs. Sanchez and Grandma Lucinda for our beautiful new table. Thank you for my new Grandpa and Grandma for coming to visit us. Amen." Everyone echoed her Amen then started eating. Dr. Martin had noticed how surprised the Chase's were that Toby sat at the table with the children. When the prayer started she told them to look at Toby. As usual when Kathleen started the prayer Toby had put his two front paws on the table and lowered his head between them.

"Who taught him that?" Joe asked when the prayer was over. "Kathleen said that no one taught him he just started doing it one day when they were having lunch in their room." Dr. Martin said. "I tested him Grandma to see what told him to do it. I tried just giving thanks without making the Sign of The Cross and he didn't do anything. The next time I tried it with the Sign of The Cross and he did like you saw him." Connor said.

"What an amazing dog." Joe said.

Half way through the meal Cordelia dropped her fork and put her hands to her head. Angel reached for a tablet and pen that they kept near by. Connor, Lou and Tom stood up along with Gunn. "What's wrong Cordelia?" Lillian asked her daughter. "It's alright she is having a Vision from the PTB." Dr. Martin said. The Vision was over and Cordelia reached for the tablet and pen. She wrote down something and gave it to Angel.

"What did you see?" Angel asked. "At the address I gave you there are 4 or 5 young Vampires partying with some young girls. They intend to rape them then kill them." "Are you okay now?" Angel asked. "Yes, go, go before they kill them." Cordelia said while holding her head. When Angel, Connor, Lou, Tom and Gunn left Cordelia got up from her chair. "I'm going to lie down on the couch in Angels office for a few minutes Mom. I just need some quiet for a few minutes." "Okay Cordelia."

As she went into Angel's office and closed the door Lillian turned to Dr. Martin. "Are the visions always that bad?" "Yes but they used to be a lot worse. In fact Cordelia almost died from them. St. Michael has made them correct that though." Wesley told them. Lillian and Joe looked at each other. "I think that there is a lot that we have to learn about our daughter's life now." Lillian said.

Cordelia opened the door of Angel's office and called for Dr. Martin. When she arrived and took a seat Cordelia said "Mom, Angel is broadcasting his physical feelings to everyone that he has any kind of link with. He is feeling the physical pain that is being inflicted on him more. Angelus doesn't seem to be helping him very much. I think it's time to talk to Angelus again and find out why he isn't giving Angel what he needs to fight." While Cordelia was talking to Dr. Martin she would wince at some painful blow that Angel was feeling. At the end of the fight Angel must have been struck several times in the stomach because Cordelia grabbed for the trash can and vomited her supper.

When she was able to Cordelia asked Dr. Martin to check on Kathleen to see how she was doing. Dr. Martin went upstairs to check on Kathleen. All of the children were upstairs playing in her room but Kathleen wasn't in the room with them. "Junior, where is Kathleen?" "She's in the bathroom Grandma, I think she's sick." She went to the bathroom door and knocked on the door. "Kathleen, its Grandma are you okay?" "Come in Grandma." Dr. Martin opened the door and closed it right away so that none of the other children could come in. Kathleen was trying to clean the bathroom floor where she had gotten sick. "I got real sick all of a sudden Grandma and I couldn't get the safety lock off of the toilet seat fast enough and all of my supper just came up." Kathleen was crying while cleaning up the mess she had made. "Don't cry Kathleen I know you tried." Her Grandma helped her clean everything then told her to wash her face and rinse her mouth out.

"When you're done Kathleen come down to your Daddy's office. Your Mommy was sick also and is in there." "Okay Grandma." Dr. Martin took the towels and rug downstairs to the laundry room so they could be washed. When she went into Angel's office she opened the door to find both Cordelia and Kathleen sleeping. Mrs. Sanchez had already cleared the table and had Nicky and Mike with her. Everyone else had returned to there rooms while Wesley was in his office working on Mr. Chase's problem with the IRS.

Hunter and Mike had gone out for awhile. Mike didn't have to worry about being paged anymore for a baby that was making its first appearance so he felt like doing more with Hunter which included looking at baby furniture. Fred had offered the furniture she had for the boys but Hunter had said that she had waited for 4,000 years for the opportunity to do this and she wanted to enjoy every moment.

After sleeping for an hour Cordelia woke up and was feeling better. Kathleen woke up when her mother did. "I'm hungry Mommy." "Me too lets go and see what we can find or would you like to wait until Daddy comes back. I think he'll be hungry also since Mommy had her vision halfway through his supper."

"What are the Visions Mommy?" "Remember ever hearing anyone talk about the PTB?" "I heard Aunt Buffy and Daddy say that a few times." "Well the PTB are a group of Angels that have been assigned the job of helping people that are being hurt by bad Demons or Vampires. When they see someone in trouble then they send Mommy a Vision. A Vision is like a short movie that Mommy sees in her mind that shows me what the PTB see. Then I tell your Daddy or someone else about the vision and that's when you see everyone go running for the weapons cabinet and then to the cars or vans. Then you're Daddy or someone else goes and saves the people from the bad Demons or Vampires. Do you understand everything that I have told you?" "Yes Mommy." "One day, a long time from now, these Visions will be given to you instead of Mommy. But that won't be for a very long time though. Your Daddy will be too old to fight anymore and your brother Connor will take his place as head of Angel Investigations and you will be what they call his Seer." "Then the PTB will send me the Visions and I'll tell Connor where to go and save the people." "Yes that is correct." "Do the Visions hurt?" "A little but it isn't too bad. What happened today is unusual and shouldn't be happening. Do you know who Angelus is?" "Yes Daddy told me about him." "I think that Angelus is being a bad boy and he is getting back at your Daddy for doing something that he didn't like and that's why you and I became sick."

"Why is Angelus being so mean Mommy?" "That's how demons are Baby and Angelus is a very, very, very mean Demon. He is so mean that Daddy's Guardian Angel, St. Michael, had to put him in a cage that is in your Daddy and he told your Grandma what kind of key she had to make that would keep Angelus in that cage. Have you seen the small cross that Daddy wears?" "Uh huh." Kathleen answered. She was listening to every word that her Mother was saying. Somehow she knew that what she was saying was very important and Kathleen had to learn and remember everything her Mother was telling her. "That Cross that your Daddy wears is the key that your Grandma made and it was designed by St. Michael. Next time you see your Daddy ask him if you can look into the little glass that is in the center of the cross."

"Your Daddy said he will be home in about 15 minutes and he said he's hungry and would like a sandwich after he takes a shower. So let's get up." "Mommy how come Daddy never talks to me in my head anymore like he used to?" "Remember when Daddy went to Connor's school and had pictures taken of his head?" "Yes and I remember Daddy had a big headache after." "Yes that's correct. Well that is when we found out that your Daddy's head would hurt more when he talked to you. So you're Grandma and Aunt Hunter told him that he had to stop talking to you in your head or he was going to get very sick. Your Daddy cried and he said 'But I like talking to my Princess like that and I'm going to miss her if I have to stop'. But Grandma said he had to stop and she put down her foot and said 'Break the link now Angel'. Your Daddy didn't want to but he is a good son and he did what his Momma told him to do just like you do when we tell you to do something." "Well I guess if Grandma told him then it was for a good reason. I have more questions Mommy but I'll save them for tomorrow because I am getting sleepy. Give Daddy a kiss goodnight for me okay?" "Okay but don't you want to give it to me first then?" Kathleen came over and gave her Mother a kiss twice. "One is for you Mommy and the other one is for Daddy. Goodnight." "Goodnight Kathleen."

Cordelia made a roast beef sandwich for Angel and went upstairs. Connie was in her room and just putting the boys to bed. "Thanks Connie I didn't mean to leave them with you for so long. I was explaining my Visions to Kathleen and we talked about Angelus for awhile. I thought that since she was being affected by my vision and what her Daddy was feeling now would be a good time to explain them to her. Since she is going to be her brothers Seer she has to start learning about these things sooner or later." "Don't worry about it Mrs. Martin you'll do just fine. Goodnight." "Goodnight Connie and thank you."

Cordelia took a shower and crawled into bed just as Angel came in. As usual he went directly to the bathroom and took a shower. When he came out he found Cordelia sitting at the kitchen table and waiting with a sandwich and a cup of soup along with a warm mug of blood. He hadn't bothered to put anything on since they were alone with the boys in there crib.

"Did I ever tell you that you were my most favorite girl of all time?" "No you never gave me that line before." "Well you are my most favorite wife of all time and I say that because I've often heard men talk about their wives and it wasn't always in glowing terms but most of the time it was in glowing terms. But you are the best." Angel gave Cordelia a kiss then started in on his sandwich and soup while Cordelia had a bowl of soup.

Cordelia didn't say anything about what her and Kathleen went through that night since Angel seemed to be feeling so good. She looked at him carefully as he ate his Supper. She could see bruises and cuts all over him but they seemed to be healing.

"You must have had a very busy night. I can see a lot of cuts and bruises on you that are just now healing." "Yeah Angelus didn't start helping me until we were halfway through the fight. You saw only four Vampires; there was five more at the end of the street. We took care of them without too much problem. I guess Angelus wanted to get back at me for the little trick Mom pulled on him so he let me get beaten up by three of them before he started to help me. As you can see though he is still busy healing me."

"I think I'll go and sit down on the couch for a while and watch television." When Angel was done he cleaned up after himself along with the dishes then joined Cordelia on the couch. After an hour of watching television Cordelia heard him snoring. "Angel wake up and let's go to bed." After turning everything off she shook him again since he had gone back to sleep. "Angel Liam Martin if I didn't know better I would think that you were getting old. Let's go to bed old man." Angel got up and let her guide him to the bed. After a few hours of sleep he was feeling so good that he started making advances on his wife. They spent the next hour making love. Cordelia was tired though and didn't respond as usual. They usually made love for two hours or more but Angel sensed her fatigue and let it go and just rolled over and went to sleep instead.

The next morning Cordelia was nursing the boys when Angel woke up. When she was done she turned the boys over to Angel and went to take a shower. The boys were starting to crawl around more and more and had to be watched constantly to make sure they didn't get into trouble. Angel put them into their walkers while he got dressed. He heard everyone else getting up. "I'm going to take the boys downstairs Cordelia." "Okay, I'll be down in just a few minutes."

Angel took the boys out into the hallway and put each one down on the floor and a shoe while they hung onto his leg. This was how he walked to the elevator and then to the dining room where he put the boys in their highchairs. The boys had started to talk and were talking to their Daddy almost non stop. Of course Angel acted as though he could understand everything they said. The other children came downstairs along with Grandma and Grandpa Giles. Wesley and Fred came down next with their sons who were now walking and talking a mile a minute. Cordelia came down along with her parents. Everyone was down at the dining room table now so Connie and her husband started to bring in the food. As usual Angel, Cordelia, Fred and Wesley served their children first and Connor made a plate for Toby. Then all of the adults got up to serve themselves.

Lillian was the first one to say something after they had all had a chance to eat most of their breakfast. "You certainly have a large group here Cordelia. Do you usually have this many people?" "Wait until the Scooby's come we'll have to bring out the old table while they're here for Christmas. We also have so many people going to church that we have to let Father Barris know how many people we have coming to midnight mass so he can rope off several pews for us. Do you think that you'll go with us?" "I don't know Baby we haven't gone to church in so long the church my cave in on us when we go in." Joe said. "Daddy I can assure you that if it hasn't caved in from when our resident Vampires go in it won't cave in when you and Momma enter the church."

"You go to church Angel?" Lillian asked. "Yes I do in fact Fr. Barris is my Confessor and a friend of my mothers and of the family. Of course being Irish it's practically a given that I was raised in the Catholic Church so I didn't have to have lessons but Hunter here, and Spike were not and are taking lessons from Fr. Barris to convert to the Catholic faith. Both Wesley and Giles are taking lessons also."

"Do you receive Communion also?" Joe asked. "If you don't mind Angel I'll explain it to them?" Dr. Martin asked. Angel nodded at her and she proceeded to explain to them what had happened when she came to help and why she had come to help him.

"Well I guess since the church has seen all of this happen I believe that it will be okay when we enter so yes you can count us in." Joe said. "Good, I have to call the Morgan's and ask them if they want to join us. Fred do you remember when Tina was supposed to have her baby?" Cordelia asked. "I think she was supposed to deliver last month but I'm not positive. Hunter, do you know if Mike was Tina's doctor?" "I don't remember him talking about her but since Marissa was I would guess that he was." "I'll call them after Supper and find out if their coming also. We are going to be overflowing with people for Christmas because we are going to have Gunn's kids over here also."

"You look to young to have a lot of children Gunn." Lillian said. "Oh their not my children they are just a group of kids that I watch over and they fight Demons and Vampires also along with anyone else that feeds on the poor and old. We also help to feed the poor and homeless. I was told by Dr. Martin that God wanted my kids to come over for Christmas Dinner so that Fred could choose one among them that Angel Investigation will send to collage and Law School."

"Cordelia, how about having it in the Gym? I think that if we move all of the equipment over to the other side of the pool we should be able to fit three tables of this size in there along with the children's table." Wesley said. "That's a good idea, what do you think Fred?" Fred turned to her husband and patted his cheek "I think our little Uncle Wesey has a good idea." Fred laughed as Wesley grabbed her around the neck and gave her a knuckle sandwich. "You said you wouldn't call me that anymore?" To get him to stop she said "I promise, I promise that that's the last time." He let her go then.

Since you have so much energy Wesley and it's your idea why don't you go and measure the gym and tables to see if we can fit four tables in there along with a big enough side board to hold the food. Wesley stood up and gave a crisp solute to Cordelia. "Yes Captain." They all laughed at him. "Get busy soldier and double time it." Wesley started walking faster. "Wise guy." Cordelia said as she helped to start taking the plates into the kitchen. Everyone else followed her lead and they had the table cleared in no time.

"Tell the private that I'll be calling around to try to find two more tables like this one." "Okay, can I do anything?" "Yes well need more place settings and table clothes can you see if we can either lease or buy them?" "Sure." Fred sent the kids upstairs to play and took Mike and Nicky down from their highchairs and put them in there playpen.

"Mary do you think someone could take us to the Mall to go shopping for Christmas?" "Sure Lillian Giles and I can take you. I need to see if we can borrow someone's van though. My BMW is too small to carry four adults comfortably. Why don't you get ready to go and I'll see what I can find.

For the next six days the hotel was a busy place. Cordelia found the tables they needed and the gym was cleared. Cordelia and Connie along with Connor went shopping for all of the Christmas day Turkeys. They had ordered five fifty pound turkeys along with more Turkey legs and five large fresh hams. Angel and Joaquin rented a couple of large barbeques to cook all of the meat in. The barbeques were so big that they had their own trailers. Angel used Gunn's truck to hall the one of the barbeques while Joaquin hauled another trailer full of wood. One of the workers at the rental store hauled the other barbeque trailer to the Hotel.

Cordelia had called Father Barris and told him that they would have a total of 32 people which would take a total of 4 pews. The night before Christmas Eve the Scooby gang came in and the place was even more crowded. As soon as they came in Joyce went running to her Mommy and Daddy. Buffy looked like she was about ready to explode with her twins. If Angel thought she looked big with just one baby he thought she needed a cart to support her stomach now. Cordelia and Angel went to her and Spike.

Cordelia went to Buffy and gave her a hug. "How are you doing Buffy? Would you like to go to your room now and rest for awhile?" "Yes I think that would be wonderful." Spike took her to their bedroom and got her settled in. Joyce was with her and telling her all about her time here at the Hotel and with Kathleen, Junior and the Price boys. Spike went looking for Dr. Thompson and Hunter and found them in the gym helping to set up the tables and the tables for the buffet. "Mike I need to talk to you." Spike yelled when he saw him. "Hi Spike what's up?" "Hi Mike I need for you to come and examine Buffy. Mike I think one of the boys might be dead or is very close to it because I can't hear his heart beat." Spike was almost crying when he said it. "Okay Spike I want you to go and get Buffy and bring her downstairs to the clinic. We are probably going to have to perform a Caesarean tonight." "Spike ran upstairs so fast that no one but Hunter saw him go up. She looked towards the entrance to the Gym and saw Mike coming towards her. "Hunter lets go to the clinic. Where is Mary?" "I think she is in the kitchen fixing some tea." "Get her and come to the clinic."

A few minutes later both Hunter and Dr. Martin came into the clinic. "What's up Mike?" Dr. Martin asked. "Spike just told me that he is afraid that one of the baby's might be dead because he can't hear a heart beat. We are going to have to perform a Caesarean right now because that usually means that the umbilical cord is most likely wrapped around the baby's neck. Spike is bringing Buffy down now."

Spike and Buffy came into the clinic within the next minute. Spike picked her up and put her on the table. "Help her take her clothes off Spike and get her ready for surgery. Have you told her what is happening?" "Yes." "Okay Buffy your going to get to have your baby's the easy way." "Do you think they'll be alright because I haven't felt them move very much today?" Buffy asked. She was scared that she had lost her babies again. "You know Dr. Martin Buffy if she can't find a way to save them then she'll call on St. Michael for help. But we will do our very best to save your babies." "Lay down now Buffy. Do you want to be awake through the whole thing or do you want to wake up after?" "I want to be awake." Spike gave her a kiss then got her ready for the Caesarean.

Hunter went out to the Lobby. Angel and Cordelia went to stand by the clinic when they saw Spike and Buffy coming back down the stairs. "What's going on Hunter?" Angel asked. "I want you to let everyone else know that we are performing an emergency Caesarean on Buffy. Spike told Mike that he thought that one of the babies might be dead because he couldn't hear a second heart beat but this usually indicates that the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck." "Okay Hunter we'll let everyone know." Hunter went back into the clinic where Dr. Martin was preparing to start.

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Everyone stopped talking and gave Angel their attention. "Mike, Hunter and Dr. Martin are performing an emergency Caesarean on Buffy. Spike told Mike that he couldn't hear one of the baby's heart beats and Mike thinks that the umbilical cord might be wrapped around the baby's neck. I think they would appreciate it if we would keep it quiet out here." Fred went in to see if she could help once the babies were born.

"Once the anesthetic took affect Dr. Martin didn't waist any time in getting started. In just minutes she was opening the uterus and she reached for the first baby. The first one gave a healthy cry as soon as its mouth and nose were cleared. Hunter took the baby and showed it to Spike and Buffy. "It's a beautiful, healthy boy Buffy." She only gave them a moment before she took him to the side to clean him up and weigh and measure him. His heart sounded strong and his lungs clear. Hunter handed him over to Fred to put in the incubator then went to assist with the next one.

Dr. Martin was having difficulty getting a hold of the second baby. She couldn't get a good hold on the baby because she was too far down. "Spike come over here and put some gloves on. Your hands are smaller than Mikes and you might be able to reach in and get a good hold of the baby and pull him out." Hunter helped Spike put gloves on and he stepped up to the table. Since he was taller then Dr. Martin he was easily able to reach in grasp the baby and pull it out. It was as Mike had thought and the umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck. Hunter took over the baby and quickly started working on it. Within the next minute they heard a nice healthy cry from the second boy. She quickly cleaned him up and continued to check him over. Spike came over and stood behind her.

"I think he'll be okay Spike. He was a little blue but I think we got to him soon enough. You want to take him over to Buffy?" The smile on Spikes face gave her, her answer. Dr. Martin and Mike were still putting Buffy back together again as he brought their second son over. "Is he okay? It took a while for him to start crying." "As far as Hunter can tell he is fine. She said he was a little blue but since he wasn't breathing on his own the umbilical cord was still supplying enough oxygen to his blood." "You know we still haven't even decided on names for them." "I know but Mommy is tired now and I think I'll go to sleep." Spike gave her a kiss and placed his son in the incubator.

"Let's hook them up to the monitors for the next 24 hours at least Hunter." Hunter did as Mike said and put tabs on each baby's chest. They were tiny so the tabs took up a large portion of their chest. Spike went out to the Lobby to announce the arrival of his two boys.

Angel knew everything was okay by the look on his face. "Everything is okay everyone. We have the next Slayers brothers with us and both are okay. The second did have the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck but Hunter thinks he is okay. He was only slightly blue and she thinks we got to him in time. Buffy is doing fine and they are almost done sewing her back up." "Have you named them yet?" Angel asked. "No we thought we had at least another week or two to go. Angel I got the chance to deliver my second son. He was a slippery little critter and Dr. Martin couldn't get a good grip on him. It was the first time that I was glad that I had small hands. I swear Angel that when I reached in he grabbed onto my thumb and held on while I pulled him out of his Momma." Angel hugged Spike and patted him on the back with a congratulation for him and Buffy.

"I guess I better get back to my family. Where is Joyce?" "The kids are upstairs playing do you want me to get her?" "No I guess introducing her to her new brothers can wait. Buffy is sleeping now so tomorrow morning will be fine. Willow could you go up to our room and get the bed ready for Buffy and turn the heater on in there?" "Sure Spike we'll take care of everything." Willow and Tara took there bags upstairs to their own room and Connor took up Buffy and Spikes to there rooms.

The next morning Spike went looking for his sons. He found them in with Mike and Hunter in there room. Mike had wanted to keep watch over them since they were delivered three weeks early but they passed the night uneventfully. Spike knocked on the door. "Come in Spike." Hunter called out. "I believe my sons are in here." "Yes they are and they've been good little boys. Their hearts are beating nice and strong and their lungs are doing just fine. They both woke us up this morning around 4 o'clock. We got a good idea as to what life will be like for awhile when our baby finally comes out to see his Daddy." Hunter said as she started to unplug the monitors and incubators. "Would you help me take them over to our bedroom?" Spike asked. Since the boys were still in their incubators they had large beds to be moved along with their monitors.

As they entered the bedroom Buffy was just coming out of the bathroom after taking a shower. Once again her Slayer healing was coming in handy. Her stomach was still a little large but was quickly shrinking. She hadn't gained very much weight while she was pregnant and that made her pregnancy stand out even more than usual.

"Here they are Mommy all ready for their first meal." Hunter said as she helped to reconnect the incubators and monitors to the electricity. "How long do they have to stay in the incubators?" Buffy asked. "Mike said we should leave them in there for at least another 24 hours. He said that it won't hurt them and the incubators have their own heating system to keep them warm. You can take them out though while you go downstairs for breakfast though. Just make sure you bundle them up good. On top of each incubator you'll find a band to put around their wrists and the Birth Certificate. When you decide on names you can fill them out. Now when I filled out the times on the birth certificates I left off the minutes and the reason I did that was because with twins they always like saying who was born first. The one on the right here was pulled out first so technically he was born first but the one on the left would have been born first because he was already positioned over the cervix and would have been the first if we hadn't delivered them by caesarian. You can decide how you want to handle it because I promise you it will be important to them." Hunter started to leave when she almost ran into Fred and Wesley coming in through the open door.

"Good Morning Buffy and Spike we knew you didn't bring anything over with you since this was a surprise so here are our old Bassinet and carriers. We went out last night to get some bags of newborn diapers and other things for newborns. Would you like me to fix you some breakfast or do you think you can come down stairs." Fred asked as her and Wesley brought everything in.

Buffy and Spike just looked at Fred. "Wow, it's been a long time since we've heard you talk like that." Buffy said with a smile. "Yeah I was waiting for you to pass out from lack of oxygen." Spike said. "I'm sorry I've been slipping back into that habit lately, Wesley is always telling me to stop and breath." Both Wesley and Fred were checking out the boys now.

"Have you chosen names yet?" "No but I think we better do it right away before the next person comes in. Hunter was telling us that it always seems important to twins to know who was born first so we also have to decide whether we tell them who was delivered first or who would have been first if they had been born naturally. What do you think we should do?" Buffy asked. "Most definitely who came out first, because the only ones that will know where they were positioned for the first one will be the Doctors that delivered them. Just make sure you let them know what you decided so that your stories will all be the same. While you're here you'll hear our boys invoke that position status quiet often." Wesley told them. "Let's go Wesley so Buffy can feed the boys. Are you going to come down for breakfast or would you like us to bring something up for you?" Wesley asked again. "We'll be downstairs." Buffy answered.

When they left and Buffy and Spike had a few minutes with their boys Buffy and Spike took them out of the incubators and took the tabs off of them. After checking them Buffy settled down on the bed and put the first one to be delivered to her breast for his first meal.

"Well Daddy what should we name this one?" "How about Edward Anthony Summers?" "That sounds like a good name. We can call him Eddie." When Eddie was done and she was feeding the second one she asked the same thing. "And what about this one?" "Well I was thinking Angel William Summers." Buffy looked up at Spike with a tear threatening to spill over. "I think he would like that Spike." She reached up to him and gave him a kiss.

When they were done they bundled the boys up and headed downstairs with the newest members of the Scooby gang. Everyone was already at the table when they came down. Connie and her mother were just bringing in the food when they came down.

Joyce came running over from the children's table. "Is that my new baby brothers?" "They sure are you want to come over and see them?" All of the children got up to come and see the newest members of the family. Buffy and Spike took them out of the carriers and placed them at the empty end of the children's table.

"When did they get here?" Joyce asked as she stood at the end with her hands behind her back. "They came last night shortly after we arrived. You were upstairs and had gone to bed I think." Spike answered. "What are there names?" Junior asked. "Well let's see they have these little bands around their wrists. Can you read them Joyce?" Buffy asked her daughter. Joyce looked real hard at the words. "This one is called Edward. Can you help me Kathleen?" Kathleen came over and carefully picked up the babies hand and turned the band around so she could see it better. "It says Edward Anthony Summers and this one says Angel William Summers. Hey Daddy his name is just like yours." Angel and Cordelia came over to see his namesake.

"Thank you Spike and Buffy this is an honor for someone to be named after me." Angel gave them both a hug. "We also would like for you and Cordelia to be their Godparents." Buffy told them. That started off another round of hugs and kisses. Everyone took their seats again and waited.

Kathleen lightly tapped her glass and waited until everyone was quiet. Then she started with the sign of the cross. "Thank you Lord for this new day. Thank you for all of our friends being here so that we can celebrate your birthday together most of all we want to thank you for giving us these two new babies, Anthony and Angel. Amen." Everyone echoed her Amen. Lillian and Joe were terribly interested in how and who fixed the plates for the children and Toby. When they were done feeding the children the adults got up and started getting there own food.

The conversation during the meal was kept light everyone was thinking about what they had left to do before Christmas Eve started. When the rest of the children went outside to play Kathleen stayed behind and went to Angel.

"Excuse me can I ask you and Mommy something?" Angel was done so he picked up his daughter and put her on his lap. "What would you like to ask us sweetheart?" "I would like to start working for an allowance so that I will have money to buy presents for other people also." "You don't have to do that Daddy will give you whatever you want." "I know you would Daddy but then the present really wouldn't be from me it would be from you." "Yes I understand how you would feel that way." Angel looked at Cordelia. Everyone was watching and listening because Kathleen was the oldest of the children and she would most likely tell each of the other children what happened and the way they handled her request would have to be done with the others. "What do you think we should give her to do Mommy and how much should we pay her?" "Well I'm not sure what the going rate is for children. Does anyone have an idea?" Cordelia asked everyone.

"I might be able to help you there. I have a friend that has children that are just a little older than Kathleen. Let me call him and see if he knows what the pay scale is for children under 12." Connor said as he got up and pulled his cell phone out and made his call. A few minutes later he came back to the table and reported his findings.

"Henry said that they paid their oldest $1 for every hour of work that wasn't necessary to keep the house in working order. Which means they didn't pay her for cleaning her own room or helping with the dusting and such because that was work that was needed in order to keep the house neat and clean. What she was paid for was when she took care of her other sisters and brothers while her mother and father, were busy elsewhere in the house." "Well let me see then." Cordelia folded her arms under her breasts and tapped her chin with her right hand. "I think Daddy that we should pay her for taking care of all of the younger children when they are all playing together. So I figure that she has worked for about 4 hours each day for the past 3 weeks. Which would come out to I believe $84 dollars. And since Junior helped her to take care of them he should be paid the same. I think we have to ask Wesley though if we can squeeze that into our budget. Can we afford to pay Junior and Kathleen $1 an hour for 4 hours each day Uncle Wesley?" Wesley pulled out his pen and started writing on a piece of paper he also had in his pocket. "I don't think that, that will be a problem and next month we can go to the bank and open up saving accounts for them."

"Well that sounds good to me. Do you except this salary?" Kathleen copied her mother and crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her chin like Cordelia did. "I think that would be equitable." Angel put her down and told her to go and get Junior. Kathleen ran outside and got Junior. When they came back Kathleen explained to Junior what she had asked for and what her Daddy and Mommy had agreed to. Connie and Joaquin had been watching and listening to what was going on. Junior ran over to them and asked them if it was okay for him to get paid for watching the smaller children with Kathleen. They gave their okay and he ran back to Angel. "Thank you Mr. Martin my Mother and Papa said it was okay." "I'll give them their first pay this month Wesley and you can take care of the paper work okay?" "Okay Angel I'll draw up the necessary papers and they can sign it and then it will all be legal." Angel pulled out his money and took the money clip off of it then carefully counted out the money into two piles. "Here you are Kathleen and Junior, your very first pay for work done." Angel shook their hands then gave them their money.

"Now can we go shopping for our Christmas gifts?" Kathleen asked her father. "Maybe if you ask real nice and butter him up Connor and Lou will take you to the mall where there are a lot of people." Kathleen went over to Connor and reached for him pick her up. By the time she was done buttering up Connor he practically slid out of his chair.

"Well Lou I feel like I am well buttered can you be ready in 15 minutes?" "Yes, Kathleen and I only have to wash our hands and brush our teeth and we'll be ready." Lou took Kathleen's hand and they raced each other upstairs to the third floor except Lou jumped up to the second floor and then to the third. "That's not fair Lou you cheated." All of a sudden Kathleen disappeared and reappeared on the third floor. They could hear her yelling. "I won, I won, I won."

Lillian and Joe's eyes were as wide as saucers. They both looked at Dr. Martin. "What, how, what, where?" They were so surprised by what their granddaughter did that they couldn't talk. "She's something else isn't she? Our granddaughter has more power in her little body then both Willow and Tara put together I think. Where as they have to use complicated words in Latin Kathleen just thinks it or says something simple and it happens." Dr. Martin said.

"Aren't you afraid that she'll do something where other people outside of the family will see her?" Lillian asked Dr. Martin. "Kathleen is a very good child and she obeys her parents. Angel and Kathleen have a close relationship and from the time she was a little baby he was able to talk to her inside of her mind. It's the reason why she speaks and thinks way beyond her years. It's also why I believe she will always be very careful with using her abilities outside of the family. Just to make sure though she is being home schooled. In fact all of the children will be home schooled by Fred and Wesley for their first years or until we feel that they understand the necessity of keeping some things about their family secret. Eventually though, we'll let her become more exposed to the outside world so that she can develop more of her social skills. To keep her confined to just her family just isn't healthy for her, psychologically speaking that is."

"Have you tested her to see what her limits are, if any?" Joe asked. "We have never seen her do what she just did. Your granddaughter is constantly coming up with something new to surprise us. But to answer your question I think we would have to take her to England to test her at Watchers Council Headquarters. We have a network of powerful witches and warlocks that can test her. For now though we are keeping her close to home where Angel and her brother can protect her better. There is a group of evil people that would like to get her in their hands so that they could turn her to their side." Wesley said.

Lou and Kathleen came down the normal way this time. She went to her Mother first to give her a kiss goodbye. Angel picked her up then and put her into his lap. "Daddy is going to be with you in your mind while you are out with Connor and Lou okay?" "Okay Daddy." Everyone watched as Angel put his hands on each side of her face. He closed his eyes for a minute and when he opened them again he gave his daughter a kiss and hug then put her down and she went to hold Connor and Lou's hand as they left.

"Can you talk to her now Angel?" Joe asked. "I try not to do that because it takes her mind off of what she is doing at the time and that could be dangerous. Kathleen has had a brush with Wolfram & Hart and she understands that she must always be watchful when she is away from home. So if I talk to her in her mind too much I may be taking her concentration away from something that may just have come into her field of vision or hearing that she should be careful about. When she comes home I'll put my hands on her again and back out of her mind since she will be where we can protect her more easily."

For the next hour they sat at the table and everyone helped to explain what they did at Angel Investigation and about Wolfram & Hart and what happened when they found out about Kathleen.

"I don't know about the rest of you but I have to get up and walk around a bit or else I'm going to be stuck permanently to this chair." Dr. Martin said as she got up and went into the kitchen. "Connie does Junior want to go shopping also?" "Yes he certainly does but I don't have the time to take him." "Would you mind if Rupert and I take him?" "No not at all. I am sure that he will be very happy to go with you." "Good that will give me the chance to get some exercise in and finish my shopping. Get your jacket Junior and we'll be down in just a few minutes.

Since the two baby sitters were gone Fred had to watch the boys and Joyce was helping her mother with her two baby brothers. Angel had left for a couple of hours also. Everyone else was busy with wrapping presents. The Hotel was going to be packed with people tomorrow and since Cordelia had promised to help Connie get ready tomorrow she thought she would try to get the boys to take a nap for the rest of the day so she could do the same.

Joaquin was already getting the barbeques ready to roast the turkeys and large hams. He knew from experience that this was usually a gathering place for the men while the women gathered in the kitchen so he had bought several large foam ice chests. One would be filled with beer and the others would all be filled with various types of colas. He had also been stock piling ice for the last 2 weeks and the ice maker was filled to the brim. Cordelia had rented another large refrigerator so they could make some of the food ahead of time. When they went shopping the other day they had needed both Connors van, Gunn's truck, and her mini van just to haul the food. They had gone to the local wholesale warehouse store to buy all of the different types of colas, beer and paper plates and anything else that they could buy that was throw away. The extra tables and chairs had been brought yesterday and were already set up. Just thinking about everything was making her feel tired so she put the boys down for a nap and laid down for a nap also. She had already told Connie not to worry about supper because she was going to order out.

Two hours later Angel came home and lay down beside her. "Where have you been?" "It's a secret." He raised his eye brows a couple of times as he said it and smiled. "Christmas shopping is tiring. I don't know how you do it." "That's why we women do a lot of shopping throughout the rest of the year so that we can keep in shape for Christmas shopping which started after Thanksgiving." "Well I need to get some rest since I didn't have any lunch." He pulled her close to him and rested his chin on her shoulder.

By 6 o'clock the boys were awake and wanted out of their jail. "It looks like we are going to have to make up a room for the boys pretty soon. I think both Junior and Kathleen need their own rooms now also. They're getting a little big to be sharing the same room together." "Yes dear, what ever you say dear." Cordelia turned around and started to tickle him. Angel pulled her to his chest to keep her from tickling him anymore and gave her a big slobbery kiss. "Eww that's awful now I have Vampire slobber all over my mouth." "Well I know somewhere else I can put my Vampire slobber on you that you always like." He started to pull her bra off when Cordelia pulled away from him and rolled over him to get to the other side of the bed and the boys. "No play time tonight Daddy we have two little boys that need to be changed. By the way we women have decided that the children, except for Kathleen, Junior and Joyce will be staying home and nice and cozy in their beds. They're way too young to be going to midnight mass so I called Lorne and he said he would come over to stay with them."

By 10 o'clock that night they were all gathering downstairs. The women had long beautiful skirts on while the men wore either a suit and tie or a jacket like Angels black corduroy jacket and white silk shirt. Connor couldn't wear his anymore because he had grown out of it when his muscles started getting bigger. When they were all downstairs Dr. Martin said "Okay everyone lets load up." The women all started for the back where their vehicles were but Angel stopped them. "Our rides are out front ladies." They all went to the front without questioning him. In the front they found four black stretch limousines.

"Wow, we're going in style tonight." Fred said. They all divided up and got into the limousines and took off to the church. David Morgan had told Angel that his group would meet them at the church. The women were busy thanking their husbands as they drove to the church.

The church was decked out in beautiful flowers of all kinds but mostly poinsettias. Angel was just beaming with pride at how good his family looked. Cordelia had chosen a long black full skirt along with a white silk blouse with long sleeves and a diamond pendant. Kathleen wore the exact same thing. Fred had chosen a deep blue skirt and blouse along with a small diamond pin on her shoulder. Wesley had a blue suit and a silver and blue tie. They were all decked out in their finest. It wasn't the men's idea to be so dressed up but they knew that Dr. Martin would send them right back up stairs if she didn't approve of what they were wearing. When it came time for communion everyone went up to either receive communion or receive a special blessing from Fr. Barris. Besides the Vampires receiving a special blessing Kathleen, Junior, and Joyce received a blessing also since they hadn't received their First Holy Communion yet. Dr.Martin said she would start getting them ready for that next year and Joyce would start going to classes the year after that.

When they finally got home they were all tired. Angel and Cordelia thanked Lorne for taking care of the kids and took their two downstairs to their crib. Fred and Wesley took theirs also. Spike and Buffy just pulled their new sons incubators back down to their room. Lorne left as soon as everyone came home, he said he had his own private party to attend tomorrow.

The next morning the kids were all up early and waking everyone up by yelling "Merry Christmas everyone". Kathleen led the group over to Connors room and peeked in. He was pretending to be sleeping as they all gathered around the bed. Toby's tail was wagging so hard that his whole body was doing it. At a signal from Kathleen they all jumped on the bed and yelled, "Wake up Connor its Christmas, Merry Christmas Connor, Merry Christmas." Toby jumped up on the bed also and was licking as many faces as he could.

"Okay, okay, I'm up. Merry Christmas why don't you go and wake up everyone else?" They all went running out the door and Connor jumped up out of bed and closed the door and locked it. He quickly got dressed and went over to Spikes door. He lightly tapped on the door and heard Spikes voice telling him to come in. Connor stuck his head in the door. "Come on Spike let's go and open a few presents before Cordelia gets up and tells us we have to wait." "I'll be there in a few minutes."

Connor went running down the stairs along with Toby. Spike came down just a minute later. Kathleen and her gang came right behind him. Fred and Wesley had already been up for awhile and had already dressed the boys for the day. They were still too small to be taking the stairs by themselves so Mommy and Daddy had to walk with them. As soon as they reached the floor they let go of their parent's hands and ran over to be with the other kids. Spike and Connor were reading the labels and handing them out to each child. They told them to wait to open them until everyone came downstairs. Wesley wasn't sure who was the biggest kid, Connor or Spike.

Angel and Cordelia came downstairs holding their twins. Buffy came down next carrying Anthony and Giles was carrying Billy. Dr. Martin had told them it was okay to take them out of the incubators now. Giles was just beaming he was so proud of his grandsons.

"What's going on here? We're supposed to have breakfast first." "Connor and Uncle Spike started handing out the presents Mommy." Kathleen told her right away. Spike gave her a dirty look. "Tattletale." Spike said. "Well it's true, but I told him 'You better wait Uncle Spike because Mommy said that we have to wait until after breakfast'." Spike and Connor just looked at her. "You little fibber come here and I'll tickle the truth out of you." Spike grabbed Kathleen and started to tickle her. After he had made her laugh for awhile he said "Are you going to tell the truth now?" "Yes, yes I'll tell the truth. I was only kidding Mommy I didn't really say that." Spike put Kathleen on her feet then. "I was only joking Mommy Uncle Spike didn't say that." She waited a minute then said "Connor said it." Then she went running around the Lobby as Connor chased her. She was laughing so hard though that she could barely run. She finally sat down and curled up so her brother couldn't start tickling her. She was curled up so tight Connor just picked her up like that and deposited her on Angels lap.

Hunter and Mike came down stairs next followed by Lillian and Joe. Willow and Tara were downstairs already and helping Connie with fixing breakfast but they came out to the Lobby when they heard all of the commotion. Xander and Joaquin had been outside working on the barbeque and getting the fires started. Anya was the last one to come downstairs.

The children were all around the Christmas tree and waiting for Cordelia to give the go ahead. "All right since you started you might as well finish it. Go ahead Spike and Connor and start handing the presents out." They all yelled 'Yippee'. Thirty minutes later the area at the bottom of the Christmas tree and all around it was empty except for a mound of wrapping paper in the middle of the floor. The Price twins were having more fun with the wrapping papers and boxes then they were with the presents they got. Wesley had bought a t-shirt for Fred like the one that Angel had given Cordelia. Fred had gone into the bathroom and put the shirt on then came out to model it. The T-shirt said 'Mine' over each side of her chest then underneath it said 'Her Husband – No Touch'.

Fred had bought Wesley a new Dell computer that was the latest model. Along with the computer she bought extra memory and every kind of software she could think of that he would need. Wesley was like a little kid opening his box of toys. She made sure that it was the last present that he opened because she knew that he would do exactly what he did. Wesley opened that box and immediately went to his office to set it up.

Everyone was waiting for Angel to give out his presents to Kathleen, Cordelia and Dr. Martin. Each year he had outdone himself with the previous years presents. When things had quieted down he called Kathleen to him.

"Yes Daddy." "I want you to go out to the back yard and you will find a big box out there. Connor would you go with her please and bring the box in?" Connor and Kathleen went out to the back yard that was fenced in. They found the big box with a big red ribbon on it and brought it in. Connor put it down in the middle of the circle of people. Kathleen knelt down in front of her father and the box. She heard something moving around in the box. She carefully lifted the lid. Looking up at her she saw two big brown eyes looking back at her. It was a German Shepard puppy.

"Oh Daddy he's beautiful." She reached in and picked up the puppy. The puppy started to lick her face all over. "What's his name Daddy?" "Her registered name is Princes Elizabeth Victoria. They call her Vicky." Kathleen hugged the puppy then gave her to her mother and turned and hugged her Daddy. "Thank you Daddy, thank you very much. I love you." "I love you to Princes. Connor will help you to train her as she grows so that she will be your protector along with Toby." Kathleen was so happy that she had tears falling down her cheeks. "Why are you crying Kathleen?" Cordelia asked. "I'm crying because I am so happy. Did you know about Vicky?" Kathleen asked her Mother. "Yes I did and in fact your Daddy and I went together to pick her out." "Thank you Mommy, thank you very much. I love you and Daddy so much." Kathleen gave her Mommy a kiss and hug also.

"Has Toby met her Daddy?" "Yes he has. Vicky spent the night with Toby and Connor last night. Kathleen see if you can talk to Vicky like you do Toby." Kathleen looked at Vicky and put a picture of Toby in her mind. Vicky looked at her new master and turned and looked for Toby then ran to him when she saw him by Connor. Kathleen turned to her Daddy and hugged him and her Mother again. "She's perfect. Did you like my present to you Daddy?" Kathleen had given her father a picture of her grandma, her mother and herself and had it put in a frame.

"Yes I love your present. Now everyday when I am in my office I can look at the picture and see all of my girls and I will never be lonely again. Thank you." He gave Kathleen a kiss and hug then put her down and she went running outside with Vicky and Toby so she could show her where to go potty.

Angel stood up then and handed out envelopes. "Please don't open these yet. I want everyone to come over to the TV and have a seat around it." When everyone was settled in front of the big screen TV Angel put a cassette into the VCR. He started the VCR and TV and took his place behind the couch. The film started with a view of Hawaii. The speaker was a Realtor. She began by talking about Hawaii and the other small islands. The jet she was on landed at Kauai, one of the smaller islands of Hawaii.

The realtor continued on with a description of the island and its typical weather and when the major Island holidays were celebrated and how. After 30 minutes of this the realtor drove off of the paved road she was on and traveled a short distance on a dirt road. Someone that was in the car with her had to get out and open a gate then they continued to drive for another 10 minutes. Finally as they turned a corner of beautiful flowers you could see a large two story house that overlooked a beach and the Pacific Ocean. For the next 15 minutes the realtor walked them through the house and showed them the private beach that was fenced in. Angel stopped the film and TV.

"I bought this property and house for all of us to use as we want. For those of us that need blood to survive we have located a local butcher. Each of you has a key to the property. Lorne once again has located a wonderful family of local Hawaiians that he knows. They will be like the Sanchez family is for us here. They will live on the property year round taking care of it. All we have to do is let them know several days ahead that we are coming. Mom and Giles since you never got to have a Honeymoon Cordelia and I have booked you two first class tickets for the next 3 weeks at our home in Kauai. I say three week because I am sure you will want to be back here for Connor and Lou's wedding. Connor and Lou if this is where you want to go you can spend several weeks there for your Honeymoon or else you can go to the big island if you want. Just let Cordelia know and she will make the arrangements. This is Cordelia's and my Christmas gift to all of you."

Dr. Martin and Giles both thanked them. Dr. Martin gave Angel and Cordelia a hug and kiss. She was so happy that she threw her arms around her husband and he whirled her around. Angel knew that his mother was very tired and needed a vacation.

When they all got through thanking him they all settled down again and Wesley stood up and came to Angel with a thin boxed package.

"Angel this is a gift for you that you might want to open in private because when you see it you will most likely need a whole box of Kleenex and you might want some privacy." Angel thought about it for a minute. "Everyone here knows everything about me and has seen me through more good and bad times then I care to count." He held out his hand. "I want you to sit down on the couch first Angel before I give this to you." Everyone that was sitting on the couch got up and let Angel sit down with Cordelia and Dr. Martin sitting next to him. Wesley sat on the coffee table across from him and gave him the package. Angel unwrapped the package. The package was a velvet covered box that when he opened it a picture in an old fashioned 2 sided frame was sitting inside. Angel's hands started to shake as he looked at the picture. He took it out of the box and held it up where he could see it more closely. He ran his fingers gently and lovingly over the glass covering the picture. The tears started to fall so much that he almost couldn't see the picture.

Angel tried to say something but he couldn't make himself heard. He cleared his throat and asked Wesley "How did you get this?" "Mr. Jenkins said that they found the original picture in a box in what looked like the master bedroom of your home in Ireland. The original picture was pressed between two pieces of glass and sealed in. There was a faded piece of paper with it. The only thing they could make out was the words The Martin Family. He sent it to me and I took it to a photographer that was able to copy it and enhance the faded parts. I had him make a copy of the original and then a picture of just your mother and enlarged it. Angels hand was still shaking as he gently ran his fingers over his mother's picture and the picture of his family. He gently touched the picture of his sister.

Angel turned to Cordelia and showed her the pictures. "Now you know where Kathleen gets her looks from. If it was in color you would be able to see her deep red hair that is just like Kathleen's hair. Angel gave Cordelia the picture and reached out for Wesley and hugged him.

"Thank you Wesley, this is the best Christmas present that I have ever received. Merry Christmas my brother." Wesley hugged him back and said "Merry Christmas Angel, Merry Christmas."

TBC……………………………………………………………………….

I haven't decided yet but either the next chapter or the one after it will be the end of the trilogy. Make sure that you buy plenty of Kleenex.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Okay everyone let's go and have breakfast before it gets any later. Since all of the tables are in the gym now we will have to get our breakfast in the kitchen and then take it to the gym. Ladies and Connor we can serve up the kid's food and then take it in on the cart." "What about Vicky Mommy I have to serve her just like Connor does Toby." Kathleen reminded her Mother. "We can get Toby's old puppy dish and serve her in that okay?" "Okay I think I know where it is." Kathleen went running downstairs and found the dish on the shelf next to the large container of dry dog food for Toby. She ran back upstairs and asked Connie to clean it for her.

"Okay here it is all nice and clean and dry. Now I've already made up some food for her along with a container of warm milk that you can pour into her dish once she finishes her food. When you get into the gym you will see that Mr. Sanchez has another present for Vicky that she may or may not like." "Thank you Mrs. Sanchez." Kathleen said as she put Vicky's dish of food and milk on the cart also. Connor pushed the cart into the gym with all of the kids and dogs following him. The adults then started to serve themselves and went into the gym. When Connor came to the children's table they saw a miniature high chair that was made a little different. Mr. Sanchez was standing by the table where Kathleen usually sat. As the children's plates were placed on the table they all sat down and Mr. Sanchez picked up Vicky and placed her in her highchair and Kathleen placed her food dish in front of her. "Thank you Mr. Sanchez it's pretty and it matches the table." Since she was a puppy Vicky dug in right away as though she was starving to death. Before Kathleen even finished with the breakfast prayer Vicky was done with her breakfast. The adults were all looking at the newest member of the family in her high chair.

"Did you make that Joaquin?" "Yes Mrs. Martin. When Mr. Martin told me about the puppy I thought Kathleen would enjoy having this highchair for her puppy until she was big enough to sit at the table like Toby." "Well it's very cute, did you thank Mr. Sanchez Kathleen?" "Yes Mommy." Kathleen poured the warm milk into the dish and by the time she was done Vicky had the milk all over her high chair and her face. Toby was done with his food also so he went over to Vicky and stood up on his back legs and while balancing himself against the highchair he picked Vicky up by her neck and lifted her out of the highchair and then to the floor. Toby cleaned her face then led her out to the back through their private door. Everyone had been watching as Toby took care of his future wife.

"I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself." Joe said. "You could make a lot of money off of your dog Connor if you knew the right people." Joe said in between bites of his breakfast.

"Toby has been trained for police work Mr. Chase. He will be my partner when we go to work at the Los Angeles Police Department. He also knows how to fight Demons and Vampires. We all consider him a gift from God and I would never even think of exploiting him. As you can see he has a special affinity for Kathleen and in fact saved her life when she was a baby. One of the reasons that he is so well trained and seems to be intelligent beyond his normal capabilities is because Kathleen, Dad and I can communicate with him in his mind. We speak to him not by words but by pictures that we give him and he can do the same by putting pictures in his mind and we see the picture."

"I take it then that Vicky is meant to be his future wife." "Yes but that won't be for another 18 to 24 months. We want to give her a chance to grow first so that she will be nice and strong to produce a litter of pups." Angel answered Joe this time. Angel was quickly forming an opinion of the man, and it wasn't a good one.

"If everyone is done we need to clean up in here so we can prepare the tables for our Christmas dinner and all of our guests." Everyone picked up their own plates and cups and the table was cleared in just a few minutes. Kathleen and her gang all ran out to the back to look for Vicky and Toby but they weren't there. They all followed Kathleen as she ran back in. "Daddy, Daddy I can't find Vicky." Angel got down on one knee and put his hands on his daughter's shoulders.

"Calm down Kathleen. Take a deep breath, can you smell her?" Kathleen did as she was told. She took a deep breath then started up the stairs to the second floor and ran to Connors room and opened the door carefully. Next to the bed she saw Toby and Vicky curled up together on his bed. She closed the door almost all of the way then tiptoed down the hallway. Angel was at the stairs waiting for her. "She's sleeping with Toby in his bed. I guess she's like Nicky and Mike and has to take a lot of naps." "That's correct and do you know why?" "Because she is still a baby and needs to sleep and eat mostly. I was really scared for a minute. I thought she had got out somehow and I had lost her forever." "This is a good lesson for you Kathleen. Always remember to stop and think about your situation. Use all of the abilities that you were born with. What should you have done when you couldn't find Vicky?" "I should have tried to find her scent and follow it just like I did now." "That's correct. What do you think Vicky will do when she is looking for you?" "She'll start smelling around to see where I went." "Yes that' correct, you are like Connor and me. We can smell things that others can't and to us that scent is just as good as our vision. Don't forget that Kathleen." "Okay Daddy I won't forget again. I promise." "Okay Princes I know you will do your best because I know that your word is your bond." Angel gave his daughter a kiss then let her go and play with the others.

Many times Angel had seen his daughter work at correcting something she was doing wrong once it was pointed out to her. If Kathleen said she would take care of something she gave it her all to make sure that whatever it was was taken cared of to her Mommy or Daddy's satisfaction. Kathleen was very persistent and would keep at it until it was done correctly. They quickly found out that Kathleen's word was her bond.

"Take the other children upstairs to your room now and I'll be up after I check with Mommy to see if she needs me to do something." "Okay Daddy. Junior and I will take care of them." Since she had the Price boys with her they all went to the elevator and piled in to go to the 3rd floor. When they arrived the first thing Kathleen and Junior did was to pull the gate closed that would prevent the boys from trying to go down the stairs by themselves. Now that this was closed they could run up and down the hallway and play hide and seek in the other rooms that weren't occupied. Cordelia and the rest had been working on cleaning up and painting the other rooms on the floor. So there were at least five other rooms that they could play hide and seek in. None of the other children could figure out why Kathleen always won at this game and she didn't offer any information. After a while they wouldn't let her be the Seeker.

Out in the back the men were busy helping Joaquin monitor the turkeys and ham. Helping involved handing him a beer or opening the cover while Joaquin basted the turkeys. Connor was kept busy by keeping the fires fed.

They women were busy inside preparing the mounds of food that would be needed to feed everyone. Supper was going to be served by 3 o'clock and they expected Gunn and Cylindia to arrive with his bus load of kids at 1 o'clock. Dr. Martin had set the time for them to come so that Fred would have time to look them over and choose the one that would become a lawyer for Angel Investigations.

Toby had come downstairs with Vicky and was in the fenced in area of the garden. From experience he knew how rough the small children could be so he kept Vicky away from them. When she was hungry Toby went over to Connor and gave him a picture of Vicky eating, for today Toby was Vicky's babysitter.

By 1 o'clock they saw not one but two buses pull up to the back and start unloading everyone. In all they had brought 53 people including Mrs. Benton. Gunn had made a deal with a local tourist service to transport everyone to the Hyperion and to pick them up later in the day. All of the adults were outside to greet everyone. They saw a mixture of races, sexes, and ages in the group. The smallest one seemed to be 2 years old and the oldest appeared to be 18. The 18 year old boy was carrying the 2 year old girl in his arms and had her bundled up so much that she looked like she could hardly move. They both had olive toned skin and it was hard to tell what their race was. Besides this child there were at least 6 other small children in the group. They quickly threw off their coats and went running to see Kathleen and her group who had come down when they heard the buses pull up. Kathleen led everyone to the elevators and they all crammed in and went to the third floor to play.

When Toby heard all of the children he had decided to wait for them to leave and go upstairs. He was careful around small children now since Nicky had bit his ear. He was afraid that something might happen to Vicky. As soon as they left he guided Vicky outside to their play area.

Vicky was hungry again so Toby led her over to Connor who was in the gym and showing everyone where they could find drinks. Toby came over and sat down in front of him which got his attention right away. "What's wrong Toby is it getting a little crowded for you?" Connor looked into Toby's mind and he got a picture of Vicky eating this morning. "Oh I guess it's time for Vicky to eat again. I guess I'll feed her this time since Kathleen is busy taking care of all of the children upstairs.

Connor went into the kitchen and warmed up some food for Vicky who ate it in just a few minutes. When she was done she went back to Toby who was sitting patiently under the kitchen table. He took her out to their play area again where she would be safe from all of the feet running around the hotel.

Connor came out and was walking out to the gym when his grandmother called him over to where she was talking to Fred and Wesley. "Did you need something Grandma?" "Yes, do you see that young man over there with the little girl in his arms?" "Yes." "Would you go and ask Cylindia or Gunn to come over here. Tell them that Fred has made her choice." "Already?" Connor asked. "Yes I just heard a voice in my head that said 'this one' when I saw him and asked him if he wanted to let the little girl go upstairs and play with the others." Fred said. Connor left then and told Gunn that his Grandmother wanted to speak to him.

"You wanted something Dr. Martin?" Gunn asked. "Yes Gunn, Fred has made her choice and it's that young man that is over by the chairs and holding a little girl in his lap. Can you tell us something about him?" "His name is Peter Kepa and the little girl is his daughter Leilani Kepa. They joined us just a few weeks ago. Peter heard about us on the streets from the other homeless kids. He told us that he used to work but he was having a problem with getting someone to take care of his daughter while he was working. He said that his wife couldn't take the responsibility of taking care of their daughter and left with someone else. When he started calling in sick because he couldn't find anyone to take care of his daughter he was fired then of course he lost his apartment." "How old is he?" Fred asked.

"He is 18 and his daughter is 2." "Wow he started early. I wonder how old the mother was." Fred said. "It happens that way sometimes Fred, people never think of the consequences when they have sex. With all of the information out there on sex, STDs, AIDs and teenage pregnancies teenage girls still choose to believe a boys interpretation of sex. Can you believe it that teenage boys are telling young girls that oral sex isn't really sex so you can't get all of the diseases out there that are transmitted by sex? I see them in our emergency rooms all of the time. They don't want to go to there family physicians so they come to the emergency rooms all over the United States.

Then when they find themselves with another human being on their hands as a direct result of their actions they either kill the baby before it's born or abandon the baby in one way or another as this little girls mother did. At least he has the courage to take responsibility for his actions unlike her mother. Well he is the one that St. Michael told Fred to choose." Cylindia said. She called over to Peter to join their group.

Peter picked up his daughter who was playing with an exercise ball and joined Cylindia. "Peter I want to introduce you to Dr. Martin, Wesley Wyndham Price, his wife Fred and Connor Martin." As Cylindia introduced him to each person he shook their hands.

"Peter would you come with Wesley and me over to his office. We have something that we would like to talk to you about. You are going to have to give us 100 percent of your attention so I would like for you to give your daughter to Cylindia so she can take her upstairs to play with the other children. You don't have to worry about them because there are two older children that are up there that are watching them." Dr. Martin said. Peter hesitated at first but then something told him that these people could be trusted. He gave Leilani to Cylindia then followed Dr. Martin and Wesley to his office. For the next hour he listened to their story and what he was being offered.

"It sounds like if I take you up on what you are offering my life has already been written out for me." "Yes in a way it has, but then that is how everyone here lives their lives. You are being given a one in a million chance Peter, but like everything else in life you can take one path or the other. It is up to you to make that choice. If you want to take time to think about it you can. If you take us up on what you are being offered you can move in tonight or tomorrow. We need your decision before you leave though so that another can be chosen if you chose to pass up on this opportunity." Dr. Martin stood up when she was finished talking. Peter stood up also and thanked them both. "I promise to give you my decision after dinner. If I decide to take you up on your offer then I will be here by 12 noon tomorrow with all that I have." Peter, Dr. Martin and Wesley left then to rejoin everyone.

Dr. Martin went to the kitchen to see if they needed help. "We're just about done Mom. We're just waiting for the turkeys and ham to be finished. Could you call Kathleen and tell her to see to it that everyone's hands are cleaned then bring them downstairs and into the gym?" Cordelia asked. "Sure I think I can do that." Dr. Martin went to the Lobby phone and called upstairs to Kathleen. When she answered she could barely hear her because of all of the noise from the children. "Okay Grandma we'll have them down there as soon as we can. Bye." Dr. Martin walked outside to the barbeque thinking; Cordelia is right she is going to be making babies like a regular bunny once she gets married. She is going to be a perfect mother.

Dr. Martin found all of the men from Angel Investigations and the Scooby gang all gathered around the barbeques. "When will the Turkey's and Ham be ready Joaquin?" "They are ready now Dr. Martin. I was just going to start bringing them in." "Okay I'll tell Connie and the rest."

When the men brought the Turkeys and Ham in and took the strings off that were holding them together the meat literally fell away from the bones. The rest of the men helped to bring the large containers of mashed potatoes, vegetables, salads, rolls, candied yams, and all of the other fixings that were usually served at Christmas. The tables that were being used to hold the food practically groaned under the weight of all of it. A few minutes later Kathleen and Junior brought all of the children down with them in the elevator. They all went running to their older brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers and started telling them all about the fun they had been having. The children were all told to take seats at the children's tables. It had been decided that the dogs were to eat by themselves today because of all of the children. Connor dished up a large bowl of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy for Toby. Vicky was given rice and turkey. He let Kathleen know that he had taken care of Vicky along with Toby. After the children had been served the adults and older children from Gunn's group served themselves. When they were all seated Dr. Martin asked Angel if he wanted to lead them in a prayer of thanks.

Angel tapped on his glass and everyone quieted down. "Would everyone stand up and hold hands as we give thanks for today." Everyone including the children stood up and held hands. Angel gave a prayer of thanks giving then they all sat down and started eating. All of the older children in Gunn's group were fascinated by the fact that they were sitting down to have Christmas dinner with the legendary Angel. For as long as these children lived they would remember this day. Most of all they would remember the words that were on a plaque that was just today nailed under the 2nd story balcony. As they observed Angel and the other Vampires, which included David and Bobby, they knew then that these people truly believed in the words. Dr. Martin had given everyone the present of the picture and words that were set under the picture. It was a picture of a smiling Christ standing in a white robe with the clouds of heaven behind him. His arms were open wide. Under the picture the following words were printed.

"MY HEART IS OVERFLOWING WITH LOVE AND MERCY FOR YOU. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ASK. ASK AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN, SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND. COME MY CHILDREN, MY ARMS ARE EAGER TO HOLD YOU AND WELCOME YOU INTO PARADISE."

They didn't know how but all of the smaller children were behaving relatively well so that the adults could have a peaceful dinner. Apparently they responded better to Kathleen and junior taking care of them. Dr. Martin was thinking that Kathleen and Junior were going to be two very tired children tonight.

"You know we are going to have to try to get to bed early tonight my dear." Giles told his wife. "Our tickets are for 1 P.M. tomorrow which means we have to be at the airport by 11." He was concerned about her health these days. She was developing dark circles under her eyes and she looked so tired. He brushed her hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. "When we are done here my dear, we shall go upstairs and take a nap okay?" "Okay. I am tired. I told Dr. Fernando last week that I wouldn't be able to volunteer at his hospital anymore. He saw how tired I was so he more or less forced me to let him perform some tests on me. He found that I was a little anemic and my blood sugar was high. So he has me on a diabetic diet and pills. He also talked to Hunter about me. Apparently they decided between them that my student is now going to be my doctor." She looked at him with a grin. "Isn't that a kick in the head?" "Do you have everything that you need for the next three weeks?" "Yes, we went to pick them up last Monday." "I haven't seen you test yourself. How often are you supposed to do it?" "Twice each day, I usually do it first thing in the morning then before Supper. Just to let you know when I haven't been a good girl and my blood sugar is high I'll be real tired. Do me a favor Giles and don't nag me about following my diet and questioning me about whether I have taken my pills or not, because I don't respond well to nagging okay?" "Okay I'll do my best to refrain from nagging." Giles smiled at her and gave her a kiss.

Everyone else in the Angel Investigation and Scooby group had taken seats among Gunn's kids. Dr. Martin had suggested this to everyone so that they could feel more comfortable with them. Peter was sitting next to Connor and Lou. Connor was kept busy answering all of his questions about himself and Angel Investigations. He introduced Peter to Lou. Peter was interested in the fact that Angel had just bought an estate on Kauai for there use whenever they needed to get away for a while. Although Connor was several years older than Peter they seemed to get along well because of Peter acting mature beyond his years. Connor found out a lot about Peter through their conversation.

Peter had graduated from high school when he was sixteen and had gone to community collage for awhile until his girlfriend had told him she was pregnant. He was going to school on a scholarship and they were living with her parents after they got married. More bad luck was coming his way though when her parents died in a car accident. They couldn't afford the mortgage so they sold it. His wife was an only child so she got what was left from the sale of the house. Her parents had just recently bought the house so there was very little left after the mortgage was paid off. It all turned out to be too much for his wife and she took $5,000 dollars of the $10,000 that they had left from the sale of the house and she left. Where she was now he didn't know. He had his daughter to take care of now and $5,000 to live on until he could find work. That was six months ago and he was broke now.

Peter was Hawaiian and although he was born in Los Angeles he knew his grandparents were still on the big island of Hawaii. He thought to himself 'If I join Angel Investigations maybe they would let me go to school at the University of Hawaii then I could live with my grandparents and they could take care of Leilani.'

When everyone was done and they started to clear the table Peter looked for Wesley. "Someone told me that you wanted to talk to me Peter." "Yes I wanted to tell you that I have made my decision and I would like to join Angel Investigation." "Okay I want you to go over to my office and take a seat on the couch. I'm going to go and get Angel and the rest of Angel Investigation and well go up to Angel's suite." "Why do I have to see everyone else?" "Because we all live together in this Hotel and we consider ourselves as family. Angel is the head of Angel Investigation but we all live together so we all decide whether you will join us or not. You've seen the Sanchez family?" "Yes." "Well when Cordelia wanted to hire them to cook and take care of our home we all talked to them and we all decided whether we wanted them to live with us or not. Have a seat I should be back after a few minutes."

It took Wesley 15 minutes to gather everyone up and they all went up to Angel's suite. When they were all sitting down Wesley introduced Peter to everyone and gave them what little information they had on him. "Connor I saw you talking to him at Dinner can you add anything that you now know about him?" Wesley asked then sat down. Connor got up and told everyone what Peter had told him about himself. "I also felt something else in Peter as I sat beside him at dinner. I believe Peter is empathic. Peter would you go and shake hands with my father?" Peter went over to Angel. Angel looked straight into Peter's eyes and held onto his hand for a moment. Angel concentrated on putting a wall around his mind and his feelings. It took Peter a moment but he was able to read Angel. When Angel let go of Peter's hand he thought he had been successful in blocking Peter from reading his mind. When Peter returned to his chair he gave no hint to what he had picked up from Angel.

"Well what do you think?" "Yes he is empathic but I think I was able to keep him from reading me." They all looked at Peter then. He just sat in his chair and didn't say anything. "Well now that you know all about Peter are there any questions that you have for him before we take a vote?" Wesley asked. Peter looked around the group. Then Dr. Martin stood up.

"Peter I've told you all about what we want you to do but you haven't told us what it is that you were going to collage for, would you tell us what it is that you wanted to do with your life if you had been able to continue to go to collage?"

"I hadn't decided yet on whether I wanted to be a lawyer or a medical doctor. My first year of school I was taking a full course load to get all of the regular stuff done so that I could concentrate on the courses I would need for either Law School or Medical School. When my wife left me though Leilani became the center of my universe and all thoughts of school took second place."

"Shell we take a vote on whether Peter will join us." Everyone had made their decision and said yes to Wesley's question. "Okay all those who do not want Peter to join us raise your hand." No one raised their hand. "All those in favor of Peter joining us raise your hand." Everyone raised their hand. Wesley turned to Peter and offered his hand. "Welcome to the family Peter Kepa." Peter stood up and shook his hand. Everyone else came over and shook his hand and welcomed Peter to the group then left.

As everyone started to leave they all heard Peter singing a little tune to himself. "Hey there Little Red Riding Hood." That was all he was able to say before Angel went to him and put his hand over his mouth. Angel had moved so fast that Peter hadn't seen him move towards him and he almost scared him to death. When he realized who it was he calmed down. Angel whispered to him. "Don't say anything more, she'll know what your song is about and who it came from then you will spoil my surprise." Angel lifted his hand. Connor and Wesley had seen what happened though. Peter was laughing so hard he had to run to the bathroom because he almost peed in his pants.

The rest went down to the gym while Fred and Cordelia took Peter upstairs to check on his daughter. They walked up the stairs so he could see the protective gate that went across the entrance to the stairs so they couldn't go wondering around unsupervised. Besides the stairs going down to the second floor they also had a gate going over the stair entrance to the fourth floor. Peter was concerned that it was so quiet up here. "Don't worry about them because it's time for their naps so Kathleen and Junior must have them all sleeping on the floor." "Who are Kathleen and Junior?" "Kathleen is Angels and my daughter and Junior is Connie and Joaquin's son. They usually take care of the smaller children which include Joyce who is Buffy and Spikes daughter when she's here. We have already started to prepare the rest of the rooms on this floor so that we can put the girls in one room and the boys in another. Kathleen is getting to big to have to share a room with Junior so she will be the first one that gets a room of her own. Now that she will have another girl in the Hotel she can share her room with her. That way your daughter doesn't have to get used to sleeping by herself. Do you think that you will move in tonight or tomorrow?"

"All of my things and Leilani's are at Mrs. Benton's so I'll be moving everything over here tomorrow." "Okay Peter I am sure that Gunn can help you move tomorrow." They went over to the kid's room as quietly as possible and peeked in. Just as she thought all of the little kids were sleeping on the floor where Kathleen and Junior had laid down some old quilts that Cordelia and Fred had bought at garage sales. After they lay down they put blankets over them. Junior and Kathleen were lying on their own beds. Cordelia closed the door again and they quietly made their way down to the first floor.

Dr. Martin and Giles had laid down for a nap also after the meeting in Angel's suite. The rest of the women were in the kitchen helping to put all of the food away and clean up the kitchen while the men were helping to clean up the barbeques after they cooled down. It was a little cold outside so they were being encouraged to finish the cleanup as soon as possible. By 6 o'clock the buses were back to take the kids back home. Peter waved good bye and said he would see them tomorrow. The Morgan group was leaving also. When the guests were all gone everyone just sat down at one of the tables to have some coffee.

"Man I am glad that's over. I think I'm ready to go to bed now and sleep for the next 12 hours." Angel said. "No you can't sleep for 12 hours because we have to take Mom and Giles to the airport tomorrow morning." Cordelia told her tired husband. "What's the matter Angel your age catching up to you?" "Yes it is. If you look real close you can see the wrinkles that are starting to show up at the corner of my eyes." Cordelia was having fun at her husband's expense.

All of the kids had come down stairs after their nap. It was time for Vicky's last meal of the day so Kathleen had come down to feed her puppy now that she had the time. While he was eating she had gone to sit on Angels lap. "My Daddy isn't getting old he's getting more and more handsome everyday and those are not old age wrinkles Mommy those are lines that show how wise he is." Kathleen said as she ran her finger over the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

"Where did you hear that?" Cordelia asked. "That's what I heard Grandpa say they were when Grandma was showing me Grandpa's wrinkles." Giles and Dr. Martin started laughing. "Come on Grandma lets get you to bed so we can have the strength to go to Hawaii tomorrow. Then well be able to sleep as late as we want the next day. Goodnight everyone." Giles and Dr. Martin said as they went upstairs.

"I think I'll go upstairs also. Are you going to stay down here for awhile with Vicky Kathleen?" "No I think I'll go upstairs and play with our new Play Station 2." "Can I come and play also?" Connor asked. "No cause you always win. Why don't you go and play with the Xbox that you gave Lou for Christmas." Kathleen said. Connor stuck his bottom lip out and made out like he was crying. Kathleen just stood there with her arms folded across her chest. "Oh please, that worked on me when I was a little kid but it doesn't anymore." Connor jumped up and ran after his little sister as she ran screaming up the stairs. Poor little Vicky tried keeping up with them but she was having a hard time with the stairs so Toby picked her up by the back of her neck and carried her up to Connors room where Kathleen had run. Connor was tickling his sister mercilessly. Toby put Vicky on the bed and he jumped up also and they joined in.

The adults could hear them all of the way downstairs. "That's what Mom needs rest from." Angel said. Connor came down stairs as Cordelia went up. I'm going to have to keep Vicky with me at night Cordelia because she can't make it over the fence that they put over the entrance to the stairs. As soon as I can figure out a way for her to let herself out she'll have to sleep with me." "Okay Connor, did you explain it to Kathleen?" "Yes and she understands. Goodnight." Cordelia said goodnight then went upstairs.

When Angel, Wesley and Connor were the only ones at the table Connor cleared his throat. "So what was that display all about with Peter Dad?" Connor and Wesley moved closer to Angel. "Why would I tell you two when I stopped Peter from saying anything?" "Okay what if we try to guess at what it is with only two questions?" Wesley asked. "Okay I'll give you that." Angel said.

"Does it have to do anything with sex?" Connor asked. "Yes." Angel answered. Wesley and Connor put their heads together. "Does it have anything to do with the fact that you can turn into a wolf?" Wesley asked. "Yes." Wesley and Connor put there heads together again.

They both looked at Angel and Wesley said "You and Cordelia are going to play a sex game with you being a wolf and she is going to be little Red Riding Hood." Connor and Wesley started singing the song 'Hey There Little Red Riding Hood'. "Okay you got it but please don't tell Gunn, I was going to do it tonight but I think were both too tired right now. I'll have to save it for another night goodnight you two." Angel started for the stairs but stopped to make himself a glass of warm blood since he couldn't have any at Dinner. He made his way upstairs as soon as it was done. He found Cordelia already in bed and sleeping. The boys were sleeping also. They had a big day also with so many new kids to play with. Angel listened to the News and drank his blood. When the News was over he took a quilt out of the closet and the picture of his family and went outside. He turned the little book light on that Cordelia usually used to read the mysteries of the Rosary. Angel was starting to feel the cold so he wrapped the quilt around himself and sat down next to the light. For a while he just stared at the picture of his Mother and Sister and ran his hands over it. He started his Rosary then and held the picture against his chest.

As the sun started coming over the San Gabriel Mountains and touched his hand that was sticking out from under the quilt Angel woke up. He blinked at the sun light then realized that he must have fallen asleep while performing his penance. He looked at his watch. It was only 7 o'clock so he thought he would take a shower then fix breakfast for everyone and give Connie a break.

When Connie came into the kitchen at 8 o'clock she found Angel busy shredding potatoes. Coffee was brewing, bacon and sausages were on the grill and a couple of flats of eggs were on the side ready to be cooked. Fixings for any kind of omelet that anyone could think of was also sitting on the counter. Pancake batter was ready to go and Angel had several small frying pans on the stove.

"Good morning Connie. I'm giving you the morning off. I felt like cooking today so make yourself a cup of coffee and have a seat." Before all of the men and boys left last night Joaquin asked for help in bringing the dinning room table back in along with the children's table so Connie was able to just sit down. Lucinda came in next and was told to have a seat also. She protested at first then when Angel gave her a look that said I don't want to argue about this anymore so sit down, Lucinda sat down.

By 8:15 Cordelia came downstairs with the boys. She had hold of Nicky's hand and he held onto Mike's hand. Like a little chain they walked behind their mother. They were so proud of themselves.

"What's going on?" Cordelia asked Connie. "Angel said he felt like cooking this morning so he told us to go and sit down and he was giving me the morning off." Connie told Cordelia as she helped her bring the boys highchairs over and put the boys into them. Angel wanted to wait until everyone was down stairs before he started to make the individual breakfast orders. With the skill of a fast food restaurant chef Angel had everyone's order ready within minutes so that they were pretty much all eating at the same time.

Now that there weren't so many children around Vicky was allowed to stay with the children and play with them. Connor gave his sister a list of times that she had to feed Vicky and a new calendar that he had marked with the dates that she was to change to 3 meals a day then to 2 meals a day. "Today we'll work on simple commands that you can start giving her okay?" "Okay, can I go and change so we can play together?" "No not right now her little tummy is full and the way you two will play I think will just make her throw up all of her breakfast. Don't you have chores to do first before you can play?" "I have to make my bed and take my dirty clothes to the basement and clean my bathroom. Eww Mommy some of the boys peed on the side of the toilet and I had to clean it last night before I could use it. Why do boys have such a hard time of aiming for the toilet?" "I don't know honey all little boys seem to have that problem. We are going to be working on giving you a room for just girls so you won't have to put up with that anymore. Remember Leilani from yesterday?" "Yes I had to take her to the potty several times yesterday. She wears pull ups just in case she has an accident." "Well Leilani is going to come and live with us today and you can share the room with her for a while. That way then she won't be so afraid in a new place okay." "Okay Mommy I'll take care of her." "I know you will sweetheart."

"Do you want to go shopping for her furniture after we drop Mom and Giles off at the airport?" Angel asked. "I think that would be a good idea." Cordelia said. "Are you two all packed Mom?" Angel asked Dr. Martin as he started to pick up his and Cordelia's plates. "Yes were all packed and just waiting for you two. Giles brought our suitcases downstairs already and they're by the stairs." "Okay I'll pull the van up to the side and we can get on the road as soon as you are ready Cordelia." "Give me a few minutes to brush my teeth and comb my hair. I should be back down in 10 minutes." Cordelia said as she headed for the stairs.

"Connor, Lou and Tom did I hear you volunteer to clean the kitchen so Connie can get the morning off completely?" Angel asked. Lou got up and picked up plates also. "I think I heard them volunteer also Angel." Lou said with a big grin as she looked directly at Connor and Tom. They finally gave in and started picking up dishes.

With the kitchen clean up on the way Angel went to the back to get the van and was loading up the two vacationers within a few minutes and they were off to the airport.

Angel and Cordelia said their goodbyes to Dr. Martin and Giles at the security check then left to go shopping for Kathleen's new furniture. Angel was in seventh heaven. He was always happy whenever he was able to go shopping for his girls. He was having even more fun because he was able to shop for Leilani also. They picked up a bed for Kathleen that looked like you would find Sleeping Beauty in. "She is going to love this bedroom set and now she won't have to go into the bathroom to change anymore." Angel said as they were driving home. "I think you're the one that is enjoying it the most." "That's true I do love giving things to my girls." He reached over and held Cordelia's hand as he kissed it.

"Do you think the boys are old enough yet to have their own beds?" Angel asked. "Yes they are ready. As soon as we get Kathleen set up in her room we can go and buy a bed for them." "You don't want to get separate beds for them yet?" "No I don't think that we'll have to. The next one that will need his own room is Junior. By the time the boys are to big to share a bed Connie and I will have another bedroom fixed up for Junior then one of the boys can have his bed. Haven't you noticed how tall Junior is already? Connie says he takes after her brother who is 6 ft. tall. Before long poor Junior's feet will be hanging over the end of the bed."

Angel was pulling into the back when he saw Gunn's truck at the loading dock. Peter was their and unloading his and Leilani's things. As Angel approached the loading dock Gunn called out to him "You're just in time to help with the last box." Angel grabbed the last box and took it upstairs to Peter and Leilani's temporary room. Cordelia had already gone in ahead to see if he was being set up okay. She found Fred already their and showing him everything in the room and where everything was.

"You will only have to share your room with your daughter for a short time Peter. We are working on a new room for Kathleen and your daughter and as soon as they bring the furniture next week they can move in. So make yourself comfortable Peter. Where is Leilani?" "She's upstairs with the other children. Suzy Warren and Carolyn Ling are with them also. You should see Suzy Cordelia she can barely speak where you can understand her. The only ones that she plays with are my boys and yours. The others can't understand her so they don't play with her. Let's talk to Hunter and Mike and see what they think." Fred said. She looked worried. Cordelia was thinking the same thing that Fred was so she understood why she was worried. If Suzy continued to play with just the boys then the boys might refuse to improve their speech.

"Let me go upstairs and see what's going on and why Kathleen doesn't want to deal with Suzy. I'll let you know when I get done." Cordelia left then to go upstairs. Through the link they shared she called out to Angel to come up to the children's room.

Cordelia quietly opened the children's door and peeked in. She found all of the boys and Suzy playing together with their trucks and cars. What surprised her though was not what she and Fred were afraid of but the opposite was occurring. All of the boys were making Suzy say her words more clearly but the words were simpler and were words that they were learning and had mastered. Cordelia closed the door and went looking for Kathleen, Carolyn, and Joyce. She found them in the next room which was going to be the girl's new room.

She knocked on the door first. "Hello can I come in?" "Come in Mommy." Kathleen answered. "Well what are you girls doing?" "Just talking and getting to know each other. Carolyn was asking me what kind of teacher Aunt Fred was and I told her she made learning fun and especially math." "Can I ask you something?" "Sure Mommy." "Why don't you have Suzy over here also? I saw that she is playing with the boys instead of you girls?" Cordelia asked as she sat down at the kitchen table. Since it was going to be Kathleen's room they decided that it would be safe to give her a Microwave oven, refrigerator and stove even though the stove wasn't hooked up and wouldn't be until she was a little older.

"She didn't want to be with us Mommy because we couldn't understand her and we were always saying 'What, I can't understand you, and you have to speak more clearly'. Since she was doing pretty good with the boys and their smaller words, which they make her repeat also, I thought it would be better for her to be with them until she gets better with her words then I think she'll want to come and be with us and learn bigger words. She sat with us at Lunch and listened to Carolyn, Joyce and I talking so I think my plan is already starting to work. Don't you think so Carolyn?" "Yes I think your plan is very good and seems to be working." "Well I can see that you two have everything under control. Just to let you know you're Daddy and I went to the store to buy you a new bedroom set and a bedroom set for Leilani and a rollaway for Joyce when she is here. If you need anything just call me okay?" "Okay Mommy, thank you." When she opened the door she almost ran into Angel.

"How's it going?" "Very well, here I thought we had a problem up here but then I found that our daughter had everything under control. She is one smart little cookie. Come with me down to Fred and Wesley's room and I'll explain what I found." Cordelia put her arm through Angels and they went looking for Fred in her room. Cordelia spent the next 30 minutes telling everyone what she had seen and Kathleen had told her.

At supper they were able to all get together again. Everyone welcomed Peter and Leilani to the family. While they were sitting having coffee Peter cleared his throat. "Mr. Price and Mr. Martin I know that you would like me to stay here while I go to school but I would like to ask if I could go to the University of Hawaii. I still have my Grandparents over on the big island and they live close to the University. I would like to go and live with them while I go to school. Would it be possible for me to do this?"

"I'll leave this up to you Wesley. I've heard that it is a very hard school to get into and I think that you will know better then I if Peter can get in and when." Angel told him. Peter looked to Wesley then. "As far as your schooling goes Peter I think that the University of Hawaii is one of the top schools in the United States. The problem with it though is that they are always full and we may not be able to get you in even for the next school year that starts in the fall. If you can't make it for the next fall will you stay here and go to UCLA?" "Yes."

"Okay then that is settled for now. Connor would you start helping Peter to check into the school and find out what we need to do to get him into the school?" "Sure we can start tomorrow. First though we are going to start on getting some muscle on these skinny little arms. First thing in the morning at 7 o'clock I'll meet you at the gym and I'll put you through a series of exercises that will help you to build your muscles up. They're exercises I learned when I started going to school to join the Police Department. Hunter is going to help me teach the kids how to exercise also. Tomorrow afternoon we'll go and check into the University of Hawaii at the collage that I went to." "Isn't that dangerous for the kids to exercise on a full stomach?" Peter asked. "Heck no with the way they play all of the time this is going to be mild exercises. By the time you are out of breath they'll just be getting their second one. The day after tomorrow I'll start training you in the Martial Arts."

"Why do I have to go through so much exercising and Martial Arts?" Peter asked. Everyone just looked at Peter.

"Peter what has Gunn told you that we do here?" Wesley asked. "He said that you fight Demons and Vampires and help people that ask for it and that Mrs. Martin is a Seer that tells you where to go to help someone that is being attacked by Demons or Vampires." "Yes that is correct but did you know that you will have to learn to fight them also?" "No I didn't. I thought since I was going to be a lawyer I wouldn't be doing things like that."

Angel spoke up for the first time now. "Peter everyone in our group except for Dr. Martin has to train frequently to keep up their physical condition and their fighting skills. Even the women exercise frequently and practice the Martial Arts so that they can fight if they have to. The only time that they don't is when they are pregnant, but as soon as they can they get back into shape again. When you do finish with your schooling you most likely will be busy with your work as a lawyer but you will still need to keep in shape in case you find yourself in a battle to help protect your daughter, yourself or anyone else in the family. Do you understand this Peter?" "Yes Sir." "Do you still want to join us Peter?" "Yes Sir." "Then I will expect you to give 100 of yourself in these endeavors." "Yes Sir, I will do my very best." "That's all we ask Peter."

Leilani had been listening to everything that was going on at the main table. She didn't like it that Angel was showing anger at her Daddy. When he was done talking she got up and went to Angel and kicked his leg then started hitting his arm.

"You leave my Daddy alone. My Daddy works hard to take care of me and he loves me." She went running over to her father and Peter picked his daughter up. Everyone was trying to hide the fact that they were laughing at what just happened but they didn't know about what was going on in Kathleen's mind. As soon as Angel read the anger mounting in his daughters mind he told her to calm down and that Leilani was just a little girl.

"Leilani I want you to go and apologize to Mr. Martin. He was only telling me what I was going to be doing from now on because I was letting him know that I didn't think that I would want to do the work that I agreed to do. It was his right to talk to me the way he did just like I do with you when you don't want to pick up your toys and clothes in your room. Now go and apologize then I want you to get ready to go to bed. You've had a big day today and I think it's time for you to start to unwind. I'll be upstairs pretty soon and well watch television together for awhile okay?" "Okay Daddy, I love you Daddy." "I love you too sweetheart." Peter gave his daughter a big hug and a kiss then let her down.

Leilani went over to Angel with her head down. She put her hands behind her back and said. "I'm sorry I kicked you and hit you Mr. Martin please forgive me?" "I accept your apology Leilani. Do you want to shake hands as friends?" Leilani gave him her tiny little hand and he shook it gently. "Goodnight Mr. Martin." "Goodnight Leilani."

When she was out of ear shot everyone busted out laughing, everyone but Kathleen that is. She went over to her Daddy and checked his leg and arm for bruises. "Did she hurt you Daddy?" "No sweetheart. She's just a tiny little girl she couldn't possibly hurt me." "I was getting awfully angry when she was kicking you. I almost turned her into a frog." "I could see you were getting mad, but Kathleen you should never consider using magic against the other children. God gave you these gifts for a reason and hurting one of the other children isn't one of those reasons. I want you to promise me that you will never do anything to hurt one of the other children while using your magic okay?" "I promise Daddy. When are we going to spend time together like we used to Daddy? I miss spending time with you and Mommy. Connor has been teaching me how to play poker can we play that tonight? Just you, Mommy, Connor and me okay?" "What do you think Mommy and Connor do you think we can do that tonight?" "I think I have the time tonight but we have to include Lou in on our game. She's going to be your sister in-law at the end of next month so you have to get used to her being with us also." Cordelia told her daughter. "Okay, can you play with us tonight Lou?" "Yes I think I can take some time off of working on our wedding."

Everyone started to get up then and clean the table off for Connie and Lucinda. The rest of the night went more quietly since everyone was attending to their own families. Gunn and Cylindia took Carolyn and Suzy home to their siblings.

The next three weeks went by in what seemed like a whirlwind of activity. Dr. Martin and Giles came back with Dr. Martin looking a lot more rested. The dark circles under her eyes were gone and even Giles seemed well rested. They spent the first couple of days telling everyone how nice the new home in Kauai was. They brought presents home for everyone.

Dr. Martin had to open her office once again when she talked to Peter about his reservations about what he will be doing. Peter told her that he had always been a pacifist and found the thought of getting into physical fights went against his own beliefs. "I believe Angel knows some one that can help you with that Peter. If it's alright with you I am going to tell Angel what you said and ask him if his friend can help you."

After Dr. Martin talked to Angel and explained why Peter was reluctant to learn to fight he set up an appointment for Peter to meet with his friend who was a former Monk in Tibet. Angel often went to his friend's home to work out with him. These visits were especially important to Angel now that he was becoming more human and Angelus didn't always give him what he needed in the strength department.

By the time they returned home Peter understood better what Angel Investigations did and what roll God had assigned him. He hadn't been putting too much of himself into learning the Martial Arts but after talking to Angel's friend he gave it everything he had.

Two weeks before the wedding Peter received a letter from the University of Hawaii. Wesley handed the letter to Peter at the Supper table. Everyone was quiet while Peter opened it. He opened it and read it out loud.

"To: Mr. Peter Kepa

We have looked over your grades and the courses that you have taken and find your qualifications to join us at the University of Hawaii to be beyond acceptable. Unfortunately the courses that you need and have asked for are full and we will not have any openings for these classes until the Fall of 2007. We will send you information to sign up for your requested classes on line in the summer of 2007.

Yours truly,

Dean of Admissions"

Connor knew how much Peter had wanted to go to the University and he patted him on the back to let him know that he understood how he felt.

The next day Wesley, Peter, and Connor went to UCLA to sign Peter up for whatever classes he could get.

Everyone's focus was now on Connor and Lou's upcoming wedding. They had already decided to spend their Honeymoon at the new home in Kauai. Neither Lou nor Connor had a desire to go out to bars or nightclubs so Cordelia informed the caretakers of their time of arrival and what airline they were coming in on. She also gave them instructions as to how they were to be taken cared of while they were there.

All dresses including Lou's wedding dress and veil had been completed and delivered to the Hotel. The men's suits had been delivered also. During all of this the older children's clothes had been picked out. It had been decided that the younger children would go to the Morgan's where they had enough guards to protect them. Kathleen asked her mother and father if Carolyn could come also so she would have someone to keep her company so a dress was picked out for her also. Connor and Lou had discussed it and decided that the last week they would separate and wouldn't talk or see each other until they saw each other at the altar. Connor asked David and Marissa Morgan if he could stay with them for the week. Connor chose them because he wanted to talk to his brother Richard. Richard had let the men know that he was able to get the same reaction out of his girlfriend as Angel did; he just did it a little differently. Connor wanted to know what that difference was.

Connor made good on his word to go to confession before the wedding and his grandmother gave him a good physical to make sure that he was clean and didn't have any STD's that he could pass on to Lou.

As the wedding day approached both Connor and Lou were getting nervous. On the Saturday before the wedding and the day Connor moved in with the Morgan's the men gave Connor his bachelor party and the women gave Lou a party at the Hyperion.

The wedding was scheduled for Saturday, by Friday Lou was so nervous that she was vomiting her Super and she couldn't stop crying. "I don't know what is wrong with me Cordelia. I can't keep anything down and I can't stop crying." They were in Lou's bedroom and on her bed. Cordelia was rocking her while she was crying. "It's okay Lou you just have the pre-wedding day nerves. Everything will be alright." "I wish my Daddy was still here. I would feel so much better if he was here to hold me. I don't understand why I'm so nervous about tomorrow. You and I were plotting against Connor for so long I shouldn't be nervous about being with him."

Angel walked into Lou's room with a glass in his hand. Cordelia looked up at him. "Is that what I think it is?" "If your thinking that it's some Royal Crown then you guessed right." Cordelia got up so Angel could sit down next to Lou. "Here Lou drink this and it will help to calm your nerves." Lou took the glass and downed the drink in one gulp. She gave the glass back to Angel when she was done and leaned on his chest as he put his arm around her.

"I know I'm not your Father Lou but will my arm do?" "Thank you. Do you mind if I call you Dad like Connor does?" "Not at all in fact I believe it's customary." Lou reached up to him and threw her arms around Angel. He pulled her into his arms and rocked her until she finally closed her eyes and went to sleep. When he was sure she was in a deep sleep he stood up and picked her up in his arms while Cordelia pulled her shoes off and pulled the covers off while Angel laid his future daughter in-law in bed. They both gave her a kiss then left.

The next day was W day and Cordelia went to make sure that Lou was up. She had brought up some breakfast for Lou since she had vomited all of her food from Supper. "I don't have time for breakfast Cordy." "Sit here and eat your breakfast little girl or you'll end up fainting while Fr. Barris is pronouncing you and Connor husband and wife." At the thought of that Lou looked at the food and started eating. The wedding was at 2:30 P.M. and Lou had a lot to do. Cordelia had paid a beautician to do her hair and nails. Some one was coming at 12 noon to do her makeup then she had to get dressed and arrive at the church by 2 o'clock.

Cordelia sat while having a cup of coffee and kept Lou company while she ate. Of course it was more of to make sure she ate everything. When she was done Cordelia said "Okay girl go and take your bath and wash your hair with the shampoo I gave you. The beautician will be here in 90 minutes." Cordelia left then to go and make sure that her family was getting ready.

By 1:30 Lou was dressed and making her way down the stairs. Connie was helping her with her veil as she walked down. The photographer that Cordelia had hired was at the bottom of the stairs and taking pictures of Lou as she walked down. The photographer took the still photos while his assistant took the movies. Angel was going to give Lou away so Cordelia told him to walk up to her and take her hand and lead her down the rest of the stairs. He led her outside to the front where a white stretch limo was waiting for them. They all loaded up and took off for the church.

At exactly 2 o'clock they arrived at the church. Lou went into a small room that was at the entrance to wait for Angel to come and get her. Fred was going to be her maid of honor and Connor had asked both Richard and Tom to be his Best Man or Men in this case.

At approximately 2:30 Angel came for her. "This is it little girl. Are you ready?" "Yes Dad, I've been ready from the moment I first saw Connor." Angel offered her his arm and they walked over to the entrance of the church. Father Barris was walking in first along with the usual entourage. After reaching the altar he turned and stood at the top of the stairs to the altar. The wedding march music began and everyone stood up for the entrance of the bride. Angel was beaming with pride as he led his future daughter in-law down the isle. Everyone turned to watch Angel and Lou walk down the isle and up to the altar. Camera lights were flashing as they walked. Angel saw Cordelia and his Mom crying already. At the front he saw Kathleen standing by her brother. She had walked down the isle first spreading flowers on either side of the isle.

Angel stood in front of Father Barris with Lou. "Who gives this woman in Holy Matrimony?" "I do." Angel said then he reached for Connors hand and put Lou's hand in Connors. He stepped back then and joined Cordelia.

Father began with telling everyone "Today will be the first time, for me at least, to perform three of the Church's Sacraments in one day. Louise D'Chambeau will be receiving the sacraments of Baptism, First Holy Communion, and the Sacrament of Matrimony. Let us begin then in the Mass that will join these two young people for as long as they live." The mass and ceremony was long since Lou was being baptized also. When it came time for the Baptism both Dr. Martin and Giles came up to stand with Lou as her God Parents. Fred and Cordelia were both needed to assist Lou to the Baptismal Font. Before Fr. Barris baptized her he looked to the crowd "I apologize for the delay, I have just been warned not to mess up her hair or makeup." That got a laugh out of the assembly and he proceeded to baptize Lou.

After returning to Connors side they proceeded with the Mass. When it came for the time of the blessing of the wedding rings Connor turned and called Toby with a whistle. One of his police officer friends was in the back with Toby. When he heard Connor he gave Toby a basket with a green velvet cushion in it and the two wedding rings. Everyone turned to watch Toby walk up the isle and stand between Lou and Connor with the basket. Father blessed the rings then proceeded with the ceremony. After the marriage rites were read and Fr. Barris said "You may kiss the bride." Connor carefully took Lou in his arms and kissed her until Fr. Barris touched his arm. He let her go then and Fr. Barris pointed them to the assembly.

"**I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Connor and Louise Martin." **

Everyone stood and clapped. Connor led Lou over to Angel and Cordelia then to Dr. Martin and Giles. The men kissed Lou and shook Connors hand in congratulations. The women just kissed each other and Connor. Connor led Lou down the isle to the entrance where two lines of Police Officers, dressed in their finest, were lined up. After that they continued standing for Angel, Cordelia and his Grandparents. Other people filed out of the church and were throwing rice at the newlyweds as they entered the limousine. Angel and Cordelia got into the Limo also. Dr. Martin and Giles said they would ride with Wesley, Fred and Kathleen.

It was a long and tiring day as they all made it back to the Hyperion after leaving the reception hall at the downtown Hotel. Cordelia had reserved a Honeymoon suite at the same hotel. The day before she had told both Lou and Connor to pack a small bag that would contain the clothes they would travel to Hawaii in. "Why do we have to go someplace else?" Lou asked. "Because my dear you don't want to be were there are so many people that have super hearing. You and Connor are going to want privacy and not having to worry about what kind of noise your making. And you know how Gunn likes to tease."

Several days before Angel had gone to the Morgan's and had a long talk with Connor about how to treat Lou since she was a Virgin. Connor had been with other girls but none of them were Virgins so he told him how careful he had to be with her. Connor had turned three shades of red when Angel started to talk to him about his first time with Lou. In the mean time Dr. Martin was talking to Lou about what she had to expect and what to do in the morning. Needless to say Lou took it a lot better than Connor took his talk with his Dad. Lou was the personification of innocence and that was why she was actually interested in everything Dr. Martin told her. She didn't have any friends her own age so she didn't have any preconceived notions about what sex was going to be like.

Kathleen promised Connor that she would take care of Toby and she would bring Toby's bed up to her room so he could sleep together with Vicky. The week before Connor had fixed the gate for the stairs so that it had a little door on it for Vicky to crawl through. As soon as she took care of the dog's supper her mother made her a sandwich, with chips and milk. When she was done she lay on her couch with Joyce and Leilani and watched television for awhile. Kathleen was so tired after such a big day that she fell asleep on the couch. When Angel came to check on the girls he found them sound asleep.

"My poor little girl you've had a big day." Angel picked up his daughter and took most of her clothes off then put her in her bed. He put Joyce and Leilani to bed also. Toby came back with Vicky just as he put Kathleen to bed. He climbed into his bed and Vicky curled up next to him. Angel tucked Joyce and Leilani into bed then he went to the dogs and petted them. Before he left he turned the night light on in the bathroom then left while leaving the door open a little so Toby and Vicky could go outside if they had to.

Everyone was tired and went right to bed after awhile. Cordelia and Angel lay in bed after putting the boys to bed. They were getting too big for the crib now and could no longer lie side by side. "You know Angel we have to go shopping for beds for the boys tomorrow after we take Connor and Lou to the airport. Fred and Wesley want to put their boys upstairs tomorrow also. Fred, Connie and I finished a room for Junior last week. All we have to do is put furniture in it. Poor Juniors legs are getting too long for the child's bed."

"Let's go to sleep now and well make like Bunnies later in the night." Angel said with a smile.

In the Honeymoon suite Connor had lifted Lou up in his arms and carried her over the threshold of the suite. After giving the bellboy a tip and putting Lou down Connor started to kiss his wife. Lou had received a lot of instruction from Cordelia and she knew exactly what to do.

Lou pushed Connor away "Cool your engines my boy I want to take a bath first." Lou picked up her veil and wound it around her arm to get control of it. She took Connors hand and led him over to stand by the bed. She went over to the kitchen table and pushed it to the side and left one chair for her to use. Connor was going to be given a show like Cordelia had given to Angel on their wedding night. Cordelia had shown the famous video tape to Lou and explained to her what she was doing and why. She even gave her the music tape with the strip tease music on it that Angel had played for her.

Connor watched his new wife perform for him under the single soft light that shown over where the kitchen table used to be.

Lou started with her veil and threw it over another chair. One by one she lifted her legs up to the chair and slowly undid the straps on her shoes. She started with her right leg first and slowly pulled back all of her skirts until the top of her nylon was exposed at which time she unsnapped each garter and slowly rolled the nylon down. She continued to undress like this until it came time to pull her dress down. She went over to Connor and turned around so he could unzip her. As she turned around and felt Connor start to pull at the zipper she felt it go down then she heard a thud as Connor fell to the floor. He had become so excited at helping his new wife take her clothes off that he passed out.

"Connor what's wrong?" Lou stepped out of her gown then ran to the bathroom and grabbed a wash cloth that she ran in the cold water then came back and started wiping his face and neck. She loosened his top shirt button and lightly slapped his face. Connor started to wake up and looked at Lou. Without warning he grabbed her and started kissing her lips then went down her neck and chest. She still had her corset on so he quickly undid the laces and pulled it off of her then picked her up and laid her on the bed as he quickly pulled his own clothes off.

Lou sat up. "Wait Connor I want to take a shower first so I can be nice and sweet smelling for you." She lifted his arm up and smelled him. "You could use a shower too." Connor quickly pulled her into the bathroom and turned the shower on. It was a large glass enclosed shower that was in the middle of the bathroom. As they bathed each other Connor was starting to get hard as Lou bathed him. As they finished bathing and stood under the water Connor started to put his hand between her legs and play with her. She tensed up as he touched her and let out a gasp. "Are you all right?" "Yes go ahead." Instead Connor turned off the water and they walked out of the shower and wiped themselves down. Lou had worn a towel over her hair so that it wouldn't get wet. Connor took it off and took the pins out of her hair so that it would fall down over her shoulders. Connor liked long hair on a woman like his father did so Lou had let hers continue to grow instead of cutting it like she almost did once until he stopped her.

Connor pulled her hair back and took it out of its bun that the beautician had put it in so the veil could be hung on it. He picked her up in his arms then. As they left the bathroom Lou turned the lights off. Connor gently laid her on the bed and went to turn the one light off that was on by the kitchen. He then opened the drapes that looked out of the city. Lou could see his erection was hard and that he could hardly wait to get back to her. She got up and pulled the blankets and sheet down then lay down again and waited for him. Connor came back to the bed at the end and slowly crawled up the bed until he reached her legs. He laid a trail of kisses up her body until he reached the top of her legs then stopped to play with her a little. Lou was heading to her first orgasm with just him touching her between her legs. Connor pulled back though and let her cool down then started again except he put his finger up inside of her to slowly stretch her vagina a little. He felt her hymen break and felt a small amount of blood on his finger. Angel had told him this would happen though so he continued to slowly move his finger in and out of her. This got her juices flowing so that he could easily move his finger in and out of her and he added a second finger. Once again as she almost reached that orgasm he pulled back and started to kiss her lips then down her neck and then to her breasts. He sucked hard on them and left his saliva all over them.

Lou wanted him now so she grabbed onto his erection and she guided him into her. He went slowly at first to make sure he didn't cause her too much pain. Angel had told him that if he did it right she would enjoy her first time just as much as he would. Connor remembered everything Angel had told him and he was able to bring them both to that mountain peak at the same time.

Since Lou healed fast just like Connor did they were able to have intercourse four times before they fell asleep in each others arms, exhausted from their love making. Before they fell asleep Lou said "Connor?" "Yes." "I'm glad we waited." "Me too, go to sleep now so we can get ready to go to the airport on time." He pulled her closer to his chest then and they both fell into an exhausted sleep, it was a good exhausted sleep though that was created by love.

The next morning Angel and Cordelia were at the Hotel by 11. They stopped at the Hotel Lobby phone and called up to the Honeymoon suite. Connor turned over so fast to answer the phone that he pulled the covers with him as he stood up. Unfortunately Lou had been sleeping partially on top of the covers and as Connor got up from the bed Lou went flying over the side of the bed.

"What happened?" Angel heard the loud thud and an 'OWW!' coming through the phone. "It's okay Lou just had a little accident. Where are you?" Connor asked.

"We're down in the Lobby. We thought we would have Lunch with the newlyweds before we took you to the airport." "Okay we'll be down as soon as possible." Connor hung up then and jumped on the bed and looked down on the floor at his wife. "I'm sorry are you hurt?" "No just my pride. Who was on the phone?" "Angel and Cordelia are downstairs in the Lobby waiting for us so get up, lets take a shower before we pack up to leave."

It only took Connor and Lou 30 minutes to take a shower, dress, pack what little they had and head downstairs. As they came out of the elevator they saw Cordelia and Angel sitting in the Lobby. Lou was carrying her bridle gown and Connors suit so she was having a bit of difficulty seeing where she was going. Cordelia and Angel stood up as they approached them. Angel went to Lou and took the gown and suit from her. "Let's go Mr. and Mrs. Martin." Angel said. "Okay Mr. and Mrs. Martin." Connor said. They all laughed as they went to the front and Angel gave the valet his ticket for the van. Lou's wedding gown and Connors suit was given the back seat all too them selves. Cordelia promised Lou that she would have the gown and suit cleaned and placed in their closet. When Lou suggested that she have it packed since she wouldn't be using it again Cordelia told them how every once in a while Angel would pull out her wedding gown and his suit and they would dress up in them again and they would dance for two hours or more in the Lobby at night as they did on their wedding day.

"I didn't know Dad was such a romantic." "Oh yes, you should have seen what he did when………….uh, I think I'll tell you about that some other time when we don't have so many ears listening in on us." Cordelia said after she caught herself. She noticed how Angel and Connor just looked at each other and grinned.

When they reached the Airport Angel let the rest off along with the luggage they had brought with them. As soon as he parked the van he rejoined them. Connor and Lou had left their luggage and received their tickets already by the time he joined them. They were all hungry for lunch since no one had eaten yet. They found a ritzy restaurant and settled in for the next hour and had a nice relaxing lunch. When they were done eating Connor and Angel took a couple of seats at the bar so they could talk and also leave the women to talk without them around. Cordelia had told Angel to do this before they picked up the newlyweds. "Lou might have something to ask me that she would be too embarrassed to ask in front of you so go and have a beer while we talk for awhile."

Thirty minutes later Cordelia and Lou got up to go to the ladies room. She told Angel to pay the bill so they could leave when they returned.

At the security line Cordelia and Angel said goodbye to Connor and Lou then left. They knew it would take an hour just for them to make their way through the line. As they walked back to the van Angel heard his wife blowing her nose and noticed her wiping her face. He didn't say anything about it he just put his arm around her shoulder as they walked back to the van.

They spent the rest of their afternoon shopping for the furniture they would need for all of the children. They knew that the Sunnydale gang was leaving that evening so they returned home as soon as they were done purchasing the kids furniture.

After Supper they all gathered at the back to say goodbye. "You're certainly leaving with a lot more then what you came with." Cordelia said to Buffy. "Not really because everything including the boys was packaged differently." When it came time for Giles and Dr. Martin to say goodbye Dr. Martin told Buffy "If you should need help Buffy don't hesitate to call us okay. After all you're taking care of twin boys now and they're a lot different then little girls." "Thank you Mom I'll keep you in mind but my neighbor has had lots of experience with twin boys. She has two sets of them." They all loaded up then. Willow and Tara had there own car so they all took off at the same time. Xander, Anya, and Dawn had left in the morning since they all had to either get back to work or school. Dawn was going to be graduating this year so she didn't want to miss any school.

Everyone filed back into the lobby. They all went to the dinning room table and Connie brought out some coffee for all of them. "Come and sit down with us for awhile Connie and Joaquin." Angel told them when he saw that the kitchen was cleaned and Grandma Lucinda had apparently gone upstairs already.

For a while when Cordelia's parents were staying at the hotel the kids would yell out 'Grandma' and three women would answer. That's when the kids started calling Lucinda Sanchez, Grandma Lucinda and Mrs. Chase, Grandma Chase. The only one that remained just Grandma was Dr. Martin.

When Joaquin sat down and poured himself some coffee he cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him. "Mr. Martin didn't you say at one time that you wanted to breed Aunt Bee to Santana?" "Yes I did why? Is she in season?" "Yes Vince told me that she was just starting." "Okay thanks for telling me. Well Aunt Bee's Mistress shall we set up a date for the 'GREAT SANTANA' to beguile the sweet Aunt Bee?" Cordelia just looked at Dr. Martin and Fred and grinned. "What am I going to do with him Mom? He even thinks of Santana as Tarzans great steed." Cordelia stood up and pounded her chest like Tarzan and in the deepest voice she could produce said "Come great Santana my mighty steed let us go and kill the great King of the Jungle." Then she gave the great Tarzan yell. Everyone started cracking up. Even Angel was laughing.

Cordelia sat down. "Yes let's breed her now. Mom do you think it would be okay for Kathleen to see Santana mount her?" "Yes I think it will be okay. Kathleen is a very smart girl. She'll have some questions for you but I think you can handle it. What about Joaquin Connie? Do you want him to watch?" "Oh he has seen many animals do it already. He stayed with my brother on his farm for awhile and they have a few cattle and pigs." "Okay then I'll call the vet and have him come out and check her to see if she is okay. He should be able to give us a good idea as to when Aunt Bee will be ready." Cordelia said.

They spent the next hour just talking small talk and discussing what was going to happen next with Peter and his schooling since he couldn't get into the University of Hawaii yet.

"Peter and I are going over to UCLA tomorrow to just get him signed in, pick up books and generally check out the area. I am also going to start teaching him about Wolfram & Hart. Peter is going to need a car so I think well go and look for a good used one." Wesley told everyone. As soon as he said he was going to go look at a car Angel held his hand up. "Can I come, can I come?"

"I don't know, has he been a good boy today Cordelia?" Wesley asked. Cordelia looked at Angel and his excitement at getting to shop for a car. "Well he hasn't been very entertaining lately. But I guess it's to be expected since he is getting older. Yeah he can go." Angel looked at Peter when he started whistling the song of 'Hey their little Red Riding Hood'. As soon as Peter saw 'the look' from Angel he shut up.

"When are you going to go looking for the car?" Angel asked. "Tomorrow evening after Supper I think. Well be busy with UCLA for the day." "Okay then lets go see Santana and Aunt Bee tomorrow. Fred do you want to come? You can exercise Opie for Connor." "Whoopee, yes I'll come." Fred was so excited she forgot she had classes with the kids tomorrow. As this crossed her mind she drooped down to the table again.

"I forgot Angel classes are in session for the kids and me." "We can go Saturday also. Maybe this will be the time for you and Wesley to go and get the horse or horses that he promised you over a year ago." Cordelia suggested.

Wesley gave Cordelia a dirty look then put his hands over his eyes. "Yes maybe we can. Do you think we could do that my dear?" Fred looked at her husband. "I guess we can do that but we have to go shopping for a horse with Angel since they have to except him also." "Can we do that on Saturday before we go riding Angel?" "Sure, it's about time anyway. Cordelia and I would like to take a couple of weeks off during the summer and go on a long trip by horseback. We would like for you and Wesley to come with us and that means we have to go ridding every weekend and build up our muscles and the horses as well. Aunt Bee will be okay as long as we don't get into anything dangerous where she could fall. Well have to stop at least twice during the day so I can get out of the sun for awhile anyway. I've been experimenting with my problem of 4 hour limits. I've found that if I get under cover for at least 2 hours I can last in the sun for another 4 hours. So it's up to you two to get your horses so that we can start to toughen them up along with our backsides and legs."

They all started to get up then and go to their own rooms. Everyone said goodnight after taking their cups into the kitchen and putting them in the dishwasher.

Angel was feeling pretty good tonight so he thought his little surprise for Cordelia could take place tonight. "Why don't we let Nicky and Mike sleep on the floor up in the boy's room so we can have some Mommy and Daddy time?" "I think they'll like that after all they are going to be sleeping up here pretty soon anyway. Why don't you get them ready for bed and I'll start fixing a place for them on the floor okay?" "Okay I'll bring them up in a few minutes."

The boys had just started wearing training pants so Cordelia put a plastic liner down on the floor first then a couple of quilts. By the time she was done Angel came up with the boys. After getting them settled down Cordelia sat down in the rocker and read all of the boys a story. Angel went downstairs and got ready for his surprise for Cordelia.

In 20 minutes the boys were sleeping and the story had ended. Cordelia covered them up then closed the door. Junior was next door with the girls and playing a card game so she knocked on the door. "Come in Mommy." Kathleen said. "You can stay up for only 30 minutes more then I want you kids to go to sleep. You have school tomorrow." They all said okay and promised to go to bed soon. Cordelia closed the door and went back to the second floor.

Cordelia opened her bedroom door. The room was dark so she just slipped into the bathroom to take a shower. She found a red cape and a short little red dress along with a basket with some rolls and chunks of meat. Cordelia became excited because she knew what tonight's entertainment was going to be. After taking a shower she fixed up her hair and makeup then got dressed and went into the bedroom. When she came out the Red Riding Hood song came on. She danced around the room as though she was Little Red Riding Hood skipping along through the woods.

All through this Angel was in the bed. He had changed to a wolf just before Cordelia had come in. It was difficult but he successfully crawled into an old fashioned cotton nightgown and by positioning the bonnet just right he was able to get it on his head. He then pulled the sheets up and held onto it with his mouth. What was going through his mind when he was doing all of this was 'I'm going to stake myself if Gunn comes in right now. I think I would prefer death to all of the teasing he would do for the rest of his existence'. He just kept saying to himself 'It's all for Cordy, it's all for Cordy, it's all for Cordy'.

"Mmmmm what do I have in my lovely basket for my Grandmother." Cordelia came over and sat on the side of the bed. She hadn't really looked towards the bed yet, mostly because it was dark in the room and there was only a small oil lamp on.

As she pulled out a piece of meat and lifted it up to give it to Angel she saw him with the bonnet, night gown and the sheets between his teeth. Angel dropped the sheet and took the piece of meat.

With out warning Cordelia fell backwards on the bed, laughing so hard that she fell off of the bed and onto the floor. Angel jumped down and of course the bonnet and the nightgown came with him. He started to lick her face all over. Cordelia couldn't stop laughing though. Every time she was able to open her eyes so she could see him again she would start laughing uncontrollably again. Finally Angel pulled away from her, slipped out of the nightgown and changed back to his human form.

Cordelia was still laughing but as he changed and checked himself she started to calm down and crawled over to him. She kneeled in front of him and said "I'm sorry Angel I know that I asked for this and you went through a lot of trouble to set this up but when I saw you sitting on the bed with the bonnet on and the night gown with the ruffles around the neck I just couldn't help my self."

To show how sorry she was she started kissing him all over. To encourage her to go further down he would pretend he was sniffling and rubbing his tears away. When she was done giving him the Cordelia special Angel just laid there for few minutes while his heart started to slow down. With out warning Angel grabbed his wife and had her little red outfit off of her in seconds. "Now I am going to show you what it is like for a big bad wolf to come after you and ravage you." He forced her to kneel while he entered her from the back and vigorously pumped her until they both came at the same time. After several more strokes they both collapsed on the floor.

After Cordelia regained her normal breathing pattern she said "I do like this game. We'll have to do it again before you get to old to do it". She didn't get any reply though all she heard was the soft rhythmic breathing coming from her husband. As she had done so many times before Cordelia reached for the sheet and blankets from the bed and covered Angel and herself. She turned to him and curled up against him for warmth. Right now and for a short time she knew he would radiate warmth but slowly become just moderately warm.

The next day they went downstairs early. Everyone else was up also. It was going to be a very busy day today for everyone. What they thought was a potential client came walking in with two other men. They all were dressed like they belonged to gangs. Gunn and Angel stood up as the men walked in as though they owned the place.

Without warning they pulled out some mean looking hardware and took aim at Gunn. Angel attempted to disarm them before they could fire but was too late. The first man fired several rounds into Gunn's upper torso and it literally spun him around. Since Cylindia was right next to him she caught several rounds as well. The intruder to the left saw Angel coming at him and shot several random shots at where he thought he saw him. Angel felt one of the bullets hit his head, another one hit his left shoulder and the third one hit the floor. As head injuries usually did Angel's injury started to bleed all over his face.

Tom jumped at the center man at the same time and gave him a flying kick to his head. Giles threw a knife at the third man; it hit him in his arm which forced him to drop his weapon and started running towards the front doors. Cordelia looked at Kathleen. "Lock the door Kathleen." Kathleen looked at the doors and they locked. She did the same to the back also. Toby ran after the man that tried to get out. He knocked the man down and stood over him. When the man tried to get away Toby let him know that it wasn't a good idea. He was such a large dog now that his very size scared the man senseless. Little Vicky came up to him and was tearing at his pants leg. He had to let her do it though because if he made any move Toby would explain to him once again why he shouldn't move. When all of the commotion died down Giles went to the phone and called 911. Before the police and ambulance came they removed Angel to the clinic.

Dr. Thompson had grabbed onto Hunter and pulled her down to the floor when the men started firing their guns. They were both up now and attending to Gunn and Cylindia. Peter had run to his daughter and the rest of the children to pull them to safety on the floor and under the tables. As soon as the gun fire stopped he went to the phone after Giles was done and called the head boy with Gunn's group. The young man he had called had taken the name of Phoenix. Phoenix was 21 years old and was second in command of the group. Everyone listened to him as though he was Gunn.

"Hello Phoenix?" "This is Phoenix." "Phoenix this is Peter there has been a hit on Gunn over at the Hotel. Three gang members came in here blasting and shot up Gunn pretty bad. They got Cylindia also. Get over here fast so you can identify them before the police and ambulance come." "We'll be there in 15 minutes." Peter hung up the phone and went to help with the children. His daughter, Leilani, was still crying so he picked her up. Fred was taking care of her boys and Connie had both Nicky and Mike along with Junior.

Dr. Martin was attending to Angel while Mike had his hands full trying to stop Gunn from bleeding to death. Hunter was taking care of Cylindia who had been hit in her left shoulder and arm.

"Tom can you help me put Gunn on the table so I can work on him?" Connie and Joaquin came over and cleared the table of all dishes and glasses. Gunn was such a tall man that it took Mike, Giles and Tom to pick him up and put him on the table. Just as they did this the ambulance, Paramedics and Police all arrived and came running through the front doors. While the Paramedics helped Mike to stabilize Gunn before they moved him another group of Paramedics came in and started attending to Cylindia. In the mean time Connie and Lucinda took the children up to the third floor so that they wouldn't have to see anymore or say something that the adults didn't want them to say. Kathleen was the only one to stay downstairs. When she saw the police approach the doors she took the locks off of both the back and front doors. When the police came in they started taking care of the three intruders. When it came time to pick up the man that the dogs had they were afraid to come forward.

Cordelia heard this going on. "Kathleen go and pull Toby and Vicky off of the man they have on the floor." Little Kathleen came in between the circle of big, tuff men and called to Toby. "Toby come. Vicky come." Toby relaxed and came over to her but Vicky was still chewing on the man's pant leg so Kathleen had to put a picture in her head for her to come. As soon as she came to Kathleen the officers cuffed the man and picked him up. The other two were also cuffed and had been taken to the police cars outside. The Detective in charge of the situation was talking to Giles and Wesley to find out what happened. There wasn't much to say other than that they came in uninvited and started shooting at Gunn who was the apparent target.

"I'm sorry Detective but you'll have to wait and speak to Charles Gunn when he comes out of surgery as to why those men wanted to kill him."

Phoenix came in as the paramedics were taking Gunn and Cylindia to the ambulance. Gunn was unconscious so he couldn't speak to him. He went over to the police car where he saw three men in the back. Phoenix looked carefully at them then went into the Hotel and headed straight for Peter. "What happened?" Peter proceeded to tell him what had happened. The Sergeant came over to see who the young man was.

"May I ask who you are?" "This is Phoenix officer he works with Charles Gunn." Peter told the Detective. Everyone in the L.A.P.D. knew Gunn and what he did. Many of the officers would hand out Gunn's business card to those kids on the streets that didn't seem to want to be part of the sub culture that ran the streets so they would point them in Gunn's direction.

"Do you know why those men that are in the back of the police car would attack Gunn?" "Yeah, they're mad at him for taking away so many of their potential gang members. They've been threatening him for a long time and I guess they thought today would be the day. They lose a lot of members to gang fights and they have to constantly recruit new ones." The Detective was taking everything down as Phoenix was talking.

"Okay Phoenix where can we reach you if we need to talk to you again?" "You can call Peter here and he'll know where I am." "Okay, thanks for your help." The Detective left then and all of the others, crime scene investigators, and police officers left also. Peter joined Wesley in the clinic.

Dr. Martin had just finished removing the bullet from Angels shoulder and was bandaging his head up. "How's he doing?" Peter asked Wesley. "So far he seems to be okay. The head wound has Dr. Martin worried more than the shoulder wound. Angel has had a lot of injuries to his head and he hasn't regained consciousness yet."

Dr. Martin told Giles to bring the gurney over so they could take Angel upstairs and put him in his own bed. Wesley and Giles pulled the bed over to Angel. Giles, Wesley and Peter got on one side of the bed and Joaquin, Cordelia and Tom got on the other. At Giles count of three they pulled Angel onto the gurney and took him upstairs. Everyone else left once they had him settled in. Cordelia and Kathleen stayed with Angel, along with Toby and Vicky. Mike and Nicky were upstairs in their room with the other boys and Leilani. Connie and Joaquin kept watch over them as they put them down for a nap. Both Mike and Hunter had gone to the hospital with the ambulance. Fred was waiting for Wesley to come out to the front where she was waiting for him in her van. Giles and Tom joined him. As soon as they were in Fred took off.

When they arrived they went straight to the surgical floor. Giles let the nurse at the nurse's station know that they were there for Charles Gunn and his wife Cylindia Gunn. The nurse went into surgery to inquire about there progress. She was told that Cylindia had already been taken to a room but her husband, Charles Gunn had just come out of surgery and was taken to the ICU. Hunter and Mike were in there with the Doctor that had operated on him. When they came out the nurse told them that he had visitors.

As Mike and Hunter approached Giles, Wesley and Fred all stood up. "How is he?" "He's in bad shape Wesley. One of the bullets hit his spine. They don't know if he'll walk again. They said it will be nothing short of a miracle if he walks again. They've removed the bullets and made the repairs to his spinal column but it's all up to him now. I also have to tell you that Cylindia was pregnant but she lost the baby." Hunter told them.

"Well we can't do anything here so we might as well go home for now. We can come back tonight to check on Cylindia. Mary will most likely want to come and check on them tonight anyway." Giles told everyone. "How is Angel doing?" Hunter asked.

"He had a bullet in his shoulder that Mary has already removed but the injury to his head is the one that has her worried. When we left he still hadn't regained consciousness. Mary said the longer he remains unconscious the worse things can be." They all left then and returned to the Hotel.

"Maybe we should contact Connor Wesley." Fred said. "I am going to wait until tomorrow before I call him. In the meantime I am going to call Morgan and ask if he can send Richard over here." Wesley said. "That's a good idea." Giles said.

As usual Dr. Martin stayed in her son's room during the night. She was tired and she knew it was because she hadn't been paying attention to her diet and was grabbing a bite here or there wherever she could and her sugar must be high. Since she hadn't eaten in a while nor had she taken any of her pills since the morning she got up and went to her room to check her sugar level and take her pills. After she took it she slapped her self. The meter read 245. I have got to get this under control. She wrote the number down on a card where she kept track of her readings and took her pill then went back down to Angel's room. When she went back in she found Angel sitting at the kitchen table with a glass of blood.

"How are you feeling?" "I have a bad headache and my shoulder hurts but that's about it. What happened after I was shot?" Dr. Martin brought him up to date.

"Did Wesley call Connor?" "No he wanted to wait until tomorrow. I guess he wanted to give you a chance to come around. He called Richard though and asked him to come and stay with us for awhile to help out with the business and any missions that Cordelia sends them on." "Good, I don't want to ruin Connors honeymoon unless absolutely necessary. I think I'll go back to bed now. You can go back to your bed now Mom." "Okay Angel, goodnight." She gave him a kiss on his forehead then left.

The next day Angel went to the hospital with his Mom, Giles, Wesley, Hunter and Mike. Cordelia was staying home to get Gunn and Cylindia's room ready for the men to bring up the hospital bed.

When they arrived at Gunn's hospital room they found Cylindia at his side. "Well it looks like it's finally your turn." Wesley said with a smile. Dr. Martin and Hunter gave him a kiss and hug while the men shook his hand gently.

"I knew I couldn't stay lucky forever. I bet you two can hardly wait to get me to the torture chamber." Wesley rubbed his hands together and gave an evil laugh.

They all laughed at him. "I'm sure you have already been told that I may never walk again." They could see Gunn's eyes starting to tear up as he said it. "What we have been told is that it's all up to you and how bad you want to walk again. When we get you home Gunn Mom and I will start working with you." Angel told him. "Why do you say Dr. Martin and you and not Wesley and you?" "I said Mom and I because we have to get your mind going in the right direction first. Tomorrow Mom and I will come back and start with you. Come up with your own scenario to start to get your spinal column to heal. Do it in the same way that I told you to imagine that you were clearing your sinuses. Do you understand what I'm talking about Cylindia?" "Yes I think so Angel I'll work with him as much as possible. Right now I think he needs to rest." "Okay Gunn we'll see you tomorrow." Angel said as he turned to leave.

As they were leaving they saw the detectives that came to the hotel yesterday. "Mr. Price I've been told that Mr. Gunn is awake now. Is he alone now?" "His wife is with him but that's all. My name is Dr. Martin may I ask who you are?" "I'm Detective Quinn Dr. Martin and I was at the hotel yesterday. My partner, Detective Marino, and I have been given control of the investigation." "I am Charles Gunn's family physician. I was busy with another patient at the time that you came to the Hotel. Gunn is resting right now Mr. Quinn you can go in and question him but don't push him to hard. It would be better if you could wait to speak to him tomorrow. He'll be better able to give you the information you need at that time." "I promise that we will only be in there a short time. May I ask what your name is sir I don't remember seeing you at the Hotel yesterday?" Quinn asked Angel when he saw the bandage on his head and the bulky bandage on his shoulder.

"I am Angel Martin. Gunn is an associate of mine and works with me at Angel Investigations." Quinn's eyes opened wide when Angel gave his name.

"You're thee Angel, your son is Connor Martin?" "Yes to both questions." Angel answered. "Sir I am Detective Quinn I was in with the group of Police Officers that went into Wolfram & Hart and rescued your wife and daughter." Quinn said in a low voice as he reached out to shake Angel's hand. Angel took his hand and Quinn shook it vigorously.

"Thank you for all of your help Detective Quinn. If you should ever need my help please don't hesitate to call me." Angel and the rest left then and returned to the Hotel.

For the next six months Angel, Dr. Martin and Wesley worked with Gunn. Angel, with Dr. Martins help taught him how to meditate and concentrate on getting his spinal column to heal. By their fourth session Gunn was able to move his toes and that's when they started putting him through sessions with a therapist. By the third month Gunn started to get his feeling back in his legs. All of his little jokes and jibes came back to Gunn now to haunt him. Everything that he had ever said to Angel and Wesley when they were laid up with injuries were now being used by his two victims as they helped him to walk back and forth to the bathroom or to do just about anything. The first time Gunn came down to join the rest at the dinning room table Angel and Wesley took the seats right across from him. They had cooked up this little torture session because Gunn was feeling pretty depressed. They had even made up a list of all the things he had teased them about so they would be sure to get everything in. By the time they were all done eating Gunn was in a lot better mood.

"Okay Angel and Wesley I think you've just about exhausted your list and it's time to put a stop to all of this." Dr. Martin told them. Wesley and Angel looked at each other. "Do you think we've cleared everything Angel?" "Yeah I guess so. Gunn might go and cry on Dr. Martins shoulder if we don't stop. Besides we still have up until the day he can finally walk on his own." Angel and Wesley got up then and they each gave a wicked laugh.

Connor and Lou were sitting next to Fred. Connor had been working with the L.A.P.D. for several months now so he leaned over and said "If they continue to tease you Gunn I can ask the guys to keep an eye on them. You know how they always say the police lay speed traps for people." Connor didn't say anything more and just let it go at that.

"Kathleen and Junior if you're done with your supper lets go up to 412 for your catechism lessons." "We're done Grandma." Kathleen said as she got up. They both got up and started clearing the children's table. Now that they were getting older both Connie and Cordelia had agreed on giving them chores to complete everyday. One of their chores was to set the children's table for each meal and to clean it. Junior was given the chore of taking everyone's trash out each day. Kathleen had to help Connie in the kitchen for at least one hour each day in preparation for Supper. Kathleen was tall enough to reach the stove safely and do things like stirring a pot of pudding. Little by little Connie gave her things to do that were teaching her how to cook. Kathleen especially liked to bake her Daddy's bread three times a week.

When they were done cleaning the table they went to their rooms to get their books and then made their way to 412. Dr. Martin filled her coffee cup then made her way upstairs. She had started these Catechism classes just recently. Kathleen would be 7 yrs. old this year and Junior had just turned 8. She was planning on them being ready for their First Holy Communion by Easter of next year. Besides getting Kathleen and Junior ready for their big day she was also giving Connor and Lou instructions so that they could receive Confirmation. Tom was receiving classes for his Baptism and First Holy Communion separately since he was an adult and going to school at the same time. He had finally passed his GED during the beginning of the school year and was now busy going to UCLA along with Peter.

At 8 P.M. Cordelia had a Vision which sent Angel, Connor, Lou and Tom off to La Puente in the San Gabriel valley. The visions the PTB were sending Cordelia were frequently sending the team there. Demons and Vampires had started to infiltrate the area more and more as the gang activity picked up. They were taking care of at least 2 each week which was putting a strain on Connor since he wasn't getting much sleep. Toby was doing okay since he didn't have to drive and was able to take a nap whenever they were traveling around the city.

They were able to clear things up early tonight and returned to the Hotel by 11. "How did it go? Is everyone alright?" Cordelia asked Angel as he came back in. "Everyone is okay, the victims are okay and I am going to take a soak in the whirlpool." "Why are your muscles hurting you?" "Yes." "Would you like me to give you a massage?" "Yes, pretty please." Angel said in a pleading tone. "Okay then come back out here and take your clothes off." Angel did as she said and by the time he had disrobed she had the sheet and towels down on the floor.

Angel slept a deep peaceful sleep that night. The next morning he awoke before his wife did. He just laid there thinking. He reached over and picked up the picture of his Mother and Sister and looked at it for awhile. As he had done so many times before since Wesley had given him the picture he ran his fingers over his mother's picture. Cordelia was watching him. She knew that Angel was in pain but not the physical kind. She reached for him and gave him a kiss. "Good morning." "Good morning my beloved." Angel answered her.

"Get up and get dressed Angel. I want to take you someplace and I don't want you to ask me any questions." Angel did as she said without questions. As they left their room Cordelia went over to Wesley and Fred's room and slipped a piece of paper under the door. She rejoined Angel and they went downstairs, to her van and took off. It was 9 o'clock when they reached Fr. Barris's church. Cordelia took Angels hand and led him to the small room that was to the side of the altar. It was the same room that Angel had spent 48 hours in while hugging the Blessed Sacrament to his chest. At that time Fr. Barris had given Angel his own private key to the church.

Cordelia knew that Angel always felt better when he was able to spend time here. There life had been so busy lately that he hadn't been able to get in any meditation time. Cordelia knew that for Angel it was essential. He frequently became depressed when he couldn't have his time.

For the next 5 hours Angel and Cordelia stayed in the room. Cordelia would only leave to use the bathroom at the entrance to the church. After 5 hours Angel finally stood up and whispered to Cordelia. "Let's go home." Angel was quiet during the ride home and Cordelia didn't try to coax him into a conversation.

They were both hungry when they returned since they had left without having breakfast or lunch before returning. After going to the bathroom Cordelia made sandwiches for them then they went upstairs to their own room. When Angel finished his sandwich he went to the phone and called upstairs to see if Dr. Martin was in her room.

"Hello." "Mom this is Angel can I come up to your room to talk to you?" "Sure Angel come up." "Let's go talk to Mom and Giles for a while Cordy." Cordelia followed Angel upstairs. Angel knocked on the door. Giles answered the door and let them in. "Come in Angel and Cordelia." "Giles, do you mind if I talk to Dr. Martin alone?" "No I have some work to do at the store anyway. I'll be back for Supper Mary." Giles left then and Angel and Cordelia came and took a seat at the kitchen table while Dr. Martin poured some coffee for them.

"What's all of the mystery about Angel?" "Cordelia and I have been at the church for the past 5 hours Mom. I guess Cordelia has finally figured out what I need when I start getting depressed. Mom I had a visitor while I was there. You can probably guess who it was." "Sr. Margaret?" "Yes and she has a warning for you. She said that you need to buckle down and control your Diabetes or it's going to get worse fast. She also had some other news that depending on who you are you may or may not consider it to be good news. She said that God has shortened the length of time that some of us will have left in this world. She wouldn't tell me who or how long we have before we start dieing only that everything will be okay and the young people will rise to the occasion. Then she left me after giving me her blessing."

"What brought this about Angel? I mean the depression." Dr. Martin asked.

Angel was quiet while he thought on what his answer would be. "I'm tired Mom. I'm tired of living." "I've been watching you Angel and I could see you becoming more and more depressed ever since Wesley gave you the picture of your Mother and sister." "Yes I believe your right. I frequently stare at it for an hour or more. Instead of meditating like I should be I stare at my mother's picture for hours on end." "I thought that, that must be it. Would you like to go back to your childhood Angel and spend some time with your Mother?" "Yes I would like that very much." "Okay then we'll start tonight after Supper."

When Angel and Cordelia left Dr. Martin received a call from her doctor.

"Hello this is Dr. Martin." "Dr. Martin hi this is Dr. Phillips. Can you and your husband come in tomorrow?" "This is about the blood tests you did last week isn't it?" "Yes it is." "Usually when we tell a patient to come in and see us means that we want to break bad news to the patient personally. So since I know the little game we play, please do me a favor and tell me the results now." "Okay Mary I won't delay it any longer. I think you have a good idea as to what it is. Mary your cancer has returned."

TBC………………………………………………………………………………


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"You have AML, Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I won't go over all of the treatments that are available to you since you're a Doctor I am sure you know all about them and their side affects. It's my guess Dr. Martin that the susceptibility to cancer runs in your family and if you are able to research the death of your ancestors I am sure you would find that most of them died of some form of these growths. It's the only thing that can explain the growths found in your uterus and now the Leukemia." Dr. Philips said. "I think your right, my mother died of breast cancer and my father died of some kind of bone cancer. I was pretty young when he died so I don't remember too much. I do remember my mother saying that cancer seemed to run in my father's family. His father and an older brother died of cancer when he was very young."

Dr. Martin and Rupert held hands as Dr. Philips informed them of what type of cancer she had.

"Most likely I will choose to just let the Leukemia run its course but I have to talk it over with Rupert. I'll call you tomorrow to let you know what we have decided. I need to ask you one thing though. If I go for the treatment what is the prognosis as compared to not taking it?" "Three to four months without, five years to indefinite with it." "Thank you Dr. Philips I'll call you tomorrow like I said."

Dr. Martin and Rupert left and returned to the Hotel without letting on to anyone as to what they were dealing with. She looked at each person at the table as though she was looking at them for the last time. While Mary was watching everyone else Angel was watching her.

At the end of the meal Dr. Martin stood up and said, "Angel would you come up to my room for a few minutes when you have time." She paused for a few seconds and was looking down at the table when she finally said "I have something that I have to talk to you about. Goodnight everyone." Everyone answered with a goodnight and Dr. Martin and Giles went upstairs.

Everyone looked at Hunter. "What's wrong with her Hunter?" "You know that I can't tell you anything." Hunter just smiled at everyone. "The only way that you're going to find out is if you go up there and ask her." Angel stood up then and stretched his back. "I'll see you as soon as I find out what's going on okay." He gave his wife a kiss then went up stairs.

The door was open when he arrived at his mother's room. "Can I come in?" "Come in Angel and close the door." Dr. Martin told him. Giles and Mary were sitting at the couch and just watching the planes landing and taking off at the L.A. Airport. Mary patted the couch next to her and Angel sat next to her. He could feel his heart starting to beat faster. For some reason he was starting to be afraid. He didn't know why but he had a feeling of dread.

Dr. Martin took Angel's hand in both of hers. "Angel I went to see Dr. Phillips today. Remember how tired I was before Christmas and I had told Dr. Fernando that I couldn't help him at the Free Clinic anymore?" "Yes I remember." Angel said as he looked carefully at his mother. She kept her head down though and wouldn't look at him.

"He saw how tired I looked and insisted that I let him check me and perform some tests on my blood. When he got the tests back he found that I had Diabetes. He talked to Hunter, who had gone with me to see him a second time and she has been helping me get my blood sugar under control. I didn't know it at the time but he had also sent my blood to a lab to get a full spectrum test. It's a test that looks for anything unusual and gives a white and red blood cell count. Two days ago I received a call from my doctor, Dr. Phillips. Apparently Dr. Fernando had contacted Dr. Phillips when he received the results and he called me with the results." She paused for a second and looked directly into her son's eyes.

"Angel he told me that I have cancer again, but a different type. Rupert and I went to see him yesterday. He said that the tests show that I have Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML for short. If I choose not to have chemotherapy and perhaps radiation treatment I have 3 to 4 months to live. With treatment and only if they can get it to go into remission I should have at least 5 years or longer to live." Angel closed his eyes as he digested the information that his mother just gave him.

"What have you decided to do?" Angel asked as he looked at her again. They could see his blood red tears beginning to fall. He quickly wiped them away with his hand.

"I haven't decided yet. I am sure that you have heard how devastating chemotherapy is. Since Rupert was with me when I went through it during my first cancer battle he knows how hard it was on me. But Angel this battle will be much harder on me because most likely the chemo needed will be much stronger then the radiation treatment will continue to make things hard on me. My immune system will be almost non existent until I can be given drugs to help build it up again. I am going to be very; very sick Angel and no one will be able to come into my room without wearing a mask and gown for awhile once my immune system is weakened. Worst of all I am going to lose the hair that you and Rupert love so much. I have to be honest with you and Rupert. I am afraid of all of the suffering that I will go through and I did tell Dr. Phillips that I probably would not take the treatments.

Now that I have you sitting beside me though I am reminded of what you told Wesley. You told him that when we need it we will have the courage to do battle because of the love that we have for our family. The love of family can make us go through anything and Angel I want to see my grandchildren grow up. I want to see the beautiful, powerful woman that Kathleen will grow up into and I can't do that unless I choose to suffer now. It's going to be almost as hard on you and Rupert as it will be on me. No one can suffer this but me Angel. All you and Rupert can do for me is to be there for me when I need you. Best of all though Angel will be that I can offer my suffering up to God for you and hopefully ease some of your suffering." Angel took his mother into his arms and hugged her closely.

"When do you want to tell the rest?" Angel asked her. "I am going to leave that up to you to tell them. As soon as I find out from Dr. Phillips when I will start the treatments, Rupert and I will take a quick trip to Sunnydale and let them know then we'll be back the next day." Angel let his mother go then he got up and went to Rupert who stood up also. He hugged him and told him "I'll be with you and mom all the way Giles, don't forget that." "Thank you Angel I think our family will have to really pull together to get the matron of the family through this. After all it's like Lucinda says Mary is the only one that can countermand your order." They hugged each other one last time then he left.

The next day Dr. Martin called Dr. Phillips early in the morning and told him that she would go through with the chemotherapy. He was able to get an appointment for her, with a specialist, late in the evening. Giles told everyone that they were going to go out for dinner and they probably wouldn't be back until after 7.

Angel was in his bedroom with Cordelia when he heard Giles and Dr. Martin return. He waited awhile for them to get settled then he went upstairs. He knocked at the door softly.

"Come in Angel." Dr. Martin called out. "How did you know who it was?" "Who else could it possibly be? I'm surprised you were able to wait this long." "Very funny, what did the doctor say?" "He said he has already talked to Dr. Phillips and they want to start the chemo ASAP. Monday morning I'll be going to the hospital to start the treatments. Rupert and I will leave tomorrow morning to go to Sunnydale and let them know what is happening and we'll be back on Sunday afternoon." Dr. Martin said as she sat down at the kitchen table with her favorite drink, Cherry Cola.

Angel reached over and took his mothers hand in his. "Open your mind to me Momma. Clear your mind of all of your worries." Dr. Martin did as Angel said. As she closed her eyes she felt Angel's strength and courage seep into her mind and body. In return she thought of Christ standing in front of them with a smile and his arms open wide. They opened their eyes after a few minutes and Angel gave his mother a kiss then left.

The next morning Giles and Dr. Martin left right after breakfast. All they told the rest was that they were going to Sunnydale for just one night and they would be back the next evening. At Supper, when they usually were all there at the same time, Angel broke the news to everyone. Everyone was quiet for awhile as they absorbed what they had just been told. Angel kept the news that Sr. Margaret had given him, about their time being cut short, to himself.

After Supper there was more then one person that visited the chapel that evening. Angel called Fr. Barris also and let him know about Dr. Martin and asked that he offer the 9 o'clock mass tomorrow for her. After he talked to Fr. Barris he called Morgan up. The next morning the first 4 pews at Mass were filled with people that knew Dr. Martin. Everyone offered up their prayers for her that day.

At 6 P.M. Dr. Martin and Rupert came through the back doors. Everyone greeted them as they passed them in the hall or in the lobby but no one brought up the subject of her cancer. All of the children were upstairs on the third floor so they didn't see her as they came in.

At 7 everyone came down for supper and was at the dinning room table when Giles and Dr. Martin came down. As usual, Kathleen tapped her glass so that everyone would quiet down and listen for her to start the thanksgiving prayer.

"We would like to thank you Jesus for this food that we are about to eat. We would like to thank you for giving Mrs. Sanchez the talent to make food so delicious. Most of all Jesus we would like to pray for Grandma. Please hold her hand as she goes through the suffering of the chemotherapy. Give her the courage that she needs and when she can't stand it anymore take our prayers and turn them into courage for her to continue. We are not ready to let her go yet and we pray that she will be allowed to be with us longer. Thank you and Amen." Dr. Martin got up and went to Kathleen and kneeled by her chair and hugged her. Kathleen kissed her grandma and hugged her as tight as she could. After a few minutes Dr. Martin got up and they both went back to their chairs. No more was said about the chemotherapy that was to start the next day.

Over the next several weeks they watched Dr. Martin slowly become weaker as she went through the treatment. The dark circles under her eyes became darker as the skin was stretched over her cheek bones and eye sockets. On one of her better days Cordelia took her to her beauty salon and at Dr. Martins request they cut her hair and gave her a soft perm. They had put a rubber band around the hair before cutting it so they were able to neatly put it into a box which she took home with her. The whole experience left her very tired so she went right to her bedroom. She was too tired to even come down for supper so Connie fixed her a tray with soup and a sandwich which Giles took up to her after he finished his supper. She had been sleeping when he went down for supper so he didn't rush back to her.

Sometime after the chemotherapy had started Giles woke up to his wife shaking as though she were cold. Her teeth were chattering and she couldn't get warm no matter how many blankets Giles put on her. When he tried talking to her she didn't wake up so he tried to lightly slap her face several times but she still didn't respond. He called Hunter and Mike to come and check her. They both came over in their bathrobes. As soon as Mike saw her he pulled a sample of blood from her and went downstairs to check it. With all of the vomiting Dr. Martin was doing they had prepared themselves for this very problem. When he came back upstairs he had several bags that they would administer to her intravenously. As her electrolytes slowly came back up to a more normal level she stopped her teeth chattering and shaking. She slept more peacefully now. From then on they gave her a Gatorade and Smart Water every day. These drinks were full of the essential minerals that would replace her lost electrolytes every time she drank them.

Mike took care of Mary most of the time since Hunter was getting progressively more and more uncomfortable as her stomach provided a major obstacle to her movements. She was due in three weeks and could barely move without assistance from Mike. Cylindia stayed with Dr. Martin 16 hours a day and only left her side when she went to bed. The 2nd month they started the radiation treatment along with another set of drugs. Now every time she was able to get up she would leave a lot of her hair on the pillow. By the third week she started wearing a bandana to hide her sparse hair that was only left in patches now. When anyone came to visit with her they had to wear a mask and gown in order to come into the room.

At the beginning of Mary's 2nd week of radiation treatment Hunter went into labor. Because of Hunter being such a small woman they knew ahead of time that she would have to deliver by Cesarean. As she approached her last two weeks Mike had called Spike to come and spend the next 2 weeks with them as she came close to the end of her pregnancy. With Dr. Martin unable to perform the Cesarean Mike was going to need his help. Just to make sure though Mike asked Wesley if he could set up a camera over the operating table that could feed into a TV in Dr. Martin's room. He would then be hooked up to a speaker and microphone so that Dr. Martin could speak to him if she saw something that they were doing wrong. Cylindia and Fred stood on the side to except the baby and clean it up.

Within 20 minutes of starting they had the baby out. Unfortunately they had to take her uterus out as well along with the afterbirth. When Mike and Spike saw it and then showed it to Dr. Martin they could see that she was meant to have just one baby. They could see that this one baby was a miracle and a gift from God. Hunter had been awake through the whole thing and Mike showed her the condition that her uterus was in. While Spike was sewing Hunter back up Fred asked Mike and Hunter what the baby's name would be.

"His name is Michael Jefferson Thompson after my father." Mike smiled and kissed his wife.

Cylindia and Fred brought Michael Jefferson over to his parents and placed him in his father's arms. Mike bent down so that Hunter could see her brand new son. "He's beautiful Hunter. Every thing is where it is supposed to be and he has ten toes and ten fingers and it looks like his hair is going to be a solid black like yours." Fred said.

"You did a good job sweetheart." Mike said as he kissed his wife then his baby again. "Go and show him to the rest Mike then take him into the chapel and thank God for the gift that He has given us." Mike took him out into the Lobby and showed everyone the newest member of the Angel Investigations family. He held him up in the air and said "I present to you the newest member of the Angel Investigations family, Michael Jefferson Thompson." Everyone clapped then crowded around to take a good look at Jefferson.

"How is Hunter doing?" Cordelia asked. "She's doing okay except that we had to take her uterus out. If you had seen the condition it was in, in comparison to a normal uterus you would say that this child was a gift from God because it should not have been able to support the growth of a baby for nine months. It's my guess that Lou and Tom were born of two Vampires just for the purpose of joining Angel Investigations. Since their will most likely not be anymore pure Vampires in the group we have the next best thing."

When Mike went back into the clinic he found Hunter sleeping already. Spike was through with her and had her all cleaned up and the blanket wrapped around her. Fred came over to him. "Why don't you give me Jefferson Mike and I'll give him to the two Aunties that take care of all brand new babies. You go and take Hunter to bed. You can have your last long restful night." Fred laughed as she took Jefferson from his father. Mike bundled Hunter up and carried her upstairs to their suit of rooms. Willow and Tara had the bassinet all ready for the newest member. It was late at night now and everyone went to bed.

Dr. Martin had gone to sleep almost as soon as Jefferson was delivered. Her energy lasted for a very short time these days. Tonight Giles had managed to get her to eat a few spoonfuls of soup that Connie had made. Giles looked down at his once beautiful wife. Her beautiful hair was almost all gone now. Her skin was stretched tight over her facial bones. He thought she couldn't possibly weigh more than 80 lbs. now. Tomorrow he had to take her in for her last radiation treatment. The chemotherapy had ended yesterday. Sometime, during the course of her treatment, he thought never again will I ask her to go through this. Death is surely better than this. Then a quiet voice whispered to him, "Her time has not come yet Rupert, God still has work for her to do. Until her job is complete He will not call her home." Giles lay beside her and held her close to his chest.

Four days after their visit to Dr. Philips he called Dr. Martin with the test results. The cancer was in remission and they could start to rebuild her immune system. As soon as Mary told Rupert they hugged and cried in each others arms, he called downstairs to Angel and gave him the good news and at supper that evening he let everyone else know the good news. There wasn't a dry eye at the table and they each gave a silent prayer of thanks.

"Does this mean that I can go and see Grandma now?" Kathleen asked. None of the children had been allowed to go and see their Grandma while she was in such a fragile state. Wesley and Gun had set up cameras and microphones in the dinning room and the gym, so that she could continue to take part in some of the family activities.

Before the Sunnydale gang left two days later they went up to visit with Dr. Martin. Since her immune system was still weak everyone still had to put gowns, gloves, and masks on. Joyce couldn't understand why she couldn't give her Grandmother a kiss and hug like she did her Grandpa. Mary used the same idea with Joyce that she had used with Kathleen when she was little. She told Buffy to get her tube of very, very red lipstick and a clean Kleenex. She then told her to put it on Joyce's lips very thick. When she was done she gave the Kleenex to Joyce so she could place her kisses on it. Grandpa Rupert gave her an empty plastic sandwich bag and Buffy carefully put the Kleenex in the bag. "Now give this to your Grandma." Joyce gave the bag to her Grandma. You could see all of her little kisses on each square inch of the Kleenex.

"Thank you Joyce. When I am all better I am going to take out your kisses and put them all over my face then Grandpa will take a picture of me and you will be able to see all of the kisses that you have given me. Here Grandpa, would you put Joyce's kisses under my pillow until I am ready to have them?" Rupert carefully took the bag while Dr. Martin leaned forward and he placed the bag under the bottom pillow.

Everyone gave their good byes then they left to go home to Sunnydale. They made Giles and Dr. Martin promise to come for a visit as soon as she was able to. When everyone left Giles turned the lights off and opened the drapes. He wrapped his wife up in a protective blanket then helped her walk over to the couch. He made up a cup of broth soup that Connie had given him in a large container so that he could heat some up for Mary to drink whenever she felt she could keep it down. He made some coffee for himself then went to sit down next to his wife with his arm protectively around her. He turned the TV on and they watched Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Mary was quiet during the shows.

"Rupert I would like to go down to the chapel. Would you call Angel and ask him to meet us there?" "Yes I think that can be done but do you think it is wise to expose yourself to so many germs?" "God won't let anything happen to me yet." Giles called Angel's room but he wasn't there. He hung up and went over to the couch to pick up his wife. "Let me walk for awhile Rupert. I have to start exercising again." Giles wrapped his arm around his wife and held onto her hand. They slowly walked to the elevator and that was all that she had in her. Giles felt her start to tremble with fatigue and quickly picked her up in his arms.

As they arrived in the Lobby he saw Angel and the rest just sitting at the table and having coffee. "Angel, would you come with us to the chapel please?" When he saw the others start to get up he said "Mary just wants Angel right now." Angel got up and followed them into the chapel. Cylindia came running after them. "Wait a minute Giles let me spray the chapel with Lysol before you go in there." She grabbed a can of Lysol from Fred's desk in the clinic and took a few minutes to spray everything in the chapel. After a few minutes she came out and gave the okay. Angel went in first then Giles placed Mary between them.

"Give me a minute while I give thanks to Christ for carrying me through this ordeal then I want to pray the rosary." Angel put the padded kneeler down so that his mother could kneel. As she slid forward the blanket came off and Angel saw how bone thin she was. His mother made the sign of the cross then folded her hands together and leaned her head on her hands. She stayed in this position for the next 5 minutes. She was in such deep thought that she didn't notice everyone coming in to give thanks also. It started with Kathleen then Cordelia, Fred and the rest followed. The smaller children were sent upstairs to their room to play along with Junior, Toby and Vicky. As usual Kathleen started to say a prayer out loud. They all let her lead them in prayer because she seemed to have a gift for saying exactly what they all felt.

"Dear Heavenly Father we would like to thank you for letting Grandma stay with us. We know that you would like to have her come home but we still need her here with us. She always seems to know just what to say to make us feel better and to help us understand why some things happen. Besides Mommy said that she is the only one that can make Daddy behave himself sometimes. Amen." Everyone echoed her Amen and they all sat down while Cordelia started the Rosary. Usually it would be led by Mary but they all understood that she was too weak for this right now.

Twenty five minutes later they were done and they all started to file out and return to their rooms. Giles started to pick Mary up, who was already sleeping, but Angel put his hand on his arm to stop him. "Please let me carry her?" Giles stepped away then and let Angel carry his mother up to her bed. "Come with me Kathleen." Angel told his daughter. Kathleen held onto her Grandfathers hand as they went back to their room. Angel held onto his mother as Giles took the blanket off of his wife then he placed her on the bed in the middle. Giles pulled her slippers off then covered her again.

"Get on the other side of the bed Kathleen and take your shoes off then lay down next to Grandma. Giles this is going to take a while so you might as well take a seat on the couch." "What are you going to do?" "Kathleen and I are going to help Mom to get better a little faster. We're going to give her some of my strength and I hope that Kathleen will be able to make her hair grow back faster." Angel took his shoes and jacket off then lay down beside his mother also.

Angel pulled his Mothers scarf off and the full affect of her illness hit both Angel and Kathleen. Kathleen put her arm around her Grandmothers neck and cried for her. Angel was crying also as he saw more clearly how bad off his mother was.

"Kathleen I want you to hold onto your Grandmothers hand and put your other hand on her head. I want you to remember how pretty her hair was and concentrate on seeing it grow back. I am going to hold her hand but I am going to give her some of my strength so that she won't be so weak anymore. Close your eyes now and remember her pretty hair." Angel closed his eyes also and concentrated on giving her the strength to get better.

Thirty minutes later Angel felt Giles gently shaking his shoulder. "Angel you were falling asleep and you were starting to snore." "I don't snore, do I Kathleen?" He saw Kathleen starting to raise her head and let go of her Grandmothers hand. "I cannot tell a lie Daddy you do snore. You do like this." Kathleen lay on her back and started to imitate her Daddy with a loud snoring noise. Then she sat up and said "Who's that? Ummmmmm. Then you fall back to sleep again." Kathleen carefully rolled off of the bed and grabbed her shoes and ran out the door. Both men laughed at her as she ran out.

"Do you think you were successful?" Giles asked Angel. "Yes but we won't know for sure until she wakes up tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow Giles." "Good night Angel and thank you." Angel nodded towards Giles and closed the door as he left. Giles removed his clothes and got into bed with his wife. When she felt her husband next to her Mary turned towards him. Every time Giles put his arms around his wife he thought of how he could feel all of her bones. He cried silent tears for his companion in life.

The next morning before he opened his eyes he felt the pillow next to him and found it empty. Giles opened his eyes and looked around. He sat up and listened. He finally heard her in the bathroom humming to herself. He got up and knocked at the door. "Mary, are you alright? Do you need any help?" "No but you can come in and take a shower with me." He was surprised at the sound of her voice, it sounded so vigorous. "You sure seem to be feeling good this morning." "I do Rupert, I do. I don't know what happened but I feel so good this morning, better then I've felt in a long time. In fact I feel so good I …………." She turned around and started to kiss him. "Settle down girl I don't think you're ready for that yet. Let's get you cleaned up then well go downstairs for breakfast."

Giles helped Mary to get dressed when they got out of the shower. Just as they were about to go downstairs Cylindia knocked at the door. "Come in." Giles answered.

"Well good morning you two. You sure are looking chipper this morning Mary." "I feel good Cylindia, for the first time in so many months I actually feel good." "Well I have some magic elixir here for you that will start building your immunity back up again. You better let me give it to you in your hip because you don't have enough meat on your poor bones for me to give it to you in your arm. I think if I try giving it to you in your arm the needle will go right through to the other side." Mary stood up from the wheel chair while holding onto Rupert. Cylindia quickly gave her the shot. After sitting back down again she said "I can't wait for the day that I can be on the other end of the needle instead of me being on the receiving end."

"I talked to your Doctor this morning Mary he told me to make sure that you keep your distance from everyone else for awhile until we see your blood count come back to a more normal level. Now because you are so underweight we are going to give you something to eat every four hours. If you fight me on this then we will cut back on your exposure to anyone. Do you agree with me on this?" "Yes Dr. Cylindia, I'll be good."

When they arrived downstairs everyone stood up and clapped (from the other end of the table). The children all wanted to go and hug their Grandma but they had been carefully instructed that they couldn't do that yet.

"Thank you everyone I can't tell you how happy I am to be able to come downstairs for breakfast. Now that I see you Angel and how tired you look I know where I got my extra strength from. Thank you." "My pleasure Madam, I would give up anything to see the smile back on your face again. Kathleen helped me last night. I think it will be a few days before we know if what she did worked or not." "What did she do to me?" "It wasn't anything dangerous for her. I asked her to concentrate on making your hair grow back faster then it usually would. While she did that I was concentrating on giving you my strength. By this evening I should be back to normal all I need to do is get some more sleep and I'll be fine."

"Well now that I am feeling a lot better do you think I can have a nice breakfast of 2 soft boiled eggs and a few ounces of steak and 2 slices of toast Connie?" "Yes Dr. Martin, anything you want just tell me and I'll make it for you." "I am hungry for your excellent cooking but since my stomach has been abused so much I have to treat it with kid gloves for a while. You can keep plenty of Jell-O in the refrigerator for me though."

As soon as Connie brought Dr. Martin her breakfast the rest also sat down to eat theirs. Mary noticed while she was eating that Kathleen and Junior had graduated to the adults table.

"When did you and Junior start sitting at the adults table Kathleen?" Kathleen's Grandmother asked her. "Last month, Mommy and Mrs. Sanchez said that we were getting to big to sit in the little chairs anymore so we had to graduate to the big table. Junior and I still take care of the smaller kids though and Vicky has graduated to a regular chair now and sits next to Toby. Toby makes her behave just like Junior and I make the smaller kids behave." "Does she know how to say her prayer's like Toby does?" "No she's still working on that. I tried teaching her how to do it but all she can do so far is just sit quietly while we say our prayer of thanksgiving." "I guess you just have to give her a little time to grow up. It's a lot for such a little dog to learn." "Yes I think so too." Kathleen said.

As always Angel was very proud of his daughter. She could carry on a conversation with any adult. Even Wesley said she articulated herself very well. If it wasn't for the sound of her voice you would think she was an adult carrying on a conversation with another adult in another room.

A thought suddenly came into Angels mind. "Giles isn't it time for Kathleen to start studying with Willow and Tara?" "No I don't think so Angel but that's only because I think she is way beyond them. Even Willow, who is a powerful Witch, has said that Kathleen's power is way beyond her and that she should go to England to study with older more experienced Witches. Kathleen has a lot of power and she needs to learn when she should use it and when not to use it.

If it's okay with you and Cordelia I would like to take her to England this summer. If Mary is up to it she'll be coming with me to England for at least a month and I thought Kathleen could come with us at that time." Giles said as he sat back in his chair after pouring himself and his wife a cup of coffee.

Angel looked at Cordelia but she didn't say any thing and left it up to him. "What about her protection?" "We will be staying on the campus of the Watchers school and she will be surrounded by people that can sense any danger that may come near her. Also, as we have seen, Kathleen is more than capable of protecting herself." "When would you be going?" Angel asked. "That all depends on how fast Mary can get back to normal and her doctor gives her the okay to travel abroad. Since I am now the head of the Council everything will wait on me."

"What do you think Wesley?" Cordelia spoke up for the first time. "Yes she needs to go but I think it will be more so that she can be tested to see how far her power goes. Then she needs to learn when and where not to use it like Giles said. If Dr. Martin is able to go at the end of June when school will be out for the summer I was going to go at that time. I am going to take the boys and Fred to England with me so that my mother can meet the boys. My mother has said that my father has been seeing a Psychiatrist that works for the council and they are confident that he won't try anything like he did before. Just to make sure though he will not be allowed to come near her and I am sure that Dr. Martin will be able to explain everything to Kathleen." "Angel and I will discuss it later and we'll let you know by tonight." Cordelia told both Wesley and Giles.

Everyone, including Angel, took this as the end of the discussion about what would happen this summer.

After lunch Cordelia and Angel took a few moments to discuss whether they wanted to let their daughter go to England or not. Angel was able to convince Cordelia that Kathleen would be okay with so many people around to protect her and it would be a good experience for their daughter. Without warning Angel jumped up off of the bed and stood in front of the bed. He beat his chest and said "Everyone will be able to see that I, a Vampire, am capable of creating a beautiful, genius of a daughter." He beat his chest then and yelled like Tarzan.

Across the street those that kept a watch on the comings and goings of everyone in the Hotel had also recorded the conversation at the breakfast table that morning. They could no longer place microphones or cameras inside the Hotel but they had the option of more sophisticated listening devices and infrared cameras. Other men came into the building around 12 noon and relieved those that had been monitoring everything since 12 midnight. All recording tapes were then delivered to Lilah Morgan along with a report on the goings on at the Hotel.

As Lilah listened to the tapes and the conversation that took place at the Breakfast table a plan started to develop in her mind. The plan was based on something that she had wanted to do for a long time but the time and locations were not right until now.

For Dr. Martin her days were filled with eating, sleeping, and simply resting. By the end of her second month her Doctor told her that her immune system was now almost back to normal and she could start exercising to get back into shape. During the last week she had been feeling like a caged animal that had more energy then she had an outlet for. When they arrived home it was 6 in the evening. Mary went into the kitchen to see what Connie was fixing and told her that they would be having Supper up in their room. She gathered up something light to eat and took everything up on a cart to her bedroom.

She lit several candles around the whirlpool bath then started filling the bath. She called downstairs to Wesley's office then and told Giles they were going to have Supper in there room.

"Well I guess that was a hint to come up stairs now." Giles said as he hung up the phone. "I have a feeling that the drought is over for you." Wesley said with a smile. "I think so also. I don't know if I'll remember what to do it's been so long but I'm sure it will come back to me. I'll see you tomorrow." Giles took off then to the elevator and was at his own door within a few minutes. He opened the door carefully.

"Mary?" Giles called out. "I'm in the Whirlpool bath Giles. Come and join me." She didn't have to ask twice. Giles quickly took his clothes off and joined her. Mary leaned forward so he could slide in behind her. As he settled himself in she leaned against him. She had already bathed herself and washed her hair. Her hair was now shoulder length, thanks to Kathleen. She found that she liked it this length and wanted to keep it like it was but because Giles and Angel liked it long she decided to not cut it.

As they sat in the tub Giles ran his hands over her shoulders and massaged them. With all of the medication she had been taking her skin had become very dry and she often asked him to rub cream all over her. The bones, that he could feel only two months ago where now covered in healthy flesh. Her hair didn't grow back the same though. The texture had changed but he had learned that this was common for people that had gone through what she had. He knew that after a month or so of working out in the gym she would regain her muscle tone and she would be almost as beautiful as when he first saw her. Giles was anxious for the drought to end so he bathed himself after soaking for awhile then got out and pulled Mary out as well. As they dried each other off Mary threw the towel around his shoulders and stood on her toes and pulled his head down so she could reach his lips.

"Tell me what you are hungrier for my dear. Supper or me?" She started to kiss him and run her hands down his front and to the back as she grabbed his buns tightly. In answer Giles picked her up and took her into the bedroom after he paused for her to turn the lights off. For the next two hours they made love to each other until they fell asleep in each others arms. For the first time in what seemed like years Mary felt good. She was emotionally and physically satisfied. The suffering that she endured the past several months had left her mind for now and she slept a deep restful sleep.

June was quickly approaching and Dr. Martin was working hard in the gym to get back into shape. Angel and Cordelia often worked out in the gym in the early morning hours and Dr. Martin had adopted this time to work out also. By the end of the school year she went to her doctor for her regular checkup and to find out if he would give the okay for her to go to England.

"You've done an excellent job of getting back into shape Mary and I am giving you the okay to go to England. Don't forget to take your medication regularly and make sure that you don't tire yourself out too much with the sight seeing. You are not a young woman anymore my dear and you have to reign in your desire to help everyone that asks for it. It's time to take care of number one now okay?" "I won't make any promises on that because I know how weak I am when God comes knocking on my door because someone needs me." "Okay Mary I won't ask you to promise me then but I want to see you for a checkup in six months okay?" "I'll see you in 6 months then. Good bye."

Dr. Martin came running into the Hotel with a big grin. She found Giles raiding the refrigerator in the main kitchen. He put the carrot down on the table when he heard her come in. She ran into his arms. "I've been given a clean bill of health and we can go to England whenever you want." The kids came running downstairs when they heard their Grandma downstairs. They saw their Grandpa swinging their Grandma around the lobby.

"What happened Grandma?" Kathleen asked. "I've been given a clean bill of health and now I can hug and kiss all of my babies. I can even give Vicky a kiss." Mary knelt on the floor and hugged all of the children, even Leilani and the other children that went to school at the Hotel received kisses and hugs. And last but not least she picked up Vicky's front paws and let her lick her face and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

Mary stood up and said "Let's go to the chapel and you can all help me to give thanks to Jesus that He has made me well again." All of the children followed her over to the chapel and filed into the pews and kneeled like Kathleen, Junior and Grandma did. Mary made the sign of the cross then thanked God and His Son for making her well again. She led them in the Our Father then the Hail Mary then she put her forehead on her hands and gave a private thank you. After a few minutes she heard the children starting to get restless so she made the sign of the cross and they all got up and went back into the Lobby. The children all gave Grandma a kiss and hug then went outside to play until Gunn came to take the children that lived at Mrs. Benton's home.

At Supper they discussed when they would leave for England now that Dr. Martin had an okay from her doctor.

Dr. Martin came to the table dressed in a blouse and slacks. The slacks were black but the blouse was a silky forest green.

"Are you and Giles going out tonight to paint the town red, because if you are you need to get something flashy for Giles to wear also?" Gunn said when he saw Dr. Martin come down the stairs with Fred and Cordelia. Fred and Cordelia took their seats at the table and Dr. Martin did a little twirl to show off her new clothes. "How do you like it?" She asked Giles. He just looked at her for a moment then pulled his glasses off and cleaned them for maybe the 1,000th time.

"I don't know Angel do you think it's safe to expose her to the public at Lorne's bar?" "If you take some protection with you I think you'll be alright. Mind you now the protection is for the patrons at the bar, not for Mom." Angel said with a smile.

"Oh come on Rupert, I don't want to go to Lorne's bar. I want to go to Las Vegas for the night. It's only 7 o'clock and it takes about 4 hours to get there." "Wait a minute young lady I have a store to run I can't just run to Vegas at the drop of a hat." "Yes you can just put the sign up that says closed for inventory and we can take off." Giles thought about it for awhile then he looked at Angel. "You and Cordelia want to go with us?" Angel looked at Cordelia and she gave a yes along with a big smile. "My boss says it's okay. Shall we leave right after Supper?" "I guess so, at least as soon as the ladies can get ready. You better sit down and eat your Supper." "Yes dear." Dr. Martin sat down and started in on the food that Giles had put in her plate.

For the next 24 hours Mary Martin/Giles caught up on all the fun that she lost out on while she was sick in bed. She spent money like it was water. She bought all of the used dice that the casino store had in stock along with all of their used decks of cards. When they went home the back half of the van was filled with all of the gifts she had bought. They didn't even stop to sleep during those 24 hours. She played the slot machines until she became bored then she heard the people at the Crap tables having fun. She looked for Giles then. When she found him she said "Rupert lets go over to the Crap tables and teach me how to play." "I'm not that good at it Mary, lets find Angel, I think he likes playing the Crap tables. When they found Angel and Cordelia Mary pulled Angel by his arm over to the tables. "I want to learn how to play this." "Okay maybe you'll have beginners luck." For the next 3 hours they played.

They finally walked away with $5,000 dollars more then she started out with. Both of the ladies were so tired now that they just barely made it to the van. Angel and Giles got them in the van and they drove off and back to L.A. It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon and they had been playing for more than 14 hours straight. Fortunately, just as Angel was reaching his limit to be in the sun, it started to go down and he was able to drive all of the way home while the others slept. He was enjoying his nice quiet drive it gave him a chance to listen to the rest of the Harry Potter book that they had never been able to finish. Listening to the book helped to keep him from listening to Angelus.

At 7 o'clock Angel finally pulled up to the back of the Hyperion. He had hit the traffic just as people were going home from work and most of the time the traffic was crawling.

"Alright everyone we're home. Giles, Mom, and Cordelia wakeup we're home." As everyone started to wake up they realized how long it had been since they had last gone to the bathroom and it encouraged them to move faster. No one, but Angel, grabbed anything they just went running into the Hotel. Since everyone else was just getting ready to sit down for supper they all came out to see if Angel needed any help. He gave each of the children a small package to carry in while the adults took the larger items. By the time the other three travelers came back down everything was in and in the Lobby.

When they were done eating and just relaxing with a cup of coffee Dr. Martin was telling everyone about how much fun she had and especially her time at the Crap table.

"Before everyone leaves to go upstairs I want you to stop and take a few boxes of cards and a bunch of dice. What ever is left Gunn you can take for your kids. Along with the cards and dice I would like to give this to you for the kids also." Dr. Martin handed over the $5,000 that she had won at the Crap table. "Thank you Dr. Martin this will be put to good use." "I know it will Gunn. Now I want all of the children under 6 to come over here by my chair and line up so I can give you a present also. While they were getting in line she went to grab several of the bags of presents she had bought at the casino stores. Along with each gift she handed over a stack of 5 silver dollars. When the children were done with all of the thank you hugs and kisses, and had run back to their parents to show them what they got Dr. Martin called Kathleen and Junior.

"For you two I have special gifts. Junior here is an autographed jacket with all of the signatures from the L.A. Lakers. I also have a stack of silver dollars for you along with $500 dollars to spend as you like." Junior's eyes grew wide as he eyed the jacket "Oh Grandma Martin thank you, thank you very much." Junior gave her a hug and kiss then went running to his parents to show them the jacket.

Kathleen stood before her grandmother. "Last but not least for my grandchild and God Daughter a stack of silver dollars and this autographed poster of the original cast of Star Trek. I am also giving you $1,000 to spend as you like." "Thank you grandma but is it okay if I give it to Uncle Gunn?" "Yes you certainly may." "Here Uncle Gunn use this to help your kids." "Thank you Kathleen. I'll make sure that they know it came from you." "No, please don't tell them Uncle Gunn, Grandma says that a good deed is accepted by Jesus better when there are no strings attached." Kathleen turned and hugged and kissed her Grandmother. They could tell that Kathleen had whispered something to her Grandmother because when she pulled away and went upstairs her grandmother was crying.

Giles pulled his wife over to his lap. "What's wrong? What did Kathleen say that has you crying?" Dr. Martin looked over at Angel and Cordelia.

"Kathleen said that she didn't need any presents because God had already given her the gift of her Grandmother which was better then any amount of money that she could ever be given." Giles gave his wife his handkerchief so she could wipe her tears away and blow her nose. "Let's go to bed my dear I think we still have some sleep to catch up on." Giles lifted his wife up from his lap and they said goodnight to everyone then went upstairs holding hands.

When they left there wasn't a dry eye in the room. One by one they left to return to there own rooms. Cordelia and especially Angel were tired, but before going to bed, they went to see their sons. At first they just watched them through the slightly opened door. As always Nicky was telling the others what part they were to play in there current game and Mike was happy with whatever part he was given.

After a few minutes of playing quietly Nicky's true nature started to assert itself. They were playing with toy soldiers and Nicky didn't like the way everyone else's soldiers were ganging up on him and winning the war. When it was apparent that he was going to lose he picked up one of the toy jeeps and threw it at the Price boys. The jeep hit Robert above his left eye which caused him to fall against his brother whose head hit the corner of the night stand. That's when Angel and Cordelia went running in. Kathleen heard the commotion and came running into the boy's room right after them.

David was crying from the injury to the back of his head and Robert was crying because his head hurt where the toy hit his head and the blood was running down his face. When he felt the cut and saw the blood on his hand he started crying even louder. This of course brought Wesley and Fred upstairs. Angel picked up Robert and Wesley picked up David and they ran downstairs to the clinic. Cordelia ran upstairs to get Dr. Martin while Fred went to get Mike.

By the time Dr. Martin got downstairs the room was full of scared parents and crying children. She went to Robert first to check the cut on his head. After she cleaned the cut and his face she found just a slight cut that didn't even need stitches. Mike was checking on David and had an ice pack on the back of his head. Robert was arguing with Dr. Martin when Wesley put his son down on the floor. "But I need a bandage Grandma, just in case it starts bleeding again." Robert touched the cut and saw a tiny spot of blood on one finger. "See Grandma it's bleeding again." Dr. Martin looked at the tiny bit of blood. She almost couldn't see it, it was so small. "Okay I guess your right. Wesley, would you please put Robert back on the table?" Wesley did as she asked and when she came back to the table she had a roll of gauze and a large square bandage along with some tape. Even though the cut was only one quarter of an inch long she wrapped Roberts head up as though it was a deep gash. She knew that this was the most important part of the whole ordeal.

While Dr. Martin and Mike had been taking care of Robert and David the parents, along with Kathleen and Junior, were in the dining room.

Cordelia and Angel told Wesley, Fred, Kathleen and Junior what they had seen when the incident happened. "You and Junior seem to be doing a pretty good job of dealing with these types of problems so can you tell me if this happens very often?" "Yes it does. At first Nicky played with the rest pretty good. At least he didn't throw any Jeeps at the rest, anyway each time it has happened we separated him from the rest and he had to play by himself. The last time that this happened we told them that we would have to put him on trial and the rest would decide what his punishment would be." Kathleen told them.

"He's barely older than a baby Kathleen, does he understand what he is doing is wrong and what a trial is?" Cordelia asked. "Oh yes Momma he understands." Everyone noticed how Kathleen called her mother Momma instead of Mommy.

"Nicky is very smart Momma and he knows exactly what he is doing. He also knows that sooner or later I am going to bring his behavior to yours and Daddy's attention and then fun time will be over." "Do you agree with Kathleen Junior?" "Yes Mr. Martin Nicky has done something like this several times before. I think though that he is trying to see how far he can push us before we let you know what he is doing." Junior answered quiet seriously.

"Okay Kathleen and Junior would you do me a favor and you and Junior go into my office. We are going to talk about how we can help you to best handle this problem. I want to tell you that we think that you and Junior have been doing an excellent job and I think you deserve a raise. I am going to discuss this with Uncle Wesley later though and see how much of a raise we can give you." Angel told his daughter.

When Kathleen and Junior left Angel called his mother and Connor so that they could have his mothers input as a psychiatrist and Angel felt that since Connor was going to lead Angel Investigation he should be a part of handling this problem with Nicky. This problem could cause Connor a lot of problems if they weren't successful in getting Nicky to understand how wrong his behavior was. Within five minutes both Connor and Dr. Martin had joined them in the lobby. They all went to sit down at the dinning room table and Angel brought them up to speed.

"So what do you think about our son Mom. Do you think he is acting as he is because he is a carbon copy of old Dad or is this something new and specific to just Nicky?" Angel asked as he drank his glass of blood that he had warmed up. "I think that we all know the answer to that Angel and that you are asking me to see if I'll say no. Well I'm sorry my boy but it is my opinion that your first guess was correct. In Nicky's case Angel I think it would be best that you take him directly under your wing. Think of the way that you were before I arrived and apply the lessons that I taught you."

For the next 30 minutes they talked about how and when they would hold court. By the time they got up from the table it was late and past the time for the boys to go to bed. Angel went to his office and told Kathleen and Junior that they were going to let her hold court to decide what they were going to do with Nicky tomorrow morning after breakfast. For now though they needed to go to bed because it was too late to do anything. Angel told Cordelia that he would put the boys to bed.

He went upstairs to tell the boys to get ready to go to bed. He was surprised when he peeked through the door opening. Nicky was apologizing to Robert and David. "I'm sorry Bobby for hitting you with the jeep and I'm sorry you got hurt when he fell against you David. I promise that I will try not to do that ever again. But it's my Daddy's fault that I have a bad temper. Mommy said I inherited my bad temper from Daddy and my good looks from her." "The only reason you're saying that Nicky is because you know your going to be in trouble with Kathleen tomorrow." "No I won't because Mommy won't let her punish me." "Daddy told us that your Daddy spanked your Mommy two times because she wouldn't behave and do what your Daddy told her. So you know what that means." Bobby stood up and raised his hand up high and hit his pillow five times as hard as he could. "Wham, wham, wham, wham, wham. Whaaaaaaaaaa!" David pretended he was Angel and he was spanking Nicky. "You won't be able to sit down for a week." Bobby yelled at Nicky.

Angel went down a few steps then made more noise as he walked back to the room. He knocked at the door then opened it. "Okay boys it's time to go to bed. Nicky we will hold court tomorrow to decide what your punishment will be." "But Daddy, I told Nicky and David that I was sorry." Angel sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Nicky onto his lap. "I'm sorry Nicky but you did something very bad and you have to be punished. After you're punished for what you did then you and I will work on changing the way you react to situations such as you did tonight. Do you know why I am saying that you and I will work on correcting you?" "Because you're my Daddy and you get to spank me." Angel did his best not to smile. "No I am saying that because Daddy used to have the same problem as you and Grandma helped me to be a better person and I am going to do the same for you. Go to bed now." Angel gave his son a kiss and put him down then left after giving Mike a kiss and tucking him in also.

The next morning after breakfast Kathleen and Junior started to set up the children's table in the Lobby for the trial. They asked Connie if they could borrow the kitchen table to use as the judges table and 2 chairs. All of the other children were told to sit at the children's table, while the adults all brought their chairs over.

Angel and Wesley told the children that Kathleen and Junior would run the trial. Nicky was given a chair in front of the children's table and in front of the Judges. When everyone was seated Kathleen hit the table with a mallet she found in the basement.

"Will the court come to order please?" Kathleen had asked Lou to act as the court reporter so she was busily typing into her Laptop computer in front of her as the trial began.

After everyone quieted down the trial began. "Charles Nicholas Martin will you please stand up while the charges against you are read?" Kathleen said as Nicky stood up. Junior read the charges against Nicky.

"Nicky you are charged with the crime of disobeying orders for you to play nicely with the other children. You willingly disobeyed those orders and threw a fit when you weren't winning the game you were all playing which ended in you throwing a toy jeep at Bobby which hit him in the head and caused him to bleed. Bobby then fell backwards and knocked David down. When David fell down he hit his head against the night stand which although it didn't cut him it did hurt him."

Carolyn Ling and Suzy Warren were sitting in the audience along with the other children. Even though it was Saturday Carolyn Ling had been given permission to spend the day with Kathleen along with Suzy Warren. Suzie's speech problem had improved tremendously since she had started coming to the Hotel for her schooling. Just as Kathleen had said would happen, Suzy's speech and language had quickly improved beyond the boys and she had joined Kathleen and Carolyn in playing. When you listened to them talking you could barely tell them apart.

"How do you plead to these charges Nicky?" Nicky ran over to Peter. "What am I supposed to say?" Peter whispered to him. "Did you do what he said?" "Yes." "Then you say, Guilty your Honor." Nicky ran back to his chair and looked at his sister. "Guilty your Honor." "Nicky please sit down while I discuss your punishment with my colleague and Momma and Daddy." Nicky did as he was told and Junior and Kathleen walked over to Angel and Cordelia.

"What do you think his punishment should be Daddy and Momma?" "What do you think it should be?" Angel asked Kathleen and Junior. "Junior and I think that he should be spanked 5 times by Connor since he is going to be his boss one day. Then for one week he won't be allowed to play with the other children. If he should do it again then he will be given over to you and Momma to decide his punishment." Cordelia and Angel talked about it through the link they shared then they talked to Wesley and Fred. They agreed that the punishment fit the crime.

"We agree with you on the punishment." Angel said. Kathleen and Junior returned to their chairs. Kathleen hit the table with the mallet twice. "Will the court come to order please? Nicky will you stand up please?" Nicky stood up as he was told.

"Nicky you have been fairly charged and you have stated that you are guilty as charged and your punishment has been decided. Charles Nicholas Martin you are sentenced to receive 5 strikes from our brother Connor. Also for 7 days you will not be allowed to play with the other children and you will eat at one end of the table and not be allowed to talk to anyone while the rest of us are enjoying are meal. If you should make the same mistake again Charles Nicholas Martin then you will be automatically turned over to Momma and Daddy for your punishment. The punishment of the spanking is to be carried out immediately." Kathleen hit the table twice again and said "Court is dismissed."

"Connor would you please carryout the punishment?" Connor came forward to Angel and whispered to him. "Why me? You're his Father." "Kathleen said it would be better if you did it because you were going to be his boss one day and he might as well start respecting you now." Connor took Nicky's hand and guided him over to Angel's office. "Does the court mind if the punishment is carried out in private?" Connor asked. "Only if either Mother or myself, stands as a witness." Kathleen said. "Why you or Cordelia?" Connor asked. "Because I know what a softy you really are and I don't think that you'll really carry out the punishment unless Momma or I watch you. We have to deal with Nicky all of the time and you don't so you don't know how serious this is." "Okay then you can come in with us." Kathleen followed them into the room and closed the door behind her. Everyone stood outside and listened.

"After a few minutes they heard the sounds of the punishment commencing and the inevitable crying afterward." Ten minutes later Nicky came running out crying and ran up to his room. A minute later Kathleen came out then Connor. Everyone had put the table and chairs back where they belonged. Connor left to go out to his van where he could have some privacy for a few minutes. He had to fight demons and kill vampires along with the regular criminal element on the streets of L.A. everyday but this was the first time that he made a little boy cry. He remembered when his father had made Kathleen cry for the first time and how he had come back down and cried in Cordelia's lap afterward because he had caused his little girl to cry for the first time. Connor didn't feel so bad after remembering what had happened to his father. He thought it must be because they had made them cry when they were so small and defenseless. Kathleen never needed to be spanked to get her to follow the rules but Connor realized that this probably wouldn't be the last time for Nicky. The boys in his family tended to be more stubborn.

During the following week Angel spent every minute that he possibly could with his son. He tried to make him understand why he couldn't always have his way and he had to consider the other people around him. Although this was supposed to be a punishment for Nicky it was a week that Angel wouldn't soon forget. He told Cordelia that he was actually having fun with his son. He took Nicky horseback riding on Santana and when he passed Aunt Bee he noticed that she was in heat again. The first time that they had put Santana with Aunt Bee did not result in a foal and they just figured that they had waited to long to put them together. When he got back from riding he noticed how Santana was sniffing the air and wanted to get close to Aunt Bee. On a hunch he left Nicky under the tree by the arena while he removed Santana's saddle and bridle and let him loose in the arena. He called to Vince, one of the stable workers, and asked him to bring Aunt Bee out and let her loose in the arena also. A bunch of people that were at the stables came over to watch the stallion.

"He's magnificent looking, what's his name." "Santana and he's an Andalusian." They watched as Santana started to sniff at Aunt Bee then he mounted her. "What are they doing Daddy?" "Santana and Aunt Bee are making a baby horse for Kathleen." "Can they make one for me to?" "I don't think that you'll be big enough to ride a horse by yourself for a long time yet. Maybe when your old enough we'll get you one so you can go horseback riding with the rest of us. Let's go home now it's getting late." Angel told Vince to put them back in their stalls when they were done.

When they got home he told Cordelia about putting Santana and Aunt Bee together and he was pretty sure that it took this time. "Nicky saw them mating?" "Yeah." "Did he ask you what they were doing?" "Yeah, I just said they were making a baby horse for Kathleen." "What did he think of that, did he have any more questions?" "No he watched them for awhile then he wanted down from the fence and said "Let's go Daddy I'm hungry." That was that. It's like Mom says sometimes they just ask a simple question and all they want is a simple answer." "Well I'm glad he asked you instead of me. You know it's been so long since we've done anything that you might have to tell me what people do when they make love." Cordelia said as she started to snuggle up to Angel.

"Isn't today the last day for Nicky's punishment?" "Yes Mam. I think I can convince the judge that we can release Nicky on an early release for good behavior." Cordelia smiled and kissed him gently. They were sitting on the couch in their room as they were talking. Angel pulled Cordelia up onto his lap. They just looked into each others eyes for awhile. "I love you Angel. I love you more than any woman has loved a man. I love you more than I love my own children and God help me Angel but I pray every day that He'll take both of us at the same time." She kissed him then and hugged him tightly. They spent the rest of the afternoon strengthening the bound that they shared. They didn't call it 'making love' because they had it already and it didn't have to be made. It was more of a reaffirmation of their love as they brought each other to that now familiar mountain top. Never was the saying, 'As two are made one', more true for a man and a woman then it was for Angel and Cordelia that afternoon.

Later that evening they joined everyone else at the dinner table. Cordelia was surprised to see Nicky sitting with the other children. After grace was said she asked Kathleen why Nicky was sitting with the other children. "I told him that I had talked to Junior, Daddy and Connor about it and we decided to let him off early because of good behavior." "Well I agree with you Nicky has been a very good boy lately and he deserves an early parole. Did Daddy tell you that he noticed Aunt Bee was in heat and he put Santana and her together in the arena and they mated?" "Really Daddy? Do you think she conceived this time?" Kathleen was so excited. "Yes but we won't know for sure until the Vet checks her. If she didn't though we'll have the Vet check out both of them to see why she isn't conceiving."

"Just to let you know Angel and Cordelia we've booked our flight for London on the first of next month with Delta Airlines. The same flight continues on to Dublin Ireland so if you want to go at the same time I'll give you a copy of our flight schedule." "Thanks Wesley. I'll call Mr. Jenkins tonight to make sure that the house is free. Let's see if we can get the same flight Cordy." "Okay, I don't think their will be a problem since we will be booking it so far ahead." Cordelia said.

"Are you excited about going Kathleen?" Lou asked her. "Yes I am. I've been talking to Willow because she's been there and she has been telling me all about what it's like over there. I'll get to learn the how and why of what I am able to do and they will also probably try to find out how powerful I am. I wish you could come Daddy. I would feel a lot more comfortable if you were there also." Kathleen said. "I have confidence in your Grandpa and Uncle Wesley to take care of you Kathleen. Besides you will have more people then you'll know what to do with. Just make sure that you don't fall in love with some young man and run away with him because you're still my little girl." "I won't Daddy because I'll have a hard time finding someone that can measure up to you." Angel felt himself being twisted around his little girl's finger a little tighter.

The next morning as usual Lilah Morgan came into her office and saw the daily reports on what went on at the Hyperion Hotel. Today though the report had what she had been waiting for. Two weeks later she started to rearrange her schedule so that she could take two weeks off the following month. She then made reservations for a first class ticket to London England to begin the 2nd week next month.

One month later the A.I. group was on there way to London. Richard was staying at the hotel to help Gunn run things while everyone was gone since he still wasn't back 100 percent Besides Richard Gunn had Lou, Tom and Peter to help. Connor was working full time for the L.A.P.D. so the amount of time he could give to the business was rather limited. Hunter helped when she could also but most of her time was spent with Mike and the baby.

It was going to be a long flight so Dr. Martin gave her grandsons and the Price boys a light sedative to make them sleep through most of the flight. This helped to make the flight a lot more relaxing for the parents and Kathleen who was in business class with the boys. The adults all around were impressed with how well Kathleen handled the boys. What they didn't know was that Kathleen had the same ability as her Daddy. All she had to do was look at them and they quickly quieted down when they saw her eyes turn red. They knew that Kathleen was like their Daddy and didn't threaten unless she intended to carry out her threat.

When they landed in London there was a few hours before Cordelia and Angel had to get back on the jet to complete their journey. They walked around the airport to stretch their legs and also have lunch together. When it was time to go Kathleen gave her mother and father a kiss and hug. When she hugged her brothers she made them promise to be good for their Mommy and Daddy. Angel told both Wesley and Giles "I am intrusting to you two, two of my most prized possessions, take good care of them." "We will Angel and well see you in three weeks." Angel and Cordelia left then to get back onto the plane with the boys. Kathleen held her grandma's hand as they went through customs and then to the front of the airport where the Watchers Council had sent a limousine to pick them up.

Angel and the rest of his family landed in Dublin one hour later. As he did before Angel rented a Toyota Sienna and they drove to his ancestral home where they spent the next three weeks. Angel and Cordelia let the boys play all day wherever they wanted to. The boys woke up with the chickens in the morning and were usually so tired by the time the chickens went to roost that they went to sleep also and were sometimes so tired that they fell asleep eating their supper and Angel and Cordelia would have to carry them upstairs to bed. When it rained they would get so dirty that Cordelia wouldn't allow them inside until their Daddy hosed them down. Angel was having almost as much fun as the boys and on one occasion Cordelia had to hose all of them down. They took them horseback riding and riding in their own carriage where they sat on the side. The only place that Angel wouldn't take them to was the Inn where he used to spend most of his nights when he was young and before he was turned. The nightmares that he suffered after visiting that area the last time they were there were enough to nix that idea. Besides the stuff he would want to tell them about would have to wait for another 15 years or so and would most likely have to be told by Connor.

While Angel was having fun with the rest of his family in Ireland his Mother and daughter were seeing the sights in London under more than adequate guard. Two weeks into their visit to London Kathleen was being kept busy at the school while her abilities were tested. Dr. Martin had chosen to stay in their suite of rooms at the school to catch up on her sleep. She loved spending time with Kathleen but her youthful energy had her grandmother worn out. To her surprise she received a call just as she was going to make herself a salad lunch. "Hello this is Dr. Martin." "Dr. Martin this is Lilah Morgan from Wolfram & Hart. Could I meet you someplace private? I promise that this is extremely personal and has nothing to do with business." Dr. Martin was silent for awhile while she thought about whether or not Lilah was sincere or not. "Okay Lilah we can meet at the local catholic church that's close to the school. You'll find Our Lady of Sorrows at the end of the street in front of the school. I'll see you there in 45 minutes." "Thank you Dr. Martin."

For safety Dr. Martin asked one of her guards to go with her to the church while she met and talked with someone. Giles had assigned 3 men to her but she felt it wouldn't look very good to have 3 men watching her in the church.

When Dr. Martin entered the church she took a seat at the back. The church was very big and very old looking and consequently almost cavernous in it's interior. The large stone structure was also cold and Dr. Martin was glad the guard told her to bring a coat. After saying a few prayers she sat down and waited for Lilah to come to her. She didn't have long to wait, Lilah came in and sat next to her. For the next hour they talked. Also for the next two weeks, at the same time and the same place, they met and talked for one to two hours each day. Dr. Martin told no one of there meetings. She asked the guard to tell no one, especially Rupert, about her meetings with the woman at the church.

"I'm sorry Dr. Martin but I have to tell him he is the head of the Watchers Council and consequently my employer." "Okay Ben I don't want to get you in trouble but I am only asking because it is about someone that is trying to change her life and to travel a different path. We have had to meet in secret because of the people that she works for. If they ever found out what she was doing the may kill her." The guard thought about what she said for a minute. He thought of the statuesque, beautiful woman that Dr. Martin met with everyday. He saw her crying more then once as they spoke quietly. Every day after the woman left Dr. Martin would go to the Sacred Heart statue and light a candle then kneel in prayer for the next 15 minutes.

"Okay Dr. Martin, I'll keep your secret for now but I will have to tell him before you leave to go back to the states." "Thank you Ben, thank you."

Angel, Cordelia and the boys joined the London group one week after Dr. Martin had started seeing Lilah. When Lilah's two week vacation was over and Dr. Martin returned from the church she joined the rest at the school. Angel was the first to see her. "Where do you go every afternoon Mom?" "Over to the church mostly." "I didn't think they had anything but the Church of England here." Angel had his arm around her shoulders as they walked over to the back of the house they were staying at. Cordelia, Fred and Wesley's mother were all in the back having tea while they kept an eye on the boys.

"Yes, it just so happens that there is a Roman Catholic Church at the end of the street in front of the school. You'll get to see it when we go to church on Sunday." Dr. Martin said as she put her arm around Angel's waist. Angel smelled a familiar scent on his mother but he decided not to say anything because she hadn't offered any information on the person she had seen recently.

Kathleen was busy at the school and the coven of witches and warlocks that worked for the school. She was constantly surprising them as to how powerful she was. Every trial that they put her through, she successfully completed without batting an eye. They even asked her to change into a wolf which she did without even removing her clothes although she did have to take her clothes and put them back on after she changed back.

A woman was in control of the coven that was testing Kathleen. Her name was Elizabeth Dunstan. Elizabeth was a powerful witch herself and yet Kathleen outdistanced her at every challenge. What amazed Elizabeth was that Kathleen did everything with such ease. She barely had to think about doing something and it was done as requested and perfectly each time. She didn't even have to use words to complete her assigned task.

Both Wesley and Giles were sitting in the audience that was observing Kathleen's testing. The coven of witches and warlocks along with Kathleen were on a stage in a theater where when the lights were on they couldn't see who was in the audience.

They had been testing her all morning and afternoon and Kathleen was getting tired and bored. She had asked several times if they could continue tomorrow because she was tired and hungry. Each time Elizabeth had wanted to give her more tests that they had thought of. When they asked her to take the life of a mouse in a cage she stood up. "Grandpa I want to stop now. I'm tired and hungry and I want to go and get something to eat." Giles stood up and said "I think that's enough for today Elizabeth we can continue tomorrow." "Okay Rupert but I would like her grandmother, father and mother to come tomorrow also." "Okay I think that can be arranged. Turn the lights on please. Come down Kathleen and we'll go home." She went running down the stairs and joined her Grandpa and Uncle Wesley as they walked back to the house they were staying in.

As they all sat down to supper Angel asked Kathleen how the testing was going. "At first I was excited to be working with them but then it quickly went down hill after the first day. They haven't requested anything that's hard for me. Aunt Willow and Aunt Tara gave me harder stuff to do then these guys have. To tell you the truth Daddy I'm getting bored." "Did they give you anything unusual to do or say control many things at the same time?" "They asked me to do something throughout the school that would show them how far I could reach out with my power." Kathleen giggled as she put her fork down and wiped her mouth. "I put the idea in all of the boy's minds that they should send me a flower. I told all of the boys that were in the 10th grade to send me a pink rose, all of the 11th grade boys to send me a white rose and all of the 12th graders to send me a white rose." The women all cheered "Way to go Kathleen you've got it made." Cordelia hugged her daughter and they all laughed. The evidence of her success was in a large vase on a table at the entrance to the house where everyone could see it.

When supper was over Kathleen went to her room to have some quiet time and listen to her music and read. She said she needed to have time away from all of the adults just as the adults needed time away from all of the kids once in awhile. As the adults sat outside having some tea and coffee Angel brought up the question for his mother as to who she was seeing at the church.

"Mom I have a very important question to ask you." Angel said as he was leaning forward and taking a sip of his coffee. Dr. Martin looked at him and waited for his question. "Mom, why were you meeting with Lilah Morgan this afternoon?" Wesley and Giles sat up straight with all of their attention on Dr. Martin. Giles face practically turned white.

"I can't tell you Angel. All I can say is that our meetings are over for now and they were extremely private and my meetings with her are not open for discussion." "How dare you put yourself in a position that exposed you to so much danger? What is wrong with? Haven't you seen this woman do enough to Angel and his family? What does it take to get you to understand what you are exposing yourself and the rest of the family to?" Dr. Martin could tell that this was driving Rupert's blood pressure up.

"Rupert, sit down and calm down before you pass out. Your blood pressure must be sky high. No more caffeine for you while we are here my dear. Kathleen, would you do Grandma a favor and go and get my medical bag? I think it's next to the nightstand on the right side of the bed." Kathleen ran to her Grandmothers bedroom and was back in less than a minute.

"Take your jacket off Rupert so I can take your blood pressure." Wesley helped Giles to remove his jacket. Dr. Martin quickly took Rupert's blood pressure while everyone else was quiet. As she finished she was tsk, tsk, tsking him all of the time. "Rupert your blood pressure is way to high, I'm going to take it again tomorrow morning and then in the afternoon and evening. If it is still high I am going to have to give you some medication for it. Now for your question, yes I do know what I am doing and I do understand the risk I am taking." Dr. Martin stood up and looked at Angel. "Don't forget that originally I went to California to save Angel. Just as I had faith that I would be okay with Angel and the rest I have faith that God will take care of me as I try to help Lilah. Have you already forgotten what happened when Lilah tried to give Kathleen a gift after she was born? I don't want to hear anymore about this now. And don't try sending Cordelia to try and drill me either." Angel started to say something when his mother turned around again and gave him 'THE LOOK'. "Angel Liam Martin you're too big for me to take over my knee but I have other ways to punish you for doing something that I told you not to do. Now the subject of Lilah is closed. I will not say anything about our meetings until she gives me permission to tell you."

Dr. Martin picked up her medical bag and returned to her bedroom. When she came out again she had a wrap around her shoulders. "Kathleen and Cordelia I want to take a walk would you like to go with me?" "Well be right back." Cordelia said as she went running upstairs to her room. Kathleen and her mother came down at the same time with their own wraps as they joined Dr. Martin for an evening walk around the school grounds.

During the rest of their stay in England no one ever brought up the subject of Lilah again. After five weeks in England everyone returned to L.A. Gunn greeted them at the front door on crutches. Wesley and Angel congratulated him. "When did you graduate to crutches?" Wesley asked. "About two weeks ago I was playing with some of the boys in my group and they knocked me down and off of my chair but then I grabbed onto a chain that was hanging from the ceiling and pulled myself up and was able to stand with the help of the chains."

"Angel I received a call from your vet. He checked Aunt Bee out and he confirmed that she is pregnant." Gunn told him. Kathleen had been playing with Vicky when she heard the news about Aunt Bee's confirmed pregnancy she was so happy she ran upstairs and called her girlfriends Carolyn and Suzy. She was on the phone so long that Angel finally had to tell her to hang up and come to supper. During supper she was talking a mile a minute as she told Junior and the rest all that she had been doing while in England.

Angel looked at Cordelia and asked "I think we have the wrong child with us Cordelia. This child we have here looks and sounds like our daughter but she doesn't act like our daughter. Maybe someone put a talking spell on her." "Oh Daddy it's me I just have a lot to say. I missed Junior and Connor and everyone else and this was the first time that I was ever away from home so now I have a lot to tell them."

"Don't pick on her Angel she's just growing up. It won't be long before she is a teenager then we'll have to give her, her own phone line." Cordelia told Angel.

"I remember when I was living in Sunnydale and we were looking for Buffy, Giles made a remark about her being in a location where she didn't have access to a phone. Xander told him 'Giles that is a physical impossibility for a teenage girl to be without access to a phone'.

"Daddy can I have a Cell phone so I can talk to my friends?" "No, not until you're older." "Can I get my ears pierced?" "Yes." "But Daddy Carolyn said that all the girls my age already have their ears pierced." It took a moment for her Daddy's yes to register. Angel saw the look on his daughters face as it finally hit her. "You're the best Daddy in the entire world. Momma can we go and get it done tomorrow?" Kathleen asked as she let go of her Daddy after hugging him in thanks. "I think we can do that. You want to go with us Lou?" Lou looked at Connor. "Do you mind if I get my ears pierced also Connor?" "Wouldn't that be dangerous to have where someone could grab onto your ears and pull them off when your fighting?" "Buffy wears them and she said that she has never had a problem." "Well, alright but get something small like two tiny diamond ear rings." Lou gave her husband a kiss in thanks.

"Did they teach you how to do anything over there?" Junior asked as he ate the rest of his Jell-O.

"They didn't really teach me how to do anything but they taught me how I could use my mind to do more difficult things. For instance the phone I created actually worked where as before it would just be an empty casing that looked like a cell phone so they taught me how to create things without having to know the internal makeup of the phone." Everyone was looking at each other after Kathleen said this.

"Can you make something like a chocolate bar or a strawberry?" Fred asked hopefully.

Kathleen held up her hand and a bar of Hershey chocolate appeared. She handed it over to Fred. She unwrapped the bar and took a bite. "It doesn't have any flavor." Fred said as she ran it around her mouth and licked her lips in an effort to find some flavoring in the chocolate.

"That's because I can't duplicate perfectly anything created by God. I can create something that will look exactly like something He created but I can't duplicate a flavor or smell, only God can create these things." The women all looked at each other and said at the same time "RATS". They all started laughing. For a while they thought they had a Gold mine in Kathleen.

Just as everyone started to leave the table Cordelia had a vision. Ten minutes later Angel, Connor, Lou and Tom took off to save two women that were going to be attacked by a group of Vampires. They didn't return until 11 o'clock at night. Angel went directly to the bathroom to take a shower then crawled into bed. These encounters were taking a heavier toll on Angel. Each time he went out on a mission he seemed to be more tired when he came home. He new it was only a matter of time before he would have to ask Connor to take over.

Three years later that time came.

While on a trip to the mall Angel, Cordelia and Kathleen were abducted by a new group of Vampires that were trying to establish themselves as a new gang in L.A.

Any and all fights with any gangs that opposed them ended with a feast for the Vampires. Angel Investigations was a thorn in there sides and they wanted to remove that thorn. Several times Angel and his crew had broken up assaults on humans. Even though this was just a minor annoyance for the gang it was an annoyance that they wanted to end. Their chance to remove him came when Duke, the head of the gang, was approached by a well dressed man that came to the gang's headquarters. The well dressed man didn't give his name or a business card stating who he worked for all he did is offer his assistance in removing Angel.

"All you and your people have to do is kidnap Angel then we will take him off of your hands and you won't be bothered by them again." The well dressed man said. "Deal." Duke held out his hand to seal the deal with a handshake.

Two days later Duke sent 8 of his vampires to watch for Angel and Cordelia to leave the Hotel. The men assigned to monitoring the Hyperion heard Angel and Cordelia planning an outing to the local mall to pick up some new clothes for the boys. The boys were going to stay home since all Cordelia was doing was buying 1 size larger for them. Kathleen was going with them in order to buy some new clothes. She had finally been given permission to attend regular school since she could take care of herself now. Even though she was only 12 years old the school system had placed her in the 9th grade so she was going to be attending the local high school as a freshman. Her parents and Wesley had warned her that if there was any trouble she would be put in a private school. Cordelia had a long talk with her daughter about how the other kids were probably going to treat her since she was going to be so much younger then the rest. Kathleen was determined though to make a go of it.

Duke had linked into the listening devices that the Wolfram & Hart people were using. As soon as he was told about the shopping trip Duke sent his people to grab Angel, his wife, and daughter. They had used a drug to subdue all of them so they handed them over to the well dressed man without a problem.

Duke was acting like the Cock of the Walk now. He fluffed his feathers in front of the well dressed man. The man just looked at him with a slight grin then turned and left with his packages.

Duke made a fatal mistake now, a mistake that would have more than Angel Investigation going after him. Duke tried to kill all of the people at the Hyperion. He was successful in killing one. Dr. Mary Martin, otherwise know as Mom to Angel, was killed while she was getting ready for bed and was sitting at the couch watching TV while Giles was in the shower. The Vampire had come into the room through the hallway door and quietly drained her dry. Giles came out in his bathrobe just as the Vampire had finished his meal. He grabbed a sword that he kept in back of the door and quickly cut the Vampires head off while he was still in a stupor from drinking his fill.

As soon as he dispatched the Vampire he went to his wife. He knew before touching her that she was dead. He pulled a pair of pants on then went to the balcony and yelled for everyone. Wesley heard Giles yelling but he was busy with his own Vampire. Connor came running in to help him and between them they took care of him. They went running out of the room to check on the others. Lou and Tom had taken care of two more vampires that had gone after the children. Vicky had one down on the floor until Connor called her off and he quickly cut his head off. Connie and Joaquin were just coming home after going to the movies when they heard all of the commotion upstairs. They went running upstairs to check on there son first and almost ran into Gun and Cylindia as they were going up to the 5th floor. After checking on their son they then checked the other children and Grandma Sanchez. All were okay so they joined everyone else upstairs on the fifth floor.

Connor and Vicky heard Toby growling and the sound of a boy's voice that was cracking every so often. They made their way over into Peter's room where Junior was holding onto a Vampire while Toby drove a stake into it's heart. Even though he was only a year older than Kathleen he had experienced a growth spurt and now stood almost a foot taller than his father.

When they were sure that there were no more Vampires downstairs they went running up to the 5th floor and into Giles and Dr. Martin's bedroom. Connor fell to his knees and started crying when he saw Giles holding onto his wife. Everyone came around the couch and watched Giles as he held his wife's lifeless body in his arms as he rocked her back and forth. Lou went to Connor and held his head against her chest as he cried. In his grief he called out to his Grandmother. There was not one person in that room that hadn't gone to room 412 with Dr. Martin. Even the smallest child knew what the room was for.

To the adults the room was a sanctuary for their minds. The room was where Dr. Martin performed her own kind of magic and helped them to understand why the children were acting as they did. She helped the women to understand their men and the men to understand their women. It was the room where she taught them about God and his Son and the love they had for all of Gods children. For the children it was were Grandma handed out cookies and milk and had a race with them to see how many licks it took to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. During these cookie and milk treats and contests she explained why their Mommies and Daddies punished them for doing something and that they did it because they loved them. When Grandma explained things they always understood. The boys were especially pleased when she made a rule that no one could come into the room when she put a sign on the door that said "LITTLE BOYS ONLY and GRANDMA, All others keep out."

After 30 minutes of just sitting and rocking his wife Giles got up and carried her body over to the bed and laid her down. He picked up the phone then and called Buffy and Spike. "Hello Buffy." "Daddy, what's wrong? You sound so sad." "Buffy Mary was killed tonight. We had a group of Vampires attack us. It seems that Mary was the only one that they were successful in killing. We don't know where Angel, Cordelia and Kathleen are. I know that if he were able to Angel would have been here already." "We'll be there as soon as we can Daddy." Buffy hung up. Giles laid the phone down in it's cradle. When he turned around he saw that Wesley had left the room while the others were saying their goodbyes to Mary. He saw Connor still on his knees and crying. Giles went to him and kneeled also. Connor lifted his head and threw his arms around his Grandfather and hugged him for a long time.

In the mean time Wesley had gone downstairs and was calling the Morgan's, Mike and Hunter. When he was done calling everyone he went back up stairs and pulled Connor out of Giles arms. Wesley grabbed both of his arms and shook him. "Connor, get a hold of yourself. I need you to concentrate." Connor wiped his eyes and blew his nose. He looked straight into Wesley's eyes. "Connor I want you to concentrate on finding Kathleen. Something has happened to your father, Cordelia and your sister."

Connor closed his eyes and concentrated. He called out to Kathleen and waited for her answering call.

Angel was being held in a room by himself while Cordelia and Kathleen were in another room next to him.

Kathleen heard Connor's call to her and she answered. "I think we're in Wolfram & Hart again Connor. Momma is with me and they have Daddy next door in another room." "Talk to Angel Kathleen, see if you can find out if they have done anything to him." Kathleen was quiet for a few minutes. Connor was beginning to think he had lost her.

"Connor, Daddy told me to tell you not to do anything. He said the man who knows why we were kidnapped is coming to him now. As soon as he gets his answers were leaving and we'll come home as soon as we get out." "Okay, we'll wait."

Angel was hanging from the ceiling with chains around his wrists, legs, and neck. He called out to Kathleen. "Yes Daddy." "Kathleen I am being held by chains around my neck, ankles, and wrists. Can you break them without making them fall off? I want them to think I am still chained." He heard each chain break but not separate.

As Angel hung from the ceiling he smelled the perfume of the shampoo that his mother used then he felt the gentle touch of her hand on his face. He closed his eyes and opened his mind to her.

"Angel I have left this world and I am on my way to join Christ in Paradise. Don't try to destroy Wolfram & Hart over my death Angel their time has not come yet. Don't let Kathleen do anything yet either she is not ready yet to handle the psychological ramifications. Your mother came to get me. She is very nice and looks very much like you remember her. I have to go now Angel. I'll be with you as much as I can. Take care of Giles for me." She was gone now. He could no longer smell that particular scent that was hers alone. Angel closed his eyes. He didn't let himself grieve for the loss of his adopted mother yet. He had more important things to attend to. He heard footsteps approaching his prison cell. "Wake up Angelus we're about to have some fun and I am going to need all that you can give me." He felt his arms and legs become more warm in preparation for what was to come.

The well dressed man came down the hall followed by 10 guards armed with swords and wooden spikes. He stood before the door and after taking a deep breath he signaled to the guard to open the door. He stepped into the 400 square foot cell and his guards made a circle around the room and Angel. Even chained, the guards were afraid of him.

"I am Victor Delgado and I am the person responsible for your capture." "What happened to Lilah? She's usually the one who presides over these entertaining little sessions." Angel asked.

Delgado gave a nasty little grin with his reply. "Lilah has left the business and has chosen to practice law in another location. I am, shall we say, your new account manager. I have been given new orders concerning you Angel." "Let me guess, manager in charge of boring me to death." "Oh it concerns your death all right but not of boring you to death. I have come up with some new, more productive ways to cause your death." Delgado came closer to Angel until he was inches away from his face and this is exactly the opportunity that Angel was looking for. "My orders Angel are to end your existence in this world as soon as possible. The Senior Partners are fed up with you. You have been a thorn in their side long enough and they want you to be removed." "What about the Vamps that kidnapped my wife and daughter along with me? Are they working for you?" "No of course not they were just some new Vampires that wanted the same thing we did. I made them think that we were working for them." "Thanks, that's all I needed to know."

In the next second Angel called out to Kathleen to come to him and bring her mother. He pulled his hands, legs, and neck free from the chains then reached for Delgado. He quickly and efficiently broke his neck and smiled when he heard the satisfying snap of his neck. He could hear Kathleen taking care of the guards at her door and then at his. The guards circling the room where Angel was opened fire on him. They had a hard time aiming at him since he was going around the room killing the guards and using their bodies to shield himself. He was halfway around the room when the rest of the guards started brushing at there legs and jumping up and down as though they were trying to brush off ants that were crawling all over their legs.

Angel laughed as he watched them dancing all around. He dropped the last man, whose neck he broke, and made a dash for the door just as Cordelia opened it. Kathleen ran in front of them and guided them out of the building through the front doors. Everyone that tried to stop them ended up performing the same dance as the other guards as they attempted to free themselves of the imaginary ants. Angel held on tightly to Cordelia's hand as he walked to the front and waved down a taxi. Kathleen came running to them as they got into the taxi and both Cordelia and Angel called for her. He gave instructions to the taxi driver and joined in with Kathleen and her mother as they laughed at what she had done.

"I never would have thought of something so simple to help us get out. You're Daddy and Mommy's hero." They both hugged her. "Are you okay Daddy? They didn't hurt you did they?" "Just a little but we'll talk about that when we get home. Can you tell Connor that we have escaped and we'll be home in just a few minutes?" "I already did Daddy. He is very sad Daddy." "I know sweetheart. He's sad because Grandma died last night." "I know Daddy, Grandma came to visit me before she went to heaven. Then when we were running out of the building she showed me the way out. She told me that she would be there for me whenever I needed her." Angel hugged his daughter and wife as they took a moment to cry for their Grandma.

The taxi arrived at the front of the hotel and they got out after Angel paid the taxi driver. The first ones to greet them were Nicky and Mike. They quickly told them what happened to their Grandma. Wesley and Fred came down and greeted them then they went up to see Giles. He hadn't left his wife's side since she was killed.

As Angel entered the room Giles stood up. Angel and Giles hugged each other for a long time. Giles eyes were red and swollen from crying. When they finally separated Angel went to Connor and held him for a long time also. Kathleen had gone to the bed and crawled up beside her grandmother and lay down. She put her arm around her and put her head down on her chest for awhile.

"I'll miss these times Grandma. I'll miss going shopping with you. I'll miss doing all the things with you that Momma won't let me do. I know that I'll get to see and talk with you all of the time but we won't be able to hug each other anymore so here is my last kiss Grandma and my last hug until I join you in heaven." Kathleen gave her grandmother a kiss and a big hug then she got off of the bed and went to her mother then her Daddy. Angel cried as he held his daughter. "Don't cry too much Daddy. Grandma's cancer had come back and she didn't want to go through the chemotherapy and radiation treatments again. God took her before she became to sick again." Giles stared at his Granddaughter. "How did you know her cancer had come back Kathleen?" "I could see it in her aura Grandpa. Five weeks ago it started to change and I recognized it from when she was sick before. Be happy for her Grandpa and Daddy that Jesus took her before she could suffer from it again." Kathleen left then and went to the chapel. Everyone else left also so that Angel and Giles could be alone with their wife and mother.

Hunter and Mike had arrived some time ago and they had filled out the death certificate for Mary. They notified the funeral home that would take care of Mary's body and cremate it as soon as legally possible. One hour later the Sunnydale side of the family joined them along with the Morgan's and Richard. Finally, the last one to join them was Father Barris. He had been out of town when he was called and informed of Mary's death. Cordelia immediately went to him and they hugged. She took him up to Mary and Giles bedroom. Both Giles and Angel stood up. Father Barris shook Giles hand and hugged Angel. Everyone that could fit into the room joined them while Father Barris gave Mary the last rites. They joined in together then and prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy then the Rosary. By the time they were done the funeral home had arrived to take her body.

At the funeral mass the church was filled to capacity. All of the people, whose lives had been touched by Mary, were in the church. Angel had notified Mother Superior and Bishop Jack O'Connel. They had arrived the day before along with John Williams and two other Sisters. Bishop O'Connel performed the mass while Father Barris did the homily and spoke about Mary.

Mary had touched so many lives during her life that not everyone could come up to speak about her or else they would all be in the church for too long. So many flowers had been sent that they literally draped the large table that held Dr. Martin's ashes. They usually used just a small table to hold a picture of the deceased along with the ashes but so many flowers were sent that they had to use a larger table to hold the small bouquet's of flowers that the children had sent.

Until the funeral Mass neither Angel nor Giles really realized how many lives Dr. Martin had touched.

When it came time for people to speak about Mary Father Barris looked at both Angel and Giles. Neither one could bring themselves to go up and speak of the woman that had such a tremendous impact on their lives. Cordelia took it upon herself to speak for all of them. She started out with telling them about the first night that they spent with her. "The first night Dr. Martin was at the Hotel she made me so mad that I slapped her so hard that I knocked her down along with Gunn and Fred as she landed on them. Later that night she had me apologizing to her after she explained what she was doing with Angel." By the time she stepped down and rejoined Angel everyone was smiling. Cordelia had not only remembered the hard times with Dr. Martin but she also reminded them of the fun times they had with her.

Since Mary was going to be buried in the Martin family cemetery in Ireland Giles carried his wife's ashes with him and placed them on the alter in the chapel until they took her to her final resting place. He spent the rest of the night in the chapel. When he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer he stretched out in the pew and used his jacket as a pillow. Cordelia came in to check on him and found him sleeping. She left to get a blanket and pillow for him and covered him as softly as she could then turn the lights off. The only light in the chapel now was the candle on the altar that sat next to Mary's ashes.

As the lights were turned off and Cordelia left a soft light appeared by Giles. If you looked carefully you could see a woman's hand removing Giles glasses and putting them on the seat next to his head. The woman put her hand on his head and gave him a gentle kiss and you could see a smile spread across Giles face. It was the first of many visits that she would pay her husband until he joined her in Paradise.

TBC……………………………………………………………………….

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get out this last chapter. My father passed away on Dec. 19th. The last few weeks have been busy with all that takes place when a person dies. The 3 weeks before his death were also busy since we took care of him at home along with Hospice. As you can guess it has been emotionally as well as physically draining and I had nothing left for my story. I am back in the saddle again though and I am feeling the creative juices flowing again.

The next chapter will be the last one and my story will be put to rest. Thank you for all of your reviews I found them to be the light in the dark tunnel I have been traveling these last few weeks.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Cordelia, Angel, and Giles were the only ones that traveled to Ireland to bury Mary's ashes in the family cemetery. Wesley had Angel's family moved to a new location on the family farm so that they were now all together as Angel had requested. The grave site was now enclosed by a white picket fence that surrounded half an acre. New marble gravestones now headed each grave. Wesley had called ahead and ordered a marble gravestone for Dr. Martin which had been delivered and placed just below Angele's mother's grave. When Giles joined her his ashes would be placed to his wife's left.

The morning after they arrived, Giles carried Mary's ashes in his arms to the grave site. Angel brought a small shovel with him to fill in the hole that Mr. Jenkins had dug for him just in front of the gravestone. Angel got on his knees in order to lower his mothers ashes into the ground. Both Cordelia and Giles got on their knees also. "Giles let me have the urn for a minute please." Cordelia opened the urn and pulled out a small bag from her coat pocket. First she pulled out a butter knife then two crosses with a tiny glass globe in the middle. She carefully opened up the globe of each cross and placed a tiny amount of Mary's ashes into each one then placed a tiny drop of glue by the latch and closed each one. She replaced the lid and gave the urn to Angel who then placed it in a small rope net and lowered it into the grave. Both Angel and Giles pushed the dirt into the hole and patted the dirt down. They all stood up then and brushed the dirt and grass off of there clothes.

"Giles give me the chain that you wear with the Sacred Heart medal that Mom gave you." Giles pulled his chain off and gave it to her. Cordelia proceeded to place the cross, with Mary's ashes in it, onto the chain. "Angel, pull out the chain with the cross that you wear." Angel did as she said and Cordelia attached the new cross onto his chain as well. She placed Giles chain around his neck also and gave him a kiss and hug.

As she stood in front of the men she patted the crosses. "Mom came to me last week and told me where to find these crosses. She also gave me instructions as to what I was to do with them. She wanted for each of you to always have a part of her with you. Now don't stay out here too long boys because I think it's going to rain soon." Cordelia turned and left. Angel called out to her. "Wait and I'll walk back with you." He ran over to her side and put his arm around her shoulders. As Giles watched them walk away he felt Mary's hand brush his. For the next two hours he sat on the ground, leaning against his wife's gravestone, and talking to her. When it started to rain she told him to go in before he caught pneumonia.

At the end of one week they packed to return to the states. At the airport in Dublin Giles turned to Angel and Cordelia and said "Angel I want you to tell everyone that I will be staying in England for awhile. I need to keep my mind busy and the business of the Watchers Council will fulfill that need. Tell Dennis at the store to take care of it and that I give him full authority in whatever it takes to take care of the store." Cordelia went to him and hugged him. "Don't forget Giles that you still have a family in L.A. and that we all love you. The children will especially miss you. Take care of yourself Giles and don't work to hard." Cordelia backed away and let Angel approach Giles. Angel shook Giles hand then pulled him into his arms. They parted after a few minutes. Angel and Cordelia left then without turning back again.

The return flight home was a quiet one. Both Cordelia and Angel kept their thoughts to themselves until they crossed over Texas. Angel gave a slight squeeze to Cordelia's hand; she turned and looked at him.

"Cordy I think that it's time for me to give up leadership of Angel Investigation to Connor. I also think that you should start teaching Kathleen about the visions in preparation for her to receive them from you." "But Mom said that she thought that Kathleen was too young yet to take on the psychological aspects of the visions." "I know but I think she can handle it. Cordelia I believe my time in this world will be coming to an end soon and I want Kathleen to be ready. When I was being held at Wolfram & Hart a man called Vincent Delgado came in and said that the Senior Partners had changed their plans for me. I asked him where Lilah was. He said that she was practicing law else where now. Cordy, I think they killed her because she was seeing Mom about leaving Wolfram & Hart and Mom was helping her to know God again."

Cordelia just looked at him. "Do you think that they are going to try to kill you and not just turn you over to there side?" "Yes and I think they would have done it then but they didn't know how inventive our daughter is." They were quiet for awhile as the stewardess offered them something to drink. As usual Angel asked for a Southern Comfort on ice. Cordelia asked for a glass of wine. After a few minutes she heard Angel trying to contain his laughter.

"What's so funny?" "I was remembering the sight of all of the guards jumping up and down and trying to brush off the imaginary ants. I would never have thought of something so simple working as well as it did." It took them a while to get their laughing under control. "Cordelia, I think that Kathleen will do just fine. When we get home try to keep her close to you during the evening hours. When you start to have a vision hold her hands and let her see the vision with you. I am going to tell Connor that I want him to take over Angel Investigations as soon as he can leave the police force." Cordelia just held her husbands hand and said "Okay". They were quiet the rest of the trip and each of them was able to grab an hour of sleep before landing in L.A.

Wesley and Fred met them at the airport. After greeting each other Wesley noticed that Giles was missing. "Where is Giles?" "He told me to tell everyone that he is going to stay in England for a while and work with the Watchers Council. He said he needed to keep his mind busy for now and that we were to tell Dennis at the store that he has full control of everything." "How is Giles doing?" Fred asked Cordelia. "About as well as can be expected, under the circumstances. I sent an e-mail to his secretary and asked her to let me know if he should start to become too despondent. She promised me to take care of him like he was her own son. I found that Peggy tends to mother him sometimes and I know she will take good care of him."

When Connor came downstairs for Supper Angel asked him to step inside of his office for a minute. Angel was sitting on his couch when Connor went into the office. "What's up?" He asked, Angel patted the couch next to him and Connor sat down.

"Connor I would like for you to take over control of Angel Investigation as soon as possible." "Why, is there something wrong?" "No but I have to tell you that while we were being kept at Wolfram & Hart I was told by my jailer that the Senior Partners have changed their plans for me. They want me to be disposed of as soon as possible. They have finally given up I guess on turning me towards their side. Even though I've killed Vincent Delgado, my jailer, it won't be long before he is replaced." "Let's hit them then before they can hit us again." "We can't do that yet. Cordelia is going to start getting Kathleen used to the Visions that will guide you. We need to give your sister time to mature a little more. Grandma told us that your sister is the one that will bring down Wolfram & Hart but you know as well as I do that she needs time to grow up a little more. Right now the whole thing is a game to her. She hasn't seen what they can do."

"Okay Dad I'll start working with you more and working only part time with the Police Department but the change will have to wait for six months. We're short handed right now so I don't want to put the guys in anymore danger by pulling out right now. We have another class of new recruits that will be graduating in another six months and then it will take another three to six months to break them in. In one year I'll go to part time and 6 months after that I'll quit. Is that okay with you?" "Yes I think that will be okay. Connor I'm sorry that I'm asking you to take over so soon. I know how you love working with the police department." Connor stood up and patted his father on the back. "That's okay Dad I've noticed how you get tired after going after one of Cordelia's visions now days. I knew it was only a matter of time." Angel grabbed at his son's legs in order to pull him down but Connor was already out the door. He just looked at the vacant space where his son had been. "Yeah, I'm getting slower also."

Instead of going to supper he went upstairs to Giles and Mary's room. He looked around for something that still had her scent on it. Her clothes were still in the drawers but they had all been cleaned, neatly folded, and placed back into the drawers. All of the room had been cleaned along with all of her clothes so he left and went to room 412. Since the room rarely had anyone sleeping in it, it hadn't been cleaned where it wiped out her scent. Angel went into the bathroom and checked the back of the door. Here, at last, he found her scent. On the back of the door was her terry cloth bathrobe she wore sometimes when she was cold. His mothers scent permeated the robe.

Angel took the robe and went to the bed and lay down. He hugged the robe to his chest and breathed in deeply the scent of his mother. After a few minutes he couldn't hold back his tears anymore. Angel cried for his adopted mother that night. He cried until he had a headache and he was exhausted. It was the first time that he had allowed himself the luxury of crying for her. He hadn't allowed himself this luxury because he felt that he had to remain strong for the rest of the family and especially for Giles. He felt that he could afford himself the luxury of giving into the tremendous grief that he felt squeezing his heart now. After giving into his grief for more than 30 minutes he fell asleep.

"Where's Daddy Mommy?" Mike asked his mother. "Your Daddy needs to be left alone for awhile Mike and Nicky. He's very tired and is sleeping right now." Cordelia had read the grief that her husband was dealing with right now. She looked at Kathleen and saw how sad she looked and knew that she had read her fathers mind also.

When Kathleen was done with her supper she looked around at everyone. Let's go have some fun Connor. Grandma wouldn't want us to be grieving so much for her. Let's go riding. I haven't taken Vicky out in a long time and I think she's going stir crazy." Connor looked at his sister. "Yes I think it's time also, anyone else want to go?" Lou's hand was the first one to go up then Toms, Fred, Junior and finally Cordelia's hand went up.

"Can we come to Mommy?" Mike and Nicky asked. "No not tonight. It's too dark now and I might loose you out in the dark. Daddy and I can take you out on Sunday when we come back from Church, okay?" "Okay Mommy. Can we be excused now?" Nicky and Mike asked. David and Robert asked if they could be excused also. "Yes you may be excused. I'll be up in a little while and you can show me how to play your X Box games while Mommy goes riding with the rest." Wesley told the boys. Like a heard of horses the boys went running upstairs. They were all having a growth spurt and Cordelia and Fred were having a hard time keeping them in clothes that fit.

"It looks like we'll have to go shopping for clothes for them again Fred." Cordelia said. "Yes they seem to try to purposely defeat our efforts to keep them clothed properly. Since tomorrow is Saturday maybe we can go to the mall and make a day of it." They all went to their rooms to change into jeans and flannel shirts since it was a little cool out tonight.

When they arrived at the stables there were so many horses to saddle that they each had to do their own. Aunt Bee and Santana had presented to Kathleen a pure black foal 3 years ago. Although he wasn't quit as tall as Santana, Duke, as she had named him, still grew up to be a magnificent looking Stallion. She kept his mane long and she would ask someone to bring her out to the stables on the weekends so she could tend to him herself. Poor Santana didn't understand why Angel wasn't there to take him out also and he looked longingly at the rest as they left the stables.

Everyone was saddled and they took off down the street that led to the trails. As they all left the stables Angel pulled into the parking lot for the stables which wasn't more than a barren dirt area. He had awakened when he heard the boys going upstairs and heard them talking about going riding. As soon as they all left he went to his room and dressed to go riding. He reached the stables just before they left on the horses. Santana whinnied to him as he caught his scent.

"You're happy to see me I see. Hold still so that I can get the saddle on you." Angel quickly saddled Santana and mounted him. They jumped the fence separating the river bed and the stable and Angel gave him his head which told Santana he could give a good stretch to his legs. As they arrived at the river where they usually crossed he stopped and listened for the rest of his family. They were making a lot of noise as they let their horses trot to the riverbed. Angel quickly crossed the river and waited on the other side which was a little higher then the side where he crossed.

Angel and Santana waited until he was sure that the rest could see him. In the next minute they came within eye sight. He was wearing a hat so he took it off and waved and made Santana rear and kick at the air with his front legs. He gave a loud cowboy yell as Santana reared up again then he gave him the command to run.

"It's Daddy Connor and he's daring us to catch him. Let's go." Kathleen and Connor kicked their mounts and took off. Both Connor and Kathleen were exceptional riders and rode their horses as though they were attached to them. Cordelia, Lou and Fred were right behind them. No one really thought of how Toby and Vicky were doing. Normally they would have done just fine at keeping up with the horses but tonight Toby smelled love in the air. He followed Vicky who had walked a little off the trail and waited for Toby. Tonight Vicky became Toby's life long companion as they mated. Cordelia had told Connor and Kathleen to keep them apart for Vicky's first two heats. She told them that Vicky needed time to grow and become more mature other wise having puppies too early would drain her body too much.

While the dogs were busy creating their babies Connor and Kathleen caught up with Angel. Connor reached for his dad and pushed him off of Santana as he threw himself at him. Kathleen pulled up Duke and jumped down and piled on top of the men also. Junior and Tom were already on the ground and helping Connor. The rest arrived shortly after and did the same. Connor had Angel by the neck and Tom and Junior each had an arm. Kathleen held one leg while Lou and Fred held the other leg down. Cordelia was busy taking his shoe off and tickling his feet. Angel called out to Santana for him to come and help him but Santana came over and instead of helping him he gave a horse laugh which made everyone start laughing so hard that they couldn't hold Angel anymore.

Angel sat up and just looked at Santana. "Some friend you are, you're supposed to come over and scare them away." Santana came over and pushed him with his head then nibbled at his hair. "Okay I forgive you but don't let it happen again. At least Toby would have helped me by pulling at their legs. Where is Toby and Vicky?" Angel asked as he pulled his sock and shoe on.

Connor and Kathleen just looked at each other. Kathleen's face turned red but since it was dark no one could see her face. They both knew what the dogs were doing. "Toby has officially made Vicky his wife and they are busy making their first litter of puppies." Connor informed everyone.

"Well I guess we had better make it a slow ride back so we don't disturb them." Cordelia said. Angel had stood up and reached out for her hand to help her up. Lou helped Fred up then they all mounted their horses. Lou encouraged her horse to move up by Angel and Connor. "Dad, do you think we could go up to our cabin sometime soon so we could run through the mountains. I suddenly became very homesick for them when we started playing. I was remembering how Tom and I used to do the same thing to our father." "Sure, we can do that any time you want but if Connor wants to go, which I'm sure he does, you'll have to ask him when he can join us." Angel said. "Tomorrow when I go into work I'll check to see when I can take a few days off." Connor told them.

They were coming up to the place where the dogs had stopped. Toby heard them and could smell Connor's scent. He nosed Vicky, who was sleeping, and they both went running to them and barking all of the way. "Here are the newlyweds." Connor jumped off of Opie and braced himself for Toby to greet him. Both dogs jumped all over him and licked his face as he got down on one knee. Kathleen came over also and they jumped all over her as well. After they were done Connor and Kathleen mounted again and they took off. As they came to the fork in the trail that went behind the stables or to the street Angel told Cordelia that he was going up behind the stables. Angel, Connor and Kathleen took the trail that led behind the stables and the rest took the street.

As Angel, Connor and Kathleen pushed their horses into a gallop they could all sense someone nearby that was watching them. Kathleen maneuvered Duke so that he was between Connor and her father.

"Daddy someone is trying to get into my mind." "Do you have the walls up to protect yourself?" "Yes, their not very strong and I can hold them off easily. Should I do something to them?" "Yes but lets all do it. Just ahead at the bridge there is usually a group of bats. Let's try to get them to go after our guests." They all closed their eyes and concentrated on the bats and their watchers. After a few minutes you could hear the flutter of what sounded like more than 100 bats as they went to the other side of the river and attacked their watchers. You could hear the men screaming as they tried to brush them away from their heads and running back to their vehicles. Angel, Connor and Kathleen kicked their horses in the sides and they started back for the stables at a run.

The next morning at Wolfram & Hart the leader of the men that had been assigned the task of eliminating Angel was standing in front of the new man that had been assigned the task of exterminating him. The man was clearly English and his mannerisms told them that he thought of them as being less than the dirt he walked on.

"Why is Angel still alive?" "He had his daughter with him Sir." "Are you telling me that you're afraid of a little girl?" "This little girl, yes we are. She is a very powerful Witch Sir. We tried to read her mind to see what they were doing and she easily blocked our attempts to do so. She is the same one that made the guards think they had ants crawling all over them so that her father and mother could escape with her. She can control many people at one time sir and we will need our own witches or warlocks to combat her the next time we attempt to kill her father."

The new man was quiet for a few minutes as he paced back and forth behind his desk. "Alright I'll get you what you want. If you fail next time you had better have a very good excuse. Just as a warning I won't accept anything less then your funeral as an excuse. Now get out of here."

As the weeks passed everything returned to a more normal life. At least they weren't constantly thinking of the fact that Dr. Martin was no longer with them. Once in a while someone would say something like 'we can ask Grandma if that's true'. They would all become quiet for awhile then continue on.

After five weeks they could easily tell that Vicky was pregnant. Kathleen had been brushing her when she felt the puppies moving. She was so excited that she went running to the hallway and called down "Momma, come here." Angel and Cordelia came running up the stairs to her room.

"What's wrong?" Cordelia asked excitedly. "Put your hand on Vicky's stomach and you can feel the puppies moving around." Cordelia and Angel just looked at each other then got on the floor so they could feel the puppies. You could easily see the puppies moving around. "It won't be long now Kathleen. The puppies are starting to get crowded in there. I think she has 2 or three weeks to go and then we'll have our next generation of Angel Investigation dogs." Kathleen gave Vicky a kiss on her nose and hugged her. Kathleen started taking care of her so well that she was practically feeding her with a spoon.

As Vicky got closer to her delivery date she developed a problem that called for adjustments to the doggie door. They had all just finished their supper when they heard Vicky whimpering by the doggie door. Kathleen went to the door and opened it. Vicky quickly went outside to go potty then came right back in. As Kathleen sat down at the table again she said, "It looks like we have to enlarge the doggie door. Toby's wife is getting to big to use the regular door." "I'll ask Mr. Sanchez to do that tomorrow or else you'll be up all night letting her out until she delivers. You had your Momma and me getting up at least 3 times each night just before you were born." Angel told his daughter.

"Why did you have to pee all of the time Daddy when Momma was the one that was carrying me?" "You've heard your Momma and I talk about the link that we share?" "Yes, but you and I can talk to each other and you don't have to go to the bathroom every time I do." "That's true but the link your Momma and I share is much closer. The link we share is so powerful that when your Momma would get morning sickness I would get it also. When she would get depressed I would too and the day you were born I felt the same pain she felt." "Will my husband go through the same thing Momma?" "No Sweetheart, your Daddy is special and only people like your Daddy and Uncle Spike can have that kind of link with their wives." "You mean because Daddy and Uncle Spike are Vampires." "Yes that's it exactly."

"I wonder if Connor is going to go through the same thing when Lou and him have there first baby." Kathleen was never one to pass up the opportunity to tease her brother. "Just think Connor since your mother was a Vampire and both of Lou's parents were Vampires maybe you'll feel the same thing that she does when she is pregnant. I can just see it now, all of a sudden in the middle of the night Lou will jump out of bed and run to the bathroom." Kathleen got up and did a little dance around the dinning room table and stopped every few steps to cross her legs. "Hurry up Lou I have to pee too. Or worse yet, oh my goodness, MORNING SICKNESS! I can just see it, Lou jumps out of bed to run to the bathroom to throw up then you run to the kitchen sink to throw up." Kathleen made sounds like she was vomiting. She barely had time to get out of his reach as her brother jumped over the table and landed right by her. She made a bee line for the stairs laughing all of the way. He caught her as she ran to the other end of the hallway that went behind the elevator and back to the first floor and basement.

Connor picked her up and held on tightly to her ankles as he dangled her over the balcony. As she started screaming and laughing at the same time she yelled at her brother "Connor stop it you're making me pee in my pants." "Are you going to tease me about that anymore?" "I don't know what you're talking about." "Yes you do now promise you won't tease me about what may or may not happen or I just may start thinking about all of that pain and faint. Then you'll fall down head first and break the floor." "Daddy, make him stop." Kathleen yelled. "Daddy make him stop, Daddy make him stop." Connor teased Kathleen.

"I'm going to ask you one more time, are you going to stop teasing me about what may or may not happen when Lou becomes pregnant?" Kathleen didn't say anything for a few minutes. "Well, I'm waiting." "I'm thinking if a bump on the head is worth it just so that I can continue to tease you." Connor made out like he was going to drop her. She let out a scream.

Everyone was watching them and laughing. Nicky, Mike, David and Robert were all standing under the balcony and yelling "Do it Connor, drop her, she won't feel a thing." "I'm going to get you guys when I get loose. Alright Connor I promise that I won't tease you about what may or may not happen when Lou gets pregnant." Connor pulled her up and helped her to stand up. He held out a hand to her. "Peace?" Connor asked. "Peace." Kathleen said as they shook hands. Connor went back to the table to finish his coffee and his sister went after the boys.

"You two are as bad as Spike and your father." Wesley said. "They're irritating but it is fun isn't it?" Connor said as he looked at his father. "Yes but don't ever tell Spike what I admitted to."

Cordelia was walking to the stairs when she started to have a vision. As she sat down on the stairs she called out to Kathleen. Her daughter was by her side in seconds and sitting down by her mother's side. They held each others hand as the vision started to run through her mind. Kathleen jerked back a little as the vision started. When it was over they both went over to the Lobby counter and Cordelia let Kathleen write down the directions. Connor, Angel, Lou and Tom were at the counter. Connor held his hand out for the directions. "Give me the directions Kathleen and tell me what's happening." "No I'm going too." Kathleen said as she held the paper to her chest. Connor looked at Angel and Cordelia. Angel nodded his okay. "I guess there has to be a first time for everything." Cordelia told them.

"Okay Kathleen but stay to the side. If you see that we need help then use your magic and not your fists, understand?" "I understand." She gave the paper to her brother then and they all grabbed a weapon from the weapons cabinet then ran to Connors van. Wesley put his arm around Cordelia's shoulder. "She'll be okay Cordelia, she has more power in her little finger than the rest of them put together." "I know Wesley but she has never seen all of the killing, all of the blood and gore that goes along with killing. She thinks that we only kill Vampires and Demons. She doesn't know that sometimes humans that work with the Vampires are sometimes killed also."

"She knows more than you think Cordelia. Dr. Martin and I talked about her several times. She was worried about the psychological affects on Kathleen but I think I finally convinced her that we all have a first time and that your daughter will do just fine. Willow and Tara have told me about some of the training that they put Kathleen through. It's because of that training I believe that she will do a lot better than most of us did our first time." Wesley gave her a kiss on her forehead then went back upstairs. He looked back as he reached the top of the stairs. Cordelia was just sitting there and waiting for her family to come home.

Four hours later they came through the back doors. Kathleen was covered in some kind of blue Vaseline like substance while her beautiful red hair was a crimson red now. Connors was covered in the same stuff. Cordelia had fallen asleep while she waited so Kathleen went over to her mother and put her face close to hers. "Momma, wake up Momma were back." Cordelia opened her eyes and when she was able to focus in on her daughters face she let out a scream. "What happened to you? Are you hurt?" "No Momma it's all Connors fault. When the fight was over he came and rubbed himself all over me along with the blood from a deep cut he had on his arm. Before he could stop bleeding he had rubbed it all over my hair. He even squeezed his arm more so that he could get more blood out of it. I wanted to turn him into a toad but Daddy wouldn't let me." Kathleen was smiling all the time as she told her mother about what had happened.

Cordelia got up and looked her over carefully. "Why don't you all go and get cleaned up then go to bed. You can tell me all about what happened tomorrow morning." She started to kiss her daughter goodnight but then thought twice about it as she wrinkled her nose at the smell as she got closer, instead she just shooed her upstairs.

Later that night as Angel and Cordelia lay in bed Cordelia asked "How did she really do Angel?" "She was fine, where as Connor and I were wrecks because we were trying to fight and keep an eye on her at the same time. It didn't seem to bother her at all when we killed the bad guys. She still seems to see it as a game. Unfortunately I don't think that she will take this seriously until she sees one of us get hurt. It's just too easy for her to perform magic."

The next day Cordelia was looking for Kathleen so that she could help her with the laundry. It was Saturday and Kathleen had one more day of classes except this class took place in the hotel and the teacher was her mother. Cordelia was going around and picking up the various towels and such that needed to be cleaned once each month when she came into the chapel to pickup the altar cloth. Inside the chapel she found her daughter and, to her surprise, Fr. Barris. They were sitting together and engaging in quiet conversation. Cordelia quietly exited and went down to the basement with her load of laundry. One hour later Kathleen joined her mother in the basement.

"I'm sorry I didn't come right away Momma but I was talking to Fr. Barris in the chapel." "I know I saw you when I started to go in to get the altar cloth." They were quiet for a while as they separated the clothes. Kathleen put all of the sheets into the large commercial size washing machine and Cordelia started the regular washer with a load of clothes for Mike, Nicky and Angel. She usually washed their clothes separate since they tended to get dirtier and their clothes were usually of a heavier material. She had already washed the towels and was busy folding them. When Kathleen started to help her fold the towels Cordelia could sense that her daughter had a question for her.

"I know you want to ask me something Kathleen so just ask it." "I was talking to Fr. Barris about why there is so much evil in the world and why Daddy and Connor have to risk their lives all of the time fighting them. He said it's because too many people love themselves first. There hearts are smaller than most people's hearts. They have no respect or love for anyone else. There own comfort and happiness is the most important things in their lives and they will do anything that they have to in order to give themselves what they want. Those kinds of people can only get what they want by working for Satan."

"Yes that's what grandma taught us also. She also taught us that some people are just plain mean and will walk over anyone in order to have what they want. Both types of people are the type that Connor fights during the day and then at night he fights them with your father. People, Demons, and Vampires they all seem to act the same as if they have their own agenda. Christ said to love one another as he does. The bad people, Demons, and Vampires that love only themselves have no problem with hurting others. God created our family so that we can combat those people. When your Daddy and Gunn stop fighting the good fight then Connor, Lou, Tom, you and whoever else joins us will take over and continue the good fight. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes and it's also the same thing that Grandma told me. When do you think that Grandpa will come home? I miss him."

"Why don't you call him and ask him." "Can I call him now or should I wait for tonight?" "Check to see what the time difference is then figure out what time you have to call him in order to reach him at night after he has had a chance to have his supper and rest a little. By that time he will be more open to suggestion."

Kathleen looked at her mother and smiled. "It's like Grandma used to tell me

'Kathleen you are learning how to handle men from a master manipulator, your mother'." They took the clean laundry up stairs while laughing all the way. Angel was in his office and he heard the women going upstairs and laughing. He gave an involuntary shudder. "Poor Connor and whoever she sets her sights on. That girl is learning from the Master."

Later that night Kathleen called her grandfather. After telling him all about what had been going on at home and about Vicky having puppies she asked him the main reason for her calling. "When are you coming home Grandpa I miss you and Nicky and Mike miss you also. They are always asking when you're coming home." "I miss you also but I can't come home yet. I have a few things to finish up here and then I'll be home." "When will that be Grandpa?" "In two months I'll be done and will come home at the end of the month okay?" "Okay Grandpa. Is that a promise?" "Yes I promise. You better go to bed now." "Goodbye Grandpa." "Goodbye Kathleen." Kathleen hung up and went running downstairs to her parent's room so she could tell them when Giles was coming home.

The next morning as Giles walked into his office Peggy greeted him "Good morning Rupert." "Good morning Peggy." "Donald Tryst called this morning. (Donald Tryst was the Councils resident psychologist). He said that it was extremely important that you call him immediately upon coming in." "Thank you Peggy, would you get him on the phone for me please?"

Giles went into his office after making himself a cup of coffee. As he sat down his phone rang. It was Donald Tryst. "Rupert, this is Donald Tryst, as you know Roger Price has been seeing me ever since he came back from America and his nervous breakdown." "Yes, I remember, how is he doing?" "Not well Rupert he hasn't improved at all. He still has a very negative attitude towards Angel and his children. He thinks that his son has been placed under a spell to keep him working with Angel. Rupert, I consider him to be a danger to both Angel and his children and also to his son. I think that he will do whatever it takes to remove Angel and his children and to get Wesley to come back to England." "I thought you said he was doing better?" "He was when he first came back but within the last few months he seemed to have a relapse." Giles paused for awhile in order to organize his thoughts. "What do you think we should do with him?" "He needs to be confined somehow; right now though we have a bigger problem Rupert because Roger is missing. He had told me that he was going with his wife to spend some time with some friends in Paris and that he would be back two days. When he didn't show up for an appointment with me yesterday I called his home. Rupert, I talked to his wife, Felicity, and she said that he had left to visit some friends in Paris over a month ago. I asked her if she could give me a number where I could talk to him. I called the number and they said they hadn't heard from Roger since last year."

"Do you think he has gone to America?" "Yes and I think you should warn Angel and his son. I believe he is dangerous Rupert and may attempt to hurt or kill Angel." "Thank you Donald I'll let you know as soon as we find him." As soon as Giles hung up the phone he gathered some papers he was working on and called Peggy into his office. She came in ready to take notes. "I will be leaving and returning to the United States sooner than I expected. Please let the heads of all departments know and call for a first class ticket to Los Angeles California." "Yes sir." She left right away and started placing the calls.

The first and only flight that Peggy could get for Giles was at 6 A.M. the next morning. He purposely did not call home to let them know he was coming and he also gave Peggy strict instructions not to call anyone at the Hyperion. "Yes sir, I promise not to call Mrs. Martin or anyone else at the Hotel." After Giles hung up Peggy called California. To herself she said "I promised not to call anyone at the Hotel but he didn't say anything about The Slayer." She innocently whistled a little tune as she waited for the call to go through.

Just as everyone was sitting down to lunch the phone rang at the Lobby desk. "Angel Investigations we help the helpless." Cordelia greeted. "Cordelia this is Buffy can I speak to Wesley if he's there?" "Sure Buffy I'll get him. Wesley the call is for you. It's Buffy."

After 15 minutes on the phone Wesley joined everyone at the table. He didn't say anything about the call he thought he would let everyone have a peaceful lunch first then he would tell them about the call from Buffy.

While they were eating lunch Kathleen noticed Vicky wasn't eating her lunch, which was just 2 biscuits, instead she was walking around the Lobby and smelling the floor. She came back and looked at Kathleen. "What's the matter Vicky, aren't you hungry for your biscuits?" Vicky just looked at her, wagged her tale and whimpered. Toby came over to her and licked her face. "Maybe she needs to go outside?" Cordelia said. Kathleen got up and let both of the dogs out. She watched them for a few minutes then went back to her lunch.

"She just went outside and started checking out the back just as though she had never been back there before." Kathleen reported to no one in particular.

Mrs. Sanchez came over to the dining room and spoke in Spanish to Kathleen. "I think that Vicky is going to have her puppies today. She is looking for a place to bring her babies into the world." "Oh Momma, Grandma Sanchez said she thinks Vicky is looking for a place to have her babies." "When you're finished with your lunch you can take her up to your room and make her lay down in the birthing box that Connor made. Make her stay in it as much as possible so that she will understand that this where she is to have her puppies." Kathleen quickly finished her lunch then did as her mother told her.

Two nights later Kathleen woke up when she heard Vicky whimpering. When she turned the light on she could see that Vicky had her first puppy already. By 6 A.M. the next morning she had delivered five puppies that were now lying next to their mother as she continued to lick them and clean them. Kathleen picked each one up and checked their sex. We have three males and two females. She praised Vicky and gave each puppy a kiss before she put them back with their mother. Before getting dressed she gave Vicky something to eat. Today was a school day so she had to hurry to get ready. Before leaving she knocked on the door to her Mother and Fathers room. "Come in Kathleen." Angel called out. "Daddy I wanted to tell Momma that Vicky had her puppies last night, three boys and two girls. I already gave her something to eat and left the door open so she could go outside when she wants to. Oh and she should have one more puppy. Bye!" Kathleen closed the door and went running out of the hotel. "That kid makes me tired just watching her." Cordelia said as she turned over and looked at Angel.

"Shall we go and check on the 5 new additions to Angel Investigations?" Cordelia asked. "Sure let's go." Angel called Connor first and told him about the new additions then followed Cordelia upstairs after pulling his pants on.

In Kathleen's room they found 5 puppies cuddled up next to their mother. Vicky's tail started to wag vigorously as Angel and Cordelia came in and a few minutes later Connor, Lou and Toby. Toby approached the birthing box carefully. After smelling Vicky and her new puppies he sat down and they could have all sworn that he was smiling. Connor got down on his knees and praised Vicky for doing such a good job. As they watched her tending to her puppies she started to have contractions again.

"It looks like she isn't done yet." Cordelia said. Within a few minutes she pushed out what they hoped was the last one. To every ones surprise the last one was all white. Vicky quickly started to clean the puppy and chew off the umbilical cord. As she continued to clean it up it became whiter and they could see that it was an albino.

"This is a very unusual puppy. White German Shepherds are rare. I think this one will be special." Connor said. He turned it over so he could see the sex. "It's a boy." He looked at Toby and took his front paw and shook it. "Congratulations Toby you and Vicky did a good job." Toby licked his face then went to Vicky and licked her face also then sniffed at the new puppy.

"I guess we better leave the new family alone now. Vicky looks like she is pretty tired." Cordelia said. They all followed her out of the room and left Toby and Vicky with their new family.

Connor went back to bed since he didn't get in until just a couple of hours ago. Lou followed him into the room but went into the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed. Before getting into the shower she took a moment to open a pregnancy test package she had bought just yesterday. She was two weeks late. She quickly used the test then jumped into the shower and took a quick bath. By the time she got out of the shower the test was ready. She checked the box and reread it several times before she allowed herself to smile and be happy. She decided to wait to tell Connor and everyone else at Supper.

While all of this was going on Giles had arrived in California and taken a room at a nearby hotel. The first thing he did was call Buffy and let her know what was going on. Buffy didn't let on that Peggy had already contacted her and she had talked to Wesley. She told Giles that they would leave for L.A. as soon as they could.

At supper that evening at the Hyperion everyone was seated at the table for once. These days someone was almost always missing as they went about taking care of their own responsibilities. Wesley and Fred were almost always there since they were holding classes for the boys while Kathleen and the other girls were going to public school. Curfew for Kathleen was 5 p.m. unless her father, brother or Tom was with her.

Today was the first time that Kathleen had broken that rule by 1 hour. Angel had started pacing the floor at the front doors by 5:15. Everyone stayed out of his way and Cordelia could sense his anger through the link they shared. At 5:30 Kathleen called home and her mother answered the phone. "Momma its Kathleen." "Where are you? Your father is having a melt down little girl." "I'm at school, I missed the bus and I need someone to pick me up." "Alright Kathleen I'll ask Connor to pick you up."

Angel had been standing on the other side of the Lobby counter and was listening to the conversation. Cordelia saw his eyes actually turn red. "I'll pick her up." Angel said. Cordelia ran after him as he headed for the back. "Angel, be careful. You're very angry right now. Don't say or do anything that you'll regret later. I think that since she is the first of the children to try this then we should set an example for the rest and hold court just like she did for Nicky." Angel stopped and took a deep breath. He turned to Cordelia and nodded after thinking about her suggestion for a moment. "Okay we'll do as you suggested." He turned then and left to pick his wayward daughter up.

With all of this going on with Kathleen Lou had decided to wait to break the news to Connor.

As Angel pulled up to the school he could see his daughter sitting on the ground under a large tree and reading a book. Other kids were around but most were paired up or talking in groups. His daughter was the youngest among all of the kids in the front of the school and he could see how she was shunned by the others. Angel knew how women of all ages saw him and he decided that he would use his looks to benefit his daughters standing at the school. He pulled the car up to the side walk so that it was right by a group of girls dressed in cheerleader outfits. He did his best to literally ooze testosterone all over the place so that the girls immediately took notice of him.

"Hi ladies can you tell me if you have seen Kathleen Martin. She said she would be out in the front of the school?" It took a moment for them too recover from the affect that he was having on them. "Yes sir I believe that she is over by the front of the school and under the tree." The girl pointed Kathleen out. "Thank you." Angel said with the brightest smile he could muster. He left and walked towards his daughter who had seen the whole show. She gathered her things and walked towards her father who had lost the smile. Angel gave her a kiss and held her hand as they walked back to the car. He didn't say anything to her all of the way home. Kathleen knew she was in trouble.

At the same time Giles had taken a cab to Wolfram & Hart. At the receptionist station he asked if he could see Mr. Robert Price. The receptionist looked up the name and couldn't find any such name. After trying several different names that the receptionist couldn't find either Giles asked for the man in charge. After making another call the receptionist told Giles to have a seat and someone would be down shortly to talk to him. While Giles was waiting Buffy, Spike, Willow and Tara came in and joined him.

"What are all of you doing here? I asked you to go to the Hyperion." Giles said as they all came and sat down around him. It didn't escape him that they were all dressed in their best business like clothes instead of the casual clothing they usually wore.

"We just thought you could use our support. After all it never hurts to have the Slayer at your back." Spike said. Giles looked him over and noticed that Spike's hair was its normal color now and he had put on some weight and wasn't so thin anymore. For Spike, Buffy's 'Got to Have It Cravings' during her pregnancy that gave him the extra weight made him look more handsome since he continued to work out a lot.

Giles sat down again after looking at all of them. They all just looked back at him with a smile. This told him that no matter what he said they weren't going anyplace.

A well dressed, gray haired gentleman came over to Giles. "Mr. Giles I am Mr. Duncan and I will take you upstairs to see Mr. Price." Giles stood up and shook Mr. Duncan's offered hand. Everyone else stood up also. "I'm sorry but I was given instructions to take up only Mr. Giles." "He will be okay Buffy, I'll know where he is at all times and of his well being. We won't have any problem finding him if something should happen." Willow told her. Buffy and Spike sat down again and Giles and Mr. Duncan went to the elevators.

Giles was taken to a 3rd floor office. Mr. Duncan knocked at the door and they heard Mr. Price tell them to enter. As soon as they walked in Robert told Mr. Duncan he could leave.

"Have a seat Rupert." Giles sat down at a chair in front of a large desk. Mr. Price brought over two cups of tea for himself and Giles of which he waved off.

"What are you doing here Robert?" "They needed someone that knew all about Angel Investigations and I want Angel dead and his progeny along with him. Since both Wolfram & Hart and I want the same thing they contacted me and offered me the job. As you can see I took it." "Robert you need help. Do you know that Felicity is worried sick about you?" "Felicity is doing just fine and since she feels as you do she doesn't really need me. When I am finally successful you will all be released from Angels control and influence and you will be able to see how ridiculous your association with him was. I am giving you fair warning Rupert, leave the United States and return to England or you may get caught up in what is going to happen. I have all the resources of Wolfram & Hart to back me up and make sure that I am successful." "What you have just said proves to me how sick you are Robert. You will not win because we have a higher power behind us. I'll do my best to make sure that you are not hurt and are returned to England where you can be helped. It is I that's warning you Robert stop what you are doing and return to the Watchers Council where you can be helped and Felicity is waiting for you." Giles turned then and left. When he got back to the Lobby he walked over to the group and said "Let's go to the Hyperion so that I can let Wesley and Angel know what is going on." Everyone followed him out and to Buffy's van.

Supper was over and Angel hadn't said much of anything to Kathleen. When people started to get up Angel cleared his throat. "Would everyone please take their chairs over to the Lobby. Kathleen broke her curfew this afternoon and we shall hold court to decide her innocence or guilt and decide her punishment." Just as he said this Giles and the Sunnydale group came in.

Cordelia went to Giles and gave him a kiss and hug. Kathleen and the other children did the same.

"I would like to talk with you for a while Giles but we were just about to hold court to decide Kathleen's innocence or guilt in her breaking of her curfew. I would like for you to stand as the judge since I believe you will be impartial since you just returned."

"Of course I will be happy to serve as the judge." Giles said as he put his coat to the side and took his handkerchief out to clean his glasses. A table and chair was brought over for Giles use. Angel brought over a judges gavel that he had bought after the first trial. Angel and Wesley took seats at another table that would serve as the prosecutors table. Kathleen had asked her mother to sit with her since she often had the same problem. Buffy volunteered to sit on Kathleen's left also.

For the next 30 minutes Kathleen was questioned on why she was late getting home after her curfew. After hearing Kathleen's excuse and listening to why she had been given such an early curfew Angel addressed the court after talking to Connor who had come in during Kathleen's time on the stand.

"I would like to call a witness to the stand who has just given me some important information." Giles nodded his okay. "Connor would you take the stand please?" After Connor sat down at the chair by Giles Angel asked him "Would you please tell the court Connor what you just told me?" "Around 12 noon my partner and I were patrolling the area around the local mall. In the entrance to the food court we happened to see a group of teenagers getting off of the bus and entering the mall. In the middle of the group I saw Kathleen. I told my partner that I was hungry and suggested that we stop for lunch. By doing this I was able to keep an eye on Kathleen. When we had to leave because of a robbery that was in progress I asked the mall guard to keep an eye on her and to let me know when they left the mall. Later on he called me and let me know that they left at 4:30.

Angel thanked Connor and asked Kathleen to take the stand again. She was already starting to cry as she walked up to the stand. Cordelia stood up. "Your honor I would like to question the accused first." Angel nodded his okay and returned to his chair as Giles told her to proceed.

"Kathleen can you tell us why you went to the mall, with the girls, and paid for their lunch?" Cordelia asked her daughter.

"None of the girls wanted anything to do with me because I was so much younger than the rest of them so I thought that maybe they would let me into their group if I treated them to lunch. Unfortunately they wanted to stay longer than just lunch and we ended up missing the last two classes of the day and when I finally got back to school I started studying for a test that we are having tomorrow in my calculus class and I just lost track of time." Cordelia sat down again and let Angel question his daughter.

"So not only did you stay out later then your curfew but you also lied to us as to why you were late and the fact that you skipped two of your classes." Kathleen just looked at her father with tears pouring down her cheeks. "Yes sir." Cordelia looked at Giles and Angel. She knew that Kathleen's tears were very real but she didn't think that the men thought they were. Cordelia understood why Kathleen had done what she did. Angel could never understand the pressure teenagers were under to be a part of the in crowd.

Giles pulled his handkerchief out and gave it to his granddaughter. Kathleen finally looked up at her father. "Daddy, I'm sorry Daddy. I promise that I'll never do it again. Please don't be angry with me for disobeying you. I just wanted to be friends with them." Kathleen got up and went to her father and kneeled in front of his chair and put her hands on his. He refused to look at her. He knew he would cave in if he did.

"Please Daddy look at me and say you forgive me." Kathleen was crying heavily now. Everyone was watching them and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Giles hit the table with the gavel to call the court back to order. Cordelia came to get her daughter and take her back to her chair. She took the handkerchief from her daughter and wiped her tears away then let her blow her nose.

"It is the decision of this court that as your punishment you will write an essay as to why it is so important that you observe the curfew. The essay is to be at least 1,000 words long. Now I know that what I am going to give you will have more of an affect on you then the essay or anything else that the court could give you. Kathleen you can no longer learn from your father the Martial Arts, from now on you will take a class from someone of either your fathers or Connors choosing. At the end of the school year you will be tested by Buffy to see how you are doing." Giles struck the table again with the gavel and said "Court dismissed."

Everyone was quiet and you could have heard a pin drop. After a few minutes of silence Angel got up from his chair and went outside to the back. No one followed him. They knew that this was harder on him then it was on Kathleen. Giles and Wesley went into his office and were in there for the next two hours discussing the problem that Wesley's father now presented.

As Angel sat outside by himself and his own thoughts Wesley approached him. "Angel, can you come into my office so Giles and I can talk to you about something." "Sure Wesley." They both got up and went into Wesley's office. Giles proceeded then to tell him what was going on with Mr. Price. "I think we had better talk to everyone about this Wesley. From now on I also want to include Kathleen in everything. Maybe she'll start taking everything more seriously if she is included in all of the problems that we are dealing with."

During the next 5 months they tried to live their lives normally. They added nightly guards of someone on the roof of the Hotel. Kathleen took the first 2 hours of 7 to 9 in the evening. Wesley took the next 2 hours and the rest took 2 hours each also. On the days that Kathleen had to attend her Martial Arts classes she had to switch with someone. By doing this Angel was teaching her responsibility for the whole family and not just herself or the younger children.

These nightly guards were the only outward signs that Angel Investigations knew anything about Mr. Price's intentions of killing Angel and his children.

Unfortunately for the men that Wolfram & Hart sent to try and kidnap Kathleen one weekend she was experiencing her first period and all of the crazy hormones that are more commonly known as PMS. It was on a Friday and Kathleen was on the roof top and crying. She had changed places with Wesley so she could attend her Martial Arts class. His usual time for standing guard was 9 to 11 since he usually had to be up early to help teach the younger children. Kathleen was usually home by 8 so this worked out perfectly for her. It gave her time to either work on her homework or have dinner. Usually though she liked to take a sandwich and a glass of milk up to the roof with her. Tonight though, she wasn't hungry. Tonight she felt lonely, unloved, hated, and shunned by the older children at school, friendless, used and whatever else she could think up. Connor came up stairs to check on his little sister and spend some time with her. Before he opened the door to the roof he stopped and listened as usual. He could hear his sister crying softly. He smelled the midnight air and suddenly understood why she was crying. Toby, who usually stood watch with him, was giving a low growl, deep, in his throat. Connor smelled the air again. This time he picked up the same scent that Toby smelled.

He carefully opened the door all of the way and stepped onto the roof. He noticed Kathleen was wiping her face and blowing her nose then she stood up. "It's alright Connor. I have them over here." She pointed to the back of the hotel and walked over to the edge of the roof. Connor followed her. Hanging below he could see 7 men tied with what looked like huge rubber bands. The more they struggled to get free the more they bounced up and down. Occasionally they would bounce high enough so that they would hit their heads and would be quiet for awhile. Connor looked at them and laughed. "You come up with the weirdest ways to handle things. I'll be back with some help to take care of these misfortunate yoyos." Connor took off downstairs to wake up the rest of the men to help him. He also told Cordelia that his sister needed another woman right now. "Why? What's wrong with her?" Cordelia asked as she pulled her robe on and ran after Angel. "I think the kidnappers had the misfortune to be here on her first experience with PMS. Poor, unfortunate brutes." Connor laughed as he ran to get the other men.

Angel and Cordelia ran upstairs to the roof. They looked around for Kathleen. Then they heard her and looked towards the sound. They found her leaning over the side of the roof and laughing. As they looked over the side they found their daughter had removed the shoes and socks of the men and butterflies were fluttering all around their feet. As the butterflies tickled their feet the men started moving around too much as they tried to shoo them away, this of course caused them to bounce too much. Instead of hitting the ground though, Kathleen had now put containers of honey below the men and each time they bounced hard enough to reach the ground they dunked their heads, and only the top of their head, in the honey. Angel and Cordelia just looked at each other as they watched their daughter laughing at the men as the butterflies tickled their feet. Angel left and joined the other men down in the patio. Kathleen let the men down one by one. She ran downstairs then and went to the patio.

Angel and the other men made the Wolfram & Hart men sit at the patio tree. When Angel saw his daughter come downstairs he asked her "Well Kathleen what shall we do with them now?" Kathleen walked around the men and stopped in front of one.

"I remember you; you came after me the last time didn't you?" The man didn't say anything. "When did they come after you before?" Angel asked. "The first night I was up here by myself. There were only three of them so I took care of them by myself and sent them on their way. Apparently I didn't punish them enough when I let them go. It's apparent that they aren't intelligent enough to comprehend how lucky they were to have dealt with just me." Kathleen walked back and forth in front of the men and played with the tip of her pony tail.

"I have it; I have the most perfect punishment for them." Kathleen jumped up and down as the idea came to her. She went to each man and put one hand on their stomachs. When she was done she turned to her father. "You can let them go now Daddy they won't bother us for at least one month. She turned back to the men sitting under the tree. I won't be so gentle with you next time gentlemen. I'm having a lot of mood swings right now and lucky for you I am making a decision about how to take care of you during one of my upbeat mood swings. If I were you I would quit Wolfram & Hart and seek residence in another city or else this is what might happen next time." Each man shrieked in terror at what she showed them then they quickly left.

Connor and the rest gathered around the young girl. "What did you do to them?" Connor asked. "I gave them gas. Right now their stomachs and intestines are churning away and by tomorrow morning when they go in to give their report they are going to be firing off the most noisy, skunky smell, with each fart that they will be either told to go home or just thrown out the window. Unfortunately for whomever they give the report to the smell will stick to their clothes and skin and it won't clean away." Kathleen told everyone with a big smile on her face.

Kathleen turned to her father. "Daddy you don't ever have to worry about me doing something that's against the rules. Grandma taught me everything that I need to know about what God will allow and what he won't. It's the reason why I do so many things that seem childish to the rest of you. What I do to them has the same results as though you had taken care of them. Mama you can give me the visions any time you want to, don't worry about the affect that they could have on me because unlike you I was made to have these visions and they won't hurt me. I want you and Daddy to go and have some time with each other and forget everything here. You know that I can handle Nicky and Mike and I think that I have proven that I can take care of myself." Kathleen went to Connor and held his hand. "Connor and I can take care of things here and if Wesley and Fred choose to go with you then we'll consider this as our spring break." Kathleen went to her mother. She put her hands on her mothers shoulders and was able to look directly into her eyes since they were now the same height. "Give me the visions now Mama."

Cordelia looked up at Angel and he nodded an okay. She put her hands on her daughter's shoulders then kissed her. As they drew apart you could see what looked like a wisp of a bluish white smoke pass between them. Kathleen hugged her mother then her father. Angel held her tightly and picked her up in the air. "I love you Daddy. Please try not to worry about me. Grandma and Jesus walk with me and guide me. You had God that guided you and taught you right from wrong but I have his son. When the time comes for me to destroy Wolfram & Hart He will guide me in what and when to do it." She gave her father a hug and kiss again and Angel put her down. Kathleen went to Connor and pulled him with her over to the other side of the roof so they could talk in private. After a few minutes Kathleen went downstairs to her room and Connor returned to the group.

"Why did you think that she needed me Connor?" Cordelia asked. "When I came up here I found her crying and I could smell a different odor around her. I've learned to recognize that smell and I usually find an excuse not to be around Lou when she is giving off the same odor. I believe it's what they call PMS, although I haven't smelled that odor lately. I knew it was the first time for her and I thought speaking to a woman would help her to open up more. She just told me though that I didn't have to worry about her when she starts crying for what seems like no reason. She said that I should learn to go and hide when Lou and she are going through it at the same time. She said that Dawn has told her that Spike usually goes and hides in his old crypt when all of the women are going through PMS at the same time otherwise they make him suffer terribly." Angel laughed at his last remark. "Well it looks like you will have two women looking after you also. I had Grandma and Cordelia and you'll have Lou and Kathleen." Connor reached for the stake in his back pocket and pretended to stake himself and then fall on the ground. Cordelia just said "Ha, ha, very funny. You two don't know how good you got it." She stepped over him and went to join her daughter. She left all of the men behind her laughing their heads off. She was thinking about what Connor said and went to see Lou first.

The door to Lou's room was open and she saw her in bed crying. Cordelia went in and sat on the bed next to Lou and pulled her into her arms. While she was holding her she whispered in her ear. "Have you seen Dr. Thompson yet?" "No." Lou said as she pulled away and blew her nose. "Promise you'll talk to either Hunter or Mike tomorrow okay?" "Okay, Grandma." Both women laughed. Cordelia got up then. "You should talk to Connor Lou. Don't hold the news back too long okay?" "I promise. Goodnight Cordelia and thank you." Cordelia kissed her on her forehead then returned to her own room. The news about Lou made her forget about Kathleen.

The next day Lou talked to Dr. Thompson. Even though he was retired now he still took care of the women in the two groups. After running a few tests on her blood and examining her he was able to confirm her home pregnancy test. Connor was at work so she wasn't able to tell him until the next morning. He had worked two shifts the previous day and night and he was so tired that he didn't even take a bath before going to bed. The next morning though while Connor was soaking in the whirlpool bath Lou was looking at herself in the mirror. She rolled up a towel and put it underneath her nightgown over her stomach.

"Do you think you'll get turned on Connor when you look at me 6 months from now like your Dad did when Cordelia was pregnant with her baby's?" It took Connor a while to realize what Lou had said. He lowered himself into the water and when he came back up he wiped his face with his hand and said "Did you just say what I think you said?" "I don't know it all depends on what you think I said." Lou said as she added another towel and looked at herself in the mirror.

Connor got out of the bath and kneeled in front of his wife. He put his ear to her stomach. At first he couldn't hear anything. "How far along are you?" "We have been pregnant for 3 months now." Connor put his ear to her stomach again. Then he heard it. It was very faint but he did hear it. He drew back and kissed her stomach then he stood up and gave her a kiss. "Can I break the news to everyone?" "Yes my great big stud muffin." After kissing her again he put his arm under her legs and picked her up and put her on the bed. He pulled out her clothes and helped her get dressed then with his accelerated speed he quickly dressed himself. It was like watching a cartoon as Lou watched him get dressed. Especially when he tried to put his shorts on and his feet got caught on the band and he fell over. She was laughing so hard she started having the hiccups.

When they opened the door he could hear everyone downstairs. So he pulled Lou over to the balcony and proceeded to beat his chest and give out a loud Tarzan yell. He picked Lou up then and jumped down to the first floor with her in his arms. After putting her down he beat his chest again like a big gorilla and gave another Tarzan yell.

"What's all the noise about boy?" Angel asked.

"Tarzan not call Boy, Boy anymore. Because Boy's woman has just told him that she is great with child." Connor gave out a great Tarzan yell again. He picked Lou up again and swung her around in a circle until she told him to stop before she threw up all over him. Angel came over and congratulated Connor and Lou. Tom came and gave his sister a kiss and hug. "Come on guys, come and sit down and have your breakfast before it gets cold." Cordelia told everyone. For the next six months Connor treated Lou like she was a queen.

Two months later summer break started so Wesley and Fred were free to go with Angel and Cordelia to Fred's parents in Texas. Wesley paid Vince to drive the horses in a new truck and trailer all the way to Texas so that they would be at Fred's parents home when they arrived.

Junior was spending more time with the boys in Gunn's group these days and was completely committed to learning Martial Arts. He had started to take part in Martial Arts competition already and was even able to give classes to Gunn's boys and girls. When they went out on one of Kathleen's visions he went with them and was more than capable of defending himself.

As expected, they didn't hear anything from Wolfram & Hart for a long time. Giles said that he was almost 100 sure that Robert Price was the person that the kidnappers had reported to and he was probably spending his time soaking in baths of tomato juice trying to get rid of the skunk odor.

Giles kept himself busy with Buffy's daughter, Joyce. Since it was summer time Buffy and Spike let her come to spend the summer with Kathleen. Willow and Tara also spent 2 to 3 days a week in L.A. working with Kathleen. They were part time teachers for Kathleen but most of the time they put their heads together with her to try and find ways to send Wesley's father back to England.

All in all everyone had adjusted to Dr. Martin's death. Hunter took over as their family doctor and psychiatrist. The only difference was that when Angel was having a problem he went to Wesley and Giles more. His Mom frequently visited him in his dreams and Cordelia was often awakened by Angel talking in his sleep. In the morning he would tell her about his mom's visit. When they were in Texas they all went on a long trip by horseback into the hills surrounding the ranch. Mr. Burkle had asked them to look for mares with their new foals. "The foals should be old enough now to be branded. Just do what Fred tells you and you'll do just fine. She's an old pro at round ups."

They all said goodbye and road off to the northern hills surrounding the ranch. They had two horses loaded down with supplies for them. The only thing they didn't bring was blood for Angel. He had assured her that he could find what he needed on the trail. By the second day he was starting to get a little weak and almost fell off of Santana as he made a fast side step when a rabbit ran in front of him. Wesley came up beside him and grabbed on to his arm. "Angel, are you alright? You almost fell off of your horse." "Yes, yes I'm okay. I'm just starting to get a little weak from lack of blood. I'm going to have to go hunting tonight. I wish Connor and Kathleen were here, it would be easier for me to hunt with other wolves around to help catch something." Fred had pulled up along side of Wesley and heard what Angel had said. "Well Angel I can't turn into a Wolf to help you hunt but I can help you catch a steer or deer for you to drink from. I used to help catch the calves by roping them so they could be branded." Fred told him. Angel looked at her in surprise. "Well I guess were going shopping tonight Cordelia."

They stopped early that evening and the rest had the last of the sandwiches that Mrs. Burkle had made for them. When the rest were done Angel went into the tent, disrobed and changed into a large gray wolf. When he came out to say goodbye to Cordelia she gave him a hug. "Be careful Angel. You're not a young pup anymore." Wesley came and sat on the log next to Cordelia while they watched the unusual sight of a large wolf running along side of a woman on horseback and another horse running along side of the wolf.

Fred and Angel had to travel into the hills in order to find some game for him to drink from. As the wolf walked along the trail created by deer going to a water source he suddenly lifted his head and followed a scent that only he could smell. Within the hour they spotted a young buck grazing in a small valley. Fred got her rope out and prepared to lasso the hind feet. The deer had started to grow his antlers and would make it harder to throw a rope around his neck. The wolf looked at Santana and Fred could tell that some kind of communication passed between them because Santana stayed when Fred and Angel took off. As they chased the deer Angel ran in front of the deer and kept it from swerving to the right while Fred came from the rear and to the left. With one attempt Fred had roped the deer's hind legs and it went down hard. The wolf immediately grabbed it by the throat and she saw him drinking deeply. When he was done Fred came over and put a tube in the buck's vein and filled a couple of large thermoses. When she was done Angel completed the kill. He had picked up the scent of other wolves in the area so he thought he would leave a gift for them. When the buck was dead he sat back and howled a call to the other wolves. Fred went back to where they had left Santana and waited for Angel. He continued to howl until the other wolves showed up. When they saw him he withdrew and joined Fred and Santana. They watched for a moment while the wolves had their fill. Fred thought of the saying from The Lion King. She watched as the wolves devoured the buck and the saying The Circle of Life kept going through her head. After a while they left and returned to the camp site.

That night Wesley and Fred could hear Angel and Cordelia having sex. Like Fred had said before it was like smelling popcorn.

Angel gave Cordelia the best sex she had had in a long time. Since it was only Wesley and Fred in the next tent he didn't bother to keep her quiet when she climaxed. The next morning Fred couldn't keep quiet about it anymore.

"What does it feel like Cordelia that he causes you to scream so loudly?" Fred asked her when the men walked off by themselves for awhile.

"Fred it's mind blowing. It's so powerful that it's almost painful when he bites down on my neck, but it's a good pain. I can only describe it as when you're in labor and that last instant before the baby slides out and you think your going to die with the pain but instead it results in a beautiful baby."

Cordelia became quiet for a while. "He won't be able to do that for me much longer. I told him that Mom came to me two weeks ago and told me that when we celebrate our 18th Anniversary we are to say our wedding vows again during Mass at the Hyperion. During that Mass Angel is to receive Communion at which time Angelus would be forced to leave him and Angel will become completely human." Fred put her arm around her friend. They both knew what this would mean. Angels days were numbered and that number was small.

The men walked away by themselves and Angel was telling Wesley about his mothers visit to Cordelia. Their 18th Anniversary would be in 3 years and even though it was 3 years away they started to feel that they needed to return home so that the family could be together as much as possible. Angel wanted to spend time with his sons.

When they returned to the ranch they decided that they would drive the horses back to El Monte themselves. The truck they had bought was large enough to carry all of them in comfort and it would give them some more time together. Instead of the main highways they took a lot of back roads so they could give the horses a break once in a while. The trailer carrying the horses was made for 6 so they had two stalls empty. When they needed to stop for the night to get some sleep the two couples used these stalls. Every other night they would look for a motel that had stables nearby where they could let the horses have more room to move round. What should have taken only 2 days to travel ended up taking a whole week. By the time they returned they were glad to be home and to be able to sleep in their own beds.

Connie made a large meal for their home coming. Starting tomorrow her family was taking their two week vacation so she was going all out. Everyone could pick what they wanted. At the end of the meal the men were unbuttoning the top of their pants and giving a sigh of relief as they did it. Since the Sanchez family was leaving the next morning Cordelia had invited them to sit and have supper with them.

"So where are you all going for your vacation, if you don't mind my asking Joaquin?" Angel asked.

"Next weekend they are having a big Martial Arts competition in Mexico city and Junior is entering. While we are there we will be visiting my sister and her family." "Oooh! You didn't tell me you were going Junior." Kathleen told him. "I didn't know until just today that I had been accepted." "Can we go Daddy?" "If nothing is happening well be there." Angel answered. "I'll make a banner and we'll be your cheering group." Kathleen said.

All of a sudden they heard a bunch of little feet come running through the lobby and out to the back. Toby and Vicky came running back in and as Vicky cleared the doggie door Toby pushed the lock into place. Then they both just lay down as though they were thinking, 'Finally some peace and quiet'.

"I guess it's time to find homes for Toby's family or they're going to wear Toby and Vicky out. Didn't Spike and Buffy want one Kathleen?" Connor asked. "Yes he's been waiting for them to be ready to leave their mother. I'll give them a call and tell them to make their choice this weekend if possible. What are you going to do about the white puppy?" Angel asked.

Connor was quiet for awhile. "I am going to keep him and put him through the same training that I put Toby through. Has anyone stopped to think of how old he is now?"

"Wasn't Kathleen about six months old when we gave him to you?" "Yes, and since Kathleen just made 13, that would make him about 12 years old. That is old for a dog. I think that Toby is, just like we always thought, a gift from God because the Vet says that he has the body of a 6 year old. Since it will take 1 ½ to 2 years to train him I'm sure Toby will be ready to retire by then or he will at least have to slow down a bit.

"Well I have the midnight shift tonight so I am going to go and try and get some sleep. Goodnight everyone." Connor said as he got up, gave Lou a kiss and went upstairs. "Come on Toby you're going to work with me tonight so you need to get some sleep also." Toby jumped up and went running after Connor.

The rest of the night they were all talking about the Martial Arts competition. Joaquin gave Angel all of the information he would need to get to the competition, he turned around and gave the information to Cordelia and asked her to make reservations for anyone that wanted to go. Kathleen was being kept busy with all of the puppies. With so many puppies and adult dogs she had to pick up all of the poop that they left all over the garden. By 10 p.m. the hotel was quiet with everyone in bed. Even the puppies were cuddled up with Vicky. Connor got up at 11:30 to get ready for work. He took a shower and got dressed then ran a brush through Toby's coat a few times before they went running to his van. When they left the hotel was quiet again.

At 4:15 A.M. Kathleen was awakened by a vision. She saw Connor being attacked by almost a dozen men dressed in black. Toby had been knocked out and was laying on the ground next to the car. His partner Jack Cooper was doing his best to fight off the men as well but was soon overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Kathleen jumped out of bed and pulled some clothes on then went running down to her mother and fathers bedroom. She knocked on the door then opened it. "Daddy get up, I just had a vision of Connor being attacked. I'll go and get the rest up while you get dressed." She closed the door then went to wake up the rest. Within 15 minutes they were all downstairs and heading for the back. Kathleen gave each of the drivers the location they were to head for.

As they reached the location they saw more than half a dozen men standing around someone on the ground. As the Angel Investigation people gathered around one man stepped forward. Three more people dressed in long robes stepped out of their vehicle that was in the alley on the other side when they saw that Kathleen was with them. She could feel their minds trying to control her but it wasn't very hard for her to block them.

"I'm happy that you have come to rescue your son Angelus." "It's Angel, what is this all about?" "As usual Angel it's about you. We are better equipped to handle you now so your daughter might as well come forward also." Kathleen came forward to stand by her father. She didn't say anything she just walked up to stand by him. She was bursting with pride that she was able to do this. She could feel the warlocks trying to enter her mind. She came up with an idea to control them instead of them controlling her. She stepped forward a little. "Would you tell the warlocks to come forward please, I don't think you want the cars messed up."

They could see the warlocks hesitate for a moment. Kathleen knew they were afraid. She told her father this through the link they shared. As the warlocks came forward another man that was standing near by came forward and stood over Connor. He had a large crossbow in his hand and he pointed it right at Connors heart.

"If you try anything little girl your brother will be dead before you can do anything for him." Within the next second the screws holding the crossbow together started to come out. The tension on the arrow lessened with each screw until it fell on the ground. "Did you say something sir?" Kathleen said with a slight grin. Her father sent her a warning. "Be very careful Kathleen."

"Why did you beat up my son?" Angel asked. "To get you here of course and since we knew that you would bring your daughter along we wanted our warlocks here as well. We know that she is capable of little childish tricks but we also know that she is able to control others minds. You know that the Senior partners want to make sure that you will cease to exist, but information has recently come to us that tells us it won't be very long before you will be given your redemption and will cease to be a vampire. You are no longer of any use to us but your son is. All of your children are of use to us now. Even though you are no longer of any use to us we have been given orders to kill you so that Angel Investigations will be disbanded and everyone will go their own way. It occurred to us that Connor was just as dangerous to us as you have been."

The leader didn't turn and look at the Warlocks he just gave an order. "Control the girl." The Warlocks started saying something in Latin while Angel tried to pull Connor away from the leader. The rest started fighting with the other Wolfram & Hart men that were dressed in black. From the top of the surrounding buildings a rain of arrows was sent down on Angel and Connor. Before Kathleen could help her father and brother she had to take care of the Warlocks. Fortunately Kathleen only had to think of her defense where the Warlocks had to say the spells in Latin. An opening into the bowls of hell started to open beneath her. She quickly pulled each Warlock into the opening and sealed it after the last one. In the mean time arrows had already found their mark in Angels back while Connor was hit by a dozen arrows. Kathleen quickly took care of the marksmen on the rooftops after closing the hell mouth. She saw the blood starting to pool around her father and brother and for the first time started to be frightened. Anger quickly replaced her fear.

Kathleen went to the head man and tossed him into the wall of a building, head first. When the others saw what happened they backed away and returned to their vehicles.

This single encounter with Wolfram & Hart established Mary Kathleen Martin as a powerful Witch to be reckoned with and had to be approached carefully and with a lot of backup. They now saw her as an equal to her father and brother. They would have to look far and wide for someone that would equal her, after all they had lost 3 of their Warlocks to her and they couldn't afford to lose anymore.

After Wolfram & Hart left Wesley and Gunn went to Angel and Connor. The rest helped them to carry them to Connors Van. Kathleen went in first and took her brother into her lap. She knew that her father couldn't die from his injuries but her brother could and no matter how much they teased each other or argued they both knew that they loved each other.

Kathleen held her brothers head in her lap and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Uncle Wesley hurry, Connor's starting to feel cold. I told Mama to be ready because both Connor and Daddy are hurt real bad and have lost a lot of blood." I'm going as fast as I can Kathleen. Does anyone know where Jack is? We could sure use his assistance in getting to the Hotel faster." Just as he said that he saw Jack pull in front of him with his police car and the lights on as he lead the way to the Hotel.

As he pulled up to the back Hunter and Mike both had gurneys that the men put Angel and Connor on. They took them into the clinic as fast as possible. Hunter worked on Angel while Mike took care of Connor. "I wish Spike were here." Mike said.

"He's on his way. As soon as Kathleen told me what happened I gave him a call. I also called Morgan and asked him to send his helicopter to pick him up. They should be here soon." Mike and Hunter worked on Angel and Connor for an hour. They pulled one of the arrow heads out of Angel and were immediately assaulted by an unusual odor. When they checked the wound they could see it wide open and bleeding profusely. Hunter got on the phone and ordered 15 pints of O Positive which Wesley would pick up. She tried everything she could think of to make the bleeding stop in the one wound. She dare not take out any of the other arrows until she was able to figure out why he wouldn't stop bleeding.

Spike came running in a few minutes later. "How are they doing?" "I took one of the arrows out but I can't get the wound to stop bleeding and heal." Hunter showed him the arrow that she had pulled out of Angel. Spike picked it up and could see a slightly blue tint on the arrow head. He smelled it carefully. "I've smelled that someplace before a long time ago." Spike took a moment to try and remember. He was trying to remember when he looked at Hunters finger nails that were polished red. He suddenly remembered where he had smelled the odor before.

Spike went out to the Lobby and called Kathleen to come in and help him. When she came in and was standing next to Spike and between the two beds he told everyone where he remembered smelling the odor from.

"When I was with Drusilla she used to take care of her fingernails very carefully and would spend hours working on them. One night she was mixing up a new blend of fingernail coloring. The odor that it put out was exactly the same as what is on this arrow. Drusilla, in her own way, was a genius at chemicals. When I asked her about it she said she had found some flowers in the cave entrance we had stayed in the previous night. She said the flowers will make a person bleed once you scratch them with it and the scratches would never heal. The poison on these arrows is the same poison that Drusilla made and put on her nails.

Kathleen we need for you to see if you can remove the arrows without letting the poison get into the surrounding tissue. If you can do that then we'll be able to save Connor."

"I don't know how to do that Uncle Spike. I have to have something that I can imagine doing first. Let me go and talk to the others and see if someone has an idea." Kathleen left then to talk to the other women and see if they had any ideas of doing something that was similar to what Spike wanted her to do. The women thought for awhile after she explained what Spike wanted. Connie stood up after a while, "I have an idea Kathleen. Remember one day you came into my room and you saw me with my hand in this container full of warm wax? You asked me what I was doing and I told you that my hands would get chapped from being in water so much and when I dipped my hand into the warm wax and pulled it out it would be like a glove that fit my hand perfectly and made the skin soft. Couldn't you pretend you were doing the same thing with the arrow heads?" Kathleen thought about it and tried to imagine creating the wax on her hand. As she concentrated wax appeared on her hand and covered it like a glove. She looked at Connie and said "Yes I think I can do that." She went back into the clinic then.

She looked at her father and brother and decided it was more important to take care of Connor first since he could die normally. "Okay Uncle Spike this is what I'm going to do." She explained about the melted wax that Connie used to make her hands soft.

"Okay Kathleen but you realize that you must be careful to not make any part of the flesh around the arrow part of the wax." Spike told her. "I'll be as careful as I possibly can. Can you show me one arrow that isn't too far in so I can kind of practice?" "Sure, here is one that is only halfway in." Spike showed her an arrow that was half way up his thigh.

Kathleen closed her eyes for a moment then reached her fingers in around the arrow, formed the wax around her fingers then pulled the arrow out. She gave it to Spike who checked it carefully for blood and any flesh that might have come away with the wax. Hunter and Mike came over and checked it. "It looks good Kathleen. Go ahead and try one deeper." Spike showed her one that was in Connors lower left side of his abdomen. Once again Kathleen closed her eyes for a moment then reached her fingers into the wound and around the arrow. Once again she handed it over to Spike who checked it. It came out clean just as the other one did. "Okay Kathleen it looks good you can go ahead and pull them all out."

It took Kathleen over two hours to pull all of the arrows out of both her brother and father. When she was done she almost collapsed next to the table. Spike picked her up and took her out to Cordelia. "She's just tired Cordelia. She got all of the arrows out of both Connor and Angel. You can see the wounds healing already and we're starting to put back the blood they lost now. Junior can you take her up to her bedroom where she can rest?" "No take her up to my room for now where I can keep an eye on her." Junior did as she asked. Connie went upstairs with him and pulled the covers down before he put her down. She pulled her shoes off then they covered her and left after turning the light off and closing the door.

After Junior took her daughter upstairs Cordelia went in to check on Angel. She found Spike working on Angel and Hunter and Mike were both working on Connor.

"How is he doing?" Cordelia asked as she approached Angel and Spike. "He's doing a lot better then he was an hour ago. I have a new respect for Kathleen. You should have seen her Cordelia. That young girl put her hands into her own brother and father just as though she was a veteran surgeon. She didn't say yuck or eww even once. She had nothing but concentration on her face all of the time she was pulling out all of those arrows." After changing an empty bag of blood for a new one for Angel Spike turned back to Cordelia. "If it wasn't for Kathleen Angel would be out of it and Connor would be dead. The poison that was on those arrows prevented their bodies from healing so she had to form the wax she created so that it would go around the poison, the arrow, and her hand and that's all. She couldn't pull at any of the flesh around the arrow or she might have taken something out that was needed."

They both went over to Connor's bed when they heard him moaning. Cordelia went over to the door and called Lou. As they approached the bed Lou could hear Connor calling for her. "I'm right here Connor." She went to him and kissed him all over his face. When she started crying he put his free arm around her waist. "I'm okay baby, as soon as I get some rest I'll be up again." "No you won't kiddo. You're going to stay in bed for at least 24 hours. You came very close to dieing with all of those arrows in you. You also have some broken ribs along with a broken leg. Those will take at least 24 hours to heal. Now as soon as we put this last pint of blood in you we'll take you upstairs to your own bed and if we have to well chain you to the bed. Understood?" Hunter said. Even though she was a tiny woman her word carried a lot of weight. "Yes Mam, I'll be good." Connor said with a grin. "Well see, I've heard the same words come out of your Father's mouth and he never stayed put either." Hunter went over to check on Angel when she was done with Connor.

"Angel can you hear me?" "Yes but I'm not ready to open my eyes yet." "Why not?" "I don't want to see the clinic where I think I am. I'm hoping I died and you're going to be a beautiful Angel with huge white wings." "Sorry it's just your basic 4,000 year old Vampire with a soul. Hold still while I check your head. They tell me you hit the back of your head when you went down." Hunter felt the back of his head where the plastic plate was. When she pressed on it she was happy to see that it didn't give way.

"Okay Angel as far as I can tell everything is okay. See if you can sit up, but do it slowly." Angel sat up slowly as Hunter said. He felt dizzy but it cleared after awhile. Hunter brought the wheel chair over to the gurney where Angel was. She helped him to get down and into the chair. "Okay Cordelia you can take him upstairs. Ask one of the men to help you put him to bed." Hunter pulled Angel's chin up so that he had to look at her. "You are to stay in bed for at least 24 hours. You need more time to heal now Angel and I want to give your body the chance to do just that. Are we clear on this?" "Yes Mam." Angel answered with a grin.

"Cordelia, where is Kathleen?" "She's resting Angel. The arrows that they shot into you and Connor had a poison on them. Kathleen is the one that had to take them out. The poison that was on the arrows wouldn't allow your bodies to heal. Connor almost died from losing all of his blood." Cordelia pushed the wheelchair out to the Lobby where Gunn came and helped her.

"Where is Jack and Toby? I saw Toby go down after he attacked one of the men and they threw him against the car." If it wasn't for Lou Connor would have been off the bed and flat on the floor from falling. "Connor be still, Jack is okay and he took Toby to the Vet after he guided Wesley to the Hotel. He called just a few minutes ago to let us know that Toby is okay but he does have a broken leg and the Vet is going to keep him overnight. He asked how you were doing then he said he had to go to the precinct and fill out a report. The kind that he said you were familiar with." Connor laughed at the last part. "Yeah whenever we have encounters like this that the chief won't accept we make up something. We're getting pretty good at it. I could almost write a book based on our reports."

Hunter came over and took down the last bag of blood. "Well as soon as we can get the wheelchair back we'll be able to take you to your own bed. I think I'll go upstairs and check on Angel and bring the wheel chair back. I should be back in a few minutes." She patted Connors arm then left.

She met Gunn on his way back with the chair. "Oh good, I was just coming up to get it. How is Angel doing?" "He's sleeping. Kathleen is still sleeping also and Cordelia is keeping watch over them." Gunn said as he wheeled the chair into the clinic. "Okay Connor, park your keister over here." Gunn patted the wheel chair before he went to help him get down. "Hey, is that anyway to talk to your future boss?" "If I don't hesitate to tease Angel what makes you think you're going to get away scot free sonny." "I just thought I'd try. As the saying goes it doesn't hurt to try." "Nope it doesn't hurt to try…..and fail." Gunn answered with a laugh as he pushed the wheel chair to the elevator. He helped Lou get her husband to bed then left. It was 7 in the morning now and Lou was tired also so she got undressed and slipped in beside Connor. The younger children were just getting up but were told to keep the noise down to a low roar.

Since the Sanchez family was leaving this morning Connie put out boxes of cereal out so they could make their own breakfast. The Price boys were more then old enough to take care of themselves and clean up afterward. Mike and Nicky took care of themselves also. Even though they had the Sanchez family to clean up after them neither Cordelia or Fred allowed the children to treat them as servants. When Cordelia told them to clean up after themselves one day they asked "How come we have to clean up after ourselves? Isn't that what Connie is for?" That was the last thing Nicky remembers saying on a Saturday morning when he didn't have anything to do.

Kathleen woke up next to her father. She put her arm around his chest and gave him a kiss then got up as carefully as she could and went over to her mother. "Mama, Mama wake up." Kathleen said as she gently shook her shoulder. Cordelia looked at her daughter. "How are you feeling?" "Rested, I'm going to go and take a shower and get something to eat. Would you like me to bring something up for you and Daddy?" "That's okay sweetheart I'm going to warm up some blood for your Daddy then I think I'll lay down with him." Kathleen gave her mother a kiss then left to go to her room.

After last night no one questioned Kathleen's ability to take care of herself and the rest of them. Angel was up and walking around in 24 hours while Connor needed a little more time for his ribs and leg to heal. As soon as he could he went to pick up Toby who now had a cast on his leg. Everyone was treating him like a baby. He had his food put right in front of him without having to share it with his pups. The pups were kept away from him most of the time so that he could rest and since he couldn't crawl through the pet door someone opened the door for him each time he wanted to go outside. He had everyone wrapped around his paw. Lou could swear she saw him smile when the food Connor gave him wasn't to his liking and he gave a poor me look to his master and he immediately got some people food.

"You're spoiling him so bad that by the time that cast comes off your going to be feeding him with a fork and cutting up his steak for him. Do you think Angel will mind when he finds you warming up his blood so you can pour it on top of his majesty's steaks." Lou asked. "Heck no, Toby has Dad wrapped around his paw also. I caught him giving Toby some expensive candy the other day. When I asked him about it he just grinned and said 'Anything for our hero'. He even asked me to pick up a bag of those expensive doggie cookies at the pet bakery."

"I bet you didn't even notice that some of the puppies are gone?" Lou asked as she cleaned the plate and silver ware that Connor had used to feed Toby. "I know Buffy and Spike took one for Joyce and Morgan took one for Stacy. That makes two, I'm keeping the white one and that makes 3, right?" "Like Kathleen says you're not as dumb as you look." "Jack told me he wanted one and I heard that Bobby wanted one for his daughter. That should take care of all but one."

Lou let Toby out and went back to Connor. "You've proven that your mind is working okay so let's test the rest of you to see if everything is working okay." "Mmmmm. I've heard about women in your condition and how they become little nymphomaniacs. Dad told me how Cordelia wanted sex all of the time when we were in Ireland. She even wanted to do it out in the open on the top of a hill during the daylight." Lou pulled her clothes off then helped Connor to take his off. She started kissing him all over and took only a moment to tell him "You better take it whenever you can sweetheart because it won't be very long before you're in dry dock for 4 or 5 months." Connor ran his hands over Lou's body and lingered at her belly while he ran his fingers around her growing stomach. He forced her to lie on the bed while he was above her. He played with her growing breasts and spent an extended period of time playing with them and suckling at each one until they were warm and moist with his saliva. He slowly ran his hands up and down her body followed by warm wet kisses. As he reached between her legs Lou let out a cry of ecstasy. Connor had discovered, on his own, how he could have the same effect on his sexual partner as a full Vampire did. The first time he tried it he had to put his hand over Lou's mouth to prevent her from screaming to loud. Fortunately for Connor Lou was able to do the same thing to him. When she tried it for the first time he actually checked himself to make sure he was still intact. They spent the rest of the day in there bedroom making love and Toby was left on his own and out in the hallway. Anyone seeing Toby out in the hallway knew why. He was just as good as a sign that said DO NOT DISTURB.

In Scotland 3 years later a tall, light haired man crawled his way out of a cave where he had spent the last 5 years sleeping. He had preferred to spend the years in a deep sleep that only vampires could survive rather then suffer the guilt that he felt when he killed someone for their blood. He had been a Vampire for 235 years now and for some reason, 100 years ago, he started feeling guilty every time he took a life. So he had come up to the hills of his birthplace and found the cave he used to play in when he was a child. He put himself into a deep sleep in the very furthest corner of the cave and waited for time to pass. When he crawled his way out of the cave where the ceiling became high enough so he could sit up he found a pint of warm blood waiting for him. He was hungry and wasn't going to ask any questions. As his eyes cleared and he felt his strength start to return he sensed the presence of someone else along with the scent of more blood and solid food. As he made his way to the entrance of the cave he saw a little man sitting next to a fire that had two pots sitting on the hot coals. By the scent he knew that one was blood and the other smelled like something that he recognized as Irish stew. "What in the world is Irish stew doing in the highlands of Scotland?"

The Vampire crawled forward until he could stand up then slowly approached the little man.

"It's about time you got up. I've had to put water in the stew twice." The little man poured some more blood into a tall mug and dished up some of the stew. The Vampire didn't hesitate to sit down and start drinking and eating. When he was finally full he sat back and took an offered cigar from the little man. He lit up the cigar and took a few puffs before he said anything.

"So who are you anyway?" "My name is Henry and I've been sent by the PTB's to offer you a "LIFE" so to speak. You've been having problems when you kill someone for their blood for the last 100 years, am I not correct?" "How did you know that and who the hell is the PTB's?" "The PTB's work for God and God has chosen you to join a group that has a very important job to perform. The leader of this group is Angel; he's a Vampire with a soul. Does that ring a bell?" "Yes, I've heard of him. Isn't his demons name Angelus, and isn't he a Master Vampire?" "Yes on all counts. The reason why I am here is to offer you the job of joining Angel Investigation. Angel's time in this world is coming to an end. He has been fighting for his redemption for the past 20 years or so.

Angel has been given all that he has dreamed of for the past 100 or more years. He has a loving wife that he could only have dreamed of at one time. He has a daughter that has him wrapped around her little finger and he loves it. He has a son that is going to take over the leadership of Angel Investigations and two younger sons, one of which is a carbon copy of him. His wife is human, his daughter and two younger sons are half Vampire and half human. The oldest son is a product of both Angel and his Sire Darla. Mystical powers enabled Darla to carry their baby to term. The mystical powers that did the enabling have already been taken care of. As it often happens God has taken a bad thing and turned it into something good. After a rough start in life Connor, Angels son, has agreed to take over the leadership of Angel Investigation. Now Connor has inherited almost all of Angel's and Darla's powers but he can't do everything and he isn't quite as powerful or as fast as they are. God wants you there to replace Angel in the strength department. In return he is offering you the same thing that Angel has or will soon be given but he wants me to warn you that it hasn't been easy for Angel and it won't be easy for you either." "But why me, I know that there are other Vampires in the world so why am I being offered the job." "You have been offered the job because God has looked into your heart and you have a specific talent that they are in great need of right now." "And what is that?" "You're a Surgeon. The person that filled that need died three years ago. They have two other doctors in the group but one is becoming too old to be performing his specialty which is OB/GYN. I believe you have done some work in that area also during your long years in the medical profession. The other doctor is the only 4,000 year old Vampire in existence. She has asked God for a family and the end of her existence and it has been granted to her."

The vampire poured himself another mug of blood then got up and walked around a little while he was thinking about the offer. As the sun started to come up he stopped and asked the little man. "Can Angel walk out into the sun light now?" "Yes he can." The Vampire turned then to Henry and gave him his hand. "Hi Henry my name is Shawn McConnell and I accept the offer." Henry shook Shawn's offered hand and led him over to a van that he had nearby. They got in and traveled for a few hours to the closest Hotel they could find.

For the next month Shawn worked on reestablishing himself as a Doctor and former resident of Scotland. Like so many Vampires Shawn had a considerable amount of money that he could dig into to finance his move. He notified a lawyer that handled his money for him that he was moving to the States and he would call him again when he reached his destination. By the end of the second month, since he woke up, he was on his way to Los Angelis California.

Kathleen had graduated from High School a few months ago. Her fellow graduates were all several years older then her and as things go she never did develop any friendships among her fellow classmates. After graduating she went with Giles, Willow, and Tara to England to study with the Witches Coven that worked for the Watchers Council. Their goal was to learn how to increase or channel their power through Kathleen. They spent long hours meditating and then Willow and Tara would try to funnel their power through Kathleen, thus increasing the strength of her will on an object. When they tried it the first time they made an old fashioned outhouse blow up. Their goal though was to make a building implode and fall into another dimension. After one month though both Willow and Tara had to call a halt to the attempts because of the affect that it would have on their mind's. They would both complain of tremendous headaches that would put them to bed for the next 24 hours. Kathleen of course wasn't affected at all. After a couple more attempts that resulted in the same medical problem they gave up and returned to California where they could get some rest.

Angel and Cordelia's 18th Anniversary was in six months and she had already started to plan the festivities. Her biggest problem right now was Father Barris who was now 75 years old and had Alzheimer's.

"Angel do you think your friend Monsignor Jack O'Connel would come out here to perform the ceremony for us?" Cordelia asked. "I can call him and ask. As the saying goes 'it never hurts to ask'." Angel answered as he finished doing some sit ups as Cordelia sat on his legs. He laid down on the floor as he worked on normalizing his breathing. "Why don't we go and see how Fr. Barris is doing?" Angel asked as he sat up. "He's in New Hampshire now. Mother Superior at Mom's former convent called me to let us know that he had been sent over to them as instructed by Mom in her will. She said that Mom had recognized the early stages of Alzheimer starting with him back when we first got married. At that time she made arrangements for him to be taken cared of by the sisters when the time came that he needed 24 hour care." Angel saw the tears pouring down her face. "Don't cry Cordelia, he doesn't know what's happening to him." "I know Angel it's just that he helped us so much that I hate to see him like this." She wiped her eyes and face with her sleeve then got up and helped Angel up.

"Let me take a shower then we'll go and see what our grandson is doing." Angel gave his wife a quick kiss on the cheek and went to take a shower. When he came out he found her ready to go and just waiting for him. Angel quickly dressed then pulled her up from the bed. "Come on Grandma." Cordelia gave him a light punch in the stomach. "Okay 'Grandpa'." She ran out of the room and up the stairs to Connor and Lou's suite. They had moved their things back up to Lou's old suite when they found out that they were expecting.

After their son Daniel, who they named after Lou's father, was born they all decided that it was time that the boys all were given their own room. The boys didn't get expanded rooms though. Both Fred and Cordelia agreed that the boys most likely wouldn't keep a suite of rooms clean since they were barely able to keep a room that they shared clean.

Cordelia knocked on Connor's door. "Come in Gama." Daniel said as he ran to the door. Cordelia swept up her little grandson in her arms. Toby and his son, Angus, came running over to them also. The white Shepard had been given the name Angus because he didn't eat any kind of beef unless it was Angus meat. How he could tell they couldn't figure out. They tried tricking him when he was a pup but he would just leave it in the bowl no matter how hungry he got. They finally gave up and started feeding him Angus meat which they had to go to a special meat market for.

"We came to see if Daniel could come and play with us in the gym. Grandpa said he was going to teach him how to swim." "I did?" Angel asked Cordelia. "Yes I heard you say it just a little while ago, I'm bored Grandma lets go see if Daniel can come and play in the gym." "I did?" Cordelia grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at Angel. "Yes you did." He looked at Connor. "See what you have to look forward to, after a while they just tell you what you said and if you are intelligent you'll just say, 'I guess I did'." "Help me get Grandpa Daniel he's making fun of Grandma." Daniel jumped on his Grandpa along with his Grandma. Instead of just tickling him like his grandmother did Daniel bit his Grandpa's hand. Fortunately he didn't break the skin and Angel calmly told him to let go. Cordelia carefully inspected his hand, there was no blood. They all gave a sigh of relief.

Connor picked up his son and put him on his lap. "Why did you bite Grandpa when Mommy and Daddy have told you not to do that? Remember we talked about it when you bit Toby and you made him cry out in pain?" His son looked down and played with his jumper button. "I was playing and I forgot." Connor thought about it for a moment. "I want you to go to Grandpa and tell him you're sorry and that you won't be able to play today because you are going to be punished for biting Grandpa when we told you not to." Connor put his son down on the floor and he went to his Grandfather.

"I'm sorry I hurt you Gampa." Daniel picked his Grandfathers hand up and kissed it where he had bit it. "Is that better now?" "Yes its all better, see there isn't even a mark anymore. You give good 'all better' kisses. Are you still going to go swimming with Grandma and Grandpa?" Daniel looked down and said "No Gampa Daddy said I can't play today because he is going to punish me for biting you when he told me not to." Angel picked up his Grandson and gave him a hug. "That's okay, even Grandpa has been bad and I was punished. When it's all over though you'll feel a lot better about yourself and you will never do the bad thing again." He put him down then and after Cordelia gave her grandson a kiss they said goodbye and left. As soon as they left Connor gave his son 3 spankings then put him in his rocking chair in the corner of the room. Daniel never cried out though and he didn't ask to get up from the chair.

"Cordelia says that Daniel is just like Dad. She said when she first started working with him he would spend a lot of time by himself just thinking. When Grandma started working with him she told him she called it meditating and that she used it to keep her thoughts in order while helping a patient. Dad found out later when he started to interact with people that he actually needed that special time to himself. He told Cordelia that it helped him to think about what Grandma was teaching him and he was better able to apply it to his everyday life." Lou said as she made some coffee for herself and Connor. When she sat down she put her hand over Connors hand. She knew that he always felt bad whenever he had to punish Daniel.

When Angel and Cordelia went down stairs Angel saw a man that he hadn't seen in over 25 years. "Henry, long time no see. What brings you into our part of the concrete jungle?" "You know me Angel; I'm always on a mission from the PTB." Henry turned around and motioned to the man that was standing by the door. Both Shawn and Angel stared at each other for a moment.

"Angel this is Shawn McConnell. The PTB has directed me to offer him a job and a life here with Angel Investigation. Since Dr. Martin passed away you haven't had a resident Doctor here. Shawn here is a Surgeon just like Dr. Martin was." "Yes but he is also a Vampire without a soul. You know I can't let him stay here because of that." Angel said as he stepped in between Cordelia and Shawn.

Shawn stepped forward and spoke for the first time. "Angel, could we go somewhere and talk in private?" Angel looked at Shawn and heard a voice inside his head tell him 'It's alright Angel Shawn has been sent by God and you are to help him to regain his love for his fellow man. You Angel will now be Shawn's teacher just as Mary Martin was yours'. Angel nodded toward Shawn and pointed to his office. For the rest of the day they were in his office talking. Cordelia offered Henry something to eat and drink while they waited. At 5 o'clock, since the Sanchez family was still on vacation, Cordelia took him into the kitchen where she started to prepare the evening meal. Everyone else was busy elsewhere so she was alone to do the work.

"Can I help you Mrs. Martin?" Henry asked. "Please call me Cordelia and yes you can help me cut up some potatoes for a stew." They continued to talk and prepare the evening meal together while Angel and Shawn were in his office. At 7 that evening everyone started to return. Gunn and Cylinda had been working with his kids. Cylinda was now 6 months pregnant and had quite her job at the hospital. Most of her time was spent taking care of the small children that had older sisters or brothers that had come to Gunn's group so Cylinda and Gunn were the first to come in through the back. Connor had been out working on a client's problem and came in right after Gunn and Cylinda. Everyone else had been up in their rooms. Hunter and Mike were now living at the Hyperion so they came down also along with their son Jeff. When everyone was down Cordelia knocked on the door to Angel's office. "We'll be their in a few minutes Cordy." "Okay everyone is waiting." Cordelia said then she went back to the kitchen and brought in several mugs of warm blood. Everyone saw the third mug and asked if Spike was here. "We have another guest that has been talking to Angel all afternoon. He'll introduce him as soon as he comes out."

A few minutes later Angel came out with Shawn following him. "Everyone I would like to introduce someone to you. This is Shawn McConnell he is going to join our group and this gentleman here is Henry. Henry works for the PTB and he is the one that talked me into working for the PTB and leaving the gutters of Los Angeles where I was living on the blood of rats and stray animals. He also pointed me in the direction of Sunnydale and Buffy. Shawn, please take the chair over here next to my daughter Kathleen." Shawn walked over to the empty chair and sat down. He turned then towards Kathleen. He stared at her as though he looked at a portrait of a beautiful young woman. Kathleen unashamedly stared back. Everyone heard a loud thunderclap then they all heard Henry say 'DONE' then disappeared.

Angel and Cordelia looked at each other then at their daughter who was still staring at Shawn.

"Kathleen, would you say grace please?" Angel told his daughter. "Uh, Momma would you say it tonight, I don't seem to be able to think of what to say?" Everyone had seen how Shawn and Kathleen were looking at each other and understood why she couldn't think. Cordelia just smiled and said grace. When everyone was done Angel explained who Shawn was and why he had excepted him by himself.

"When are you going to call Willow to perform the spell?" Wesley asked. "I called the Sunnydale group to come over here tonight. They all need to meet Shawn and since I don't know how Shawn will react once his soul is returned I want Spike here to help me. I've also called Morgan and explained things to him and Marissa. Since Shawn will be taking care of the women I thought Marissa might want to meet him. I think Bobbie and Tina will probably be coming also. Everyone should be here by 9 o'clock tonight."

Angel didn't eat too much at supper and drank mostly his blood. He noticed that Shawn did the same. "How did you like your drink Shawn?" Cordelia asked as she cleared the table along with Fred and Kathleen who was finally able to tear her eyes away from Shawn. "It was very good. I tasted something else in it though." "I add a little chili powder and a touch of Worsteshire Sauce in the evening and in the morning a pinch of cinnamon. It gives all of the Vampire's something different to look forward too instead of the same old taste every day and night."

After supper Cordelia showed Shawn his suite of rooms and explained how everything was set up. She gave him Dr. Martin and Giles old room so that they could keep an eye on him until he could settle in, so to speak. She told him where all of the extra supplies were and especially where the blood supply was kept. "I buy fresh blood every other day since that is the only thing that my husband insists be as fresh as possible. If you need anything at all don't hesitate to ask anyone. Everyone has to take care of their own rooms so everyone knows where all of the cleaning supplies are. I keep one vacuum on each floor so that we don't have to try to share just one." Cordelia sat down at the kitchen table and invited Shawn to do the same. He noticed how serious she looked.

"Shawn it is apparent to Angel and I that you have been chosen by God to be with my daughter. I'm not going to say anything other then ask that you wait to have sex until she is at least 18. Did Angel explain to you that he will be giving your soul back to you?" "Yes that was almost the first thing that he told me. He said that he couldn't have a Vampire without a soul running loose in the hotel." "Depending on how bad your demon is Shawn it may or may not be very hard on you. If he starts giving you too much trouble and you get depressed to the point of suicide I want you to tell one of us. In the basement we have chains that we can put on you if we have to. Someone will be with you all of the time if you need it. I think though that that someone will be Kathleen." Cordelia left Shawn alone then so that he could get himself settled in. When he was done putting his things away it was getting dark enough for him to go and sit out on the balcony and watch the planes taking off and landing at L.A. International. As he sat there in the dark he felt like he had finally found his home. Somehow it just felt right. His mind traveled to the last time he laid eyes on Kathleen and he felt a warm feeling fill his chest.

"Whoa boy, rain in those horses. Do you actually think that we are going to stay here in this cozy little hotel? As soon as you can get some time with the little missy you can drink her dry then were off. Get your ass in gear now and let's go and find a snack because I'm hungry." Shawn started to get up and grab his long, gray overcoat. Just as he was about to take his first step on the stairs he felt as though he ran into a wall that was invisible to him. As it hit he felt a pain in his gut that felt like a sword had just been put through it. He clutched his stomach and fell down the steps. Kathleen and Connor went running over to the bottom of the stairs and picked him up. Shawn was as tall as Angel but Connor easily picked him up and placed him on the couch.

Angel came running over along with Willow who had performed the spell while Kathleen was watching. After making sure that he was alright they just took seats around the couch until he could wake up. In the mean time Wesley and Giles came over to report on who Shawn McConnell was.

"According to his Watchers, Shawn McConnell is a rather mild demon that kills only for his food. He does it swiftly and doesn't torture his victims but he will remove all money from their person. That's all they have on him other then ever since he went to medical school he has stopped killing for his food and now pays for it." "Thanks Wesley and Giles. For Kathleen's sake I am glad that it won't be too hard on him." Kathleen and her father waited by Shawn while he slept. Kathleen pulled out her Rosary and asked her Father to pray for Shawn with her.

After they were done Kathleen pulled her feet up underneath her and put her head on her Fathers shoulder.

"All that I have hoped for has come to pass and I feel ready to go now St. Michael. Kathleen has someone to take care of her and love her. Shawn will now take my place in her life. Connor is doing a good job of running Angel Investigation and I know that he will take care of his brothers. My only regret is that I will leave Cordelia behind. I know I shouldn't ask this but please let her come with me." Angel cried silent tears as he thought of the time that he and his wife would be separated. After awhile he went to sleep. His heart was heavy with sadness and St. Michael made him sleep.

In the morning Cordelia awoke with a heavy feeling in her chest. She felt as though Daniel was sitting on her chest and trying to wake his grandmother up. "Okay you little rug rat, get off of Grandma's chest you're making it hurt." The pain continued so she opened her eyes. She was alone in the room. After a few minutes more she was able to get up and go to the bathroom to get some aspirin. She felt better after awhile, the pain was gone so she made her way back to her bed and lay down again. "I'm glad most of the work for the wedding is over now. It was a lot easier when I was younger." Cordelia said out loud. She closed her eyes then and went back to sleep. Just before falling asleep she felt the touch of a soft, cool hand brush her hair back and then she felt lips kiss her forehead.

By 7 A.M. Shawn was waking up. Kathleen and Angel woke up also.

"How are you feeling?" Angel asked. "I don't know why but I feel like I could eat a whole cow by myself." Angel just slapped his head with his hand. "You too, first Spike has an easy time of it now you. I just can't win." Angel got up and went up stairs to take a shower. He found Cordelia still in bed so he went to the bed and took his clothes off before crawling into bed with her. He listened to her heart beat and found it to be beating slowly as it would be when she was sleeping.

Since Shawn was awake and hungry Kathleen took him over to the dinning room and told him to just sit while she made a large mug of warm blood for him. He took a sip of it then drank it greedily. "Can I have another one?" He gave her the mug back and she took it and filled it again and warmed it up. This time she brought a plate of blueberry pancakes along with a side plate of 3 eggs and a half dozen sausages. He was halfway through when everyone else started coming downstairs. All of the men stood at the table and just said "Where's ours?" Kathleen just pointed to the side board. The men just sighed and went to get their breakfast. When they sat down at the table Connor started to say something but Lou kicked his shin under the table. She gave him a dirty look and he shut his mouth again. When Kathleen and Shawn left Connor yelled. "Why did you kick me?" "Leave Kathleen alone she's caught a fish and is reeling him in."

For the next 3 months Shawn suffered bouts of depression at night where he had to be chained up in the basement. Angel wasn't exactly happy but he wasn't exactly sad either. Kathleen, to say the least, stayed by Shawn's side almost constantly. In order to get her to take a break Cordelia would promise to sit with him. One of the days when Shawn was resting he woke up to find Cordelia sitting by him. He didn't say anything as he watched her sitting in a chair and going over her list of things that she wanted done for the wedding which was in two weeks. He didn't only watch her though, he listened to her heart. He heard it beating irregularly and he saw her rub her chest.

He sat up quietly. "Cordelia?" He said as softly as he could. She turned and looked at him. "Did you need something Shawn?" "Yes can I have a Pepsi please?" Cordelia got up and went to the chest full of ice and different kinds of cold drinks. As she gave it to him he opened it and took a long drink.

"Cordelia you need to see a heart specialist. I can hear your heart beating irregularly as though you have had a heart attack or you are getting ready to have one. Have you had a lot of pain in you chest lately?" "Yes but I think it's just because of the stress of getting ready for the wedding." "It isn't just that, it's something else also because I am hearing an odd sound to your heartbeat. Promise me that you'll see a specialist as soon as possible." "I'll make an appointment for after the wedding okay?" "I think you should do it now and if you don't do it now then I am going to tell Angel." "Okay, okay I'll call him as soon as Kathleen gets back. Are you sure you're not related to the Martin family?" "Yes I'm sure, Martin is Irish and McConnell is Scottish." He said with a smile. As she had promised as soon as Kathleen came back she went into Wesley's office and looked up his heart specialist that he saw once each year and called for an appointment. The next time she saw Shawn he just looked at her and asked 'Well?' "Yes I made the appointment. He couldn't see me though until next month."

Later in the day Shawn, when he was feeling better, went up to his room and took a bath. He called Wesley and asked for his heart Specialists name under the pretense that he wanted to make some connections with a heart doctor so he could get some referrals. He called Dr. Fernando up and explained to him why he thought he should see Mrs. Cordelia Chase-Martin as soon as possible. Dr. Fernando talked to his nurse while he was still on the phone and a few minutes later he gave Shawn a new appointment date. The date and time was for tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.

The next time Shawn saw Cordelia he slipped her a note with the new date and time. She took one look at it. She had a million things to do tomorrow but she would squeeze in the appointment somehow.

The next day Cordelia told Angel that she and Fred would be out all day wrapping up some last minute details for the wedding and she promised to be back by 5. Angel could sense that something was wrong but he just chalked it up to what she was going thru to make sure that the wedding was perfect.

Someone else was working to make sure that things went perfectly 'after' the wedding. He didn't figure on disappearing one day like the previous leaders on this one specific project. The Senior Partners accepted just so many failures and then you disappeared. He had the warlocks that he needed to distract Angel's powerful daughter but now he was looking for the right man to do the actual killing. Today he was going to be traveling to Germany to check out a man that was being recommended. With only a week left before the wedding Frank Panzer didn't have the luxury of time anymore. If the man in Germany didn't fulfill his needs then he would have to do the job himself. He had been a hit man himself and had been noticed by the Senior Partners when they saw that every target that he was assigned never got up again. Franks favorite weapon was a bow and arrow.

Cordelia had spent most of the afternoon with Dr. Fernando and then at the hospital where he sent her to take some tests. His nurse had called her cell phone as she had requested and told her that Dr. Fernando wanted to see her first thing in the morning.

So here she was along with Hunter to be told her test results. "I don't care what he tells me Hunter I won't do anything until after the wedding which is now less than one week away. I've worked to hard to let anything ruin it."

Dr. Fernando came in with an x-ray that he put in the small viewer that was right by his desk. Cordelia introduced Hunter to Dr. Fernando. She told him that she had brought Hunter with her for moral support.

"Okay Cordelia what I thought was wrong with you has been proven by the tests that you had yesterday. You have 75 blockage in two of your arteries leading to your heart. We need to take care of this right away." "After the wedding but not right now." "Cordelia I don't think that you understand the seriousness of your condition. You could have a heart attack and die at any time now." "No, not until after the wedding." "Dr. Fernando could I talk to Cordelia for a moment in private?"

Cordelia stood up and said "That won't be necessary. Schedule the surgery for next Monday Dr. Fernando and I'll be there." Hunter and Dr. Fernando just looked at each other. "When she gets like this Doctor it's impossible to change her mind. I'll keep an eye on her."

As they left the office Cordelia turned to Hunter. "Promise me Hunter that you won't say anything to Angel. I don't want to ruin what is going to happen. I want our wedding day to be perfect. He will be made fully human again and we won't ever have to worry about Angelus again or listen to him. For the first time since he received his soul back it will be quiet in his mind." "Okay Cordelia, for Angel I'll be quiet."

The evening before the big day they sat on their balcony just watching the planes coming and going. The hotel was quiet now. Bishop O'Connell had arrived just today and was staying at a nearby hotel. Tomorrow he would come to the Hyperion to say Mass and perform the ceremony.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Cordelia asked Angel as they sat on the balcony with a quilt wrapped around both of them. "Yes and no. Yes because I don't know what will happen when Angelus is expelled from my body and no because I know that you will be there along with the rest of our family. I told Spike that I didn't know what would happen when Angelus left me. I will sever the link tomorrow morning that I have with you, Connor and our children because I don't know what will happen if I keep it until Angelus leaves me."

"I think that will be the only part that I will miss. I will no longer be able to talk to you whenever I want and know that you are well. Let's go to bed Angel, we have a big day tomorrow and I am very tired." For the last time, Angel picked up his wife with ease and placed her on their bed. He covered her with the sheet and blanket then crawled in beside her. As he cradled his wife in his arm he said "This will be the last night that we spend as woman and Vampire are you sure that there is only one thing that you will miss?" "Yes I am sure."

As he held her in his arms it occurred to him that she had been tired a lot lately. A terrible thought came to his mind. He remembered how his mother was always tired just before she was told that she had cancer.

"Cordelia has Hunter checked you lately, as to why your so tired all of the time I mean?" "No, why are you asking?" He pushed himself up so that he could lean on one elbow and look down into her face. "Cordelia your heart sounds different and you always seem to be tired. I thought it was because of the wedding at first but now since I've actually taken the time to really listen to you I noticed that your heart sounds different. Cordelia Chase-Martin your not keeping anything from me are you?"

She was being quiet for too long. She knew she was scaring him because she could see the vein in his neck starting to move with each beat of his heart.

"Angel, last week I went to see Dr. Fernando." "Wesley's doctor?" "Yes, he sent me to the hospital to run some tests and he said that I have 75 blockage in 2 of my arteries. He wanted to put me into the hospital for a bypass but I refused to go. I told him that I didn't want anything to spoil the renewal of our wedding vows. I told him that I would go into the hospital on Monday but not before then. So he gave me some pills and told me to take an aspirin every day and that is also why I haven't wanted to have sex. No one but Shawn and Hunter know about this and I don't want them to know. We've waited to long for this day and I won't let anything delay it. Please, don't demand that I go in now because I won't do it. Now the sooner we go to sleep the sooner tomorrow will be here." She put her fingers to his lips when he started to protest. When he closed his mouth again she replaced her fingers with her lips and kissed him gently then went to sleep.

The next morning Cordelia was up early and taking a shower while Angel was still in bed. As she stood in front of the mirror she felt a slight pain in her chest. She took some aspirin and went out to the kitchen to get a slice of bread and some milk to drink with the pills. As she sat at the table the pain slowly subsided and it became a source of discomfort rather then a source of a sharp pain.

As she sat at the table she could hear everyone else's alarm clocks going off and people getting up to start the day. Angel was waking up also. He sleepily walked over to her and gave her a kiss good morning then went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After breakfast, and before everyone could start on their assigned tasks for the day Angel called Mike and Nicky over to him.

"Yes Dad." They each said as they stood in front of their father.

"I know that you know your mother and I are going to renew our wedding vows but what you don't know is that for the first time I am going to receive communion with everyone else. When I take the Body and Blood of Christ Angelus will be forced to leave me and I will no longer be a Vampire. I will be just like Wesley or Gunn. I won't have any of the powers I do now, I won't be able to talk to you in your head, I won't be able to turn into a wolf anymore and I won't be as strong as I am now, and I won't need to drink blood anymore. What I have to do now is break the link that I have with each of my children and with your mother." "Will we still be able to do the things we do or will that be taken away also?" Nicky asked. "No you are what you are because I fathered you while I was a Vampire and somehow that changed my, what they call DNA. You will be as you are now until the day you die and join your Mama and I. Come here now and let me break the link with each of you." Angel placed his hands on either side of his son's faces and broke the link with them. The boys went back to there seats then. Nicky had a smile on his face which Angel noticed.

"Don't think that you can get away with all kinds of things now boys. Connor still has a link with you and I have my Daddy link which can't be broken." Nicky's grin suddenly disappeared. Cordelia looked at him and laughed. She knew that Angel was just guessing at what they were thinking but apparently it was an accurate guess.

Angel looked at Kathleen. He could see the tears threatening to spill over.

"Kathleen, come over here please?" She came over and sat on her fathers lap. Angel saw the look on his daughters face and he was afraid that she would try to keep the link with him. "Kathleen I want you to promise me that you won't do anything to keep the link between us. I don't know what will happen when I lose the ability to maintain the link." She didn't say anything and just played with his shirt like she used to do when she had been caught doing something wrong. "Kathleen, promise me." Angel said more forcefully.

Kathleen looked down and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I promise." Angel put his hands to either side of her face and broke the link. Kathleen kept her promise and just kissed and hugged her Daddy just like she did when she was little. She returned to her chair then. Shawn put his hand on Kathleen's and gave it a slight squeeze. He reached out for her mind and tried to comfort her. She gave him a slight smile to let him know that she received him.

Connor was the next one that he broke the link with. The link that he shared with Connor was a weaker link that Angel had established when Connor and Lou got married. They were only able to sense each others wellness through the link which was fine with Connor.

"Now my beautiful wife it's your turn." Cordelia spoke to him through the link for the last time. 'I love you Angel. That is the link that binds us together and no one can ever take it away. That link is stronger then the links in the chain that we used each time to restrain you and Angelus." Everyone knew that they were speaking to each other in their minds because they could see tears coming from each of them. "Thank you my Beloved." Cordelia put her head down close to Angel then. He gently placed his hands on either side of her face and broke the link. He lowered himself to his knees then and kissed and hugged his wife.

By the time they pulled apart there wasn't a dry eye in the group.

"Let's get going everyone, the wedding is at 2 and we have a lot to do." Cordelia told everyone as she got up from the table. "You Missy are going to go and lay down so that you can be well rested for this afternoon." Cordelia started to protest. "No arguments I am sure that everyone knows what has to be done." He picked her up then and carried her to their bedroom and put her on the bed.

While everyone was working on the Hotel an uninvited guest was planning his own special invitation. He would just walk into the Hotel with a group that was going in and mingle as though he was an old friend of the family. He would, unfortunately, have to sit through the whole ceremony before he made his move. Angel would be human than and he could be killed as a human. The uninvited guest smiled to himself as the thought went through his mind 'Today won't be the last for just Angelus'. He had heard the recordings from last night and heard someone say that a table would be put at the front entrance to the hotel where any gifts could be left. He continued to wrap his weapon up in the box so that the trigger on the crossbow would be hidden by a lot of ribbons. Very carefully he placed the box on the table. Even though he had a safety latch on the trigger he didn't want to take any chances. He then proceeded to get ready for the wedding.

Guests started arriving at the hotel by 12:30. Bishop O'Connell was upstairs having a drink with Angel as they talked. Cordelia was in 412 getting dressed. She had just taken a shower and was having her hair and makeup done. Her wedding gown hung in the corner. She had chosen a soft blue, white and light green dress this time. Most of the dress was a soft blue and white, but from the back of the gown a large light green ribbon of silk extended outward from a large bow and down to the 5 foot length of the train. The dress was styled as a 1920's gown so it was covered in lace and went half way up her neck.

At 1:45 Cordelia was dressed. She stood waiting at the door for Wesley, who would walk her down the stairs to Angel.

Angel stood with Connor by his side in front of the makeshift alter. He had requested that he stand by him because Angelus was doing his best to get him to leave. This was the last hour that Angelus would exist with Angel, after that he didn't know what would happen and he was scared. Jack saw how Angel was perspiring as he fought with Angelus. He came over and put his hand on his shoulder. "Let's pray for St. Michaels help Angel." Angel nodded yes then he closed his eyes. After a few minutes Angel started to relax. He put his hand on Jacks and said "Thank you, he's quiet now." Jack just smiled at him and went to the other side of the table again.

At exactly 2 p.m. Lorne started the song that both Angel and Cordelia had chosen for her to enter the Lobby. It was their favorite one to dance to in the middle of the night. Patsy Clines 'True Love' rang out from Lorne's piano. As Wesley walked Cordelia down to Angel you could hear a collective 'Awwww' when they saw her walk down the steps. Angel was making so much noise with his sniffling that Connor had to hand Angel his handkerchief to blow his nose and wipe his face. When he handed the handkerchief back he smiled at him and said 'Thanks'.

Wesley put Cordelia's hand in Angels then stepped back to join Fred. Since they were renewing their vows Cordelia had chosen to have only Kathleen standing with her. Daniel, Connor and Lou's son was the ring bearer while Mike and Nicky stood beside Connor.

Jack started the mass. When it came time for the communion, Spike and Richard came up to stand behind Angel just in case anything happened. To their surprise though nothing did. Jack gave Cordelia her communion then gave Angel his. Nothing happened. He then gave them each a sip of the wine. Nothing happened.

Angel bowed his head and gave his prayer of thanks. As he bowed his head everyone could see a soft white mist encircle Angel and Cordelia. When he raised his head he saw everyone looking at him. He looked at Cordelia and simply said "I am free." Cordelia put her hand to his cheek and showed him his tear. It was clear as anyone's tears would be. He smiled at her and kissed her hand. "Rein in your horses their sonny it's not time for that yet." They just looked up at him and smiled. Spike and Richard went back to their seats and the ceremony continued. At the end Angel and Cordelia turned to the rest and Jack said "I give to you, for the second time, Mr. and Mrs. Angel Liam Martin and Cordelia Chase-Martin."

They remained at the front while everyone filed by and congratulated them. Kathleen stood close to her mother. Cordelia knew that she must be able to see her aura that must tell her that something was wrong. She was very tired and she started to feel a pain in her chest. "Get Shawn for me Kathleen." "Okay Momma."

In that split second the uninvited guest came up to Angel with the large box in front of him. He had insisted on giving it to Angel personally so he wasn't stopped by the guards. With his hand on the trigger of the crossbow he fired one arrow into Angel's heart and the second one into Cordelia's. The arrow that hit Angel went into his heart and came out of the other side. The second arrow that he shot at Cordelia hit her with such force that it literally sliced her heart in two and she was dead within seconds. The blood came pouring out of the wound and quickly ran all over her dress and to the floor. In the last moments of his life Angel reached out for his wife and held her.

In death, as it would now be through out eternity, their blood mingled together as it fell to the floor.

Kathleen had been so shocked by what had happened so fast that all she could do was scream. She reached out with her mind for her mother and father and found them to be silent. She couldn't stand the shock of what just happened and she fainted. Mike and Nicky came running to their parents. Shawn and Hunter had immediately gone to Angel and Cordelia but could find no pulse. They noticed that even their blood had now stopped flowing. Connor and Spike had run after the man that had shot them. He was caught before he even made it to the door. Connors friends took him into custody and had him handcuffed.

For the next hour the Angel Investigation and Scooby family just stared at Angel and Cordelia and cried. The boys held on to their father and mother and at first wouldn't let anyone come near them. Connor and Wesley finally pulled them away so that Bishop O'Connell could give them the Last Rites.

Kathleen still hadn't regained consciousness and Shawn was getting worried. He picked her up and took her to her bedroom and placed her on her bed. He ran to the bathroom then and grabbed a wash rag that he could wipe her face with after he wet it. It was almost 15 more minutes before she finally came around. When she woke up she looked into Shawn's eyes. Without warning she jumped up from the bed and went to the hallway. Without even thinking about it she jumped down to the first floor and ran over to her mother and father. Connor saw her and went to her.

"I thought I had dreamt it Connor, but its true isn't it. My Daddy and Momma are dead aren't they? Connor hugged his little sister to his chest. She tried to get away from him. "I'll bring them back Connor, I can do it. I made a deer come back to life once after Daddy and I saw a truck hit it. Let me go Connor, let me go." But Connor held onto his sister. "You know that you can't do that Kathleen. Dad wouldn't want that nor would Cordelia. He was tired Kathleen. He was tired of living and he wanted to go home to see both his biological mother and Grandma. Best of all Kathleen he has Cordelia with him. We should be happy for them."

Kathleen couldn't stand anymore so Connor sat on the floor with her and just rocked her back and forth while she cried her eyes out. Nicky and Mike came over to them then and they all hugged each other. Kathleen turned to the boys and took them both in her arms. They were almost as tall as her and Connor now.

Two hours after the shooting the hotel was cleared of all of the guests and the Coroners office was here to take Angel and Cordelia's bodies. Connor had been strong for his sister and brothers throughout the whole ordeal and he had made them go to their rooms so they wouldn't see their mother and fathers bodies being taken away. Wesley, Gunn and Giles stood with him as they drove away. As he watched the Coroners van driving away in the distance Connor couldn't hold it back anymore and he fell to his knees and cried. Giles held him and let him cry. Gunn and Wesley had gone to different sides of the drive way and released their own pent up sorrow at the passing of their friends. Fred and Cylindia had cried themselves to sleep an hour ago and were upstairs in their bedroom. Most of the people in the group had gone to their rooms and cried themselves to sleep.

Spike and Buffy were the only ones that cried for only a short time. They sat on the couch in their room. Buffy had changed and was lying on the couch with her head in Spikes lap. "How are you doing Luv?" Buffy sat up and looked at Spike. "I feel strangely calm Spike. I guess it's because Angel has finally received all that he has ever wanted and best of all Spike he has Cordelia with him. We had talked about it many times before. Cordelia was afraid of the time that Angel died and she would be left with such an empty space in her heart. So I am happy for both of them. God gave them the gift of taking them together so that they wouldn't have to suffer such a tremendous loss." Buffy kissed Spike and wrapped her arms around him. "I know that I am going to go first Spike and I am sorry that I will be leaving you behind." "Let's not think about that now Buffy." Spike picked up his wife and took her to the bed where they just laid together and went to sleep. It had been an emotionally draining day and they were both tired.

Connie and Joaquin were quietly cleaning up the blood from the floor so that when everyone came downstairs for supper, if they did come down, they wouldn't have to see the blood.

Shawn had taken Kathleen back up to her bedroom and lay beside her as she cried herself to sleep. Just as Angel had done so many times before, Shawn now held Kathleen to his chest. Although her heart was heavy she now felt safe and secure as she did when her Daddy held her.

The Epilog that I will write next will be the end of the story. It will be comparatively short.

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to finish this chapter but I've been very busy. I moved from Florida up to Georgia and I was having a problem finding the cords to my computer. Thanks to some prayers from a friend to St. Jude I found them within 3 days.

I hope that you approve of the ending and that you use up at least one box of Kleenex as I did.


	26. Chapter 26

**EPILOG**

As Connor was watching the 11 o'clock news he was surprised to see a news report on what happened at the Hyperion.

**Reporter: "Today at 3:30 P.M. right after the owners of Angel Investigations renewed their wedding vows Angel Martin and his wife Cordelia Martin , of eighteen years, were killed while greeting their wedding guests and receiving their congratulations. Mr. Martin is a well known and respected Investigator and business man in Los Angeles. Although the murderer was captured before he could leave the Hotel where they had the ceremony they were unable to question him as to why he killed Mr. and Mrs. Martin since he was killed as he was being taken down to the precinct for questioning. The assailant is unknown. **

**Mr. and Mrs. Martin leave behind a family of 4 children. Connor Martin, Mr. Martins son from a previous marriage, is a former police officer with the L.A.P.D., a daughter, 16 year old Kathleen Martin and two twelve year old twin boys, Nicky and Mike Martin. We have been told that the son Connor Martin will be taking over the running of Angel Investigations. Funeral arrangements have not been made yet, but we were able to find out that Mr. and Mrs. Martin will be buried at the ancestral cemetery in Ireland. Our hearts and prayers go with the Martin children and friends. The family has asked if we would put up the name of the email address that they can be contacted at if you would like to attend the funeral.**"

In Kathleen's room Sean stood watch over his future bride. He had given her a tranquilizer so that she could sleep a deep, restful sleep that would be void of dreams. At 4 A.M. he woke up with a jerk when he almost fell off of the chair. He got up and kicked off his shoes and lay beside Kathleen and pulled her into his arms. She started talking in her sleep and said "Daddy I missed you where have you been?"

"Kathleen I am with your mother and we are with your two Grandmothers and your Aunt Kathleen. They are just like I remember them. When your Mother and I woke up we saw them waiting for us. Best of all Kathleen, Jesus was waiting for us with open arms. It was just like in the picture that Grandma gave us and is hanging from the 2nd floor balcony. I felt so much love coming from Him Kathleen. It made everything that I went through worth while. He hugged me for a long time and I had a feeling of such peace that I no longer worried about you, your brothers and the rest. Tell everyone that I want them to be at the supper table tonight and that is all that I can tell you for now. Tell Sean that I will be with him always so that I can guide him and teach him but it is up to him to listen to me and learn. Goodbye my princes." "Goodbye Daddy." Kathleen was silent then and her breathing told Sean that she had slipped into a deeper sleep.

She didn't wake up again until 8 o'clock that morning. She could hear everyone else getting up also. Best of all she could smell breakfast. She had been surprised to see Sean by her side and with his arms around her when she opened her eyes. For some reason Kathleen felt happy this morning so she took a chance and reached up and kissed him. He opened his eyes and kissed her back. Your mighty happy today, did Angel come to see you last night?" "Yes he did and he said that they are very happy because my two Grandmothers and Aunt Kathleen came to get them when they woke up after dieing. He said that Jesus greeted him just like in the picture that hangs from the 2nd story balcony. I am going to take a shower and get dressed so that I can tell Connor and the rest what Daddy said. You better go to your room before people start talking." She gave him a kiss then ran into the bathroom.

Everyone was more cheerful as they greeted each other in the hallway and in the dinning room. Through mutual consent they left Angel's and Cordelia's chair empty. Connie had placed small bouquets of flowers in their plates. When it came time for Giles to sit down he found that his chair had been removed and his place setting was missing.

"Okay where am I supposed to sit?" "I think it's time now for you to take Dr. Martin's chair Giles." Wesley said as he stood and held the chair out for him. Giles hesitated at first then he sat down in the offered chair. Wesley sat down again.

Kathleen tapped her glass in order to get everyone's attention for the morning breakfast prayer. When everyone was quiet she started. "Dear Heavenly Father we want to thank you for this food that we are about to eat. Thank you for giving Connie the talent to make such delicious food but most of all Father we want to thank you for taking Daddy and Momma so quickly so that their suffering was so short. Amen." Everyone echoed her Amen then they started to eat their breakfast. When Kathleen could see that everyone was almost done she tapped her glass again.

"I have a message for everyone from Daddy." That got everyone's attention. When she saw everyone looking at her she said "Daddy came to visit me last night. He told me how happy they were and that Grandma Martin and Dr. Martin along with Aunt Kathleen where there when they woke up after leaving us. He told me how Jesus hugged him for a long time and how he felt so peaceful. He said all worry for us left his heart. He wanted me to tell everyone that they are to be here tonight for Supper and that is all he said, then he left me."

"You seem more cheerful this morning." Wesley said. "Yes, when I woke up I felt much better. I wasn't so sad anymore, I know that I can talk to Momma and Daddy whenever I want to and that they will hear me. When he left me he seemed to take away the sadness with him. That all consuming grief that I was feeling was gone."

"He came to me also and told me pretty much the same thing and like Kathleen I felt a lot better when he left." Connor said. Everyone else held up their hands and said "me too."

"Did anyone see Cordelia?" Fred asked. "I did." Both Nicky and Mike answered at the same time. "I did also. I mean Angel didn't come to me but Cordelia did. She told me the same thing that Angel told you Kathleen. She also told me that Angel and her were so happy that they both died together so that they wouldn't have to be apart for even a few days." Fred said. Wesley pulled her over to him when she started to cry a happy cry.

"Both Angel and Cordelia would shed a few tears whenever they would think of this time. The very thought of being separated for perhaps years would always make them cry. We are all going to miss them terribly, but at the same time we should be happy for them that they are together and that they are both in paradise with Jesus and the other half of Angel's family." Wesley said as he comforted Fred.

"Connor, Kathleen, Nicky and Mike I want you to know that I have arranged for your father and mother to be cremated already as your father requested. Bishop O'Connel will stay for the funeral mass then he will travel with us to Ireland so that we can have a private ceremony at the grave site. The funeral will take place at the church on Saturday at 6 p.m., I have it for this coming Saturday because I am getting a lot of e-mail from not only the Los Angeles area but from around the world. The date of the funeral will give everyone time to arrive in L.A.

Connor I need for you to come with me to my office so that we can establish a link between you and the Law firms that have been handling your father's money. Your father placed the care of all of his finances into my hands but he could give instructions to the Lawyers if he wanted something special done as he did before their wedding. Gunn, Angel wanted you to know that even after his death that you could continue to come to me at any time if you should need money to take care of your kids. He also wants you to know that he would send your son through college since he is destined to help the people of Angel Investigations. Nicky and Mike, Connor has been made your legal guardian. This means that you will answer to him for any trouble that you may get into either here, on the streets, or in school. Do you understand what I have told you?" "Yes Uncle Wesley." They both answered. "Since we all know what a softy your brother is when it comes to dealing with you two your sister Kathleen will have responsibility for you also and I think you remember how she is." Wesley said with a grin.

"Wesley has asked me to make the reservations to Ireland. So who is going besides Connor, Lou, Kathleen and the boys? I am pretty sure that Wesley and Fred are going but I didn't know about the children." Willow asked.

"I think that the children, except of course for Nicky and Mike, should stay here. It's a long flight and we won't be staying that long. Does everyone agree?" Wesley asked.

"I won't be going Connor and Wesley so I think that the kids will be safe here. I think that Sean and I can take care of anything that comes up besides Cylindia doesn't want to leave our son alone just yet." Gunn said.

"Can I have a show of hands then as to who is going so I can just count you?" Willow asked. Everyone but the Sanchez family, Gunn and his family, and Shawn wanted to go. "That makes 10. I'll be going so that makes 11. Okay then I'll let you know as soon as I can make the reservations. I suggest that everyone make sure that their Passports are in order." Everyone got up then and went to there own rooms or took care of the normal day to day business.

Fred and Kathleen went up to Cordelia and Angel's room to get all of their laundry that had to be cleaned. They didn't say anything as they stripped the bed of all of the sheets and took the towels down to the basement to be cleaned. As they separated the clothes Fred stopped as she stared at Cordelia's nightgown that she was going to wear last night. She had picked it up by mistake. She slowly sank to the floor and cried into the nightgown. Kathleen sat on the floor beside her as she started crying also. "She didn't even get a chance to wear it Kathleen. I went with her when she went shopping for this. She wanted a new one because she said that their wedding night would be the first as two humans. We went to Victoria Secrets to find a sexy pair of panties and bra for last night." Fred was crying so hard for her friend that she was missing already that her tiny frame shook with every sob. "Oh Kathleen, they didn't get to spend even one night together as a normal husband and wife." For thirty minutes they just sat on the floor and held each other as they cried. It wasn't so much as a cry for the death of Angel and Cordelia but that they would never see them again in a normal state. They cried for all of the good times that will no longer be possible.

Willow and Wesley were looking for Kathleen and were just starting to go downstairs when they heard Fred and her talking and crying. Willow stopped Wesley from going any further and turned and pushed him back upstairs. As she closed the door he asked her why she stopped him from going to them. "Wesley they need to be able to cry over the loss of their friend and mother. Just leave them alone so that they can lean on each other and talk about Cordelia. From now on Kathleen will look to Fred for everything that she would have normally looked to Cordelia for." "I guess your right. I'll be in my office checking on everyone's passports. I am going to call Morgan to see if any of them are going to go to Ireland with us. There aren't enough rooms at the house so I have to rent enough rooms for everyone. I'll see you later." Wesley went into his office and closed the doors. He stayed in there for the rest of the afternoon and came out only to get some hot tea to take back into his office. Connie made sandwiches for the boys and anyone else that came to the dinning room for lunch.

That evening she made a light supper of rice, chili beans, salad for anyone that wanted it and as usual plenty of tortillas. Everyone showed up as Angel asked. As they all sat back in there chairs drinking tea or coffee they felt a light breeze go through the dinning room. Connie and Joaquin came into the dining room when they felt the breeze. When they heard familiar footsteps coming down the stairs they all turned towards the lobby. Just as though nothing had happened Angel and Cordelia came walking towards the dinning room just as though they were coming down for Supper. Kathleen went running to her father and mother. Angel and Cordelia both raised their hands and told her to stop. "You cannot touch us because we are no longer alive and what you are seeing is more or less our spirits or souls." Kathleen sat down again next to Sean and he held onto her.

"We came to tell you how happy we are and to tell you not to be so sad over our death. God granted each of our prayers and allowed us to die together. Although we died a violent death neither one of us suffered since he shot us directly into our hearts." Angel said as he stood by Cordelia holding her hand all of the time.

"I didn't know what hit me because the blood supply to my brain was cut off so quickly. If I had continued to live though, I would have been in a lot of pain from a heart attack that I was having."

"Giles, Dr. Martin told me to tell you that she will see you soon but that Tom is to be sent to England so that he can learn about the Watchers Council. One day Tom you will take over from Giles and Wesley and head the Watchers Council. Wesley I have to tell you that your Father was killed by Wolfram & Hart last year because he failed in the mission that they hired him for, which was to kill me. He is paying now for the way that he treated you and your mother. He will not be punished for doing what he did when he came here and tried to kill Kathleen and I the first time because he was already starting to become unbalanced." While Angel was talking Cordelia had gone to her daughter and whispered something in her ear that was apparently very private.

Angel called Nicky to follow him over to the Lobby so that they could be alone. When Nicky came back he told Connor that their father wanted him to go and be with him for a few moments.

Connor went into Angel's office and sat down next to him on the couch. "This is your office now son, make it your own. I have complete faith in you that you will take care of everyone and your brothers. I wanted to talk to you because I believe your brother Nicky will give you a lot of problems as he grows up. I know this because he is just like me when I was young. My mother reminded me of all of the things that I did when I was young and compared them to what Nicky does now. The only advice that I can give you in handling him is to spare the rod, so to speak, because he doesn't respond well to scolding. Remember what Grandma said so often?" "Yes she said that you don't respond well to scolding and that she had to reprimand you differently." "Yes and she was right. At first when she would scold me it would remind me of when my father used to yell at me and I would automatically shut her out. But when she spoke to me with a calm voice I heard every word she said. Don't forget this Connor because you'll go a lot further with Nicky if you use Grandma's tactics. Let's go back now." Connor and Angel rejoined the others and Angel called Cordelia to his side.

"We have to go now, Wesley I know that you will take care of the family. We will count the days for you and Fred to join us. I can't begin to describe how happy we are here. I think Buffy has an idea as to what it is like. She had a small glimpse of it when she died. I'll be with you always Sean, take care of my princes. Goodbye everyone. Don't cry anymore just remember that we are very happy and be happy for us."

Everyone was more light hearted when they left. As Angel and Cordelia asked there weren't anymore tears. Kathleen got up and started picking up plates. The rest of the women did the same while the men went outside to the garden area. Toby, Vicky and Angus followed them. Even the dogs felt like playing now. They had been quiet ever since Angel and Cordelia had been killed. The men all took seats outside. Connor went over to Angel's desk and pulled out the Jack Daniels then returned to the rest of the men. For the first time since Connor first got drunk and swore off drinking, he took a long swallow from the bottle and passed it on to Wesley. By the time they all had a drink the bottle was empty.

"I tell you one thing, Angel is dead but he still continues to pull rabbits out of his hat. I am going to miss him but I am envious of his happiness. He even gets to have the love of his life with him, the lucky bastard." Wesley said. They all started laughing then and talking about things that they all did together or individual experiences with him.

"Tomorrow Wesley I am going to ask Kathleen if she would like to go riding tomorrow. We haven't been riding for a long time plus I have to make arrangements for Santana to be cremated. Vince called me this morning to let me know that he died of an apparent heart attack during the night. I think that since Angel died Santana followed him." "How is Aunt Bee?" Wesley asked. "He said that she is okay and seems to have accepted Santana's death without any problem."

Kathleen came running to the back with a piece of paper in her hand. "I guess the PTB doesn't intend for us to get rusty. They sent me a vision and here is the address." Connor and everyone else except Wesley and Giles jumped and ran to the weapons cabinet. Both Toby and Angus jumped into the van also. Angus had been watching Toby to see how he killed the Vampires and he was starting to do the same thing. Vicky of course stayed home with Fred when Kathleen told her to stay.

By the time they returned they all felt better. They had been able to take out all of their anger on the Vampires that they encountered. None of them realized it before but they had all been angry about not being able to do anything about the man that had killed Angel and Cordelia. They all slept more peacefully that night.

For the next several days Kathleen had them busy with her visions. It seemed that everyone was having a try at taking over L.A. since Angel was gone but Connor and the rest of the team were setting the record straight.

On the fifth day since Angel's and Cordelia's death Wesley was called and told that their ashes were ready. The funeral Mass was to take place the next day so Wesley and Connor went to pick them up. When they brought them home they were placed on the alter of their private chapel until the Mass and then to Ireland and their finale resting place.

The next evening they all dressed in their best dark clothes. Kathleen and Fred had almost dragged the boys to the mall to go shopping for black colored suits, ties, and shoes during the previous days. All of the men came down stairs and patiently waited for the ladies to come down. As it got close to 5 o'clock Connor finally got up and yelled loud enough to reach even the 5th floor. "You ladies had better be down here in 10 minutes or we are coming up to get you." Within the next few minutes they heard doors closing and the elevator opening and closing several times.

As soon as they were down stairs the men all got up and rushed them out the door. Just as Connor started up Cordelia's van Kathleen asked "Where is Momma and Daddy?" They all looked at each other and laughed. Kathleen and Connor ran back into the Hotel and grabbed the urns containing the ashes.

When they finally arrived at the church there were so many cars in the parking lot they thought their must be something else going on. The cars were parked up and down the streets by the church and had even overflowed into the parking lots of stores around the church. As they entered the church they saw so many people that they were standing around the inside and had even spilled out into the surrounding grounds. Fortunately the church had speakers on the outside of the church for special occasions.

Connor and Kathleen looked at each other. "Their must be close to a thousand people here." A Sister approached the Angel Investigation group and guided them over to several pews that were reserved for the family. Connor and Kathleen stopped at the front of the alter to place the urns on a small table that sat in front of a large picture that Cordelia had paid a professional photographer to take of them at the renewing of their vows. White flowers of all kinds surrounded the table and picture. A small bowl placed towards the front of the table contained 2 deep red roses surrounded by 4 white roses and baby's breath. As soon as they sat down the bells started ringing and the Mass began.

Sean had been apprehensive about coming to church with the rest but Kathleen promised him that nothing would happen to him. It was his demon that was afraid that he would be burned but Sean the man, would be alright. As they had walked into the church Spike had walked with him to show him that everything would be alright.

The Mass lasted almost two hours. The eulogy that Wesley gave lasted more than 30 minutes. Morgan had asked if he could speak also and by the time he was done their wasn't a dry eye in the church. When Spike got up though and remembered Angel he had them all laughing so hard that many were pulling out handkerchiefs and Kleenex as well. In finishing he turned to the table where Angel and Cordelia's ashes were and said.

"**Goodbye my Father, my Teacher, my Friend. I will miss you." **

As Spike walked back to his seat the whole church was quiet. Jack got up then and continued on with the Mass.

Only a private reception was held for a few close friends afterward. Everyone was already tired, physically and emotionally. They were leaving the next night and they all wanted to be well rested since it was a 10 hour flight. Connie had laid out all kinds of meat to make sandwiches with along with peanut butter and jelly for the kids. People went to make sandwiches as they wanted to. Lorne had provided the liquor for the bar and Joaquin was the bartender for the night. Morgan had brought several gallons of blood from his prize cattle. Most of the women along with the children had gone to bed early while the men and Buffy stayed up talking about previous battles that included Angel. Morgan and Marissa were staying the night so Marissa was already upstairs while David tied one on with the rest.

The next morning the women came downstairs to find the men lying down in various places on the first floor. Connor was the only one to make it to his own bed since he wasn't drinking very much. The ladies let them sleep through the day but got them up and bathed and dressed for the trip.

When they all came downstairs with their luggage they found 4 limousines waiting for them along with Gunn's and Joaquin's truck

"Are we going to go to the airport in style Wesley? It seems rather extravagant for just a short ride." "I arranged for the limousines Connor." Morgan said as he stepped forward to defend Wesley. "Wesley and I have gone in together to arrange for a private jet to Ireland. Nether one of us could find an adequate amount of seats to accommodate every one that was going so I called him and asked him if he wanted to go by private jet. I told him how much it would cost and that if he wanted to we could go half and half. I told him that if we didn't do it this way then we would have to deal with the problem of sun light for those that couldn't go out in it. By hiring a private jet we could layover in Boston until the night then continue with the rest of the flight to Ireland. We would make it to Ireland in plenty of time to make it to a Hotel before the Sun came up the next day. We've also made reservations at the Hotel that Angel and the rest would stay at while visiting his ancestral home."

"Once of our many clients just happened to own just the type of jet that we needed. I called him up and explained our problem. Without hesitation he offered us the use of his jet if we would pay for the fuel. The jet is kept at the Ontario Airport so it's going to be a rather long drive." Wesley said.

"Well I guess we better get going then. Let's load up everyone." Connor said. "Everyone put their luggage in the back of my truck and Joaquin's truck. We will follow the limousines to the airport." Gunn shouted.

It was now 6 P.M. and they were scheduled to take off by 8. Throughout the whole trip Connor carried Angel's ashes while Kathleen carried Cordelia's. The funeral had been on a Saturday and they arrived in Ireland early Tuesday morning. Everyone but the Martin family and the Prices stayed at the Hotel in the nearest large town. Connor let everyone know that they would lay Angel's and Cordelia's ashes to rest in the family cemetery at 6 the next night.

When the Martins and Prices arrived at Angel's boyhood home they found lights on. As Wesley pulled up to the front door Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins came out to greet them and give them their condolences. Since no one had been at the home since the renovations were made Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins showed everyone around. Although the house looked old from the outside it was completely modernized on the inside. The old wood stove looked the same but in actuality it had been turned into an electric stove. The refrigerator was now a large two door refrigerator on the top and a freezer on the bottom. A dish washer and washer and dryer had been installed and the hand pump was replaced with the latest in kitchen fixtures. Electric lights ran through the whole house along with a gas water heater and a heating system that ran through the whole house also. When they were through checking the house out Wesley told them why the house had been renovated.

"When Angel, Cordelia and Dr. Martin first came here with Connor the house was still run by a wood stove, hand pump for the kitchen and oil lamps provided the light. Angel didn't realize that the vacation that he was on wasn't the same for Dr. Martin and Cordelia. Their work had increased instead of decreasing. When it got through your father's thick skull that the women had to work twice as hard he promised Cordelia that he would have the place modernized. They only came here twice after that."

Wesley turned to Connor and said "As the new leader of Angel Investigation Connor you and Lou should take the Master bedroom." Connor looked at Kathleen. "Go ahead Connor it's your right now." Kathleen said with a smile that reminded them of Cordelia's. Connor picked up their luggage then and took them up into the master bedroom and closed the door. Everyone else went to bed then. Wesley and Fred took one room while Kathleen took Angels old bedroom.

Nicky and Mike chose to sleep out in the barn so they took some pillows and quilts out with them. They still had a lot of energy so they changed to wolves and went out by the house and started howling. Kathleen heard them and opened her window. "Nicky and Mike you get back in the barn and change back. This is sheep country and some farmer will mistake you for wild dogs and shoot you." The two young wolves looked at each other and went running back into the barn. What their sister had said scared them but good. They didn't hear a peep out of them for the rest of the night.

The next morning Kathleen went for a walk around the grounds. Eventually she found herself at the cemetery. She went in and read the marble gravestones that Wesley had made for her grandparents and Aunt. She ran her hand over the lettering and knelt before the gravestone. "Hi Grandma and Grandpa I'm Kathleen your grand daughter. I hope your all having a great time now that my Daddy and Momma are with you. As the saying goes 'Our loss is your gain'. Daddy has been missing you and Aunt Kathleen for so long Grandma. I'm happy for him that he has finally gone to be with you again. My Daddy is a good man Grandma, please take care of him and every once in a while before you all go to bed sing him the lullaby that he likes. Momma says it always helps him to go to sleep. Every night would you give him a kiss and hug from me." She kissed the gravestones and then left to return to the house and the living.

Everyone was sitting at the table and eating breakfast when she came back in. "Where have you been missy?" Connor asked. "I went for a walk around the grounds and I went to visit Daddy's family and Grandma. Its beautiful there Connor, Momma and Daddy are going to like it there." The rest of the day was spent exploring the house and the barn along with the grounds. Wesley pointed out to them how much property came with the house and the sheep that kept the lawn and the grass covering most of the property well trimmed.

By 5:30 that evening everyone arrived at the house. The sun was starting to go down so the Vampires in the group could safely come out. At 6 they all gathered at the cemetery where they held a brief ceremony and Jack blessed the cemetery so that it would now be hallowed ground.

Just before they placed the urns holding Cordelia and Angel's ashes in the ground Fred asked them to wait. She pulled out 4 crosses with tiny globes of glass at the top and the bottom of the crucifix. Just as Cordelia had done for Angel and Giles Fred did for the Martin family. When she was done placing their ashes in the crucifix's Connor and Kathleen covered the urns again. Nicky and Mike came over and helped them push the dirt in over the urns after Connor placed them in holes that he had dug earlier in the day. When they were done Fred asked them all to stand up. "Connor, Kathleen, Nicky and Mike Cordelia came to me and told me where to find these crucifixes that she had made some time ago. She told me what to do with them and to give each of you one of them." Fred put one around each of them then said "Now you will always have a part of Cordelia and Angel with you." Kathleen took the cross and kissed it then put it under her blouse and held her hand over it.

Kathleen then kneeled on the ground. "Momma and Daddy we have to go now. Connor has Angel Investigation to lead now and his own family to take care of. In a few years Sean and I will be getting married and creating our own family. I think Jesus chose a good man for me Momma. With Daddy's help he will be almost as good as he was and one day I'll place his own daughter in his arms that he can call his princes, but I will always be your princes Daddy." She kissed the gravestone then and got up. They all left then to return to the house for Supper.

The following week they returned home to begin their lives again in Los Angeles. The City of Angels.

**THE END**

**I hope everyone enjoyed my stories. The PTB's Sends Help, The Gift, and Redemption. **

**I wanted my story to not only entertain but to teach a lesson also. Although the character Angel is fictional I used him to show how Christ can help you. All you have to do is meet him at least half way and ask for his forgiveness and mercy. Many of the things that happened in my story I took from my own experiences and beliefs. Many religious references are based on fact. I don't know why I started to reference God the Father as Angels benefactor, shall we say, but I decided to stay with Him since St. Michael is His Champion in the war against the devil.**

**Sometime in the future I may write a story about the next generation of Angel Investigation, but for now I am going to be concentrating on trying to get my first story published. I have half of it done so far. The hard part is yet to come from what I've heard about the publishing world. **

**Kinoa **


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