Part 3, Month 3
“Miss. Chase?” the doctor referred to Cordelia after returning Angel’s greeting with a warm, assuring smile and nod. “I’m doctor De Seased, why don’t you take a seat?” he offered, gesturing to the chairs as he took his own seat. “What seems to be the trouble?”
Forcing the still struggling brunette into one of the guest chairs, the vampire stood behind her with heavy hands on her shoulders pinning her in place. “Cordy sweetheart, the nice doctor is asking you something” Angel prompted patiently with an innocent smile at the female doctor he had requested.
“That nice doctor can go and kuff mff aff” one of his heavy hands left her shoulder to curl around her mouth preventing any defensive and not-so-nice comments from spilling out of her runaway mouth.
“What she means to say is” Angel began answering for her, “Her menstrual cycle is 11 weeks and five days late” maybe that was a little bit too informative, but on the plus side it had shocked Cordelia into stopping the muffled curses.
Doctor De Seased’s eyes flickered down the young woman’s body, settling on the stomach she was patting comfortingly. An eyebrow rose as she turned her knowing glance up to the handsome features of her husband or boyfriend. “Are you a friend or family?” she asked, she was going to need blood and urine samples, if only to confirm her suspicions.
“I’m her boyfriend” Angel replied, his eyes narrowing accusingly he wouldn’t let her make him wait outside. If the doctor needed to some tests then he’d be in here with her and that was none negotiable. “I’m not waiting outside” he said as much, the heavy hand on Cordelia’s shoulder squeezed reassuringly and he removed his other hand from her mouth.
“My period isn’t the only problem I’ve been having” the brunette spoke up, giving in when she realised she had no way to escape. The doctor looked at her, silently urging her to continue explaining the problem. Fidgeting uncomfortably in the little chair, Cordelia purposely kept her eyes on the floor and away from those packaged needles. “Well, I keep barfing… Sorry” she peered up at Angel who was grimacing, “I keep being ill, like physically sick”
“I see” the doctor replied, she had to fight to keep the knowing smile off her face as she listened to Miss. Chase explain her obvious problem. “Are you vomiting” she noticed how the dark haired man grimaced again and changed her word with an understanding smile. “Are you being physically ill everyday and how long has this been going on?”
“Almost a month, give or take” Angel replied, making sure Cordelia didn’t get a chance to fib to get her an early exit. “It hasn’t been getting any better or worse, Cordy’s just being ill all the time. Why?”
“And you say you haven’t menstruated in almost twelve weeks?” the doctor tried not to sound comically stunned by the fact these two hadn’t realised what her diagnosis was.
“Yeah” Cordelia answered, her own eyes narrowing in suspicion that was returned by Angel, “What are you saying?”
“Why don’t you give me a urine and blood…”
“No No No No No!” the panic suddenly infiltrating the room suffocated Angel as Cordelia shot up out of the chair and covered all possible needle entry points in her arms, wrists and the backs of her hands. “You just stay there missy” she warned, her voice shaky, uneven and filled with terror, “You won’t be coming anywhere near me with a pointy thing that can do damage”
Giving into the urge to chuckle, the doctor removed her stylish spectacles and turned amused eyes on the young woman once again being restrained by her boyfriend. “Miss. Chase, it isn’t my damaging pointy thing you need to worry about!”
The first thing that came to the vampire’s mind when damage and pointy things were concerned was if the human knew what he was. Tugging an unresisting and severely shaking Cordelia closer to him protectively, Angel looked at the woman with darkening, expectant eyes. “What do you know?” he asked, his voice lowering and his hold on his girlfriend tightening.
“I don’t know for sure as Miss. Chase won’t allow me to take a blood sample” the doctor replied, the protective behaviour wasn’t uncommon with fathers-to-be, even the unknowing ones and it always brought a smile to her face when she saw the expectant mother in such good care. “The same results can also be achieved with a less traumatising urine sample” she turned understanding eyes to the cowering brunette, “Would you do that Miss. Chase? Give me a urine sample?”
Taking a brave step towards the doctor, Cordelia peeked into the woman’s hands to make sure she wasn’t hiding any needles or bonds to tie her up before brandishing the needles. “You won’t use a needle though right?” she had to be sure she wasn’t agreeing to such a torturous crime. At the doctor’s assuring nod, she glanced up at Angel who, had once loved the smell of fear, seemed to be choking on the amount of it right now. “You won’t let her attack me with one of those things will you?”
“No Cordy” Angel assured, “Now stop with the cry baby act and go pee in the small pot for the nice lady” anything to find out what was wrong with her.
“Okay” Cordelia ignored the cry baby remark and strengthened her resolve, straightening her shoulders she pushed aside all fear towards those-those things and held her hand out for the little pot in which she would pee.
***
It was just as she’d suspected, Doctor De Seased peered at the indicator that marked her suspicions correctly. With a large beaming grin at the anxious and clueless couple sitting in the chairs waiting for the diagnostic to be revealed, she told them what they wanted to hear. “Congratulations Miss. Chase, Mr. Angel” she beamed a little more “You’re pregnant!”
The atmosphere changed dramatically, it was like a lead bell had dropped down and sent loud, blaring rings out in their ears. Cordelia’s mouth wouldn’t close, Angel’s mouth wouldn’t open, her grip on his hand went limp and his grip on the chair arms increased. Only the sound of the wall clock ticking disturbed the astonished silence. The doctor looked from the young woman to her boyfriend as her beaming grin now held a sign of dread.
“Was this an unplanned pregnancy?” she asked warmly, keeping all comments about protection to herself. Maybe she’d been wrong and this was just another frivolous young couple who didn’t bother with precautions or maybe they had listened to those old wives tales.
The hazel irises of the young woman was none-existent as was the rich brown irises of her partner, large black pupils regarded the doctor in silence before Cordelia broke it.
“He’s a vampire and I’m a virgin”
She couldn’t help it, the doctor began to laugh; a deep laugh full of humour as she took in the young woman’s words. A vampire and a virgin, “Oh please forgive me Miss. Chase” she sighed, patting her chest, “I haven’t heard that one before, it certainly has brightened up my day” she remarked with the odd chuckle escaping now and again. “If you’ll both excuse me, I’ll go fill out the record form and give you a moment alone”
When the door closed with a soft click, Angel turned his head slowly towards Cordelia and simply stared at her with a blank look which she mistook as an accusing glare. “Don’t look at me like that, I’ve never, ever had sex with anyone”
“I didn’t say you had” his words were monotonous as he carefully made sure to speak clearly and not jumbled up jargon that would make so senses whatsoever. He knew who the father was and he knew she didn’t remember any of what they had shared. How the hell was he going to explain this one to her and keep his balls firmly attached to his body?
Deafening silence once again pressed like a lead balloon as Cordelia sat there and tried to figure how she was pregnant. Then a most horrifying thought occurred to her, “Angel” she whispered as her expression clearly showed the horror.
“Yes Cordelia?” he enquired, still in the throes of letting the news sink into his head that he was going to be a father.
“Um, you know how Mary was supposed to be a virgin before she got pregnant?” he almost burst out into riotous hysterics at the first thing that popped inside her head, calmly Angel replied to her question.
Shaking his head slowly, he loosened his grip on the arms of the chair and took her hand, as though realising she was probably in state of shock right about now. Having just found out she was going to have a baby and not being able to remember it happening must be having quite an impact on her. “No baby, uh, sweetheart. I don’t think that’s the case” he was going to have to tell her how it happened and how to break the news he was the father. “We’ll talk about this when we get home okay Cordy?” he’d call her a cab and meet her back at the office, she couldn’t walk that distance if she was expecting.
“There isn’t anything to talk about” Cordelia countered, her voice was distant and deceptively light considering the bombshell that had been dropped in her lap. “There’s some kind of mistake and you know that too. I can’t be pregnant Angel, I haven’t done anything like that and you’re sterile so how could this have happened?”
Now he heard the tears in her unsurprisingly frightened voice, immediately he turned to comfort her, shoving his own shocked elation away for now and concentrated on the mother of his baby. Ha! He was going to be a daddy whoo-hoo! “Hey” he soothed, cupping her cheek to make her look at him, “You don’t have to be scared Cordy, we’ll talk about this when we get home okay?” he was not looking forward to that conversation at all.
***
It had taken enormous amounts of self control for Cordelia not to throttle Angel, he’d been insistent on her taking a cab to get back to the office while he took the tunnels. She’d demanded a blood test before leaving the hospital after the doctor had told her that the urine test wasn’t a hundred percent accurate but a blood test would be. Though she had bawled her eyes out on Angel’s shoulder in terror she had confronted her worst fear and lived to tell the tale.
Now, Cordelia and Angel were sitting opposite Doyle in complete silence while they both tried to assimilate the news a little more before springing it on the half demon seer. Blue eyes glancing back and forth between the unusually quiet brunette and the usually quiet but unusually fidgeting vampire, the Irishman snapped. “Well?” he urged with a gesturing hand movement, “What did the doctor say?”
Nothing in the world could have prepared him for the reply he got.
“I-we-Cordy and I that is” Angel babbled on a little bit, “Are going to have a baby”
“Was I drunk and can’t remember having sex?” Cordelia thought aloud, trying to wrack her brain on how the hell she could get pregnant when she was wholly intact. She’d gone through everything from having the second coming to unremembered drunken sex to someone spiking her drink with a pregnancy pill. It wasn’t possible to be expectant without having eggs fertilised by a male… Well, it was until she’d read on the internet those Australian scientists had figured out you only need a man to create a girl but that wasn’t the point right now.
“Hang on a minute” Doyle’s voice portrayed shock, amusement and incredulity as he continued to look back and forth between the brunette and vampire. “Vampires fire blanks” his gaze stayed on Cordelia longer this time, wondering if she’d been with someone before she got together with Angel.
“No” Angel answered the silent question on his seer’s face firmly, he couldn’t tell Cordelia about their lost day with the half demon in the room so he continued to dig his proverbial grave deeper and fibbed again. “We don’t know how or why she’s pregnant”
“Was I kidnapped and used in some sort of experiment that was so traumatic my brain blocked it out?” Cordelia continued to work through all kinds of scenarios that would possibly explain her unexplainable state. Landing on the vampire, her black gaze looked at him for answers. “Angel, how is this possible?” those black pupils misted over with glistening and scared tears threatening to fall. “It’s not right, I haven’t done anything with you or anyone else. I shouldn’t be like this”
Guilt and dread flooded Angel as he saw the understandable fear within the shocked depths of his girlfriend’s uncharacteristic black eyes. He had to tell her sooner rather than later just to put her mind at ease and then they could get on with getting ready to be parents. “It’ll be alright” he soothed with a nod, “Come here” he held his arms for her to crawl into and hugged her reassuringly when she did. “We’ll figure it out, I promise” he cursed himself for the umpteenth time since he first fibbed. He needed advice on how to go about telling her.
Doyle!
Doyle could get women to hang onto his every word without even uttering a single word and if he could do that then he was the best person to ask for advice. Angel stroked Cordelia’s hair and while making comforting, cooing noises he caught Doyle’s stunned blue eyes. Looking back at the vampire, he saw the plea within the worried orbs and amusement broke through the shock. “Lets get you some rest Cordy” Angel murmured, “It’s been a long day for you and since you’re pregnant, you need the rest”
“I don’t want to sleep or rest, I wanna find out who did this to me so I can pull their balls out through their mouths and make em choke on them”
Doyle didn’t miss the sheer panic filling Angel’s gaze nor did he miss the slight shaking of the vampire’s large hands. He knew something had been up with the vampire for the last few weeks and he wasn’t stupid, Angel brooding, Cordelia pregnant and not remembering how she got that way and now Angel’s attempt at hiding his panic. That vampire had done something alright and that something would be appearing in seven months time.
“Angels’ right Princess” the seer spoke up, covering for his friend “You get some rest and we’ll take care of the research while you sleep” after all, men had to stick together in times of need!
***
Sitting in the outer half of the office a short while later, Angel was slumped over Cordelia’s desk with his face cupped in his hands breathing in and out slowly. There was only the street light outside that provided Doyle with the ability to see half clearly. He looked down at the vampire who was hiding his face and moaning on about Oracles, destinies and their cryptic comments. “How do you about the Oracles?” was the first thing he wanted answering.
“You told me to go see them about my humanity” Angel replied as he raised his head from his hands, brown eyes back to normal now as the shock had diminished somewhat. Seeing more questions on the face of his seer, he elaborated into telling him everything. “During my conversation with Buffy in the office, a Mohra demon attacked” he began, “When I wounded it with the letter opener I cut myself too, its blood mixed with mine and it made me human for a whole day and night”
And Doyle thought nothing could top a virgin pregnancy. The Irishman absorbed everything at a slow rate, processing his friend’s words until he came to one conclusion about everything. “Let me guess, you and Princess shared a few moments of perfect happiness and didn’t think about the consequences?”
Angel could only nod his confirmation, “Then when you had a vision of the demon that Buffy hadn’t managed to kill the next day, I went to see the Oracles, asked them what would happen to Cordy and you if I stayed human. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight against whatever’s coming, that I wouldn’t be able to protect either of you so I asked them to turn back the clock” he left out the rest of irrelevant conversation with the two Higher Beings.
“You chose morals and duty over pleasures of the flesh?” Doyle squeaked incredulously with a shake of his head. “And now those fleshy pleasures have your Princess with child” he shook his head again to clear the fog, “Man, she don’t remember a thing and you are in so much trouble that I can tell ya”
“Yeah” this time Angel voiced his confirmation, “How do I tell Cordelia why she’s pregnant and not have her hating me for taking it away from her? I didn’t want her remembering once I was a vampire with a curse because we wouldn’t be able to make love. How do I tell her that I’m the father?” he wasn’t above begging for help on this one. For the second time in their co-existing existence, man and demon were in complete agreement that help was needed. “We made love on the beach the first time and she can’t remember it”
The seer wondered if he’d gotten these details before, “And what else?” Doyle asked, subtly trying to worm more of the saucier goings on from the vampire.
Too worried about his own problems to care what he said, Angel told him what else had happened on the lost day. “When we got back from the beach, Cordy and I took a hot shower to remove the sand before going to bed. You were off having lunch with your ex-wife… I never got to ask how that went by the way”
After waving away the question of how the vampire knew he was married, Doyle automatically responded to the final statement. “It went better than good, she was going to ask me for a divorce but…” the following devilish grin told Angel what wouldn’t be happening between his seer and his wife. Getting back to the matter at hand, the seer found himself confused about what the Slayer had been doing while Angel was cavorting with Cordelia. “And during all this, where was the slayer if you said she didn’t kill the demon?”
“Listening” Angel replied with an inward grimace, no matter how long he had been a vampire; the inner demon hadn’t diminished the remaining amounts of his human persona. “That still leaves me with the million dollar question of how to tell Cordelia who’s the father of her baby and why she can’t remember”
Nodding seriously, the half demon gave the vampire pitiful glance and his eyes brimmed with sympathy for the balls he would surely lose after he finished the explanation. “I don’t know what to tell ya” Doyle breathed after a moment or two, “You got yourself into one fine mess” that was an understatement.
After a few moments of contemplating silently, blue eyes looked at Angel in knowing uncertainty. “So, you’re gonna be a father it seems”
The first genuine smile whisked across Angel’s face, his brown eyes alight with wonder, awe and boisterous joy. Tiny dimples appeared at the corners of his pale fully upturned lips and the apples of his cheeks puffed up with the large grin. “I am, aren’t I?” it wasn’t a question that needed a vocalised answer; the only answer to that question was in bed resting. “A father Doyle, God” those words had the ability to put him into cowering terror and make him feel like jogging all the way back downstairs.
“You’re taking it pretty well” Doyle commented with a grin spreading across his own face, how could he not be happy for his friends? It almost made him want to be expecting one of his own. Almost, that is but not quite. “Most of the blokes I know would have been running for hills”
The distaste for those men showed clearly on the vampire’s face, “I’m not most men” he stated unnecessarily. “I’m going to do what it takes to keep them safe, I’ll take good care of them. I love her Doyle and I love my baby” again, that statement wasn’t necessary but Angel said it anyway. With an unnatural sigh, the vampire pushed himself up off Cordelia’s chair and stretched his arms, revelling in the cracking of his joints. “I guess I’ll go be a daddy now”
With an acknowledging nod, Doyle shook his hand in congratulations before leaving Angel to have some time to go over things with Cordelia before anymore time had passed. Locking the office door behind his departed friend, the vampire turned to go back downstairs and face what was coming to him which would be a nice, lively show of fireworks.
When he turned around, Angel found himself face to face with wide and once again shock-filled eyes that seemed to brim with tears. “Cordy?” he felt a sense of dread bubbling around inside his stomach as he looked into her saddened face. How much of his explanation had she heard?
“You were human?” Cordelia asked in a hushed whisper, moving further into the outer half of the office and closer towards Angel. Her eyes were gleaming brightly with unshed tears and a concoction of emotions whirling around the glistening orbs. “You” she swallowed back the lump in her throat and blinked back the shining tears in her eyes, “Were human, for a day and night, got me pregnant and had the day and night taken away because you wouldn’t be able to protect the people you loved if you were human?”
Standing perfectly still, Angel waited for the slap across the face or the knee in the balls to come and when neither didn’t, he relaxed somewhat. “Yeah, pretty much” he answered with a little but rapid nod of his head and an accompanying apologetic smile. Cordelia bit her lip as she processed his response in silent thought for a few seconds.
Then suddenly the tears she’d bee holding back finally fell down her flushed, pink face as she dashed into his chest, flinging her arms around his neck and making him stagger back a little with the force of her instant movement. “You said you were going to be a daddy!” Cordelia wailed loudly, her body shaking against his as she cried into his sweatshirt. “Aannggeell…”
***
He didn’t know how long he stood there with a Cordelia-shaped crying wreck in his arms before cramp set in. Angel continued to stroke her hair away from her damp cheeks and forehead, trying to think of what to say that would calm her down enough for him to get her to bed. “Cordy” he spoke quietly, pulling back to look at her, “Baby?”
That started a fresh wave of tears to trickle down her red, puffy cheeks “You said baby!” Cordelia bubbled, wiping the falling droplets on the already soaked material of his sweatshirt. A hiccup soon broke through the sniffling and made her lower lip pooch out in a pout, peering up at Angel through overly glassy eyes; she stayed silent as she couldn’t think of a single word to say now that she had stopped her unexplainable crying fit.
“Come on, its been a long and pretty shocking day you, we, need to get some sleep” Angel told her, as he tried to budge her towards the stairs leading down to his nice and comfortable apartment with a nice and comfortable bed. “We’ll talk about this properly in the morning okay?” he knew he wasn’t off the hook by a long shot and would probably get it all tomorrow.
She looked like she was about to say something but decided against it as her mouth opened and closed twice, she did a double quick blink before allowing him to lead her back downstairs. They were halfway down when Cordelia couldn’t keep silent any longer “Angel?” she asked meekly.
“Yeah sweetheart?” he purposely refrained from using the baby word just in case it set her off again.
“Upstairs, when you were talking privately with Doyle you said that you were going to come downstairs and be a daddy” Cordelia reminded him of his earlier words to the half demon.
“I remember I was supposed to be talking privately with Doyle” Angel pointed out dryly, “I did say that and that’s what I’m gonna be okay?” he stated firmly with an agreeing nod. Large, masculine hands cupped her red cheeks, tilting her face up so she was looking at him, the skin on his thumb roughened but gentle as he traced the tear lines on her heart-shaped face. “We have a lot to talk about here Cordy and we’ll do that in the morning, but just so you know you’re gonna be a great mom and I’m gonna be a great, albeit undead, dad”
“Do you promise everything’s going to be alright?” she asked in a tiny, little voice.
“Of course it will” Angel assured her and planted a small kiss on the end of her nose which earned him a contented sigh and smile.
“You won’t get mad or angry if I tell you that before I listened to your conversation with Doyle that I called Giles would you?”
Part 4, The End of Month 3
“Why did you call Giles?” Angel quizzed with a panic-stricken expression devouring his face in scrunched up lines. All he could think of was the fact that Giles would tell Buffy and in turn Buffy would come back here and then there’d be more trouble. Rubbing his hands tiredly over his face, he shook away the mild surprise that she had gone to the watcher rather than wait for him to explain the whys and how’s she was pregnant.
Resuming the course down the stairs to Angel’s apartment, Cordelia mutely shrugged as though he should already know the answer to that question. “I’m pregnant, didn’t know how and was pretty scared out of my wits. Considering the fact neither you, me or Doyle are any good at research, I called the only person I know who is. When in doubt, go to Giles”
Following hot on her heels, the vampire trailed through his living room and into the kitchen trying to get her attention. “What exactly did you tell him?” maybe there was a way to stop this from being made public so soon, “Maybe I can still stop him from telling anyone”
Opening the fridge, Cordelia snatched a bottle of still spring water off one of the shelves followed by giving him a ‘move’ look when he was in the way. “By anyone do you mean a certain blonde whose name rhymes with Scruffy?” she enquired and breezed past the vampire. “How was I supposed to know you were the one that boned me and got me pregnant?”
“I didn’t bone you” Angel cringed at her phrasing, off her pointed expression and the soft pat on her stomach he relented. “We made love okay? And yes, I mean Buffy. I don’t want her coming back and us feeling like we did something wrong”
“By something wrong you mean, oh say making love to me and taking it away?” Cordelia asked lightly, her sense coming back as her earlier mood swing began to fade away. Angel was still on her heels as he followed her into the bedroom area, watching as she sat down and took a big deep breath. “It isn’t anything to do with her whether or not I’m having your daughter”
Whatever he was going to say was immediately cut off when that statement past her lips, a stupid grin quirked up on his pale lips as his dark gaze was drawn to her stomach. Narrowing his eyes, he studied that part of her body intensely, his grin widening when he noticed a tiny lump under her clothes. “You’re starting to show”
“That’s nice but don’t change the subject” she tried to open the bottle of water with a concentrating glare on her face. “Why don’t you want her find out? Are you ashamed of this?”
He took the bottle off her and opened it with an ease that had her hazel eyes rolling as she took it from him. “No Cor, I’m not ashamed” Angel denied, the quirky grin still highlighting his mouth. “I just want some time to get used to it. Keep it for us first before we tell the world”
Tearing her eyes off him, Cordelia ran her gaze across the length of the bed and smoothed her hand over the top sheets, feeling the cool material under her touch. “Was I, you know, okay?” she had her insecurities just like everyone else. Though she couldn’t remember any of what happened when he’d been human, she wanted to know what it, making love, had been like.
“Were you okay at what?” he asked, his voice dropping to a light whisper as he sat next to her.
“Good? Did I…” her head nudged towards the bed they were sitting on, her face flushed from a light bronze to a pretty pink in a split second.
“Well, we both must have done something pretty good” Angel softly elbowed her and gave her another stupid grin. Seeing her not laugh at his whimsical and bad timed joke, his grin softened immediately and he wrapped an arm carefully around her as though she were made of glass. “Cordy, you were perfect I swear” his voice was smooth and wispy against her cheek as she leaned on him for support, “When we’ve discussed all the important stuff, I’ll give you the details”
A quiet laugh bubbled up, “God Angel” Cordelia puffed out a heavy breath of air as her body slumped a little more as the full weight of their situation grew on her. “I don’t actually know what to think, do you even want kids?”
She felt him shrug unsurely, “I never really thought about it” Angel answered truthfully “With me being a vampire, it was something I never thought was possible. I didn’t count on being human for a whole day and night. What about you? Do you want kids?” he wasn’t sure what he’d do if she said she didn’t.
“I never really thought about it, I never even thought about sex” her voice was tinged with a small amount of disgust as she said the word. “From what I was always told, sex is nothing more than a wet patch and sticky residue so I didn’t plan on having that let alone kids” her gaze drifted up to meet his twinkling one. “I don’t think I want to abort the baby, Angel”
His shoulders relaxed with relief and a unneeded breath of air was pushed out of his lungs, that had to have been the easiest hardest decision he’d ever made. Her confession took a few moments to sink in, the words circled his brain for a little while before he unusually broke the silence first. “So we’re definitely going to be parents, huh?”
“I guess so” Cordelia nibbled on her lower lip, she was supposed to have been moving out and into a place of her own but now she wasn’t sure if that would be for the best. “Angel?”
“Hmm?” he was too busy dreaming of far off activities he could do with his son or daughter, playing football inside, teaching them languages and generally being a real father.
“Is the offer to stay with you still open? Cus I was thinking that with this happening, it’d be better if we were together ‘together’ you know. That way, you could be there for whole thing and we could be like a family”
“I need to find a way around my curse” Angel told her sharply with a vicious intake of breath, “Until I do, don’t talk about us that way okay? I need to call Giles and find something that’ll stop him from researching this”
***
Replacing his newly cleaned glasses high on the bridge of his nose, Giles carefully opened one of the oldest and most precious text’s he owned. Holding his breath do he didn’t contaminate it with some unforeseen airborne germ, he oh so gently placed the front of the book down onto the clean towel.
With his other hand, he picked up his cup of tea, blessing his dear aunt for the proper teabags he had received for Christmas. If he was forced to drink Earl Grey anymore, he would surely cause the local supermarkets a tremendous bout of earache. Turning his face away while he sipped the steaming hot liquid so as not to spill any on the ancient text, Giles sighed as relaxation flowed through his body.
BRRRIIINNNGGG….!!!
Hot tea spilt down over his fingers, making him jostle his mug and pour more hot liquid over his now mildly scalded hand. “Blasted” the Englishman cursed harshly as a tiny spot of brown liquid landed on the corner of the text, “Oh bugger it”
BRRRIIINNNGGG…!!!
“Yes, yes alright I’m bloody coming” Giles went to answer the phone’s impatient ringing. “Hello? Ah good evening Angel… Yes, that is correct Cordelia did indeed call me earlier tonight… Oh I see, so she is not with child… Um a demon that suffers from phantom pregnancies passed the affliction onto her, making her think she was pregnant… I see, what is the name of this demon, it does sound rather interesting from a Watcher’s point of view… A Dumbassious demon did Cordelia say… I’ve never heard of a Dumbassious demon, perhaps she will give me a few notes on it… Thank you Angel…”
He waited while Angel passed the phone over to Cordelia who began to tell him about the demon…
“Six foot you say…” Giles nodded, “With vampire-like fangs and a hunched posture… Oh dear, how awful for you. It must have been rather horrendous to be within the grasp of such a foul smelling demon… Really? A demon with acne? This is really quite incredible, I wasn’t aware of a demon prone to problematic skin disorders… Of course you are tired, thank you for the information Cordelia. I hope you recover from your frightening ordeal quickly. Best regards”
After hanging up, Giles pondered over what he had been told about the Dumbassious demon before dismissing the resolved situation aside in favour of getting back to the rare moment of relaxation.
***
“Dumbassious demon? I can’t believe you said that” Angel growled at the sheepish-looking brunette who was twisting her shoulders back and forth in front of him. “Cordy, you don’t think saying a six foot demon with vampire-like fangs was giving too much away do you?” he was not impressed in the slightest and it showed. His lips were pulled into a tight line, his shoulders were symmetrically positioned and tense while his dark gaze was unblinking as he simply looked at her.
“Oh come on, Angel” Cordelia fluttered past him with a flourish of her hands, “What did you expect? Sense on demand? God, you’d think I was a mine of demonic information which I can’t stress enough that I am not” her bare feet padded with little slaps across the uncarpeted floor as she headed back towards the bedroom.
Much like he’d been doing all night, Angel followed her like a lost lamb into the bedroom only to pause and stare down at her as she made herself completely at home on their bed. Right in the middle, with her arms splayed out and her legs slightly apart, leaving him no room to lie down next to her. “You’re taking up all the room”
“I need it, sleeping for two here, and you can thank yourself for that” Cordelia shot a dirty look towards his groin. “Anyway, we still have to talk about this”
“What’s there to talk about? We’ve both decided we want the baby” Angel pointed out as he continued to stare at his girlfriend-shaped bed hog. “I know we have to discuss names and stuff but I have some great ideas… What do you think of Bowen? It’s a good, strong Irish name for a boy…”
“Mmm, maybe if we have twins we can call the other one Arrow!” Cordelia snorted with laughter as she scooted over to make room for him on the bed. “I didn’t mean names, I meant doctors and hospitals and living space because, no offence this apartment as nice and weaponry as it is, won’t be big enough”
“The medical stuff can wait, let’s just have a little while for us and our baby” the vampire rolled onto his side, his large hand instantly landing on her stomach to stroke the small sloping curve with soft and soothing circles.
Nodding, the brunette relented on her panicking and simply relaxed against the large pillows behind her. “You won’t leave me in like five years or anything right?” Cordelia covered his hand with her smaller one, making him look to her. “My parents, well they left the country and I was sorta left on my own during my senior year”
“No sweetheart, I’m not going to leave you” Angel quirked a half smile up at her as he moved his body closer to hers but still giving her space in case she needed it. He’d had people ask him not to leave and he’d turned their offers down, but he would never leave her.
Even if their baby hadn’t made the unexpected appearance, he still wouldn’t have left her. “You won’t decide that a vampire isn’t good enough will you? I won’t be able to go for walks in the sunlight or go to the park with you and Gareth…”
“Veto” she vehemently vetoed the name Gareth, “Not Gareth, never Gareth. Not Bowen, not Mozart or anything that screams old age… How about Tristan? Or Keanu…”
“Veto on both Tristan and Keanu” Angel’s threat was disguised by a deceptively light smile as he continued to move his fingers in gentle circles. “Hear that little guy? Your mommy wants to call you Keanu, we don’t like that do we?” he paused as though he were listening to something. “You’re out voted Cor, sorry” he winced in mock apology.
“He might be a she and if that’s the case, she’s going to be called Crystal” Cordelia stated firmly, “It’s tradition to have CC as the initial” so it was a lie, she thought the name was pretty and sounded musical.
“I am not calling my daughter after the material used to make my whiskey decanter”
“It’s a nice name”
“So is Kelsey”
“So is Cody”
“Yeah, then she can be nicknamed Morse in school”
They continued their bickering over babies names for a while until Cordelia yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly. “I love you” she smiled sleepily through her words and sank into the mattress as she lost the battle to stay awake.
As he watched her breathing evened out and her heart rate slow down, Angel thought deeply about the situation and what exactly they were going to do, what he was going to do. He would take care of her and be by her side, he wouldn’t miss this for the world.
He knew that he had to get his soul secure before his son arrived or else his evil half would have himself a little vampire family for all eternity. That thought made him shudder and become severely determined to find a way to get his soul secure or get his evil half prescribed with a strong mystical version of Valium.
