Innocence
Chapter One
Disclaimer : The characters, settings and concepts used in this story are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy productions and their associate. I make no profit off them. However, the characters of "Gabriel, Michael and Renald" are purely my creation and property.
Rating: PG
Author : Tylendel
Notes: AU, anything up to season three BTVS, early season two ATS.
The hand reached out wearily and slammed the ancient book shut, raising a small cloud of dust and threatening to make the man sneeze. He closed his eyes defeated.
"Not good news, I take it?" a voice asked, startling him. His green eyes popped open and he swung around in his chair.
A young man stood in the doorway to the dimly lit study, the look on his face showing that he already knew the answer. Dressed in brown slacks and a bright blue t-shirt, his short blond hair and grey eyes standing out on his pale skin. He was short, and rather diminutive, but nonetheless attractive. In his arms, dressed in blue footed pyjamas, rested the sleepy form of a brown haired, dark eyed, four year old boy.
The man at the desk shook his head, shaggy dark hair shimmering eerily as he did. His eyes were tired, sad. The anger and shock of a fortnight before has dissipated and left only regret.
"If Renald had lived, we may have been able to reverse the spell, but…"
"…He's dead," the younger man finished for him.
The older man, not yet thirty, sighed. "I blame myself, Michael. I should have taken better care of him, I shouldn't have left him alone, I should have…"
"You should have what?" Michael shook his head angrily. "Jesus, Gabe, you couldn't have known Renald would have gone for him. You barely knew Renald. And he went against the profile we were given of him. He'd always simply picked some stranger of the street to perform his sick spells. It wasn't your fault."
Gabe shook his head. "No, it was. I was his leader, he trusted me to keep him safe, and I let him down and now look what happened."
"At least he's not dead."
"For all intents and purposes, he is."
Silence reigned for a moment before a small voice broke it.
"Gabe?" the boy asked sleepily from Michael's strong arms. "Are you 'right?" Gabe smiled as Michael brushed a stray lock of hair from the boy's forehead tenderly.
"I'm fine, Alex," Gabe replied softly. "I've just…had a bad day, that's all. Now why aren't you asleep?"
The boy pouted. "You promised me a story 'fore bed." Gabe grinned.
"SO I did," he laughed, smacking his forehead playfully as though just remembering. He reached over and patted the boy's head. "Tell you what. You go wait in bed and I'll be right down, Ok?"
Alex's whole face lit up in delight, displaying a pair of devastating dimples. "Sure sure!" he cried, and shimmied out of Michael's grip. "You don't be long!" he ordered shaking a finger at Gabe. Then he scrambled out of the room at breakneck speed. Gabe sighed, looking sorrowfully after the boy.
"You know, we can't keep him."
Michael nodded sadly. "I know. What we do is too dangerous for a four year old, no matter the…strange…circumstances."
"Not to mention the fact that we barely stay in one place more than a few weeks. It's no place to raise a child, even Alex."
A few moments of heavy silence followed. Michael looked around the gloomy room, the only light coming from the antiquated desk lamp in one corner, then back at Gabe.
"So. What do we do now?" he asked finally, swallowing painfully at the ache his heart felt for the wonderful, beautiful boy he knew he couldn't keep.
"We take him back to people who can look after him. People he can trust and who will understand, and who we can trust to take care of him."
Michael looked puzzled, but before he could ask, Gabe reached into his shirt pocket and removed a small white business card. Handing it to the younger man, he moved toward the door. Michael watched him leave, then looked down at the object in his hands. His eyes widened, as he realised what it showed. An odd stylized seraphim, a phone number, and two words.
Angel Investigations.
"Dammit!" The angry yelp came from the kitchen, and carried itself into the lobby office of the current premises of Angel Investigations. Wesley, ex-watcher and current rogue demon hunter, looked up from where he sat across a book-strewn table from Angel and smirked at his boss. His boss, Angel, the often broody, often sullen, souled vampire dedicated to saving the innocents of LA, such as they were, had to bite his lip from laughing out loud. Gunn, the streetwise slayer of all things evil, chuckled.
1 A moment later, the slightly damp form of Cordelia Chase, receptionist, link to the mystical powers-that-be and up and coming starlet, stormed into the Hyperion's spacious lobby.
"That's it!" she screeched, flipping her hair out of her eyes and looking at her three co-workers. "You either fix that stupid tap, or I'm going to use that battle axe of mine to chop some heads." She pointed at them dangerously, eyes narrowing at their totally unsympathetic glances. Wesley smirked again.
"Why Cordelia," he began cheekily. "I'm not sure Angel likes you calling him the old battle axe," he finished looking over at the other two men. Gunn put his hand over his mouth and tried to look expressionless as Cordelia raked him mercilessly with his eyes.
She crossed her arms. "I'm beginning to think that you'll be first Wes," she sneered at the older man. He just grinned. Angel saw the look in the young woman's eyes and decided to step in. He stood up and walked over to her.
"Come on, Cordy," he said placatingly. "I promise I'll get Wes to get a plumber in first thing ok?" She looked at him, noticed his sincere, hopeful smiled and sighed, giving in.
"Ok, no killing," she promised. "Just severe maiming." Angel looked at her. "Oh, OK! Jeez, my boyfriend the narc." Angel grinned and kissed her softly. She shook her head. "You give into them once, and you can never go back." She went to kiss him again, when the sound of the front doors opening caught their attention.
A young man, Michael, walked in carrying a suitcase in one hand and a large duffle bag in the other. Seeing the people in the room, he smiled awkwardly at them.
"Um, hi," he said, placing the two bags on the floor and walking forward to greet them. "This is Angel Investigations?" He sent them an unsure look. Angel moved forward and nodded warily.
"That's us."
Michael sighed relieved. "Good. That means I'm in the right place." He grinned and held out his hand to Angel. "You must be Angel." Angel accepted his hand and shook it perfunctorily.
"Yeah. Can we help you?"
"We help the helpless," Cordelia chimed in happily, moving to beside the vampire. "We also accept cheques, cash and…"
"Cordelia," Angel growled, and she rolled her eyes sullenly. "Fine!" she snapped. "I'm only trying to be helpful." Angel looked at her warningly and she shrugged. He looked back to Michael.
"Uh, anyway, how can we be of service, Mr…?"
"Michael. Michael Hollings. And I'm not here looking for help as such." He paused and looked at Angel uncomfortably. "We're actually here to, um, return something that kind of, um, well…" he trailed off, unable to find the word to describe the situation. Angel frowned.
"We?" he asked, looking around. Michael nodded. "Uh, yeah, the others are just coming…" he was interrupted as the sound of the door opening dragged all their attentions to the door, and the small brown haired missile that launched itself at Michael.
"Mica, Mica, Mica!" the little boy giggled as he ran toward him. Then, just noticing the others present who were regarding him with surprised curiosity, he skidded to a halt and clutched at Michaels jeans. Wide-eyed he stared at the four strangers and became silent. Michael knelt down and put an arm around the child's shoulders, smiling encouragingly.
"Alex, I'd like you to meet some very special people. This is Angel, and Cordelia," he introduced, pointing at each person in turn. "And I believe that that is Wesley and, um Gunn?" He looked to the dark skinned man for confirmation and got a terse nod in return. "Guys, I'd like you to, um, meet Alex."
Angel, not certain how to act around children tried to smile at the child but felt he didn't succeed too well when Cordelia patted him on the arm and stepped forward, holding her hand out to the boy in a friendly manner.
"Hi," she said softly, bending down to his level. He hesitated for a moment then reached out to grasp it in his small but firm grip.
"You're pretty," he said, then grinned shyly. Cordelia giggled. "Thanks."
Alex looked over her shoulder at Angel then, and frowned, perplexed. "Vampire!" he cried, and then, quite surprisingly, moved to the other side of Cordelia in a protective stance, his small body wary. Angel raised his eyebrows, shocked and Wesley and Gunn shared a startled glance.
Shaking off her own confusion, Cordelia put an arm on Alex's shoulder. "Yeah, Alex, he is a vampire. But he's a good guy. Like me, and like you." He searched her face carefully, his tiny eyebrows drawn in speculation, then straightened and smiled.
"Good," he said. Then he marched up to the bewildered, souled vampire, and held out his hand. "I'm Alex. You better stay good," he ordered shaking his finger as Cordelia had done but moments before. Angel looked at the hand, then at Cordelia, who smiled at him encouragingly, then a Michael who just shrugged. Looking back at Alex he took the proffered hand and shook it.
"Hi," he said softly, marvelling at how warm and trusting this young boy was, and at the strong protective urge that surged up in him at the touch. Alex grinned at him, and then looked back at Michael.
Michael nodded toward where the two bags were sitting by the door as it opened and another young man raced in, wild-eyed. Noticing the occupants, and especially Alex, he sighed relieved.
"Alex! What have I told you about running off?" He scolded the boy, then rolled his eyes as the boy pouted at him innocently. "Don't give me that look, Alex." Realising he was going to get nowhere, he changed tactics. "Why don't you go find one of your trucks to play with, while us adults talk a bit ok?" Alex grinned, and raced over to where Michael had been pointing before, and began to search through the duffle eagerly. Gabe shook his head then turned back to the others. Wesley and Gunn had by now joined Angel and Cordelia in the middle of the lobby. He smiled at them all.
"Hi, I'm Gabriel. I take it you're Angel Investigations?" He paused to look for confirmation from Michael then continued. "Ah, has Michael explained why we're here?"
"Haven't got around to that yet, Gabe, I was just introducing Alex when you came in." Michael looked abashed. "But surprisingly, he knew that Angel was a vampire."
Gabriel did look surprised. "Huh. Well, I guess that's an inbred skill. Anyway," he continued quickly, gesturing toward a group of plush chairs nearby. "Why don't we sit and we'll explain why we're here." Angel nodded, and a few moments later all six were seated, with the exception of Cordelia who perched herself on the arm of Angel's chair and held his arm possessively. Alex played quietly nearby.
"First off," Angel asked before the others could speak, "how did you know who we are? I mean, you knew us by name." Gabriel smiled.
"Well, we kind of work in the same circles, if you know what I mean." Angel looked at him surprised but he continued. "I know we don't really look it. But we work in a small, privately funded organisation whose endeavour is to protect the innocent and destroy evil."
Michael broke in to continue. "All of us are ordinary people, who have lost people close to us to the dark forces, or have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. We train each other, we look after each other." He looked to Gabriel to continue.
"Seven years ago, the first group of us was formed and since then we've grown. Eight separate cells, all in constant contact working in different parts of the US and Canada. We rarely stay in the same city for more than a month. Another cell heard of you a couple of years back, and we've kept a loose eye on you, nothing invasive, just making sure you were still alive and kicking." He chuckled. "Well, in your case, just kicking."
Angel smiled. "You mentioned private funds?"
Michael nodded. "When we join, we give all we have to the organisation, to be shared by all. Not cultlike, but because we want to. And we also employ some of our skills to make our own money, you know, ventures in the stock market, buying and selling property, nothing illegal."
Angel frowned. "Then if you are so successful at hunting demons without help, why do you need ours." Michael shook his head.
"No. I thought I said before. We don't need your help; well technically we do, but not in the way you're thinking. We, um, well, do you know an AleXander Harris." All of a sudden the temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Cordelia gasped, and Angel narrowed his eyes.
"How do you know Xander?" he growled. "Where is he? He better be ok, or I'll…"
"Calm down man," Michael interrupted. "Deadboy, that's what he called you right?" The fierce coldness hadn't left the vampires face but he did relax slightly. "Xander is, was one of our operatives. One of the best. He was in my Cell."
Cordelia's eyes widened. "Was?" she whispered fearfully. "You mean he's…?" she couldn't make herself say the word.
"No!" Gabriel denied quickly. "He's not dead. Well not technically, but you were listed as his emergency contacts…"
"Not technically?" The Angel team looked confused, fearful, even Gunn to some extent who saw how the others were reacting to the news. Gabriel bit his lip.
"Yeah, you see, a few of weeks ago our Cell had a run in with a very powerful sorcerer. He had joined ranks with some of the local vamps casting spells to lure people to the vamps. Kinda like home delivered meals for vamps, you know?" He paused to take a breath. "Anyway, we moved in and took them out, but in the chaos, Renald, that's the sorcerer, used his magic to escape. We spent the next few nights looking for him, but it appeared he'd left town. Vanished."
"We were planning on leaving town as well," Michael continued. "But the night before we were to leave, Renald somehow broke in and kidnapped Xander while he slept. We had our own protection spells up, but as I said he's very powerful and none of our mages matched him."
"And you need our help to rescue him?" Wesley asked.
Michael rolled his eyes. "No, we told you we didn't need your help, just listen. We rescued Xander. Just, um, we were a little too late to stop Renald. By the time we burst in he'd already started a spell. We disrupted it, he lost his concentration, and it backfired on him. He died almost instantly, but the affects of the spell didn't. We've researched it and it can't be undone. Not without the one who cast it anyway and well, he's not in the position to ask."
"Is he ok?" Cordelia asked. Michael bit his lip. "In a manner of speaking."
"What do you mean, in a manner of speaking?" Angel's voice was hard. "What was the spell?"
Gabriel coughed uncomfortably. "Well, Renald was pretty old, and he knew he needed to be in good shape to take his revenge on us. He wanted us to suffer."
"What. Spell."
"He wanted to steal Xander's youth." There was silence for a minute until suddenly it clicked in Angel's mind.
"But if it backfired, that means…" horrified, he swung his head toward the boy Alex and gaped.
"Right."
"Oh, God!"
"Will someone, please tell me what is going on!" Cordelia screeched. Wesley nodded. "Yes, please. What exactly happened?"
Angel shook his head, and looked up at Cordelia and over at Wesley and Gunn. "He was trying to steal Xander's youth, and it backfired. Instead of taking Xander's youth, it gave his youth to Xander. Alex is Xander."
Wesley's mouth hung open like a fish. Gunn blinked. Cordelia gazed dazed at her ex-boyfriend who was contentedly ramming two Tonka trucks into each other in only a few feet away.
"Oh my," Wesley said at last. Gunn rolled his eyes. "Nothing around you guys ain't ever simple, i'n it?" Cordelia didn't say anything for a minute, then looked back at her current lover. "I'm not telling Buffy," she said at last. Angel looked at her strangely and she shook her head testily. "Well I'm not." Angel just hugged her.
Gabriel stood up. "Well, now that that's settled, I fell confident that you can take it from here." Angel looked away from Cordelia. "What? Take what from here?"
"Why, Alex of course." Gabriel shook his head sadly. "We all wanted to keep him, everyone he met fell in love with him, but ours is an environment not suited to raising a child. You're listed as his next of kin in a sense."
Michael nodded his agreement. "He told us also about his friends in Sunnydale, but you were closer, and it seems that two college girls and a middle-aged watcher were hardly the best candidates to take him. We brought him to you." He turned toward the boy and smiled.
"Alex!" He called softly. Alex looked up through his dark bangs toward Michael. "Can you come here?" Alex nodded and quickly scrambled over to the adults leaving his toys strewn on the floor. Michael knelt down in front of him and looked him in the eyes.
"Alex, do you remember us talking about finding you a place to live?" the four year old nodded wide-eyed.
"Am I goin' to live with them?" he asked softly. Michael nodded, then looked Angel who still looked overwhelmed.
"Angel's a good guy, Alex, and he fights the bad guys just like we do. And Cordelia's very good with children." He looked over at the surprised seer. "Or so I've heard," he continued winking. Then he stood up and looked again at Angel.
"I know this is sudden, but we really don't have a choice. At this point we're out of options."
Gunn shook his head disbelievingly. "Wait a minute. How do we know that you ain't just some wackos trying to dump your kid wit' us. How do we know that that's actually this Harris guy?"
Michael and Gabriel shared a long glance, seemingly agreeing to an unspoken question. Gabriel fished in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small flat square. "Michael, grab Xander's laptop will you?"
Michael did as he was bid and pulled out an orange and black computer, deceptively normal from the outside. But as they opened it and turned it on the Angel team could see that it was an incredibly sophisticated hightech piece of technology. Seeing their glances, Gabriel grinned.
"One of our Cell is a computer genius," he supplied smugly. "Used to work for the government until his daughter became vampire fodder. He takes care of us."
Gabe opened the small square to reveal a mini disk covered in tiny symbols. He placed the disk into the computers disk drive and after a moment loaded the contents. Everyone watched as the screen flashed deep gold and then faded into the image of a sombre Xander Harris.
Xander looked out from the screen and smiled sadly. "Hey." His image spoke softly, lacking the humour and self-consciousness those from Sunnydale had expected from the teenager they had known.
"If you're watching this, I'm either dead or in deep. Either way, I wanted you to know why I left Sunnydale after graduation without telling anyone." Xander sighed. "If you hadn't already guessed, I wasn't happy in Sunnydale. It wasn't the demonic activity that I ran from. It was all of you. I couldn't face myself, let alone you guys, knowing that I couldn't protect you at all. In a way, I've known that most of the time I was a liability. Don't blame yourselves. I left because I wanted to learn how to protect you. I was going to come back. That's why I'm keeping an eye on you all, even you, Angel." He smiled a moment. "I hope you find the redemption you're looking for."
Xander looked off screen at something, frowned, then looked back. "Listen, I've asked Gabriel to give this to you if I don't make it back. Trust him, I did. There is a box each for Willow, Buffy and Cordelia that they need to have. And Angel, there is one for you too. Even if we hated each other I respect what you're trying to do. This will help you find the solace I never could."
The tears in his eyes where mirrored in all present. "And listen, one last thing. I've named Cordelia my next of kin. The folder Gabriel has will explain everything. I love you all." The screen faded to black and left only a silent room. No one spoke for a long moment until a small voice piped up. "I'm hungry!"
The six pairs of eyes that turned to him, four brown, one grey, one green, all were filled with tears.
Chapter One
Disclaimer : The characters, settings and concepts used in this story are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy productions and their associate. I make no profit off them. However, the characters of "Gabriel, Michael and Renald" are purely my creation and property.
Rating: PG
Author : Tylendel
Notes: AU, anything up to season three BTVS, early season two ATS.
The hand reached out wearily and slammed the ancient book shut, raising a small cloud of dust and threatening to make the man sneeze. He closed his eyes defeated.
"Not good news, I take it?" a voice asked, startling him. His green eyes popped open and he swung around in his chair.
A young man stood in the doorway to the dimly lit study, the look on his face showing that he already knew the answer. Dressed in brown slacks and a bright blue t-shirt, his short blond hair and grey eyes standing out on his pale skin. He was short, and rather diminutive, but nonetheless attractive. In his arms, dressed in blue footed pyjamas, rested the sleepy form of a brown haired, dark eyed, four year old boy.
The man at the desk shook his head, shaggy dark hair shimmering eerily as he did. His eyes were tired, sad. The anger and shock of a fortnight before has dissipated and left only regret.
"If Renald had lived, we may have been able to reverse the spell, but…"
"…He's dead," the younger man finished for him.
The older man, not yet thirty, sighed. "I blame myself, Michael. I should have taken better care of him, I shouldn't have left him alone, I should have…"
"You should have what?" Michael shook his head angrily. "Jesus, Gabe, you couldn't have known Renald would have gone for him. You barely knew Renald. And he went against the profile we were given of him. He'd always simply picked some stranger of the street to perform his sick spells. It wasn't your fault."
Gabe shook his head. "No, it was. I was his leader, he trusted me to keep him safe, and I let him down and now look what happened."
"At least he's not dead."
"For all intents and purposes, he is."
Silence reigned for a moment before a small voice broke it.
"Gabe?" the boy asked sleepily from Michael's strong arms. "Are you 'right?" Gabe smiled as Michael brushed a stray lock of hair from the boy's forehead tenderly.
"I'm fine, Alex," Gabe replied softly. "I've just…had a bad day, that's all. Now why aren't you asleep?"
The boy pouted. "You promised me a story 'fore bed." Gabe grinned.
"SO I did," he laughed, smacking his forehead playfully as though just remembering. He reached over and patted the boy's head. "Tell you what. You go wait in bed and I'll be right down, Ok?"
Alex's whole face lit up in delight, displaying a pair of devastating dimples. "Sure sure!" he cried, and shimmied out of Michael's grip. "You don't be long!" he ordered shaking a finger at Gabe. Then he scrambled out of the room at breakneck speed. Gabe sighed, looking sorrowfully after the boy.
"You know, we can't keep him."
Michael nodded sadly. "I know. What we do is too dangerous for a four year old, no matter the…strange…circumstances."
"Not to mention the fact that we barely stay in one place more than a few weeks. It's no place to raise a child, even Alex."
A few moments of heavy silence followed. Michael looked around the gloomy room, the only light coming from the antiquated desk lamp in one corner, then back at Gabe.
"So. What do we do now?" he asked finally, swallowing painfully at the ache his heart felt for the wonderful, beautiful boy he knew he couldn't keep.
"We take him back to people who can look after him. People he can trust and who will understand, and who we can trust to take care of him."
Michael looked puzzled, but before he could ask, Gabe reached into his shirt pocket and removed a small white business card. Handing it to the younger man, he moved toward the door. Michael watched him leave, then looked down at the object in his hands. His eyes widened, as he realised what it showed. An odd stylized seraphim, a phone number, and two words.
Angel Investigations.
"Dammit!" The angry yelp came from the kitchen, and carried itself into the lobby office of the current premises of Angel Investigations. Wesley, ex-watcher and current rogue demon hunter, looked up from where he sat across a book-strewn table from Angel and smirked at his boss. His boss, Angel, the often broody, often sullen, souled vampire dedicated to saving the innocents of LA, such as they were, had to bite his lip from laughing out loud. Gunn, the streetwise slayer of all things evil, chuckled.
1 A moment later, the slightly damp form of Cordelia Chase, receptionist, link to the mystical powers-that-be and up and coming starlet, stormed into the Hyperion's spacious lobby.
"That's it!" she screeched, flipping her hair out of her eyes and looking at her three co-workers. "You either fix that stupid tap, or I'm going to use that battle axe of mine to chop some heads." She pointed at them dangerously, eyes narrowing at their totally unsympathetic glances. Wesley smirked again.
"Why Cordelia," he began cheekily. "I'm not sure Angel likes you calling him the old battle axe," he finished looking over at the other two men. Gunn put his hand over his mouth and tried to look expressionless as Cordelia raked him mercilessly with his eyes.
She crossed her arms. "I'm beginning to think that you'll be first Wes," she sneered at the older man. He just grinned. Angel saw the look in the young woman's eyes and decided to step in. He stood up and walked over to her.
"Come on, Cordy," he said placatingly. "I promise I'll get Wes to get a plumber in first thing ok?" She looked at him, noticed his sincere, hopeful smiled and sighed, giving in.
"Ok, no killing," she promised. "Just severe maiming." Angel looked at her. "Oh, OK! Jeez, my boyfriend the narc." Angel grinned and kissed her softly. She shook her head. "You give into them once, and you can never go back." She went to kiss him again, when the sound of the front doors opening caught their attention.
A young man, Michael, walked in carrying a suitcase in one hand and a large duffle bag in the other. Seeing the people in the room, he smiled awkwardly at them.
"Um, hi," he said, placing the two bags on the floor and walking forward to greet them. "This is Angel Investigations?" He sent them an unsure look. Angel moved forward and nodded warily.
"That's us."
Michael sighed relieved. "Good. That means I'm in the right place." He grinned and held out his hand to Angel. "You must be Angel." Angel accepted his hand and shook it perfunctorily.
"Yeah. Can we help you?"
"We help the helpless," Cordelia chimed in happily, moving to beside the vampire. "We also accept cheques, cash and…"
"Cordelia," Angel growled, and she rolled her eyes sullenly. "Fine!" she snapped. "I'm only trying to be helpful." Angel looked at her warningly and she shrugged. He looked back to Michael.
"Uh, anyway, how can we be of service, Mr…?"
"Michael. Michael Hollings. And I'm not here looking for help as such." He paused and looked at Angel uncomfortably. "We're actually here to, um, return something that kind of, um, well…" he trailed off, unable to find the word to describe the situation. Angel frowned.
"We?" he asked, looking around. Michael nodded. "Uh, yeah, the others are just coming…" he was interrupted as the sound of the door opening dragged all their attentions to the door, and the small brown haired missile that launched itself at Michael.
"Mica, Mica, Mica!" the little boy giggled as he ran toward him. Then, just noticing the others present who were regarding him with surprised curiosity, he skidded to a halt and clutched at Michaels jeans. Wide-eyed he stared at the four strangers and became silent. Michael knelt down and put an arm around the child's shoulders, smiling encouragingly.
"Alex, I'd like you to meet some very special people. This is Angel, and Cordelia," he introduced, pointing at each person in turn. "And I believe that that is Wesley and, um Gunn?" He looked to the dark skinned man for confirmation and got a terse nod in return. "Guys, I'd like you to, um, meet Alex."
Angel, not certain how to act around children tried to smile at the child but felt he didn't succeed too well when Cordelia patted him on the arm and stepped forward, holding her hand out to the boy in a friendly manner.
"Hi," she said softly, bending down to his level. He hesitated for a moment then reached out to grasp it in his small but firm grip.
"You're pretty," he said, then grinned shyly. Cordelia giggled. "Thanks."
Alex looked over her shoulder at Angel then, and frowned, perplexed. "Vampire!" he cried, and then, quite surprisingly, moved to the other side of Cordelia in a protective stance, his small body wary. Angel raised his eyebrows, shocked and Wesley and Gunn shared a startled glance.
Shaking off her own confusion, Cordelia put an arm on Alex's shoulder. "Yeah, Alex, he is a vampire. But he's a good guy. Like me, and like you." He searched her face carefully, his tiny eyebrows drawn in speculation, then straightened and smiled.
"Good," he said. Then he marched up to the bewildered, souled vampire, and held out his hand. "I'm Alex. You better stay good," he ordered shaking his finger as Cordelia had done but moments before. Angel looked at the hand, then at Cordelia, who smiled at him encouragingly, then a Michael who just shrugged. Looking back at Alex he took the proffered hand and shook it.
"Hi," he said softly, marvelling at how warm and trusting this young boy was, and at the strong protective urge that surged up in him at the touch. Alex grinned at him, and then looked back at Michael.
Michael nodded toward where the two bags were sitting by the door as it opened and another young man raced in, wild-eyed. Noticing the occupants, and especially Alex, he sighed relieved.
"Alex! What have I told you about running off?" He scolded the boy, then rolled his eyes as the boy pouted at him innocently. "Don't give me that look, Alex." Realising he was going to get nowhere, he changed tactics. "Why don't you go find one of your trucks to play with, while us adults talk a bit ok?" Alex grinned, and raced over to where Michael had been pointing before, and began to search through the duffle eagerly. Gabe shook his head then turned back to the others. Wesley and Gunn had by now joined Angel and Cordelia in the middle of the lobby. He smiled at them all.
"Hi, I'm Gabriel. I take it you're Angel Investigations?" He paused to look for confirmation from Michael then continued. "Ah, has Michael explained why we're here?"
"Haven't got around to that yet, Gabe, I was just introducing Alex when you came in." Michael looked abashed. "But surprisingly, he knew that Angel was a vampire."
Gabriel did look surprised. "Huh. Well, I guess that's an inbred skill. Anyway," he continued quickly, gesturing toward a group of plush chairs nearby. "Why don't we sit and we'll explain why we're here." Angel nodded, and a few moments later all six were seated, with the exception of Cordelia who perched herself on the arm of Angel's chair and held his arm possessively. Alex played quietly nearby.
"First off," Angel asked before the others could speak, "how did you know who we are? I mean, you knew us by name." Gabriel smiled.
"Well, we kind of work in the same circles, if you know what I mean." Angel looked at him surprised but he continued. "I know we don't really look it. But we work in a small, privately funded organisation whose endeavour is to protect the innocent and destroy evil."
Michael broke in to continue. "All of us are ordinary people, who have lost people close to us to the dark forces, or have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. We train each other, we look after each other." He looked to Gabriel to continue.
"Seven years ago, the first group of us was formed and since then we've grown. Eight separate cells, all in constant contact working in different parts of the US and Canada. We rarely stay in the same city for more than a month. Another cell heard of you a couple of years back, and we've kept a loose eye on you, nothing invasive, just making sure you were still alive and kicking." He chuckled. "Well, in your case, just kicking."
Angel smiled. "You mentioned private funds?"
Michael nodded. "When we join, we give all we have to the organisation, to be shared by all. Not cultlike, but because we want to. And we also employ some of our skills to make our own money, you know, ventures in the stock market, buying and selling property, nothing illegal."
Angel frowned. "Then if you are so successful at hunting demons without help, why do you need ours." Michael shook his head.
"No. I thought I said before. We don't need your help; well technically we do, but not in the way you're thinking. We, um, well, do you know an AleXander Harris." All of a sudden the temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Cordelia gasped, and Angel narrowed his eyes.
"How do you know Xander?" he growled. "Where is he? He better be ok, or I'll…"
"Calm down man," Michael interrupted. "Deadboy, that's what he called you right?" The fierce coldness hadn't left the vampires face but he did relax slightly. "Xander is, was one of our operatives. One of the best. He was in my Cell."
Cordelia's eyes widened. "Was?" she whispered fearfully. "You mean he's…?" she couldn't make herself say the word.
"No!" Gabriel denied quickly. "He's not dead. Well not technically, but you were listed as his emergency contacts…"
"Not technically?" The Angel team looked confused, fearful, even Gunn to some extent who saw how the others were reacting to the news. Gabriel bit his lip.
"Yeah, you see, a few of weeks ago our Cell had a run in with a very powerful sorcerer. He had joined ranks with some of the local vamps casting spells to lure people to the vamps. Kinda like home delivered meals for vamps, you know?" He paused to take a breath. "Anyway, we moved in and took them out, but in the chaos, Renald, that's the sorcerer, used his magic to escape. We spent the next few nights looking for him, but it appeared he'd left town. Vanished."
"We were planning on leaving town as well," Michael continued. "But the night before we were to leave, Renald somehow broke in and kidnapped Xander while he slept. We had our own protection spells up, but as I said he's very powerful and none of our mages matched him."
"And you need our help to rescue him?" Wesley asked.
Michael rolled his eyes. "No, we told you we didn't need your help, just listen. We rescued Xander. Just, um, we were a little too late to stop Renald. By the time we burst in he'd already started a spell. We disrupted it, he lost his concentration, and it backfired on him. He died almost instantly, but the affects of the spell didn't. We've researched it and it can't be undone. Not without the one who cast it anyway and well, he's not in the position to ask."
"Is he ok?" Cordelia asked. Michael bit his lip. "In a manner of speaking."
"What do you mean, in a manner of speaking?" Angel's voice was hard. "What was the spell?"
Gabriel coughed uncomfortably. "Well, Renald was pretty old, and he knew he needed to be in good shape to take his revenge on us. He wanted us to suffer."
"What. Spell."
"He wanted to steal Xander's youth." There was silence for a minute until suddenly it clicked in Angel's mind.
"But if it backfired, that means…" horrified, he swung his head toward the boy Alex and gaped.
"Right."
"Oh, God!"
"Will someone, please tell me what is going on!" Cordelia screeched. Wesley nodded. "Yes, please. What exactly happened?"
Angel shook his head, and looked up at Cordelia and over at Wesley and Gunn. "He was trying to steal Xander's youth, and it backfired. Instead of taking Xander's youth, it gave his youth to Xander. Alex is Xander."
Wesley's mouth hung open like a fish. Gunn blinked. Cordelia gazed dazed at her ex-boyfriend who was contentedly ramming two Tonka trucks into each other in only a few feet away.
"Oh my," Wesley said at last. Gunn rolled his eyes. "Nothing around you guys ain't ever simple, i'n it?" Cordelia didn't say anything for a minute, then looked back at her current lover. "I'm not telling Buffy," she said at last. Angel looked at her strangely and she shook her head testily. "Well I'm not." Angel just hugged her.
Gabriel stood up. "Well, now that that's settled, I fell confident that you can take it from here." Angel looked away from Cordelia. "What? Take what from here?"
"Why, Alex of course." Gabriel shook his head sadly. "We all wanted to keep him, everyone he met fell in love with him, but ours is an environment not suited to raising a child. You're listed as his next of kin in a sense."
Michael nodded his agreement. "He told us also about his friends in Sunnydale, but you were closer, and it seems that two college girls and a middle-aged watcher were hardly the best candidates to take him. We brought him to you." He turned toward the boy and smiled.
"Alex!" He called softly. Alex looked up through his dark bangs toward Michael. "Can you come here?" Alex nodded and quickly scrambled over to the adults leaving his toys strewn on the floor. Michael knelt down in front of him and looked him in the eyes.
"Alex, do you remember us talking about finding you a place to live?" the four year old nodded wide-eyed.
"Am I goin' to live with them?" he asked softly. Michael nodded, then looked Angel who still looked overwhelmed.
"Angel's a good guy, Alex, and he fights the bad guys just like we do. And Cordelia's very good with children." He looked over at the surprised seer. "Or so I've heard," he continued winking. Then he stood up and looked again at Angel.
"I know this is sudden, but we really don't have a choice. At this point we're out of options."
Gunn shook his head disbelievingly. "Wait a minute. How do we know that you ain't just some wackos trying to dump your kid wit' us. How do we know that that's actually this Harris guy?"
Michael and Gabriel shared a long glance, seemingly agreeing to an unspoken question. Gabriel fished in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small flat square. "Michael, grab Xander's laptop will you?"
Michael did as he was bid and pulled out an orange and black computer, deceptively normal from the outside. But as they opened it and turned it on the Angel team could see that it was an incredibly sophisticated hightech piece of technology. Seeing their glances, Gabriel grinned.
"One of our Cell is a computer genius," he supplied smugly. "Used to work for the government until his daughter became vampire fodder. He takes care of us."
Gabe opened the small square to reveal a mini disk covered in tiny symbols. He placed the disk into the computers disk drive and after a moment loaded the contents. Everyone watched as the screen flashed deep gold and then faded into the image of a sombre Xander Harris.
Xander looked out from the screen and smiled sadly. "Hey." His image spoke softly, lacking the humour and self-consciousness those from Sunnydale had expected from the teenager they had known.
"If you're watching this, I'm either dead or in deep. Either way, I wanted you to know why I left Sunnydale after graduation without telling anyone." Xander sighed. "If you hadn't already guessed, I wasn't happy in Sunnydale. It wasn't the demonic activity that I ran from. It was all of you. I couldn't face myself, let alone you guys, knowing that I couldn't protect you at all. In a way, I've known that most of the time I was a liability. Don't blame yourselves. I left because I wanted to learn how to protect you. I was going to come back. That's why I'm keeping an eye on you all, even you, Angel." He smiled a moment. "I hope you find the redemption you're looking for."
Xander looked off screen at something, frowned, then looked back. "Listen, I've asked Gabriel to give this to you if I don't make it back. Trust him, I did. There is a box each for Willow, Buffy and Cordelia that they need to have. And Angel, there is one for you too. Even if we hated each other I respect what you're trying to do. This will help you find the solace I never could."
The tears in his eyes where mirrored in all present. "And listen, one last thing. I've named Cordelia my next of kin. The folder Gabriel has will explain everything. I love you all." The screen faded to black and left only a silent room. No one spoke for a long moment until a small voice piped up. "I'm hungry!"
The six pairs of eyes that turned to him, four brown, one grey, one green, all were filled with tears.