Disclaimer: All Buffy characters were created by Joss Whedon. Not me.

A/N: Took me some time to write this. Hope'll like it.

Chapter 3: Some Assembly Required

Connor was walking back to Buffy's house. By now he felt little dizzy, but nothing he couldn't handle. After all, getting beaten twice in few days wasn't his best idea of spending free time. Everything that happened in past days came back to him. Beast, Angelus, fights, fleeing to Sunnydale, Faith, Angelus again and finally Cordy. He felt more tired than ever. After Cordy's revelations Connor was ready to give it all up. Actually he knew he did, and for these few moments, when he was ready to leave everything behind and start a new world, she appeared. In the end, he knew he did the right thing, but still it hurt. He never killed a human before. Demons, vampires, whatever that would stood up to him, Connor'd take them out. He was The Destroyer. The problem was, he didn't feel like one right now. The most ridiculous thing was that if he didn't enter that church, he would probably do something stupid. At the top of that was the thing that Connor didn't believe in God. But somehow preacher's words gave him some kind of comfort. Small hope that maybe something was watching over him.

He could see his temporary home far ahead of him. Connor sighed, looked around and went to face his fate.


Xander rubbed his eyes. He was totally worn out and that wasn't a good thing. He refused going to sleep. And he wasn't the only one. Willow was upstairs, preparing to do her mojo on Angel. Buffy and Spike were in the basement, doing God-knows-what. Giles settled himself in the kitchen, where he had a clear view at doors.

Xander sighed.

And then there was Faith. She was sitting in the armchair, with her back towards the door. She was calmly playing with her hair, watching rest of the girls in the house. He sighed again and started to tap his fingers on the desk.

''Could you stop this?'' she growled at him, not moving at all.

Suddenly Giles stood up. Meeting Xander's gaze he nodded. ''He's back.''

There was a sound of front doors opening and Connor appeared in living room.

''What?'' he asked after looking at their faces.

''What?'' Giles repeated. ''You mind explain us just what the hell were you doing? And what happened to you?'' he added pointing to his bloody and torn clothing.

Xander risked a glance at Faith. She was still sitting, still her face was unreadable. But her eyes showed it all. She was truly relieved.

''Went for a walk.''

Oopss. Wrong answer.

Faith got up and standed right in front of Connor.

''You went for a walk?'' she asked calmly. Connor shrugged.

''Right. A walk. After we told you to stay here, out of trouble, you decided to go for a walk? And you didn't happen to pop into Angel, hm?'' she seemed to be genuinely curious.

''Yeah, so? I'll do what I want. Besides, you don't know the half of it.''

''So explain it to me.''

''No.'' Connor said.

Faith turned his back to him. ''Kay, should've known. I mean he's all grown up, right?'' she adressed Xander. Next thing he saw was Faiths elbow connecting to Connors face, sending him sprawling across the floor.

''What the fuck is wrong with you kid?'' she yelled at him. Connor painfully picked himself from the ground.

''I'm not a kid.'' he stated and went upstairs, pushing her out of his way. She only stared at him, apparently at loss of words.

Buffy came into the room. ''He's back?'' she asked Xander who only nodded.

''Where?''

Xander looked at the stairs. She started to go after him but Faith's voice stopped her. ''Don't. I'll go talk to him.'' with that she followed Connor.

''Any of you mind explain me just what is going on here?'' Buffy asked. Giles murmured something and quickly walked away. Buffy looked expectantly at Xander.

''I think that once she's back, there are gonna be some major changes.'' he said and retreated to his own room as well. Buffy looked around in empty room. ''Spike!'' she realized and went to basement.


Faith had no idea where Connor went. It's not like he had his own room. She didn't even know where he spent his first night here. She sighed and continued her search. Finally she spotted him. He was in her room, standing near window, staring through it. Faith carefully stepped in.

''Look, Connor. I-I'm sorry 'kay? Didn't mean it back there.'' Why she had to suck at apologies?

''Oh, but you did. It's not your fault.'' he said and turned to her. His face was tear-streaked. ''It's not your fault that you're worried. I mean who wouldn't?'' Faith had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe kid's finally lost it?

''What...''

''After all it's the great Angel. Vampire with a soul, saviour of the needy.'' he cut her off bitterly. ''It's obvious that all of you'd be worried. But what about me? Why noone cares about what's happening to me? And it's all because of him.''

''Connor...'' she said softly and tried to comfort him somehow, but he flinched away.

''Everyone. Everyone who ever loved me. They're dead. All of them. I know they lied to me. I know that all what they wanted was my loyalty for their purposes. I know all of it was a lie.'' he shook his head, refusing to meet her eye. ''Guess I thought I had something on my own. But all of them turned their backs on me.'' he continued passionately. ''And for what? For him? He's just a vampire. Now he doesn't even has a soul, he killed all of my friends and they still choose him. Even you..'' he stopped sharply. After a moment of awkward silence Connor stormed out of the room, leaving confused Faith to her own thoughts.


Connor was pissed off. He sacrificed his own happiness to them and what? They blamed him for going after their precious vampire. Couldn't they realize that it had to end one way or another? He stopped. There were some voices in one of the rooms.

''Giles, calm down. I'll do it. Turned out it was a little more complicated than I thought. No worries.''

''Willow, are you certainly sure?''

''Yes, I know what I'm doing. Besides everything I need to know is in this book.''

They wanted to re-ensoul Angel? No way, he won't let it happen. Connor risked a glance into the room, looking for this mentioned book. There it was, on the bed. He had to wait for good moment. With that Connor went downstairs, ready to act when needed.


Meanwhile Faith was sitting on her bed, thinking about Connor. She saw a lot of herself in him. Well, past herself anyway. His situation reminded her of mayor. Of her after coma. When she woke up, she was enraged. She wanted to get Buffy 'cuz of what she did. She was all alone in the world, just like he feels he is. They were similiar. And he had to get some help, or he'll break down completely. Faith shook her head and again, went after furious teenager.


''Willow! Can you come down here for a minute?'' Buffy's voice drew Connor out of his thoughts. Great, now he had an opportunity to steal the book. When Willow, followed by Giles stepped in to the room, Connor sneaked out. He barely managed to avoid Faith in her way downstairs. There was no way someone would stop him. Not this time. With that Connor walked to Willow's room and took the book.


Faith searched whole house, but couldn't find him. Where the hell did he go anyway? She went to the basement, only to find Spike sitting on the bed.

''Hello there!'' he greeted her.

''You saw Connor by any chance?'' she asked, getting to business.

''Our little rebellious teenager? No.''

Faith was about to go back upstairs but Spike continued. ''Why you two just can't say it?''

She took a couple steps back. ''What the fuck are ya'talking about?''

Vampire shook his head in disbelief. ''You know that he loves you, don't ya?''

''It's a crush, he'll get over it. 'Sides he's too young, not to mention he's..''

''Angel's son?'' Spike ended for her. Faith just shrugged, refusing to meet his eyes.

''Okay, I'm 'bout to give you some advices, and you better be grateful for 'em. One, it ain't a crush. He's not gonna get over it. Two, too young? How old are you anyway? 20-21? He's 18, I think. 'snot a problem.'' Spike paused, letting his words to sink in. ''And three, what kind of an excuse is „He's Angel's son"? So what? You can't love him? He can't love you? Well, I say to hell with it. Anyway, all of us 'sgonna die, most likely in the next couple of days. Go, find him and tell him that. We're all going to hell, one way or another. Might as well enjoy the ride.''

Faith was about to respond when Buffy, with Willow hot on her tracks bursted in.''Have any of you seen Willows book? The one she needs to re-ensoul Angel?'' she asked.

Rogue slayer put two and two together. ''It's Connor. He took it away, so you won't be able to do it.''

''Why would he do that?'' Spike asked.

''He's going after Angelus.'' Buffy realized.

''Think he'll kill him?'' Willow wondered.

''More likely die tryin'.He's good, but he's not that good. Angelus 'sgonna tear him to pieces.'' Faith said. She thought for about a three seconds and rushed upstairs. ''You two stay here.'' she said pointing to Buffy and Spike. ''I'm going after Connor, you find the book, and do the spell. I'll try to keep him off Angelus for long enough.''

''You can't go alone, we don't even know where he went! We need to search through half the city.'' Buffy protested.

''Look B, there's no time. Just find the damn book, I'll manage.'' with that Faith rushed out of the house.

''Why it had to be her?'' Buffy asked Spike.

''Well, I'd say if anyone can prevent Connor from going after his father, it'll be her.'' he answered.

''Why?'' asked a confused Willow.

Spike sighed impatiently. ''What are you, dumb? She's the one 'cuz she loves him. He'll listen to her. Now, when we established that, can we go find this book and end this before it's gonna start at all?'' he started to go upstairs. ''Honestly, what is it with people these days? A blind man could see more than you do.''


Connor had no idea how to find Angelus. He just knew he had to. So he walked through the town, seemingly without a purpose. That is, until he felt him. He was near, probably in one of these houses, hiding from the sunlight. It's not like he could just yell for him and Angelus would appear. Connor had to find him, fight in his battleground. So he searched through the houses, one by one. He just hoped he had enough time to do it. How long would it take for them to notice his absence? Not to mention redheads book. They were still people, remaining in town, so Angelus couldn't get to their houses without an invitation. Or he could just kill them, once owner's dead it doesn't matter anymore, does it? Connor let out a frustrated sigh and walked in to the first house on his list.


''Found it!'' Xander's triumphantly yell spread through the house. Immediately, everyone gathered in living room.

''Where was it? Doesn't matter, Willow do the spell. I'm going after Faith.'' Buffy said frantically.

''How do you intend to find her? You don't even know where are they.'' Xander asked.

''I'll figure something out.'' Buffy answered and rushed out of the house.

''Great. We got a vampire chased by his bloodlusting son, chased by slayer who doesn't know what she's gonna do, chased by another slayer who wants to make it all right. Seriously it's like an attempt at a bad joke.'' Spike commented, shooking his head. ''Wonder who's gonna come back alive?'' he asked curiously.


Connor stepped in to a third house. So far he had nothing. But Angelus had to be somewhere, more precisely somewhere here. He could tell so much. He searched whole house and was ready to leave, when a sudden noise behind him caused Connor to stop dead in his tracks. Slowly, carefully he turned around.

''Hi dad.''

Angelus leaped out of the shadows and smirked.

''You just can't stop trying, don't you? You really think you can take me?'' he said disbelievingly, with his hands in his pockets.

''Guess you'll have to wait and find out.''

They started to circle eachother. ''I don't think I got enough time. But on the other hand.. this is gonna go rather fast, isn't it?'' Before Connor could move Angelus punched him, sending him flying across the room. ''I've been waiting for this.. for a very long time.''


Faith had no idea how to find 'em. Sure, they'd find him once, but, well it was Connor who did the most tracking. So if she was correct, right now he had his ass gettin' kicked. Maybe he didn't even found him yet? Right, wishful thinking. Sure he found him, sure they were fighting and it was sure that one of them will end up dead, unless she'll do something about it. She kept running.


''Any of you can tell me what is she doing?'' Rona asked.

They were gathered in living room, watching Willow preaparing to do the spell.

''She's trying to restore Angels soul.'' Xander filled her in.

''Why is that, again? And why you didn't tell us that there's another slayer?'' she said, looking at older occupants of the house.

Spike walked in. ''Probably 'cuz she was in jail, that's why. Now, when we done playin' twenty questions, can you do it already? Preferably 'fore it's all gonna go to hell?'' he said looking at witch.

''You really think kid's after Angelus?'' Xander addressed Spike.

''Oh, he is. I'm sure of it.''

''How? And there's this one more thing, how certain are we that Faith's reformed? For all we know she could be working with Angelus, trying to get Buffy alone.''

Spike shook his head and laughed humorlessly. ''You guys really can't see it? Harris you should see it. Wait, I know that you do so why? I'll tell you more: if Angelus'll hurt the kid, I don't know who's gonna need help.''

Xander looked at his boots in shame.

''But, she is a murderer...'' he said half-heartedly.

''Aren't we all?'' Giles asked.

Each person in the room looked at another.

''Okay guys, can you all step away? I think I'm ready.'' Willow announced.


''Come on, you're not even trying. I'm sure that my own son could do better.''

Connor landed hard on the ground. Situation for him was not so good. For every punch he landed on Angelus, vampire answered with three on his own.

''Well, I gotta say this is gonna be quite new experience. I mean, I've tasted a slayer before but this.. this is so much better.'' he said and bounced his eyebrows. Connor charged at him, but Angelus punched him first. He took a couple steps back, and swinged at him, but missed. Vampire grabbed him by arms and headbutted, sending him, again, to the ground.


''So you say that now Angel's soul is somewhere... out there?'' Xander asked, waving his hand around.

''Yup, that pretty much sums it up. Shouldn't be long now.'' Willow answered.

''Could you hurry? I think we shouldn't wait too long.'' Giles said. Willow nodded her head.


''Faith! Faith, wait!'' Buffy managed to catch up with her sister slayer. Upon hearing her voice, brunette stopped and turned around.

''You seen him?'' she asked.

Buffy shook her head. ''No. But we found the book and Willow's doing the spell.''

Faith looked around. ''Great, c'mon we gotta find 'em.'' she turned to her left and ran, Buffy behind her.


''You know, Angel's never gonna forget that. I mean, drinking his own son dry... 'sgotta be something, right?'' Angelus said, kicking Connor in the stomach. ''When you were still a baby, back then, when he had his blood spiked with your's... he was so hyped up, sometimes he was ready to just kill you. Just to end this whole tiresome deal. Wonder how I'm gonna feel now?'' He lifted Connor up and threw across the room.

''Fuck you.'' he spat.

''Me? No, no no. After I'm done with you, maybe I'll go see how's Faith doin', huh?''

Connor looked him in the eyes.

''Oh, hit a nerve there? Don't worry, I'll do it gently... or maybe I won't? After all she's such a...'' rest of his words drowned in Connor's enraged cry and moments later, both of them flew right through the wall.


''Te implor doamne. Nu ignora accasta rugaminte lasa orbita sa fie vasul care-i va transporta sufletul la el.'' Willow was chanting, facing the Orb of Thessulah.

''Is she supposed to do that?'' Vi asked.

''I'm pretty sure she is.'' Giles answered.


Connor punched and kicked Angelus until he was on the ground. Then he went over him and started to punch him repeatedly in the face.

''You...lay...one...damn...finger...on...her...and...I'll.. kill you'' with every word he said, vampire received another punch to his face. Connor picked him up and threw across the room.

''All you ever did, dad, was taking thing away from me.''

Angelus stood up. ''I'm not your father.''

Connor chuckled. ''Angel, Angelus. There's no difference between you two. Except that you're my true father. Angel's just a façade. Something you're forced to wear.''

Angelus glared at his son in confusion. ''We had this conversation before, haven't we?''

''Yeah.''


''Do you even know where you're going?'' Buffy asked. Faith stopped and breathed heavily.

''Uhm.. no?'' she offered.

''So how the hell did you found him in L.A?'' she looked at Faith and crossed her arms.

''...Connor?''

Buffy laughed humorlessy. ''Great. Just fantastic. Exactly what I needed to hear.''


Xander was pacing between front doors and kitchen.

''How long it's gonna take to perform one stupid spell?'' he said to himself.

''Not long now.'' Spike answered from another room.

Xander looked at Willow.

''Este scris aceasta putere este dreptul poporuil meu de a conduce.''

He returned to pacing.


Connor and Angelus were slowly circling eachother.

''I won't let you do this.''

''And how do you intend to stop me?'' vampire asked.

''Oh, I don't know. Kill you?'' Connor retorted back.

''Told ya once, promises. Don't make 'em, if you can't keep 'em.''

Connor swinged at Angelus, but he ducked, showed him against the wall and headbutted. Then he followed that with a knee to stomach and elbow to Connors back, sending him to the ground.

''Okay, that's it. I'm gettin' tired. You know, I'm gonna give you one more chance, 'fore I'll pay a little visit to our friends.''

Connor grabbed wall for the support and slowly picked himself up. ''She's mine.''

''We'll see what we can do about that.'' Angelus smirked.


''Faith! This is pointless, we can't just run around all day. We won't find them like that.'' Buffy reasoned.

''Then what do you want to do?'' she asked.

''Let's go back to the house. Maybe Willow finished the spell already. We just have to wait for them to contact us.''

Faith looked torn between going back and looking further.

''What if they already came back? We won't do much good running around like a mad women.'' Buffy tried to convince her.

Faith gave up. '''Kay, let's go back.''


Connor landed, crashing through the desk. He whimpered in pain. Angelus slowly made his way over him. Seeing that Connor wouldn't stay in land of concious people for much longer, he kneeled and vamped out.

''Goodnight, son.'' he whispered and roughly bit into his neck.


Giles was watching Willow intensely. He held his breath.

''Asa sa fie, acum!''


Angelus gasped loudly in pain and rolled away from Connor, his face returning to normal. He groaned and his eyes glowed bright red and went back dark, almost instantly. Angel breathed heavily, and carefully looked around.

''Connor!'' he crawled over to his fallen son. Angel stared in shock at his bleeding neck wound. He was breathing, that's a good news. He looked outside, sun was still up. ''Damn it!''

He searched for the phone. When he found one he cursed again. Ripped off from the wall.


Buffy walked into her house, Faith right on her heels.

''Buffy! Did you find them? Where are they?'' Xander jumped from his sit.

''No. Willow did the spell?'' she asked.

''Yeah, spell's done, if kid found his daddy, they'll show up.'' Spike answered, then, second later he frowned. ''If they didn't kill eachother first.''

Faith glared at him dangerously. ''Uhm, forget it?'' he tried.

''We just have to wait. Angel'll contact us.'' Buffy said reassuringly and went over to talk with Giles and Willow, Xander following.

Spike shrugged and walked back into basement. Seconds later he appeared in doorways, watching Faith. She just stood there, looking like a lost child.

''Wanna smoke?'' he offered.

''Sure.''


''Come on, Connor! Don't give up, not now!'' Angel yelled at Connor who seemed to be fading. He tried to stop the bleeding, but to no use.

''What the fuck is goin' on there?'' a voice yelled from outside.

''Call the ambulance, now!'' he yelled back, eyes sparkling with hope. Momets later a man, early thirties by the look, bursted in. He stared at them in shock. Seconds passed and he did nothing.

''Call the ambulance!'' Angel roared.


Angel was in hospital. When the night has fallen, he quickly rushed out of wrecked house. So, he was in one of these white hallways, waiting for his son to wake up. Connor'll live, thanks to his faster than normal healing. Angel's eyes settled on the phone. He stood up and slowly, carefully, made his way over. He should call Buffy, let her know that everything's fine. Well, maybe not so fine, but Connor's alive and he have his soul back. He let out a deep breath, and dialed.


''I mean, how the hell would I know that what I feel is love, huh?''

Spike and Faith were deeply in conversation. Hours passes by, and they haven't heard anything. So they settled themselfes in the basement and talked. Smoked, drinked, and talked to be accurate.

''And now you think you are in love, right?'' he asked nonchalantly.

''Yeah..'' she answered dreamily. Then she frowned. ''Holy fuck, I am.'' Faith looked at him, frightened.

''Finally!'' Spike exclaimed. Faith's eyes widened. ''B-but.. but, he-he's so skinny a-and..''

''..and it doesn't matter? 'cuz all you want to do is, let me guess...'' he didn't end his sentence, because Buffy bursted in. ''Angel called, he and Connor are in the hospital! We gotta go.'' with that she was gone again.

Faith looked between stairs and Spike. Then she took a final swing from her bottle and rushed upstairs. Spike, not having anything better to do, followed.


She looked at Connor, who just laid on the bed motionlessly. He seemed so young, so fragile that it was hard to believe he saw so much evil in his life. Faith just watched him sleep, knowing that he would wake up gave her so kind of peace. And fear. 'Cause when he'll wake up, what's gonna happen? Connor went after Angelus, and seemingly, got beat up pretty badly. Angel, Buffy and everyone else who tagged along were in the hallway, clearly discussing something very serious. And she was left to watch over Connor. She stared at him, her gaze piercing deep into his face.

''You can hold his hand, you know?'' a voice behind startled her. A nurse.

''I, uh..'' but the nurse already disappeared. Faith thought for a moment and slowly sit on the edge of the bed, taking his hand in her own. She stroke a little hair from his face and noticed something. Bloody bandage on his neck. No, it couldn't be... But it was. Surely they were two tiny holes in Connor's neck, a clear proof that he was bitten. Faith didn't need to guess by who.

''Faith.'' Angel came in. ''Can I talk with you for a second?'' he motioned to her to follow him.

''What?'' she asked.

''I'm leaving.''

''What?'' she repeated.

''I, uhm, I remember what happened while I was Angelus. Fred's alive. Angelus didn't killed her, he planned on turning her, when he'd be back. I need to go and.. you know.'' he said uneasy.

''You gonna just leave your son like that?'' Faith gestured towards Connors room. ''After what you did to him?''

Angel looked down in shame. ''I know.'' he said through gritted teeth. ''That's why you have to stay here. Watch over him, make sure he's okay. Can I trust you?''

''You don't need to ask, man. I owe you. I'll stay, take care of him.'' she replied. ''But when he'll recover, what then?''

''Guess we have to wait and find out.'' he turned to leave, but stopped after few steps. ''I was there. When he killed Cordelia. It wasn't easy for him. And he had every right to blame it on me, but..'' Angel shook his head. ''Don't give up on him. Whatever he does, or say, please be there for him. He's vulnerable, fragile. He needs help.'' he left.

Faith followed him 'till he was out of her view, then she went back to Connor. ''Guess 'sjust you 'n me now, kiddo. Right, you ain't a kid no more. Typical for a teenager with dysfunctional family, huh? Well, I gotta say that what you did was fuckin' stupid... but I forgive ya. You ain't dead after all.'' she talked to him, it felt kinda easy when she was a little bit drunk, and he was unconscious. So she talked about little things, big things, completely irrational things, everythin' that came to her mind.

Meanwhile Spike and Buffy were standing near the doors, obviously eavesdropping. Minutes passed by and Buffy motioned to Spike to move.

''You believe me now?'' he asked when they were a couple rooms away.

''Yeah, I have to say I was wrong about her.'' she answered.

''Think they'll make it?''

''I hope so.''