Title: Aftermath
Author: Christy
Rating: FR13
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these series...I'm just borrowing the situation for a bit. I may not own the series that Alissa filters through, but the concept of her is something I came up with
Genre: Gen/AU
Fandoms: Angel/Highlander
Word Count: 998
Timeline: After Angel's series finale
Series: Alissa's Interests
Summary: Alissa and Connor talk about what it was like when she first met his father

People had recovered a lot by this point. The more plebian and mundane of them were just happy another election was over and done with. Others, the ones who knew what was really going on in the world, were happy to still be up walking around after the main End of Days battle.

"But, we both know that the Senior Partners and their minions are far from done with us, Shanshu'ed father of yours or not," Alissa murmured as she took a sip of her beer.

Connor scowled at her over his own beer. "Wish you wouldn't do that, ya know," he groused.

She smiled at him from the other side of the booth at one of the many bars that dotted New York City. "I can't really help reading your intent when you broadcast it as loud as your father does sometimes." Off of his look, she explained. "It's kinda like radio stations- most of it is static, but strong signals once in a while. It's nothing like what Buffy went through when she got infected by that one demon- I was born with telepathy and so I have to work on NOT reading thoughts," she told him. She had vague memories of someone she trusted teaching her how to filter things out and shield against most, and thought it might've been while camping, since she remembers being out among the stars, but not much more than that. She'd had these mini flashes of memories quite a few times over the centuries, but had trained herself to simply accept what bits she could recollect, and not try to probe at the memories. She'd tried that once in what was once known as Iran four centuries before. She'd had too much of the native wine and had tried to remember more about having felt like she'd been in the area at some time ahead of her. All she'd done is give herself such a massive migraine that she'd been laid low for over three days, and counted her blessings that no Immortal had happened upon her during that time. So she'd decided to not ever think about trying that again- if she got memories, she got them whenever she did.

"So, if my dad's the same way as me, how'd you find that out? Wes said you're an Immortal, so you must've known him back when he wasn't Soul Boy."

Alissa chuckled, thankful they were tucked away into a quiet corner. "You've been spending WAY too much time with Faith and Spike. But, to answer your question, no I never really ran across him back when he was being the Scourge of Europe, though I definitely heard ofhim. He killed a Slayer I'd been the Watcher of around the time he was turned…about 1760 or so, I think. And then there was the time I left for San Francisco after hearing the terrible trio was back on the Continent. But other than that, it wasn't until I moved to Sunnydale when I'd gotten word that's where Buffy went, that I ran into Angel again.

"She did it! I'll be damned!" Angel muttered from out front of the Bronze where he was standing watch.

"And I bet you're all disappointed about your grandsire not rising, eh Angelus?"

Angel spun around to see Alissa standing about 50 yards away, a crossbow trained at his chest. "Caroline? What are you doing in Sunnydale?"

Alissa was momentarily stunned, but continued to level the weapon at him. "We'll get to how you know the last name I went by later; for now, I just want to know what kind of twisted game you're playing at right now. I know how much you love playing games, Angelus. Noone in this town may know about what and who you are, but I've been around- I do know."

Angel sighed. "No, you really don't- I'm not Angelus anymore…I haven't been for nearly a century. Look it up in the diaries- I was cursed with a soul by gypsies at the turn of the century."

Alissa stood there for a moment, wrapping his stray thoughts around in her head like so much cotton candy. And to extend her mental metaphor, his words tasted of truth. But truth was a very sticky thing, especially with vampires.

"So what did you do? And who was Caroline?" Connor demanded, thanking the waitress as she set down their next round.

Alissa smiled. "Caroline was the identity I used before using this one. Apparently, your father had sensed me having the energy signature of a Slayer back in the 50's and, especially after what he'd let happen at the Hyperion, he felt like he had to make up for that. So he apparently decided to trail me around San Francisco as I tried to discourage someone whom as it turns out, was on Wolfram and Hart's payroll. He was looking into the background of Brianna Marshall, who was about to have a Navy ship named after her. Bad thing was, Brianna was my name during the American Civil War and I couldn't have the investigator find that out. Worked out- sort of. Vamps got to him and I nearly got blamed for it by JAG and NCIS, but that's a story for another time."

"So did you help Buffy and the rest of them when the Master tried to rise?" Connor asked, eager to hear another side of the stories that Angel and Wes were sometimes hesitant over.

Alissa chuckled. "I may be Immortal., but I'm not omnipresent. I had no more clue as to where the Master was than the rest of the group did. Besides which, I wasn't sure if I wasn't the Slayer that the prophecy mentioned. So, I just tried to take down as many fledglings as I could, and let Buffy do her duty."

Connor leaned forward, a grin on his face. "So what else did you help them out with?"