A soft whimpering sound announced that the baby was starting to waken. The full moon flooded the nursery with light as he went to pick up his child. For several minutes he stood looking at his beautiful, beautiful son. The moonlight turned his blonde hair into a halo around his small head. His finger stroked a small cheek so gently that the little one could barely feel it. He didn't want the baby to be startled. God, he loved his son so much.

Finally the baby started to squirm, and its blue eyes opened. Although it was too young to smile yet, he could have sworn the baby smiled at him. He smiled at the little one and picked him up. It was a lovely evening; he would get the carriage and take him for a walk in the moonlight. Thank goodness the nights in southern California were always warm. He needed fresh air, but, of course, he couldn't stand the sunshine.

I wonder if I should change his diaper before I feed him. He doesn't seem to be too hungry yet. So he carried his precious little boy over to the changing table. At first the red stains in the diaper had bothered him, but, of course, as the baby only drank blood, it wasn't surprising that the diaper would be red when it was wet. He quickly and deftly changed the diaper, discarding the wet one. Then he went to the sink and washed his hands well with soap and water, rinsing them thoroughly.

Now it was time to feed him. Sitting in the rocking chair, he put his index finger to the boy's lips. It was covered with the marks of tiny fangs, as were all of his fingers. His son had a healthy appetite.

Biting his finger, the baby sucked a little and then started to cry. He offered another finger, and then the thumb. But he had known this day would come. The fingers were no longer enough. Lifting his son to his shoulder, he guided the little mouth to his jugular vein, closing his eyes for a second when the fangs sank into his neck. Then, as the baby began to feed, Lindsey sang a soft lullaby to his son, wondering how many lullabies there would be until the baby got so big and so hungry that he couldn't feed him himself any more. Angel or Darla would probably find him long before then, but, at least for now, he and his little one, the last love of his life, were together.

A few months later

The message had come so softly and weakly that Cordelia could barely understand it. “Angel, come now, quickly,” followed by an address. “I think it’s Lindsey, but he sounded so far away.”

Accompanied by Wesley, Angel rushed to the address, an apartment building out of the city in a nice neighborhood. When he arrived at the apartment, he saw the note on the door. “Come in, Angel.” The door was unlocked, and they rushed in.

Lindsey was sitting in a rocking chair, holding the baby. Lindsey looked worse than he had ever seen him. His eyes were bloodshot and had heavy circles under them; he was deathly pale and thinner than ever. In fact he appeared to be dying.

It looked as if he was cuddling the baby, but, on closer look, the baby’s face was buried in Lindsey’s neck and it was feeding from him, sucking his life’s blood from his jugular vein. “Wait, he’s almost finished,” Lindsey managed to say, his voice as weak as he looked. Angel looked at Lindsey’s hands; the fingers were all covered with tiny puncture marks. Evidently he had started by letting the baby suck on his fingers until it no longer satisfied him, and then he had begun feeding him from his neck.

When the baby raised his head, Angel could see the little fangs, but not the total vamp face. “I have to burp him,” Lindsey said, shifting him a little. He gently patted the child on the back until a small but distinct burp was heard. Then he lowered him in his arms just enough to place a gentle kiss on his tiny forehead. “Goodbye, little one. I love you.” Lindsey tried to rise by pushing up from the arm of the chair with his free hand, but he was too weak. He fell back. “Take him. Everything here is his. Take it with you or come back for it.” He gasped for breath. “The car seat. He has to ride in it. It’s the law.” Another gasp and he finished, “You know it has to face backward so it’s safe.”

Angel stepped forward and took the baby from Lindsey’s arms. “Wes, call 911 now!”

“Too late, Angel. I’m dying. I hoped you’d come in time. I didn’t want him to be left alone.” Lindsey’s heartbeat was slowing; Angel could feel it. Although he had come here ready to kill Lindsey for taking his child, the sight of the man so close to death made him realize that he had to do something. Was it possible? He took a small knife out of his pocket and, before Wes could react, cut across the inside of the baby’s elbow. He walked over to Lindsey and held the baby’s arm in front of his lips. “Drink now, before it’s too late.”

“No. I don’t want the demon inside of me.” He coughed for a minute. Angel could see blood on the tissue he had coughed into. “I’ve already had one.” His eyes started to close.

Angel grabbed him by the hair. “Drink, I said. Now.” He forced Lindsey’s head onto the baby’s arm. Without thinking Lindsey’s tongue lapped up a few drops of the baby’s blood. Then his eyes closed. Less than a minute later his heart had stopped. He was dead.

Wes, who had been standing looking aghast at the proceedings, finally found his voice. “Angel, do you know what you’re doing?”

“No, Wes, I’m not sure. If I’m wrong, I’ll stake him myself. But he deserves another chance. He kept the baby safe from Darla and took good care of him. Look how healthy he is.” And he looks just like Darla, Angel thought, but didn’t say it. “Take the car seat and strap him in. I’ll carry Lindsey. Gunn & I will come back for the rest of this later.”

Down at the car, Angel deposited Lindsey’s body in the back seat. Then the two of them finally figured how to secure the car seat. The baby looked at Lindsey next to him and babbled and cooed. He loves Lindsey! And why shouldn’t he? Angel realized that as far as the little one was concerned Lindsey was his father. He’d have to earn his son’s love. Lindsey had done it with unconditional love. Was he capable of it?

When they arrived at the Hyperion, Cordelia and Gunn were there. “Lindsey?” Cordelia asked.

“I need to put him in one of the rooms for now.” Angel carried him up the stairs. Wes followed with the baby, still strapped into the car seat, sound asleep from the ride across town.

Wes set the carseat down on the floor. “Wes, what is going on?” Cordy asked. “Why did he bring Lindsey here? He looked dead. Did Angel kill him?”

“No, evidently the baby did. Or rather Lindsey died because he was feeding the baby and lost too much blood. When we got there, the baby was feeding from Lindsey’s neck. Angel is hoping to bring him back by making him drink the baby.” At the shocked look on Cordelia’s face, he went on. “It was just a couple of drops, Cordy. It may not be enough. Evidently Angel thinks that because the child is a vampire with a soul, he may bring Lindsey back with one.”

Angel reentered the lobby. “I think it’s a good possibility, but I want Lorne here when he rises. For now, Cordelia, will you, Wes, & Gunn go back to the apartment and bring everything you think the baby needs? We’ll need a crib, diapers, I don’t know what else. Take everything you can get into the car, but take the most important things first.” Angel sat on the floor beside the car seat watching his son sleep.

When the little boy woke up, he was hungry. Angel took a container of pig’s blood out of the refrigerator and very gently warmed it just to 98.6. Then he held it to his son’s face. The baby bit, made a face, spit it out, and started to wail loudly.

“Evidently he doesn’t like pig’s blood, Angel.”

“No kidding, Sherlock,” Cordy replied to Wes. “Duh!” She frowned. “Now what?”

The baby continued his lusty wailing. Angel held him, patted his back, and walked with him, but it did no good. “Why not change his diaper?” Fred asked.

Cordy took him and laid him on a blanket on the floor. He did smell very ripe. When she took off his diaper, she did a double take. “Angel! It’s red!”

“Well, he’s been drinking blood. I guess it would be,” Fred said. She took the dirty diaper and discarded it while Cordy put a fresh one on him. It didn’t help. The baby continued to wail.

Finally Cordelia took him and held him to her neck. “I guess if evil lawyer boy can do this, so can I, at least until we can figure out how to get him some human blood.” He tasted her, drank a little, and pulled away, crying but not as loudly.

“Maybe you’re not the right type, Cordy.” Wes took the baby and tried to feed it, but again he rejected him after a taste. The same with Gunn.

Fred finally took him. She looked him straight in the eye and said, “Look, it’s me or nothing.” The baby fed, but they all could have sworn he had a frown on his face.

After he was done, they put him on the floor on a blanket. He looked around and started to whimper. Finally he began to cry, although not the full-bodied wail of hunger.

“Angel. . .” Wes began.

“I know. He’s looking for Lindsey.” Followed by the rest of the Fang Gang, Angel carried his son upstairs to where Lindsey was lying. When he saw him, he began to smile and coo. Then he let Fred gently tickle his tummy and play This Little Piggy with his toes. She stayed with him until he fell asleep. By that time, Wes & Gunn had set up the crib in the room, so she put him down.

Shortly after sunset, Lindsey’s eyes opened. He saw the baby in the crib and thought, I guess it was just a dream. But then he realized he didn’t feel so weak. He still didn’t feel up to par, but he felt better than he had in the last two weeks.

“Don’t try to get up yet. You’re too weak still. Take your time.” Angel appeared in the doorway with Lorne and the rest of the Angel Investigations, including a young woman that Lindsey didn’t recognize.

“How is he?” He raised himself on one elbow to look at the sleeping baby.

“He’s fine.” Just then the baby woke up. Angel picked him up and carried him over to Lindsey. Lindsey stroked his tiny cheek with one finger, and the baby smiled.

“He’s a fine boy, Angel. A credit to both of you. And he doesn’t need to sing to let me know he has a soul.” Lorne looked at Lindsey, who saw that the others were holding crosses while Gunn held a stake. “Sing for me, Lindsey.”

“Let me just sit up.” He looked at the little boy and began to sing,

“Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry,

Go to sleep my little baby.

When you wake, you will see

All the pretty little horses.”

“What can I say? There are three of you now, Angel. A trinity. Father, son, and. . .grandson!”

“I still have my soul? Is there a demon, too?”

“No, not one I can see anywhere. Because the boy was pure, you kept your soul. You’re still a vampire, though. That couldn’t be helped.” He looked around. “You all can put those things away now. And I have a club to run. Bye, Angelcakes. Lindsey, be sure to come by and sing whenever you’re up to it. They love you at Caritas.”

Fred came over by the side of the bed and helped Lindsey to his feet. “By the way, I’m Fred.”

“Fred?” He frowned. “Short for Winifred or Frederica?”

“Winifred. I’m glad to meet you.” She smiled her lovely shy smile.

Angel placed the baby in Lindsey’s arms. He raised his arms and cooed at Lindsey. “I was going to kill you, you know. But the way he looked at you, and the way you had cared for him, I just had to bring you back. If you hadn’t had your soul, I would have let Gunn stake you right away.” Lindsey nodded, but his eyes were on the baby. “By the way, what have you been calling him?”

“Well, I didn’t want to call him Angelus, and I couldn’t call him Lindsey, so I thought I’d name him Michael. He was one of the archangels, you know, so it seemed fitting, and it was better than Gabriel, Raphael, or Uriel.”

“That’s for sure.” His arm around Lindsey’s shoulders to help support him, Angel led Lindsey and the baby downstairs. “He wouldn’t take pig’s blood.”

“Do you know any humans who drink pig’s milk? No wonder. Maybe we can get him switched gradually onto cow’s blood, but it’ll take a little time.”

“He didn’t want to drink from any of them, but he finally, reluctantly, drank from Fred. What is your blood type anyway?”

“B negative. It’s rare.”

“Just like you, McDonald, to get Mikey hooked on gourmet blood.”

“It was all I had, remember. We’ll have to buy some from a blood bank or something. I assume you and I can’t feed him.” Angel nodded.

They had arrived at the bottom of the stairs. “I guess you’d better move in here. We’ll go later to get your clothes and things. Yes, and your guitar. For some strange reason, the others like your singing.”

“Mikey does too,” Lindsey said, just a little smugly. Then he smiled at Angel and quoted Humphrey Bogart’s words to Claude Rains at the end of Casablanca. “This looks like the start of a beautiful friendship.”