Destiny

By PSUBrat

Visions & Delusions

Cordelia continued to float several feet off the ground, her glow becoming brighter and stronger, as Angel's screams became louder and more persistent. Gunn pulled Fred out of her seat next to Angel and put an arm around her protectively, slowly backing up in fear of what was occurring. Everyone was now on their feet, staring at the couple that was obviously receiving the vision meant for them.

Lilah looked around nervously. She thought working at Wolfram and Hart could be disconcerting, but just being here in Sunnydale was worse. She needed to get out of here, out of this city, maybe even this state. Quickly. She began sliding towards the door, figuring that no one would notice her leaving amid the chaos. Before she could get two feet away, Wesley grabbed her arm, yanking her back towards him.

"Going somewhere?" He demanded, tightening his grip on the woman's arm.

"Not anymore I guess," she sheepishly replied. Damn. Usually nothing could make her feel so insignificant but Wesley had a way about him that made her feel absolutely filthy.

"Giles, shouldn't we stop this?" Buffy demanded, concern coating every word. All of her senses were trained on Angel and Cordelia, leaving her unaware of what was taking place elsewhere in the room.

"No, they're perfectly fine," Giles responded calmly as he held Buffy's elbow to keep her from interrupting. "They have to receive their message without the rest of us interfering. It'll be fine."

William slowly moved behind Buffy and encircled her waist with his strong arms. Whispering in her ear he said, "It's all right luv. They'll be fine. You and I always are after our visions. He can't hurt them yet." He could feel her relax against him. This night was taking a toll on everyone, especially her. And it was only the beginning.

"Are you sure they're okay?" Fred asked in a frightened tone as she leaned into Gunn and grabbed Lorne's arm. Her world felt like it was spinning out of control. What would she do if something were to happen to Angel? To Cordy? Angel saved her from hell, gave her a place to live and comforted her and Cordelia befriended her when she felt alone. It was true that she had Gunn now, but she needed them to be okay. They were her family now and she loved them both more than she could ever express.

Suddenly, Cordelia dropped to the floor in a heap while Angel slid off his seat and onto the floor, unconscious.

***

Fred was at Cordelia's side in seconds trying to assess if her friend was hurt in any way. "Cordelia? Cordy? Can you hear me?"

Cordelia moaned softly and felt herself being rolled on her back. Images of the Master still enveloped her mind. She was afraid to open her eyes; afraid that he would be standing in front of her and that it hadn't been a dream. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard a voice calling her name.

"Cordelia, please open your eyes! Say something!" Fred pleaded, gently shaking her.

"Is she dead?" Gunn asked, trying to keep the panic that he felt out of his voice. "Try mouth to mouth."

"She's not dead silly," Fred stated with some annoyance. "She's just unconscious."

"Are you sure?" Willow inquired as she peered down at the former cheerleader, horror etched on her ashen face. "She looks dead."

Xander took a deep breath. "Okay, everyone stand back," he stated with authority, spreading his arms out to move those closest to him and trying to take control of the situation. "I'm gonna try mouth to mouth."

"Anyone giving me mouth to mouth is going to find themselves in a heap on the other side of the room," Cordelia declared, sitting up and holding her head in her hands.

Fred laughed and hugged her friend tightly. The group around Cordelia breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Are you alright sweetie?" Lorne asked as he kneeled down next to her. "That one looked like it packed quite a punch."

"Yeah. I'm fine," she replied as she rubbed her temples. "God that was wicked. It all felt so real. He's still just as ugly as he was six years ago."

"You're telling me," Buffy cringed. "At least he didn't kill you."

"Not yet anyway," Xander deadpanned.

"Very funny," Cordelia sneered back at him. "Hey," she started, realizing that Angel hadn't come to her aid, "where's Angel? Is he okay?"

In all their worries over Cordelia, no one had bothered to check on Angel.

Buffy shrugged. "I just figured since he wasn't dust, he wasn't dead."

"That's comforting," Cordelia retorted as Fred and Lorne helped her stand up. "Since I'm fine, would it be too much to ask for you to check on Angel?" She hoped that Buffy caught the sarcasm in her voice; she knew the others had, although with Buffy, you just never knew if the girl understood anything you were saying to her or not.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy began to walk towards Angel's prone form but stopped short when she saw Connor cradling his father's head, tears slipping down his cheeks.

***

"Angel?" Connor asked as he leaned over his father's body. He couldn't tell if the vampire was okay or not since there wasn't any breathing but as Buffy had pointed out, Angel wasn't dust so he must still be alive. He had watched in horror as his father had screamed out in obvious pain and then slipped to the floor. When everyone else had gone to the aid of Cordelia, he had silently joined his father on the ground. Gently, he shook Angel's shoulders. No response. How could he have been so wrong about everything? How could he have believed all the lies that Justine and Holtz had told him? Despite his best efforts, his tears began to flow silently as his guilt overwhelmed him.

Buffy backed up slowly and motioned for the others to observe what was occurring. She was amazed that this stone-cold teen was showing any emotion other than bitterness or hatred. On the one hand, she wanted him to pay for trying to kill her and on the other, his fear and grief tugged at her heart. She felt as if she were intruding on a private moment between father and son. She was sure that the others probably felt the same way.

Hesitantly, Dawn took a step forward but William stopped her, shaking his head slowly, indicating that this was not something she should be involved in right now. She nodded her response and turned her head. If she couldn't comfort him, she didn't want to see his pain.

"Dad?" Connor begged trying not to panic. He felt horrible about everything he had done, not only to Buffy and Dawn but to his father as well. "Father, please wake up. I need to tell you how sorry I am. For everything."

A solitary tear fell on Angel's face as the boy cried his name over and over again. Slowly, Angel sat up and wrapped his arms around his sobbing son. If his heart could beat, he was sure that it would be breaking by now. After Cordelia had saved him from a watery grave, all he had wanted to do was to confront Connor and ask him why. But now, now all he wanted to do was to hold and comfort him.

"Please forgive me father. I didn't know…"

"Shhhhhh, Connor. It's okay," Angel soothed, trying to calm his son. "It's all right. We'll get through this."

"But I tried to kill you and Buffy. I did it because I thought you killed my fath-Holtz. Justine made me think you did and I believed her…" His sobs were beyond heart wrenching as he poured out his guilt.

Cordelia ran to the two forms on the ground and pulled them both into an embrace. "Shhhhh," she whispered, trying to console them as she gently rocked them back and forth. She struggled with her own tears while father and son cried together. "It's all going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Quietly the others slipped into the back room to give the three some much-needed private time.

***

Buffy paced the training room while the others watched. She tired desperately to put the pieces of the prophecy together but was having a hard time doing so since she was exhausted.

"Luv? Buffy?" William softly asked, trying to get her attention. It hadn't worked. If he didn't get her to sit down soon, she was going to wear a hole in the floor from her pacing. It also wasn't helping the others' nervousness either. Finally, he strolled over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. The action brought her out of her thoughts.

"What?" She asked with a dazed look on her face.

"Luv, I need you to sit down. You're making the others even more nervous than they already are…"

"I'm sorry. I'm just thinking…"

"I know. We're going to get through this, luv. Now please, let's sit down."

Giles watched from across the room as William deftly handled his slayer. He was quite impressed with the man Spike had become over the past few months. Training William to become Buffy's watcher had been a brilliant idea on his part. The two worked well together. Quietly he approached the couple that was now sitting on the floor in front of the pommel horse. Crouching down next to them, he whispered, "We need to go somewhere to rest and do research. Nothing's going to get done here."

William nodded in agreement. The Magic Box would be the ideal spot for research but there wasn't a comfortable place for people to sleep.

"We can go back to my house," Buffy stated in a monotone voice. She felt detached from everything around her. "Sleep in shifts. You, Wes and William can do research in the dining room. I'm sure Will and Tara can help you too."

"Excellent idea, Buffy," Giles commented as he put patted her shoulder. "How are you holding up?"

"Well, let's see: in the last twenty-four hours I've had to search for my sister, beat up Willy for information, kill several fledglings, got a message from my dead mother, had to defend myself for my choice in boyfriend, was nearly killed by Steven who turned out to be Angel's son Connor, was attacked by one of the Master's minions, nearly had the life scared out of me thinking something had happened to my sister when you guys came through the portal and I've had to deal with the gang from Los Angeles. All in all, I think I'm holding up pretty well. What do you think?"

Giles gave her a small smile as he squeezed her shoulder. "As I was saying, rest is in order…"

Before Giles could finish his sentence, the door leading to the shop opened and Cordelia, followed by Angel and Connor, entered the training room. All three looked as if they had been to hell and back, several times over.

Buffy stood to acknowledge their presence. "Good. Now that everyone's here, let's get down to business. We're going to head back to my place." She turned towards the group of Watchers who were standing off to her left. "Giles, you and Wes grab everything you need to do research."

They nodded back at her and started heading towards the shop to gather the pertinent information.

Turning towards her group of friends, she stated, "We'll sleep in shifts. First shift will be Dawn, Willow and Tara. We're going to need you three well rested and ready to go by tomorrow night. Cordy, you might want to catch some sleep too. It looks like your vision took a lot out of you."

"Understatement of the day," Cordelia replied with a nod, relieved that she didn't have to ask to be in the first shift of sleepers. She was exhausted. If it wasn't for the fact that Angel was holding her up, she would have passed out by now.

"The rest of you," Buffy continued, now in complete Slayer mode, "will help Giles, William and Wes with the research. I don't think we're in any immediate danger since the Master needs us all alive for tomorrow night, well most of us anyway, but if you think you may not be able to help with the research, I'll give you weapons and you can stand guard. Oh, except for you Lilah, we'll tie you to a chair somewhere. Any questions?"

Everyone nodded back at her in unison as Lilah rolled her eyes.

"Good. Let's go."

***

The trip to the Summers' home had been made in complete silence. William, Angel, Wes, Giles and Buffy brought up the rear of the group, making sure that nothing could attack them from behind while Xander helped Gunn look after the renegade lawyer. Upon reaching the house, Dawn headed straight to her room while Willow and Tara went to theirs and Buffy made Cordelia comfortable in her room. The three watchers spread out their books and what not on the dining room table, delving immediately into researching the prophecy. In the living room the remaining group, plus a secured Lilah, tried to relax.

"I feel so useless," Xander muttered, mostly to himself but those sitting around him heard as well.

"You're not the only one dude," Gunn replied with a sigh. "Why can't we just go after this Master thing now, take him out before the Judgment?"

"Probably because he's protected," Anya responded matter of factly. "Not only is he protected by all of the minions he's managed to create but he's probably protected by magic as well. The Last Judgment is a serious thing. I'd imagine that none of us would get very far before being killed."

Xander looked at his girlfriend in complete awe. "Anya, why didn't you tell us that you knew anything about this?"

"No one asked," she added shrugging. "Besides, I really don't know much other than rumors and legend and those aren't enough to help sort out anything."

"How do you even know about this?" Fred asked, intrigued that someone other than Wesley might have any knowledge of these types of things.

"Anya used to be a demon…" Xander replied.

"You were a demon?" Gunn asked incredulously, eyes wide.

"Ex-vengeance demon," she corrected with a smile.

Gunn let out a low whistle. "And I thought we were a messed up group."

Connor tried not to smile at Gunn's remark as he took a seat on the floor in front of the couch.

Lorne had been listening to the exchange as he looked around the living room, his eyes coming to rest on the stereo. "Lookie what we have here," he said with a grin.

"No," Gunn cried out. "Uh uh. No way."

"What?" Xander asked with a frown. "It's just a stereo."

"Dude, you have no idea what that means to this guy."

The green demon stood up and started rummaging around the CDs. "Oh! Celine Dion! Did I tell you I met her in Vegas? She's fabulous."

"I don't think Buffy would be happy with you playing anything by her," Xander stated with a cringe. "It's a former roommate from hell kinda thing."

Lorne let out an exaggerated sigh. Taking another quick peek, his smiled widened. "Even better."

"Oh no!" Gunn exclaimed. "What did you find now?"

"Okay people. Let's do some Livin' La Vida Loca! Everybody gets to sing!"

"What?" Xander demanded waving his hands back and forth in front of him in a negative way. "I'm not singing. No way you're going to get me to sing. Are you delusional?"

"Look, you want to help figure out who's involved in this prophecy or not? It would save those exhausted men over there some time."

Xander looked towards the dining room and sighed. "Fine. But I'm not singing Ricky Martin!"

***

In the backyard, Buffy sat quietly on the bench looking at the stars. She had excused herself from the research table to come out here to think. Her and research were not of the good. Of course, she had to practically tie William to his chair since he was so insistent on accompanying her outside. She understood that he was just concerned for her safety and well-being but she could take care of herself. Both she and Giles had made the case that the Master needed her alive and well in order for the Last Judgment to be completed on time. Begrudgingly, William had finally agreed to stay and help Giles and Wesley. Thank God. All she wanted was a little alone time, time to come to terms with the fact that she was probably going to die, again, for yet a third time. Didn't they always say the third time is the charm? What exactly did that mean? She wasn't exactly feeling the charm, that's for sure.

"I know you're standing there," she stated with some amusement to the vampire who was now lurking in the shadows.

"I figured you'd be able to sense me. Just thought I'd kinda hang back, in case you might need anything."

"Like backup?"

"Maybe," he replied, stepping towards her and giving her his patented half grin.

"I can take care of myself you know."

Hesitantly he sat down next to her on the bench and looked into her eyes. "I know." He sighed. So much had happened today, he didn't know where to start. "Buffy, I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" She asked with a frown. "For what?"

"For not telling you about Connor or the Shanshu prophecy. Basically for everything."

"There's no need for apologies, Angel," she said smiling at him. It was nice being able to talk to him like this again. She hadn't realized how much she had really missed it until now. "There's a lot I didn't tell you either. It's all bridge with water running under it."

Angel snorted and shook his head. She was amazing. Suddenly he felt like he was complete again. Whole. "Buffy," he said, almost in a whisper. "I…there's something I need to tell you."

Buffy raised her eyebrows, noticing the seriousness in his tone. What more could he possibly tell her? Hadn't they already said everything there was to say earlier? "Is everything okay?"

"It's fine…" He took an unneeded breath and looked up at the stars. "No, it's not fine." Pulling her hand into his and looking into her eyes, he said, "Buffy, despite everything that has happened over the last few years, I've never stopped…what I'm trying to say is…" Damnit. He felt like such a fool.

"Angel? Whatever it is, you know you can tell me, right?"

"Buffy, I love you."

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