Two little feet just barely long enough to reach so far kicked at the back of Angel's seat as they finished pulling to a parking spot close to the door. "You sure this is where you're wanting to go?" he confirmed before getting out of the car and just a few moments later he had Connor out of his car seat and standing back on his two feet. Shutting the door once Connor stepped out of the way, he locked up then held his hand out for his son to take.

"What kind do you think you're gonna get?" Connor asked with his head tilting upward.

"I don't really know, Bud," Angel answered. "I've never been here so I guess I'll just have to see what my options are first, alright?"

Connor nodded his head and began making some quick suggestions as they made their way up to the glass door and stepped inside. As soon as the little boy was inside he practically lit up, tugging on Angel's hand so they could get closer to the counter display and started pointing out whatever goodies caught his eye.

"Hi there! Good afternoon," a soft voice said a couple moments later and Angel's eyes glanced up, then did a double take, at the small blonde lady standing on the other side, she got a few steps closer and a look of recognition seemed to take her over just as Connor did a little gasp of his own.

"Hey! I know you, you're that girl with the funny name!" Connor said loudly and Angel instantly felt his neck and tips of his ears turning a nice shade of red and tried to decide between apologizing to the lady or shushing him and trying to correct what he'd said.

The blonde laughed though and nodded her head. "That's me! Buffy," she added, her eyes going from Connor to him then back again. "And you are.. Cal-Connor," she quickly correct as it dawned back in her mind.

Connor beamed back at her. "That's me!"

"Well I am so glad to see you as a returning customer, kiddo. You take all the time you need deciding on something yummy, okay?" she told him then pointed to where she'd be incase they needed anything.

Before she could walk off though, Connor proudly announced they were here because he had behaved really good in school this week. "My dad said if I got a good report this week I could choose anywhere for us to go today after school," he told her.

"Aww, and out of everywhere in the world you chose to come here?" she asked then laughed again when Connor pointed out he doubted he could have really picked anywhere and listed off whatever places came to mind first ranging from Disney World to Hawaii.

OoOoO

Connor ran into a little bit of a problem when it came to deciding on what he wanted to order, Angel gave him space at first then had knelt down to his level to try and help him out a little while some of the others that had shown up after them went ahead and placed their orders.

Just as she was finishing up, that Buffy girl swung back over their way to check on them. Reaching down, she pulled out some small plastic cups and offered up a sample set idea which seemed to do the trick. They quickly negotiated out how many flavors to let Connor pick from then he placed the rest of their order with her.

"You happen to remember what you had the last time you were in here?" she asked Connor just as she was finishing up and a moment later she handed their tray over, plus a little sheet that listed all the current flavors and all the ones Connor had already chosen from had already been checked off in orange to the side. "Maybe that could help for next time, if there is one," she told him with a quick wink.

Connor took the sheet from her while Angel dealt with the tray, thanking her again.

The shop was relatively small but he still thought it looked bigger than the outside would lead you to believe. He let Connor chose where he wanted to sit and smiled as he quickly launched into discussing exactly where he had sat with Uncle Lindsey weeks back and reminding him of all the things that had happened on that trip.

Connor had been obsessed with bringing this place up ever since it seemed and a helpful little reward suggestion idea had seemed to work out for the best. School hadn't been back in session for too long now but Connor was struggling to adjust, not that he was surprised. The poor kid's whole life had basically been uprooted over the summer and just as he had started to get used to the routine they'd had in place over the break it had to up and change on him again. Now he was dealing with that, with being in school for the first time, being around all these other kids and still trying to process more than any child should have hanging over their heads... and it really seemed to be giving him a hard time so Angel had hoped he could find at least something to help him out.

And, if that meant buying ice cream or chocolate, maybe a pizza, or letting the kid chose some park or arcade or something to go on Friday's then that was hardly much of a price to pay he figured. So... here they were.

OoOoO

Despite his little cups being next to nothing compared to the one Angel had, Connor had made sure to let his dad try every one of samples, too and at the end they both compared which ones they decided they liked the best. Angel offered to let Connor get a full sized small cup of which one he said was his favorite from today but Connor had told him that was okay, and instead just shared a good portion of Angel's order, too.

As they were cleaning up their table, Connor asked if it would be alright to chose to come here the next good week he had, too. Angel couldn't see why not and told him as much making Connor light up again. "Do you think we could try every single of these at some point?" Connor asked, pointing at the sheet Buffy had given him.

Angel laughed too and shrugged his shoulders. "I guess if you came here enough times it could certainly be possible."

"I think that's what I'm going to try and do," Connor decided. "Maybe not every time but I think I'd like trying all the different flavors. Sometimes I think I'd wanna just get something I know I like though, too."

"Don't think there's anything wrong with that, kiddo."

OoOoO

The following Friday Connor had again decided on the small ice cream shop as his reward for a good report for the week. It hadn't been perfect but Angel really wasn't expecting it to be either, he was just trying to figure all of this out by the seat of his pants pretty much and trying to strive for at least better than what had been. No one was going to benefit from unrealistic expectations from a Kindergartener, or any one of any age for that matter when it came down to it.

So, once again they'd made the drive out there after school had let out for the weekend, Connor musing out loud some of his potential choices the whole ride there

OoOoO

Holding the door open for an elderly couple first, he and Connor followed behind, his eyes locking with the pretty blonde from last time for the briefest moment. She'd smiled brightly and waved at Connor once she saw him, too.

Connor again tugged on his father's hand, dragging him from the make shift line he was almost making here and up to the counter to get a good look at whatever was laying out in there. "Do you think she'd let me get those little things again?" Connor asked, his voice quiet.

Angel nodded and assured him he was pretty sure she'd expect him to actually. Connor liked that answer and went back to counting out some picks on his small fingers until he had everything narrowed down that he wanted to get today. Angel also glanced at the larger menu up on the board hanging up on the wall, in between glances back over to Buffy.

Her hair was put up today and he had no idea why he even noticed something like that in the first place.

Or how she had different earrings on than last time, not that he could have probably given you a single detail about what she had been wearing a week ago, just that what she had on was not them.

Or how flawless and perfect her skin seemed to be. Or how beautiful and sincere her smile always seemed to be. Or how her eyes twinkled the more amused she became at something.

Oh no, any and all of that was the last thing he needed to have sticking out to him... which he told himself on repeat for a moment then decided to act like it never even happened.

OoOoO

Sure enough, Buffy had been happy to help Connor out with the sample tray again and even marked off his choices, all but one new ones at that, for him as they went.

"I bet you've already gotten to try all of them, huh?" Connor asked as she slid the paper back to him.

"Of course," she answered with a wink and mentioned a few that used to be on the menu but were no longer being served at the moment.

Connor then asked her what her favorite was and Angel quickly changed his mind about what he had been planning to order for himself to what she'd answered as her personal favorite. And of course went and told told himself that wasn't anything special either.

As she busied herself behind the counter, Buffy easily carried on a conversation with Connor about his day, how school had gone, and somehow wound up discussing unicorns by the end of it all. He wasn't sure how that had even happened but he had to admit he liked how easy she made hanging around kids seem. He'd been a father for a handful of months, or, well, he'd been a father for a handful of years but had only known that Connor even existed let alone been in this role since this very summer and was very much still trying to figure so damn much out when it came to that major switch in his life.

"Well, here you two go, let me know if you need anything else, okay?" Buffy said, interrupting his thoughts, sliding their tray closer once she was done. He nodded his head politely as she told them both she hoped they enjoyed their treats then in the next breath was going over to greet the two teenagers who stepped inside.

OoOoO

Connor had picked the same table as last time and as they got settled in, his little face lit up as he suddenly remembered one of the papers his teacher had handed out just as they were lining up at the end of the day. Angel nodded his head saying they would certainly try and make it to the event, he just needed to make sure whatever date and time it was would work out first but otherwise didn't see why not.

That made Connor's smile grow and he wiggled a little in his seat, tasting his first bite of one of the ice cream scoops. "Mama took me to a library once," he suddenly said and Angel felt himself stiffen up a little.

"Oh," was all he managed to say at first. "I bet it was fun, libraries are usually good places for kids. Or anyone really..."

Connor nodded. "There was a train track that went all around the top of the playroom, like up near the ceiling, it was really cool. They also had a lot of kid books and different toys and a lady dressed up like a princess and read to all the kids. She even waited with me and helped when we couldn't find Mama when it got dark outside," he answered.

"That was real nice of her," Angel said slowly, feeling bits of his heart breaking like it did every time Connor seemed to tell him one of these stories. Sometimes he wished Darla was still alive simply to be able to shake the daylights out of her and ask her what in the hell she was thinking most of the time.

He hadn't heard from her one damn time after they had broken up, Darla having sat him down and explained how they just didn't seem to be working anymore... and how she had apparently already moved on, the dumbass showing up not long after her confession to pick her up. He'd just let her go, unsure of what else he was supposed to do in the situation... it had hurt, sure, but it wasn't exactly anything that blindsided him either. So, she left, she'd grabbed what she wanted and left with it and that was that. She left him, left town, and life went on.

He really hadn't even thought about her in years at all before her crazy ass sister, Dru, showed up on his doorstep having tracked him back down, Connor in tow. From what he had gathered from her and Connor Darla's life had taken one hell of a turn after she ran out on him. Not immediately after of course, she found out she was pregnant and had Connor and everything seemed fine at first then... somewhere along the way her choices in men and life in general went down the toilet, she got into drugs and abusive relationships and just had poor choices coming out left and right. Connor had been with her, had been passed around between her not much better family members more than a few times, and everything had really just been chaos more often than not.

But then Darla was found dead. Darla's mom was dead, her dad was currently unable to be found anywhere and apparently hadn't ever been much help in the first place. Darla's aunt who took the best care of Connor in all this time wasn't in the best health and as much as she wished she could do this again said it wasn't going to work out this time. And... in the end Dru came looking for him.

And she fucking disappeared almost as quickly as she arrived and his entire life wound up turned on its head.

"Y-you will stay with me if we go though... right? I won't get lost again when we're there... I mean if we go... right?"

Angel reached over and messed up Connor's hair promising things will always be different with him and from now on. He may not always know what he's doing but he knew enough when it came to making sure Connor wouldn't have to go through the same type of bullshit with him that he faced the first five years of his life.

OoOoO

Apparently the invite Connor came home with was a little last minute but he made it work, the two of them heading to the library in question the following morning. He showed Connor around, they sat together through a story time and little mini movie that tied in with the book that had been read, then stayed for a craft session, snacks and even got a cookie and free book set at the end of it all.

All in all that wasn't a bad time, maybe not how he previously would have been spending his weekend but that was okay, too.

Afterward he took Connor to a nearby park and let him burn off some energy and get some fresh air before going to meet up with Lindsey.

OoOoO

As Friday rolled back around Buffy found herself checking the clock more than a few times as it started getting later in the day and she hadn't noticed Connor or his dad come in. She knew his coming here the past few weeks had been a good behavior type reward thing and began to wonder if maybe the kid wound up having a bit of a rough time this week or maybe he wasn't feeling well... then rolled her eyes at herself and mentally told herself she was probably crossing into some creepy lines thinking so much about it either which way.

It was probably weird enough noticing them not having coming in the first place let alone trying to figure out the why behind it. Sure, she thought the kiddo was a lot of fun and she always liked having some repeat customers and especially regulars which she hoped they were becoming but she knew her wanting to see them walk through those doors had more to do than just that. She didn't even know his damn name or really anything about him at all but Connor's dad was not a hard thing to look at to say the least.

She felt her entire body seem to warm whenever he was in the shop or hell even when she simply thought about the man and was pretty sure she'd made a fool of herself the past two weeks in front him more times than you could count since he made her so damn nervous. Looking at him far too much, doing her best to not look at him and wind up staring and drooling, always making small talk easier with his son because her stomach seemed to do flips and twirls any time she had to say words toward him... it was all a damn mess.

OoOoO

Connor had been having one hell of a week which meant he was having one, too. There'd been fights, a restless night which led to an emotional day to follow, and on Friday he even wound up having to leave work early to come talk to the school about everything that was going on.

Of course that had wound up no going to get ice cream and caused another big meltdown and really the whole rest of the day just felt long and stressful. Calling in some help, his mom was able to make it in before bedtime and promised dad would be there for the weekend but probably not until noon tomorrow but hell he would take it.

And thankfully the weekend managed to be a little less tense after some family talks and doing their best to let the weekend have a clean slate and get out of the house for a little bit of fun. And knowing Connor was not only safe but felt safe with his parents meant he could get away for just a little bit and do something beyond work, sleep, and parent every second of every day. Of course he didn't use that out often and always felt guilty afterward no matter how much he knew it did everyone some good but alas...

OoOoO

Buffy didn't know how in the world Faith managed to talk her into a night on the town but here she was in the middle of a pub crawl with the dark haired beauty. She wasn't much of a drinker in the first place but at least there was music and dancing, deals on some almost good junk foods at a couple of the places they'd hit up... but more importantly she wasn't wasting her life away being a homebody at the moment... so there was that.

Her eyes about popped out of her head though when she caught a glimpse of familiar dark hair in the crowd below. Making sure to keep her distance as she did in fact have at least a couple of drinks in her and didn't need any sort of lack of judgement going on when it came to him, especially after making the mistake of pointing him out to Faith and there was no telling what her wicked little mind might come up with, she watched as a number of women all did exactly what she was afraid of doing herself, throwing themselves at him without a care in the world.

He drank, danced, shared whispers and laughs, and at the end of it all she watched him leave all but hanging off of some curly haired redhead.

"Now, see, that coulda been you, B!" Faith yelled over the music.

Buffy rolled her eyes and took the half empty glass from Faith's fingertips and downed it determined to not think about that any more tonight.

OoOoO

It wound up being two weeks on then two weeks off before Angel brought Connor back to the shop, finally back on track with things he hoped. The previous week had thankfully not been as rough and exciting but still had some sore moments in the mix of it all but this week had been smooth sailing compared to either of them.

Unfortunately both he and Connor quickly realized a certain blonde wasn't behind the counter or anywhere else to be seen for that matter once they were inside. Connor frowned and whispered it to him, Angel nodded and agreed he didn't think she was here and really wasn't sure which one of them were more disappointed over that bit of news.

"I was going to give her my ice cream cone eraser," Connor pouted, holding one of the prizes he'd gotten from the sticker store at school this week. Angel laughed though and said they could always ask the guy over there to give it to her, or hold on to it for next time. "Yeah, I guess," Connor grumbled and the two went over to the counter like usual to take a peak at what they had laid out already.

Ordering a banana split for himself and a surprise single small cup of cotton candy for Connor they took up seats in their regular spots and caught up on their days beyond what had already been discussed on the way here and nearly choked when Connor mentioned he was now the boyfriend of two different girls in his class.

"Why don't you have a girlfriend?" Connor suddenly asked and again Angel had to fight not to get taken out by a frozen piece of banana, his eyes wide as he tried to think of the best way to answer that question.

Angel hadn't been in any sort of serious or even really close to one when Drusilla had shown up for awhile but now more than ever he had no idea how to even do any of that now as a single father. Sure, every once in a blue moon he went out and wound up having some basic needs met with whoever caught his fancy at the time like he had been doing but the idea of actually dating right now seemed impossible. Where would there even be time for that?

Not to mention dating beforehand was a lot less intimidating. Now every time he had even tried he couldn't help but immediately jump from oh, this is a nice dinner to thinking way too far into the future and how Connor and whoever might get along and it just felt like too much each and every time. In his head he seemed to want to thrust whoever into a step mother role from the get go and he didn't know what to do with that but one thing was for sure and that it wasn't working.

He hadn't even had that kind of a talk with Connor either about that side of life and any sort of possibilities for some sort of relationship to come to be and supposed eventually he'd have to do that, too. He was sure that would be one hell of a load for this kid if and when the time came and he already had more than enough going on.

"I, uh, I guess I just haven't found anyone I've been interested in lately," he finally answered with a shrug.

"That's too bad, I'd sure hate for you to die alone," Connor said and Angel didn't even know how to respond to that beyond a heavy laughter that spilled out.