CHAPTER SIXTEEN: ORANGE

Buffy looked to her husband, momentarily ignoring the crew from Angel Investigations.  She grinned at him, but his eyes were kept solely on Angel.

"You're late," she commented.

"Hard day at work love," he replied, a smile coming involuntarily to his face.

"Any problems?"

"Just him," Stephen replied, looking squarely at Angel.

Buffy shrugged and looked back at the still shocked team.

"Well, we'd better finish this then," she commented.

Stephen just smirked and went to pull the trigger on his new weapon.

Gunn saw his chance and raced towards the weapons cabinet as Groo side-stepped to get a better angle at the pair of humans who had come from the portal.  He threw his axe a split second before Angel could cry out.

"Wait!"

Stephen just took aim and fired twice in quick succession, Angel twisting to the left to avoid being staked in the heart, and deflecting the other stake with a flying hand.

Buffy had kept her eyes trained on the axe flinging towards them and with a swift kick had prevented it from hitting them.  It flew to the side of the room, away from the others.

"Interesting," Connor commented.

Buffy just bit back a smile and kept her eyes on the three males who seemed to be doing all the fighting.  Cordy, the other girl and the green-skinned demon seemed to be staying away from the fray, for which Buffy was extremely grateful for.  The odds weren't even, but it was definitely in their favour.  Buffy and Stephen were exceptional fighters and a well-knit team. 

Angel went wide-eyed once more, still baffled.  All he could see in front of him was his son and the girl he still loved.

"My God…it's you.  Connor."

Stephen shot off another three of the stakes, hating the name that the creature had called it.  His father had explained about the two vampires who had been his biological parents, had even explained the name he had been given at birth and why it was important to the demon in front of him.  Connor.  Traditionally an Irish name.  He felt nauseous whenever he had heard the name from his dad, but hearing this creature speak it merely angered him.

Angel ducked and rolled to avoid being staked and looked up as Cordy called his name, throwing him a sword.  He caught it deftly and turned to face his son and his ex-love.

Stephen dropped his new weapon, and reached for the blade hidden at his back.  He swiped quickly at Angel, who quickly parried the blow.  Conner quickly flipped across the air, performing a one-handed cart-wheel that he had only perfected three months ago.  It was a favourite of his, quick and showy. 

Buffy just held off Gunn and Groo who had no chance of defeating a warrior who'd had four hundred odd years to perfect her technique.  The two men were both out for the count before Buffy had even had a chance to break a sweat.  She stood back calmly and watched her husband fighting the soulful vampire.

Stephen and Angel were fairly evenly matched.  Angel had the advantage of a few centuries of experience behind him.  Stephen had the advantage of being smaller and a little faster than his father was.  Neither of them was tiring and the fight was going at a pace too fast for anyone to try and send any flying fatalities towards them without the risk of accidentally shooting Angel.

Buffy shoot a look towards the group who stood on the top landing just next to the door, effectively blocking the exit.  The green-skinned demon was holding the brunette girl protectively whilst Cordy stood in front of them with a sword in her hands.  She looked to the ground where Gunn and Groo lay, stirring from the hard hits they had suffered from earlier.

She looked back and did a double-take.  In the moment it had taken her to look away, Angel had gotten the better of his son and had Stephen in a corner on the floor with Stephen's blade at his throat.  Buffy raced towards them, pulling Angel away from her husband and pulling Stephen into a standing position.  He went to attack again, but the second he looked into Buffy's eyes he knew it was time to make their escape.

He squeezed her hands and quickly tugged her towards the front door, the two of them racing out the door into the sunlight, neither of them even able to savour the feeling as they heard the others chasing after them.

She heard Angel cry out in protest as they went into the sunlight where they couldn't follow.

Stephen went to pull Buffy into the traffic, but even after four centuries in a hell-dimension, Buffy knew they wouldn't be able to contend with the traffic on a Los Angeles street.  She pulled him away from the road and raced with him along the foot-path, the two of them receiving odd looks from the other pedestrians.  It took Buffy a moment to realise why they were being stared at.

Stephen was looking extremely conspicuous in his demon-hide shirt and pants, with his string of trophies strung proudly across his torso.  She realised that they were both still holding fairly lethal weapons, but that couldn't be helped just now.  She needed to find them a safe place where they could hide out until they formulated a better plan.

------------------------

Gunn and Groo went back into the hotel, both of them a little nervous about Angel's reaction to them loosing the pair that had only moments ago dropped from the portal.

They walked back in half-way through a conversation.

"That was it.  That was it Angel," Cordy said, worry in her voice.

"No, no it isn't.  I'm gonna go find them," he said.  He didn't feel as confident as he sounded.

"I mean the fight you just had.  That was the vision I had yesterday," she explained.

"You never mentioned Connor or Buffy!"

"Because I only saw you," she replied, still unsure why the Powers That Be had sent her a vision that she didn't have enough information about to stop from bringing about.

"Angel, I hate to bring that up, but are we sure that was Connor?  Just cause he said 'hi dad'?" Gunn asked.  "And…well, no offence, but that couldn't have been Buffy.  She…she's dead man."

"That was them," Angel replied.  He could have told those two apart from everyone else in the world if he had to.  There was no mistaking it.  The pair that had just fought him had been Buffy and Connor.

"Couple of weeks ago he was wearing diapers.  Now he's like twenty?" Gunn said, still unconvinced.

"Tell me we don't live in a soap-opera," Cordy said, her voice heavy even as she tried for a little bit of levity.

"Well, personally, I'm less worried about the 'how he grew up' than the 'why he…they came back'," Lorne said.

"He came back because he could. He found a way to escape that place," Angel said.  He didn't even want to imagine how horrific Quortoth was.  His son had grown up in a hell-dimension because of the sins of his father. 

"And where the hell does Buffy fit into all of this?" Cordy added.

Angel looked at his friend thoughtfully.  Where the hell did Buffy fit into all of this?  Unless the Powers That Be had brought her back.  But it didn't make any sense.  Surely the Powers would have informed Cordy if they were going to bring Buffy back.  That was big news.

"Wh-where would they have gone?" Fred asked cautiously.

Angel stopped for a moment, a look of thoughtfulness on his face.

"They…they could have gone anywhere.  What if…Buffy might take him to Sunnydale," Angel considered.

"We need to warn them.  I mean, if Buffy's trying to kill you, what's to stop her from trying to kill them," Cordy suggested.

Cordy went to start towards the phone but Angel stopped her.

"This was personal.  If they had wanted me dead, I'd be long-gone by now.  Buffy could have killed me instead of throwing me off him," Angel said.

"Well, maybe she just wanted to save that honour for Connor," Lorne suggested.

"Well, we hafta find them before they can cause any mayhem," Gunn said.  He paused and considered his statement.  "Any more mayhem."

"Okay…I'm someone who's been stuck in a hell-dimension all my life…where would I go?" Cordy wondered out loud.

There was silence until Fred cleared her throat.  Cordy looked at her friend who had a small smile on her face.

"Well…it might be a long shot, but…the first thing I did…I mean, after I came out of my room…I sat on the beach for hours," she admitted.

Gunn gave her an encouraging smile and she smiled back at him.

"Alright, Gunn, Fred, you guys go down to the Santa Monica pier.  Buffy used to spend a lot of time there, maybe she'd wanna go back there.  I'm gonna head underground, see if I can get any info from some of my demon contacts.  Cordy, find where Hank Summers lives, check out that address if he's still in L.A, she may have gone to her dad's.  Groo, go with Cordy, just in case they ended up there.  Lorne…can you stay here, just in case?" Angel said.

The group agreed and quickly went their separate ways, each of them not entirely sure that they would even be able to take down the duo in their own small groups.  They hadn't been able to make a dent in either of the two when they were all together, the chances of taking them out when they were separated was even less likely.