Chapter Forty-Six: Useless

Location: Hospital

"Oy, Harris!" Xander and Fred looked up to see Spike, Buffy, Dawn and Lorne running up to them. Dawn must have gone to tell the others what had happened. "Sorry we're late," said Spike uncharacteristically, "We were all held up. How is she?"

"I don't know," said Xander, "It's been hours and we haven't heard a thing."

"She'll be fine," said Lorne kindly, "Vampires heal fast."

"You didn't see her," Xander responded numbly.

"What happened?" Spike asked. Fred took pity on the unfortunate man and answered for him.

"She jumped through the roof of a car in broad daylight," she said, "And then she skidded across the road and half of her back was taken off by the impact and sunlight. Her skin and spine are mush." Spike was taken completely aback. Even with a vampire's enhanced healing, some injuries took longer than others to heal. His torture at the hands of Glorificus was a testament to that fact and what happened to Harmony sounded much, much worse.

"Wha… Why did she do that?" he asked. Even she wouldn't do something that stupid.

"She did it to save me," Xander answered blankly, staring off into space, "I was on top of a truck and… There was another truck attached to it and it threw me off into thin air. She caught me and shielded me from the fall." For the second time in as many minutes, Spike completely and utterly shocked. He had known the young vampire for a few years now and in all that time self-sacrifice and heroics had seemed like the last things she would ever do. No, they were things that she, a soulless monster, would never, ever do.

And, once upon a time, he would have said the same thing about himself. Then he met the girl (who incidentally was standing right next to him) that changed everything. Maybe he could understand why she did what she did.

"Harmony did what?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"She saved me," Xander reiterated.

Why?

~o~O~o~

The Previous Day

Location: Wolfram & Hart

Angel's head was still reeling from the recent return of Connor to his life. He wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed to be somewhere that was not here. Those were the rules; Connor gets a normal, happy life somewhere else and in exchange Angel takes over the Los Angeles branch of Wolfram & Hart. So when Connor and his new parents came to him for help, naturally Angel turned them away. The further we got away from the building, the happier and better off he would be.

So after he sent the confused family on their way (and after an extremely heated discussion with the newest liaison for the Senior Partners, Hamilton) Angel followed them to make sure that they got home safely. However, when they pulled into a restaurant's parking lot they were set upon by demons and, unsurprisingly, Angel intervened. What was surprising was that he did not have to fight off the monsters alone. Back to back, he and Connor fought against the horde with nothing but their fists and determination. It was amazing, they were so in synch; if Connor ducked there would be a punch overhead from Angel to slam the monster into the ground and if Angel was cornered, Connor would send a demon flying into a car. Angel hadn't fought like this with a partner since he and Buffy were together back in Sunnydale.

However, in the melee, Mr. Reilly – Connor's father was injured so Angel brought the others back to Wolfram & Hart so that their doctors could fix him up with a promise that Wesley would soon discover the identity of whoever sent the monsters after them. And though it sickened him to the core, deep within him Angel could feel a sliver of… happiness.

He could spend time with his son. While they were waiting for the doctors to give the all clear for Mr. Reilly Angel showed Connor around the building and explained as best he could about the kind of work he and his team did. Connor suddenly asked if he was dating someone and Angel was about to mention Nina when Spike suddenly appeared. Normally this wouldn't be all that surprising as sneaking up on people unexpectedly was one of his many talents. However, this was clearly not of his choice as he had been hurled through the wall in front of them. Through the newly formed hole they could see Fred frantically trying to apologise. Angel sighed to himself and turned to his son.

"You wanna meet some of my co-workers?" he asked. Once Connor nodded they (somewhat redundantly) opened the door and entered the training room with Spike emerging through the hole. Fred was still trying to apologise.

"It's fine, Blue," he said easily before wincing as he moved his shoulder the wrong way.

"Everyone," said Angel to the pair, "This is Connor. Connor, this is Fred and Spike." They nodded (or in Fred's case waved) at the newcomer. Connor's eyes were immediately drawn to Fred who, with her form fitting gym clothes and unusual colouring, cut quite the figure. They made eye contact, Fred sensed his increased heartbeat, rise in body temperature and rise in… other parts and they broke the eye contact just as quickly.

"Is something the matter?" Angel asked.

"No!" they said quickly in unison.

"Okay," said Angel, feeling rather confused before turning back to his team. "Connor has brought us a case and I'm just showing him around." Lorne chose that moment to enter the training room.

"Hey," he said cheerfully, "You kids playing in the training room?" Connor looked at Lorne with an expression of shock and Angel immediately tensed up, remembering how Connor had reacted the first time he had met the green hided demon. To his shock, Connor grinned.

"Whoa!" he said excitedly, "Man, this place is way better than college."

~o~O~o~

The Present Day

Location: Hospital

Vampire physiology is not the same as that of a human's. When a human takes a certain amount of damage their senses start to shut down and they won't be able to feel the catastrophic pain that would be brought on by their injuries. The loss of sensation often heralds the death of the person in question.

Vampires, already being dead, are not so lucky. They are hunters, their bodies are designed to be efficient fighters. They would never lose awareness of what kind of damage they might sustain.

No matter how much they might wish otherwise.

Anaesthesia was not an option. It didn't do anything for vampires.

Harmony burned. She might have escaped the fierce, unrelenting rays of the sun yet still she burned. The entirety of her body was charred and blackened, what remained of her spine was pulverised and the fabric of her clothes was fused to her skin. The pain was so intense yet she could not scream. The front of her throat had been burned away by the sunlight and her windpipe was exposed for the entire world to see.

~o~O~o~

It had been hours since they had heard any word so Xander practically barrelled into the doctor when he emerged from the surgery. She was very blunt and concise; Harmony's injuries were horrific and it was a miracle that she had survived that amount of exposure to the sunlight. However, she was still a vampire and would make a full recovery.

"Can I see her?" Xander asked. The doctor shrugged.

"If you want," she said in response, "But I doubt that you'll get anything from her. Oh and be warned, it's not pretty." Xander immediately shoved past her and entered the recovery room. The others held back, letting him have some privacy.

He had to stifle a gasp. The doctor was right; it was not pretty by any stretch of the imagination. Harmony was a charred, blackened figure in the vague shape of a woman. Her hair was gone, the front of her throat had collapsed in on itself and her eyes simply stared vacantly at the ceiling. There was no breathing, no movement, nothing that would indicate life.

Not there would be any indication of life. She was technically dead after all.

"Oh my god," he whispered before rushing to her side. He was going to reach for her arm before suddenly recoiling. Any contact would only hurt her at this stage. He sat down in the chair next to her bed. "I'm so sorry," he sobbed. The words were as useless as he felt. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

~o~O~o~

The Previous Day

"What's the matter? You look a little… conflicted." Wesley looked up to see Fred standing in his office's doorway.

"It's nothing," he said, "It's just…" He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Do you think that Angle has been acting… I don't know… erratic lately?"

"Why do you ask?" she replied, sitting on his desk.

"It's this Reilly kid," he answered, "Angel's being really weird about. One moment he doesn't want him anywhere near us and now he's suddenly the guest of honour. Oh and get this; as soon as I find out who sent the demons after the boy and his family Angel just went ballistic. He didn't explain why and he practically jumped down my throat when I offered to come along as backup. He's hiding something. It was… Fred, he looked scared. That's something I don't actually think I've ever actually seen on his face."

"And what are these?" she asked, gesturing at the papers strewn across the desk.

"This is absolutely everything that I could get on Cyvus Vail, the sorcerer who employs those demons," he explained, "I'm trying to see if there is a connection between him and Angel but it's going very slow. I've got Lorne downstairs pulling all financial records on the guy to see if there's something there but… This is all Xander's fault really."

"How do you figure that?" she scoffed in amusement.

"If he hadn't gone off gallivanting to San Francisco, Gunn would still be here and he'd bust this in a second," he replied. "He's good at that kind of thing," he continued, "Which is good considering the price he almost paid."

"It wasn't his fault," Fred said quickly, "There is no way anyone could have seen that coming. And I thought that you forgave him."

"It'll take time," he admitted before the phone rang. With her enhanced hearing, Fred could easily hear Lorne's musical voice on the other end.

"Wesley," he said, "Turns out that we have done business with this guy. Have a look under accounts paid." Wesley quickly perused the relevant paper.

"Whoa," he said, "That's a lot of zeroes."

"You're telling me," agreed Lorne, "You could buy the Vatican with what we paid him and still have enough for some of the nicer parts of Rome."

"What on Earth could justify this kind money?"

"Some sort of reality shift. A big one. Oh, that's odd."

"What?"

"Look at the date it happened." Wesley looked at the paper before showing it to Fred and hanging up the phone. Cyvus Vail had been paid to perform a massive reality shift the day that they had taken over Wolfram and Hart.

"Oh my god," said Fred, "That's… Wait, do you think that this guy might be holding something over Angel?"

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't want to accept the deal," she said, "And then, just out of the blue, he suddenly said yes. What if it wasn't of his own free will?"

"What could they possibly have that would make him change his mind like that?"

"Us?" she said suddenly, "What if he thought that he was protecting us? What if they threatened us?"

"I'll keep digging," he said as she pulled up a chair next to him and started leafing through the papers.

"I'm free so I can help."

~o~O~o~

The Present Day

Dawn didn't say anything. She was smart enough to know that there was nothing that could be said that would help in anyway. She simply sat down next Xander and took his hand. She forced herself to look down at body on the bed. It was horrifying. She had never seen a body that had been so sorely abused. Actually, maybe there were some words that needed to be said.

"I don't know if you can hear me," she said softly but clearly, "But if you can, thank you for saving my friend." She turned to Xander. "She is going to be okay," she said firmly.

~o~O~o~

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