Disclaimer: Joss and company own everything- unfortunately
AN: Fourth story in my Reasoning series.
Summary: Wolfram & Hart enlist a new form of evil to destroy Buffy and Angel's child.
Spoilers: My first series (you?d really have to read those three stories to understand these) and the other three stories of this series.
AN: "This World" belongs to Zero 7, "Gone Away" belongs to Cold.
AN: The only knowledge I have in describing teleportation and shape-shifting comes from X-Men comic books, so bear with me here.
Rating: Probably R for some language and violence.
Distribution: Want it- take it. Just let me know where it?s going.Feedback: As always, greatly appreciated.

Another child is born
Another race is won
Another dream is shattered
Another day has begun

The sudden blast of light of the dimensional tear from outside did nothing to disturb the crowd gathered inside the Bronze, too busy enjoying the sounds of the latest band to take the stage. A face hides in the shadows, his instincts straight violence, as he gazes through the crowd, stealthly observing the five beings he somehow sensed were connected to his intended targets.

Surrounded by other party-goers, the small group of friends, regulars at the only decent club in Sunnydale, were too deeply engrossed in their conversation concerning the latest acquisition of Angel Investigations to notice the large frame, circling them in careful study.

"If you ask me, I think it's too small."

"Well nobody asked you, now did they Xander?" Cordelia snapped back, quickly silencing her ex.

"Wait- I think he has a point," Anya defends her husband. "I've heard that being small is often a sign of sickness."

"Not neccesarily," Tara says. "And besides- it's not small."

"Okay, okay..." Xander raises a hand to grab the group's attention. "Forget about it being small- what about its head? I mean, it's got a pretty weird head." Receiving a hard slap from Cordy, Xander sits back in his chair, wincing from the sharp pain.

"Its head is fine. Its got a really balanced shape. God- you're such a jerk!!"

"I think you're *all* jerks!" Willow shouts, finally hearing enough of their insight on the new creature. "In case you haven't noticed, *it* is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and *it* happens to have a name!"

The four others sitting across from her could only offer blank faces as apologies, as the redhead continues reprimanding them. "You're just lucky Buffy and Angel already left for LA, cause I don't think they'd appreciate you talking about their daughter that way."

"Fine," Xander sighs, taking a sip of his drink. "So when are *we* leaving for Quinn's first weekend visit to LA anyway? And where's Dawn at? Shouldn't she have been here by now?"

"She already left with Buffy and Angel this afternoon once she got out of school," Tara answers.

"Thank god!" Cordy cheers. "So long as she's out of my hair, and my closet for a few hours, I should be able to maintain some sort of sanity."

Another broken heartAnother lesson learnt
Another harvest eaten
Another night is gone
A new day?s begun
Even your dreams
Even your nightmares
They can be real

The first-degree maniac moves in silence as he exits the club, already having heard enough from the friends. From the very moment he arrived in this dimension, it seemed to the assassin that the presence of these five humans could only serve as an advantage in his mission. He took a special pleasure in seeing people beaten from the inside out, fatally wounded without any hope left to cling to, and knew that these feeble humans would not pose much of a threat to his task.

As he stands outside, his enhanced senses pick up on the approaching vampire from behind. Anticipating his attack, the dark figure easily steps to the side, watching as the vamp lunged forward, coming into contact with the air. As he lands on the cold cement with a loud thud, the fledgling turns with a sharp growl to face the towering figure.

"And what do we have here?" he smirks, picking himself up fully from the ground to take a good look at the stranger. His uneven, short black hair hung in thin, small loose strands, framing the contours of his forehead. One particularly long strand rested just above the deep scar that laid across the side of his face. "Nice outfit..." he grins, admiring his mostly-black attire, stained in various places with smears of blood. The only only thing that stood out was the small circle, encasing a strange symbol, that was glaring at him from the stranger's belt. "Not too sure about the face though..."

The newcomer's stern face and cold eyes never waiver as he steps closer towards the vamp. "The slayers..." his raspy voice begins, "...where are they?"

"What do I look like, their keeper?" A slight chuckle escapes his lips as the stranger pulls out a hundred dollar bill, waving it in front of the vamp.

"The slayers are in LA somewhere. Where exactly?" His attention firmly caught, the vamp offers his information.

"A hotel called the Hyperion. Some big ritzy place. Angel- he owns it. It's the other office of his little detective agency," he laughs, grinning even more as the stranger hands him the money.

"Hyperion..." With lightning fast speed, the dark figure pulls a sword out from behind, swiftly ridding the vamp of its head. Without pausing, he steps over the beheaded demon, gingerly grabbing the hundred dollar bill out of it's hand and replacing it in the mouth of his severed head. "Thanks..."

This world is still afloatNo not in Noah?s boat
We?ve only lost the vision
Of the stars we?re meant to be
This world is full of love
We still have hope

"Well, I say we leave now," Cordy announces from back inside, anxious to see the slayers' three month old daughter. "Unlike some," she directs a pointed stare at Xander as she stands from her seat. "I can't wait to see my beautiful little niece."

"We just saw her this morning, Cord," Xander laughs, but secretly sharing her anticipation to see the infectiously adorable child. "And I'm not saying that Quinn isn't beautiful!" Xander explains, standing with the others as they get ready to leave. "Thank god she inherited Buffy's good looks. I just feel sorry for her getting Angel's big forehead!"

"Angel does not have a big forehead," Willow sighs, clasping hands with Tara as they exit the Bronze. "And neither does Quinn."

"But if you don't behave on the ride to LA," Cordy flashes him a warning smile, turning on the ignition to her already-packed car as the others hop in, "you're gonna be the one suffering from a big forehead. Got it?"

"Oooo...threats from the all-mighty Queen C," he trembles in mock fear. "Somebody call the police! I'm afraid!" he shrieks in a higher voice as she speeds off towards the Hyperion, never noticing that the shadow that had been cast over them all night still remained in the parking lot, a wicked smile gracing his face.

"No...don't call the police, kid. Instead...call a coroner..."

******

On any given night, the Hyperion took on a life of it's own. The walls seemed to always be ready to burst from all the excitement and activities that it's inhabitants went through on a daily basis. This late Friday evening was no exception as the LA members of Angel Invistigations were busy fussing over the latest focus of their attentions.

"Isn't she just the most adorable little thing," Giles coos, moving Quinn's hand back and forth as she held onto his finger. "I think she's grown another few inches since I last saw her."

"Well, you haven't seen her since she was born," Angel grins, reaching over to gently stroke his daughter's cheek, eliciting a small gurgle from her as he always did. It always amazed Buffy to watch otherwise intelligent adults reduced to cooing idiots with a baby around, and her former watcher was no exception. Just as he had always viewed Buffy as his daughter, Quinn was now his adopted granddaughter.

Buffy couldn't help but smile at the two of them. Here was the love of her life, her eternal soulmate, and her surrogate father making faces at *her* daughter. If someone had told her a few years ago when she had first kicked Angel on his ass in that alleyway that they would be standing here today, married with a beautiful child of their own, she would have directed them to the nearest asylum.

"She's just sooo cute..." Fred smiles, extracting the baby from Giles. "Isn't she Gunn?"

"Just gorgeous," he agrees, reaching in to grab Quinn's small hand.

"Everyone...please." Wesley's insistence to get started on their case was clearly evident as he marched over to his desk, books in hand, trying to keep his focus away from Quinn as he knew that with one look, he would be rendered just as baby-struck as the others. "Could we try focusing on the other reason Buffy and Angel are here?"

"Gosh..." Fred sighs, handing Quinn back to Buffy. "Are you a real bummer or what?"

"For Christ's sake!" Spike yells from his seat atop the counter. "It's a baby, alright? Not exactly somethin' worth fussin' over like this. It's not like you've all never seen a lil' rugrat before."

"Uh...yes...exactly..." Wes speaks up, calling Angel over to his side to show him what they'd been working on. "We've been picking up on a steady build of ripples in the interdimensional balance."

"You mean dimensional tears?" Buffy asks, nestling her daughter under her chin.

"Exactly. Over the past few weeks, there've been a number of momentary tears through several weak spots of our own dimension, but none strong enough for anything to pass through."

"You mean something or someone is trying to break through to this dimension?" asks Angel.

"It appears so," Giles replies, removing and cleaning his glasses in typical fashion. "So far we've been able to close the few tears that opened. Only one is unaccounted for, isn't that right Spike? Spike?" Turning his eyes to the bleach-blonde vamp, the former watcher spots him making a silly face at Quinn, resting in her mother's arms and reaching out to grab hold of the hand Spike was offering her.

Realizing he'd been caught, the vamp quickly straightens his face, returning his focus to the group. "The lil' bugger was tryin' to attack me!" he defends. "Now do you know why I don't like babies? Anyway...yeah- out of the four holes that opened, we've only lost a trace on one of 'em."

"Where were the first three?" asks Buffy, gently placing Quinn in the small crib Gunn and Fred had already set up in the lobby.

"One actually opened up in the courtyard out back," Gunn answers her. "We found two others up the coast."

"Any idea where the fourth one is?"

"We had thought that maybe it had opened up somewhere in Sunnydale," Fred nervously informs her. "But our reader kinda shorted out before we had a chance to check."

"Then I guess we got out of there just in the nick of time!" Cordy's exuberant cheer echoes throughout the hotel as she and the others arrive at the Hyperion.

"Cordelia..." Wes approaches her, book in hand. "Thank goodness. Have you had any visions lately?"

"Don't I always call you when I have one?" she sighs as she removes her jacket. "Well, after the pain subsides that is..."

"We were just telling everyone about the dimensional disturbances we've been having over the past week. It seems that something is trying to break through..." The frustrated englishman stops as he notices the brunette brushing past him, no longer paying him any attention as she tosses her purse and bags onto one of the couches, heading straight for the crib. "Hello, Quinn! How's my gorgeous little niece? Oh, you're awake! And Buffy's just letting you lie here all by yourself? How are you going to learn about the world if mommy doesn't show you around?"

Buffy grits her teeth, determined not to be annoyed by the implied criticism. "She likes looking around on her own."

"Well, Aunt Cordy's here now, and we can play. Come here, my little angel," she smiles, lifting Quinn from the crib.

"Should I just assume that we won't be getting any work done until tomorrow morning?" Wesley throws his hands in the air, finally succumbing to everyone's obsession with the small child. He passes a stare to Spike, believing him to be the only one immune to Quinn's cuteness, but catches him smiling at the sight of Cordelia handing the infant over to Angel.

"That'd be fine by me," Spike smirks, noticing Wes' stare as he strolls past him towards his own room upstairs. "Let the whole bloddy world get sucked into some demon dimension...maybe then these blithering fools would be able to resist cuddling some disgusting baby." Pausing for a moment to catch a glimpse of the slayers' daughter, he's suddenly struck by the immense potential that was, or could be, contained in her small body.

"Oh ignore him," Willow shrugs off Spike's complacency. "You know how Spike is about showing affection. Him and his whole 'big bad' talk..."

"I still say she's too small..." Xander announces to the group, leaning over to place a soft kiss on the baby's forehead. "But she is gorgeous."

"Ignore him too," Tara adds. "You know how Xander is about...*everything* "

"Can I hold her?" Anya eagerly asks, already stretching out her arms.

"Are your hands clean?" Angel shoots back, clutching his daughter to his chest.

"Don't be offended, Anya," Dawn calls out from the kitchen. "He made me wash my hands six times before he let me pick her up."

Angel continued to nuzzle Quinn, completely ignoring Dawn's teasing. "We don't want anyone's dirty hands touching us, do we, Quinn?" Quinn appeared to agree with him, looking up at him and reaching for his face. Buffy could barely suppress her smile at Angel's gushing over their daughter.

After another hour of passing around Quinn amongst themselves, everyone decides to call it a night. As Buffy reaches to take Quinn from Angel, she's not surprised to have Angel turn her down, opting to hold onto their daughter for just a bit longer before settling her down to sleep as they climb the stairs to his old room. She could only smile, never tiring of watching the two of them together, knowing how much it meant to him that they now had a child.

"She sleeps better when she's being held," he explains as he sets her down in the other crib that had already been prepared in their room.

"She must've picked that up from me..." Buffy smiles, wrapping an arm around Angel's waist, snuggling into his side as they stood watching their daughter begin to drift off to sleep. The smile that seemed to be a permanent fixture on Angel's face since earning his humanity broadens as he gently caresses the side of his beloved's face, drawing her in for a tender kiss.

"This is amazing," she says as she places her head on his chest, listening to his beautiful heartbeat, smiling at the sound she never thought possible. He places his hands on her hips, sharing another kiss as he leans over and picks her up, making sure not to break their kiss, gently laying her on the bed. "You know..." Buffy's voice is hardly more than a sigh in the darkness, "it's a good thing Quinn is such a sound sleeper..."

"Mmm..." Angel smiles, lightly placing kisses along her neck. "That's another thing she must've picked up from you..."

******

"Ma'am...?" the young boy nervously tapped on her office door.

"What is it, Jason?" she barely glances up from her paperwork as she sighs, clearly irritated at the intrusion. "I've told you before to never come in unless I call for you!"

"I know- but...you told me to- to tell you when I tracked down-"

"You've found him?" she almost jumps out of her seat, amazed that the dimwitted young man she now called her page was able to find him so quickly. "Well where is he? Where did you find him?"

"I, um..." he finally feels at ease to fully enter her office, noticing the enraptured glare her eyes held. "I was able to trace his, um...the trail of dimensional plasma he left behind when he crossed over into this one. The uh, the tracer picked up his last whereabouts in, um...in Sunnydale."

"You found him in Sunnydale," she sighs, straightening out the folds of her skirt as she sits back down in her chair, pulling it back in under her desk. "Then why are you still here?"

"I...uh...well, I-"

"Take a few others with you and bring him back here! What exactly are we paying you for if you can't accomplish this simple task? Now go!" As the young boy goes to leave her office, he halts as she calls out one final warning to him. "Oh Jason? One more thing- if you don't come back here with him...don't even bother coming back...just know that you'll be dealt with in an expedient manner." Not wasting any more time, Jason speeds off down the hall, quick to grab anyone to accompany him to Sunnydale as soon as possible.

Returning to her deskwork, the vindictive woman's eyes widen as her latest item of acquisition suddenly appears before her eyes, seemingly emerging from thin air. "Well that's quite a shock," she grins, unaffected by the creature's display of power. She'd heard of his abilities of shape-shifting and teleportation, but could never fully grasp the idea of such a creature existing. "Never knew you'd live up to your hype."

"You'd be amazed at what can be accomplished these days..." he smiles, stepping over to her window, aimlessly looking down at the sleeping city below. "Not much has changed since the last time I was here...same humans...wasting away their lives..."

"And you're one to talk?" Surprised by her accusation, he turns to face her, his face still holding the same cold, stern look as always. "Now you didn't think that we weren't expecting you, did you? We knew your ritual would be set to take place next week, and I make sure to do quite a bit of research on those I plan on enlisting for help." She stands from her desk, carrying along the folder that contained his file.

"One of the only true demons left in existence," she begins reading, already anticipating the use she would get out of the powerful force. "A malevolent and fearsome assassin, a being that could go against any number of slayers and live. Your only mentality is to destroy and kill everything in your path. You were quite a force to be reckoned with, but failing to complete a task for your master, you avoided punishment by escaping to the Mekon dimension." She turns from her reading to pass him a small chuckle. "I'm guessing you didn't know that, uh, once you get in...it takes a few hundred years before you can find a way out, huh?"

Receiving only a sharp glare for a response, she continues. "There were never any attempts to rescue you because your master believed that your true salvation would lie in discovering what humanity means- that your time spent in Mekon would serve as sort of a guide to humanity. Hmm...sounds like a certain ex-vampire we'd both like to see dead. Only it's not really him or his precious little Buffy that we're going after this time, is it? It's the child we want..."

Supressing a laugh, his cold eyes penetrate her own as he faces her. "I think you're overlooking one minor difference between our intentions. You merely *want* the child dead...while I *need* the child dead. Her blood is my only way of remaining in this dimension..."

"That's right," she realizes. "We wouldn't want you having to return to that hell you've called home for the past few centuries, now would we? You're too much of an advantage to us, Kamien." Passing him a wicked smile, she sits back down in her chair.

"Just be sure that you're people have everything prepared for the ritual."

"So long as you have the child...consider it done." With a final soft laugh, and a small profusion of smoke, its stench reminiscent of burning brimstone, the figure disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived in Lilah's office. "Now there's something you don't see everyday...though I have the feeling I could get quite used to it."

******

Angel couldn't draw his eyes from the miracle before him. He'd often observed that most men took it for granted that they would someday marry and have children. It was this one simple thing that Angel most dearly desired, something he had never quite allowed himself, or Buffy, to believe would ever be possible. Marrying Buffy had been the greatest gift he could have ever imagined. And now to be married to his soulmate and to be a father? Just the thought had the power to send his head reeling with bliss.

At some time during his musings, Quinn had awakened. Cooing softly, the infant gave an instant smile as her father picked her up from her crib. "Hey..." Angel softly whispers to her, grabbing hold of her hand. "How's my little girl?" Quinn's response came in a loud gurgle, waking up her mother in the process.

As she reaches out an arm, only to find an empty space where Angel should've been laying beneath her, Buffy sits up to see Angel returning to their bed, taking a seat beside her as he continues cooing at Quinn in the crook of his arm. Reaching over in a familiar gesture, he gently caresses her cheek with his hand. "Good morning..." he whispers. Reaching for her daughter, she returns his embrace with a kiss, smiling sweetly. "You just getting up?"

"Mmm...both of us," he reaches in, tickling Quinn's stomach lightly. "Mommy sleeps in late, doesn't she?"

"That's only 'cause daddy keeps her up late..." she nudges him softly, climbing out of bed with her daughter. She gives Quinn a quick kiss before placing her back down in her crib to get dressed. To keep himself busy, as well as keep his eyes off of his lovely wife while getting dressed so that they don't wind up being late for an early breakfast, Angel first tends to getting Quinn ready and finishes getting dressed himself just as Buffy does, and they head downstairs.

"Whoa..." Willow playfully jumps back in her seat upon seeing the couple enter the Hyperion's kitchen. "Buffy and Angel up early...and on a Saturday?? Hell must've frozen over. Either that, or the world's coming to an end."

"Again?!" Cordy shouts as she comes trudging into the kitchen, suddenly waking up fully upon hearing the news. "What is it this time??"

"Nothing, nothing..." Buffy puts her fears to rest as she takes a seat alongside Angel. "Just another one of Willow's attempts at an early-morning joke."

"Oh...well in that case," the brunette reaches over to extract Quinn from Buffy's arms, "come here Quinn. Did we have a good night's sleep...even with mommy and daddy in the same room doing god knows wh-"

"Cordelia!" Buffy shoots her a look as she tries stifling her own laugh. "What're you doing up so early yourself?"

"Figured I'd try to get on Wes' good side by getting an early start on whatever it is he was rambling on about last night."

"The dimensional tears," Angel informs her, passing a glance to the stairs as most of the others slowly came down.

"What's for breakfast?" a tired Xander yawns.

"Whatever you can make-" Cordy snaps him to attention. "Which, if I remember, is *nothing*..."

"Xander is quite good in the kitchen," Anya corrects her. "Well, except for that one time when we slipped off of the counter during sex...but that's only because of all the pancake batter he spilled-"

"Please!" Cordy yells, causing Quinn to stir in her arms at the loud noise. "You've already warped Dawn, as well as the rest of us- but I'm not about to let you warp Quinn!"

"They didn't warp me," Dawn smiles, crossing the kitchen to place a soft kiss on the top of her niece's head. "Spending a few nights in the same house as Buffy and Angel did that just fine-"

"Okay- new rule," Buffy outstretches an arm across the table to stop their talk. "No more inappropriate comments in front of our child, okay?"

As the friends eat, Angel spends most of the meal holding Quinn, cooing at her and watching her eyes dart from family member to family member, carefully observing each face as her father begins whispering each of their praises. "And that's Cordy...she's a little high-strung...and that's Willow and Tara...they'll do a lot of magic for you- when you're older. And there's Anya and Xander...but, uh...don't spend too much time with Uncle Xander- he can really be trouble-"

"Hello?" Xander blurts out. "I'm sitting right here next to you- how am I not going to hear that?!"

"And Gunn and Fred...Fred's really smart, just like Giles and Wesley?" he lifts his head to address the table. "Where are Giles and Wes anyway? And Spike?"

"Spike's still asleep..." Gunn answers, standing from his seat to grab another carton of orange juice from the fridge. "And the two brits left a little while ago to meet with some guy who called last night. Supposed to be some sort of expert on dimensions."

"Anyone we know?" Angel asks, intrigued by the two former watchers' early meeting.

"They didn't say," Gunn shrugs. "The guy called last night saying that he'd seen a dimensional vortex. Thought we might be interested."

"I guess our advertising really paid off if we've got people calling with tips for us," Fred beams, her face lighting up even more as she sees Giles and Wesley come through the front doors, a third man following behind them.

Though she was sure he was a few years older, Fred observed that the man could've easily passed for her own age. In his loose-fitting gray button-down shirt and slacks, he made quite an impressive sight. Somewhat thin, but with a solid build, only two things really stood out about him. The glare from his finely shaped but completely shaved head was almost blinding under the hotel's lights, and the silver of his belt cast an unrelenting glare as its strange symbol seemed to stare out at her. "Hey ya'll...just in time to grab some breakfast-"

"If Xander hasn't eaten it all by now," Dawn pipes up, sticking her tongue out affectionately at him.

"Oh...quite good," Giles says, "but we already ate. Oh-" he moves aside, almost forgetting that their latest informant had returned to the Hyperion with them. "This is Mr.- um...I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your last name."

"Never gave it," the stranger replies.

"Well then how about a first name?" Angel presses, not yet impressed by what the supposed 'expert' had to offer.

"Kamien..." he replies, extending his hand to the formidable frame of the slayer.

"Kamien?" Angel repeats, shaking the newcomer's hand as he raises a eyebrow at the name.

"I know, I know," he says with a small laugh. "What can I say...it's an...old...family name."

******

For as quiet and mysterious as he seemed, the stranger made no attempt to hide his appreciation of the Hyperion. Remarking that it was quite impressive, he succeeded in having Wesley and Giles give him a full tour, leading him in and out of room after room, somewhat bedazzled by the keen interest their informant was showing the the hotel's design.

"The Omen..."

"And other than a really creepy movie, that would be what, exactly?" Xander glares at his ex, wondering just what the brunette was talking about. "Or is it too far above us little people to be able to comprehend your weirdness?"

"That kid- in the Omen...he was named Kamien," she replies, sipping at her juice as the others remained downstairs during the newcomer's tour. "Just a simple observation- take it as you will."

"Damien, Cordy," Willow corrects her. "The kid's name was Damien. I've never even heard of anyone named Kamien."

"Well if you wanna go that route, who's ever heard of anyone named Willow?" Cordy snaps back.

"Like your name's a flavor of the week," Xander defends the red-head, leaning closer to Cordelia for emphasis.

"I think the only ones around here with normal names are Tara, Dawn, and Quinn," Fred speaks up.

"I've never heard of anyone named Quinn," Xander blurts out, quickly noticing Buffy and Angel's annoyed stares. "N- not that it's a- a bad name. I've just...nev- never heard it before," he nervously smiles. "Very original...I like that in my nieces."

After his tour, and an hour's worth of discussion with the newcomer, Angel's wariness had subsided, but not vanished. Chalking it up to the new level of overprotectiveness that came with the birth of his daughter, he sets his apprehensions aside, focusing instead on whatever else his team could learn from the stranger.

"The young lady was telling me that your dimensional reader has suffered quite a bit of damage?" Kamien nods his head towards Fred.

"We've had our share of experiences with other dimensions," Wes informs him. "After our return from the Pylea dimension, we were...or rather, *I* was anxious to discover more about it's origins. I suppose our reader just burned out from the overextended use."

"Perhaps I could be of some help," he offers, reaching for the small device Wes held in his hands. "I could take this back to my lab- see if I can get it working again."

"So you're a scientist as well?" Buffy asks, so far modestly impressed by the stranger.

"Guilty as charged," he smiles at her. "I started out as merely an archivist, doing mostly research and such. I've always loved science though. I became fascinated by dimensional vortexes."

"Where exactly did you see the vortex?" Cordy asks, pulling up her chair a little closer to the stranger.

"Actually I saw two. My lab is up the coast a few miles, and I just recently I was doing a bit of research in Sunnydale when I saw the other-"

"Now who would've guessed that?" Xander chuckles, trying to lighten everyone's mood a bit. "Freakiness- thy name is Sunnydale."

"Why do you think I was doing the research?" Kamien grins back at him. "My own reader picked up on a tear. Thought I'd look into it."

"No offense," Gunn slouches back in his chair as he addresses him, "but don't you think you should leave all this stuff to professionals...like us?" There was an eerie hesistation on Kamien's part before the sly smile crossed his face.

"I can handle myself fairly well," he replies, standing as he prepares to leave. "Just thought I'd give the, uh, 'experts' a head's up. I'd better be going though- I'll have my hands full this afternoon at the lab. It was a pleasure meeting all of you," he grins, reaching for Angel's hand once more as he bids the friends goodbye. "You will be sure to let me know what you find?"

"Yeah," Angel nods his head. "We'll probably-" Angel lets out a small sigh as he's cut off by the blaring sound of the phone. Excusing himself, he goes over to answer it, leaving Buffy and Giles to speak with Kamien. "Oh-" he turns with a smile towards the petite blonde. "I've been meaning to congratulate you. Mr. Giles was telling me about your daughter. How old is she?"

"This little beauty is three months old," Anya answers, carrying the small child towards the front doors. "Isn't she just adorable- even if I still say she's too small. And quiet," she adds as an afterthought. "The only time she ever makes any noise is when she's being held or played with. I don't think I've heard her cry once."

"Really?" Kamien grins, intrigued by the information. "Well that's some gift you've been given."

"Hey guys-" Angel calls over to them as he hangs up the phone. "That was Mrs. Williams. She wants us to come check something out for her at her apartment."

"Of course," Giles answers, motioning for Gunn and Fred to come over. "Do you two think you could head on over to Mrs. Williams' apartment? She's having-"

"Actually," Angel interrupts him, gently lifting Quinn out of Anya's arms, "she insisted that Buffy and I go too. You know Mrs. Williams..."

"I swear that woman makes up half of this stuff just to get you to go over there," Buffy insists, nudging him lightly with her hip.

"She's 74 years old, Buffy."

"I don't care- she's got wandering eyes, and they seem to prefer wandering all over you."

"Well then you can keep *your* eyes on her when we go over there," he smiles, giving Quinn a quick kiss before laying her back down in her crib. "Guys-" he turns to the others at the breakfast table. "Can you-"

"Angel, relax," Tara answers. "Quinn will be fine."

"I know. I just...okay. We?re going..." Watching as his wife leans over to kiss their daughter goodbye, he's startled when he feels a cold hand come to rest on his shoulder.

"You have a beautiful daughter," Kamien smiles, his eyes lingering on the small child.

"Thank you." As he clasps hands with Buffy, he gives the newcomer a gesture to follow them, as well as Gunn and Fred, outside. "Come on, we'll walk you out." As they reach their car, they give their new friend one final wave goodbye before heading off to the old woman's home.

Seeing the black benz turn the street corner, it takes only a split second for Kamien to shift back to his true form and reemerge in the familiar offices of Wolfram and Hart.

"Oh!!" Lilah nearly falls out of her seat as he materializes in front of her desk. "You've got to stop doing that! Or at least give me a warning!"

"Do you have everything in order?" Skipping their meaningless formalities, he approaches one of her glass cabinets, carefully eyeing the various weapons on display.

"And where have you been all day? I thought we agreed that you should be conserving your energy for the ritual tomorrow night."

"Do you and your people have everything in order??" he asks again, his tone more striking than Lilah anticipated.

"We'll be ready with everything by tonight," she assures him. "Now answer my question- where've you been?"

"Observing," he answers, his simple word laced with a coldness and determination Lilah had never experienced before. "You wouldn't believe how trustworthy and naïve humans can be...well...present, sick and twisted company excluded, of course," he tilts his head slightly towards her, earning a wicked smile from the young woman in return. "And besides, you know the limits of my powers. You know that I won't risk teleporting into any unfamiliar areas...had to get used to the place beforehand."

"When are you going back in?"

"Well...I figure with mom and dad gone on *assignment*..." Lilah's laughter at the remark dances off of the walls alongside Kamien's own. "By the way...this Mrs. Williams...I do hope nothing's happened to her?"

"I wouldn't consider our crew murdering some old lady as anything to lay heavy on your conscience..."

"Then we're all clear."

"You've gotta be kidding? In broad daylight, you're just going to go crashing into that hotel, with every single one of Angel's little mindless drones protecting the kid, and you just expect to swipe her? I mean, I know you're fast with that whole 'poof' thing you do, but come on."

"Now there's an idea," he says quietly, to no one in particular. "Why use all of my force when I can just make use of theirs. What better way to shake up the slayers even more than to have one of their own just hand me the child." Turning to face her with a boastful grin, he shifts back into the attractive and impressive human form he had taken on upon first meeting the slayers. "I think this is one scientist they all really liked."

"Awww...did we make some new friends at Angel Investigations?"

"I can't help it..." he strolls past her desk. "I just love fucking with people's minds..."

In another instant, the creature is gone, not much to Lilah's surprise, as she sits back, grinning wildly behind her desk. "Poor Angel and Buffy..." After a brief moment, a thought crosses her mind, adding even more to her delight. "Jason!"

"Ma'am?" the young boy races into her office, thankful that she'd had him brought back from Sunnydale alive.

"Have a few of those Caylus demons that stopped by this morning for coffee cause a little chaos downtown, would you? Oh- and I'd like you to make a run to the store for me. I'll be needing a sympathy card- something to send my condolences for a severe loss. Make sure it's sweet...comforting, but not too insincere...afterall, this is for two of my closest friends..."

******

"Are you sure you're alright?" Wesley kept pressing the brunette, his level of anxiety heightened all the more by her latest vision.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Look- Spike's still upstairs, so he'll be with me. Just go!"

"Alright...alright, but if you need us-"

"Go!" With her final shout, Wes, Giles, Xander and Anya left in search of the seer's latest vision of a pack of demons on the rampage near downtown. With Willow and Tara having already taken Dawn out shopping for the day, Cordelia found herself alone with Quinn, a bottle of extra-strength aspirin, and unfortunately, Spike.

"At least he's still asleep," she pouts, popping two pills into her mouth. "I don't think I could tolerate much of him right now." She leans over the carry-cot resting ontop of one of the lobby's tables to peer at the sleeping little girl with some anxiety, and then sinks back into the leather sofa, positioning herself so that she could keep her eyes on the baby.

Quinn gurgles in her sleep for a few seconds and Cordy reaches over to touch her gently. She looked so contented, she thought. Quinn really was a beautiful baby, with the fair and beautiful looks of Buffy and the dark and compassionate eyes of Angel. She had tried to figure out who the baby looked more like but, so far, she wasn't sure.

She turns to look over at Quinn for a moment and watches the gentle rising and falling of her chest as she slept. She looked so peaceful. "Sweetie, I hope you have a lot of fun in your life," she whispers. "With the way things always are with us, I'll have to make sure you do. Your daddy's a sweet guy and your mom's a bright girl, but they can both be a bit *intense* sometimes." Sitting back on the sofa, she takes another sip of her water, chasing down another two painkillers.

Quinn starts to whimper at that moment, and Cordy automatically reaches forward to pick her up, cradling her carefully in her arms. Quinn opens her eyes and blinks at her, her mouth forming a small, round circle. Cordy rocks her lightly and Quinn looks at her with interest. "You know, there's a lot you have to be aware of, sweetie. For one thing, you have to get to know your parents really well- not just what they want you to know. They're my friends and they'll always help anyone in trouble, but there are things about them that you should know. When the time's right, of course." Quinn's gurgle encouraged Cordy to continue.

"Your dad is going to be too protective. Just look at how he is now. You should've seen him when him and your mom first got together. For the life of me, I can't understand why he preferred her over me all those years, but...you have no idea how overprotective he is of her. I mean- he's literally marked her...but that's a whole different story for you to hear about.

"Let's see...who else do you have to watch out for around here? Xander-" she gently taps the tip of Quinn's small nose to emphasize her point. "Stay away from Uncle Xander- he'll be a bad influence on you if you're not careful. Trust me- I dated him for longer than I'd like to remember and he can be so annoying. You don't need that kind of stress in your life."

Noticing that Quinn's eyes had wandered to the sparkle of her earring, she removes one of the hoops and dangles it in front of her, smiling as the curious infant reaches out, her tiny hand trying to touch its shiny surface, her eyes opened wide. Cordy laughs softly. "You are such an amazing little thing." She puts her earring on the table and continues to rock Quinn gently, wondering briefly what it would be like to be a mother, to have a child, to have a love like Buffy and Angel did.

A still-sleepy Spike strolls down the stairway over to where Cordelia was in deep conversation with Quinn. It was the child's small coo at his appearance that gave him away, as Cordy turns in her seat to spot him approaching from behind.

"Ohhh...were we making too much noise down here for poor Spike to get some sleep?" Cordy addresses both him and Quinn as she gives Spike a quick once over. "You look awful."

"At least I have the excuse of lack of sleep," he mutters. "What's yours, princess?"

"Seeing you this early in the day, that's what! You're usually not up and about until 5. What gives?"

"Well how am I supposed to get any sleep around here listening to the lot of you foolin' around with that...that thing..." he makes a wave of his hand towards the child, walking by to slump down alongside Cordelia on the couch.

"Don't even get me started, Spike. If I wasn't holding Quinn, I'd-" The sudden ringing coming from the kitchen cut the brunette off before she could make her threat. "That's my cell- here..." she makes an attempt to hand Quinn over to the blonde vamp, not totally surprised to find him less than eager to hold her.

"Put 'er in that little hunch-buggy. I'm not holdin' her." Not wanting to argue, she gently puts Quinn down and races after her ringing phone.

******

"Buffy- it's okay." Angel tries his best comforting her after they'd arrived at Mrs. Williams' apartment, only to find the poor elderly woman already decapitated.

"I just still can't believe it," she breathes out. "I mean, one minute I'm complaining about how she has the hots for you, the next minute- she's..." Unable to complete her thought, she wraps an arm around his waist as Angel takes her outside, waiting for Gunn and Fred to finish investigating the scene. Both Buffy's and Angel's only thoughts were focused on returning to their daughter, still apprehensive about leaving her to go on assignment together for the first time.

"Did you guys find anything worth interest?" Angel looks up to ask Gunn and Fred as they finally exit the apartment building.

"Just a lot of blood..." Fred sighs, distraught herself at the sight of the poor woman, brutally murdered.

"There was one thing I found-" Gunn says, handing Angel a small piece of paper, a design hastily scribbled on it. "Along one of the back walls, there was this weird circle with a symbol in it smeared in blood. Looked something like that-" he points to his sketch, motioning for Fred to take a look as well.

"Wait a minute-" Fred pauses, retracing the day's images in her mind before saying anything more. "I saw that today. That guy, Kamien, on his belt there was this circle that looked just like that."

Looking back in his own mind, Angel's wariness returns in full as he realizes that he too took notice of the intricate design that adorned the stranger's silver belt. Hoping against hope that he would receive a positive answer, he frantically looks up to address Gunn. "Where are the others? Are- are they back at the hotel?"

"Yeah-" Angel lets out a noticeable sigh of relief, but panics once again upon hearing the young man continue. "Well, Cordy and Spike are. Wes called a little while ago. Cordy got a vision and him, Giles, Xand, and Anya went out in search of some pack of demons. And he said Will and Tara took Dawn shopping."

"Angel!" Buffy cries, nervous panic overpowering in her voice. "Angel- Angel, Quinn!!"

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