"He wouldn't leave. He's staying with Lorne to watch the building. Let's look at the plans and get our thoughts together. They have the phone on, so we can pass everything on to them." Wes came over to his wife and put his hand on her shoulder. Gunn & Groo followed them to stand behind Fred & Lindsey.

"I heard a motorcycle. Are they back?" Kate, Patty by the hand, came in from the courtyard, followed by Cordelia and Anne, each carrying a twin.

Lindsey nodded. "Glad you're here, Detective." He smiled at his wife, but she could see that his eyes were not smiling.

"What is it, Lindsey?" She looked him in the eye. "You know this place?"

"I know of it. I've never been there, but it's a really bad one, from what I've heard." He had never lied to Kate, and he wasn't about to start now, no matter how difficult it would be. "We're going to have to put a really good plan together fast."

Fred took over. This was her specialty. "The building has certain weaknesses that we may be able to exploit. I see a few structural flaws. Of course there will be the mystic barriers and other protections, but that's someone else's field."

"Mine!" both Wes & Lindsey said as one. They looked at each other and smiled.

"We need to move fast on this. I know he's in great danger." Lindsey peered a little closer at the screen. "My guess would be this room is where he's being kept from its size. The laboratory would be the biggest room with smaller rooms radiating from it."

Gunn followed his pointing finger. "Looks right to me. So, Fred, what do you suggest?"

"Look at this. If we can shut off the power, that gives us a chance to get someone in. I wonder if it would be a good idea to shut off the power in a two-block radius. There are only warehouses there. That would make them less suspicious."

"We can go in one of three ways: from above, from below, or from one of the sides."

Gunn was weighing the options in his mind. "We won't have much time."

"If I can find an immobilizing spell, that gives us a little more," Wes thought. He headed for his books.

"Fred, can you minimize this a minute?" Lindsey slid his hands onto the keyboard and logged in a new code. His records of Wolfram & Hart popped up. "Let's see if I have anything on this building."

"I was on a drug raid in a similar building when I was a rookie," Kate said. "Maybe I can help. I need to help, if I can."

"Let me help," Anne said. "I'll take Patty for some milk and maybe a cookie. Come on, sweetheart." She led Patty to the kitchen. "Cordelia, I'll bring you a glass of milk, too."

"Thanks. I need to drink some right about now." Mandy was beginning to look hungry, and Adam would quickly follow. "Maybe a vanilla wafer or two?"

"I have some books in my room that Patty loves, Anne. Could you, please?" Kate gave her newest friend a big smile.

"What weapons do you think we would need?" Groo asked. Strategy and planning were not his strengths, but, next to Angel, he was their best fighter.

"Not sure yet." Wes said as he came back with three large books and headed for a desk to read. Cordelia, a twin in each arm, sat next to him. He opened a book for her.

"You can nurse twins, drink milk, and read a book all at the same time?" Kate marveled.

"Six months of practice," Cordelia smiled, opening her blouse.

Each of the group concentrated on his or her area of expertise and a plan began to form.

Meanwhile, in the Wolfram & Hart laboratory, Mikey/Connor woke up. He could feel the danger all around him, so he kept his eyes closed. He didn't squeeze them shut tightly, though. That didn't work. He had tried that once when he had to go to the dentist, but Mom had seen right through it. It didn't fool Dad either. He kept his face relaxed but sent his mind out exploring. About a year ago he had started sensing emotions in others, and his talent was growing stronger. He could sense great feelings of love in his mom, his dad, and his sister. Sometimes when his dad looked at him he could feel a little bit of sadness, too, which he didn't understand. Pride, joy, and occasionally a little annoyance were things that came to him. Something else that he didn't understand came to him when his father and his mother looked at each other. It was a very good feeling, though. He guessed it was an adult feeling that would come to him someday. When dad had this feeling, he would kiss Mom and maybe put his hand on her bottom. Mom would press up against him and the feeling would grow stronger. Sometimes when that happened they would put him and his sister to bed a little early! He didn't know what his gift was until he began to watch a program on television called Star Trek: The Next Generation with his father. Deanna Troi, a character who was his father's favorite, had this gift; she was called an empath. He hadn't told his father or his mother about it yet.

An emotion he had never felt before hit him hard. It took a minute before he could sort it out, and he had to fight to keep his face from showing its impact. It was hate. A woman was feeling it for his mother, his father (both of his fathers? Mikey was confused at that), and for him. It was so strong. There was another man, but his main emotion was just curiosity. The third man, though, looked at him with a touch of sadness. He came close to Mike and gently touched Mike's cheek with his finger. Mike pretended to wake up and smiled at the man. Something was there, a sense of loss maybe. He reached for the man, who helped him up.

"Hi, little guy," the man said, picking Mike up. "How are you?"

"Linwood, what are you doing?" the woman asked angrily. Mike cuddled up to the man and put his arm around his neck.

"He just woke up, Lilah. He's disoriented. I'm just going to hold him for a minute."

Mike snuggled closer to the man. His feelings of sadness and loss grew.

"Lilah, remember that the senior partners had taken Linwood's kids away before he really got to know them?" The other man, who looked something like his friend Freddy Chen, whispered to the woman, who was frowning. "Mike may remind him of his son."

"Linwood, we don't have time for this!" Lilah was irate.

He turned to her and glared. "Are you forgetting which one of us is the president and which is the vice president, Lilah?" He smiled at Mikey. "He's a sweet little boy."

Mikey looked into his face and smiled, all the while thinking furiously, "Help me."

"Maybe we should test him to see if he inherited any unusual powers from his father."

Mike was confused. His father didn't have any unusual powers except for being very smart and being very good at baseball. What did the man mean? Well, Mike would use it if he could. "What do you mean, sir?" He smiled sweetly.

"Let's sit here, Mike. Gavin, do you have the cards?"

Gavin sat at the table across from them. "Mike, here are the five symbols. There are a circle, a cross, a star, a square, and some wavy lines. Tell me what's on the card I'm looking at." Gavin picked up the deck, shuffled it, and drew the top card.

Words came into Mike's head. "Circle, circle, circle." "Is it the circle?"

Gavin turned the card toward him. "That's right. Next?"

"Wavy lines, like a picture of the ocean."

The woman stood, her arms crossed, a frown on her face, tapping her foot. "You're wasting time. We have to find out why he exists."

"Enough, Lilah! If he has a talent we can use, why should we destroy him? Go on, Mike." Linwood turned back to the boy. "Let's continue."

"I have to go to the bathroom. And I'm hungry. Please may I have something to eat?"

"Of course. Lilah, get the boy some food. Order a pizza."

Lilah opened her mouth to protest but, seeing the look on Linwood's face, snapped it shut. Shaking her head, she began to dial her cellular phone.

Taking Mike by the hand, Linwood led him to the bathroom. Mike looked around while he was in there. There was a window, but it was closed and it was way too high for him to reach. He took his time urinating and washing his hands. Then they went back to the table.

Because Gavin did not like Lilah in the least, even after the wild afternoon of passion they had once shared, he hoped the boy would do well with the cards. He was almost shouting each card in his mind, and the boy was getting them all. He had no great love for children, nor for this child in particular, but killing for no reason was impractical. They could use the boy if he were a true telepath. The fact that Lilah would be bent out of shape, possibly to the extent that she might be terminated, was icing on the cake. When he finished with the Rhine deck, Mike had 18 of 25 correct answers. The wrong answers came when Lilah was standing behind him, glaring at the child and making him nervous.

Mike sat, slowly chewing his pepperoni pizza and drinking his milk. The man named Linwood sat next to him. He had sent someone out for milk because Lilah hadn't thought to order it for him. Lilah approached the table and reached for a slice; Linwood froze her with a look. "Oh, well, I wasn't hungry anyway," Lilah said, retreating to the other side of the room. Gavin was grinning at her; she did not like that.

Mike wanted to continue to develop his relationship with Linwood to stay under his protection. "Do you have children, sir?"

A sad look crossed Linwood's face. "I'm not sure. They're away."

"I don't understand."

"It's customary for the children to be raised elsewhere. When they have to leave, we never hear from them again."

"What happens to them?"

"If they're smart enough, they may become lawyers, or sorcerers, or doctors. Some become researchers, maybe at one of our other facilities like The Centre in Blue Cove, Delaware. Some of our children are Pretenders there. A few are nationally known broadcasters: talk show hosts, national newscasters. I understand some have gone into politics and have held very high office. There were rumors about one of our recent presidents and his wife. They are given false backgrounds so no one knows. Women who are beautiful but not brilliant can be groomed to marry the men. We're very careful about our relationships. I know one young man who would have been given a beautiful wife in another year, but he fell in love with a vampire and then left the firm." Oops, that's the man he thinks of as his father! Better not go there.

"So your children are somewhere learning to join your company?"

Linwood nodded. Gail had been brilliant but not a beautiful girl; he hoped that she was all right. Edward Robert, named after the famous newscaster Edward R. Murrow, had looked a great deal like this boy. Maybe that's why he felt so drawn to him. They didn't want the parents ever to know what had happened. And, in the case of "failures," they especially didn't want the parents to know that their children had been used as human sacrifice, demon food, or vampire drink. If he were religious, he would have prayed for his kids. Maybe, just maybe, he could help this one.

After the plans were formulated, Wes, Gunn, Groo, and Kate took off. Fred and Lindsey, over his protests, were left behind to monitor and control the operation on the computers. Cordelia and Anne, the twins strapped in car seats, were off to the medical center, as Anne and the twins had checkups scheduled. Patty was going with them as there was nothing else to do with her. "We're all in place," Wes' voice came over the phone. "Now, Fred."

Fred punched in the code that cut off power for a two-block radius. Then Wes cut a square out of one of the windows and began pumping in an immobilizing gas. Groo was counting down to thirty seconds as he donned his gas mask. Then they descended through the elevator shaft. Angel, his body completely covered to shield him from the sun, jumped through the window and into the middle of the lab. He looked around and saw Connor. Picking up the boy, he flung him over his shoulder and ran for the nearest door. Groo, Gunn, Lorne, and Wes were battling some kind of demons that the immobilizing spell didn't work on. Angel handed Mike/Connor to Kate. "Get him out of here now." Not bothering with a seat belt, she laid him in the back seat and drove away.

"I want Lilah and Linwood. We need to take them with us. Leave Gavin if you have to." The guards were starting to stir. Groo, swinging his axe around him, was leaving bloody demons in his wake. Wes shot his way through to Lilah and grabbed her. She struggled in his arms. "Kidnap a child, will you?" He knocked her out with a blow to the cheek. "I don't hit ladies, but you don't qualify."

As the battle raged on, Fred began to feel more and more pain. Suddenly she felt very wet. Had her water broken? Obviously. She had had false labor before, but she was quite sure that this wasn't it. She glanced at her watch. The pains were only two minutes apart. "Lindsey, I'm in labor."

"Pooh, are you sure?"

"I'm positive. I don't know if I'll have time to get to the hospital or not. Call the doctor, please." She gave him Dr. Scott's number.

"Dr. Scott, this is Lindsey McDonald. Yes, Ed's roommate. Yes, it's good to talk to you too, but I've got my sister in labor here. Winifred Wyndham-Pryce. Okay, I'll ask her." He looked at Fred. "How far apart are the contractions?" He turned back to the phone. "She says they're two minutes apart." He put the phone on speaker. "Lie down, Fred, and take off your underpants. I may have to deliver your baby myself."