Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but Allie; everything else belongs to Joss & the WB.

Author's Note: For a full background on Allie's character and her arrival at Angel Investigations; read Teenage Wasteland!! (I want the reviews!)

Chapter One

He stalked up and down the silent alleyway, his senses attuned to everything around him; the shadow of the rubbish bags, the rustle of a stray cat and the very faint scent of blood. He had emptied the alley of vampires the night before, saving a homeless kid in the process, but occasionally a few wanderers returned; no such luck tonight. It was almost two and the city was dead, the clubs and bars would be emptying soon and he knew it was an easy pick up spot for lazy vamps, picking off drunks was hardly a challenge. He turned on his heel and ran out into the street, heading for the nearest bar. He was desperate for some action, anything to alleviate the numbing boredom of the early hours.

He crouched down in the shadows across the street as the bar emptied, the alcoholics and the owners were the only people left but blood was blood no matter who the supplier was. He watched and waited anxiously as two young guys approached the pretty girl who was too wasted to even stand let alone light her cigarette. To the casual observer, they were just a couple of guys trying to get lucky and take advantage of her drunken state; LA had seen weirder things but he saw the big picture; these guys wouldn't be buying her breakfast, she would be breakfast. His heart raced as they laughed and chatted with her, leading her up the alley at the side of the building. He began to cross the street, relishing the feeling of his blood rising as he clenched and unclenched his fists. Maybe he had found some action after all.

The girl had realised something was wrong, he could hear the fear rising in her drunken mumblings but he knew that wouldn't stop them. They both saw him as he rounded the corner; the girl fell to her knees with relief when they let her go and began to walk towards him.

"You lookin' for something, man?" asked one of them, looming threateningly. He started to smile, throwing the vamps off their game for a second allowing the girl to shake herself off and run.

"Trouble," he shrugged; the same grin on his face as he kicked one of them in the head, sending him flying as his partner grabbed him from behind. He had definitely found some action.

He crept in silently through the open window and closed it behind him. He sat down on the chair in the corner and pulled his shoes off; he stretched his legs out in front of him and rubbed at his aching muscles. He stood up and pulled off his t-shirt and jeans, throwing them onto the chair. He sighed softly, running a hand through his hair and feeling the sticky warmth of his blood from the gash just above his eye. He wiped the blood away with his hand and quietly walked across the room, slowly pulling the covers back from his bed. He slid in, smiling in triumph until the girl he thought was sleeping turned over to face him.

"That's the third time this week I've woken up without you," she whispered sleepily, resting a hand lazily on his arm. He turned onto his side to face her and smiled.

"I know," he sighed. "I'm sorry,"

"You don't have to be sorry, Connor," she yawned. "You wanna talk about anything?"

"Not particularly," he frowned, running his hand through her pale blonde hair. She gently touched the bleeding cut on his forehead, he winced at the pain, it was stinging enough on its own.

"You sure? You do know you're bleeding again,"

"Allie, don't start this again. It was two vamps, not the end of the world," He felt guilty despite knowing he had done nothing wrong; he had saved a girl's life tonight.

"I just hate waking up knowing you've just sneaked out of the window, it's crazy. You can't save the world on your own; you can't always be there,"

"I can try though," he said. Allie looked up at him and sighed. "I love it, Al. It's the one thing I'm good at,"

"You don't do it for the fight, Connor; you do it for the pain. You don't think you've won unless you've got the scars to prove it,"

"That's who I am; it's the way a warrior works,"

"Not here. You have to realise that you're not in Quor-Toth anymore, you're not the goddamn Destroyer," she growled and turned away from him.

"That's not what this is about," he said a little too loudly but he was mad and exasperated that he couldn't find the right words to explain himself. Against her better judgment, Allie turned over to face him again.

"Really?" she said incredulously. "So you really believe that?"

"Yeah, I do. I just want to make a difference and I don't see what that has to do with Quor-Toth or anything else about my past," he said, Allie's eyes were filled with thunder and he was worried that she might slap him at any moment. "So, can we change the subject? I haven't seen you all day, what've you been up to?"

"Fine, we can drop it," she said, her eyes softening slightly as Connor put his arm around her and pulled her closer. "I've been training all day, Wes had me in the basement all morning practising different fighting techniques then Gunn taught me how to use the crossbow properly,"

"Did you break anything else?" laughed Connor, Allie smiled.

"Only Angel's mug… but it was empty."

"So you're settling in okay? Because if you want to, we can move out, I never really expected you to just get on with everybody but… I don't know,"

"Everything's fine, everyone is being so nice to me. I thought they'd be really weird what with my father being who he is and stuff but it's nice, it feels like having a family," smiled Allie. "Thank you for bringing me home with you,"

"You should know that I bring all the pretty girls home," he laughed, Allie giggled and slapped him lightly on the arm. "No, seriously, it's not like we're all the best guys in the world. Everyone's done something they're ashamed of so don't even think about your father; it doesn't define you,"

"I know that but it's just really hard to get used to the idea of living for me again. I don't think I've done what I wanted since I was about fifteen, Frankie always made sure I followed the prophecy,"

"Just don't think about it, it's all over now," soothed Connor.

"I know, forget it… Wes seemed really distracted today; I don't know what's going on with him right now,"

"Probably nothing, he's been weird for weeks now," explained Connor. "Well, it sounds as though you've had a very eventful day. Much better than me and Dad, we couldn't find that demon thing Cordy saw in her vision but I'm sure something'll turn up,"

"It always does," yawned Allie. Connor kissed the top of her head and removed his arm, turning into her body and laying his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes. "Night,"

"Night," he mumbled, kissing her shoulder before turning over again.

"Connor?" whispered Allie, Connor groaned in response but didn't turn over. Allie leaned over him, her face buried in his neck just below his ear. "You think you could stay in tomorrow night?"

"I think I could arrange that," he smiled and pulled her hand down, kissing it before letting her drape herself over him; they both fell asleep immediately.