The Hyperion Hotel | Los Angeles, CA | Like Five Seconds After That Last Bit
"Darla," Angel said slowly.
"Darla?" Cordelia demanded.
"Darla!" Wesley blurted out.
Fred had already been filled in on just who Darla was, and apparently wanted to contribute to the recitation of the woman's name, so she quietly breathed, "Darla."
Angel took a few steps forward, his gaze very plainly fixed on the bump in his former lover's stomach. "When did this happen?"
Darla gave him a condescending look. "Oh, you know exactly when it happened," she sneered.
"Angel," said Cordelia sharply, "did you and Darla...?"
Angel didn't acknowledge her, just kept his eyes focused on the other vampire. "This is impossible."
"Tell me about it," Darla retorted. "Daddy."
"You slept with her?" Cordelia interjected sharply.
Angel was very flustered now, and simply blurted out, "Vampires can't have children. Wesley?"
Wesley's response was immediate, as he'd mainly been going over the same thing in his head since the moment Darla had set foot in the doorway. "Ah, no, he's right," he said hastily. "It's not possible."
Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest. "That's not what I asked."
She continued to be ignored. "You know we can't," Darla said to Angel. "I know we can't. But -- we did."
Witnessing what looked very much like a brawl about to break out, in which the victor was unclear but Angel was very clearly going to end up on the floor twitching in pain, Fred turned to Gunn and commented, "I wonder if this might not be the bad thing we were expecting."
Sure enough, Darla strode forward and smacked Angel hard across the face. "What did you do to me?"
Angel stumbled backward from the blow and then took a step forward, but in an instant Cordelia was there, putting her hands between him and Darla. "Stop that!"
"It's all right, Cordelia," Angel said steadily. "I'm all right."
Cordelia just made a face at him. "You'll hurt her," she snapped. "Haven't you done enough?" She turned back to Darla, extending an arm for the other woman to lean on. "Here, sit down. You should get off your feet."
Fred took her cue from Cordy, hurrying over with a glass of water that she held out to Darla. "Hi, I'm Fred," she said. "Is water okay, or would you like some blood?"
Darla took the water, and Wesley hastened over to usher Fred away from the dangerous and erratic homicidal vampire in front of her.
Then Cordelia's attention shifted to Angel. "Did you or did you not look me in the eye and say you would never do a thing like this?" she asked quietly -- deadly-quietly, in fact.
"Oh, he lied?" Darla inquired mock-curiously. "What a surprise."
Cordy just sighed, and turned back to Angel. "Well?" she asked. "Are you going to take some responsibility here?"
"Oh, me?" Angel said, evidently startled by the way things were going. (In point of fact, Wesley was fairly startled by it all as well.) He turned back to the desk. "Uh, yes. Wes, let's get on this right now."
Wesley thought this was a bit of an asinine thing to say in the context of taking responsibility, but instead he said neutrally, "What would you suggest?"
"I suggest you use your books and figure out what's going on," Angel said, like this was obvious. "What, do I have to think of everything?"
Wesley gave him a withering look at that, then picked up the closest book, held it up for everyone to see, and pronounced loudly, "Oh, here it is. It says 'I have absolutely no idea what's going on.'"
Honestly, Angel.
Wesley sighed. "We should talk to Lorne."
[[from 3x07 "offspring" yet again! nfb, but phone calls are cool.]]