Diclaimer in Part One-a.

*****

Cordelia joined her husband, son and Wesley at the island in the kitchen. Motherly instincts still on overdrive, Cordy gently placed a kiss on top of her oldest child's head before taking a seat. Wesley automatically handed her a large cup of tea which she took gratefully. Charlie didn't look at her, she didn't take that for a good sign.

"Well?" she asked her husband.

Gunn smiled weakly at his wife. "They're still talking," he said quietly, motioning towards the living room.

"I'll bet," Cordelia said glumly. "Not like they don't have a few *thousand* issues to sort out."

*****

"You know *how*, don't you," Buffy said bluntly to Angel. It wasn't a question.

He nodded slowly. "I promise I'll explain everything, Buffy, but right now we need to go in and talk to the others ... figure out what's going on."

As Buffy and Angel made their way into the kitchen, hands clasped tightly together, everyone migrated from the island to the breakfast table. When they were all seated, Wesley took charge of the meeting.

"I suppose a brief overview would be in order to make sure we're all on the same page," the former watcher said, looking down at a few notes he'd made on a small tablet. Angel suppressed a smile. Wesley could play demon hunter with the best of them, but underneath it all, he was a Watcher at heart.

Clearing his throat, Wesley began his synopsis, "I feel it would be most beneficial to start from the *very* beginning. It appears that a good deal of what is wrong has to do with both whom and what Jakob is fundamentally. Now then, when Buffy discovered she was with child, her boyfriend at the time, Riley Finn, assumed the child was his and proposed. Correct?"

Buffy nodded. It was definitely an odd sensation to have the most monumental events in her life described in such a sterile manner, but - she reminded herself - Wes was a Watcher and they just tended to operate like that.

Wesley continued, "You were married and moved to Huxley, Iowa, where your son, Jakob was born. I'm assuming the boy was raised as Riley's natural son."

Buffy nodded again and avoided looking at Angel.

"When you were pregnant, did you believe the child was Riley's?" Wesley asked the Slayer in a much more gentle tone of voice.

"Yes," Buffy answered honestly.

"When did you know he was Angel's son?"

Buffy swallowed. "The first time I held him."

Angel was shocked. She'd known from the moment Jakob was born that he was his child. He felt warmed by that fact in spite of the dire situation they were currently in.

Clearing her throat, Buffy elaborated, "Only myself, Will, Giles and Xander ever knew the truth. Riley may have suspected, but he always claimed Jakob. There was some talk in Huxley. A few people suspected that Jakob wasn't Riley's son, but I ... I never discussed it with Jakob. There was so much turmoil, especially after Riley got sick. Jakob's behavior became so erratic, and then when Riley died ... it never seemed like a good time to talk to him about it ... and now ... "

Buffy wiped fresh tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. How much of this could have been avoided if she'd simply spoken to her son about it? She placed the notebook she still held on the table in front of herself.

"He knew," she said quietly. "Jakob knew that Riley wasn't his father. He knew his real father's name was Angel, although the journal doesn't say where he came up with that bit of information. He ... ," she started and then broke down in tears again. "He got it all wrong. If I'd just talked to him about it instead of being such a damn coward."

Angel placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, and quietly tried to reassure her, "It's not your fault."

Disgusted and angry with herself, she shrugged off his touch and turned to face her former lover. "It *is* my fault," she said emphatically. "If I had just *told* him the truth. There was so much he thought, so many assumptions he made that were just *wrong*!"

Her voice caught as she sobbed violently. "Oh, God, Angel ... He thinks he's a-a-a ... monster."

Angel's expression hardened. Why on earth would Jakob think that he was a monster?

Buffy concentrated on calming down. When she was able to breathe normally again, she continued, "He's had prophetic dreams his entire life and I never knew. He never said anything to anyone about them. He thought something was wrong with him. He doesn't call them nightmares in the journal, he calls them memories. In them, he's a monster."

She cradled her head in her hands. "How could I have been so fucking blind? It's not like I didn't go though the same damn thing. I just ... I don't know what the hell I thought. He and Riley were always at each other's throats, then Riley was told his condition was terminal ... Jakob started getting in lots of trouble. I thought he was just acting out. It was right there in front of me and I didn't even notice there was something very serious happening to my baby."

Angel watched her berate herself knowing full well there was nothing he could do to make it better. She thought she'd failed as a mother, but he knew that wasn't the case. For the first time in a number of years he gave very serious thought to the turmoil he had caused his own mother.

Reluctant to disturb Buffy further, Wesley spoke softly, "Perhaps you could tell us what else is contained in the journal."

Buffy looked up. She knew it was time to get down to business. She couldn't be breaking into hysterics at every turn or they'd never get through this. Straightening, she took a napkin from the table and wiped her eyes.

"It's not really a journal," she explained. "It's more of a random collection of thoughts, notes on a few things. Jakob was told by someone - he doesn't say who - that his father's name was not Angel, but Angelus."

Beside her, Angel paled. Jakob was *his* son, the demon didn't have any claim on him. He'd been human the day that Jakob was conceived.

"Jakob went on the assumption that he was Angelus's son. Someone made certain that he believed that. He thinks he was a mistake, an abomination. And now he's gone."

Wesley nodded and turned to Cordelia, "What did you see in your vision?"

Cordelia shrugged noncommittally. "Nothing really. It wasn't like the other visions. I just got a sense that Jakob was in a lot of trouble and a lot of pain although I don't know if it was mental or physical."

"Well," the Watcher said dejectedly, "that was our only lead."

"Not quite," Gunn said, looking pointedly at his son who was studying something extremely interesting on his shoe.

"Charlie," Cordelia said gently, leaning in towards her son, "do you know where Jakob is?"

Charlie didn't meet her gaze, but he shook his head 'no'.

"You know something," Gunn snapped, losing patience with the boy. "Now tell us so we can go and find him before something happens."

Charlie looked up. "I ... we ... Caritas. We went to Caritas last night."

Wesley looked at the boy, thoroughly puzzled. "Why on earth did the two of you go to Caritas?"

"Jake said he wanted to do some 'demon research'," Charlie admitted. "I didn't know until later what he was really doing. As soon as we walked in, we got jumped by this scary chick ... I mean she wasn't nasty looking or anything but she just made my skin crawl. She was all over Jake, drug him off into some corner to talk to him alone. Faith was with her so I didn't get too crazy about it."

"What did she want?" Buffy asked, thoroughly confused. What would anyone want with Jakob?

"Jake said she just asked him who he was and what he was looking for," Charlie answered honestly. "After he told me that, then *I* asked him what he was looking for. I told him I didn't buy the 'demon research' line. He said he was looking for information on a man named Angel. He asked me if I knew anyone named Angel ... I froze. Dad made me promise not to say anything, and so I told him I didn't, but I don't think he believed me. He knew I was lying and he just started being really quiet."

"Who was the woman with Faith?" Cordelia asked, trying not to glare at her husband. She'd deal with him later. If he'd just let her meddle like she'd wanted to, all of this could have been avoided.

"I don't know. I've never seen her before, but I think she was probably a vamp. She said her name was Darla."

Buffy's insides turned to ice. "Darla has my son," she breathed, reaching instinctively for Angel's hand and gripping it tightly.

"We don't know that," Wesley stated quickly. "All we know is that he talked to her."

"He's lost and confused and hurt. He's not thinking clearly. She's using him to get back at us," Buffy said, looking at Angel.

Wesley took off his glasses, gently massaging the bridge of his nose. "Perhaps we should all get some rest. It will be dawn very shortly."

"That's probably a good idea," Angel agreed, looking at Buffy's clearly exhausted form.

*****

The sky was just beginning to turn gray when Jake arrived at the posh apartment building. The doorman only gave a nod as he walked past and entered. He'd spent the entire night wandering around Los Angeles. He'd debated returning to Caritas to search out the host and try to find insight into who he was. He hadn't. He'd been too afraid of having his deepest fears confirmed.

His entire life had been a lie. He was angry, but his rage had no direction. He was angry with his mother for never telling him the truth, but deep inside he knew she'd only kept it from him to try and protect him.

He was angry at Riley for playing the fool for the last eighteen years. There's no way he hadn't known he wasn't his father, but he'd played along to the end. He'd probably thought he'd been doing the noble thing, but he hadn't. Riley's actions had just hurt both of them.

He was angry at Angelus for being the sick bastard he was.

He was also angry at himself for being too weak to just end it all.

Without allowing him self time for second thoughts, he knocked soundly on the door. Several moments later it was opened by the sleepy tenant.

"Darling boy," she said quietly in a voice that actually sounded sincere, "welcome home."

*****

Buffy looked around the interior of the Hyperion. She had a hard time imagining Angel living here. Angel living, radical concept. He was fumbling around in the office for something, but she could see him clearly through the open doorway. He was still absolutely beautiful. She sighed heavily, putting her head down on the counter.

Angel was human. He'd been human for a dozen years. Surely he'd built himself a human life complete with friends and, well, ... girlfriends. Angel hadn't mentioned a significant other, but if your ex shows up in town and informs you that the son you never knew you had is in imminent danger, the odds of bringing up a girlfriend in chit chat are pretty slim. Especially for Angel, the king of evasive conversation maneuvering.

"Found it," he said, holding up a file and drawing Buffy out of her thoughts.

Buffy lifted her head slowly as he walked towards her. He studied her with a frown.

"You should really get some sleep," he said gently.

She snorted. "I must look *real* good," she said wryly.

His frown deepened. "That's not what I meant. You're beautiful, but you look exhausted. You need to rest," he held his hand out expectantly.

Buffy smiled and took his proffered hand, allowing him to lead her up the stairs.

*****

Jakob didn't fight as Darla pulled him inside the darkened apartment. She led him down a hallway past huge bay windows covered with heavy drapes to keep out the light. When they reached the bedroom, she gently urged him back onto the bed and removed his shoes.

"Are you going to turn me into a vampire?" he asked bluntly, not caring what the answer might be. He was almost hoping for death, it would simplify his life dramatically.

The vampiress looked at him for a long moment, a smile playing on her lips. "Not today, my sweet."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go to sleep. And so are you," she answered in even tones. "Tomorrow we will discuss your destiny."

"My destiny?"

"Yes, my love, you have such an amazing journey ahead of you," she said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

*****

"Angel, I can't take your bed."

Angel frowned at her. She'd been fighting this for several minutes. "Buffy, I already told you that although this is a hotel, this is the only room that's made up right now. Please, just get some sleep."

"I'll take the floor," she said, looking around and noticing he didn't have a couch.

"You're not taking the floor," he said in exasperation.

Their conversation was cut short by the phone ringing. Walking over to the nightstand, Angel picked it up.

"What?" he barked into the receiver, it was already past eight in the morning, but he wasn't in the mood to try and get any business done. He needed sleep, one of the downsides to being mortal.

Buffy watched as his entire body tensed. After several long moments, he sat down on the bed, giving terse, one word replies into the phone.

"Yeah," he said after several minutes, "let me get a piece of paper."

Buffy watched as he wrote down a cell phone number. With a short 'bye' he hung up the phone and rubbed his hands over his face. Buffy's heart caught in her throat.

"What?" she said, her voice sounding as if it were made of ice.

He reached out and grabbed her forearm gently, pulling her to sit on the bed next to him.

"It was Faith," he said quietly, not looking at her. "She's been spending a lot of time with Darla lately. She said she's been trying to get ahold of us since Friday night, but hasn't been able to track anyone down. She wanted us to know that Jakob is with Darla."

"Oh gods," Buffy moaned, covering her hand with her mouth as she started to cry again. She'd known the odds of her son being with the sadistic vampire were good, but hearing it confirmed was still a shocking blow.

"Faith is going to stay close to them, she'll do her best to let us know where they are and what's going on, but she doesn't want to let Darla know anything is wrong. She'll call us when she can," Angel explained gently.

The reassurances did little to calm Buffy who pulled her legs up to her chest, hugging them tightly as she rested her face on her knees and sobbed pitifully. Angel was at a loss for what to do. He wanted to comfort her so badly, but didn't want to do anything that might be misconstrued. Luckily, Buffy solved his dilemma, leaning into him heavily until he enfolded her in his embrace. He held her for a long time, until her sobs had subsided and she had calmed.

"Go to sleep, Buffy," he said gently.

She shook her head 'no'. "Not unless you stay with me. I can't be alone right now."

Angel smiled. "Anything for you," he said quietly.

*****

"Where are we going?" Faith asked as Darla herded her and Jake through the apartment building's underground parking garage and into a waiting limo, complete with heavily tinted windows. It was late afternoon, but the sun was still high enough to necessitate the precautions.

Darla stopped walking and looked at her lover. "Do you have somewhere else to be?" she asked pointedly.

"No," Faith answered quickly, afraid Darla would leave her behind and continue ahead with Jake.

"Then shut up and get in," the elder vampire commanded. Her Childe obeyed without question.

Faith looked at Jake and noted he seemed oblivious to everything around him. Odds were he was in some kind of shock. He'd been through hell in the last couple of days and Darla was doing everything she could to keep him as confused as possible. The more muddled he was, the easier he was to control. Faith noted with guarded optimism that at least there weren't any bite marks on his neck. Perhaps Darla would keep her word and allow him to "mature" before she tried anything.

<-- BackNext -->
Fan Fiction Archive