A/N: I don’t recall exactly how it was on the show for Angel, but I’m totally abusing the use of Darla’s mystical and prophetic pregnancy, and drastically moving up her time table.


L.A.- Hyperion

The doctors were marveled to see the immediate progress of the baby. All of her vitals were normal, her electrolytes (sodium, potassium and calcium levels) were completely stabilized and she was very healthy. But as a precaution, the doctors insisted on keeping her there another week or two. Most premature babies needed all the help they could get. But within five days, Joy was as strong as any regular baby. She could breathe on her own and feed from her mother with no trouble at all.

The only troubling thing was that the doctors were hell bent on keeping her there for further observation, which made Buffy, Spike and the LA gang all the more uncomfortable. Joy's parents were in mutual agreement that since she was very much acclimated to her environment and had no need for wires, tests, machines and the like, that they could go back home. Well, the hotel anyway. So at three o'clock in the morning, Joy Anne Summers was taken out of the hospital by her parents and Angel to the Hyperion. A few hours later, Giles and Joyce arrived there as well.

Joyce immediately fell in love with her granddaughter. She marveled at her clear blue eyes and her relatively quiet demeanor. She was an angel.

Giles was struck with a silent awe, especially seeing Spike in a fatherly role. He found it disconcerting, but was highly comforted by the fact that Buffy and her baby girl would be watched over with care and love from him. He was even more shocked to see Angel in a state of elation for them.

"Has anyone contacted Xander and the others about all of this? Do they know?" Giles asked.

"Oh, I called them from the hospital. I let them know that everything is okay now. They said everything is pretty much quiet over in Sunnydale, which is like a big first," Cordelia replied.

"Well perhaps Quentin has taken care of the problem," Giles said.

"Wow, it's kinda weird. Everything quiet in Sunnydale, everything quiet here—" Buffy stopped mid sentence with the unexpected entrance of Darla and Dru.

"It seems I've got a bit of a problem, lover," Darla said bitterly from the doorway. Everyone took in the slight bulge of her belly.

"My daughter's got a big surprise," Dru melodically stated in a sing song voice.

Damn. It's always something Buffy thought ruefully.

*****

England- the Council

The board members made low murmurs in their state of shock as Quentin Travers revealed a secret that he and two other members of council had been keeping secret for several months.

"As you all know, Rupert Giles has requested of me to find a solution for getting rid of the Initiative. However, what he did not know and what you, the Board, also were not aware of was that Margaret Walsh was acting, initially, under my, Mr. Stuart, and Mr. Grants’ supervision.”

Murmurs of shock were heard throughout the room. Quentin cleared his throat, signaling everyone to be quiet.

“Ever since the… departure of Ms. Summers several months ago, we wanted to be sure that the demons on the Hellmouth were properly taken care of. As it turns out, Buffy has continued her job and done it well. We had people from both ends closing in on the demons. But now, it seems that Ms. Walsh has lost sight of the plan— of our vision.

“It is because of these reasons that I am sending out a team of five men to Sunnydale to retrieve Ms. Walsh and bring her in for immediate observation. I would like to keep the Initiative in business, and I hope that in the meantime we can find an adequate replacement for Margaret. I hope you all can understand our predicament, and to handle the situation as covertly and professionally as possible. This is still a business, gentleman, our business, and we must handle it as such."

*****

Riley never felt so good in his life. As it turned out, the girl that picked him up was a vampire. Somewhere is his drunken haze, he became curious as to what the fuss was all about. Vampires were blood sucking fiends; just undead demons that needed to be staked.

And yet, there was something else to them, wasn’t it?

They went out into an alley together and he let her get a taste. She went slowly, making him feel the tips of her elongated fangs prick his skin for a second before completely sinking them into neck. The feel of her fangs in his flesh was intoxicating. It hurt, but it felt… dizzying, electrifying, and terrifying all at once. She took her first pull of his blood, and he was hard, moaning into the silence of the alley.

So this is why she does it.

It made him forget about everything— all of his problems and misfortunes seemed to melt away.

He finally came to his senses and pulled out a spare stake he kept in his pocket. He pressed the tip hard over her un-beating heart. She jerked her head up in shock at him.

"I don't normally do this, but I'm feeling charitable. You go back to your crypt, and I'll go back to my home, okay? Oh, and this is our little secret," he said in a slightly slurred voice. The vampire glared at him in return and silently backed away. Riley put a hand to the two, neat puncture wounds in his neck and began to head in the opposite direction.

For the first time in a long time, all sense of responsibility melted away…

*****

The Initiative- Thoughts of Jonathan Levinson

I was having the most amazing time. I actually had friends, well, other than Warren and Andrew. Anyway, so I was doing a demon check, you know, classifying the new demons that came in. It was when I saw her, this girl. She was about my age I guess with dark hair. She was really out of it. I asked one of my partners why she was strapped to a gurney. He explained that she wasn't human at all. He said she was a shape shifting demon. He said it with such a straight face that I almost believed him.

Almost.

The thing of it is, I've seen her before. I just can't remember where. Maybe it'll come to me later.

I asked Warren and Andrew what they thought. They said not to get involved. Andrew said that if I said anything that they may try to lobotomize me so I wouldn't spill their secrets. He kinda freaked me out with that. But if she is human, and I'm almost certain she is, maybe I should help her. God knows what they've been doing to her…

******

As Maggie Walsh walked across the parking lot that night, she was accosted by two men. Running back towards where she came from, she avoided them, only to run straight into the arms of a third man. Two others seemingly emerged from the darkness, holding her down.

She had been surrounded.

They drugged and tied her up before tossing her into the back of the black, non-descript van. They were on an important mission, and refused to have any problems. It certainly wouldn't do for her to wake up screaming during the middle of the trip.

However, at the same time, someone was awaking.

He was on a mission too.

Adam opened his eyes, took in his surroundings and said one word.

"Mother?"

*****

"Sunnydale High! Geeze, it's her! It's that girl Faye or Faith. Yeah, that's it! She used to hang out with Buffy, Willow and Xander!" Jonathan exclaimed.

"God, would you just calm down? So what, she used to hang with a bunch of people who more or less ignored you your entire high school education. Big deal," Warren said, not looking up from the Golden Eye game for his N64.

"No, don't you understand. We have to help her. She was like, apart of the old high school gang," Jonathan reasoned.

"Yeah right. You couldn't even remember her name. You guys wanna play Kevin Bacon?" Andrew asked.

"Look you guys. Let's do something good for a change. We could be real super heroes. And think of it: I'm good with magic, Andrew's good at demon manipulation and control, and Warren is like the god of electronics. We could be unstoppable, in the saving of others," Jonathan said. His two counterparts nodded their heads in agreement.

With a thoughtful look on his face, Andrew said, "Yeah, we could be like the Super Team, or the more refined version of the Three Amigos.”

"All right Sparky. What's your plan?" Warren asked. Hell, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

"Okay guys. Prepare yourselves. Because of the high risk involved, planning must be intricate and very detailed. So here's the deal..."

******

"I can't believe this is happening. Cordelia must be devastated. But then again, the walking stiffly away to her room to be alone might have been a big tip off," Buffy said in hushed tones as she laid a sleeping Joy in her crib, complimentary of Angel Investigations.

"I'm sure she is. But can you imagine Darla as a mum and the King of Broodiness as a dad? Damn. Poor kid'll never have a chance," Spike replied in a low voice. Sitting on the bed, he motioned for her to join him. She crossed the room and sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Well, he hasn't been broody as of late. Well, up until now that is. This whole thing must've been so shocking. I mean, how is it even possible? I mean, so quickly anyway... The two of you seem to be getting along. How come?" she asked, moving her head to give him a suspicious look.

"Well, we mended fences, so to speak. I asked him to be Godfather," he mumbled, fearing she wouldn't favor the idea.

"Oh, that's so sweet, honey." She gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

"Oh, well. You know, technically his kid's gonna be my uncle, as well as my nephew, and Darla is our kid's aunt, since Dru resired her, and Dru would be big sis to Angel's kid, and grandmum to ours. Leave it to them to screw up the family tree even more," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"Could be worse. You could’ve ended up your own grandpa.” He merely arched his scarred eyebrow in response.

“Ok. Clearly, you haven’t seen ‘The Stupids.’ Actually, I'm not too comfortable with Dru being here. I mean, Darla's in a motherly way, so she's more or less harmless. At least, I hope. But Dru being able to roam around here, no restrictions, it makes me kinda wigged, ya know? What if she tries to hurt Joy?"

"She won't. In her own, special insane sorta way, she cares for her too. After all, she is her grandmum, and she just loves that idea. And both of us are right here. She'll be okay," he replied, gently stroking her face. She crinkled up her nose in slight disgust.

"What is it luv?"

"It's just, ewww. You're so right. Your whole entire family tree is insane, and very much incestual." He gave her a small grin in return.

"Different rules for domestics amongst vamps. You know I just realized something."

"What?"

"We haven't had some quality time since I got captured by those soldier wankers. A bloke's gotten mighty lonely," he said in his best seductive tone, not that he had to try.

Makes her melt every time he thought.

"Yeah, know what you mean. But what about the baby?" she whispered, but was already getting lost merely in the thought of being with him.

"Can you be quiet?" he mumbled against her neck, lightly nipping and kissing his way down the column of her throat.

"I can if you can."

"That's my girl." He let his hands skim the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head. He marveled at the sight of her. After losing all of the extra water and the weight of the baby, she still was about fifteen pounds heavier. Her breasts were fuller, her form more curvaceous.

He loved every square inch of her.

"Spike, it's still soon, you know," she said in a breathy whisper.

"I know it's just— can I see you? I just want to see you, Buffy," he said as he hovered over her.

"Why? I haven't gotten my figure back." He smiled at the pout she gave him.

"Hush now, luv. You'll always be beautiful to me. Always. Besides, I like you like this. Even better," he said with utmost sincerity. She knew he meant it.

“What, so you didn’t like me before?” she teased, though she said it in a serious voice.


“What? No, I love you either way. I just—”

“But you thought I was too skinny.”

“Luv—”

“Oh Spike, how you wound my self esteem.” Her voice was light and dainty, and Spike knew that she was mocking him.

“Ha, ha, pet,” he said, bottom lip poking out. She gently caressed his brow before kissing his pouting lip.

"I love you so much," she confessed to him, giving a small smile. He kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, and gently on the lips in response. He then softly stroked her hair and the side of her face. She brought her hands up his sides and then around his back.

"I just want to hold you, baby. Make sure you're really here with me." He gazed lovingly into her eyes.

"I'll always be here with you Spike. Invincible and eternal, remember?" she asked half jokingly. But beyond the jokes and beyond the denial, they both knew the truth of it; only one of them would live forever while the other would eventually meet the bitter end of the mortal coil. They decided to ignore the future momentarily and focus on one another's comforting embrace.

******

Adam looked through all of his mother's files. He was on a mission. He learned of his brother, Riley Finn— an upstanding soldier, whom she personally tended to. And also the project that was closest to his mother's heart (besides him of course), her precious research of Hostile 17. He had plans for each of them...

He went out exploring and learned everything he could about his environment and the beings around him. He dissected demons, humans, small animals, anything he could get his hands on. He knew that if you wanted the power, then you had to obtain the knowledge.

Knowledge is power and power corrupts. Study hard, and be evil…

*******

Jonathan began phase one of the plan by systematically replacing Faith's doses of muscle relaxants and drugs with harmless, watered down versions. Faith would need her strength in order to carry out the plan completely. Plus, those mysterious cut up corpses around campus was really starting to freak him out. I mean vampire bites or being mauled by some beastie, sure. But the things that were going on lately seemed very much planned as well as psychotic. He needed to take initiative and leave the Initiative with the quickness.

Soon he, Warren and Andrew would be true heroes, and everyone who mattered would know it.


A/N: Oh, and the “study hard and be evil quote,” I saw that at an Angel Convention. And David Boreanaz in person= hotness…