Disclaimer: All characters represented belong to Joss Whedon.
Connor Reilly flipped his phone shut, grinning from ear to ear. He had just placed the all-important Father's Day call and told his dad everything about his summer semester at school, his new girlfriend, and the job interview he had coming up on Tuesday.
As always, Laurence Reilly paid strict attention to every detail of his son's life. He listened with a quiet sense of humor and an incredible capacity for and willingness to love, just as he had for as long as Connor could remember. Connor couldn't think of anyone he loved or respected more than his dad, and he never failed to take advantage of any opportunity to show it.
Every now and then, however, Connor remembered his "other life" and his "other dad". Some days his brain just slipped, and he would spend an hour or two in a blur of names, faces, and memories. For a moment, it was impossible to forget the pain and laughter and nearly unendurable sacrifices made by the people who populated his father's world. Most of the time, Connor could pretend it was all a dream, if he wanted. Some weird fantasy he'd invented as a bored teenager. Ultimately, though, Connor knew that his other life had been every bit as real as this one.
He hadn't heard from his father in two years. Not since they'd taken out that super-powered creep Hamilton. And that was another thing Connor couldn't forget. Whenever his friends played a quick pickup game of football or basketball or ultimate frisbee, Connor had to be careful and take it easy. Superpowers weren't something you showed off. Another gift from his father.
Connor opened his phone again and searched through his contacts. It was pointless. He didn't have any of his father's friends' information, and he knew better than to call that creepy law firm. As always, there was no way to contact his father – or even to find out if he was still – well, alive wasn't the word to use. Still undead? Yeah, that worked better.
Sighing, Connor slid his phone back into his pocket. His father couldn't be dead. Not really dead. When Angel turned to dust, his only son would know. So Connor hoped. He might not want to live in his father's world, but he needed it to exist, needed his father to exist. Because sometimes, in Connor's darkest hours, Angel's words of advice were the only thing that got him through.
"Happy Father's Day, Angel," Connor said aloud to the empty room, acutely aware that he had never gotten the chance to say those words in person. At first, he had been in Quor-toth, and then there was that summer when Angel spent Father's Day at the bottom of the ocean. And the year after that, he hadn't even remembered that Angel existed.
Maybe he'd start hunting vampires again. What was the point of superpowers if you didn't use them? And maybe he would hear some news of Angel, the vampire with a soul, and finally find out if his father had made it out okay or not.
Connor glanced out his apartment window. The sun was just beginning to set. Cool. He had time to get something to eat and then dig in all his old boxes for a stake. Surely there was one lying around somewhere. Old habits die hard.
Angel's son headed into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. Living as if the world were what it should be took hard work, but his father had done it, and so would he.
Fin.
A/N: This is my first time writing from Connor's POV, but for once I found myself sympathizing with him, and this came out. Review?