Author: Domino
Email: zahfat@yahoo.com
Summary: The Scoobies visit LA, and discoveries are made.
A/N: This is set before Cordy becomes a demon. Connor is still a baby. F/G are dating, and Groo hasn’t returned. I’ve messed with the timelines a bit.
“Yes that’s a baby. A real live one,” Gunn answered his question sarcastically.
“His name is Connor,” Fred added, coming down the stairs, a baby monitor in her hand. “He’s one month old yesterday.”
She walked past them through the open door where Angel and Cordelia slept and they saw her place the monitor on a small coffee table next to the entwined pair.
Willow shook her head to clear it, and then shook it again in denial. “No that’s not possible,” she said, almost if talking to herself.
“What’s not possible, Will?” Buffy asked, glad to turn away from staring at Angel and Cordelia.
“I saw her a few months ago. And there's NO way she was pregnant. Not in that outfit. No way.”
“What outfit?” Xander asked.
“The princess one,” Gunn replied absently.
“Princess?” Spike spoke, looking curiously at Gunn.
“Hello!” the shout interrupted them all. They all turned to look at Buffy, “That was a baby,” she finished slightly softer.
“Oh, Connor’s not Cordy’s,” Fred said in the ensuing silence, replying to the unspoken assumption, “Well, he is, but not really,” she tried to clarify.
“Oh, that was helpful,” Buffy said. Her tone said otherwise.
Gunn decided he didn’t really like her. He glared at Buffy as Fred said proudly, “He’s Angel’s son.”
There was silence before all their voices rose in protest.
“He can't be!” It was a flat statement. Buffy.
“Deadboy has a son?” Xander.
“I didn’t know vampires could have children,” Willow’s voice has a questioning tone.
“It isn’t possible,” Giles said.
“The prophecy,” it came from Anya.
And through it all came laughter. Spike. He laughed and laughed. Tears started running down his face. And all of them quieted till the only sound in the huge lobby was the echoing sound of his laughter. They all turned to stare at him, but he didn’t stop.
“Figures,” he chocked out between chuckles, “The poof would have a baby. What could be more unnatural.”
Gunn decided he didn’t like the blonde man either.
“Connor’s a perfectly normal human child,” Fred said defensively. She didn’t take insults to her family very well.
“Of course he is,” Spike said, “Didn’t say otherwise, did I?” He stopped laughing, “So the cheerleader’s the mum, is she?”
“No, Darla’s Connor’s mother.”
They all took in that statement, before the voices rose again.
“Darla’s dead.” Xander.
“The same Darla….” Willow.
“Never would just die, that bitch,” the heartfelt comment came from Spike. He was the only one of them that didn’t looked shocked.
Gunn raised his hand to silence them. When that didn’t work he yelled, “Shut up!” There was instant quiet.
“Maybe you should talk to Angel and Cordy,” he said, “They’ll explain.”
“Yeah,” Fred agreed, “But don’t bring up the D-word to Cordy. She gets upset. Then Angel gets upset, ‘cos she’s upset. And then…”
“Okay, we won't.” Giles got out before she could continue. Gunn immediately glared at the offending party who dared interrupt his girl.
It was at this point, before any more questions could be asked that an unusual sound was heard. Unusual, at least to the Scoobies. A baby’s cry.
It garnered immediate attention. Gunn and Fred both turned to the steps and from the open doorway, two figures jumped. There was a loud crash, and amidst a tangle of limbs and a blanket, now laying on the floor, they separated and both headed for the door.
The Scoobies gaped as the two went by, their presence unnoticed in the light of the baby’s cries and watched as Angel ran towards the staircase and met Fred and Gunn about halfway, a howling baby in Fred’s arms, while Cordelia ran through another door at the end of the lobby, into the kitchen.
With an ease unexpected to them, the baby was transferred into his father’s arms, where he instantly settled down. The peace was short-lived, however, and less than a minute later, the baby was tearing up again.
The Scoobies continued watching, unnoticed. They didn’t announce their presence and neither did Fred and Gunn, all their attention focused solely on the child.
“Cor, hurry up,” Angel yelled over the sound of the baby’s cries.
“Since when does he call her Cor?” Xander whispered to the Scoobies.
“I’m coming. I’m coming,” Cordelia yelled back.
“Don’t worry, Connor. Mummy’s bringing you food right now,” Angel said to his son reassuringly.
“Since when is Cordelia a mother,” Buffy whispered.
“I thought she wasn’t the mummy,” Willow said back.
“I thought she was,” Dawnie replied.
Cordelia walked back into the room with a bottle in her hand, and headed towards Angel and Connor.
“Come here, sweetheart, come to Aunt Cordy,” she said in a baby voice to the baby and with an even more practiced ease the baby was transferred to Cordelia and without delay began sucking on the bottle, the room silencing once more.
“Maybe she doesn’t know she’s the mummy,” Xander added.
“Maybe he doesn’t know she isn’t the mummy,” Buffy whispered back.
They all turned to stare at her.
“What? I’m confused.” The Scoobies all nodded in agreement.
Angel and Cordelia began to pace, their steps in unison, the length of the room, Cordelia rocking the baby in her arms, Angel’s eyes focused only on Cordelia and the precious bundle she had in her arms. It was why he didn’t see the Scoobies until they were directly in front of them.
He did however notice, the sudden stop they made, and the fistful of his shirt that was abruptly grabbed.
“Angel, tell me I am having a vision,” Cordelia’s desperate voice made him look up directly into Buffy’s eyes.
“We wish,” Gunn muttered from behind them.
“No…Cor, I don’t think so,” Angel said slowly, as he took in the rest of the Scoobies. He reached a hand around Cordelia fist and tried to loosen her grip on his shirt.
“Cordy, my shirt,” he hinted.
“Oh,” Cordelia let go, and then watched as Angel tried to smooth out the creases in the navy shirt he wore.
“I have to go an iron this,” Angel said, slightly annoyed.
Cordelia turned away from the sight of the Sunnydale crowd to look at him. “You know you are a freak, right,” she said to him, “Did you not notice the visitors we have.”
Tbc