CHAPTER NINTEEN: RUSSET

Stephen and Angel stood awkwardly, unsure of what to say to each other.  Angel was watching as Stephen stood fidgeting with his hands, desperately wishing he had a weapon in his hands, if only for the comfort of it.  He definitely wished he had have asked Buffy to stay with him.

"So…" Angel started awkwardly.

"So…"

Angel looked away and finally decided that this wasn't the best way to begin.

"Maybe we should sit down," he suggested, gesturing to the leather chairs of the office. 

Stephen nodded and took a seat awkwardly, not used to the feeling of a comfortable chair underneath him.  Even his bed hadn't been as comfortable as the seat his father had offered him.  He settled into it and kept his eyes averted.

"How uh…how are you?" Angel asked, wishing he knew the words to say to his estranged son.

Stephen considered the question, knowing that in the grand scheme of things, he wasn't doing horribly.  He was still upset over his father's passing, but his life with Buffy and their romance was going brilliantly, something for which he was extremely grateful.

"I'm okay," he finally replied.  "Things are…confusing here, but…I'm okay."

Angel nodded, knowing that if his heart could actually beat it would be going at a million miles an hour.  He could hear Stephen's heart beating nervously.

"What can you…what can you tell me about yourself?" Angel asked, tears in his eyes.  These were the questions that he shouldn't have had to have answers for.  He should have known these answers.

"Well…I uh…grew up in Quortoth.  But, you already knew that," he said bitterly.  Angel winced but Stephen continued before Angel could try and explain that to him, Connor had only been gone for nine days, not the twenty years that Stephen had experienced.

"My dad built a hut in the East end of Quortoth, close to a supply of water.  It was uh…it was pretty quiet there.  There weren't any other people there until…well, I met Buffy two years ago.  And…I fell in love with her," Stephen said, a smile coming to his face as he remembered his first meeting with Buffy and the subsequent conversations and eventual romance that had come about afterwards.

Angel didn't know what to feel about that.  His son was in love with the woman that Angel himself had fallen in love with only six years ago.  It was material for a Jerry Springer show, but he also knew that he couldn't fault Stephen for falling for Buffy.  There was something so magnetic about her personality that it made it impossible for people to not love her.

"And the two of you are…" Angel couldn't bring himself to say the words.  'Together', 'involved', 'romantically entangled'.

"We're married," Stephen said.

Once more Angel's heart lurched.  Not just involved but married.  Angel swallowed hard and managed a small smile.

"And you're…happy?"

Stephen smiled softly, momentarily forgetting that he was meant to hate the creature that he was talking to.

"In twenty years I've never felt as happy as I am when I'm with her.  It's like everything in the world just goes dark and she's all I can see.  I love her."

Angel nodded once more.  He could remember first hand what that was like.

A frantic knock on the door disturbed them and Stephen was on his feet in an instant, taking on a defensive posture.  He relaxed slightly when Cordy poked her head around the door.

"I hate to interrupt, but…I think Buffy really needs you Con…I mean, Stephen," she said.

Stephen was immediately back on guard.

"Why?  What happened?  Is she okay?"  he went to rush past her, but she caught his arm.  He gasped and Cordy felt a familiar glow of white coming from her.  It transferred itself into Stephen and he felt something filling his insides, pouring into his soul and slowly cleansing him of everything that had ever happened.

Cordy let go and he felt himself begin to choke on his sobs.  He ran from the room, only remembering that Cordy had said something about Buffy needing him.

Cordy went to follow but Angel grabbed her.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, furious that she had done something that had so obviously upset his son.

"That was…I don't know what it was but…God Angel," she whispered.  He finally saw the teas on her cheeks and pulled her close to him, hugging her tightly, protectively.

"They're in so much pain.  They had…so much hate.  Angel, that place, it was…it was killing them," Cordy sobbed.

Angel could only hold her as she cried, worrying for not only his sobbing friend but for his son and his…daughter-in-law/ex-lover. 

Angel looked up when he heard a gentle knock on the door.  Lorne looked around the door and gave a sympathetic smile to Angel as he broke away from Cordy.

"You've got two crying kids on your couch in the lobby," Lorne explained quietly.  "You got some serious mojo going on there girl.  Whatever deal you struck with the Powers, it looks to me like they gave you the full package…all the extras.   Those kids were toxic when they came in.  Heavy on the ick."

"What actually happened just now?" Angel asked

"In my professional opinion? Well, Miss demon-y britches here gave that child some kind of 'soul colonic'. Flushed him out but good," Lorne said.

"Flushed what out?" Angel asked, confusion evident in his voice.

"It was that place, Quortoth. It crept into every part of both of them.  They were sick with it," Cordy explained.

Angel took Cordy's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Thank you. Thank you for doing this for him.  For them," Angel said.

Cordy looked at him sadly.

"I know what it was like for him there, the darkness and the confusion. He thought it was where he belonged.  And Buffy…God…she was there for years," Cordy said, tears coming to her eyes at the thought.

Angel looked at her confused.  Lorne touched his shoulder comfortingly.

"I just spoke to Fred and…according to her calculations, Buffy woulda been in Quortoth for at least four hundred years," Lorne said.

Angel felt his stomach churn at the thought.  Four hundred years.  He had spent maybe a hundred years in hell when Buffy had killed him, and he'd gone slowly insane over that time.  But, four hundred years in a hell dimension hadn't done all that much to his ex-love. 

"It was killing her," Cordy said.  "She was…she was alone for four hundred years until…well, until she met Stephen."

"Poor kid," Lorne said, looking back towards the lobby where Buffy and Stephen were sitting on the couch, holding each other and crying.  "That's a long time to be alone."

Cordy wiped away her tears and looked towards Angel.  "That was her biggest fear in High School.  Being alone."

Angel swallowed hard and tried to comprehend what his son and the girl he had once loved had gone through.  It was too much to try and conceive and he knew that he would never truly understand what had happened.  All he could do now was sit back and lend his support in whatever way he could.  He looked towards Cordy and gave a small smile.

"I think we're about to have a road-trip," he said.

Cordy looked confused for a moment before she finally understood. 

"Sunnydale?"

"Sunnydale."