Angel poked his head around the door of Faith's hospital room as she was getting ready to leave.
"Hey," he said, smiling faintly. "How are you feeling?"
"Five by five," Faith replied, looking up. "What's up?"
"Actually, I need to borrow Sam for a second," he told her, glancing at the taller man. "Could I have a minute?"
"Cool." Faith went back to filling out the hospital forms.
Sam
Sam looked between them, a little taken aback.
"Guess that's a no-brainer."
He left the room, stepping down the hall a bit so Angel could follow.
Angel
Angel followed Sam a little way down the hall, glancing towards Faith's room for a second, before turning to Sam.
"Has she made a decision on what she's going to do? Is she staying or...?"
Sam
"I think she wants to come back on the road with us," Sam scratched his head awkwardly as he stopped walking.
"You don't think that's a good idea, do you?"
Angel
"To be honest, no," Angel replied.
"I don't think she realises how serious her condition can get. She figures she'll bounce back and it will be ok because she had these sorts of pains with Tru, but... her condition has gotten so much worse since she had Tru."
Sam
Sam frowned.
"Is there something you're not telling me?" he put his hands on his hips.
Angel
Angel hesitated for a moment.
"Well, it's early onset pre-eclampsia," he explained. "Anything before five months is considered early onset, and is all the more dangerous. There's more of a chance it will progress to eclampsia."
Sam
"I know this part, keep going," Sam insisted.
Angel
"She doesn't remember a lot of it, she was pretty out of it, but after Tru was born, she had to be put into a medically induced coma," Angel went on.
"She was in too much pain, even with the medication. And I worry that we didn't see it back then, because she refused to go to the hospital until she had to."
Sam
"Angel I have to ask..." Sam cut in.
"We've tried to abort this baby, multiple times. Somehow the fetus itself is manifesting powers already and it's using them to protect itself. Is there anyway, or anyone, that you can think of that could help us? I mean you guys are into everything - witchery, demonic means, everything. Please tell me you can help with this somehow."
He folded his arms across his chest nervously.
Angel
"I'd say at this point, it's now too late until she gives birth," Angel told him. "Willow did mention she had seen you three, and there was nothing she could do magically."
He scratched his jaw.
"I would recommend having the birth here, and I'll have a full team of experts around."
Sam
"And I trust you will," Sam nodded.
"I'm just worried that maybe once it's born, it'll be too late."
Angel
"We might get a shot at it though," Angel pointed out.
"Right now, it's using Faith for protection, because it can't protect itself properly."
Sam
"And once it's out, it probably can," Sam pointed out.
Angel
"But we also can't risk inadvertantly killing Faith while it's still in there," Angel replied.
"I can look into it, but I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done."
Sam
Sam nodded, understanding.
"Ok. Thankyou," he managed a small smile.
"Any small amount of help is better than none."
Angel
Angel nodded, rubbing his jaw again.
"So, she's determined to leave, isn't she?"
Sam
"You know what she's like," Sam shrugged.
"I figured arguing probably wasn't in my best interests."
Angel
Angel hesitated.
"Well, I suppose the reason she was stressing while you were away was because she didn't know if you were safe."
Sam
"As gracious as the hospitality is, I can't stay here and you know that," Sam said apologetically.
"I mean for one, you don't want Dean and Spike together full time, right?"
Angel
"Yeah, and no offence, but I wouldn't want you around all the time either," Angel said.
"For a few reasons, but the foremost being that my receptionist refuses to work when you're in the building, as she's a little too busy watching you in case you bend over."
Sam
"Excuse me?" Sam just looked confused.
Angel
"The ladies talk about you," Angel sighed.
"And productivity is at an all time low when you're in the building. Haven't you ever noticed the large amounts of females walking through the lobby when you're around?"
Sam
"I figured... a lot of females work here," Sam was clueless.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know. Got a back door I can sneak in next time?"
Angel
"Yeah, I'll organise you with security codes," Angel told him.
"So, I'm just going to have to accept that she's going, huh? I remember when she used to listen to my advice."
Sam
"She ever did?" Sam chuckled.
Angel
"I believe once she listened to me," Angel said, after a moment thinking about it.
"It felt akin to winning a medal."
Sam
"There we go," Sam chuckled.
"So I guess you'll want updates? Or do you just want to check in once in a while?"
Angel
"Either or," Angel told him.
"If you're in the area, pop in, if not, just get her to give me a call. Or maybe you should call. She tends to be a bit casual about her health."
Sam
"I noticed, believe me," Sam assured.
"Thanks for calling me when she first came in."
Angel
"No worries," Angel said.
"Yeah, I figured she wasn't going to, because she thought it was nothing to worry about."
Sam
"As usual," Sam rolled his eyes.
He turned to head back to the room.
"Let me know if you come up with anything on the spawn front."
Angel
"Will do."
Angel turned in the direction of the elevators.
"Get Faith to stop in before you guys head off."
Sam
Sam saluted, before turing and opening the door.