Jocasta Revisited
By D. M. Evans
Feedback - geekgirzrus@yahoo.com
Rating - R
Pairing - Cordy/Connor
Spoilers - Up to Slouching Toward Bethlehem
Summery - Cordelia, feeling lost and alone, finds solace in a younger man
CHAPTER FIVE
The coolness of the glass and metal against his back made a strange counterpoint to Connor's inner heat. He sat on the window seat bench, bare skin to the glass. Cordelia sat on his lap. Cordelia tucked his head against her shoulder, stroking his back. Cordy's lips met his hungrily then traveled down his neck and over his right shoulder. Finally she swung off of him, stretching like a cat. She looked back at him and he smiled, mouthing the words 'thank you.' She ruffled his lank hair.
"You are going to be so much fun once we start exploring what your strength and flexibility can add to these games." She beamed at him.
His eyes widened with excitement. "I'll be looking forward to that."
"No doubt. Right now I'm looking forward to a nice shower and what say we go out for a big breakfast, I'm starving," Cordy said, padding toward the bathroom.
"Okay."
"Want to join me in the shower?" Cordelia asked and didn't wait for his answer. She knew what it would be.
* * *
Fred lifted the heavy courier-delivered envelope from the stack of mail she had tossed it onto earlier in the day. The handwriting on the envelope was flowery and crisp and looked vaguely familiar. She resisted the temptation to open it. It was addressed directly to Angel but she needed the distraction and could barely stand not knowing what was inside. Fred needed to get her mind off what Charles had done to her one-time mentor before dropping him into the dimensional vortex. He probably saw it as protecting her, keeping her from the burden of taking a life. She saw it as robbing her of her rightful vengeance. She didn't need protecting.
"Do you think it's too early to try and talk to Cordy?" Gunn asked from where he worked at making sure the crossbows were in perfect working order. "I'm getting tired of Angel carrying on about her living with Connor."
Fred shrugged. "Maybe I should talk to her myself, woman to woman without the pressure Angel's likely to put on her."
Gunn bobbed his head. "Good point."
Fred twisted a long lock of hair around her slim finger, a thoughtful look flittering across her gaunt face. "She might be ready to talk. I mean, sooner or later she's going to realize the same thing I did. This can be a pretty scary place when you've been out of it for a long time. She doesn't know who she is or how to make it without her friends or her family. We need to make her see she's not alone."
Gunn's lips pulled into a grim line. "You know that you're not alone, right? I know it gets scary for you sometimes but I'm here for you."
Fred smiled warmly. She did know that even if she was currently mad at him. "I know. And even if you weren't here, I still have my parents to go home to if I had to. So does Cordy. I know Angel would hate it but maybe Cordy should take a little time and go back to Sunnydale and heal some."
"That's not a bad idea either. What've you got there?" Gunn nodded at the envelope.
"Something weird for Angel. I'll give it to him when he wakes up."
"I'm awake," Angel said, coming down the stairs. They both glanced up startled. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure, something that came special delivery." Fred regarded him cautiously. If Angel had overheard them he was giving no signs. Or if he had heard he probably knew they were right.
Angel took the envelope from her. Inside it were two other packages, a tape and another envelope.
"What does it say?" Gunn asked, glancing over at it curiously.
"The tape say 'play first'," Angel replied. He took it to the stereo on Fred's desk. "The envelope says 'it's midnight, do you know where your kid is?' It's from Lilah, complete with a lipstick kiss." Angel rolled his eyes as he hit play. They all stared at the stereo as the muffled sounds of wind over a microphone issued out, almost obliterating the unmistakable noises of sex.
"What the hell?" Gunn asked, setting aside his crossbow.
"Open the envelope," Fred said, tapping his elbow.
Angel tore it open, a puzzled look on his face. He went rigid as he leafed through the photos that were inside. His face molded into a visage of rage as he dropped the photos onto the desk. He scooped up the stereo and hurled it against the wall. It shattered loudly.
"Whoa! What's up with that?" Gunn asked, backpedaling a few steps.
Angel stalked toward the front door without answering.
"Angel, stop! It's daylight!" Fred screeched, jumping to her feet.
Angel paused, his body quivering with fury. Gunn picked up the dropped photos and handed some to Fred. Their jaws dropped almost in unison.
"Oh, Angel," Fred gasped.
Angel moved back over snatching the photos away from Fred. "How did he do it? How did he force her into this?" Angel growled. "I'm going to kill him."
"Think what you're saying, man," Gunn said, judging that Angel actually meant it. "You don't want to kill Connor and I don't think there's any forcing going on." For emphasis Gunn held up a picture of Cordy in the St. George's position on top of Connor.
Angel slapped it away. "He'd do anything to hurt me. Cordelia's susceptible right now. And he's going to pay for taking advantage of that."
"No, Angel," Fred said so softly, so unusual for her that the vampire hesitated.
"Don't do this." Gunn caught Angel's arm.
With an irritated growl Angel swung that arm, spinning Gunn over a desk. Angel was gone into the basement before Gunn could pick himself up.
Fred scurried over to Gunn helping him up. Blood trickled from a cut on his shaved head. "We have to stop him."
Gunn shook his head to clear it. "I know that. Angel has to go the long way through the sewers. We can go the direct route."
Fred's face wrinkled up as Gunn raided the weapon's closet. "Yeah, right through the city traffic."
"No choice," Gunn said, heading for Angel's car.
* * *
Gunn and Fred took the steps to Connor's loft three at a time. Gunn nearly plowed into Angel on the stairs. The vampire was just standing motionless on the internal stairwell. All three of them stared at each other uneasily.
"Angel," Fred said hesitantly. Her doe eyes seemed to engulf her face.
He help up a hand, silencing her.
"We thought we'd beat you here," Gunn said, craning his head to look around Angel, hoping the door wasn't busted down and bodies strewn around like the front lines of a firefight.
"It's okay. I've..I'm not going to do anything stupid. I thought about it and.Still, this isn't right what they're doing." Angel eyed the weapon Gunn held. He was somehow relieved that the young man was willing to mow him down to protect Connor and Cordy if need be. "Did you really think I'd hurt Connor?"
"The way you looked, man, we weren't sure." Gunn didn't ease his hand away from the weapon.
"I know you're not okay, Angel but you meant what you said, right?" Fred's head bobbed chicken-like in her nervousness. "You're not going to do anything foolish."
Angel slumped against the stair rail. "I'm going to go home but."
"But what?" Gunn asked sternly, hoping to herd Angel out of there before something worse happened.
"That's my son in there and no matter if it was what he wanted, Connor is just a boy. He's not old enough for this, especially with an older woman."
"Angel," Gunn started but a glance from Angel shut him up.
"I know that's silly and I know how ironic it is coming from me, given me and Buffy." He spread his large hands trying to figure out what to do with them. He finally rested them on the railing. "I know this isn't any different but it feels like it."
"It is different," Fred said. "To you, Connor should still be a baby and you and Cordy should still be feeling something for one another and none of that's true any more."
"I need to go home," Angel muttered, his hands twisting the metal of the railing.
"Good idea." Gunn relaxed some, putting his hand on Fred's hip. "Fred was thinking of talking to Cordy, just the girls. I'm thinking that's a good idea, too."
Angel dragged a weary hand over his badly chopped hair. "That would be better than me talking to anyone. It's not like Connor and I can talk for more than five minutes without fighting on a good day."
"If it's any consolation, that's how it was with my father and me when I was a teen," Gunn said, ruefully, remembering the dust ups.
Angel bobbed his head. "Actually it was the same with me and mine as well."
"Testing the boundaries, it's a natural thing," Fred put in, taking a step down the rickety stairs.
Before they could get out of the stairwell, the door to the loft opened. Connor and Cordy pulled up short. Cordy smiled brightly but Connor's blue eyes narrowed and his face took on what Fred had come to think of as his squirrelly look, that look he got before all his energy came bursting forth usually in all the wrong ways.
"Hey guys, Connor thought he heard voices out here. We were just heading out to grab something to eat. Want to come with?" Cordy asked then looked sheepish. "Except you, Angel. Sorry, I keep forgetting you can't go out in the sun."
"That's okay, Cordelia. I know what you meant," Angel said.
"What are you all doing here?" Connor asked suspiciously.
"We were.uh, worried about you, Connor," Angel said, wincing at the lack of conviction in his words.
Connor's nose wrinkled, deepening the puffiness under his eyes. The boy had a tendency to always look like he needed a good night's sleep and Angel figured that was more true now than ever. "Why?"
"We think someone's s following you two," Angel replied more surely. It was true and Connor needed to be warned.
"Again, why?" The boy's lips peeled away from his teeth in something nowhere near as warm as smile.
"Let's just say someone tipped us off," Angel said.
"And we have every reason to believe it," Gunn added, Fred nodding her agreement.
Cordy shuddered. "Ewww, just think of it, being watched. It's creepy. There are a lot of things I wouldn't want people seeing."
"No doubt," Angel said dryly. The words weren't past his lips before he regretted them.
Connor's slate blue-grey eyes canted up at his father, fury glazing them. "You know."
Angel shrugged when what he wanted to do was get it all out in the open. Connor's hateful little smirk wasn't helping matters nor were the scents of sex wafting out of the loft. The pictures and tape burned their way to the front of his consciousness and he had to battle them back.
"Know what?" Cordy asked, shifting her weight nervously, an action mirrored by Fred.
"Actually I'm not too surprised to find you in the role of Oedipus, Connor, given you've already tried to kill me a couple of times now. All you need is a sturdy pin for your eyes at this point. But you, Cordelia, I'm shocked to find you cast as Jocasta," Angel said with amazing calmness. He knew he had to rein in his temper. He knew what he was capable of when he gave in. Luckily he was expert at keeping his leash short.
"Huh?" Connor's face wrinkled up as the literary reference sailed right past him.
"I think maybe we should go." Fred tugged on Angel's arm. She got the reference and felt the fight brewing.
"You're mad?" Cordy asked, her lips pushing out, a snarky look on her face.
Angel looked at her as if it was the stupidest thing he had heard in his nearly three hundred years. "You could say that. He's a child, Cordelia."
"No, I'm not!" Connor growled.
"He's not a kid, Angel. If he were just a kid, then why did you throw him out into a world he doesn't know how to survive in?" Cordy shot back, her hand slipping around Connor's narrow waist.
"The whole locking me in a coffin and dumping me in the ocean had a little bit to do with that and he's surviving just fine." Angel felt his temper boiling.
"Don't you snap at me," Cordy said, taking a step away from Connor to get in Angel's face.
"I don't think you want to go there, Cordy," Gunn said, hoping she would just shut the hell up before she made things worse. But this was Cordelia and speaking her mind was what she did. Gunn knew it all too well.
"Cordelia, a couple months ago you were changing his diapers. Now you're sleeping with him. Do I need to tell you how wrong that is?" The words grated out even as he tried to keep them in. "Maybe I do need to say it. This group seems to need to be told what's in front of them all the time, like we can't see things without a push. Take us for example, everyone telling us how perfect we were together ad nauseam."
"Guess they were wrong." Cordy flipped her short hair back acting as if she still had her luxurious mane. "Just like you're wrong about this."
"I'm not wrong about this," Angel argued.
"You are and it's damn crappy of you to do this in front of everyone." Cordy waved imperiously at Gunn and Fred. "It's not like I planned on doing this. It was just one of those things that happened. Don't ask me to regret it."
"One of those things?" Connor's mouth went slack. Crushed didn't begin to cover the look in his eyes, a look that morphed into unbridled hatred as he turned them back on his father. "Get out of here! You're getting into her head. Just leave us alone."
"Shut up, Connor," Angel snapped reflexively and instantly regretted it.
"No one gets into my head," Cordy said. "I do my own thinking, thank you."
Connor flinched. The others had long ago marked his habit of doing that whenever he was confronted, making them wonder what Holtz had done to him.
"Don't yell at him, Cordelia," Angel said.
"Quit telling everyone what to do," Connor growled, taking a step closer to Angel. He was far too short and scrawny to look like a threat but he did his best.
Cordelia threw her hands up, heading down the stairs. "Tell you what, it's too early for screaming. When the testosterone levels fall we can talk like adults."
"I think we ought to finish this now," Angel said and Cordy paused long enough to shoot him a peeved look.
"I should have known you'd ruin this. You destroy everything you touch," Connor sneered, thumping his hands against Angel's chest.
"Connor, honey, don't do that," Fred said, starting to go to him then froze, remembering she was angry with him still.
"Shut up! You don't get to tell me what to do any more. You're probably just as happy I get to hurt some more." Connor's pale face flushed as his rage lost focus, starting to spill out like toxins from a festering wound.
Seeing the distress in Fred's eyes, Angel caught Connor's arm, shaking it. "Apologize to her. She didn't do anything to you."
Connor laughed bitterly. "Shows what you know. Can't you just go away? I hate you all."
"Don't start saying things you can't take back, Connor," Angel said softly. "Go cool off."
"I told you to quit telling me what to do!" Connor's fist cocked back and landed so fast Angel didn't have time to react.
The vampire wiped the blood off his split lip, struggling to hold in the instinct that said it was time to feast, to pay blood for blood.
"Connor, you don't want to do that," Cordy said.
"Why are you on his side?" Pain wracked Connor's voice. "I thought you loved me."
"I do care about you. But you don't want to provoke this fight," Cordelia said. She might not remember if Angel had a temper or not but she could read his expression.
"Care?" Connor's fingers buried themselves in his hair, tearing at it. "That's not what you're supposed to say."
"Still think he's old enough to understand, Cordelia?" Angel said, reaching out for Connor but he hesitated. He didn't know how to make this better.
"This is all your fault, Dad." The way Connor sneered the word it sounded like a curse.
Connor grabbed Angel's outstretched hand and swung the vampire into the railing, intending to send him over it. Angel caught it and shoved back, breaking his son's grip. Connor exploded into a hailstorm of fists and feet. As they danced up and down the stairs, Connor landing enough blows to make Angel fear someone was really going to get hurt, Gunn herded Fred and Cordelia down the steps out of range.
"Enough Connor, just relax. We can work this out," he said, holding Connor against the wall.
Connor growled wordlessly and head butted Angel across his prominent nose. Angel staggered back, surprised. Connor snaked around him, jogging up a few steps so he could launch himself at Angel with more force. Angel caught him and flung him away. Even as his son tore from his grip Angel knew he had put too much strength in it, his own anger slipping its leash. Connor slammed into the wall and fell limply to the ground, bouncing down half a flight of stairs until Gunn snagged him.
"Oh, God! Connor!" Angel cried. "I'm sorry!" The vampire took all the steps in one effortless leap. "Is he all right? Connor, I'm sorry."
Gunn glanced up at the vampire angrily as he assessed the boy. Connor lay against the wooden steps, moaning. A trickle of blood snaked out from under his hair, running along his rounded cheek. His right arm was bent ninety degrees between elbow and wrist, the jagged edge of bone gleaming grey through the torn skin. "He's hurt bad."
"I didn't mean it, Connor. I'm sorry," Angel babbled, the smell of his son's blood thick in his nose. He stooped down and stroked his son's hair. His fingers came away streaked with red. Connor's eyes opened but Angel didn't think he was seeing anything.
"He needs to get to a hospital," Gunn said.
"On it," Fred said, wiggling the cellular phone she had placed a 911 call on.
"I can't believe you did that," Cordelia said.
"It was an accident," Angel whispered. "I was trying to stop him."
"You certainly did that," Cordy snapped.
"See what you've done?" Angel asked, moving to hold his son. Cordelia went alabaster but didn't argue.
Gunn stopped him. "Don't move him."
"We don't know if his neck or back are hurt. Let him lie where he is," Fred added.
"You'd better go." Gunn pointed to the door at the end of the stairs before they took a bend to go into the basement. "Once they open that door to get in here you're going to start smoking and we don't have time to explain that."
"I didn't mean to hurt him," Angel said, getting up.
Fred laid a hand on his arm. "We know. Go. We'll take good care of him."
Angel whirled away from them hurrying into the basement before they saw the tears in his eyes or heard the breaking of his heart.
CHAPTER FIVE
The coolness of the glass and metal against his back made a strange counterpoint to Connor's inner heat. He sat on the window seat bench, bare skin to the glass. Cordelia sat on his lap. Cordelia tucked his head against her shoulder, stroking his back. Cordy's lips met his hungrily then traveled down his neck and over his right shoulder. Finally she swung off of him, stretching like a cat. She looked back at him and he smiled, mouthing the words 'thank you.' She ruffled his lank hair.
"You are going to be so much fun once we start exploring what your strength and flexibility can add to these games." She beamed at him.
His eyes widened with excitement. "I'll be looking forward to that."
"No doubt. Right now I'm looking forward to a nice shower and what say we go out for a big breakfast, I'm starving," Cordy said, padding toward the bathroom.
"Okay."
"Want to join me in the shower?" Cordelia asked and didn't wait for his answer. She knew what it would be.
* * *
Fred lifted the heavy courier-delivered envelope from the stack of mail she had tossed it onto earlier in the day. The handwriting on the envelope was flowery and crisp and looked vaguely familiar. She resisted the temptation to open it. It was addressed directly to Angel but she needed the distraction and could barely stand not knowing what was inside. Fred needed to get her mind off what Charles had done to her one-time mentor before dropping him into the dimensional vortex. He probably saw it as protecting her, keeping her from the burden of taking a life. She saw it as robbing her of her rightful vengeance. She didn't need protecting.
"Do you think it's too early to try and talk to Cordy?" Gunn asked from where he worked at making sure the crossbows were in perfect working order. "I'm getting tired of Angel carrying on about her living with Connor."
Fred shrugged. "Maybe I should talk to her myself, woman to woman without the pressure Angel's likely to put on her."
Gunn bobbed his head. "Good point."
Fred twisted a long lock of hair around her slim finger, a thoughtful look flittering across her gaunt face. "She might be ready to talk. I mean, sooner or later she's going to realize the same thing I did. This can be a pretty scary place when you've been out of it for a long time. She doesn't know who she is or how to make it without her friends or her family. We need to make her see she's not alone."
Gunn's lips pulled into a grim line. "You know that you're not alone, right? I know it gets scary for you sometimes but I'm here for you."
Fred smiled warmly. She did know that even if she was currently mad at him. "I know. And even if you weren't here, I still have my parents to go home to if I had to. So does Cordy. I know Angel would hate it but maybe Cordy should take a little time and go back to Sunnydale and heal some."
"That's not a bad idea either. What've you got there?" Gunn nodded at the envelope.
"Something weird for Angel. I'll give it to him when he wakes up."
"I'm awake," Angel said, coming down the stairs. They both glanced up startled. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure, something that came special delivery." Fred regarded him cautiously. If Angel had overheard them he was giving no signs. Or if he had heard he probably knew they were right.
Angel took the envelope from her. Inside it were two other packages, a tape and another envelope.
"What does it say?" Gunn asked, glancing over at it curiously.
"The tape say 'play first'," Angel replied. He took it to the stereo on Fred's desk. "The envelope says 'it's midnight, do you know where your kid is?' It's from Lilah, complete with a lipstick kiss." Angel rolled his eyes as he hit play. They all stared at the stereo as the muffled sounds of wind over a microphone issued out, almost obliterating the unmistakable noises of sex.
"What the hell?" Gunn asked, setting aside his crossbow.
"Open the envelope," Fred said, tapping his elbow.
Angel tore it open, a puzzled look on his face. He went rigid as he leafed through the photos that were inside. His face molded into a visage of rage as he dropped the photos onto the desk. He scooped up the stereo and hurled it against the wall. It shattered loudly.
"Whoa! What's up with that?" Gunn asked, backpedaling a few steps.
Angel stalked toward the front door without answering.
"Angel, stop! It's daylight!" Fred screeched, jumping to her feet.
Angel paused, his body quivering with fury. Gunn picked up the dropped photos and handed some to Fred. Their jaws dropped almost in unison.
"Oh, Angel," Fred gasped.
Angel moved back over snatching the photos away from Fred. "How did he do it? How did he force her into this?" Angel growled. "I'm going to kill him."
"Think what you're saying, man," Gunn said, judging that Angel actually meant it. "You don't want to kill Connor and I don't think there's any forcing going on." For emphasis Gunn held up a picture of Cordy in the St. George's position on top of Connor.
Angel slapped it away. "He'd do anything to hurt me. Cordelia's susceptible right now. And he's going to pay for taking advantage of that."
"No, Angel," Fred said so softly, so unusual for her that the vampire hesitated.
"Don't do this." Gunn caught Angel's arm.
With an irritated growl Angel swung that arm, spinning Gunn over a desk. Angel was gone into the basement before Gunn could pick himself up.
Fred scurried over to Gunn helping him up. Blood trickled from a cut on his shaved head. "We have to stop him."
Gunn shook his head to clear it. "I know that. Angel has to go the long way through the sewers. We can go the direct route."
Fred's face wrinkled up as Gunn raided the weapon's closet. "Yeah, right through the city traffic."
"No choice," Gunn said, heading for Angel's car.
* * *
Gunn and Fred took the steps to Connor's loft three at a time. Gunn nearly plowed into Angel on the stairs. The vampire was just standing motionless on the internal stairwell. All three of them stared at each other uneasily.
"Angel," Fred said hesitantly. Her doe eyes seemed to engulf her face.
He help up a hand, silencing her.
"We thought we'd beat you here," Gunn said, craning his head to look around Angel, hoping the door wasn't busted down and bodies strewn around like the front lines of a firefight.
"It's okay. I've..I'm not going to do anything stupid. I thought about it and.Still, this isn't right what they're doing." Angel eyed the weapon Gunn held. He was somehow relieved that the young man was willing to mow him down to protect Connor and Cordy if need be. "Did you really think I'd hurt Connor?"
"The way you looked, man, we weren't sure." Gunn didn't ease his hand away from the weapon.
"I know you're not okay, Angel but you meant what you said, right?" Fred's head bobbed chicken-like in her nervousness. "You're not going to do anything foolish."
Angel slumped against the stair rail. "I'm going to go home but."
"But what?" Gunn asked sternly, hoping to herd Angel out of there before something worse happened.
"That's my son in there and no matter if it was what he wanted, Connor is just a boy. He's not old enough for this, especially with an older woman."
"Angel," Gunn started but a glance from Angel shut him up.
"I know that's silly and I know how ironic it is coming from me, given me and Buffy." He spread his large hands trying to figure out what to do with them. He finally rested them on the railing. "I know this isn't any different but it feels like it."
"It is different," Fred said. "To you, Connor should still be a baby and you and Cordy should still be feeling something for one another and none of that's true any more."
"I need to go home," Angel muttered, his hands twisting the metal of the railing.
"Good idea." Gunn relaxed some, putting his hand on Fred's hip. "Fred was thinking of talking to Cordy, just the girls. I'm thinking that's a good idea, too."
Angel dragged a weary hand over his badly chopped hair. "That would be better than me talking to anyone. It's not like Connor and I can talk for more than five minutes without fighting on a good day."
"If it's any consolation, that's how it was with my father and me when I was a teen," Gunn said, ruefully, remembering the dust ups.
Angel bobbed his head. "Actually it was the same with me and mine as well."
"Testing the boundaries, it's a natural thing," Fred put in, taking a step down the rickety stairs.
Before they could get out of the stairwell, the door to the loft opened. Connor and Cordy pulled up short. Cordy smiled brightly but Connor's blue eyes narrowed and his face took on what Fred had come to think of as his squirrelly look, that look he got before all his energy came bursting forth usually in all the wrong ways.
"Hey guys, Connor thought he heard voices out here. We were just heading out to grab something to eat. Want to come with?" Cordy asked then looked sheepish. "Except you, Angel. Sorry, I keep forgetting you can't go out in the sun."
"That's okay, Cordelia. I know what you meant," Angel said.
"What are you all doing here?" Connor asked suspiciously.
"We were.uh, worried about you, Connor," Angel said, wincing at the lack of conviction in his words.
Connor's nose wrinkled, deepening the puffiness under his eyes. The boy had a tendency to always look like he needed a good night's sleep and Angel figured that was more true now than ever. "Why?"
"We think someone's s following you two," Angel replied more surely. It was true and Connor needed to be warned.
"Again, why?" The boy's lips peeled away from his teeth in something nowhere near as warm as smile.
"Let's just say someone tipped us off," Angel said.
"And we have every reason to believe it," Gunn added, Fred nodding her agreement.
Cordy shuddered. "Ewww, just think of it, being watched. It's creepy. There are a lot of things I wouldn't want people seeing."
"No doubt," Angel said dryly. The words weren't past his lips before he regretted them.
Connor's slate blue-grey eyes canted up at his father, fury glazing them. "You know."
Angel shrugged when what he wanted to do was get it all out in the open. Connor's hateful little smirk wasn't helping matters nor were the scents of sex wafting out of the loft. The pictures and tape burned their way to the front of his consciousness and he had to battle them back.
"Know what?" Cordy asked, shifting her weight nervously, an action mirrored by Fred.
"Actually I'm not too surprised to find you in the role of Oedipus, Connor, given you've already tried to kill me a couple of times now. All you need is a sturdy pin for your eyes at this point. But you, Cordelia, I'm shocked to find you cast as Jocasta," Angel said with amazing calmness. He knew he had to rein in his temper. He knew what he was capable of when he gave in. Luckily he was expert at keeping his leash short.
"Huh?" Connor's face wrinkled up as the literary reference sailed right past him.
"I think maybe we should go." Fred tugged on Angel's arm. She got the reference and felt the fight brewing.
"You're mad?" Cordy asked, her lips pushing out, a snarky look on her face.
Angel looked at her as if it was the stupidest thing he had heard in his nearly three hundred years. "You could say that. He's a child, Cordelia."
"No, I'm not!" Connor growled.
"He's not a kid, Angel. If he were just a kid, then why did you throw him out into a world he doesn't know how to survive in?" Cordy shot back, her hand slipping around Connor's narrow waist.
"The whole locking me in a coffin and dumping me in the ocean had a little bit to do with that and he's surviving just fine." Angel felt his temper boiling.
"Don't you snap at me," Cordy said, taking a step away from Connor to get in Angel's face.
"I don't think you want to go there, Cordy," Gunn said, hoping she would just shut the hell up before she made things worse. But this was Cordelia and speaking her mind was what she did. Gunn knew it all too well.
"Cordelia, a couple months ago you were changing his diapers. Now you're sleeping with him. Do I need to tell you how wrong that is?" The words grated out even as he tried to keep them in. "Maybe I do need to say it. This group seems to need to be told what's in front of them all the time, like we can't see things without a push. Take us for example, everyone telling us how perfect we were together ad nauseam."
"Guess they were wrong." Cordy flipped her short hair back acting as if she still had her luxurious mane. "Just like you're wrong about this."
"I'm not wrong about this," Angel argued.
"You are and it's damn crappy of you to do this in front of everyone." Cordy waved imperiously at Gunn and Fred. "It's not like I planned on doing this. It was just one of those things that happened. Don't ask me to regret it."
"One of those things?" Connor's mouth went slack. Crushed didn't begin to cover the look in his eyes, a look that morphed into unbridled hatred as he turned them back on his father. "Get out of here! You're getting into her head. Just leave us alone."
"Shut up, Connor," Angel snapped reflexively and instantly regretted it.
"No one gets into my head," Cordy said. "I do my own thinking, thank you."
Connor flinched. The others had long ago marked his habit of doing that whenever he was confronted, making them wonder what Holtz had done to him.
"Don't yell at him, Cordelia," Angel said.
"Quit telling everyone what to do," Connor growled, taking a step closer to Angel. He was far too short and scrawny to look like a threat but he did his best.
Cordelia threw her hands up, heading down the stairs. "Tell you what, it's too early for screaming. When the testosterone levels fall we can talk like adults."
"I think we ought to finish this now," Angel said and Cordy paused long enough to shoot him a peeved look.
"I should have known you'd ruin this. You destroy everything you touch," Connor sneered, thumping his hands against Angel's chest.
"Connor, honey, don't do that," Fred said, starting to go to him then froze, remembering she was angry with him still.
"Shut up! You don't get to tell me what to do any more. You're probably just as happy I get to hurt some more." Connor's pale face flushed as his rage lost focus, starting to spill out like toxins from a festering wound.
Seeing the distress in Fred's eyes, Angel caught Connor's arm, shaking it. "Apologize to her. She didn't do anything to you."
Connor laughed bitterly. "Shows what you know. Can't you just go away? I hate you all."
"Don't start saying things you can't take back, Connor," Angel said softly. "Go cool off."
"I told you to quit telling me what to do!" Connor's fist cocked back and landed so fast Angel didn't have time to react.
The vampire wiped the blood off his split lip, struggling to hold in the instinct that said it was time to feast, to pay blood for blood.
"Connor, you don't want to do that," Cordy said.
"Why are you on his side?" Pain wracked Connor's voice. "I thought you loved me."
"I do care about you. But you don't want to provoke this fight," Cordelia said. She might not remember if Angel had a temper or not but she could read his expression.
"Care?" Connor's fingers buried themselves in his hair, tearing at it. "That's not what you're supposed to say."
"Still think he's old enough to understand, Cordelia?" Angel said, reaching out for Connor but he hesitated. He didn't know how to make this better.
"This is all your fault, Dad." The way Connor sneered the word it sounded like a curse.
Connor grabbed Angel's outstretched hand and swung the vampire into the railing, intending to send him over it. Angel caught it and shoved back, breaking his son's grip. Connor exploded into a hailstorm of fists and feet. As they danced up and down the stairs, Connor landing enough blows to make Angel fear someone was really going to get hurt, Gunn herded Fred and Cordelia down the steps out of range.
"Enough Connor, just relax. We can work this out," he said, holding Connor against the wall.
Connor growled wordlessly and head butted Angel across his prominent nose. Angel staggered back, surprised. Connor snaked around him, jogging up a few steps so he could launch himself at Angel with more force. Angel caught him and flung him away. Even as his son tore from his grip Angel knew he had put too much strength in it, his own anger slipping its leash. Connor slammed into the wall and fell limply to the ground, bouncing down half a flight of stairs until Gunn snagged him.
"Oh, God! Connor!" Angel cried. "I'm sorry!" The vampire took all the steps in one effortless leap. "Is he all right? Connor, I'm sorry."
Gunn glanced up at the vampire angrily as he assessed the boy. Connor lay against the wooden steps, moaning. A trickle of blood snaked out from under his hair, running along his rounded cheek. His right arm was bent ninety degrees between elbow and wrist, the jagged edge of bone gleaming grey through the torn skin. "He's hurt bad."
"I didn't mean it, Connor. I'm sorry," Angel babbled, the smell of his son's blood thick in his nose. He stooped down and stroked his son's hair. His fingers came away streaked with red. Connor's eyes opened but Angel didn't think he was seeing anything.
"He needs to get to a hospital," Gunn said.
"On it," Fred said, wiggling the cellular phone she had placed a 911 call on.
"I can't believe you did that," Cordelia said.
"It was an accident," Angel whispered. "I was trying to stop him."
"You certainly did that," Cordy snapped.
"See what you've done?" Angel asked, moving to hold his son. Cordelia went alabaster but didn't argue.
Gunn stopped him. "Don't move him."
"We don't know if his neck or back are hurt. Let him lie where he is," Fred added.
"You'd better go." Gunn pointed to the door at the end of the stairs before they took a bend to go into the basement. "Once they open that door to get in here you're going to start smoking and we don't have time to explain that."
"I didn't mean to hurt him," Angel said, getting up.
Fred laid a hand on his arm. "We know. Go. We'll take good care of him."
Angel whirled away from them hurrying into the basement before they saw the tears in his eyes or heard the breaking of his heart.