Author's Note: This has spoilers for the episodes Salvage, Release, and Orpheus.
How it Should Have Been Chapter 26Wesley's alarm clock went off at 4am. He looked at the blurry numbers, turned the alarm clock off by touch, and put on his glasses. He stretched, got out of bed, and gathered some clothes on his way to the bathroom. Half an hour later he was on the freeway headed towards Faith.
Four hours later he was parking at the prison, and an hour after that he was shown into the visiting room. The visiting room was divided in half by a large piece of bullet proof glass. There were four visiting stations attached to the glass with two way phones and chairs on either side so the visitor and the prisoner could sit and talk over the phone face to face. There were two armed guards, and two other visitors besides Wesley. He paced until they brought Faith in.
Faith walked into the room wondering who could be visiting her. She hadn't had a visitor since Angel came, and that was months ago. She saw Wesley and stopped her forward movement for a second staring at him. Wesley sat down in a chair and picked up his phone waiting for her. He hoped she would at least pick up the phone, but he wouldn't be surprised if she just walked away. Then he would have to find a way to get a message to her. After what seemed like minutes to Wesley, but in reality was only seconds, Faith sat down on the other side of the glass and picked up the phone.
Faith started, "Hey Wes. Can't imagine anything good coming out of you visiting."
Wesley gave her a slight nod. "That's an accurate assumption."
"I saw the news. The sun's gone in your city, so tell me why you're here instead of there."
"We have an apocalypse on our hands. There is a seven foot demon made of stone, and we need to kill him to bring back the sun."
"Well I'm real sorry for you, but I don't see how that's my problem. If you haven't noticed, I'm a little bit busy being incarcerated right now. I'm sure Angel can handle it."
"Well that's the problem. Angel is Angelus again, and he's loose in L.A. along with the Beast."
Faith, never known for her slow decision making, said, "Step away from the glass." and hung up the phone.
Wesley sat in confusion for about a second, until he saw her take a couple of steps away from the glass. He hastily dropped the phone without hanging it up, stood up, and backed away.
Faith got a running start and put all her strength into diving through the glass. One of the visitors screamed as Faith hurtled through the glass. Before the guards had much time to react to this shocking event, she was up and in fighting mode. She disabled them quickly without anyone getting shot or hurt, but she knew more guards would be on the way, and there was no way she could fight them all. She grabbed Wesley by the shoulder and jumped out the nearest window, taking him with her. They fell three stories onto the hood of someone's car.
Faith sat up and asked, "Are you okay?"
Wesley sat up a little slower holding his shoulder, but gave her half a smile and said, "Five by five."
They ran as quickly as possible to Wesley's car and drove away at ninety miles an hour.
Half an hour later, when Wesley was fairly sure they were not being followed, he turned to Faith and said, "There's a change of clothes for you in the back."
Faith climbed into the back seat and changed clothes. Once she had climbed back into the front, Wesley said, "I doubt we'll be caught. Most of the neighboring police are already in LA trying to calm and control the masses."
Faith said, "Tell me the whole story."
Wesley spent the next four hours telling Faith everything that had happened to Angel and his crew over the past few months.
Once they made it into the outskirts of L.A., the sun disappeared, and Faith shivered a little thinking about how much damage the vampires of the city alone could do while this was going on. Wesley said, "We're almost there."
Faith said, "Good. We need to get one thing straight between us before we get there."
Wesley waited to hear her out. "I call the shots until Angel is back, and under no circumstances will I kill Angelus. This is a rescue mission, not a search and destroy. I'll be happy to take anyone down who doesn't agree with this plan."
Wesley had changed quite a lot since the last time he had seen Faith. In his younger days he would have balked at the thought of her in control. He gave her a short nod and said, "Alright."
Connor woke up with a start when he felt his bed dip. He turned and saw Julie getting into bed with him. He rolled to his side so he was facing her and smiled. "Hey."
Julie lay on her side so they were face to face, and she put a hand up on his face to trace some of his healing cuts and bruises from his fight with Angelus. He thought she looked concerned and said, "Doesn't hurt much anymore."
She reached down to his arm and pulled his wrist up so she could look at it. She traced the outside of the self inflicted wound, and then kissed his arm right above the wound. She looked in his eyes and said, "It's amazing how quickly you heal."
Connor looked down at his own wrist and said, "I guess."
She reached under the covers and lifted his shirt to see his stomach and chest. He took his shirt off the rest of the way so she could look. He had been too tired last night to do much besides take off his shoes and jeans, and climb into bed. Julie ran her hands over Connor's mostly healed bruises, and started to give him little kisses on each one. A few minutes of that, and Connor couldn't think about much other then the smell and feel of her beside him.
Julie stopped and looked into his eyes for a second before kissing him on the mouth. A few seconds later she pulled away and said, "I love you."
"I love you too." he said with sincerity.
"I didn't get the chance to talk to you much after you came back last night. Do you want to talk about it?"
Connor looked away from her as flashes of what Angelus had done came unbidden into the forefront of his mind. He shook his head to get the images out and looked back at her. "No."
She looked at him with sympathy and nodded in understanding. She kissed him again and he reached for her shirt. She let him pull it over her head. He looked down at her and thought to himself that maybe she had gained a little weight since she had come back to town. He looked at her a little more carefully and decided she looked even better then before, healthier. He leaned down and kissed her again as he started to work on getting the rest of her pajamas off.
A little while later Connor and Julie went downstairs hand in hand. Fred, Gunn, and Lorne were already awake. Fred said, "Morning."
Connor said, "Morning, has Wesley called yet?"
Fred nodded, "He has Faith, and they should be here around one o'clock. Willow called too. She's running late, but she should be here later tonight."
Connor smiled and said, "Great."
He turned to Julie and said, "Let's go have some breakfast."
She nodded and followed him into the kitchen. Connor made them both some scrambled eggs and toast. He wolfed down a large plate of food, and turned to see Julie was pushing her food away after only eating a few bites. He swallowed and said, "Not hungry?"
"I'm feeling a little sick. I think I'm nervous about what might happen today. You could get killed by the Beast, even if that Faith person is strong."
Connor tried to think of something to say to reassure her that he would be okay, but nothing came to mind. He started eating some of her food, and after a few minutes of thought he said, "I've been fighting things that were bigger and often more powerful then me since I was a small child. I think my chances of making it through this fight alive are close to ninety percent."
Julie gave him a smile and put a hand over his arm. She said, "Is that supposed to comfort me?"
He nodded. She said, "Thanks for trying. Come back to me alive, and I'll stop worrying."
When they were done eating they went back out to the lobby with everyone else, and Gunn held up one of Connor's text books. He said, "We have a few hours to wait. Let's make use of the time."
Connor made a face, but followed Gunn into Angel's office so they could study.
Faith and Wesley arrived slightly after 1pm. Fred was the first to look up. She walked around the counter held out her hand and said, "Hi, you must be Faith."
Faith shook and said, "Fred right?"
Fred's smile got even wider, "That's me."
While they were introducing themselves, everyone else had gathered around. Gunn held out his hand next and said, "Hi, I'm…."
Faith held up her hands and said, "We're in a hurry here, so let's just cut to the chase."
She pointed to each person as she spoke about them. "You're Gunn, and you can hold your own in a fight. You're Lorne, and you're an empath demon. You're Angel's kid Connor, and you're stronger then a normal human. And last you're Julie, Connor's girlfriend. Did I get you all right?"
Wesley said, "Indeed."
Faith said, "Okay, here's the plan. We're all going after the Beast. Connor will track, and once we find it, all of you help distract him while Connor and I get close. Connor will take the front of the Beast, and I'll take the back. The Beast knows Connor, and should focus on him, not realizing I'm a threat. While Connor and the rest of you attack, I'll sneak up behind him, cut off his right horn, and stab him in the back with it. We all clear on the plan?"
Connor said, "No."
Faith gave him a level look. "What part are you having a hard time understanding?"
Connor found himself bristling at her tone. He said, "Julie doesn't fight."
Faith looked Julie up and down, thinking she wouldn't be much help anyway and said, "Fine. She stays behind. Anything else?"
Julie smiled at Connor gratefully. Connor said, "I'm ready, let's go."
Faith gave him a nod and looked over at the weapons cabinet. She walked over and picked up Angel's sword, and a smaller dagger, which she strapped onto her ankle under her pants. Everyone else gathered up weapons too. Connor gave Julie a quick kiss and said, "You should be safe here with the sanctuary spell working. Even if Angelus comes for you, he can't hurt you."
Once Connor let go of Julie, Fred asked her, "Could you answer the phone while we're gone in case Willow calls?"
"Sure."
A few minutes later they were all outside except Julie. Wesley got in his car along with Lorne, Gunn, and Fred. Connor set out with Faith right behind him on foot. As they moved she said, "Do you have his scent already?"
"No. I tracked the Beast about a week ago, and found him hiding in the city. I didn't confront him at the time, and I'm hoping he might be in the same place again. If not, we'll check Wolfram and Hart. If we get nothing there, I'll go to the ally where he first came into this dimension, and then to the building where he first made the fire fall from the sky. Then I'm not sure where to go next if I don't catch his scent at any of those places.
Faith nodded in agreement, and said, "Good plan. Tell me if you catch Angelus' scent too. We want to avoid him until the sun is back."
Connor wasn't sure about that, but gave her a nod anyway.
Connor was pleasantly surprised when he got the Beast's scent around the same place as before. He looked to Faith, "We're close. Two blocks away."
Faith nodded and found she was a little impressed if he was right. Connor slowed down, and held up his hand motioning for Wesley to stop. He stopped, and everyone got out. Connor pointed to a large abandoned warehouse. "In there."
"Alone?" Wesley asked.
"I think so. The smell of human blood is in the air too, but it's old, not fresh."
Wesley looked at Faith. She said, "You and Connor take the lead. I'll stay back with Fred until I see my opening."
She turned towards Connor and said, "I hope you're as good as Wes says you are, because I really don't want to explain to Angel how I got you killed."
Connor glared and said, "I can hold my own. Worry about yourself."
Wesley moved forward and was first in the door closely followed by Connor, Gunn, Loren, Faith, and last Fred.
The Beast was kneeling on the floor in front of a table. The table looked like some kind of shrine with many candles and offerings including bowls of human blood in the center of it. The warehouse was mostly empty besides the table and the Beast. The Beast had his back to the group, and he was chanting in a language that neither Wesley nor Fred recognized.
When Connor saw that the Beast hadn't turned around as they entered, he started to sneak up on him, figuring he could cut off the horn before the Beast even realized they were there. Faith saw what he was doing and approved, motioning for the rest of the team to stay still. When Connor was halfway across the warehouse, the Beast said, "Hello Connor. Have you come to lose another fight to me?"
Connor stopped when he heard his name, but then kept going when the Beast didn't turn around. He said, "I've come to fight, but I don't plan to lose, and you can call me The Destroyer."
"Foolish boy."
Connor was almost within striking distance and made a run for it. The Beast turned at the last second and grabbed Connor's sword in his hand. Connor tried to pull his sword down and out of the Beast's hand, but he found he was unable to make it budge. The Beast slowly got up still holding the sword.
As soon as Faith saw it wasn't working, she motioned everyone to surround the Beast. The Beast casually looked around the room, and then focused on Connor again. The Beast yanked on the sword, and Connor had to take a step towards the Beast to keep his balance. The Beast used his free hand to punch Connor in the stomach. Connor went flying back and landed hard on the cement floor. Wesley got out one of his guns and shot the entire clip into the Beast's abdomen and chest. The Beast didn't show much reaction at all to the bullets, and broke Connor's sword in half and tossed both pieces on the floor.
Once Wesley's clip was empty, Faith walked to the Beast from behind and tried to get close enough to cut off his horn. While Faith was sneaking up, Lorne and Fred used their crossbows to shoot some arrows into the Beast's abdomen, but the arrows just bounced off. Connor was up and back in front of the Beast just as Faith got close enough to try and cut off his horn.
Faith brought her sword down, but the Beast ducked at the last second, so she hit his back instead of his horn. The Beast kicked behind him, and connected with Faith's left upper leg. She was thrown back a few feet. When the Beast ducked down to avoid Faith's blow, Connor leaned down and grabbed the half of his sword that still had the hilt on in.
Connor and the Beast faced off again, while Faith got up off the floor. She looked at Gunn and then Wesley and made a motion for them to attack. Gunn took the Beast's left side and tried to attack with his ax, and at the same time Wesley took the Beast's right side and tried to attack with his short sword. Faith ran towards the Beast's back with Angel's sword raised high. Connor saw the movement, and tried to stab the Beast in the eye with his half sword. The Beast leaned his head back slightly to avoid the blow, and got hit simultaneously with Gunn's ax on his shoulder, and Wesley's short sword on his torso. A millisecond later Faith brought the sword down and sliced off the Beast's right horn in one clean chop.
The Beast roared in anger, and kicked out behind him again. But Faith had already dropped to the floor both to avoid the kick, and to pick up the horn. She rolled out of the way with the horn in her hand. The Beast lashed out in frustration and anger, landing solid punches on both Gunn and Wesley which sent them flying across the room, and put them out of commission for a few minutes. He landed a punch on Connor too, which sent him flying back a few feet.
The Beast turned to confront Faith. Faith was slightly crouched down in a fighting stance. The only weapon she held was his horn. The Beast walked towards her to attack, but she was quicker on her feet then he was, and easily avoided his blow. She avoided about six of his attempted blows, and was trying to get behind him but failing.
Connor was back up and saw what was happening. He ran towards them, and jumped in between Faith and the Beast. The Beast turned his attention back on Connor and tried to punch him. Connor wasn't quite as fast as Faith, but he managed to avoid three blows before the fourth one grazed his shoulder. That gave Faith enough time to get behind the Beast. Just as Connor got half a punch in his shoulder, Faith plunged the horn into the middle of the Beast's back.
The Beast tried to reach behind him and get the horn out, but his arms wouldn't reach. He stumbled back a few steps, and all the cracks in his skin made of rock started to glow orange. It looked to Faith like molten lava. She thought he was burning up from the inside out. She saw Connor standing in front of the Beast with a look of victory on his face. The Beast started to shake, and Faith had an image of molten hot blobs of the Beast landing on the team and burning them. She yelled "Take cover!"
Fred was helping Wesley to get up, and Lorne was helping Gunn to walk towards Wesley. When they heard Faith, they all ran as quick as they could towards the door. Connor didn't move. He wanted to see the Beast destroyed with his own eyes. He wanted to watch him explode, so that he would know for certain that the Beast could never hurt anyone again. Faith had started to run towards the door and saw that the rest of the team had made it out, but when she turned to make sure Connor was following her, she saw he was just standing there in front of the Beast. She swore, and ran back towards the Beast. She kicked the Beast's table over, grabbed Connor's arm, and dragged him behind the table along with her, and forced him to crouch down behind it.
As soon as their heads cleared the edge of the table, they heard a loud explosion, and the force of it slammed the table into both Connor and Faith, and forced them back a few feet. A large blob of orange colored steaming rock landed in front of them, and burned a hole in the cement floor. Connor stared at it in shock. Faith waited for a second and then popped her head over the table once to make sure they were in the clear. She saw pieces of the Beast had spread all over the warehouse, and noticed quite a few blobs were burning through the table. She looked down at Connor who was still staring at the blob in front of him. Faith said, "Hey Idiot Boy, when I tell you to take cover that means you move your ass."
Connor looked up at her, and then stood up and looked around him at the remains of the Beast. He was looking at the damage and asked quietly, almost to himself, "How did you know?"
"I didn't know, I guessed."
Connor looked sheepishly over at her and said, "Oh."
"Look kid, Wes was right, you can fight, but if you can't follow orders you're no good to me. Are we gonna have a problem here?"
Connor looked away. "No."
The door to the warehouse opened, and Gunn called out, "Connor? Faith?"
He saw them and smiled in excitement, "Come out here, there's something you should see!"
Connor and Faith avoided the burning blobs and made their way to the warehouse door. They walked out and saw that everyone else was looking up. They looked up too, and saw the black smoky threads that had been covering the sun disappearing. Connor looked around, and things looked lighter already. Within a few seconds, the sun was back to full brightness, and in the distance they could hear a scream followed by silence. Wesley said, "Vampire frying."
The team looked at each other with smiles all around. Connor let out a whoop of victory and joy. Gunn and Faith did too. A more subdued Wesley said with a smile, "It looks as though we've defeated it."
Fred said with relief, "And got back the sun."
Lorne said, "I'd say this calls for a celebration."
Wesley said, "That may be a little premature. We'll celebrate after we get Angel back."
Connor lost his smile and looked around him for a second and said quietly, "What if he was outside?"
The smiles went away, and Faith said, "Angelus is smarter then most. He'd be staying under cover during the day as much as possible."
Gunn put his hand over Connor's shoulders and said, "Faith's right. He's gonna be fine."
Wesley turned to Faith and said, "What now?"
Faith looked over at Connor and said, "You didn't catch Angelus' scent on the way here right?"
"I didn't. You want me to wander the city and try to get it now?"
"Yeah."
Faith turned to Wesley and said, "You and the rest of the team head back to the hotel, and wait for Willow. Connor and I will get Angelus' location without confronting him, and then meet you back at the hotel."
Connor said, "Why don't we all go, and just capture him now while the sun is out, and he has no where to run?"
Faith cocked her head to the side and said, "We don't have any tranquilizers with us. We haven't talked to Willow to see how close she needs to be to do the curse. And why do you think Angelus wouldn't rather fry in the sun then get captured by us?"
Connor's face got flushed. He had been impressed with Faith's fighting, but now that she was being so blunt and condescending to him, he decided he didn't like her all that much. He glared and said, "Angelus wouldn't run out into the sun. He doesn't have a death wish."
Faith laughed a little and asked Wesley, "How old did you say he was?"
"Eighteen. Well seventeen on paper."
Faith looked at Connor and said, "I don't think I was that naive even at ten."
Connor glared and said, "Do you want me to track him, or did you just want to stand around and insult me?"
Faith crossed her arms and said, "I want you to track him, but if you even think about trying to confront him before I give you the go ahead, I'm gonna kick your ass."
Connor scoffed and said, "Whatever." as he started to walk down the street tracking.
Wesley held out his cell phone to Faith and said, "Call us if you need something. We'll call you when we hear from Willow, if we don't see you first."
"Got it." Faith took the phone and turned to follow Connor. Faith followed slightly behind him, both to let him track, and so that he wouldn't be inclined to start a conversation with her.
Forty minutes later Connor started to speed up, and Faith caught up to him to ask, "Did you get it?"
"Yeah." He said with relief.
Faith looked around as they went forward. "How far away?"
"I'm not sure yet. A few blocks at least."
Faith followed beside him and kept her eyes open, taking in the area. Before Connor pinpointed a location, Faith saw a bar and pointed to it. "There."
As they got closer Connor nodded and said, "How did you know?"
"It's a vampire bar."
Connor looked at the bar trying to figure out how she could tell. He looked back at her and said, "Can you smell them?"
"Nah, I've just been in enough of them to know the look."
Connor looked back at the bar still not sure what the identifying marks were. Faith nodded once and said, "Good job. Let's head back."
Connor took a few more steps towards the bar and said, "There's probably only a few vampires in there. You and I could take them easy."
"No."
Connor kept walking towards the bar and said, "We could peek in and see how many are there, and get the layout so that we're ready when we come back later."
Faith, keeping her voice down, followed him and said, "Shut up, I don't want Angelus to know I'm here. We're going back. Now."
Connor was only a few feet from the bar now, and he said in a normal voice, "Who cares if he knows you're here. I'm just going to take a quick… Hey!"
Faith was pissed. She knew that Angelus probably could hear them and smell them now that they were so close, and since most vampire bars had sewer access, she doubted he would still be there when they came back. She literally kicked Connor in the ass to get his attention. Connor spun around and glared at her taking up a defensive fighting stance. He had heard that Slayers were strong, and he had seen her fight the Beast, but he couldn't quite believe that someone so much smaller then him could be stronger. And he didn't particularly like the idea of taking orders from a girl. It went against everything Holtz had taught him growing up.
Faith grabbed a fistful of Connor's shirt and pulled him close to her as she said with anger and irritation, "I said we're going back."
Connor tried to knock her arm away from his shirt, and was a little surprised when her arm didn't even budge. He glared at her, grabbed the arm that was holding his shirt, and used his full strength to try and shove her away from him. Faith had to take a step back, but didn't go flying backwards the way Connor was expecting. Faith wasn't about to let Connor get away with not listening to her, and she had had all she was going to take of it. She made sure not to use her full strength, since it was Angel's kid, and punched him in the eye.
Connor's head snapped backwards, he staggered back a few steps, and almost fell, but since Faith still hadn't let go of his shirt, she helped him stay upright. Connor's look of surprise was almost comical to Faith, but his look quickly changed to that of anger mixed with a challenge. Holtz had often told Connor that it was a man's duty to protect the women around him, but he had also said that women were secondary to men, and if a woman got out of line, Holtz saw no problem with putting her back in her place.
Faith knew the look that Connor was giving her, and was ready for it when Connor attacked. He tried punching her in the face and stomach repeatedly. She let go of his shirt, and blocked all of his blows. After six of his punches missed, he tried kicking her legs out from under her. She jumped up to avoid his kick, and did a summersault in the air to land behind him. She kicked his legs out from under him, and Connor landed on his stomach on the sidewalk.
Faith waited to see what he would do. Connor got up, and into a fighting stance again. He tried to punch her again, but she blocked and kicked him in the stomach. He flew through the air and landed on his back a few feet away. Faith casually walked towards him and said, "Look kid, I don't want to hurt you, but you're kind of pissing me off. How about we go back to the hotel and get an update?"
Connor lay there for a second with his head spinning, trying to grasp the concept that this girl was not only stronger, but a better fighter then him. He shook his head once and started to stand up. She held out a hand to help him up. He looked at it for a millisecond, but couldn't bring himself to take help from her. He knocked her hand away with irritation and said, "I can get up myself."
Before Connor could actually get himself up, Faith grabbed his wrist, hauled him up to standing, and twisted that same arm behind his back. She put one hand on his opposite shoulder to keep him from turning around to face her, and kept the other hand on his wrist to keep his arm behind his back at a painful angle. She started walking the both of them away from the bar and towards the hotel. Connor struggled to get out of her grip, but it didn't work. She said conversationally, "I've come up across lots of different men who thought they could beat me in a fair fight. I've never met one who actually could, and you're not even close to the strongest I've met. I am not going to waste my time fighting with you when we're on the same side, and want the same things. Straighten up, or I'll personally lock you in that cage you all built for Angel until I've got him home safe. Got it?"
Connor didn't answer, but continued to struggle for the next three blocks, even though his arm felt like it was going to come out of its socket any moment. He was humiliated beyond belief at the image of himself being literally pushed down the street by Faith. Faith stopped abruptly after another two blocks and got up on her toes to whisper in his ear. "If you don't stop struggling and tell me you've got it right now, things are gonna get ugly."
Connor stilled and hated himself for having to admit he was beat. He said with seething anger, "I got it."
She let him go with a little shove and said, "Good."
Connor really wanted to rub his sore shoulder, but didn't want to let her know how much it hurt. He started walking on his own towards the hotel. She fell in step beside him. They walked quietly for a few blocks. Then out of the blue Faith said, "How'd you learn to track like that? Is it some kind of vampire smelling thing you got from Angel?"
Connor shrugged, and regretted it, as pain shot through his shoulder. He said, "I've been able to track from a very early age. It could very well be from the demon side of me."
Faith looked a little confused, "I thought you were human."
"Some say I am, some say I'm not."
"What do you say?"
Connor thought about it. "I'd like to be."
They walked for a few blocks in silence, and Connor's anger went away as he started to really think about things. She had probably saved his life by making him get behind that table. And she did kill the Beast which brought back the sun. He looked up at the sky and said, "It's good to have the sun back. I never really thought about it, but having it gone made me realize how much humans rely on it to keep demons at bay, even if they don't know it."
Faith looked up and noticed for the first time it was getting warmer out now that the sun was back up. She took off her jean jacket and said, "I suppose. I'm more of a night person myself, but there have been some times when the sun was a plus for me."
Connor watched her take off her jacket, and couldn't help but stare at her a little. She was wearing a white, form fitting, wife beater tank top, and the straps of her bra were clearly visible on her shoulders. Connor hadn't noticed her body before, because the jacket she had been wearing covered her up. He compared her in his mind to the other women he had been around. She had more muscle then Fred or Julie, and she wasn't as curvy as Cordelia or Lilah. Connor decided he liked what he saw, and now that he had noticed the top half, he slowed down just a little to get a look at her from behind. She had on form fitting dark blue jeans and black boots.
Faith turned to see why he was slowing down and caught him looking, even though he darted his eyes to her face as soon as he noticed her body turning his way. Faith smirked at Connor's embarrassed look and said with a hint of humor, "See something you like?"
Connor looked away, and stammered, "No… I mean you look nice and all, but I wasn't looking at you like that… I was just thinking…wondering how someone who looks like you could be so strong."
Faith started laughing, and couldn't stop for a few seconds. Connor was just kind of confused as to what she found so funny. When she could, she said, "Sorry, but how ironic is it that the kid with super strength who looks scrawny enough to break in half, wonders how I can be so strong?"
Connor didn't really like the word 'scrawny', but did see the humor. He smiled and then chuckled a little. "Good point."
They walked in companionable silence the rest of the way to the hotel.
Angelus watched from the window of the bar as Faith bested his son in a fair fight, and had a good laugh. As soon as they were out of range, he thought about what he had learned as he headed for the sewers. He had been talking to magical beings all day, trying to find a way to block the curse from happening again.
Early in the day he had found out that Wo Pang was dead, and decided he didn't need to be in too much of a rush. But now with Faith in town, he needed to try something to block the curse tonight. He wasn't sure if the gang would be smart enough to call Willow, but since Faith had wanted an 'update' back at the hotel, he thought it was a good guess.
Angelus went back to the most promising Magic shop he had gone to earlier that day, and decided to put a little pressure on the owner to see what he could do about keeping his filthy soul away. Then he would have fun killing off his former friends one by one, saving Connor for last.
When Connor and Faith arrived at the hotel, they found Julie sitting on the bench that was outside in the front of the hotel. She looked up at Connor with a big grin when she saw him, and ran to give him an excited hug. He hugged her back as she said, "You did it! You guys got back the sun."
Connor closed his eyes, picked her up off her feet with his hug, and let himself get lost in the smell and feel of her for a second. In that moment he decided Faith had nothing over Julie, because he knew with every touch and every word that Julie loved him. He set her down and looked at her smiling face. She said, "Once I saw the sun, I had to come out and feel it on my skin. Having it back makes me… giddy."
Connor leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. Then he said, "Me too."
Faith couldn't take anymore of what she saw as a sickeningly sweet couple and went into the hotel. She saw Lorne and Gunn behind the counter and said, "Has Willow called?"
Lorne said, "Yeah. She should be here in about an hour."
"What time is it now?"
"Almost three."
Wesley and Fred came out of Angel's office when they heard Faith's voice, and Wesley said, "Did Connor get Angelus' scent?"
"Yeah, over at a bar on 10th street, but I doubt it will do us much good."
"Why not?"
"Angelus won't stick around after the racket we made. But it'll be a good place to start our search."
Gunn didn't like the sound of that and said, "Where's Connor?"
Faith jerked a thumb behind her where the lobby doors were and said, "Out front with Julie."
Wesley said, "Why were you being noisy?"
"Ask the kid. I'm hungry, and I still smell like prison. Where can I take a shower and get something to eat?"
Fred walked over to her as she said, "I'll show you where my room is, and you can take a shower while I make you something to eat."
Faith smiled, "Thanks Fred."
Once the girls were out of the room Gunn said, "I'm gonna go talk to Connor."
Connor noticed Faith walking into the hotel and then leaned down to Julie for a longer kiss. When he pulled away she was smiling, but that turned to a look of concern. "What happened to your eye?"
Connor put his hand up to his eye and realized it was pretty tender, and that probably meant there was a bruise. He muttered, "Great."
"What do you mean great? What happened?"
"Faith punched me."
"What?"
Connor sighed, "It's okay, I kind of provoked her."
"Provoked her how?"
Before Connor could answer Gunn came out the lobby doors and said, "Hey Connor, can I talk to you for a minute?"
Connor didn't want to go over what had happened with Faith, because he wasn't sure how Gunn would take the news, and he was positive he didn't want yet another spanking. He thought fast and gave Gunn the most sincere smile he could muster, while keeping the side of his face with the black eye turned to the side, and said, "Could we maybe talk in a little while? I was really hoping Julie and I could take a little walk in the sun. I mean, now that we know the Beast is gone, and Angelus can't get to us in the sun…. I just thought a break from it would be good."
Gunn was a little surprised, but at the same time pleased that Connor was asking to do something so normal. He gave Connor a smile and said, "Sure. Go have fun. Be back in an hour, because Willow should be here by then."
"Thanks Gunn." Connor took Julie's hand and started them walking away from the hotel.
As they walked Julie asked Connor about his eye again, and Connor told her the whole story starting with the fight with the Beast, and ending with his confrontation with Faith. She thought about it for a few seconds and said with self righteous anger, "Why does everyone seem to want to hit you? I think you were right, you two could have taken those vamps, and then Angelus would be back here safe in the cage while we waited for Willow."
Connor wanted to agree, but found he couldn't. "No, Faith was right. Even if we could have killed the other vamps and captured Angelus, there would have been no way to bring him home except the sewers, and during the day the sewers are full of even more vampires. I was just being…. stubborn."
Julie squeezed his hand and said, "I don't know why Wesley is letting Faith be in charge anyway. Just because she's a Slayer and strong doesn't mean she's a good person. She was in prison for goodness sake, she must have done something bad to get put there."
"I guess. But she's a better fighter then me, and without her I doubt we would have the sun back right now, so I'm glad she's here."
Julie made a not committal noise in the back of her throat. They walked along in silence for a few blocks, and then Julie said, "There's something I have to tell you Connor."
He noticed her serious tone and looked over at her. She stopped walking and turned towards him. She smiled and said, "It's something I'm really happy about, and I hope you will be too."
He looked at her expectantly. "I'm pregnant."
Connor just stared at her for a few seconds while his mind tried to process what she had said. "Pregnant?"
She smiled at him and nodded. Connor's first thought had been that it was impossible for her to be pregnant, because they weren't married. He knew that Angel and Wesley had told him people didn't need to be married to conceive a child, but he still had lingering doubts about that since Holtz had been very clear about this point with him while growing up. His next thought was that God wanted him to have a baby, which was something else Holtz had been clear about. While Connor was thinking, Julie put a hand up to his face. "I know it must come as kind of a shock to you, so we don't have to talk about it right this second. I just wanted you to know as soon as I did."
Connor felt like he needed to sit down for a few seconds. He looked around and saw a bus stop bench. He led Julie over and sat down. She sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He said, "But….. How?"
Julie picked her head up and said, "What do you mean how? Weren't you the one asking me about birth control?"
Connor nodded and realized that was kind of a stupid thing to ask. He corrected his question to; "When? A month ago, right before you left for home?"
Julie put each of her hands into his and looked him in the eyes. "No. It was the night the fire fell from the sky."
Connor shook his head, "But… that was just…. nine days ago. You can't possibly know that yet. And you said you were on the pill."
"I can't tell you how I know, but I do know. And I was on the pill, but I stopped taking them yesterday, because I just knew. I would have told you then, but I didn't want you to have something else to worry about since the Beast was on the loose."
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Connor's thoughts were sporadic. 'I'm going to be a father. I'll be a better father then Holtz. I'll be a better father then Angel. Angel isn't going to be happy about this. I wonder what he's going to say. Holtz would say I'm a sinner. He would call the baby a bastard like me. I can't let that happen. We'll have to be married. Angel won't like that either. Too bad, I won't have a bastard child.'
He turned to Julie and said, "We have to get married."
Julie looked shocked and said, "What?"
"I won't have a child out of wedlock."
It was Julie's turn to be silent. Then she turned to Connor and said, "I wasn't really thinking about getting married right now. I thought maybe after college."
It had never occurred to Connor that Julie might refuse to marry him now that she was pregnant. All he could say was, "But we have to."
"No, we really don't."
Connor willed her to understand, "Holtz, the man who raised me, called me a bastard my whole life. I can't stand the thought of my child having the same treatment."
Julie looked sympathetic, "It's not like that anymore Connor. Lots of kids are born into families where there is no marriage. There isn't a stigma attached to it anymore the way there used to be."
"But… If we love each other, and God is giving us this baby to take care of, then isn't it right to do everything we can to make sure the baby has a normal and happy life?"
Julie leaned in and gave him a kiss. She said, "I love that you're thinking of it that way. I'll think about it."
Connor didn't really like that answer, but it was better then a flat out no. "Okay."
They sat in silence again while Connor thought about Holtz and the things that he had told him about the two children that he had had before Angelus got to them. He also thought about the video tape of himself as a baby that he had seen when Lorne came back from Las Vegas. He thought about what he would need to do to keep the baby safe and provide for it. He found himself thinking about getting more serious about getting that GED and finding a job.
Julie touched his shoulder and said, "It's about time to go back."
Connor looked at his watch. He couldn't believe they had been out there for almost an hour. He wasn't ready to face anyone. He nodded and got up. As they were walking back to the hotel Julie said, "I don't want you to tell anyone else about this for now."
"I don't plan to tell anyone about it until we're married. I don't want any interference."
"I didn't agree to marry you yet."
"I know, but I'm not giving up on that yet."
Julie didn't answer, and they walked back in silence while holding hands.
When they got back to the hotel Julie went to Fred and asked if she could help with anything. Gunn saw Connor just standing there inside the lobby doors, and noticed the black eye right away. Gunn walked over to him and said, "What happened to your eye?"
Connor gave Gunn a blank look. "What?"
Gunn pointed to his eye. "You have a black eye. I assume Faith did it."
Connor said absently, "Oh that. Yeah she did, but it was my fault."
Gunn crossed his arms and said, "Maybe we better take this conversation to your room."
Connor looked at Gunn's body language for the first time since getting back and realized where this was headed. He couldn't deal with it right now. His entire thought process was too involved with Julie being pregnant to think about anything else. He looked Gunn in the eye, leaned close, and kept his voice low so only Gunn could hear. "I can't talk about anything right now. Could we please talk tonight after this mess with Angelus is taken care of?"
Gunn scrutinized Connor to see if he was trying to get out of punishment, or if he was genuinely too preoccupied with Angelus being on the loose to really listen to what Gunn had to say. Before Gunn could make a decision, the lobby doors opened to reveal a red haired young woman. She smiled at Connor and Gunn who were just inside the door and said, "Hi, I'm Willow."
Gunn held out his hand and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Gunn, and this here is Angel's son Connor."
Willow shook hands with Gunn, and then Connor. She said, "Nice to meet you both."
Wesley had come out of the back room and was standing close by waiting. Willow took a good look at him and smiled as she said, "And you must be the Marlboro man."
Wesley ignored the slam about his appearance. "Thank you for coming."
She waved him off and scoffed, "Of course I'm gonna come when Angel needs some reinsouling."
She started walking into the lobby as she talked, "Wouldn't want to leave that job for just anyone."
He followed her and then made introductions, "This is Lorne he's an empath demon."
Willow held out her hand and he shook. He let her go and said, "I could smell the power when you walked into the room honey. If anyone can get Angelcakes back it's you."
Willow smiled and said, "Next time I'll take a shower before heading out."
Wesley said, "This is Fred. Her and I have done a few spells together, so if you need any help, we're willing to try."
"I think I've got it covered. Nice to meet you Fred."
Fred smiled and said, "It's very nice to meet you too. Maybe if you have some time later, you can show me the curse."
"Sure."
Wesley said, "This is Julie, Connor's girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you."
"You too."
Wesley noticed Faith had come out of the kitchen and was standing by the door. He said, "And you know Faith."
Faith gave Willow a nod and said, "Hey."
"Faith."
Wesley noticed Willow was holding a brown paper bag and said, "So how should we proceed?"
Willow smiled and put her bag down on the lobby's front desk. She got out a few supplies. "I'm going to need to do a locator spell first to make sure he's still in this city. He doesn't need to be right here, but he does need to be close. Then when we know he's close by, I'll do the curse."
Fred asked, "How can we help?"
"For the locator spell, I'll need something of his. A shirt that he has worn would work, but a piece of his hair would work better."
Connor said, "I'll get that."
Connor left the room and went to the basement. He came back a few seconds later with a few strands of hair and gave them to Willow. She spread out a map of the city, and put some candles around it. She put Angel's hair into some powder in her hand. She closed her eyes and said some words in Latin. Then she blew some of the dust across the map. Instantly little red dots appeared on the map, with one dot being brighter then the rest. She smiled, "He's close. It should work fine."
She said some words, and the map lost its red dots. She put that away, and got out a book and a round object. Wesley asked, "The Orb of Thesulah?"
"Yep."
Willow opened the book and started chanting in Latin. A few seconds into it her eyes turned black, and the air around her started to swirl. Her chanting got louder, and the people in the lobby all backed away from her a few steps. A few seconds later the air around the entire lobby started to swirl. Connor asked Wesley, "Is this normal? Is something wrong?"
"I'm unsure."
Willow put her hand up warding off an unseen foe, and yelled out some words in Latin. The air stopped moving, and Willow's eyes turned back to normal. She was a little out of breath. Faith said, "Is it done?"
Willow shook her head. "He must have known what we were planning. He's got some kind of protection. It's probably an object like a necklace that he has to ware to stay protected. I'll need to have him here so I can see what it is before I can disarm it, and do the curse."
Everyone in the room looked a little dejected at the news. Wesley said, "Faith?"
Faith nodded and said, "You, me, Connor, and Gunn. We'll take tranquilizer guns, and Connor can track."
Gunn looked over at Connor and said, "I want to talk to Connor for a few minutes before we go."
Connor glared and said in a loud voice, "I told you I don't want to talk right now. Let's just go and get this over with!"
Gunn shook his head, "I'd like to, but you're not going anywhere until I'm sure you've got yourself under control. Facing Angelus is deadly at best, and if you're preoccupied with something else, then you shouldn't be hunting him."
Connor shook his head in disgust, and headed for the door as he said, "You know what, I'll go find him myself."
Gunn caught up with Connor in three steps and grabbed his upper arm to stop him. "I don't think so."
Connor tried to shove Gunn out of his way, but before he could actually lay his hands on Gunn, he was knocked out and thrown back a few feet by an invisible force. Willow looked around and said some words in Latin. Then she turned to Fred and said, "Some kind of spell?"
Gunn went over to Connor to check his vitals. Wesley said, "The sanctuary spell."
Julie went over to Connor too and said, "But that's only supposed to stop demon violence."
Lorne said, "It does only stop demon violence."
Julie looked back over at Connor, along with everyone else in the room. Gunn looked at Wesley and said, "Can you help me get him up to the couch. Who knows how long he'll be out."
Wesley and Gunn moved Connor to the couch. When they were done Faith said to Wesley, "Looks like it's just you and me. Probably better anyway, he seems to have trouble following orders. I'll be able to concentrate on Angelus better if I know Connor's not gonna do something stupid."
Gunn asked, "What happened between the two of you today?"
Faith said, "He didn't take cover when the beast was about to explode, and then when we found the bar with Angelus, he decided we should go in and try to capture him even after I told him no like three times."
Gunn got a grim look on his face and nodded. He said, "You sure you two can handle it? I can come too if you need me."
Faith shook her head. "We'll be fine. I saw where he was from the locator spell, and I have a plan. Come on Wes."
Wesley and Faith gathered up a few tranquilizer guns and left. Once they were in Wesley's car, Faith said, "First we need to go to the bar Angelus was in earlier."
"But the locator spell that Willow just preformed showed Angelus across town."
"I know, but I need to pick something up before we go."
Wesley drove towards the bar while Faith explained her plan.