Love Xander to got mature – and excepting the relationship of Buffy and Spike. And if the parking garage is on the tapes – Angel will have fun watching it – or even not, he he. Wonderful chapter. *smile* I think once you called it cheating… most people just call it blowing. Is that from the series? Than I understand know that Icon I got :-D

Author's Response: Well, since Angel is gonna be a big ol' bad guy in this one, I figured I could let Xander act like a reasonable adult for once LOL. and hadn't even thought of the parking garage on the security tapes, but oh what a happy happy thought that is *big grin*. In terms of the 'cheating' line, when Spike kicked invisible Buffy out of his crypt, he looked down and said, "hey, that's cheating!" So it is from the show, in a kind of roundabout way.

I think this was a summery of Season 4 ... the telling. I haven't seen it yet. About the last sentence - Poor Angel... that sounds not so good.... Loved the interaction between Dawn and Spike.

Author's Response: The telling was actually a summary of several AtS seasons: part of 2, most of 3, and good bits of 4. Angel will NOT be coming off well in this one--just a warning! :o) And Dawn and Spike...well, a vamp needs his Nibblet, now doesn't he?

I just started this story when I read a bit of chapter 8 at your LJ. I love claim stories. :-D Will go read the next chapter soon.

Author's Response: Glad you like...the story is fairly involved plotwise, so you may want to catch up or the later chapters might not make as much sense. I'm so glad that you're enjoying!!! Thanks for reading & reviewing!

Aw! What a great chapter between Giles and Wes!

Author's Response: I actually had a lot of fun writing Giles and Wes...seeing them try to get out from behind their stiff upper lips and actual interact as grown men and equals--something they'd never really been before. Glad you enjoyed!

Oh, poor Angel! The beginning of the end? Glad to know that Spike and Dawn will rebuild their relationship.

Author's Response: Spike needs his Nibblet, and she needs her best friend...can't wait to put them back together. And Angel is NOT going to come off well here...he is in for a world of hurt...but he's going to deserve it.

Just started your story, obviously, and it's looking good. :) reading on now

awww... So very sweet!!! *sniffs* You are doing a fabulous job of this story!!!! *hugs Amy*

Author's Response: Thank you so much!!! *hugs BSB*

Amy, thank you for taking the time to explain your side of things on a previous review. But you know what? You shouldn't have to. Seriously. What you're doing is magnificent, and if someone has issues with what you are doing, then that's their problem. As far as Angel goes? I know very little of what events actually took place because quite frankly the series bugged the bejeeses out of me, so thank you for giving us a better series of events to read!!!

Author's Response: Thanks, BSB! I'm glad you enjoyed, and I'm glad the response helped to give a better context for the story!

Okay I am not an Angel fan, but what the AI gang is telling the scooby gang is such one side bull, they need to be flushed. 0. It was sajohn that brought Holtz to the future to kill connor so that connor would not kill him. Not W & H 1. Each one of them choose of their free will to join W & H. That was a separate decision on their part. 2. A part of Angel's deal with the Senior partners was that everyones memory but his would be wiped. Since Connor made national news, trying to blow ppl up, to give him a new life he had to wiped from existance. Remember Angel had to kill him. Beside all they took were memories of Connor. So why are they mad? b/c Angel did not trust them with the memory of his son? well hell look what trusting them lead to last time. 3. Wesley has NO standing to be violated and angery. When he came across the phorchecy, he might not of told Angel his interpetation, but he had the REST of AI to talk to. Coedelia could have been called back, really I think if Angel would have killed connor the powers would have sent a vision. Lorne could have read Angel. But no Wesley goes and talks to Holtz the man who HATES Angel for taking his family which Wesley knows, he let the whore of said man convince him to steal his best friends son, the man who took him in when his father dropped him. Hell yeah, why shouldn't Angel kill him, I know I would have.

Author's Response: First, thank you for reviewing. Secondly, my response may take two posts for space, so please bear with me while I discuss the review point by point. Point 0: True, Sahjhan brought Holtz forward. However, Wolfram & Hart wasted no time in linking with Sahjahn, and the intricacies that resulted in that relationship make it such that it would be difficult to determine just how involved with the entire scenario Wolfram & Hart was (remember, they brought back Darla--perhaps the Senior Partners knew something of Connor's birth?) Point 1: True. They do willingly choose to join. And I don't believe that they're shying away from their personal responsibility for that choice; rather, they're merely fully coming to terms with the consequences of their actions. Point 2: Yes, some sort of memory wipe may have been necessary, although I'm loath to fully agree with that. Given that Jasmine had been on the news numerous times herself, including being on live TV when her true face was revealed, and the world seemed to recover just fine, I have to question whether or not the same plausible deniability demonstrated by the good folks of Sunnydale wouldn't have worked for the good folks of LA with regards to Connor as it had with Jasmine. Secondly, they didn't simply take the memories of Connor--they created false constructs and events to explain the time that would have otherwise been missing (and elements that needed explanation, such as Wesley's scar). By removing what amounts to two years of the AI gang's lives, Angel has discarded all of the development and layers of their relationships that had occurred during that time. He has essentially negated both their friendships and their working relationships. Point 3: Whether Wesley actually had the options you present is questionable. Remember that Angel himself, after Holtz had taken Connor to Quor'toth, wouldn't call Cordelia back from her trip. Fred and Gunn were wrapped up in each other (which had Wesley in a painful emotional place as well), and he was, above all else, trying desperately to prove the prophecy false. He didn't want to burden anyone else with the horror of the possibility that Angel would kill Connor, or with the betrayal that he himself eventually undertook. His discussion with Holtz was just another step in what was an exhaustive investigation. Keep in mind that Angel admitted that the baby had begun to smell like food, thanks to W&H--had they not figured out what had happened with the blood, Angel may well have killed Connor. Wes's decision saved both Angel and Connor from that potential scenario. As for Cordelia getting a vision: she didn't get visions for every bad thing that happened, only some of them; note that she has no vision to pass to Angel in "You're Welcome" regarding Fred's imminent fate. The Powers may or may not have interceded with Connor, but their actions are NOT a given. Also, Wesley didn't take the baby to give him to Holtz, and I never got the impression that he was swayed by Justine--he had already planned to take the baby, and she had to nearly kill him to take Connor from him. Wesley was taking Connor away to keep him away from Angel until the danger had passed and, in all likelihood, to raise him so that he would be safe. His actions proved erroneous, but he was truly trying to do the right thing to spare his friend the heartache of the potentially murdering his own child. Finally--Angel didn't "take Wesley in when his father dropped him." Wesley had been on his own since leaving Sunnydale, having been cast out of the Council (for his attempts to help cure Angel, no less). Wesley, in his first appearance on AtS, seemed to be doing fine on his own, even though he was a bit lonely. Even had he not been surviving on his own, however, it is doubtful he would have expected or received support from his (by all clues on the show) emotionally and potentially physically abusive father. Thank you for taking the time to read and review; I'm sorry the story wasn't more to your liking.

I love this story!!! And you are doing such a fabulous job with it, seriously!!! And what's with the severe lack of review-age here? these people don't know what they are missing!

Author's Response: Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it, and I'm so glad that you're enjoying!!! *blushes*

love it guh!! spike all nervous and shy wouldn't you just ravish him

Author's Response: Oh don't I know it! Nervous and shy Spike is definitely just begging to be ravaged ;) ............. Glad you loved! Thanks for reading & reviewing!