Part Eight

The police station was hectic cacophony of people who were desperate
and scared and frustrated. Luckily, the Halliwell sisters were well
used to this atmosphere. Piper watched as Phoebe frantically tried to
catch the attention of someone who could help them. Unfortunately
their detective friend Darryl was on vacation and wouldn't be able to
help them with Cole's situation. "Excuse me!" Phoebe waved at a desk
sergeant carrying files to a filing cabinet. "Hi, I was wondering if
you could help me find my boyfriend. He was arrested." Phoebe caught
the disdainful look the middle-aged woman sent her way and shook her
head. "He's not a lowlife or anything. He's a lawyer. He's just been
under a lot of stress lately and he...uh, Paige, what did he do?"

"Sucker punched a judge."

"He what?" Phoebe's eyes widened as she turned to face her sister.
"Oh, God. I won't be able to bail him out today, will I?"

"I doubt it." The desk sergeant shoved the files in the cabinet. She
looked vaguely sympathetic as she turned to Phoebe. "I'll go look into
it though. What's the name?"

"Cole Turner. Thank you."

"If it's any consolation, the guy deserved it." Paige ran a hand
through her hair as she looked around the station. She had been here
before - for both her social worker and Charmed One duties - so she
wasn't nervous. She did feel bad for her sister though. "The judge
wouldn't listen to any of our evidence and was going to place the kid
Cole was representing back with his abusive mother. Apparently she's
the daughter of a friend of the judge's. If Cole hadn't belted him, I
might have."

"Then you would have been the one we couldn't bail out of jail and
wouldn't the demons have loved that," Piper drawled. She gave her
youngest sister a stern look to make her disapproval of such an action
clear - even though she secretly agreed with it. She led the way over
to the helpful desk sergeant who was just hanging up a phone. "How
long is Cole going to be in jail?"

"Right now Mr. Turner is being held on a contempt charge, the judge
hasn't filed for assault yet - which is good news. If your boyfriend
apologizes tomorrow then he can leave."

"Can I see him?" Phoebe asked anxiously.

"Not until tomorrow morning before the hearing. It's at ten."

"Thank you." Phoebe turned around. There was nothing she could do for
Cole now, but they would have a lot to discuss the next morning. She
couldn't believe he would do something so stupid. She couldn't believe
that she had driven him to this extreme just because she didn't want to
make a decision on whether or not they should get married. It looked
like she couldn't waffle anymore. Cole would get his answer in the
morning. Too bad she didn't know what it would be yet.

"Let's go home, honey." Piper's comforting embrace closed around
Phoebe's shoulders as she guided her sister out of the police station.
"Cole will be fine."

"Yeah," Paige cut in. She hugged Phoebe's other side. "He used to
spend time in the Underworld with demons...jail should be a walk in the
park."

*****

No one said anything. Spike's announcement hung in the air. Most of
them were shocked - Spike was hardly known for philanthropy - but Angel
wasn't. Much as Drusilla's childe annoyed him, Angel knew that Spike
was a sucker for a damsel in distress. It had been his habit to 'save'
fair maidens from Angelus' fangs, but only so he could savor a kill
purloined from Dru's precious Daddy. This was different. Angel
couldn't figure out what had been in it for Spike when he had helped
Willow. He would have had nothing to gain and probably would have
lost Buffy's trust. It didn't make sense.

Despite her agreement that they should head back home, Buffy had made
no move to leave. Willow had gone to Spike for help. Out of all of
them, she had trusted Spike. Things really had been bad between them
and they obviously still were. Buffy had always thought that they
would eventually work things out - her repressed anger about being
pulled out of Heaven and ambivalence toward her friends - just like
they had worked things out that time she had run away after sending
Angel to Hell. Then Willow had disappeared and Buffy had squelched
all her feelings about her best friend. "Why did you help her?"

"Because I felt like it." Spike grimaced petulantly. He hated
explaining himself, especially when he had no idea what the reason
behind his actions was. Or he knew, but didn't like the reason. He
had actually felt sorry for the little redhead and her unborn kid. It
had also felt good to put one over on a big bad in town - showed he
shouldn't messed with chip or not. "Are we going back to Sunnyhell or
not? I'm sick of looking at Peaches' furrowed brow."

"Nice seeing you too." Angel glared at Spike's scowl. "Look, Buffy,
I don't think you should leave things with Willow like this. I know
you don't really feel that way about her and you didn't mean some of
the things you said."

"Thanks, Angel, but I need some time to think and figure how I do feel
and what I do want to say." Buffy reached out and touched Angel's arm.
She wiped at the tears that had fallen down her cheek with her other
hand. "You'll look after her, right Angel? Make sure she's safe from
Rack and won't disappear again?"

"Of course." Angel pulled Buffy into a comforting hug. Willow would
safe, but it wasn't Rack he was worried about. In his mind Angel saw
Lindsey MacDonald as the biggest threat to his friend's safety.
Wolfram and Hart's former golden boy had insinuated himself into
Willow's life impeccably. She trusted him with her son and her love so
much that she had returned to the place she had ran from. Angel knew
that Willow had wanted to make a stable life for Ron, but he wasn't too
sure about Lindsey's motives for moving back to Los Angeles.

"Dad! Mom!" Connor yelled and they could hear the front door banging
closed. "Hey, Dad, Ron's Mom met us at the ice cream place so Uncle
Gunn took Dory home." He appeared in the doorway and immediately
stopped talking when he noticed his Dad hugging Buffy. "I thought it
would okay to come back."

Angel had felt Buffy stiffen in his arms at the sound of Connor's
voice. He released her and smiled at his son. "It's fine. How was
school? Aside from the plot to reunite your parents with their old
friend?"

"They gave us these." Connor handed Angel the orange flyer. He gave
Buffy a wary glance. He had always been aware of her distaste for him
and knew that it had something to do with his vampire mother because
she was a slayer and all, but it still made him uncomfortable. "It's a
parent/teacher night."

"Oh, I've been waiting for this." Cordelia snatched the paper from
Angel's hand. "We get to meet your teachers and the other parents...
look, Angel, it's after sunset so you don't even have to use the
sewers." She hugged Connor. "Honey, I'm so proud of you."

"Mom, you haven't even talked to my teachers yet."

"I know, but I know I'll be proud. At least it's next week so we have
a few days to prepare. I have to go shopping for a new outfit and get
my hair done. Angel, we'll have to get something decent for you too.
We don't want to embarrass our son."

"You mean you don't want me to embarrass you." Angel took the flyer
back from Cordelia so that he could read it. He felt a swell of pride.
He was actually going to his son's parent/teacher night. It was
incredible.

During Cordelia's rattling speech and Angel and Connor's comments,
both Buffy and Xander blanched. Neither of them were entirely
comfortable with the family Angel and Cordelia had formed with Connor
even though they had all moved on from their intense first loves.
Xander cleared his throat. "We should go." He stood up and helped
Anya to her feet. "Thanks for finding Willow and for looking out for
her."

"You're welcome." Angel shook hands with Xander. "We, uh, have a lot
of rooms here if you ever want to stay over when you come to visit
Willow."

"Thanks, man. Bye, Cordy."

"Bye, Xander." Cordy smiled. She waited until the Sunnydale group had
said their good-byes and had left before she squealed and hugged Angel
and Connor to her. "This is great! Willow is back and you and her
son are friends. Oh, I should call her and maybe we can go shopping
together."

Angel and Connor exchanged a grin as Cordelia waltzed out of the room.
It was obvious that she didn't share Angel's reservations about
Lindsey. That bothered Angel. He had hoped that he could make
watching Lindsey an Angel Investigations case - like looking for Willow
had been - but it looked like it would have to be more personal.

*****

When the Halliwell sisters returned home from the police station it was
to find a rusted out truck parked in front of their house and Gunn and
Pandora sitting on the front steps playing Jacks. They were quite
involved in the game, not immediately noticing that they had
spectators. "Hi, honey. I take it that your father isn't home."
Piper finally drew their attention from the game. Gunn caught the
little rubber ball after its first bounce and stood up.

"Hi, Mom." Pandora smiled at her mother and aunts. She was well
aware of the rule about not inviting strangers into the house and had
been glad when Gunn hadn't said anything when she had sat down on the
front step. "No one was home so Gunn stayed with me and taught me how
to play this new game. It's called 'Jacks' and it's fun."

"That's nice. It's actually an old game, your Aunt Prue taught me how
to play when I was a little girl." Piper smiled and held out her hand
to the younger man. She had heard of Gunn from her daughter and Paige.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Piper Halliwell, Pan's mother. This is
my sister, Phoebe, and you've already met Paige."

Gunn shook Piper's hand. "Nice to meet you too. I'm Charles Gunn,
Connor's uncle." He looked over her shoulder at Paige. Damn, but she
was one fine woman.

"Thank you for staying with Pan." Piper and Phoebe exchanged an amused
glance. "Pan, why don't we go inside and start dinner." She unlocked
the front door and ushered her daughter through it.

"It's nice to put a face to the, uh, rather lengthy description."
Phoebe breezed by Gunn, throwing a smirk over her shoulder at Paige.

Paige glared at her sister's back for a moment, but it turned into a
smile as soon as the front door closed. He was as hot as she
remembered - even without the axe. "So, you do have a first name."

"Yeah, but I prefer Gunn." Gunn grinned. He had to hand it to Connor,
his little girl friend had some good genes going for her. She was
going to be a knockout when she grew up judging from her mother and
aunts.

"I'm still Paige." Paige stepped up beside Gunn. She leaned against
the side of the door and casually crossed her arms under her chest.
It was great that both her sisters were taken, because now she had
could have this guy all to herself. "So, Gunn, what exactly do you
do?"

"I'm an investigator for Angel Investigations. We investigate...stuff."
Now that was lame. Gunn groaned to himself. He was spending way too
much time with Angel and Wesley. He was losing his smoothness with
the ladies. "And we help people. So, what do you do?"

"I help people too. I'm a social worker." Paige leaned forward. "My
sister, Piper, owns a club, P3. Maybe you would like to stop in
sometime. We're usually around there late at night on the weekends."

"Sure. I work nights, but I'll make sure to check it out." Gunn
glanced at his watched and cursed Wesley's love for weekly 'team
meetings.' "I should probably go now. We have a business meeting."

"Okay. I'll see you around then." Paige sighed as he headed back to
his truck. She should have just asked him out instead of playing it
cool with the vague invite to the club. She hissed in pain as her
foot stepped on something sharp. The Jacks. She bent down and
scooped them into the maroon velvet pouch beside them. She ran to
catch up with Gunn. "Hey, wait, you forgot your Jacks."

"Thanks." Gunn reached out the driver's side window and took the
pouch from Paige. "They were my sister's."

"Then you don't want to lose them. I borrowed a pair of Phoebe's boots
once and lost them and I never hear the end of it." Paige smiled
brightly. Gunn didn't return it.

"I have to go. See ya." He distractedly put the truck in gear and
drove off.

"Bye." Paige waved a bit and then turned back to the house. What had
she said that had upset him so much? She closed the front door behind
her, still racking her brains for something offensive or insensitive
that she could have said. She stopped when she notice Pandora sitting
on the stairs. "Hey, Pan, is something wrong?"

Pandora sighed. She dreaded telling her aunts, because she knew they
would insist on telling her mother and father, but she needed their
help. It had worked out for Connor and Ron when their parents had
discovered that their child's friend was of supernatural origin. And
the more she thought about it, the more Ms. Foster's behavior bothered
her. She didn't want Connor to be in danger just because she was
afraid of telling her family about her friends and their families'
abilities. "Mom is making dinner. I have to talk to you and Aunt
Phoebe."

"Okay." Paige frowned. This sounded serious. She followed Pandora
upstairs to Phoebe's room.

"Aunt Phoebe." Pandora knocked on her aunt's bedroom door. "I need to
talk to you."

"Okay, honey, come in." Phoebe was sitting at her desk. She turned
and raised an eyebrow at Paige who shrugged in response. Paige sat
down at the window seat while Pandora settled herself on the bed after
firmly closing the door.

Now that she had her aunts alone, Pandora didn't know ho to start - at
least not in a way that wouldn't alarm them. There really wasn't any
way to tell the story that wouldn't upset or worry them, so she opted
to say it fast. "Connor's Dad is a vampire. A good vampire with a
soul - he was cursed by Gypsies. He helps people. His birth mother
was a vampire too - only not so good because she didn't have a soul,
but she did sacrifice herself to give birth to Connor so she wasn't so
bad. His mother - Ms. Chase who raised him - is part demon because
she gets these visions that direct her and Connor's Dad to the people
who need help. She used to be human, but the visions would have killed
her so she became part demon so she could help Connor's Dad earn his
redemption. Connor isn't a vampire, but he is superstrong and he can
hear and see things better than an average person." Pandora took a
deep breath, but quickly went on before her aunts could say anything.
"Ron's Mom is a witch - like us - and his biological father is an evil
warlock. They're on the run from him because he wanted to sacrifice
Ron when he was just a baby to gain more power. Ron's Stepdad used to
work for an evil law firm called Wolfram and Hart, but he's good now
too because he didn't like being evil and he loves Ron's Mom, but I
don't think Connor's Dad entirely believes that - he knew Ron's Stepdad
when he worked for Wolfram and Hart. Connor's Mom and Dad also know
Ron's Mom from when they all lived in Sunnydale years and years ago
when Ron's Mom and Connor's Mom were teenagers. Sunnydale sits on top
of a Hellmouth and they were all friends with the Slayer. They all
thought that Ron's Mom was dead because she had run away before Ron was
born and was hiding from Ron's biological father - the evil warlock -
but now they know she's alive." Another deep breath. "And for years
demons, vampires, and Wolfram and Hart have been trying to kidnap or
kill Connor and we think that our teacher is evil. She might want to
hurt Connor, but she never touches me so I can't get a vision. We want
you to shake her hand at the parent/teacher night, Aunt Phoebe, so you
can get a vision. I really like school and I don't want to leave
especially because Connor and Ron are my best friends."

There was a few minutes of silence as Phoebe and Paige digested the
font of information their niece had imparted. "Wow, when you say you
have to talk, you really do spill, mutchkin." Paige shook her head.
A sudden thought occurred to her. "Does Gunn know about Connor's Dad."

"Yeah, he fights vampires and demons with him. Connor said that a long
time ago, his Uncle Gunn's sister was made into a vampire and he had to
stake her." Pandora threw a worried glance at her Aunt Phoebe. She
was really quiet.

It made sense now. Gunn had obviously been thinking about his sister
and of course, she had to say something dumb. Paige could have smacked
herself, but hopefully he would accept her apology. She looked at
Phoebe. She hadn't said anything yet.

"We have to tell Piper and Leo." Phoebe moved to sit beside Pandora.
"It's a good plan to have me scope out your teacher, but your Mom and
Dad need to know about any possible danger that you could be in. Aunt
Paige and I will check out the Book of Shadows to see if it has any
information about vampires with souls so we can reassure them about
Connor's parents."

"Maybe it knows a little something about this Wolfram and Hart law firm
too. I think I remember the name from around the court room." Paige
sat down on Pandora's other side. She gave her niece a reassuring hug.
"It'll be okay, Pan. Don't get me wrong, Piper's initial blow up is
going to be legendary, but I'm sure she'll calm down and see reason.
Eventually."

Paige and Phoebe exchanged doubtful looks over Pandora's head. Neither
of them held out much hope for the niece's return to school. They
knew that their sister was incredibly protective of her daughter and
it would be a miracle if Pan was ever let out of the house again.

*****

The air in Lilah's office crackled with dark demon energy. She shifted
uncomfortably in her expensive leather chair. As the head of Special
Projects, she had the abhorrent task of actually speaking to one or all
of the Senior Partners. Lucky for her today it was just one - the
energy was only a fraction of what it would have been if this was a
conference call. Lilah leaned in a bit closer to the speaker phone
and forced her voice to be cheerful and confident. "Everything is set.
Angel has received the parent/teacher notice and as proud parents I'm
sure that he and his Seer won't miss it. The teacher golem will keep
them busy while a team is dispatched to The Hyperion to retrieve the
boy. By this time next week Wolfram and Hart will have acquired the
most coveted prize in all demon circles."

"Not if the Seer gets a vision." The guttural, hissing voice didn't
exactly issue from the speaker. Its sibilant tones emanated from the
disturbing presence in the office and seemed to whisper up Lilah's
spine and invade her mind.

"Th..that's been taken care of." Lilah shivered involuntarily, but
collected herself quickly. "We've hired another psychic hacker who has
placed a psychic block on Ms. Chase. He's allowing some of her visions
to filter through - so none of them will get suspicious - but she won't
receive anything that has to do with Connor." Lilah allowed herself a
smirk of satisfaction. She was good at her job. "What about the girl?
I'm sure the Source would be forever in our debt if we handed him the
future of the Charmed Ones."

"Are you prepared to take the girl? She is powerful for one so young."
The doubt expressed by the Senior Partner rankled Lilah. It also set
off a nervous alarm bell so she said nothing in response. Instead she
waited for further instruction. "We are more interested in Lindsey
MacDonald. Have you made any progress?"

"Lindsey made it very clear that he wants nothing to do with Wolfram
and Hart. He threatened to give Angel the last scroll if I ever made
a move in his or his family's direction." Lilah swallowed her bitter
jealousy toward her former rival, but couldn't help asking, "Why would
you want a convictionless traitor like Lindsey MacDonald back at the
firm?"

"Because, Ms. Morgan, where you have failed in the past, Lindsey
MacDonald would have succeeded. Get him back." The demon energy
dissipated and the phone emitted a dull dial tone until Lilah shut it
off with an angry jab of her finger. How the hell was she going to
convince Lindsey to come back to Wolfram and Hart. He had threatened
to kill her. Why would she even try when the Senior Partners
obviously planned on handing him her job. Lilah chuckled hollowly.
She was doing all the work and all Lindsey had to do was walk through
the front doors and he would get all the credit.

Unless of course this operation went smoothly. Once she had Angel's
brat securely locked away in one of the sub-levels, it might change the
Senior Partners' minds. Although it would probably help even more if
she had the recommendation of the Source of All Evil. Which she would
surely get by giving him the Charmed little witch herself. Lilah
smiled. Yes, she would be prepared to take the girl that night too and
then Lindsey wouldn't stand a chance of being the golden boy again.

*****

It wasn't stalking. Angel was merely following a good friend to
protect her from a danger she refused to recognize. That's all it
was - concern for Willow and her son's safety. Buffy had asked him to
keep them safe and that was what he was doing. And that's exactly what
he would tell Willow and Cordelia if they ever found out what he was
up to. It was obvious that Lindsey wasn't responsible enough for the
job. They were walking through the park. At night.

"Mom, Dad, race you home!" Ron yelled and took off ahead of his
parents.

"Ron, come back." Willow went to sprint after her son, but Lindsey
caught her around the waist and whirled her into his arms.

"Relax, Willow, he's fine." Lindsey smiled and pulled Willow closer.
"We can see the house from here and he has his own key. We're not
running anymore." As if to make his point. Ron opened the front door
of the house and disappeared inside. The interior lights blazed
through the windows.

"I know. That's why I'm worried." Willow sighed and cuddled closer.
"Rack can find us at any time and Wolfram and Hart could come after
you. I don't know what I would do if I lost you, Mac."

"You're not going to lose me." Lindsey pressed a kiss to Willow's
temple and tilted her chin up so he could look into her eyes. "I
warned Lilah that if she hurt you or Ron I would give Angel the last
scroll. She can't risk that, it would destroy Wolfram and Hart."

"What about you?" Concern reflected clearly in Willow's features.

"I'm not going to leave you, Willow, I promise. I love you." Lindsey
leaned down and kissed her.

It was too much. Angel melted further into the shadows and made his
way to Willow's house to check on Ron. Angle just couldn't believe
that Lindsey's feelings were sincere. If they were, then why wasn't
he handing over this 'last scroll' that Lilah was so afraid of? With
it, it sounded like Angel could get rid of Wolfram and Hart once and
for all. If Lindsey really had Willow's best interest at heart, that's
what he would want. No, Lindsey couldn't be trusted - had flipped back
to Wolfram and Hart's side too many times for Angel to leave Willow
and Ron's safety in his hands.

To be continued....