Disclaimer: Nothing that appears in this fic is mine. Besides this, anyway.
Chapter One: Desperate
Connor barely even registered pain in his body. Wesley's last word's were still clear in his head. 'Go to Sunnydale.' he said, before died from hands of Beast. It was a massacre. After their fail at killing The Beast, he, a badly beaten Faith and Wesley went back to Hyperion. Then he wasn't in his best shape, and now he felt like only thing from keeping him to black out was Faith. She was half-sitting, half-lying in passangers seat. Unconscious. They felt safe back there in the hotel 'cuz of Lorne's spell. It turned out there was a way to overpower this. In the result Gunn, Wesley, Fred and Lorne were dead. In the middle of the fight he faced Angelus and eventually managed to kill him. More like it was pure luck that he landed on this particulary sharp piece of wood. But what truly shocked him was sight of Cordelia, standing with her arms across her chest and a bored look. She was the one who controlled Beast, it's master. In the end it was he, Faith and Wesley against Beast. After Wes told him to take Faith and flee, he launched himself at it, buying them some time to run.
Connor panicked and stole the car to get there faster. Brunette beside him passed out soon after they left L .A . As he drove past sign 'Welcome to Sunnydale' Connor realized he had no idea where to go now. Technically he knew other Slayer was here, but where? He shook Faith awake
''Faith, come on, don't die on me now! We're so close. Snap out of it woman! What's the adress? Where I have to go? Come on Faith I know you hear me! '' he cried panicked, trying to hold Faith.
''163 Re..vel-lo..rive..'' she managed to get out before passing out again.
'Great' he thought. Now he had to search. After few minutes he saw sign 'Revello Drive'' on a corner of a street. Now he had to find certain house. He drove by, but didn't saw number 163. Connor panicked, Faith seemed like she had minutes left, unless someone who knew how, would patch her up. Frustrated he hit wheel, only to move his hand back, painful now. Finally, after what seemed like hours to Connor, but in reality were few minutes he saw number 1630. 'What the hell, if thats not this house I don't care. She needs to be taken care of. ' He drove faster, until he was practically on it. He stopped on the lawn before the house, jumped out of car, his body completely numb and took Faith in his arms. No bothering to knock he crashed through doors with a cry on his lips.
''Heeeelp!''
Buffy was having a slightly good day. None of potential pissed her off, they collected few useful information on First and girls were doing good. But the good day ended, when she heard News on T.V. Los Angeles was in chaos. Vampires and Demons everywhere, on killing spree. She looked at everyone's faces in room.
''Yeah, you could wonder where the hell is deadboy, huh? '' Xander asked, sarcasm clear in his voice.
''I'm sure they can handle it. '' Buffy answered, in so unsure tone.
''Yes, I a.. I'm fairly certain that if they'd need any help Wesley would call me. '' Giles confirmed.
''You see? They'll be .. '' rest of Buffy's words drowned in sound of front door being crashed.
''Heeeelp!'' shot out a desperate male voice. Buffy rushed over, with others closely following. She stopped dead in her tracks at sight of a bloody teenaged boy, with even worse looking Faith in his arms.
''Oh, dear..'' came out from Giles.
For a moment noone dared to move. Finally, boy couldn't take it anymore.
''What the fuck are you waiting for, huh!Help her!'' he yelled, dropping to his knees.
She quickly rushed to him, took Faith and put her on sofa.
''Guys, come on! Xander go get me a med kit now! Willow, honey, you think you can do something about her? '' she asked.
''I, uh..I-I don't know..'' she replied.
''Come on people, she doesn't have much time!'' now he was panicked and desperate. They couldn't let her die, not now when managed to get her to safety. Next thing he knew was hitting floor, out cold.
''You have any idea who he might be?'' Connor heard some distanced voice.
He could feel he was in bed, but who put him there he had no idea. Probably them. He opened his eyes and stood up, wincing in pain from his previous encounters with Beast. Connor opened the doors and walked in the middle of some hot discussion between few people. Some blonde chick, most likely slayer, man with the glasses who reminded him of Wes, some other brunette guy and redheaded girl. Still clutching his side he asked
''Where is she?Is Faith alive?''
''She's fine. Or as fine as she could be. And now why don't you tell me who are you and why should I give a damn about you or her?'' blonde demanded.
''Name's Connor. I'm Angel's son'' after his answer he could almost feel tension in the room.
''Could you repeat that again? As far as I know Angel doesn't have a son. It is impossible for a vampire to have children. Besides aren't you a little too old?'' asked watcher with english accent. 'Yeah, how else?'
''Oh, I grew up in hell dimension. By the way, who are you people?''
''Well, my name's Buffy, this is Giles, Xander and Willow. '' blonde introduced, pointing to older man, brunette, and redheaded girl. ''And now if you excuse me, I got to call Angel. See if any of this is true.'' Buffy started to back out.
''I don't think he'll pick up'' Connor said looking at ground.
''What do you mean? You know what's happening in L.A? '' slayer asked, worry in her eyes.
He sighed. ''What you're seeing, is all what's left of Angels Investigations. '' he explained, voice without any emotion.
''Excuse me? '' asked Giles, now worried aswell. If something destroyed Angel's team and almost killed slayer it had to be extremely powerful.
''Okay, I'll start from beginning. I'm son of Angel and Darla. Don't ask me how, I don't know. Anyway, not long ago new enemy showed up. The Beast. We fought it few times and lost, doing it no harm. It destroyed Wolfram & Hart, killed five member of some order and did some spell to blott out the sun. '' he took a deep breath. ''Anyway, somewhere along this we got a clue, „The answer is among you". Everybody thought it was me 'cuz this Beast was following me. But after one of encounters we discovered it was Angel who knew it. Well, Angelus. And then it all started to fall apart.'' Connor's voice broke.
Giles visibly paled.''Are you trying to say.. that you unleashed Angelus again? '' he asked pissed of.
''It was Wesley's idea. So, we had Angelus locked down, the only thing we had to do was get information about Beast. He escaped, and we realized we couldn't fight Angelus and Beast at the same time. That's when Wes broke Faith out of prison. Me, Faith, Wes and Gunn went to fight him. In the end we had to run before they killed us all. So we're back in hotel, feeling safe because Lorne put this anti-demon spell. Somehow Beast managed to overpower it. That was a slaughter-house. They practically destroyed us. We managed to take out Angelus, but Beast was too strong.''
''Wait. You're telling me that Angel is dead? '' asked Buffy, dread in her voice.
He nodded. For a moment he saw mix of emotions on her face, before it settled to anger.
''You, you killed your own father? How could you? Couldn't you just re-ensoul him?Are you that stupid!'' blonde screamed and charged towards him, her intentions clear.
Connor tried to block her punches, but she was a slayer and he was just a human. Eventually she had him pinned down.
''It was either him or Faith!I couldn't let her die, not then!'' he yelled back, trying to break free.
Silence fell on the room. Noone dared to speak 'till..
''What?Are you kidding?You killed Angel for this psycho-slayer?She'll most likely kill us all in sleep.I think we should send her back to jail where she..'' that was all what Xander managed to say, before Connor struggled himself free, rushed over and hit him, sending him across the room.
Everyone stared at him shocked. He took a few deep, calming breath's.
''Don't talk about her like that.'' he stated. ''Okay, I'm tired of this.I'll explain everything later. And now, where is Faith?''
''Upstairs, third room on the left.'' Willow quickly answered. Connor nodded and went upstairs, while Xander painfully picked himself from the ground. In this exact moment Spike walked in. He took a glance at them and frowned.
''What the hell just happened here?''
Connor sat on Faith's bed, looking at her beaten and broken body. She looked better than yesterday, Slayers healing working its magic, but still..it hurt him to see her like that. Knowing it was partly because of him didn't help either. In this one moment, in the middle of battle when Angelus was about to strike a deadly blow to Faith, Connor realized that he loved her. He acted on pure instinct. Wait a second. If he remembered correctly, he didn't exactly saw Angelus turn into dust. And that could mean..
Connor kissed her forehead, and with one last look exited the room. He went downstairs just in time to see blonde guy sipping some blood from his cup. 'Great, another vampire.' Everybody looked at him and he raised his eyebrows.
''What?'' he finally asked. Blonde vampire raised himself from his place, and offered Connor a hand.
''Spike.'' he said. Connor slowly shook his hand.
''Can you sit?I got a few questions to you, about this beast.'' asked Giles. He did as he was told.
''Yes, um.. so what did it looked like?You understand I need to know, in order to find a possible way to defeat this beast, I hope.''
Connor sighed and rubbed his head in his hands.
''Uh, about 6'8, taller if you count horns. Kind of like, made from a stone, you know? With one punch he flung me across the alley. We couldn't harm him. No matter what we had, everything just..broke on him. Even when Faith punched him, it merely turned his head. So feel free to think you can kill it. Besides, if anyone will do it, It'll be me.'' he was looking at the ground now.
''Why?'' asked Spike curiously.
Connor opened his mouth to answer, but thought better of it. ''Nevermind, leave it to me. I'll deal with this.'' he said confidently. ''Now, you need anything else?I need to eat something once in a while, you know.''
''Kitchen's there.'' Buffy pointed to his right. He went there, and stopped in a doorway.
''I didn't kill him. He's alive. I can feel it.'' he announced. Everybody looked at him in question. ''He's out there somewhere..and he'll come here to finish the job. Angelus.'' he opened the cupboard, grabbed some chips and started to go upstairs. Xander's words stopped him.
''What job?''
''Me and Faith.'' he answered and went to brunette slayer.
Again everybody looked shocked. Buffy's eyes were full of hope, Giles felt like he didn't know what to do, Xander's eyes reflected uncertainty and as for Willow, she thought she knew what was coming. Spike just stood there, leaning against a doorframe, arms crossed at his chest, smile on his lips as his eyes followed Connor. Oh, he had a good premonition what was that all about.
It was past midnight and Connor still sat by Faith's side. His thoughts were running like hell. Could he really love her? He, who not so long ago was convinced he couldn't feel anything. He, who didn't know this feeling, not really. It was so new and overwhelming to him. Finally he sighed and rose from his sit. By now, whole house was asleep. Or so he thought .One certain blonde bleached vampire was sitting at doorsteps, smoking. He settled himself beside vampire and breathed heavily. Connor eyed packed of cigarettes lying nearby. 'What the hell' he thought.
''May I?'' he asked pointing towards them.
Spike raised his eyebrows in surprise but handed them over. Connor took one and asked about a lighter. Vampire reached into his pocket and gave it to him. ''Knock yourself over.''
Connor lit his cigarette and took a drag. Surprisingly he didn't cough or anything, he just felt its taste. He couldn't quite describe it but it was nice. For a moment neither of them spoke, just enjoying breeze of the night.
''So,'' Spike attempted a small conversation. ''how long?''
''How long what?'' Connor asked without looking at him.
''How long have you been in love with her? '' Now that made Connor choke. He opened his mouth to protest but Spike beat him to it. ''Don't try to deny it, I can tell. And don't worry I'll keep my mouth shut. Just curious here, honestly.''
Connor took a moment to think. ''Is it so obvious?'' he asked, worried.
''Um no, not really. But I've been around a little longer than rest of them. And I still remember how it's like.'' he extinguished his smoke.
''I don't know. Since I saw her, I think.'' seeing Spike was about to interject, Connor dismissed him with a wave of hand. ''Let me finish, then you'll can judge me.'Kay?'' Vampire nodded his head, waiting for boy to continue. He shook his head. ''No, it doesn't matter. She'll never love me.'' he said sadly and ended his smoke aswell. Connor stood up and stared into space.
''You're waiting for this beast guy to show up?Or Angelus?'' Spike asked.
''I don't care. My whole life's been a lie.I couldn't feel anything. But then she showed up and i felt like I've been born again. And then they almost took it away. Took her away. At this point I don't care who'll come here. I know one thing though. Nobody will ever hurt her again. I won't let it happen.'' he said unemotionally. Blonde nodded his head, sadly. He kind of knew what was this boy going through. ''I don't know what'll happen if she dies.'' he added. Connor started to retreat back to house but Spike's voice stopped him.
''How'd you know she doesn't love you?I don't want to give you false hope, I mean, I don't even know her but..what can you lose?Just think about it. Everybody deserves happines and from what I've heard about her, she'll need someone now. Someone she can trust, and you're the only one here who'll be there for her. Just.. think about it.'' he patted him on shoulder and went to the basement.
Connor stood still for a minute, lost in his own thoughts. He looked up and went back to Faith's room, ready to be there when she'll wake up.
But she didn't woke up. It was almost noon and she was still asleep. Her slayer healing worked her up, her wounds taken care of. All she needed to do was wake up. And Connor was frustrated. He was aswell recovered. It was middle of the day and he needed to work it out. So he trained with potentials in backyard, but still it was too little, too slow. He needed a real fight. Buffy must have saw it 'cuz she stepped out to him.
''Hey Connor, you eager for some asskicking?'' she asked him, clearly self-confident. He eyed her. From one side, he supposedly knew he couldn't take her, but from the other he didn't care. At least physical pain would distract him from this ache in his chest. He nodded his head and Buffy motioned to girls to give them some space. By now almost everyone gathered outside to watch their sparring. They stood opposite oneself for a moment.
''You ready?'' she asked.
''Bring it on!'' he shot back.
Without warning she charged at him, expecting this fight to go down quickly. She was quite surprised when Connor stepped aside, grabbed her hand and knocked her over. Now even Spike stood as close to the sunlight as he could without being burned, interest in his eyes. He waited for her to get up and continue the fight. And she did. One punch, few kicks and a painful twist of hand later he was pressed up against a tree. Connor elbowed her in her face, faked a blow and caught her off her guard with his other hand. Now he could tell, Buffy was pissed of. He tried to block her punches, but most of them still hit their target. He managed to avoid a, what seemed to be particulary painful blow, and threw her across the yard. He was breathing heavily, but Buffy didn't seem to notice. Sure, she looked a little reddened but if was is from bein hit or tiredness, he couldn't tell. She punched him in his stomach, kneed in face and followed it with a roundhouse kick to his face, after which he landed on the ground. Before he could stand up, a pair of strong arms pinned him back to the ground. He struggled to break free but he couldn't. After a little of whirling back and forth, he found that he couldn't move any of his limbs. He let out a deep breath and looked Buffy in the eye.
''I win.'' she stated and raised them both from the ground.
''Well, I gotta say I'm quite impressed junior. I mean in the end ya' lost but still..'' a familiar voice spoke out. Connor turned his head and saw Faith standing in a porch, hands across her chest and a smirk on her face. He didn't think. He practically ran his way over to her and hugged her like there was no tomorrow. She was a little taken back at first, but she hugged him back with equal strenght. Everyone stared at them wide eyed but they didn't seem to care. Buffy actually took a double look. Yup, there was Faith, the tough girl, a Slayer, a killer, hugging Angel's son like her life depended on it.
''What the hell?'' she came back to her senses.
Connor and Faith stiffened and slowly pulled away from eachother.
''Its,um.. its good to see you.. up and runnin'..you know..'' he managed to get out.
''Yeah, right..'' she looked around herself, only to find more than dozen of eyes glued into them. ''What are you waiting for?Show's over, get lost.'' Faith said with a dangerous glimpse in her eye. Girls retreated back into the house and Buffy walked right up to them.
''Come on, we gotta talk.'' she said coldly, not looking at her sister slayer. Faith sighed, but didn't move. Connor put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly.''Its gonna be okay. If they'll want to kick your ass, remember that I'm here. '' she punched him playfully and went inside the house. Connor followed her meeting Spike's gaze, which said 'Told you so'. He just smiled. Maybe not all vampires were so bad.
Everyone who knew Faith from her past days in Sunnydale gathered in living room.
''So..'' Buffy looked at others for help ''..what are you two doing here?'' she finished lamely.
Faith raised her eyebrow ''I think Connor here told ya what's been happening down in L.A right?The whole deal with Angelus, Beast, blotting out the sun?Did you find out what happened to Cordy?''
''Wait, what about Cordelia?'' Buffy asked quickly. Faith spun around to see Connor.
''You didn't tell 'em?''
''I uh, I must've forgotten..'' he trailed off.
Blonde slayer stared at her questioningly.
''It turned out that Cordelia was Beast's Master. The one who controlled it.'' she explained.
Silence greeted her words. Scoobies looked at themselfes, eachone unsure how to take that news.
They were on the patrol. Faith wanted to go alone, kick some vampire ass and clear her head but Buffy insisted that she took some of girls with her. So she did. Potentials just followed slayer, chatting happily, not quite caring where did they went. Well some of 'em were but they looked more like scared than threateningly. At least she had Xander with her. At first it was awkward, but eventually they called a truce between them. So now it was just a friendly, light conversation. To a certain moment.
''So Faith, what exactly happened in L. A.?And what was all that hugging about?'' he asked carefully. But the problem was she didn't know. Not really. All of this happened so quickly that Faith didn't had time to think about it. She sighed frustrated and kicked some stone out of her way.
''Don't get me wrong, I'm uhm.. happy that you're not..anyway, it's obvious that you care about him. How so?'' he added.
''Truth to be told, I have no idea. It's just, its complicated..What I mean is..'' she trailed off picking some noise ahead of them.
''What is it?'' Xander asked noticing her sudden change of posture. He scanned perimeter but couldn't see anything. Potentials gathered behind them, some with fear on their faces, some with determination, all of them with stakes raised. When he thought Faith imagined something he heard it. Light footsteps coming their way. Light, but not light enough, as if someone wanted them to be aware of his presence. Wanted them to be scared, not revealing himself out in open, just wanting them to know he was here. And he wasn't a friend, that much Xander knew.
''Come on you fucker, show yourself so I'll kick your ass!'' Faith shouted into space. After a minute a figure came out of darkness, relaxed with his hands in his pockets. When it came to light Xander drew a deep breath. Angel, or rather Angelus was standing there, right infront of them with a little smirk on his face and joy visible in his eyes. Faith made a move towards him but he held up his hand.
''Wait.'' he called out. She remained in her spot .''Xander get the girls back to the house.'' she motioned towards him. He started to protest but she cut him off. ''NOW!''
He took a couple steps back before finally turning around and telling girls to follow him. After that he runned down the street, full speed on, towards Buffy's house. Potentials slayers, without much choice, chased after him.
''So, finally decided to try fight me one on one?Gotta say I'm impressed.'' Faith said, starting to circle him.
''Oh, you know just thought that a bit of slayer's blood will be quite new experience. Besides..'' he cocked his head, looking past her. ''..who said I was alone?''
Faith slowly turned around, dread washing all over her, expecting to see Beast behind her. Noone. Nothing was there. ''What are you talkin' abo..'' she felt something sneaking on her. She threw her hands in the air. Great. Just a normal vampires. Faith looked at Angelus, still smirking at her. ''Are you kiddin'?That's it?Just a few of these fuckers?'' she said disbelievingly. He just shrugged
as first vampire leaped at her. Fifteen minutes, eight dusted vampires and they were still comin' at her .She was gettin' tired and Angelus knew that. Two more and again, they were alone. Faith was breathing heavily, but still could put up a good fight.
''What was that all about, huh?You just stood there waitin'. And you know B's gonna be here any minute now. So, what's your deal?'Cuz I don't like your odds.'' she asked, pissed off. What was his point anyway?
''Oh, I don't know about that. See, maybe she will come, maybe she won't but either way she's not gonna kill me. She can't do it, not again. Besides, I wouldn't worry about her.'' Angelus said with a spark in his eye.
''So what?You got me here, lets get it over with. After all, thats why you came, right?Everyone else is safe.''
Vampire sighed. ''You slayers, you always think everything's about you. By the way, I wouldn't be so sure with this 'everyone's safe' thing.''
''What do you mean?'' Faith asked, now worried. If something happened to the potentials that were with here Buffy will kill her.
''Well, last time I've checked my lovely son was quite occupied.'' he said mischievously.
Faith's features hardened. ''Where is he?''
''Oh, Connor he's..actually I don't know where's he now. But I can assure you, he was having some nice talk with Beastie when I decided to left them alone and pay you a visit Faithy. Poor boy, imagine his face when instead of me he saw Beast standing right next to him. It was priceless.'' he laughed.
''Tell me where is he, or I'll kill you right now.'' she said in a determinated voice. That's what all's been about. It was more than half an hour since Connor was left with Beast. She didn't even wanted to think what could've happened..
''Well, since you're asking that nice..'' he trailed off. Faith raised her stake, knowing she had no time to loose. ''Abandoned warehouse on the east side of town. You better hurry..or you might not like what'll see there.'' he said and disappeared into shadows. Faith took off, running in the indicated direction. She prayed she wouldn't be too late..
Kind of my first try so please be gentle. Reviews are welcome.