"AHH!" Koren screamed as Connor tackled her, shoving her out of the way.
He quickly got up and turned to face the vampire that had dared to attack
Koren. The creature snarled and lunged at him but Connor was faster,
dodging easily giving Koren time to dart forward to put a stake into the
demon. "I did it!" She yelled in excitement.
"I know!" Connor answered, picking her up, spinning her, sharing her joy. He put her down carefully and she raised her head slightly, pressing her lips to his. He pulled away and smiled, knowing that he had her now. She was his. He pressed his lips to hers again, tasting her sweetness. Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud,
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
"Connor! Someone's in trouble!" Koren said, fearful.
"Way ahead of you." He took off down the alley as fast as he could go, Koren trailing after him, only a few yards behind him even though he had super speed. Koren watched helplessly at first as Connor flew into action, taking vampire after vampire. Koren jerked out of her trance, hearing some soft whimpering. She glanced over and saw the girl, huddled against the dumpster.
"Hey." Koren whispered. "Are you alright?" She kneeled next to the girl, keeping some of her attention on the battle. The girl didn't answer, but rather sobbed into Koren's shoulder.
"Uh!" Connor grunted, staking the last of the demons. "God, I hate those things!" He turned to face the girls. "Is she okay?"
"I'm not sure. I think maybe we should take her back to the Hyperion. Angel and Cordy will know what to do." Koren said, helping the girl stand. "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we bring home another stray for them to care."
"I am glad they brought this stray home." Connor said, kissing her forehead over the other girl's head. "Let's take them to see dear, old Dad."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
"What do you mean 'YOU FOUND HER'?" Angel yelled in frustration.
"Just exactly that, Angel." Koren said, putting a hand on Angel's arm in hopes of calming him down over the girl.
"We weren't sure what to do. Most of the time when I save someone from a vampire, they usually run off like I'm a demon too. But she just had a nervous break down or something because she hasn't stopped crying since. And it's been a good 2 hours now, I think."
"If we can just get her to snap out of it, I'm sure she'll be alright." Fred announced after examining the girl. "Question is, how do we do that?"
"I got it." Gunn stepped forward. "My sister used to go into hysterical outbreaks all the time...before the...well, you know." Gunn took the girl's hand away from her face and slapped her soundly. "SNAP OUTTA IT!" He shouted. She stopped immediately and reeled her arm back and punched him in the chin.
"DON'T HIT ME!!!" She yelled, getting up. She turned and bowed to the others, Japanese style. "Thank you for saving me. I am sorry I went into that crazy thing. I have a history of not being able to stop crying. Thank you very much." She turned and headed towards the door.
"Can we at least have a name so we can check up on you?" Koren yelled after her.
"Coralie! Coralie Estelle Rogers." She flipped her red hair as she left.
"Did anyone else find her strange and creepy?" Lorne asked, stepping out into the lobby. "I couldn't really tell from where I was, but were her eyes pitch black?"
"Yeah. It was." Connor agreed.
"From my experience, red heads don't have black eyes."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
"Koren..." Connor gently shook the girl as he whispered her name.
"Umm?" She asked, waking up. She had fallen asleep while everyone had been discussing matters at hand. The conversation really got serious after she was asleep, having turned to her and the discoveries about the Balance, or the Key as they had found her referred to as by many.
"Let's go home, sweetie. I'm sure a bed would be more comforting than this couch." Connor said, helping her up. Angel watched his son and Koren intensely from the second floor. Everyone else had gone to bed and he wanted to make sure the two got out safely before he went to bed as well. He had tried to convince Connor to spend the night at the hotel with the others but the boy had refused, several times.
"Alright, Connor." She leaned against him and let him take her out the door. In a spilt second, angel jumped down into the lobby and followed them, deciding that he would just have to make sure that they got home okay.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Connor helped Koren into bed, taking off her shoes. He got up and walked to the window and called out softly,
"You can stop hiding in the shadows, Dad." Angel ducked into the room, looking ashamed.
"I just wanted to make sure you and Koren got home okay. I didn't want to have you get attacked or something while she was half asleep." Angel glanced down to Koren's half dressed body. She had had Connor help her remove her pants, being in the habit of sleeping in nothing but a shirt and her panties.
"And to make sure that we didn't do anything." Connor voiced Angel's suspicion. "I wouldn't let her, Dad. She's too important to me."
"Oh. Because I thought that maybe I would need to give you the 'birds and the bees' talk."
"Please don't, Dad." Connor said, sitting down in one of the chairs.
"But isn't that what a father's supposed to do with his son?"
"Spare me the embarrassing stalling and ritual handing of the playboy to the son crap, Dad." Connor said, sharpening one of his various weapons.
"You called me 'Dad'." Angel suddenly realized.
"I did that a lot tonight, in case you didn't notice." Connor said. "I've been working on getting over the bitterness towards you."
"Thank you." Angel said, looking relived,
"I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for Koren. She wants us to have another chance. She wants me to be able to remember you as the loving father she can't remember. She wants to be able to have us be a family, because she doesn't have one."
"So you really don't want to have anything to do with me?" Angel summarized, feeling stabs of pain. Several minutes of silence followed before Connor answered.
"No, you've got it all wrong. I do actually want to be able to come to you. Koren's just the main reason why I want to get started now. I want to have a father. I want to have a normal life. I want to have someone there for me. I just want it all right now so Koren will be happy. Right now, Koren is the only thing that matters to me. I know I've only known her for a few weeks, but she's the only thing that happens to matter to me. I want her to be happy and if this is the only way to make her happy, so be it." Connor didn't look up.
"And I know this is the only thing that will make you happy." Koren's soft voice added. "The only thing that would make me happy is to see you happy."
"So we're all good and happy?" Angel asked, trying to understand what he had just been told.
"Yeah." Connor said. "Look, Dad. The sun's going to come up soon. Why don't you head back to the Hyperion and we'll come see you later. After we all get some sleep. We can discuss this some more later. And we can discuss Koren and I if we must."
"Alright." Angel agreed, looking at his son. He reached over and gave his son a hug. Then he kissed Koren's forehead. He whispered to her. "Take care of my son, Koren. He can only do so much before he breaks. He can only love so much."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
WOW! Look! I finished a whole chapter in like an hour! That is a major accomplishment for me. I usually take like 2 days to finish because I keep getting interrupted! BTW, I'm postponing the love scene for a while... I'm working hard on not making it NC-17, since ff.net doesn't let us have those anymore. So, I'll probably skip the scene...I'm trying really hard to have it, because it is really important to the plot. It's where everything goes wrong, or maybe not...I CAN'T DECIDE! ARGG!!!!
"I know!" Connor answered, picking her up, spinning her, sharing her joy. He put her down carefully and she raised her head slightly, pressing her lips to his. He pulled away and smiled, knowing that he had her now. She was his. He pressed his lips to hers again, tasting her sweetness. Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud,
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
"Connor! Someone's in trouble!" Koren said, fearful.
"Way ahead of you." He took off down the alley as fast as he could go, Koren trailing after him, only a few yards behind him even though he had super speed. Koren watched helplessly at first as Connor flew into action, taking vampire after vampire. Koren jerked out of her trance, hearing some soft whimpering. She glanced over and saw the girl, huddled against the dumpster.
"Hey." Koren whispered. "Are you alright?" She kneeled next to the girl, keeping some of her attention on the battle. The girl didn't answer, but rather sobbed into Koren's shoulder.
"Uh!" Connor grunted, staking the last of the demons. "God, I hate those things!" He turned to face the girls. "Is she okay?"
"I'm not sure. I think maybe we should take her back to the Hyperion. Angel and Cordy will know what to do." Koren said, helping the girl stand. "I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we bring home another stray for them to care."
"I am glad they brought this stray home." Connor said, kissing her forehead over the other girl's head. "Let's take them to see dear, old Dad."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
"What do you mean 'YOU FOUND HER'?" Angel yelled in frustration.
"Just exactly that, Angel." Koren said, putting a hand on Angel's arm in hopes of calming him down over the girl.
"We weren't sure what to do. Most of the time when I save someone from a vampire, they usually run off like I'm a demon too. But she just had a nervous break down or something because she hasn't stopped crying since. And it's been a good 2 hours now, I think."
"If we can just get her to snap out of it, I'm sure she'll be alright." Fred announced after examining the girl. "Question is, how do we do that?"
"I got it." Gunn stepped forward. "My sister used to go into hysterical outbreaks all the time...before the...well, you know." Gunn took the girl's hand away from her face and slapped her soundly. "SNAP OUTTA IT!" He shouted. She stopped immediately and reeled her arm back and punched him in the chin.
"DON'T HIT ME!!!" She yelled, getting up. She turned and bowed to the others, Japanese style. "Thank you for saving me. I am sorry I went into that crazy thing. I have a history of not being able to stop crying. Thank you very much." She turned and headed towards the door.
"Can we at least have a name so we can check up on you?" Koren yelled after her.
"Coralie! Coralie Estelle Rogers." She flipped her red hair as she left.
"Did anyone else find her strange and creepy?" Lorne asked, stepping out into the lobby. "I couldn't really tell from where I was, but were her eyes pitch black?"
"Yeah. It was." Connor agreed.
"From my experience, red heads don't have black eyes."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
"Koren..." Connor gently shook the girl as he whispered her name.
"Umm?" She asked, waking up. She had fallen asleep while everyone had been discussing matters at hand. The conversation really got serious after she was asleep, having turned to her and the discoveries about the Balance, or the Key as they had found her referred to as by many.
"Let's go home, sweetie. I'm sure a bed would be more comforting than this couch." Connor said, helping her up. Angel watched his son and Koren intensely from the second floor. Everyone else had gone to bed and he wanted to make sure the two got out safely before he went to bed as well. He had tried to convince Connor to spend the night at the hotel with the others but the boy had refused, several times.
"Alright, Connor." She leaned against him and let him take her out the door. In a spilt second, angel jumped down into the lobby and followed them, deciding that he would just have to make sure that they got home okay.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Connor helped Koren into bed, taking off her shoes. He got up and walked to the window and called out softly,
"You can stop hiding in the shadows, Dad." Angel ducked into the room, looking ashamed.
"I just wanted to make sure you and Koren got home okay. I didn't want to have you get attacked or something while she was half asleep." Angel glanced down to Koren's half dressed body. She had had Connor help her remove her pants, being in the habit of sleeping in nothing but a shirt and her panties.
"And to make sure that we didn't do anything." Connor voiced Angel's suspicion. "I wouldn't let her, Dad. She's too important to me."
"Oh. Because I thought that maybe I would need to give you the 'birds and the bees' talk."
"Please don't, Dad." Connor said, sitting down in one of the chairs.
"But isn't that what a father's supposed to do with his son?"
"Spare me the embarrassing stalling and ritual handing of the playboy to the son crap, Dad." Connor said, sharpening one of his various weapons.
"You called me 'Dad'." Angel suddenly realized.
"I did that a lot tonight, in case you didn't notice." Connor said. "I've been working on getting over the bitterness towards you."
"Thank you." Angel said, looking relived,
"I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing it for Koren. She wants us to have another chance. She wants me to be able to remember you as the loving father she can't remember. She wants to be able to have us be a family, because she doesn't have one."
"So you really don't want to have anything to do with me?" Angel summarized, feeling stabs of pain. Several minutes of silence followed before Connor answered.
"No, you've got it all wrong. I do actually want to be able to come to you. Koren's just the main reason why I want to get started now. I want to have a father. I want to have a normal life. I want to have someone there for me. I just want it all right now so Koren will be happy. Right now, Koren is the only thing that matters to me. I know I've only known her for a few weeks, but she's the only thing that happens to matter to me. I want her to be happy and if this is the only way to make her happy, so be it." Connor didn't look up.
"And I know this is the only thing that will make you happy." Koren's soft voice added. "The only thing that would make me happy is to see you happy."
"So we're all good and happy?" Angel asked, trying to understand what he had just been told.
"Yeah." Connor said. "Look, Dad. The sun's going to come up soon. Why don't you head back to the Hyperion and we'll come see you later. After we all get some sleep. We can discuss this some more later. And we can discuss Koren and I if we must."
"Alright." Angel agreed, looking at his son. He reached over and gave his son a hug. Then he kissed Koren's forehead. He whispered to her. "Take care of my son, Koren. He can only do so much before he breaks. He can only love so much."
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
WOW! Look! I finished a whole chapter in like an hour! That is a major accomplishment for me. I usually take like 2 days to finish because I keep getting interrupted! BTW, I'm postponing the love scene for a while... I'm working hard on not making it NC-17, since ff.net doesn't let us have those anymore. So, I'll probably skip the scene...I'm trying really hard to have it, because it is really important to the plot. It's where everything goes wrong, or maybe not...I CAN'T DECIDE! ARGG!!!!