"What. Were. You. SMOKING?!"

Danae winced at the volume of Tyche's shout, but her placidly pleased expression didn't change an iota. She popped a donut hole into her mouth and then began to seriously consider an attack on the lemon-almond muffins. They were being ignored, and that was just wrong. "You know I don't smoke. And I don't see why you're upset. I had an inspiration. I shared it. Now something cool and wonderful is going to happen."

Tyche's face was turning as pink as the streaks in her hair. "Cool? COOL?! Dani, you got a vampire pregnant!"

"Did not. That was Angel." Yes, definitely the lemon. And one of those poppy-seed ones, too. Although if she grabbed that, Tyche might decide that the opium in the seeds was influencing her mood, and take it away. Better to wait until she'd calmed down a bit.

"Danae, there is no way that Darla's pregnancy would have advanced this far if you hadn't inspired the Rules to take a hike one stormy evening seven months ago," Minos said, crossing his arms and gesturing with his coffee cup, his usually calm facade of therapist/stockbroker laid aside for Perturbed Office Manager. "What you started *should* have been physically, magically, and *realistically* impossible. Now, we were all pretty busy that evening---"

"Yeah! You talked to Kate so you could bend the rules and let Angel save her life, and *you* talked straight to Lorne, a definite no-no---" Danae stabbed a finger at Minos, then at Tyche, giving them both her best injured look. "So why are you complaining about this now?"

"Because we just found out you did it!" Michael broke in, glaring down at her where she sat next to the coffee table. The head of Security was clutching a bearclaw like he thought it was going to escape his mighty grasp. Fat chance of that. "We thought Wolfram & Hart was responsible for the baby whatever-it-is, that the Opposition was up to something, that some kind of new demonspawn was about to be born, and now. Now." He took a deep breath, and tightened his grip on his frosted pastry. "NOW you tell us it was your idea! Do you have any concept of the kind of drills I've been running my guys through, getting ready for this thing? Are we going to have to kill it the second it's born, girl? 'Cause if that's the case, I'm definitely torqued at you for putting us through this."

"Nooooo! No! No." Danae fidgeted under Tyche's glare, Michael's furious appraisal, and Minos's raised eyebrow. "Not... well, I don't *think* so, I mean, it'll only be a little baby thing for a while, so *definitely* not right away...."

"Are you on crack?" Tyche squeaked, throwing out her arms in a big dramatic gesture and spilling coffee on Minos's tie. She didn't even notice when he rolled his eyes and vaporized the stain, that's how irritated she was. Dani couldn't remember the last time she'd seen the other Power so worked up. Maybe during the Ascension thing, back in Russia that one time. "Or just out-to-freaking-lunch? A vampire plus a vampire equals a monstrosity not intended by God or Nature or the Powers That Be! That's why they set up the rule in the first place! No baby vamps! No teeny little things with fangs! Who's going to want this thing? *Darla* doesn't even want it. Nothing in Heaven or on Earth is going to want a fanged baby!"

"A mother bat would!" Dani grinned triumphantly, then wilted under the looks she was getting. "Okay, but... she would."

Mino sighed. "Dani, we're the Powers for a reason. To help guard and guide the living down on Earth, not risk it on a whim---" He was lecturing again, being all sweet and concerned, but he was so far off-base that she just had to interrupt him.

"It wasn't a whim. It was an Inspiration. That's what I do, so I know. Trust me, they're totally different." She peeled the paper off her lemon-almond muffin and used it to punctuate her explanation. "Vampires can't have babies because life can't come from lifelessness, and dead bodies can't make life. Because there's no soul. But!" Danae grinned at her friends, holding the wrapper in the air like a flag. "Angel has a soul! So, the baby can have one. It's a miracle!"

"Uhh...." Tyche blinked at Mike, and he returned her dubious look with one of his own.

"Are you saying that the baby's going to be a force... for humanity? Working for us?" Minos was tilting his head, and he looked like he had a headache hurting him right around his temples. Too much caffiene, Dani diagnosed. That stuff could even make the Afterlife a little too focused.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Maybe not?" She shrugged. "It's got to have free will if it's got a soul, right?"

Tyche whimpered, then gave a semi-hysterical half-laugh. "So you, um... helped create a baby that will probably be either immensely powerful or incredibly vicious when it grows up, and you don't even know if it's going to be *good*?"

"Of course not," Dani said primly. "That would be cheating."

"And you did this why?" Michael asked, his voice careful, and calm, and sounding like the death knell of a thousand cities that had pissed him off.

"It was necessary. The possibilities it creates are endless. This baby will bring out the best and worst in everyone it encounters! It'll inspire them!" She looked around her circle of co-workers, and shrugged. "Honestly. You guys worry too much. Destruction, apocalypse; we can always work around that if we have to. Get them postponed, get them moved to a black hole where no one, whatever. What matters are the *souls*. How they deal with the prospect. You know that." Danae smiled cheerfully. "Besides, it's been so long since we did something *truly* original.... I can't wait to see how it comes out."

Her friends stared at her for a little longer, then Minos sighed. "Right. Too late to undo it now. We'll just have to prepare for the worst. As usual. Only maybe on a larger *scale* than usual."

Michael grumbled under his breath and stuffed the bearclaw in his mouth, while Tyche shook her head and gave a long, drawn-out sigh. "Ooooo-kay. Sure. Can do. Or, well--- will try. Can do is getting harder. Can't you guys *do* something about those Wolfram & Hart losers already?" she demanded suddenly, turning to Mike, who glared at her with his mouth full. "Isn't there some kind of retribution you can smite them with for messing with my Seer? I have a hard enough time working with Cordy when she's in a good mood, but *now*...."

"No, you know we can't do that. They're outta bounds while they're alive and not trespassing directly on the sacred---"

"You didn't call that last one trespassing?!?"

"The swami's under wraps now, isn't he? Do you *really* think Angel's aim is that good?" Mike snorted, then grabbed a sweetroll from the plate. "Divine vengeance gets to kick in when called for, that psychic's waiting for Minos to 'counsel' him on his next life as an endangered species, and they can't hijack your Messenger again. Not like that, anyway."

Tyche grimaced, unsatisfied. "It's just, it's bad enough I can't explain why the real visions have to hurt, without someone trying to get her to quit her Calling like this---"

"Why *do* they have to hurt?" Danae wondered aloud. "I mean, that Fred-girl had the right idea with the energy thing, but it doesn't have to be on a painful wavelength if we don't want it to be. Right?"

"It's to preserve her sanity." Tyche looked morose and started breaking her donut into little pieces. "If she didn't have the 'pain here' part attached to the visions, she wouldn't know if they were real or not. Look at Dru. Completely disconnected, moving back and forth over what Is and what Might Be, because it all feels the same. Cordy would be wondering if she was imagining what she Saw, and she might not trust that the visions were important. It's just not supposed to be *this* bad."

The Forecasting Specialist sighed, looking too upset to eat, which Danae found truly sad and impressive. "She's fighting me, is the thing. Since Vocah. She's strong enough to take it, but strong enough to fight it too, so... *Someone* down there has got to teach her how to channel, or it's only going to get worse." Ty glared at Minos and Michael, and Mike made a hands-off gesture to forestall her.

"Don't look at me. My guys do the physical stuff. Get Mr. Career Center here to assign someone."

Minos nodded wearily and sipped his coffee. "I'll see if I can't find someone who can direct psychic help toward L.A. But you know we're understaffed right now, and it might---"

"Be a while, yeah, yeah, same as ever." Tyche smiled to take the sting out of her snarkiness. "Anything you can do, Min. You know it's important."

"I know." The Accountant grabbed the last donut hole, much to Dani's secret dismay, and turned to Michael. "Speaking of employees, how's Skip doing?"

"He'll be fine, no thanks to the prisoner we just lost. Or the moron vampire who let him *out*." Michael stared pointedly at Tyche.

"What? Why are you looking at me?" she protested. "I didn't make him do it. I didn't even *suggest* it."

"He did it for your girl, Tyche. So your Seer wouldn't be vulnerable, because you didn't have a good enough firewall on her mind to keep out intruders. We lost a prisoner and I *almost* lost a Warrior because that thick-brained Warrior of hers didn't even bother to consider the cost---"

"Ohh, you can't lay this one on me, Mikey. No way. Angel does what Angel wants. That guy always has, remember? It could've been Wes, or Gunn, or Fred in danger, and it would've been the same outcome---"

"Yeah, but it was *your* Messenger---"

"Hey! Just because she works for me doesn't mean I get to safety-code the inside of her head---"

"ENOUGH!" Minos took a deep breath, looking embarassed to be caught shouting, but Dani had to suppress a giggle at the surprise on Mike's face and the disgruntled expression on Tyche's. "He's Angel. He's impulsive. He cares about his friends. And if it comes time to write the balance sheet on this choice, *I'll* be the one doing it, not you guys. Got it?"

Mumbles of agreement, and Minos smiled slightly in relief. "Skip is going to be okay. Cordelia is going to recover. The prisoner will probably do something heinous and ugly before he's returned to his confinement, but we'll have a Seer to help find him and a Warrior to confine him when that happens, and I'll bet even odds that it's Angel who does it. He doesn't like being pushed. So just let this one go for now." He sighed, and glared at Dani again, who almost choked on her powdered donut in surprise. "We've got bigger problems coming at us, anyway."

"Yeah," Tyche agreed, joining in the glare.

"And how," Mike chimed in, giving Dani a stony gaze that scarred damned souls and made bishops fall on their faces in abject fear.

She blinked at them all, and wiped some of the sugar off her mouth. "Maybe we could put Billy and Angel's baby in a big cage, and sell tickets?"

Tyche dropped her head in defeat. Michael stuffed the cinnamon roll in his mouth, muttering something about artists, insane, and never escaping them, through the crumbs. Minos pinched the bridge of his nose.

The gloomy silence was broken by the sound of a beeper going off on Tyche's waist. She flipped it off and scanned the pager screen, then snorted in disgust. "And now, as if everything else weren't perfect--- the Slayer is no longer a cat any more. Just. Wonderful. Beautiful. *Special.* Her timing is just freakin' awesome. As always." She grabbed another cup of coffee and stomped toward the exit. "Let me know when we *know* anything more, or if you remember doing something else really creative, Dani. I've got a couple thousand destinies to untangle. If I ever get my hands on a certain red-haired witch...." Tyche mumbled on her way out the door.

"You'll have to wait in li-ine!" Danae called after her. Tyche made a rude gesture over her shoulder and let the door slam behind her.

Minos traded a glance with Mike, then smiled cheerfully, albeit with an edge of desperation, at the Designer. "Dani? Why don't you go get Glory another set of furniture to destroy, okay? She's getting sick of the rattan."

"Sure. I live to serve. Just like everyone here." She got up and dusted the powder off her skirt, then bounced over to the doorway, where she paused. "Keep that in mind when you're thinking of things to do about my new project, okay?" She smiled winningly at their disapproval, then left, humming.

Honestly. The lengths she went to make it interesting around here, you'd think they'd show a little more appreciation....

***FIN***

Author's Notes:
I can't explain this except that I must've had too much chockie. Or someone did. David Greenwalt needs his oil checked. Seriously.

Wrote most of this right after "That Vision Thing", did a rewrite on some stuff during "Offspring". I have beta'ers who will testify to my need to get in on the class-action suit for the shared brain.

Comments desired. Yeah.

KikiMariposa@prodigy.net
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