CHAPTER 2 – New Faces and Familiar Faces

Holtz had heard somebody else making their way to the roof. Seeing Angel, he immediately turned his back to Buffy, not considering her a threat anymore, and charged towards the new arrivals. But between the two of them, Gunn and Angel managed to disarm him quickly. Angel broke his arm in the process and kicked him viciously to the floor.

Addressing Gunn, Angel said coldly, "Make sure he doesn't move." But Holtz kicked Gunn's legs out from under him and rushed towards Buffy and the baby. Angel grabbed him from behind and tackled him to the ground. After several punches and some rolling around, which brought them ever closer the edge of the building, Angel landed a particularly powerful blow, sending Holtz over the edge off the roof.

Buffy was still standing where Angel had first seen her when he had arrived on the roof. Her vision was getting blurry. She had noticed the yelling and fighting in the background, but had needed every ounce of strength she had left to not fall over or make a step in the wrong direction. Angel made his way over to her, but she seemed slightly disoriented. In order not to startle her, he ordered Gunn to stay back and approached her slowly. She was standing way too close to the edge for his taste.

"Buffy, it's me. It's okay. It's over," he said quietly. Buffy only held on tighter to the baby. Her head was swimming. Squinting she tried to make out the face of the person holding out his hand to her. "Angel?"

Angel quickly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away from the edge. As soon as Buffy felt his hand on her, she knew they were safe and her legs gave out under her. Angel caught her easily and gently lowered her to the floor.

"Gunn, take Connor," Angel said and handed the baby to him.

Connor. So that was his name, Buffy thought hazily.

"Can you get up? We should get going," Angel asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." But as soon as Buffy got to her feet she started swaying.

"I don't think so," he said as he put an arm around her waist to support her.

"I can hear police cars," Gunn said urgently. "We should hurry, unless you have a real good story to explain all this."

"No, I don't. Hold on tight," he said, as he swept Buffy up in his arms. "We really need to get out of here."

Angel carefully deposited an unconscious Buffy in the back of his car. He checked her pulse to make sure it was strong and regular, before covering her with his coat.

Angel first made a small detour to avoid the approaching police cars before heading for the hotel. When Gunn noticed where Angel was headed, he asked, "Don't you want to get her to a hospital?"

"No."

"We don't have to tell them anything, we can just say we found her like this. They'll assume she was attacked by a gang or something."

"No, she hates hospitals. She'll be okay in a couple of days."

"Did you look at her wounds?" Gunn asked aghast. "Some are pretty deep, they need stitching. She could bleed to death." Gunn looked at him when he realized what Angel had said. "What do you mean 'she hates hospitals'? You know her?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

Angel sighed, "Gunn, meet Buffy. The Slayer."

Gunn turned his head to look at the young woman in the back. "Wow!"

"Is she still asleep? Does she look like she is in a lot of pain?" Angel asked.

"No, she seems okay. Out like a light though."

"Good."

"You sure she'll be alright?"

"She heals pretty fast. Some of the wounds do look bad, but if we take her to a hospital she might hurt herself even more by trying to get out of it. I'd rather not upset her and have her somewhere safe, where I can keep an eye on her. I can't at a hospital."

"Yeah," Gunn said absent-mindedly, he couldn't take his eyes off Buffy. "I can understand why you would want to keep an eye on her. She even looks pretty with all the blood and dirt."

"Gunn…," Angel said warningly.

"Oh, sorry, I get it," Gunn turned back to look out the front window.

"Good. And just a small piece of advice, if you want to keep your head, don't repeat what you just said to Cordy," Angel said with a small, amused smile.

"But you can repeat it in front of me as often as you like," Buffy's drowsy voice came from the back of the car.

Gunn turned back to look at her. "Anytime you want. But I guess you get those lines all the time."

"Vamps are not really big on compliments when they are about to be staked."

"Oh, I see your problem."

"You okay, Buffy?" Angel asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Yeah, I'm fine. No hospital. 'Cause I'm not going," she stated with as much insistence as she could muster in her weakened state.

Angel gave Gunn an I-told-you-so look. Gunn chuckled quietly.

"Only if you promise to be a good girl and let us take care of you," Angel teased. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep Buffy in LA against her will, but he would try anyway.

Buffy didn't reply. She was drifting off to sleep again, when she suddenly remembered about Connor. "Is the baby okay?" she asked alarmed. From her position in the back she couldn't know that he was quietly sleeping in Gunn's arms.

"Yeah, don't worry," Gunn said and held Connor so that she could see him. "He's sleeping like a baby."

"Good," she mumbled before closing her eyes again. The car engine lulled her back to sleep.

When they got to the Hyperion, Angel dragged Buffy out of the car as gently as he could and lifted her into his arms. The jostling roused her slightly and she mumbled into his chest, "No hospital."

"No hospital, I promise." Angel said into her ear.

"'Cause I'm fine," she mumbled in a voice that was anything but convincing Angel of her statement. She hadn't even opened her eyes. Angel was a bit worried about her condition and wanted to get a closer look at her wounds as quickly as possible. He really hoped she didn't need a hospital, but he would never risk her life, no matter how much she hated hospitals, even if he had to sedate her himself.

Gunn followed them into the hotel, carrying Connor. When they got inside Cordelia was already waiting for them. She started towards Angel, her face showing nothing but displeasure with the whole situation.

"If Buffy got Connor hurt, I'll-"

"Cordelia, she just saved his life," Angel said in a stern, but quiet voice as not to wake Buffy, not stopping once but heading straight for the stairs.

"Get Connor cleaned up, see if he's hurt. If he's hurt, take him to the hospital." Gunn had already checked Connor for wounds in the car and he'd seemed fine. All the blood seemed to be Buffy's. He hadn't even cried once since the whole fighting had been over. But Angel wanted to keep Cordelia busy so she wouldn't follow them.

"Right, and you are staying here with your precious Buffy," she called after him with accusation.

Angel stopped in the middle of the stairs and sighed. Turning around to face her he said, "Cordy, it's starting to get light outside, I can't go."

"Oh."

"And Cordy, I can tell you right now that you won't find one scratch on him."

Speechless Cordelia watched him carrying Buffy upstairs.

Gunn handed her Connor. "Here, see for yourself. Connor is just fine. Buffy is the one you should be worried about."

"Oh, what is it with Buffy and men? First Angel, then Doyle, now you too, Gunn."

"Don't forget Connor. He seems to be pretty fond of her too," Gunn said with a grin.

"Arg!" Cordelia stormed off.

Angel carried Buffy into one of the rooms. He laid her on the bed and looked her over more closely. Her clothes were torn in several places, but her arms seemed especially bad. He gently rolled her over. Her back looked just as bad.

Fred was standing in the doorway watching curiously. "That's the Slayer?"

"Yeah. Can you get me some warm water, a washcloth, some ointment and bandages, please?"

"Sure, I'll be right back."

Angel started exposing Buffy's back, which wasn't that difficult to accomplish. Her top was already in shreds.

"I hope this wasn't your favorite top, Buffy," he whispered more to himself. Buffy moaned when Angel tugged on some of the material that had gotten stuck to her wounds.

"Ssh, it's alright. Go back to sleep." It would probably be better for her, and for him, if she was unconscious when he dressed her wounds.

"Is he alright?" she opened her eyes and looked at him. Obviously, she'd forgotten that she'd already asked about Connor earlier in the car.

"Yeah, Connor's fine. Thanks to you."

"Good," she mumbled, closing her eyes again.

Fred came back in with the supplies. "Do you want me to get Cordelia to clean her up?" Fred asked slightly uncomfortable.

"No, she's busy with Connor," Angel said curtly. He took the basin from her and put it on the bedside table.

Fred slowly came closer to the bed. "Will she be alright?"

"Yeah, she'll be sore for a while, but she heals more quickly than normal people."

Angel carefully started cleaning the wounds. Buffy had gotten some pretty deep cuts. Her left shoulder looked the worst. It was criss-crossed with sword cuts. A few of them were still bleeding. When he pressed the cloth on the wounds to stop the bleeding, Buffy came awake again and hissed in pain.

"Sorry. Gotta stop the bleeding."

"It's okay. Thanks for taking care of me."

"It's the least I can do. I'm not as good as a doctor, but I thought you wouldn't mind."

"You bet."

Suddenly Angel remembered Fred standing at the end of the bed. "Oh, um, Buffy, I want you to meet Fred."

Buffy couldn't see Fred from her position and looked confused.

Fred walked closer to Angel. "Hi."

"Oh, hi. Sorry I'm not in a position to shake hands."

"That's okay."

"Fred, tell Gunn to not let anybody in until we know who was all involved in this besides Wesley and Holtz."

With one more sympathetic glance at the wounded Slayer Fred quietly left the room.

Angel covered and taped her wounds as best as he could. "Your shoulder looks pretty bad. What happened?"

"I think he tried to get me to drop Connor. I don't think he really wanted to hurt him. He didn't have any such inhibitions about me though."

Angel had just finished with her back, when Cordelia came in.

"Hi, Cordy," Buffy greeted her, but didn't receive any reply.

"Connor's fine."

"Good. Can you get some clean clothes for Buffy?"

"She'll get them all bloody."

"Never mind, I'll give her some of mine," Angel said.

Cordelia slammed the door.

"Gee, she is really happy to see me."

"She was just worried about Connor."

"Yeah, right."

Angel just sat there, considering what to do next.

"What's wrong?"

"Um, I'm finished with your back. Can you sit up so I can look at… um the rest."

Buffy smiled. "I think I'm fine otherwise. He didn't want to hit Connor, he focused on my arms."

"Yeah, so I see."

Buffy tried to push herself up, but her left arm hurt too much. "I think I might need some help."

Angel helped her into a sitting position, while Buffy held what was left of her shirt to her chest.

"Déjà vu," Buffy grinned a bit embarrassed.

"Let me do your arms and I'll get you something to wear."

He quietly cleaned the blood from her arms and bandaged the deeper cuts. He examined his work and said, "You look a bit like a mummy."

Buffy inspected her arms. They did indeed look the part. "Yeah, I could wear this next Halloween. Only this version is not sanctioned for accompanying kids while trick-or-treating."

"I'll go get you some clothes. Do you need anything else? Painkillers?"

"No, they'll only make me lightheaded. I'll be fine. Thanks."

Angel left and came back with one of his shirts and some sweat pants. "Here, I'll leave you alone so you can change."

"Angel?"

"I'll be back in five minutes. I'm just going to check on Connor."

Angel knocked. "Are you decent?"

"As decent as one can be in oversized men's clothes."

Angel came back into the room with a cup of hot tea in one hand and Connor in the other. "Connor wanted to say thank you in person, didn't you, Connor?"

Buffy looked delicious in his clothes. The shirt was only half buttoned. She was definitely not wearing a bra. Angel couldn't help but stare at her cleavage. Buffy noticed and held the shirt together with her right hand. "Um, sorry, I couldn't lift my left arm far enough to close those buttons."

"Oh, um, do you want me to…"

"If you don't mind."

Angel put the tea on the bedside table and sat down next to Buffy. He laid Connor down on the bed and then expertly closed the buttons of Buffy's shirt. When his fingers slightly touched the skin between her breasts, Buffy shivered. They both noticed, but decided to ignore it.

"All done." He picked Connor up again.

"Thanks."

"You look tired. Do you want to lie down? Do you need some more pillows?"

"No, I should be alright if I lie on my side." She awkwardly lowered herself onto her side.

"See," Buffy proclaimed proudly, before she winced in pain.

"I saw those cuts, Buffy. I know they must hurt, despite you being the Slayer."

Buffy just grinned guiltily.

"You sure you don't want anything for the pain? Aspirin, maybe?"

"No, thanks."

Both were quiet, neither knowing what to say. There was a big elephant in the room. Only Connor was completely oblivious of it.

Angel told himself that he should leave her alone for now. Buffy was hurt and needed rest. But he couldn't move. He just sat there on the edge of the bed with Connor on his lap. Angel very much wanted to talk to her. He had so many questions. How had she gotten here? What had happened with Holtz? But he was also apprehensive of how Buffy would react when she found out the truth about Connor. Maybe she didn't even want to know. Maybe she didn't care anymore. Maybe she had thought Connor was just some innocent baby that needed to be rescued. Maybe Buffy wanted nothing further to do with them.

No matter how exhausted Buffy was, she knew she would never be able to find sleep if she didn't get some answers first. Would he have the guts to tell her without her having to ask? She felt so left out of his life. Yeah, sure, that was the arrangement, but she didn't have to like it. She hadn't even known about Connor. Buffy could feel that Connor was Angel's son, not adopted or anything. She could feel the same tingle she felt with Angel. Buffy wasn't sure if she wanted to know, but she asked him anyway. "Who is his mother?"

Angel knew she probably wouldn't believe him and would like it even less. His silence told Buffy that it must be someone she knew.

"Darla."

TBC

Note:

Thanks for following the story so far. Let me know if you want to read more.