•••

The irresistible pull of the body next to him woke Angel well before sundown. The blonde was curled around him, one arm wrapped around his chest, a leg woven between his. There was no way Angel could have extracted himself without waking Wil, even if he wanted to—which he didn’t. Actually, he’d much rather Wil woke up. Now that he’d been told, quite forcefully, that he’d been ignoring his childe and lover, he had every intention of making it up to him.

“Well?”

Angel jumped at the word. Somehow, Wil had woken up without him noticing. “Well what?”

Wil pushed himself up and on top of Angel, a sleepy grin plastered on his face. “You’ve been awake for five minutes, and you haven’t done anything. Well?”

Strong hands wrapped around Wil’s hips, urging him down. The blonde settled a bit lower, straddling Angel’s thighs. Angel then shifted his hands back up, to stroke the sleek muscles on Wil’s back. “I don’t know…There’s so much to do around here.”

Wil growled. “That’s not funny, Angel.”

A knock on the door interrupted their play. “What?” Angel growled.

“I think you’d better get down here, Angel, Wil,” Wesley said through the door. The vampires were surprised at the seriousness in Wesley’s voice, so they complied immediately.

“What is it, Wes?” Angel asked as they followed him down the stairs. The watcher didn’t get a chance to answer, because Wil saw what was causing the commotion.

Darla.

“You dusted her, didn’t you?” Wil whispered.

Angel stared. Darla turned, sensing him. A truly evil grin stretched across her face. Rubbing her hands over a strangely swollen belly, she spoke.

“Hello, Daddy.”

Then all hell broke loose, again. “What the hell is she doing here?” Xander screamed from the landing. He’d heard the noise coming from the hallway and went out to investigate. Oz wasn’t far behind him.

Angel went downstairs, determined to figure out what was going on. “What’s your game, Darla?”

The blonde vampiress batted her eyelashes. “I think that’s obvious. I’m pregnant.”

“You’re a vampire,” Angel stated flatly.

“So’s the father, loverboy,” Darla replied snidely.

Wil stared at the pair. He knew exactly what Darla was insinuating, and he didn’t like it. Angel, the guy with a soul, wouldn’t touch Darla with a ten-foot pole, would he?

“It’s been more than a year, Darla,” Angel said, trying to work through this.

She snorted. “I’m a vampire, pregnant by a vampire. Who fucking cares how long I’ve been pregnant? I can’t even get rid of the thing.”

Angel’s words sunk into Wil’s head. Darla and Angel had slept together. Granted it had been before he’d arrived, but still…how could Angel touch that foul creature? Wil looked around blindly, searching for escape. It was still light outside, but there was always sewer access. Wil darted toward that, leaving unnoticed.

Will ran to Caritas, ignoring the denizens of the sewers he’d normally pay attention to. When he got there, Lorne was just getting ready for the evening.

“Wil! What’s wrong?” Lorne asked. He was perceptive, but it didn’t take much to see that Wil was distraught.

“Angel, Darla…” Wil gasped breathlessly. Lorne led him to a seat and handed him a glass of water.

“Care to explain?” Lorne prompted a moment later.

Wil slumped down on the table. “Darla’s pregnant by Angel.”

“But Darla’s a vampire,” Lorne said, confused.

“Show him what he’s won, Monty,” Wil said sarcastically. Duh, Darla was a vampire. She was supposed to be dead.

“I see. What does Angel have to say about it?” Lorne asked carefully.

Wil snorted. “It’s been more than a year, Darla. Like he’s not the only fish in that cesspool—and he’s not, can’t be. She pants after everything. That’s not the point. He touched that foul piece of garbage!”

“Before or after you showed up?” Lorne asked carefully.

“Before, but that’s not the point. He’s got a soul. He shouldn’t have been so careless with it, or with who he chose to bed. She turned him!” Wil said, ranting.

“But she was brought back to bring him down—and she nearly succeeded,” Lorne said, remembering the entire debacle.

“Right, so that makes it ok?” Wil said. “It doesn’t.”

Lorne’s cell phone interrupted their conversation. “That was Wesley,” Lorne said a few minutes later. “They’re worried about you.”

“They meaning Wesley and the other normal, don’t fuck the evil-bitch-from-hell people?” Wil spat.

Lorne sighed. “No, Angel and every one. Look, he’s going to need your help on this one. I don’t know about you, but it practically screams bad situation to me.”

Wil finally drug himself back to the hotel. Darla was nowhere in sight, although he could still smell her everywhere. Only Xander remained in the lobby, but he looked happy that Wil had returned.

“You’re back!” Xander squeaked. “No fair running off when we can’t, Wil. You left me and Oz here with the Wicked Bitch of the Beast.”

Wil smirked at the nickname for Darla. It certainly fit. “Had to talk to Lorne.”

Xander nodded sagely. “I’m thinking we could all do with a long conversation with Mr. Green right about now. I mean, ugh. Darla…pregnant?”

Wesley chose that moment to exit the library. “Oh, good, you’re back. I need your help.”

“With what?” Wil asked the watcher.

“Whatever is going on. There has to be something somewhere,” Wesley replied. Wil considered the situation. There probably was something going on, and he had nothing better to do than look for whatever it was. Nodding, he returned with Wesley to the library.

Once inside he found Oz reading through some old books. The werewolf spared him a smile before returning to his reading. Wesley handed him a stack of books and indicated that he should sit.

The books he’d been given were on demonic pregnancies. Wil started at the beginning of the first one, knowing that there would be little in the texts on pregnant vampires. Still, he read, if only to keep his mind off the issue at hand—Angel sleeping with Darla.

It was well into morning when Wesley told Wil point-blank to go to bed. Yawning, Wil did so, dragging his tired body up the stairs. He paused in front of Angel’s door before going to his own, of late unused room. He stripped down and crawled into bed, acutely aware that no one would be joining him.

Angel hovered just inside his room, waiting for Wil to enter. He was crushed when the blonde moved on and went into his own quarters, shunning the elder vampire’s company. Angel hung his head. He should have told Wil about Darla a long time ago, but it hadn’t seemed very important. After all, she’d disappeared. What more was there to do? What good would it have done to dredge up the past? Yet now it seemed as though talking about it would have been a very good idea.

He vacillated between wanting to break something and wanting to storm over to Wil’s room and drag the blonde back to his own, where he belonged. Angel hadn’t even been given a chance to explain himself. Hadn’t Wil made mistakes in the past? Where was the blonde’s vaunted understanding and acceptance?

Anger outpacing grief, Angel stomped out of his room and down the hall to Wil’s. He threw open the door and stalked over to the bed, prepared to give his lover what-for. He was drawn up short by the soft sounds of tears falling. Wil was crying?

“Wil?” Angel whispered.

Wil didn’t respond. Angel pulled the covers back, exposing an unconscious but still weeping vampire. His anger dissolved and Angel reached down to gather Wil up in his arms. He settled back down on the bed, pulling the covers over both of them. Whatever needed to be said could be said later.

•••

When Wil woke, he was surprised to find Angel curled up next to him. The older vampire looked forlorn and sad, even in his sleep. Wil’s resolve to be angry at Angel weakened just a little.

Angel woke shortly after Wil, sensing that the other vampire was awake. “Wil, we need to—“

“I’m angry with you,” Wil said, cutting him off. “And I will be for a long time.”

Angel scowled. “It was a long time ago, before—“

“That’s not the point, Angel. You had a soul, one you could lose, and you slept with Darla!” Wil grated out.

“But I didn’t. Lose my soul, that is. That should tell you something,” Angel replied.

“Yeah, that The Powers That Be are looking out for your stupid arse. There’s no excuse for it, Angel. She’s evil,” Wil stated angrily.

Angel sighed. He had expected Wil to be angry. Still, it hurt. “I’m sorry, Wil. I wish I could say I never make mistakes, but I can’t.”

Wil rolled over to face the wall. “It’s not that, Angel. It’s that it was Darla. She’s tried to kill you, she tried to off Buffy—the love of your life, remember? Hells, she’s…” Wil’s voice faded.

“She’s tried to kill you,” Angel finished for him. It was true; Darla was prone to destroying anything that Angel or Angelus held dear. She was, for all her power, a very insecure person. It had always irked Angelus that Darla had done such things. As Angel, it infuriated him.

Wil’s anger left him. “I’m worried, Angel. She’s nothing but trouble. What if she goes after one of the others? They can’t stop her.”

Angel nodded his agreement. “I know. We’ll have to be careful. Did Wesley find anything?”

“He might have. It’s too soon to tell,” Wil replied.

When Angel and Wil descended the stairs, they found the investigators squared off against Darla. She was snarling, in gameface, and obviously on the prowl.

“Stop. Now,” Angel roared at the vampiress.

“Aw, scared for your little toys?” Darla sneered at Angel. “You’ve got so many now, what’s one or two for the mommy-to-be?”

“There’s blood in the fridge. Drink that,” Angel stated harshly. Wil stepped up beside him for support.

Darla rolled her eyes at Wil, smirking. “I see the lapdog found his way home. Let me guess, Dru dumped you because you lost your balls?”

Wil ignored her jibes. He’d stopped caring what she thought a long time ago. “Did you find anything else, Wesley?”

The watcher nodded. “We’ll talk about it later, Wil.”

•••

“Ok, one more time, Angel. Who the hell is Holtz?” Gunn asked while dodging flying debris.

Angel watched in horror as Caritas burned to the ground. “Vampire hunter. I killed his family. That was a long time ago.”

“Um...I think we should be getting out of here, don’t you?” Cordelia said nervously. The alley they were standing in looked really dangerous, especially with the demons standing everywhere.

Darla chose that moment to scream at the top of her lungs. Wil held her even tighter, hoping to provide some sort of comfort, mostly so she’d stop making noise. He’d been the unlucky soul chosen to carry her around the night club and was stuck with her out in the street as well.

“Let me go, Spike!” Darla hissed, trying to get up. Wil shook his head.

“No can do, Darla. Stay put,” He replied.

Angel knelt down to examine her. It was obvious the baby was trying to be born, and it was killing both of them. “Darla…”

The vampiress shook her head and pressed a stake to her heart. Before anyone could stop her, she plunged it in, exploding in Wil’s arms. When the dust settled, a newborn baby was laying on top of the ashes. Wil moved first, scooping up the infant and cradling it close to him. He looked around for some sort of cover. It was then that they noticed Holtz watching them.

“Let’s get out of here,” Gunn said quietly.

•••

Angel watched Connor and Wil, the infant curled up asleep on Wil’s chest. The blonde vampire was also sleeping soundly—having spent the last hour making sure Connor got enough to eat. The rest of the gang was having a difficult time getting anywhere near the baby; Wil was almost insanely possessive of him.

Not that his behavior was the least bit surprising. Once the shock of Darla’s appearance wore off, Wil turned out to be the most excited of all of them. He even managed to outdo Angel in his enthusiasm. Once, Xander caught the vampire picking out paint for the baby’s room. Wil would never live that down.

It was Oz who had figured out why Wil was acting the way he was. One of the things Wil had wanted most when he was human was a family; a wife and children to dote on. Vampirism had taken that dream from him. Now, thanks to a last-minute wish, Wil had a soul and a soulmate in Angel. The appearance of Connor simply fulfilled the rest of that dream. It didn’t matter one whit that Connor wasn’t his, not exactly. The child was Angel’s, and Angel was Wil’s.

Angel understood what Wil was feeling. The very idea of producing a child boggled his mind, even after the weeks of putting up with Darla. The infant was delicate, fragile and overwhelmingly human.

Smiling at the image that Wil and Connor made, Angel gently picked up the infant and put him to bed. Wil stirred immediately, missing the warmth that the human baby provided. “Angel?”

“Quiet. He’s actually asleep for once,” Angel whispered.

“Always sleeps for me. You’re too rough,” Wil groused, picking himself up out of the chair. “Bed?”

Angel nodded. “You need to sleep.”

•••

“How’s the babysitter doing?” Xander asked Angel as he descended the stairs.

“He’s sleeping still. I think Connor wears him out,” Angel replied, grinning. He decided not to comment on how comfortable Xander seemed to be leaning against Oz like that. He just supposed the werewolf had been working on Xander while Angel was preoccupied with his own personal life. He was happy for both of them; it seemed that being in love made him want everyone to be happy.

“Do you ever get to see your kid?” Xander questioned jokingly. Cordelia emerged from the kitchen then, carrying a steaming mug.

“Breakfast, milord?” She said, handing the mug to Angel.

Angel sniffed appreciatively. “Um…any reason why you’re bringing me blood, Cordelia?”

Cordelia grinned nervously. “Fred cooked this afternoon,” She replied. Seeing Angel’s nervous expression, she tried to smooth things over. “Don’t worry; the fire alarm didn’t go off.”

“Because Wesley took the batteries out,” Xander added evilly.

Angel sighed. Fred was doing so well, but now and then…”Is there any permanent damage?”

Cordelia shook her head. “No, just some mess to clean up.”

“Besides, Fred did promise to paint that wall,” Xander chimed in.

“Shut up, Xander!” Cordelia growled. Oz reacted automatically, stepping in front of Xander in a protective manner. Cordelia stiffened, and then stepped back. “Sorry.”

“No problem,” Oz murmured, relaxing a little. Angel just stared. He still hadn’t gotten used to the idea of Oz as alpha wolf…or to Cordelia as beta. She was always so dominant.

“How is Wes doing with the prophecy?” Angel inquired of Cordelia.

She frowned. “He’s not happy, if that’s what you’re asking. This thing about the kid keeps popping up, just like before.”

“What thing?” Angel pressed.

Cordelia paused. Should she say this? “Something about the father killing the son.”

Angel stood silently. Wesley had been working to disprove that part of the prophecy ever since he first translated it. “I’ll go help him. Send Wil in as well, when he wakes up.”