***A/N***: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I screwed up the upload for chapters 10, 11, and 12 and many of you wound up re-reading chapters 7, 8, and 9 again. I fixed it, so head on back that way to read the chappies you missed the first time I posted them!
**ANGEL POV** - Drop
He's ok. Thank the Powers That Be (finally, for SOMETHING), he's ok.
Seeing Connor walk into the hotel with barely a scratch on him, I let out a huge sigh of relief. Yes, he's more than capable of handling himself but this is Hell and he's still barely getting back his memories of his real life. This Connor, with all of the fake but happy memories that Wolfram & Hart had Cyvus Vail create for him mixing with what actually happened, is still too green compared to his old self to be vicious enough to get by here. For the old Connor who had survived Quor'toth, living in this hell dimension would have been like going on a vacation.
"Oh great, more mouths to feed," Spike snarked from beside me as we watched the group of people Connor had brought back with him filter inside.
"Yep, and boy are they hungry. People are funny that way. Anyway I can convince you to show them to the kitchen?"
"Sure, beats what I was already doing."
"Hey, could you let Gwen know that I'm back? That I'm fine?"
"Sure, I'll pass along your little love note to your lady fair. Too bad she's back to her electrified self; can't give her a proper hello now can you? Papa must be so proud. Seems like he's falling into your flaccid footsteps Nancy boy," he jabbed verbally at my son and I as he lead the wary looking humans down the hall to the kitchen.
Connor's good mood seemed to melt a bit at his words as he came to stand in front of me. Spike and Connor had bonded a bit before I found out that they were working together to save people, but as usual when Spike was in a bad mood he tended to want to spread that around. Even to the people he liked.
So Spike jumped onto the fact that Gwen's nifty piece of technology that let her have some semblance of a normal life malfunctioned here in hell to hurt one of the few people who didn't find him unbearably annoying. And what, is anyone surprised by this? He may fight for good, but he's still a jackass.
"Don't let him get to you, we're just a little frustrated right now and he's lashing out. I know how you feel though."
"I hate to be a teenaged cliché, but Angel you can't possibly know how I feel about my relationship with Gwen," Connor sighed in a perturbed voice.
"Actually, I really do. I had a girlfriend once that I couldn't touch too. Ok, so not because she would inadvertently kill me with foreplay, but I loved her more than anything at that point in my whole existence and us being together … well, do you have your memories back about my curse? How Angelus used to be able to be released?"
It's true, I had felt love before for my little sister as a human. I had felt something more carnal with Darla. Pride in my work was the extent of my affection for Dru. Buffy though? It felt like I had been incased in a block of ice before I saw her sitting on the steps of her old high school and seeing her get called melted that all away. I never expected to ever feel anything that strongly again, but then I became a father and found a whole new level of love …
"Perfect bliss; the happiness clause, yada yada yada," he lightly mocked me before looking apologetic, "Yeah, I remember. So I guess she's the one that gave that to you; then you do know what I'm feeling. Sorry."
"Don't worry about it, it's nothing compared to what I'm going through right now …" I trailed off.
What am I doing? Yeah he's my son but do I really want to let him know all about my sex life? Not exactly the best way to teach by example …
"Is that why you and Spike were gone for a couple of days? What are you going through right now?"
I've hidden too much from him, from everybody. I stole his reality and made him live a lie; and wow just realizing that I've done that to more people than anyone has the right to in my life. If Buffy wants me to be open with her in order to build a better relationship, it'll probably work with establishing my connection with Connor as well.
"That girl, the one I just told you about? She's here. She heard about what happened in L.A. and basically had a mystical hole punched through the dimension in order to get herself in to help me."
"Wow. Can she make another one? Get us all out?"
"No, her team is working on it but they are busy trying to keep people alive and trying to reverse what the Senior Partners did to really focus on making a permanent portal."
"Still, impressive. Your old flame tears her way into Hell in order to find and help you? Sounds like you're not the only one who reached the seriously scary level of love. So is she here?"
"No, she has her own crew and camp set up that she needs to take care of. Spike and I stayed with her for a few days but then we all agreed that he and I needed to come back here and check on you guys."
"So what's wrong with her?" Connor asked point-blank.
"What? Nothing, there's nothing wrong with her. Well, she isn't eating well and she's a little pre-occupied so she's not taking care of herself as well as she should but …"
"I mean, what's the reason why you two aren't together right now? There has to be something, or else you would be over there right now getting all cozy. I mean come on, she obviously still feels for you if she went to those lengths to find you and I can tell by the way you look when you talk about her that you still feel for her too. You two only broke up because you couldn't actually be together, right? Now that you're human there's nothing standing in your way."
Damn him, where did he get so smart? Darla always was superb at being able to read people and being calculating …
"Spike."
"Huh?"
"What's standing in our way. It's Spike. I'm not the only one she has emotions for. She was with Spike before he died and came to annoy the hell out of me … and she didn't know that he was undead again so his popping up kinda threw a monkey-wrench in our reunion. So we all agreed to be 'just friends' and she asked us to leave so we could all get ourselves together," I said, annoyance dripping from my voice.
Just as Connor was about to say something, we heard a noise fast approaching the hotel. Connor quickly turned back towards the door just as Spike, Illyria, Gwen, and some of the more skilled in combat humans we had been sheltering rushed into the lobby with weapons. All of us ran out to the courtyard just in time to see a helicopter drop a huge crate onto the street in front of the hotel and Buffy, two other young women, and a middle-aged man jumping from a dangling rope to land next to it.
"Um, hi guys," she smiled bashfully in a way that made my knees weak.
"Hi yourself luv. What's in the box? You bring us some prezzies?"
"Yeah, I just thought I should bring your group some gear and supplies. What's a little sharing between friends?"
"Who's this?" Gwen asked with a sardonic lift of one of her eyebrows.
"With the changes in these two upon seeing her," Illyria stated as she gestured towards Spike and I, "I believe that she is the creature they have been in anguish over recently. Their renewed lust and pain over the sight of her sickens me."
"Everyone," I said as I tried my best to ignore Illyria's statement, "this is Buffy, the last lone vampire slayer. Buffy this is Gwen, Illyria, and Connor."
Her eyes grew wide as she took in Connor before they sort of glazed over, like she was going to cry. She turned towards me and looked deeply into my eyes, speaking to me without saying one word about how happy she was for me that I had a child, a son, even if things didn't work out as they would have normally. We both knew what it was like to not have anything that was supposed to be normal actually go that way for us. I smiled back at her and opened my mouth to say something before she snapped out of it.
"I just dropped down to let you know what's going on. If you want some extra help, this is Leah, Katy, and Dr. Jorge. Leah's on my squad from Scotland and she's one of the best, but Katy we found here in L.A. recently; she's still learning the ropes. Jorge is an ER doctor from the hospital near our base that we have an agreement with; when I told him you guys didn't have any medical help he offered to come stay with you. I'll post them here to help out at the hotel for as long as you want them here."
"You won't be short-handed?" I asked.
"Naw, we'll be fine. I'm actually heading out right now to an area that a locator spell told us would have 3 slayers nearby so I can't stay to chat. Gotta find them before they move again or else the location is useless. The box has some extra food, clothes, medical supplies, a communication radio that'll let you talk to our base, a water purifier, two egg-laying hens, and a generator with some fuel. Oh and I already dropped off a team before coming here at your local water district control center. They're going to see if they can get running water back to your area so try turning the faucets off and on throughout the day."
"Oh I love her, despite the ridiculous name," Gwen leered at Buffy, "if I thought that I wouldn't hurt you, I would have started making out with you the second you said 'running water'."
Buffy just stammered a bit at that and blushed before looking anywhere but at Spike or myself. He and I however looked over and each other. He raised an eyebrow, I felt myself smirking before I could stop myself, and then he mouthed what looked like "viewing room" at me before Buffy could look back up at us.
There is no way in hell that he and I weren't just thinking the same thing: Buffy and Gwen wrapped up in each other. Holy crap, did we just have a bonding moment? We really do need to stop spending so much time together.
"I am not so easily impressed," Illyria postured.
"Watch it Big Blue, she's beaten a hell god who was almost at full power nearly to death before. So you really don't want to get on her bad side," Spike directed at Illyria. She and Buffy had a short but tense stand-off, but then Buffy plastered on a fake grin and Illyria turned and went back inside in a huff.
"What is it with our group and having to deal with gods?" Buffy asked. "Well … Connor, Gwen, it was nice meeting you. Spike, Angel … it was good seeing you. I need to go …helicopter fuel isn't easy to come by right now … so I guess I'll see you soon?"
She looked at us both for a while in silence, well, as silent as it can get with a chopper hovering above our heads, before hooking herself back to the rope beside her, giving a couple of good tugs, and making some sort of hand gesture to the person above holding the rope. They began hoisting her up and then we all watched as the helicopter flew out of sight. It wasn't until Connor laid his hand on my shoulder that I realized everyone except him and Spike had gone back inside.
"So that's her, right? The one you were telling me about earlier?"
"Yeah. That's her."
"She's cute. A little on the small side, but cute."
"Hey Slim," Spike growled, "don't go getting any ideas. Just because your girlfriend is off-limits doesn't mean you can soddin' well try and make time with Buffy."
"Calm down man, I was just making an observation. She's not really my type anyway, brunettes are more my style. I have no intention to 'make time' with her in any way that might be dirty …"
Oh thank god … I really couldn't handle another Oedipal rivalry with him.
"Wouldn't mind training with her though, if she's a slayer there's got to be some kick to her. I'd love to see what she's got," he said.
"Boy, didn't you hear what your pops just said? She's not just a slayer…"
"She's the slayer," I called over my shoulder as I walked back into the hotel, "I don't know about you Spike, but I'm going back to the high school. I've spent too much time away from her, I can't do it anymore. If she needs me to be just her friend I'll do it, I just need to be there for her."
"Was just about to say the same thing to you. An' who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll turn her 'just friends' requirement into friends with benefits' for me. Fair warning mate, first indication that she gives that she wants me? I'm hers."
"Ditto."