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“The first thing we should do is go to the police,” Angel advised. “Or you should, I’m having difficulties with one of the officers and it would be better if she continues to believe I’m still where she buried me. We’re both happier with her thinking that. But you should go; they can keep an eye out for Collin more effectively than we can. Do you have a picture of him?”
“He prefers to be called Cole,” Anna said. “I don’t have a picture, but I can show him to you.”
“How?” Angel asked.
“Magic is life and blood to the Sidhe, anyone who lives among them for long learns to develop whatever potential they possess. Not much in my case, but enough for this. I’ll need to touch you.”
Anna and Angel had moved from the basement to the lobby. Angel sat in the cracked leather chair. Anna rose from her seat on the couch and approached him. Angel watched her cautiously, his muscles tensing as her finger’s came to rest on his shoulder. Gradually his eyes focused on the empty air before him. In his mind’s eye he saw a young boy, dark eyes sparkling with laughter, auburn hair bleached several shades lighter than Angel’s own by exposure to the sun.
“That’s Cole?” Angel asked his voice touched with wonder.
“That’s your son, Liam,” Anna confirmed. “I always thought he looked very much as you did.”
“I wouldn’t know,” Angel replied. “It’s been so long I’ve forgotten what I look like.”
“If the lasses of Galway could see you now they’d not recognize you,” Anna giggled. “You were so vain of your appearance back then.”
“And now they’ve all died an ugly death because of me,” Angel said darkly.
“I’m sorry Li, I didn’t think,” Anna said.
“You can’t just go up a police officer and project Cole’s image into his mind,” Angel said, changing the subject. “I can sketch him for them. Will you be able to make it to the station if I call a cab for you?”
“Li, I can’t,” Anna protested. “There’s too much noise, too many people. I barely made it here.”
“I’ll call Wesley,” Angel sighed. “I can ask him to escort you.”
Angel picked up the phone and hesitantly dialed. An uneasy look crossed his face as the phone rang.
“Wesley Wyndom-Price speaking,” the ex-watcher answered.
The words Angel had planned fled his mind and he stood there silently.
“Hello? Anybody there?” Wesley asked. “Bloody prank calls,” he muttered a second later.
“It’s Angel,” the souled vampire finally managed to say.
“Angel,” Wesley repeated tonelessly, then dropped into a stunned silence of his own.
Angel swallowed harshly. “I need your help,” he managed to say despite a suddenly bone dry mouth.
Wesley didn’t say anything.
“Wesley?” Angel asked nervously.
“Why would I do you a favor?” Wesley asked. “You did fire me, remember?”
Angel took a deep, totally unneeded breath. “Because I’m not asking for me. Anna’s here, her son… our son… is missing, I need your help.”
Wesley blinked at the phone a few time. “How could the child be yours?” he asked.
“Please Wesley?” Angel asked quietly.
“You’re quite capable of helping this Anna yourself,” Wesley said. “I won’t do this just to give you more time to indulge in your obsession with Darla.”
“I know, I’ll be doing everything I can,” Angel promised. “But I can’t take her to the police.”
“No, that would be rather awkward,” Wesley said. “Considering they had an autopsy preformed on you and had you buried.”
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Angel glanced up from his conversation with Anna as the Hyperion’s front door swung open.
“Wesley,” he said welcomingly, then is a less happy tone added. “And Cordelia and Gunn.”
“Hello Angel, Miss…” Wesley said.
“Why are you two here?” Angel asked Cordy and Gunn.
“When you hire one of us you hire all of us,” Cordy said.
“It was a slow night,” Gunn said with a shrug. “I was bored.”
“What do you mean ‘hired’?” Angel asked.
“Well I know your little vengeance crusade doesn’t pay,” Cordy replied. “But Detective Agencies are a business, as you may or may not recall.”
“You’re going to charge me?” Angel asked.
“Yep,” Cordy said. “Locating missing children definitely falls into the services rendered category. Now if you’d asked us to pick up a pint of blood from the butchers… Well we would have said no, cause we’re pretty miffed about the being fired thing. But assuming we didn’t refuse, that would have been a favor, hence no charge. This, on the other hand, is a case. We decided to charge on a per service basis, for example, taking Anna… I didn’t catch your last name, is it the same as Angel’s, as in were you married or anything? I mean I know his human name, but he wouldn’t have had that when you guys were… well… together, however together you were, right?”
Anna shook her head, bewildered by Cordelia’s sudden change of topic.
“Anyway, Angel,” Cordelia resumed. “It’ll be fifty dollars to take Anna to the police station. Since we’re still in the saving souls business and we think that it would be in your soul’s best interest to start helping people again we’re only going to do things that would be needlessly harmful to you. Like, say, things requiring direct exposure to sunlight or coming within a hundred yards of Kate Lockley.”
“Fine,” Angel said coldly.
“Okay,” Cordy said cheerfully. “Now about the kid being yours. What’s his name? How old is he? What does he look like? How did you meet Anna? How did you have a kid? I thought vampires couldn’t.”
“Mind your own business Cordelia,” Angel said.
“I’m gathering data,” Cordy protested.
“Perhaps we should take Anna to the station now,” Wesley suggested, taking Cordelia by the elbow and leading her back toward the door. “If we could borrow you car Angel? Coming Gunn?”
Angel tossed Wesley the keys as Gunn said. “No thanks, Police Stations and I have a bad history.”
“Understood,” Wesley said.
As he left with Anna and Cordelia he over heard Gunn saying. “So, what’s the story on the girl?”
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“I have to use the restroom,” Cordelia announced, turning and walking away as they entered the station.
“I believe it’s in the other direction,” Wesley called after her, noting the sign and arrow clearly posted on the wall.
Cordelia continued down the hall, an anticipatory smile curling her lips. She walked as if she was exactly where she belonged, she stopped beside Kate Lockley’s empty desk. After a quick glance to see that there was no one watching her, Cordelia dumped a small vial of clear viscous goo on Kate’s seat.
Cordelia rejoined Wesley and Anna in time to get a good look at the sketch Angel had drawn of Cole, and to note Anna’s calm easy manner when dealing with the police. All the while Cordy kept one ear perked in the direction of Kate’s desk.
As the trio left the station they heard a clatter then Kate’s voice raised in anger, but increasingly drowned out by her colleagues’ laughter.
Cordelia started in the direction of the commotion, but after one look at her gleeful expression Wesley hustled her out of the station.
“What did you do?” Wesley hissed as he started the car.
“All right. Gluing Kate to her chair was petty and beneath me,” Cordy said happily. “What I’d really like to do is lock her is box full of something she’s intensely allergic to, but since I can’t do that, I’ll have to be satisfied with being petty.”
“Yes… well…” Wesley began fighting the urge to grin. “Don’t you think that provoking the somewhat unbalanced detective shows a lack of judgment?”
“What’s she going to do to me?” Cordelia said with a careless shrug, before turning her attention to Anna. “You’re a lot more calm and collected when Angel’s not in the room,” she accused.
“Cole isn’t the only one I worry for,” Anna admitted.
“You know about Angel’s whole obsession thing too,” Cordy realized. “And it scares you. That’s why you made him call us. You’re using this Cole thing to make Angel let you help him… Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the intent, it’s way more than Buffy managed, but Angel’s going to be majorly pissed when he finds out you lied.”
“I didn’t lie, Cole has run away,” Anna said.
“But he’s running to Angel, isn’t he?” Wesley reasoned.
“Yes,” Anna said. “Cole has wanted to meet his father for years, he almost got that chance a week ago, but the Council Elders prevented Liam from perceiving our world. I think being so close, but still unable to reach Liam was more than Cole could stand. He shouldn’t have done it and he’s too young to be wandering about by himself, but Cole was being trained to function on this plane. He’s very capable for his age.”
“So why isn’t he here now?” Wesley asked.
“I don’t know,” Anna said, a quaver entering her voice.
“Wait, I’m not following something,” Cordelia said. “When was Angel in your plane? I mean I know we’ve been out of the loop since being fired, but I think we would have know about him going to another dimension.”
“It was right before Liam returned from Hell,” Anna said.
“The time differential,” Wesley realized. “Would a fourteen year old have remember that? Or would he have simply rushed off to the place where he expected Angel to be.”
“So we need to check out Sunnydale,” Cordelia said. “What fun.”
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“You really want us to come to Sunnydale with you?” Cordelia asked.
“I asked you to come,” Angel said.
“But we’re still fired right?” Cordelia asked. “Why? Why can we help now but not against Darla and Drucillia. You can handle this, but with them you’re one step away from kook’s-ville and you push us away. Do you want to over the edge?”
“No!” Angel snapped.
“Then why did you push us away?” Cordy demanded. “We were trying to help you.”
“No you weren’t,” Angel said angrily. “You wanted me to do what you thought I should. What you and Wesley want is to dictate how I feel and what I do. I’m supposed to kill the vampires and save the humans. It’s not suppose to make any difference to me that those humans were evil or that the vampires in question are my blood. Or that the whole mess was Wolfram and Hart’s fault.”
“So you’re going to let them do what ever they want, kill who ever they choose?” Cordy demanded angrily.
“I couldn’t kill them for those people,” Angel said. “I know I have to kill them, but not for Holland Mannors. I don’t even know that I can kill them at all. I’ve seen Darla and Dru human and it’s my fault I have to kill them now. I really don’t know if can do it, but I know that the demon could. It could kill anyone, it doesn’t love or feel remorse or regret.”
“So you’re sending us away so you can let your alter ego out to play and hope he kills the right people?” Cordy snapped.
“I’m trying to use his strengths so I can do something I’ve always failed at. Do you know what I did when Dru and Spike first came to Sunnydale? I went to her and asked her to leave. I didn’t care who she killed as long as I never had to choose between her and someone I knew! God, I couldn’t even manage to kill Penn, I had to have Kate do it for me. Penn was a self-absorbed, whining idiot of a human, but I couldn’t kill him, not remembering his fear when I turned him. I couldn’t kill him. How am I supposed to kill the others? William… Spike was a poet, a lovelorn fool of a child when Dru found him. Dru was a sweet, innocent girl when I began driving her insane. And I almost saved Darla, she was ready to take her second chance, even if it meant dying in a few short months and they corrupted her again!”
“What are you going to do then? Let them kill you? Kill who knows how many other innocents, because once upon a time they were the victim?” Cordy asked. “Come on Angel, reason a little.”
“I’m going to do my best,” Angel said. “But that hasn’t been good enough lately has it? If I’m going to have any chance at all when I fight them I can’t afford to feel anything, it’s too hard to feel. That’s why I need you, Wesley and Gunn to keep your distance… And at least this way, if I fail again, there’s a chance they’ll forget you.”
“And if we’re there you’ll have a reason to fight harder,” Cordy said.
“Please Cordelia, let me handle one battle at a time,” Angel requested tiredly.
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Drucillia teetered into the main room of her and Darla’s new lair. Giggling madly she tumbled over the back of the couch to land with her head hanging of the edge and her feet kicking in the air. “There are secrets in the wind,” she confided happily.
Darla glanced up from studying a mostly healed burn on her arm irritably. “What do you want?” She demanded.
“It’s not what I want,” Dru laughed. “It’s what I’ve got!”
“What do you have now?” Darla sighed boredly.
“A little brother,” Dru exclaimed. “My Angel’s dreams are all full of his son, they sing to me.”
Darla looked up, suddenly interested. “Angel turned someone?” She asked.
“Oh no, he has a human type child,” Dru said, “Not a vampire child.”
“Look lunacy-girl, vampires don’t have human children, not after the first few decades anyway, and soul or no, Angel is a vampire, therefore he doesn’t have a human son,” Darla snapped.
“He does,” Dru pouted “And it was terribly rude of him not to perform introductions. I shall simply have to do it myself.” She sighed, rolling to her feet.
“Where are you going?” Darla demanded.
“To the mouth of Hell,” Dru said. “The wind whispers that the would-be warrior seeks his father there.”
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