Go TeamC/A
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Part 4
Still unrecognized
A rush of pounding footsteps sounded outside the Hyperion just before the lobby doors opened and Charles Gunn, axe in hand, burst through quickly followed by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Winifred Burkle. Though unarmed, Wesley was prepared to use those hand-to-hand skills garnered under his Watcher’s Council training, or at least make a run for the weapons cabinet. Fred hadn’t thought beyond getting inside to see if her friends were all right; her arms still laden with the toy prizes from the carnival.
Welling from the darkest depths
Unspoken but there
Called by many names
Soaring to heights unmeasured
Bolstered by dreams
Enlightened by pain
Out of the gloom of despair
Truth clouded no more
One by one they fell from her grip as Fred took in the sight of the empty lobby. Fear caused her words to tremble, “Do ya’ll think we’re too late?”
“ANGEL! CORDY!” Gunn let out a loud shout that received only an echo in return as he moved down the carpeted steps into middle of the lobby. Glancing back at Wes and Fred over his shoulder, he looked grim, but determined, “I’ll check out Angel’s room upstairs.”
Gunn had a bad feeling about this. He’d had it ever since that fortune-teller back at the boardwalk had warned them Connor was in danger. Taking the stairs one by one, he almost hoped he wouldn’t find Angel and Cordelia up there. Things were different between those two lately, according to Fred, and even he had to admit there were a few vibes going back and forth that weren’t there in the past.
If Angel and Cordy were in that upstairs bedroom, there was a significant chance he would not like what he found whether or not that included an introduction with the vampire’s evil side. As he mentally readied himself for a first-time encounter with Angelus, Gunn sent out a silent warning to his friend, I’d better be wrong, Bro.
Watching him go, Fred’s mouth twisted worriedly. Suggesting to Wes, “Maybe they went out.”
Though he wanted that to be the case, Wesley thumbed in the direction of the doors. “Broad daylight and vampires don’t mix. If Madame Bosha was right, there’s still a chance they made an escape through the sewers. I’ll head down to the basement to see if there’s any sign they went that way.”
Nodding, Fred quickly realized that left her alone. “Okay,” she commented to Wes’ back as he disappeared around the corner. “Guess I’ll search for clues right here.”
Ignoring the scattered toy animals, Fred moved slowly into the main part of the lobby. A lump of fear rose into her throat and stayed there despite her efforts to swallow it down. After the gypsy’s warning, Charles had driven like a maniac to get across town in time. Despite her hopes that the woman was wrong and that this was all some big mistake, that maybe, just maybe Angel had taken Cordy and Connor out for ice cream, Fred knew they wouldn’t want her hiding behind such wishes.
Squaring her thin shoulders, Fred decided that if there were clues to be found, she’d be the one to find them. Almost immediately, she came across the crossbow lodged halfway under the couch where it had fallen. Bloody cloths lay in a pile on the floor next to the couch along with left over bandages, tape and a pair of scissors. It wasn’t like Cordelia to leave her first aid supplies in a mess, and so the sight was more than a little disturbing.
“Mmuhng.”
“Charles?” Glancing up at the slight sound, Fred looked toward the stairs to see him slowly descending the steps from the floor above. She thought the noise had come from behind her, but with Wesley also emerging from the basement door, it made sense that one of them had caused it.
“Nothing,” Gunn told her in response. “Angel’s bed is so neat I couldn’t even find a crease. Definitely no bliss-havin’ by the looks of it…not up there, anyway.”
Fred easily made the leap along his line of thinking and refuted it quickly. “I don’t think we’re dealing with Angelus.”
Even Wes had to agree, “Angelus wouldn’t be this subtle about being back. He would be eagerly waiting for us if that was the case, Gunn. That isn’t what happened here.”
“At least you ain’t doggin’ my theory like it couldn’t happen,” Gunn commented as he set the axe down across the front counter. “You’re the one who’s always on about it.”
“Yes, well it appears our concerns in that regard are unwarranted,” Wesley admitted. He’d been meaning to have a talk with Angel about those worries, but Darla’s arrival, Connor’s birth and the research he’d been conducting on the scroll of Aberjan had been enough to distract him.
“Mm…oww.”
Hearing something again, Fred turned in the direction of the sound, but saw nothing. “Did ya’ll hear a cat or something?” Before they could answer, she moved across the lobby, a soft sound on her lips as she called out, “Kitty?”
“No, no there are no kitties,” Wesley wanted to point out that this was hardly the time to be concerned about that. Frustratedly, he revealed, “I found nothing in the basement. No sign at all to indicate Angel used that as their escape route. Nor any sign of what the threat was to begin with.”
Fred stood with her arms crossed in front of her as she examined the empty space that held no sign of anything, much less a stray cat. She was starting to theorize on residual noise left by fractal apertures in the space-time continuum when she took a step backward. Her heel caught on something solid despite the empty space causing Fred to take a hard tumble to the floor.
“You okay, Fred?” The question didn’t come from either Wes or Gunn who were both already halfway across the lobby to help her up from her fall, but the male voice was too familiar to deny its owner.
Staring at the empty spot where the sound emanated, Fred gaped as she asked for confirmation, “A-Angel?”
“Where are Connor and Cordy?” his thoughts immediately focused on them.
Gunn’s eyes were huge circles as he sounded out his answer, “Not here.”
Letting out a curse, Angel told them, “Those little bastards must have them.”
“Umm…Angel,” began Wesley who faltered at the thought that Cordelia and the baby had been abducted. Before he could allow that to sink in, he had to ask, “Angel, are you aware of your current condition?”
“I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Angel told her then realized all three of his friends were staring in his direction with flabbergasted looks on their faces. “What the hell was that thing?”
Fred let out a little panicked screech mixed with a twinge of excitement, “Angel, we can hear you.”
After a little pause, Angel gave her an odd look. “Yeah, I thought I was talking, too.”
“No, I mean…where are you?” Fred reached out a hand feeling across the hardwood floor until it connected with something. A shoe, she realized.
Glancing down at the delicate hand covering the top of his shoe, Angel wondered if it was just his aching head that was making this seem strange or if Fred was having a Pylean flashback. “Right here, Fred,” he put his hand over hers.
The sudden sensation of cool fingers sliding around her wrist caused Fred to let out a yelp of surprise. Wesley rubbed a hand across his stubbled jaw and decided that it was best to simply tell Angel extent of the problem. “We can’t see you. It seems that you’re… invisible.”***
Cordelia sat on the floor of the van with her back against a custom-built cabinet. The baby remained in her arms, now sleeping again, peacefully unaware of the danger. Though Jonathan sat beside her, supposedly on-guard, he seemed more interested in catching up on old times than holding a weapon on her. Being injured, Warren claimed the rights to the front seat while the third member of the trio sat in the driver’s seat.
Just great! Cordelia couldn’t prevent the eye-rolling response to the computers and various electronic equipment inside the van. Connor, we’ve been kidnapped by Nerds-R-Us in their Geekmobile. I promise, sweetie. One way or another, we’ll get out of this.
“I guess a lot has happened since graduation,” Jonathan commented as he watched her fingers move in a slow pattern up and down the cloth covering the sole of one tiny baby foot.
Silence felt awkward and he’d never known Cordelia not to answer his questions with the complete and utter truth…no matter how painful some of those answers might have been for him. It all depended on what he was asking. Right now she looked like she wanted to burst into tears or strangle him with her own two hands. Suddenly, it occurred to him that it might be both.
Trying again, Jonathan went for the more direct route, “How’d you end up in LA with Buffy’s ex? That was him, right?”
“Right,” she sucked in a shaky breath trying not to remember the way Angel had just vanished before their eyes. Obliterated by their idiotic ray gun.
Only the fact that Connor’s safety was on the line forced Cordelia to control her anger. She wasn’t certain what she would do yet, or how she’d make it happen, but Cordelia wanted them to pay.
Warren swiveled his chair, “Bet the Slayer just loves that. You and her ex. She know about the kid?”
“Nope,” Cordelia answered truthfully. The idea obviously amused the bastard. “Why don’t you call her up. Give Buffy the good news.”
Buffy would no doubt call Warren ten kinds of a liar before she believed him. Then she’d spend about ten minutes being very ticked off before she came after this little Geek Trio and kicked their deserving asses all over Sunnydale. Cordelia knew that Buffy would come to Connor’s rescue if she knew of his existence, but even these dorks weren’t stupid enough to call the Slayer just to give her some shocking news.
Would they?
“Considering the way you two used to talk to each other. I was always hoping for a cat fight or a little mud wrestling, but then you started dating Harris and made peace or something.” Warren laughed despite his pain.
Cordelia glared back, “We’re real pals.”
Snorting at the sarcastic tone, Warren added, “Bet you’d like to see the look on her face when she finds out about the little love child.”
Actually, yes, but from a very long distance. Besides, “That’s not the news that is going to hurt Buffy, dofus. Try the fact that you slaughtered Angel. Human or not, you three are going to be hunted down like any other demon and she won’t be the only one after you.”
“Nobody knows we have you and the kid,” came his smug rejoinder. “As for Buffy—”
From the driver’s seat, Andrew sounded a little nervous, “M-Maybe you should forget about telling the Slayer. Wait until the baby is gone and we have the funds to set up a better lair with more security.”
“You seem to know a lot about Buffy,” Cordelia looked straight at Jonathan to give her an explanation. They obviously knew about her status as the Chosen One, certainly that her role in Sunnydale went way beyond her informal title of Class Protector.
After the explosive events of their graduation, Cordelia figured these three had the interest and know-how to get detailed information on whomever interested them. That obviously included Buffy and Angel Investigations.
“Know thy enemy,” quoted Warren. “Or as the Klingons say—”
“Nobody cares what they say,” Cordelia huffed. “Since when is the Slayer an enemy of yours? Geeks aren’t exactly on her radar.”
Warren told her, “She’s the obvious choice. Every great hero needs a nemesis. Great villains need a worthy opponent to challenge them to great deeds. Well, we’re Buffy’s arch nemesises...ses.”
Then Andrew explained, “We’ve been doing a little stalking and surveillance. Planning preemptive strikes to avoid a big showdown.”
Arching her eyebrows, Cordelia turned toward Jonathan again. “Spying, huh? So how is Buffy these days?”
“Alive,” Jonathan reminded her, “but different, too. Y’know, since she came back.”
“Being dead does that to a person.”
Andrew piped up again, “Better than being a zombie, which Jonathan says could have happened.”
“Willow brought her back, didn’t she?” Jonathan asked, curious about his theory on the Slayer’s return.
“I’m a little out of the loop,” Cordelia admitted. Though it wouldn’t surprise her in the least to learn that Willow would do anything to keep her friend in the land of the living. “I just get the newsflashes, not the detailed documentary.”
That didn’t seem to surprise him since she’d already told them that Buffy didn’t know about Connor. The lines of communication between Sunnydale and Los Angeles apparently didn’t even cover the life and death situations. It was fortunate that there was nothing left behind in LA to reveal who they were or the location of their lair.
No matter what Cordelia might hope, the Slayer would not be coming to her rescue.
Changing the subject, Jonathan told her, “I’m still into magick, too. Not like Willow, but I can work some major mojo.”
“That explains a lot,” Cordelia leaned her head back against the cabinet. “I once got a freaky card in the mail from Anya. She told me she was considering letting me have Xander back because he just couldn’t compete with you. Something about you being the one man every woman wants. A couple of days later she left a message on our voice mail telling me to forget it.”
Grinning at the memory of his super-stardom, Jonathan shrugged, “That was great, but it wasn’t real. There’s nothing that the three of us can’t do. We can do anything; make anything. Just look at our latest invention.”
He pointed toward the metallic weapon on Warren’s lap. Cordelia secretly hoped it would spontaneously explode taking the murdering psychopath with it. “Your electro-magick thingy.”
Proud excitement animated Jonathan’s face as he clearly forgot about the fact that the ray gun was the cause of Angel’s death. Forcing herself to listen, Cordelia wanted to find out as much as she could just in case she got a chance to turn it upon its creators. Killing them wasn’t necessarily on her list of things to do, but she’d bet they would get the hell out of her way with it pointed at them.
“It’s part science and part magick,” Jonathan explained proudly. “The laser effect is all science. That’s Warren’s department.”
“Nice diamond,” Cordelia noted the huge gemstone fitted into the top of the device.
Warren didn’t mind sharing their escapade just to let Cordelia Chase know that they were men of skill and daring. “We needed a diamond large enough to focus the energy beam. The only one accessible was at the Sunnydale Museum. So we broke in and took what we wanted.”
Giving him a look of disgust, Cordelia said, “Theft, kidnapping and murder; you guys really have moved down in the world.”
“You’re not exactly on top of it,” Warren jeered. “Guess Daddy’s pampered princess had a lifestyle change after the Feds took everything. No wonder you’re shacked up with a vampire.”
“You should be so lucky!” Even if that last part wasn’t true, it was none of Warren’s business. Cordelia would have given him an earful, but her angry shout caused the baby to stir in his sleep.
Jonathan decided to try to cut through the tension by continuing his story about their new invention. “My magick made it all possible. I found this really cool rock in an old junk shop. It was saturated in mystic energy and worked as a power source for our blaster.”
“So Warren’s the science guy and you’re the magick dude,” Cordelia’s voice was now deliberately softer. “What about him…Tucker’s brother.”
“I’m Andrew,” he reminded her. “Andrew.”
An eye-roll later, Cordelia let out a short huff, “Pfft! Okay, sheesh! Andrew. Let me guess…you’re the chauffeur.”
“No,” Andrew protested that even if he did drive the van more than the others. “I’m the strategic planning department. Mission control. Stealth guy.”
Cordelia figured, “So you’re supposed to be the brains of this operation?”
An immediate, “No!” sounded from both Warren and Jonathan.
Egos, much? She pulled another string, “So who’s in charge?”
“I am,” all three answered in unison.***
“Invisible?” Angel glanced down at his hands and lower body. “I can see myself.”
“Fascinating,” murmured Wes just before asking the vampire what caused it.
Fred jumped in with a scientific theory on harnessing light waves to create the illusion of invisibility. “It’s kinda like a cloak of light covering the target object, but one refracting the light normally absorbed by it. Only in this case, the object is a moving target rather than a stationary, inanimate test subject. Basically, the actual invisibility isn’t as surprising as the fact that it’s happening around Angel.”
After listening to Fred’s drawn-out explanation of scientific theory, Gunn just wanted to know, “So how do we fix it?”
“This is all very disconcerting,” Wes commented as he walked back across the foyer.
“Yeah, but how do we fix it?” he asked the question again.
Wes told him they needed to start with finding out the details of what happened. He had no sooner made that statement than he bumped into what felt like a solid wall. A low growl of irritation sounded as Angel moved Wesley off of his foot. “Sorry.”
“Forget this problem for the moment,” Angel told them moving to a spot where they weren’t likely to step on him. “We can think about it on the way to Sunnydale.”
Angel quickly explained that their attackers were from Sunnydale and were known to Cordelia. “They came across internet sites offering money in exchange for Connor.”
“Who are these punks?” asked Gunn.
“Jonathan, Warren and Andrew,” Angel answered as he picked up his leather jacket from the counter and reached into the pocket to pull out his car keys and tossing them toward Gunn. “Pull the car around in the shade. Looks like I’ll be riding in the trunk.”
“You got it.” Catching the keys, which remained visible for the few seconds they were still in Angel’s hands, Gunn immediately headed out to move the car.
Moving up the stairs, Angel shrugged into the jacket, anxious to get going. Within a few seconds of putting it on, the jacket also became invisible. “We need to figure out exactly where they’re holding Cordy and Connor, but I’m pretty sure they’re headed back to Sunnydale.”
Fred suggested, “We could check out Cordy’s High School Yearboo—”
“Hello, hello my little crumbcakes,” Lorne strolled through the front doors, opening them wide and sending sunlight streaming across the front of the lobby.
“Lorne, no!” called out Fred drawing a startled look from the Pylean.
“Aarrgh!” Angel automatically cried out as the light flashed in his eyes. Then realizing instantly, “I’m not on fire.”
“Angelcakes?” Lorne’s jaw dropped as his head immediately turned in the vampire’s direction. “There’s something different about you.”
Still wound up, Angel snapped, “I’m invisible.”
Wes kept staring at the sunlight filtering through the frosted windows of the closed doors. “The sunlight didn’t affect him.”
Standing close, Fred was equally interested in the phenomenon, “Must be the light waves that created his current state.”
Lorne seemed preoccupied and the invisibility factor was the least of his concerns. “No, there’s something else. It’s your aura. I can’t see it, but I can still sense it and it’s shouting at me.”
“Well, if you’re sensing anything, it’s probably just me being extremely pissed off,” he told Lorne. “Cordelia and Connor have been kidnapped.”
Lorne appeared taken aback. “That would explain some of it. Who did this? Is there a ransom note? A plan to get the princess and the little nipper home again?”
Angel confirmed, “There’s a plan.”
Just the tone in his voice, much less the other waves coming from the vampire, gave Lorne the impression that the plan was all too simple. “Yeesh, good thing I’m one of the good guys. I’d hate to be them when you find them.”
Violent thoughts skimmed close to the surface as Angel imagined getting his hands on Cordelia and Connor’s kidnappers. “Lorne, I need you to stay here and man the phone in case they call. I doubt it because if they thought I had the kind of money they were looking for, they would have tried to get it from me instead of—”
“Turning you invisible?” asked Fred filling the void left by Angel as his voice trailed off.
“They were trying to kill me. Why turn me invisible in the first place?” Angel asked her. “What advantage does that give them?”
They all shrugged. Fred suggested, “Maybe they didn’t know that was a side effect. From their perspective, you just disappeared.”
Gunn suddenly appeared again, “Car’s ready. I’m grabbing some weapons and we’ll be good to go.”
“Good,” Angel paced in front of the door. Addressing Fred and Wes, he described the ray gun. “It was metallic and had a huge diamond built into the front. They made it themselves, I think, some super laser electro-magic thingy.”
Rolling her eyes Cordy-style, Fred told him, “Angel, it would be more helpful if you could remember the real name.”
“That was it…sort of,” he confessed thinking he’d got it right.
“Well any weapon powered by a laser could have powerful destructive capabilities if designed appropriately,” she told him as they moved toward the car. “Maybe they thought you were vaporized. There could be a flaw in their design.”
“If magick is involved, there are many things that could have affected the outcome,” Wes added as he pulled a gun from the cabinet before trailing behind the others.
“This magic mumbo-jumbo always gets to me,” Gunn still couldn’t shake the weird feeling left behind by the fortune teller’s predictions and seeing…or rather not seeing, Angel in his invisible state.
Fred felt more excited about it and it sounded in her voice, “Not just magic, Charles. If Angel is right about its description, the laser gun is like a hybrid of both magic and electro-mechanical invention. I’d love to get my hands on it to see how they made it work. Y’know. Take it apart. Put it back together.”
“I hope you’ll get that chance, Fred,” sounded the droll tones of the vampire as he closed the passenger side door.
As her thin features froze in reaction, Fred promised, “Oh, well only after we make you visible again.”
Angel didn’t really care at this point. His first priority was getting his son and his seer back safely. “Gunn, give me the keys. I’m driving.”
“The sun’s still shining,” Gunn commented having missed their discovery.
“I’m immune to its effects in this form,” Angel explained. “Keys, Gunn. Now. We’re wasting time.”
Wesley knew that Angel wanted to get to Sunnydale without any further delay and probably doubted any of them would drive fast enough to satisfy his urge to get there. Cautioning against it, “I think you should reconsider driving.”
“The hell I am. Let’s go.”
“But Angel, it’s nearly rush hour,” Wes reminded him. “Getting out of town with an invisible vampire driving our car will draw a lot of attention we don’t need.”
A frustrated growl sounded followed by a short pause. “Then I guess I get shotgun. Gunn, just keep your foot down… and try not to scratch my car.”
Part 5
Called by many names
Leaving Los Angeles and its heavy rush hour traffic behind, Gunn floored the Plymouth. The car zipped along the open highway, the California winds whipping around the convertible sending Fred’s hair flying around her shoulders. Listening to her conversation with Wesley as they sat in the back seat, Angel figured the issue of his invisibility was in good hands, but it was time to focus on more pressing matters.
Soaring to heights unmeasured
Bolstered by dreams
Enlightened by pain
Out of the gloom of despair
Truth clouded no more
Destiny or chance
Bounding to its pinnacle
To be acknowledged
“We need to call ahead to Sunnydale,” Angel broke into their conversation.
Fred glanced toward the front passenger seat, focusing in on the spot where she knew Angel was sitting. A little guilt crept into her expression having been caught talking about the scientific and mystic causes of Angel’s condition. It was just that it was something she knew she could help with and while the kidnapping was of great concern to them all, Fred figured Angel already had it covered.
“To that girl with the funny name?” Fred guessed wondering why she could never seem to recall it.
“Yes, that one,” confirmed Angel, the hint of a smile on his face going unseen. “Buffy went to school with Cordelia. So it’s my guess she knows the kidnappers. If they’ve been causing this kind of trouble in Sunnydale, chances are that she’ll know how to find them.”
Wes considered, “This is a kidnapping case, so perhaps we should notify the local authorities.”
“Riiiight,” Gunn’s sarcasm came through as he flashed a look at Wes via the rearview mirror. “An invisible vampire goes into a police station to report the kidnapping of his son and his… his seer.”
Cordelia. Her name and her face filled his thoughts as Angel noted the struggle Gunn made in finding the right descriptor. That was just one connection they shared. She was a friend, his best friend, and probably knew him better than any living soul. The things he felt for her were nameless, but those feelings ran deep.
Just the thought of her at the mercy of young men who might have reason to want the beautiful former Queen C under their power made him a little crazy.
“No police,” Angel said firmly. If they dared to touch Cordelia, he’d take pleasure in ripping them apart limb by limb. “We’ll handle this my way.”
“Very well,” agreed Wesley without any argument knowing the effort would be futile. Anyone with the temerity to kidnap Angel’s son expecting to get away unscathed was either stupid or extremely desperate. He certainly wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of the vampire’s vengeance.
Having no idea exactly what kind of desperado villains they were dealing with, Wes added, “It’s a good thing that Cordelia is with Connor. We’ve got someone on the inside looking out for him.”
Angel’s mouth curled up at one corner. “Cordelia faced down Angelus with nothing but an attitude and a container of spring water. He’s is in good hands as long as she’s with him.”
“They’ll be getting close to Sunnydale now,” Gunn commented as he read the green and white mileage marker that showed another eighty miles to go. “Better make that call.”
Pulling his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, Angel punched in a one and the area code for Sunnydale, but paused as he realized the enormity of the news he was about to spring on his former girlfriend. She deserved to hear it face to face, but considering the importance of catching up with the kidnappers before they had a chance to contact potential buyers, he simply couldn’t afford to wait.
“Maybe I should contact Mister Giles first,” suggested Wesley when he noticed the lack of phone conversation coming from the front seat.
“No, Wes,” Angel silently added a thank you, understanding that his friend caught onto the reason for his hesitation, “this has to be done quickly. Buffy may know how to find to them before we even get to town.”
He punched in the rest of the numbers and after several rings, he heard a familiar, “Hello?”
“Dawn, it’s Angel,” he told the teenager. “Is Buffy around?”
“Oh, it’s you.” Dawn never really liked Angel and didn’t bother to hide that fact from him. It had nothing to do with him being a vampire. Lately, it had everything to do with not liking him showing up during times of crisis only to leave again. Buffy was always pouting and moping for a few days afterward. “We’re fine. Nothing here for you to bother with. No apocalypses this week.”
“I need to talk to your sister,” Angel tried to suppress the growl rolling into his voice, but heard the gasp catch in her throat as she responded to it.
Then came her mumbled, “Spike was right,” just before she held the phone away from her mouth to holler at the top of her lungs, “BUFFY! Tall, dark and dudley is on the phone.”
Snatching the phone from her sister, Buffy whispered furiously, “He heard you say that.”
“So?” Dawn shrugged and automatically cradling her left arm defensively. She was still getting used to the cast having broken it during a recent car accident.
Buffy held the phone to her chest as she snapped back, “So you should just— aargh! Just go do your homework.”
With a defiant smirk, Dawn turned on her heel and stalked into the kitchen instead of heading up to her bedroom. For a moment, Buffy watched her go, completely caught up again in the frustration that was parenting an unruly younger sister. Most days, Buffy felt she couldn’t even parent herself, much less Dawn. With Giles in England and Willow teetering on the edge of control due to her addiction to magick, Buffy’s usual support system was looking thin.
Glancing down at the phone in her hand, Buffy slowly pulled it up to her ear. Angel always had a knack for well-timed rescues, showing up when she needed him the most. She wanted to fall into his arms and never climb out again, but after all that had happened with Spike over the past few days, she wondered if she could even look him in the eye or if anything would ever be the same again.
“Hi,” her voice squeaked its tiny greeting. Quickly, she issued an apology for all that was rude and ungrateful in her world at the moment. “Sorry, Angel, you know Dawn. She’s still…”
“A teenager?” For some reason, Angel’s mind flashed to an image of Cordelia in her Sunnydale days; queen of all she surveyed, certain that the world revolved around her and allergic to anything that remotely resembled tact.
Not that the scant number of years since then had done anything to curb the bite of that tactless tongue. Cordelia had grown into one amazing woman. Maybe the whole world didn’t revolve around her, but his certainly did and that was something Angel was only now starting to realize.
“I was going to say pain in the neck,” Buffy sighed her confession.
The words snapped Angel out of his thoughts and back to the point of the phone call. “Buffy, I need your help.”
Instantly alert, Buffy heard the strain in his voice. “What is it?”
“This is urgent,” he stressed wishing again that this conversation wasn’t happening in such an impersonal manner. This wasn’t going to be easy in any form, but he’d have preferred to be there to help her through this shock. “I need you to sit down and listen closely.”
Buffy’s eyes widened at the tone. “Oh, this is sit-down kind of news.” Bad, she knew and sank slowly onto the couch next to the living room phone. Her mind reeled with the possibilities as she waited the few seconds for Angel to reveal what he needed to say. The silence on the other end of the line prompted her to quip, “Sitting.”
Feeling strangely nervous, Angel rubbed a hand along his tense neck muscles. Then he licked his dry lips and let out a breath he hadn’t even realized that he’d taken. Deciding to start with the easy part, he asked, “Do you remember anyone from Sunnydale High named Warren, Jonathan or Andrew?”
Surprised, Buffy had been braced for news of a personal nature, not a query on old high school classmates who were more troublesome annoyances than anything else. “Unfortunately, yes.” She wasn’t about to go into the details about her opinions on Warren or his ability to create lifelike robots.
“Do they have a base of operations somewhere in Sunnydale?” A giggle sounded from Buffy’s end of the line causing Angel to wonder what he’d asked that was so funny.
“What— like a super secret clubhouse or something?” Buffy questioned as she gave it some thought. The idea of those three teaming up nearly gave her hives. “Sorry, but I have no idea if they have a Fortress of Solitude. I could ask around if it’s that important.”
Angel replied instantly, “It is. A lot has happened in LA while you’ve been…gone.” He had mourned her, but now that Buffy was again in the land of the living, Angel found it hard to think of the girl who’d given him his first experience with love as having been dead. “There’s one thing I haven’t gotten around to telling you. More than one, I suppose, but mainly because I’ve been getting used to the fact myself.”
“Oh,” Buffy’s insides twisted into knots as the endless flow of her wild ideas suddenly narrowed into one distinct possibility. He’d found somebody else.
While her mind reeled in protest at the thought, one tiny voice reminded her she had made more than one effort to find a life and love of her own. Then again, Angel was supposed to pine for her forever if they couldn’t be together. Except that she wanted him to be happy, too, sort of. Trying to sound supportive, she started off, “Well that is just—”
“I’m a father, Buffy,” Angel blurted the news as he cut her off, unable to make it come out any softer or less shocking. “I have a son. His name is Connor.”
Silence hung across the phone line as Buffy slowly digested the words. Not only had her suspicions been correct— he had found someone new— but they also had a child together. Angel had a family, one that didn’t include her.
Gripping the phone a little too tightly, she heard the plastic casing start to crack and forced herself to loosen her hold. “I didn’t know that was possible.”
Wasn’t that the whole gist of their breakup? That he was a vampire and she a Slayer. That he could never give her a normal life, presuming that someone like her even had real relationships or a family in their future.
“Neither did I,” Angel confessed, also conscious of the eavesdroppers listening in and making no pretense of the fact that they were doing so. “Connor’s birth was foretold by prophesy, though we figured that out afterward. There’s a lot more to it, but I don’t have time to go into details right now.”
Buffy was too caught up in the idea that Angel was making love to someone despite the curse binding his soul; that despite being a vampire he had given her a child of his. Though her heart hurt at the thought and her body ached with jealousy over the idea of it, Buffy needed to know more. It didn’t matter if Angel thought he had no time for the details; Buffy was making time.
Because in her mind’s eye, Buffy found that the image of Connor’s mother wasn’t as faceless as she should have been. The conclusion she’d suddenly come to caused her vision to blur with tears, but she had to say it. To find out if her suspicions were true after all, “Connor’s mother…she’s Cordelia, right?”
“C-Cordy? NO,” Angel’s denial came out a little too swiftly. Maybe Cordelia had once had a crush on him back in her Sunnydale days, but they were friends, just friends, just best friends. Surely that’s all she felt for him, anyway. What was it with this new phenomenon where everyone seemed to be linking them together as a couple?
With her ear ringing from the loud shout, Buffy muttered, “Guess not.” Wrong thing to say, obviously. Defensive, much? Confused at the vehement response, she confessed, “I just thought it made sense.”
Coming from Buffy, that statement left Angel a little shaken. Part of him admitted that it made a hell of a lot of sense. But he didn’t have time for ‘What Ifs’, so he told her, “Connor’s mother is dead. Cordy’s my anchor; she keeps me grounded.”
Then Buffy was left to draw her own conclusions about Cordelia’s place in his life as emotion welled up so that the words were choked off, “If anything happens…”
Even as her unshed tears burned in her eyes, Buffy realized she’d never heard Angel speak about anything with that sound in his voice. Not when he told her he loved her, or when he gave her the Claddagh ring or even when they put an end to their relationship. She didn’t like hearing the hurt, the fear or the helplessness sounding along with feelings of love that were supposed to be reserved for her.
Angel loved his son and he obviously cared for Cordelia. Something had happened to prompt this phone call. It wasn’t like Angel to call her out of the blue and he’d said that it was urgent. So Buffy wiped away the tears glistening in her eyes and asked, “What’s the trouble?”
“There’s a price on Connor’s head,” Angel explained. “Ever since his birth we’ve been fighting off one group or another bound to capture or kill him, humans and demons.”
Shifting out of jealous ex-girlfriend mode, Buffy put her Slayer cap on. Nodding her understanding and concluding that something had happened to both Cordelia and Connor, she spoke into the phone, “So how can I help?”
Having expected fireworks, whining, or demands for more details than he wanted to get into over the telephone, Angel realized that Buffy had changed, too. Though he didn’t have the time to consider the reasons; he was just grateful for it.
“Cordy and Connor have been kidnapped,” Angel’s tone hardened to the point of cold steel.
Thinking back to the question he’d first asked her, Buffy made the leap, “Are you saying that you think Warren, Andrew and Jonathan are responsible?”
“I know they are. They showed up, made their demands and shot me with some electro-magick thingy they’d invented,” Angel revealed to her. “By now, they’re back in Sunnydale.”
Buffy admitted, “It doesn’t sound like Jonathan to get involved with a kidnapping, but Warren is definitely into the Crazy Professor mode with the inventions. Alone, those three have been troublemakers, so who knows what else they’ll get up too.”
“Right now it involves selling my son to the highest bidder.” Angel pointed out the reason he was contacting her in the first place, “So, I was hoping you’d get a head start on finding them.”
“No problemo,” Buffy promised to get right on it, jumping up off of the couch, her energy bounding at the thought of the action to come. “Willy usually has his ear to the ground. I can check him out first. When you get to town, head straight to my house. That’s our…uh, base of operations these days.”
Thanking her, Angel realized the whole telling Buffy thing had gone much easier than he’d imagined. “Oh,” he remembered one other detail he needed to share, “just one other thing.”
Listening attentively, Buffy sank back down onto the couch cushions. “You’re WHAT?”