A/N: For all you die hard Angel fans like me out there, there are some
scenes that you might recognize in this chapter. I am trying to keep with
the plot line of the Angel and Conner thing. I am adding in Buffy and
switching the time for this story because, as the title says, this is my
own version of the Buffy- Angel-verse.
Chapter 11
Angel paced his room. Conner was sitting in his little chair thing that Buffy had bought. Speaking of Buffy, Angel was getting nervous. Buffy had left yesterday to check on things in Sunnydale. He hadn't wanted her to go, but she had insisted. After about two hours of debating on whether she should go or not, Angel had given in and told her that he wanted her back in the next two days. She had promised to be back the next day, but if something came up, she would call.
Before that though, Cordelia and Gru had also gone on vacation. He had told them to go. Cordy had been working hard the past few months and she hadn't had time alone much with Gru since he had come to LA. She was part demon now; she had been for a while. He loved Cordy and he wanted to see her as happy with Gru as he was with Buffy.
Things had also heated up a little with Holtz. He had some girl named Justine working for them. Willow had done a search and found out that Justine had lost her twin sister to vampires. Angel figured that she had chosen to be with Holtz because she couldn't deal with pain on her own. "Sucks for her." Is what Buffy had said about it. "She joined the wrong team." Angel laughed at that memory.
Angel grabbed up the pig's blood and sucked that back like it was a good shot of tequila. He had been insatiably hungry the last few days. Angel had spent more money on pig's blood in the last day than he had in a four- month time span. Maybe it was just nerves. He had every right to be nervous though. Holtz on the loose, Buffy in Sunnydale, poopy diapers that always needed changing, bottles to be made, and spit-up to be cleaned. He chugged some more and then sat the container back on the table.
For the millionth time that day, he checked his answering machine. Still nothing, so he assumed she would be on her way. Maybe she had left her cell phone on.
"Yeah, let's call mommy." Angel said to Conner. He went to the phone and dialed the familiar number. The voice mail picked up on the second ring. She had it turned off. Damn! He wished she would at least call and talk to him. He was worried.
There was a knock at the door and Angel called for whomever it was to come in. It was Wesley.
"Hello there Angel."
"Hey Wes."
"How are you and Conner getting along?"
"Fine. How are you getting along? You've been acting weird the past week or so."
"Nerves."
Angel got in the refrigerator and got another thing of pig's blood out. "Yeah, my nerves are on edge too."
The door opened and Buffy stepped in. "Hey everyone! The slayer's back in town and there's a little boy named Conner that mommy needs to see!" She walked over to Angel and he handed Conner over.
"Why didn't you call?" Angel scolded.
"What? It was busy in Sunnydale. I kept my promise thought, didn't I?"
Angel kissed her as if she had been gone two centuries instead of two days. She shifted Conner and leaned up into him.
Wesley turned giving them the moment. He had come up here to tell Angel everything about the prophecy. How it said the father was going to kill the son. About the signs that would come before the prophecy came to pass: earthquake, fire, and blood. The couple looked too happy now for him to break their hearts like that now. In truth, he didn't know if he could ever have done it. When Wesley turned back around, Buffy no longer held Conner. He was back in his crib in the bedroom that Angel had had fixed. Angel took a giant swig of blood and Buffy stared at him. When Angel felt her gaze, he brought the container down and looked back at her expectantly.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing! It's just, you've been drinking like that for days now! It's kinda creepy." Buffy said.
"It's just my nerves. You know, Holtz and all that."
"Oh." Buffy reached up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "I missed you."
"I missed you too."
"So Wes, how do you feel?" Buffy asked.
"I've had better days." Wesley said.
"I know the feeling."
"I figured it out." Angel cut in, sitting down at the table, Buffy following right after.
"What?" Wesley asked confused.
"How I really knew about Justine. - All that pain, that rage... the only way she could deal was to join Holtz, take her revenge. - You know how I knew that?"
Wesley walked over to them. "Because you would have done the same."
"It scares me. You know? If anything like that ever happened to Connor or Buffy, I don't know what I'd... I love my son and my wife very much. Some might say too much."
"Love can be a terrible thing."
"I used to think that. I thought love was something that swallowed you whole, ripped you up inside, but, you know, what I feel for Connor and Buffy, even that fear... Wes, it's, it's not terrible. It's beautiful."
Wesley started to laugh. It was just a short burst of quiet laughter, but Angel picked up on it.
"What's so funny?" Angel got up to situate some stuff on the counter.
"Life. Life is funny. Listening to stupid people talking to hamburgers is funny. Worrying about things that will never... It's all so incredibly funny and, and beautiful."
Angel started to reply to that as he turned on the stove to start a bottle for Conner, but a hard earthquake hit. Pots and pans start falling out of the cabinets as Angel dodged away and grabbed up Buffy. The lit stove fell over and a column of flame shot up throwing Buffy and Angel across the room. Suddenly a burning beam fell to the floor and separated Buffy and Angel from Wesley. Buffy was the first up and running to get Conner.
"Come on kiddo." She said picking up Conner and running back to Angel. They cover Conner and jump over the burning beam and start to head towards the door. Wesley was standing there looking at the fire.
"Wesley, get out!" Angel yelled. He ran back to Wesley and yanked him into the hallway with Buffy then following Wes out quickly. Angel was bleeding from a cut on his forehead as he and Buffy stared at the space where Wesley had just been. A huge chink of hard plaster fell there and Buffy winced, looking down at Conner.
"Shh, It's okay. It's okay. It's alright." She comforted. Angel came over and helped in trying to comfort the screaming Conner.
Wesley looked at the blood from Angel's head wound dripping down onto Connor's blanket, a light blue blanket with fluffy white clouds on it.
"Earthquake. Fire. Blood." Wesley mumbled to himself.
Angel, breathing hard, looked down and Wesley, "I thought we were gonna be trapped in there, huh?" he looked down at Conner and Buffy. "At least I would have had something to snack on."
The next day, Buffy, Angel and the rest of the group, including Spike and Faith, were sitting around in the lobby. Angel had gone on a mission to kill a demon that a couple had come in complaining that it had tried multiple times to kill them. Gunn had gone with Angel, but Angel had charged right on in and got severely slashed in the ribs and abdomen. Gunn had walked away with a few minor cuts and bruises.
"SSSSSSSSSSS! That stings!" Angel hissed.
"Stop being a baby about it." Buffy snapped at him.
"I can't help it."
"Yes you can."
"Fred? What are you doing back there?"
"Playing with Conner." She replied followed by a giggle from her and Conner.
"Angel, don't worry about it. Conner is fine with them." Buffy said. By "them" she meant Gunn, Fred, and Lorne. Spike was sitting away from everyone else with Faith. They were having an intimate moment and no one really wanted to bother them. Wesley was back in the office working on that prophecy again.
"I know, but I hate that I can't see him."
"Angel, we're not going to be able to watch him 24/7 for the rest of our lives. He's gonna grow up and get one of those wacky things called 'a life' of his very own. I know how you feel, I want to be able to watch him 24/7, I really do, but I've faced up to the facts and so should you."
"Right now we can though."
"Angel, Conner needs to socialize. I read in some book that if parents hog a child all to themselves, they are going to grow up loaners. Personally, I don't want our kid to grow up with a life that's almost similar to our lives."
"But."
"But nothing. Let them play with Conner. Let them hold Conner. They've got now with him. We have the rest of our lives with him."
Angel looked down. He knew Buffy was right and he didn't want to admit it. So he changed the subject. "Wesley was acting weirder than usual today, or was it just me?" he asked, indicating the door to Wesley's office.
"Yeah. I noticed that too yesterday when he was in the apartment trying to tell you something about Conner. He never got around to it though. No thanks to that earthquake."
Angel nodded and picked up the container of pig's blood beside him. He took a drink and then took a large swig of it. Then it was out of his hands. Buffy was holding it and staring at him. "Hey, give that back."
"Later. You were dripping it on my hand."
"Sorry. I'm just hungry. My nerves are still shot and that earthquake didn't help that one either."
"You've been hungry like that for the last week or two." Buffy said going back to work on bandaging Angel up.
"Can't help myself." Angel took a drink and tried not to spill any.
"There." Buffy said. She wiped her finger across the bandage tape gently to make sure it stayed in place. Angel twisted and stretched a little to make sure he could maneuver in the bandage. Then he hopped down off the counter and put on a fresh shirt that Buffy had brought in from the laundry room. "Feel better?"
"A little."
"Good."
"Hey Big Guy, Blondie. I have a proposition for you." Lorne said coming up to them.
"What's that Lorne?" Buffy asked cheerfully.
"You two should go out with Fred and Gunn tonight. They're going to the Santa Monica Pier and they want you to come with."
"That sounds like a." Angel started to say bad idea, but Buffy cut him off.
"Great idea! Just what we need."
"Wonderful. Wesley and I will watch Conner tonight while you two crazy love birds go off and have fun with the other two crazy love birds." Lorne walked off and Angel turned to Buffy.
"Great idea?"
"Yes. We need a night away. It won't be a full night, but it will be a few hours. We'll have fun."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." Buffy walked around the counter, Angel right behind her, and strolled over to Gunn and Fred. She sat down and started cooing at Conner, who's smile widened when he saw and heard his mom.
"Geez, Buff. You're going to have to tell me how you do that. He never smiles and gurgles that big around us." Gunn said.
"You're not his mommy or daddy are you?" Buffy said not looking away from Conner.
"Nope."
"I can't wait to have kids someday." Fred piped up.
"You will." Buffy said to Fred, then to Conner, "Yes she will, won't she?" Conner giggled and grabbed his mom's hand. She wiggled her fingers and Conner giggled and grinned more. "If your smile gets any bigger, your mouth will just fall right off." Conner took one of Buffy's fingers and put it in his mouth. Gunn and Fred laughed. Angel sat down and Conner grabbed his dad's hand. Conner just shook Angel's hand up and down while he drooled on Buffy's.
"Say cheese!" Lorne said behind them. They all turned and the flash of a camera went off. "That one's going in the family photo album!" Lorne walked off and put the camera on the counter before heading to the kitchen.
"That was interesting." Angel said.
That night, Buffy, Angel, Fred, and Gunn stood in the lobby dressed and ready for a night at the pier. Buffy and Angel were loving on Conner and giving Wesley and Lorne the run down of what and what not to do with Conner. They made sure that Lorne and Wes knew their cell phone numbers, the number of the pier, the numbers of Gunn and Fred's cell phones, where everything was, what to feed Conner, when to feed him, and to keep an eye on him the WHOLE three hours they were gone.
Finally, they walked out the door and headed to Santa Monica. When they arrived, the first thing Buffy and Angel did was call and find out if Conner was ok. Of course he was.
"Would you two stop worrying? That boy is going to be fine!" Gunn said. "He's gonna grow up to be a mama and daddy's boy."
"What's wrong with that?" Angel asked.
"Nothing much, but he's gonna be completely fine."
"He's right. Let's go and ride the Ferris wheel. We can be silly teenagers and make out the whole time." Buffy said.
For the first time that night, Angel smiled. "All right, let's go!"
They headed over with Gunn and Fred following and got in line. When they got there, Angel got a little apprehensive. It was a big Ferris wheel! Buffy tugged him up and got into a bucket. They went up a little ways and then Gunn and Fred got on. The ride finally started and they were going around and around. Buffy loved this. She had always wanted to ride a Ferris wheel with Angel. They made out the most of the time, the other part they were enjoying the view. After the Ferris wheel, the walked around. Angel won a giant stuffed bear for Buffy at the milk bottle stand. They ate a funnel cake after their ride on the roller coaster and some cotton candy after the carousel. The night went by fast and soon they were on their way home.
Wes stared at his translation of 'the father will kill the son.' He looked up at the bassinet as he hears Conner fussing, then closed the book on the desk in front of him on the notepad. He slowly got up and walked over to the bassinet, where Conner was now crying, and looks down at the baby.
"Geez, Wes! Don't you know what you're supposed to do?"
Wes looked up to see Angel standing there sipping a tall glass of blood. Angel set the glass aside and walks over to the bassinet.
"You pick 'em up when they fuss." Angel did just that. "Daddy's here."
"Sorry. I don't know what I was...I didn't sleep very well."
"Yeah, and you look like hell. Not the fun one, where they burn you with hot pokers for all eternity, but the hardcore one, you know, Nixon and Britney Spears?"
Angel laughed down at Conner.
"You're awfully chipper today."
"Yeah, it's weird, huh? Maybe it was the earthquake or last night at the pier, but I barely slept and I have all this energy. God, I could drink a horse!"
Angel picked up his glass of blood for another drink.
"Speaking of earthquake: you realize we have no insurance."
"Yeah. Bummer."
"Your room is..."
"...the wreck of the Hesperus. I know. Wes, don't be such a worrywart. The best part about owning a hotel is plenty of rooms. I'll just move to another one until we get it fixed."
"Who is that singing?
"Lorne is seeing a client in the garden. Buffy's out there with them"
"She's good." Then to Conner, "You wanna see the lady sing?"
Angel walked over to look out at the garden court, carrying Conner and took another drink from his glass.
A young woman with long blonde hair was singing to her guitar. "I fell so far, a light went on in my heart. You're gone, now I'm left alone in the dark."
She stopped and turned to Lorne "Do you see anything?"
"I see you're plenty scared. It's all right. Keep going."
"My soul is aching..."
Conner started to fuss. Buffy turned at the sound of her son and walked up to Angel.
"Hey, hey, hey. No fussing now. Hey, do you wanna see something cool? Sure you do."
Angel and Buffy walked back into the lobby and Angel opened the weapons cabinet as Wes watched them.
They could still hear Kim outside singing"...my heart is breaking..."
"Ah, huh? You like that broadsword? That's your old man's favorite." Buffy laughed and Angel turned to her. "Buffy! He's gonna be crawling in no time. We've got to start baby proofing this place!" He handed Conner to Wesley. "Here take him." Then to Conner, "It's alright. It's your uncle Wes. Yeah, he loves you bunches!" Angel turned to Buffy, "He's just.English."
"Are you crazy? It's the best state in the Union!" They heard Fred say.
They all looked over to see Fred coming down the stairs, talking to her cell phone.
"What's wrong with Texas? Texas doesn't hate the black man. Texas *loves* the black man. Well, most of Texas. Anyone with a brain. What's so great about California?"
The doors opened and Gunn walked in, also talking to his cell.
"Everything. It's got the climate, the ocean..." Gunn said.
"The earth that opens up and swallows you whole." Fred retorted.
"The Lakers, the music." Gunn queried.
They walked towards each other across the lobby, still talking into their phones.
"The traffic, the smog." Fred said.
They stopped face to face.
"It's got you." Gunn said, knowing he had won her over.
Fred closed her phone and smiled at him, "Okay. You win. Morning."
Gunn smiled back "Hi."
"Glad to see you're using the company phones for such important calls." Wesley said.
Gunn held up his phone "Did you want me to pay for that?"
"Chain 'em up!" Angel said suddenly.
"What?!" Fred asked
"I say we put a chain and a combination lock on the weapons. Better safe than sorry." To Conner he said, "Isn't that right, buddy?" he kissed Conner then Buffy. Then he said to Wesley "He likes you. I can tell."
"I like him, too. As a matter of fact I was thinking, perhaps I'd take him to the park or the beach, just the two of us." Buffy took Conner from Wesley. "Maybe there'll be some time in the next day or two."
"Sounds great. Yeah. Count on it." Buffy said.
Lorne came in. "Ah, guys? I think there's something you should... Ah, can you come here for a sec?"
They all followed him out into the garden court.
"Everybody, this is my friend, Kim." He turned to Kim. "It's all right. They're professionals. Just take it from the chorus, hmm?"
Kim started singing "My heart is breaking in two. No love, no light left, no you..." Suddenly, her face morphed into that of an ugly gray skinned demon.
The demon Kim said, "I'll hack your eyeballs out and rip your children in two!" Buffy turned Conner away from Kim.
Green drool started to drip from her mouth. Then, her face morphed back to human, and Lorne walked over to a shaking Kim.
"It's okay. I got ya. It's all right. It's okay." Lorne turned to the others, "Catchy finish, huh?"
They all walked back in and Kim sat down. They were in Wesley's office and he gave her a cup of tea
"Kim is good people. She came to see me a couple of years ago." Lorne filled in.
"He put me on my true path." Kim said.
Lorne smiled "She was throwing her life away in medical school, when she should have been a singer."
"Yeah. Who needs more doctor's in the world when you can have singing demons?" Gunn said.
"Well, the demon part is new." Kim said
"Ha! Singing demons, flying nuns. Good one, G!" Angel said.
Angel took another drink from his glass of blood as Gunn looked over at him.
"Well, she hooked up with this band a couple of weeks ago and..." Lorne started.
"They were mellow organic types. They never touched drugs or played a diminished chord." Kim said.
"I like nuns. How did the flying nun fly anyway? Was it god or magic?" They all looked at Angel and Buffy whacked him in the chest. "What? You think about these things sometimes." He motioned to Kim. "Please - continue!"
"Uhm well, then they started changing. Stevie, the lead guitar grew a seventh finger like overnight." Kim said.
"Seventh?" Buffy intoned.
"Well, he already had six. I just thought... I don't really know what I thought. And Raw, the drummer, suddenly sprouted that spiny thing on his back..." Kim continued.
Wesley and Fred were standing over a microscope on Cordy's desk. They were examining some of Kim's saliva.
"...And they started playing this beyond industrial trash noise funk day and night. And then it happened to me. You saw it. Am I gonna turn into that?" Kim asked.
"No. You're human. They're not. What's happening to you isn't permanent. It's just an infection." Wesley said.
"Which you can get rid of by taking twenty milligrams of Cylenthium powder twice a day for a month." Fred said.
"Mystical antibiotic. I'll get you some." Lorne offered
Fred held up a glass slide "I thought your saliva was suspect. What with being green and all... No offense, Lorne. Under the microscope it showed traces of Penloxia."
"Oh, they're Wraith-ers." Lorne said
"Wraith-ers?" Kim asked.
"Demons that can make themselves look human for a time." Wesley said showing her an entry from one of his books. "Ten days, two weeks, then they revert to what they really are."
"I wonder why they would wanna look like musicians?" Gunn asked.
"For the chicks. Musicians get the chicks!" Off Buffy's look. "What? They're gonna appear as dentists? Let's take 'em out." He turned to Kim. "Where are they?"
"In a rehearsal space. It's an old loading dock behind the shop'n'go in Echo Park." Kim said.
"Wes?" Angel asked.
"You'll have to kill them. It's the only thing you can do with Wraith-ers. You, Gunn, Fred, and Buffy can go. Lorne, stay here with the baby. I have some business to take care of." Wesley said.
"Guys, shouldn't we call Cordelia and the Groosalug back into action? I mean, if one of us gets hurt, say, killing Wraith-ers for example. We're gonna need some backup around here." Fred said.
"Nah, I don't wanna disturb her. It's the only break she's had in years. Besides, you know, it's just a couple of Wraith-ers and we have Buffy."
"Three actually." Kim said.
"Piece of cake!" Angel said, pulling some shadow boxing. "I'm up for a little kick-ass! Come on! Who's with me?"
Chapter 11
Angel paced his room. Conner was sitting in his little chair thing that Buffy had bought. Speaking of Buffy, Angel was getting nervous. Buffy had left yesterday to check on things in Sunnydale. He hadn't wanted her to go, but she had insisted. After about two hours of debating on whether she should go or not, Angel had given in and told her that he wanted her back in the next two days. She had promised to be back the next day, but if something came up, she would call.
Before that though, Cordelia and Gru had also gone on vacation. He had told them to go. Cordy had been working hard the past few months and she hadn't had time alone much with Gru since he had come to LA. She was part demon now; she had been for a while. He loved Cordy and he wanted to see her as happy with Gru as he was with Buffy.
Things had also heated up a little with Holtz. He had some girl named Justine working for them. Willow had done a search and found out that Justine had lost her twin sister to vampires. Angel figured that she had chosen to be with Holtz because she couldn't deal with pain on her own. "Sucks for her." Is what Buffy had said about it. "She joined the wrong team." Angel laughed at that memory.
Angel grabbed up the pig's blood and sucked that back like it was a good shot of tequila. He had been insatiably hungry the last few days. Angel had spent more money on pig's blood in the last day than he had in a four- month time span. Maybe it was just nerves. He had every right to be nervous though. Holtz on the loose, Buffy in Sunnydale, poopy diapers that always needed changing, bottles to be made, and spit-up to be cleaned. He chugged some more and then sat the container back on the table.
For the millionth time that day, he checked his answering machine. Still nothing, so he assumed she would be on her way. Maybe she had left her cell phone on.
"Yeah, let's call mommy." Angel said to Conner. He went to the phone and dialed the familiar number. The voice mail picked up on the second ring. She had it turned off. Damn! He wished she would at least call and talk to him. He was worried.
There was a knock at the door and Angel called for whomever it was to come in. It was Wesley.
"Hello there Angel."
"Hey Wes."
"How are you and Conner getting along?"
"Fine. How are you getting along? You've been acting weird the past week or so."
"Nerves."
Angel got in the refrigerator and got another thing of pig's blood out. "Yeah, my nerves are on edge too."
The door opened and Buffy stepped in. "Hey everyone! The slayer's back in town and there's a little boy named Conner that mommy needs to see!" She walked over to Angel and he handed Conner over.
"Why didn't you call?" Angel scolded.
"What? It was busy in Sunnydale. I kept my promise thought, didn't I?"
Angel kissed her as if she had been gone two centuries instead of two days. She shifted Conner and leaned up into him.
Wesley turned giving them the moment. He had come up here to tell Angel everything about the prophecy. How it said the father was going to kill the son. About the signs that would come before the prophecy came to pass: earthquake, fire, and blood. The couple looked too happy now for him to break their hearts like that now. In truth, he didn't know if he could ever have done it. When Wesley turned back around, Buffy no longer held Conner. He was back in his crib in the bedroom that Angel had had fixed. Angel took a giant swig of blood and Buffy stared at him. When Angel felt her gaze, he brought the container down and looked back at her expectantly.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing! It's just, you've been drinking like that for days now! It's kinda creepy." Buffy said.
"It's just my nerves. You know, Holtz and all that."
"Oh." Buffy reached up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "I missed you."
"I missed you too."
"So Wes, how do you feel?" Buffy asked.
"I've had better days." Wesley said.
"I know the feeling."
"I figured it out." Angel cut in, sitting down at the table, Buffy following right after.
"What?" Wesley asked confused.
"How I really knew about Justine. - All that pain, that rage... the only way she could deal was to join Holtz, take her revenge. - You know how I knew that?"
Wesley walked over to them. "Because you would have done the same."
"It scares me. You know? If anything like that ever happened to Connor or Buffy, I don't know what I'd... I love my son and my wife very much. Some might say too much."
"Love can be a terrible thing."
"I used to think that. I thought love was something that swallowed you whole, ripped you up inside, but, you know, what I feel for Connor and Buffy, even that fear... Wes, it's, it's not terrible. It's beautiful."
Wesley started to laugh. It was just a short burst of quiet laughter, but Angel picked up on it.
"What's so funny?" Angel got up to situate some stuff on the counter.
"Life. Life is funny. Listening to stupid people talking to hamburgers is funny. Worrying about things that will never... It's all so incredibly funny and, and beautiful."
Angel started to reply to that as he turned on the stove to start a bottle for Conner, but a hard earthquake hit. Pots and pans start falling out of the cabinets as Angel dodged away and grabbed up Buffy. The lit stove fell over and a column of flame shot up throwing Buffy and Angel across the room. Suddenly a burning beam fell to the floor and separated Buffy and Angel from Wesley. Buffy was the first up and running to get Conner.
"Come on kiddo." She said picking up Conner and running back to Angel. They cover Conner and jump over the burning beam and start to head towards the door. Wesley was standing there looking at the fire.
"Wesley, get out!" Angel yelled. He ran back to Wesley and yanked him into the hallway with Buffy then following Wes out quickly. Angel was bleeding from a cut on his forehead as he and Buffy stared at the space where Wesley had just been. A huge chink of hard plaster fell there and Buffy winced, looking down at Conner.
"Shh, It's okay. It's okay. It's alright." She comforted. Angel came over and helped in trying to comfort the screaming Conner.
Wesley looked at the blood from Angel's head wound dripping down onto Connor's blanket, a light blue blanket with fluffy white clouds on it.
"Earthquake. Fire. Blood." Wesley mumbled to himself.
Angel, breathing hard, looked down and Wesley, "I thought we were gonna be trapped in there, huh?" he looked down at Conner and Buffy. "At least I would have had something to snack on."
The next day, Buffy, Angel and the rest of the group, including Spike and Faith, were sitting around in the lobby. Angel had gone on a mission to kill a demon that a couple had come in complaining that it had tried multiple times to kill them. Gunn had gone with Angel, but Angel had charged right on in and got severely slashed in the ribs and abdomen. Gunn had walked away with a few minor cuts and bruises.
"SSSSSSSSSSS! That stings!" Angel hissed.
"Stop being a baby about it." Buffy snapped at him.
"I can't help it."
"Yes you can."
"Fred? What are you doing back there?"
"Playing with Conner." She replied followed by a giggle from her and Conner.
"Angel, don't worry about it. Conner is fine with them." Buffy said. By "them" she meant Gunn, Fred, and Lorne. Spike was sitting away from everyone else with Faith. They were having an intimate moment and no one really wanted to bother them. Wesley was back in the office working on that prophecy again.
"I know, but I hate that I can't see him."
"Angel, we're not going to be able to watch him 24/7 for the rest of our lives. He's gonna grow up and get one of those wacky things called 'a life' of his very own. I know how you feel, I want to be able to watch him 24/7, I really do, but I've faced up to the facts and so should you."
"Right now we can though."
"Angel, Conner needs to socialize. I read in some book that if parents hog a child all to themselves, they are going to grow up loaners. Personally, I don't want our kid to grow up with a life that's almost similar to our lives."
"But."
"But nothing. Let them play with Conner. Let them hold Conner. They've got now with him. We have the rest of our lives with him."
Angel looked down. He knew Buffy was right and he didn't want to admit it. So he changed the subject. "Wesley was acting weirder than usual today, or was it just me?" he asked, indicating the door to Wesley's office.
"Yeah. I noticed that too yesterday when he was in the apartment trying to tell you something about Conner. He never got around to it though. No thanks to that earthquake."
Angel nodded and picked up the container of pig's blood beside him. He took a drink and then took a large swig of it. Then it was out of his hands. Buffy was holding it and staring at him. "Hey, give that back."
"Later. You were dripping it on my hand."
"Sorry. I'm just hungry. My nerves are still shot and that earthquake didn't help that one either."
"You've been hungry like that for the last week or two." Buffy said going back to work on bandaging Angel up.
"Can't help myself." Angel took a drink and tried not to spill any.
"There." Buffy said. She wiped her finger across the bandage tape gently to make sure it stayed in place. Angel twisted and stretched a little to make sure he could maneuver in the bandage. Then he hopped down off the counter and put on a fresh shirt that Buffy had brought in from the laundry room. "Feel better?"
"A little."
"Good."
"Hey Big Guy, Blondie. I have a proposition for you." Lorne said coming up to them.
"What's that Lorne?" Buffy asked cheerfully.
"You two should go out with Fred and Gunn tonight. They're going to the Santa Monica Pier and they want you to come with."
"That sounds like a." Angel started to say bad idea, but Buffy cut him off.
"Great idea! Just what we need."
"Wonderful. Wesley and I will watch Conner tonight while you two crazy love birds go off and have fun with the other two crazy love birds." Lorne walked off and Angel turned to Buffy.
"Great idea?"
"Yes. We need a night away. It won't be a full night, but it will be a few hours. We'll have fun."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive." Buffy walked around the counter, Angel right behind her, and strolled over to Gunn and Fred. She sat down and started cooing at Conner, who's smile widened when he saw and heard his mom.
"Geez, Buff. You're going to have to tell me how you do that. He never smiles and gurgles that big around us." Gunn said.
"You're not his mommy or daddy are you?" Buffy said not looking away from Conner.
"Nope."
"I can't wait to have kids someday." Fred piped up.
"You will." Buffy said to Fred, then to Conner, "Yes she will, won't she?" Conner giggled and grabbed his mom's hand. She wiggled her fingers and Conner giggled and grinned more. "If your smile gets any bigger, your mouth will just fall right off." Conner took one of Buffy's fingers and put it in his mouth. Gunn and Fred laughed. Angel sat down and Conner grabbed his dad's hand. Conner just shook Angel's hand up and down while he drooled on Buffy's.
"Say cheese!" Lorne said behind them. They all turned and the flash of a camera went off. "That one's going in the family photo album!" Lorne walked off and put the camera on the counter before heading to the kitchen.
"That was interesting." Angel said.
That night, Buffy, Angel, Fred, and Gunn stood in the lobby dressed and ready for a night at the pier. Buffy and Angel were loving on Conner and giving Wesley and Lorne the run down of what and what not to do with Conner. They made sure that Lorne and Wes knew their cell phone numbers, the number of the pier, the numbers of Gunn and Fred's cell phones, where everything was, what to feed Conner, when to feed him, and to keep an eye on him the WHOLE three hours they were gone.
Finally, they walked out the door and headed to Santa Monica. When they arrived, the first thing Buffy and Angel did was call and find out if Conner was ok. Of course he was.
"Would you two stop worrying? That boy is going to be fine!" Gunn said. "He's gonna grow up to be a mama and daddy's boy."
"What's wrong with that?" Angel asked.
"Nothing much, but he's gonna be completely fine."
"He's right. Let's go and ride the Ferris wheel. We can be silly teenagers and make out the whole time." Buffy said.
For the first time that night, Angel smiled. "All right, let's go!"
They headed over with Gunn and Fred following and got in line. When they got there, Angel got a little apprehensive. It was a big Ferris wheel! Buffy tugged him up and got into a bucket. They went up a little ways and then Gunn and Fred got on. The ride finally started and they were going around and around. Buffy loved this. She had always wanted to ride a Ferris wheel with Angel. They made out the most of the time, the other part they were enjoying the view. After the Ferris wheel, the walked around. Angel won a giant stuffed bear for Buffy at the milk bottle stand. They ate a funnel cake after their ride on the roller coaster and some cotton candy after the carousel. The night went by fast and soon they were on their way home.
Wes stared at his translation of 'the father will kill the son.' He looked up at the bassinet as he hears Conner fussing, then closed the book on the desk in front of him on the notepad. He slowly got up and walked over to the bassinet, where Conner was now crying, and looks down at the baby.
"Geez, Wes! Don't you know what you're supposed to do?"
Wes looked up to see Angel standing there sipping a tall glass of blood. Angel set the glass aside and walks over to the bassinet.
"You pick 'em up when they fuss." Angel did just that. "Daddy's here."
"Sorry. I don't know what I was...I didn't sleep very well."
"Yeah, and you look like hell. Not the fun one, where they burn you with hot pokers for all eternity, but the hardcore one, you know, Nixon and Britney Spears?"
Angel laughed down at Conner.
"You're awfully chipper today."
"Yeah, it's weird, huh? Maybe it was the earthquake or last night at the pier, but I barely slept and I have all this energy. God, I could drink a horse!"
Angel picked up his glass of blood for another drink.
"Speaking of earthquake: you realize we have no insurance."
"Yeah. Bummer."
"Your room is..."
"...the wreck of the Hesperus. I know. Wes, don't be such a worrywart. The best part about owning a hotel is plenty of rooms. I'll just move to another one until we get it fixed."
"Who is that singing?
"Lorne is seeing a client in the garden. Buffy's out there with them"
"She's good." Then to Conner, "You wanna see the lady sing?"
Angel walked over to look out at the garden court, carrying Conner and took another drink from his glass.
A young woman with long blonde hair was singing to her guitar. "I fell so far, a light went on in my heart. You're gone, now I'm left alone in the dark."
She stopped and turned to Lorne "Do you see anything?"
"I see you're plenty scared. It's all right. Keep going."
"My soul is aching..."
Conner started to fuss. Buffy turned at the sound of her son and walked up to Angel.
"Hey, hey, hey. No fussing now. Hey, do you wanna see something cool? Sure you do."
Angel and Buffy walked back into the lobby and Angel opened the weapons cabinet as Wes watched them.
They could still hear Kim outside singing"...my heart is breaking..."
"Ah, huh? You like that broadsword? That's your old man's favorite." Buffy laughed and Angel turned to her. "Buffy! He's gonna be crawling in no time. We've got to start baby proofing this place!" He handed Conner to Wesley. "Here take him." Then to Conner, "It's alright. It's your uncle Wes. Yeah, he loves you bunches!" Angel turned to Buffy, "He's just.English."
"Are you crazy? It's the best state in the Union!" They heard Fred say.
They all looked over to see Fred coming down the stairs, talking to her cell phone.
"What's wrong with Texas? Texas doesn't hate the black man. Texas *loves* the black man. Well, most of Texas. Anyone with a brain. What's so great about California?"
The doors opened and Gunn walked in, also talking to his cell.
"Everything. It's got the climate, the ocean..." Gunn said.
"The earth that opens up and swallows you whole." Fred retorted.
"The Lakers, the music." Gunn queried.
They walked towards each other across the lobby, still talking into their phones.
"The traffic, the smog." Fred said.
They stopped face to face.
"It's got you." Gunn said, knowing he had won her over.
Fred closed her phone and smiled at him, "Okay. You win. Morning."
Gunn smiled back "Hi."
"Glad to see you're using the company phones for such important calls." Wesley said.
Gunn held up his phone "Did you want me to pay for that?"
"Chain 'em up!" Angel said suddenly.
"What?!" Fred asked
"I say we put a chain and a combination lock on the weapons. Better safe than sorry." To Conner he said, "Isn't that right, buddy?" he kissed Conner then Buffy. Then he said to Wesley "He likes you. I can tell."
"I like him, too. As a matter of fact I was thinking, perhaps I'd take him to the park or the beach, just the two of us." Buffy took Conner from Wesley. "Maybe there'll be some time in the next day or two."
"Sounds great. Yeah. Count on it." Buffy said.
Lorne came in. "Ah, guys? I think there's something you should... Ah, can you come here for a sec?"
They all followed him out into the garden court.
"Everybody, this is my friend, Kim." He turned to Kim. "It's all right. They're professionals. Just take it from the chorus, hmm?"
Kim started singing "My heart is breaking in two. No love, no light left, no you..." Suddenly, her face morphed into that of an ugly gray skinned demon.
The demon Kim said, "I'll hack your eyeballs out and rip your children in two!" Buffy turned Conner away from Kim.
Green drool started to drip from her mouth. Then, her face morphed back to human, and Lorne walked over to a shaking Kim.
"It's okay. I got ya. It's all right. It's okay." Lorne turned to the others, "Catchy finish, huh?"
They all walked back in and Kim sat down. They were in Wesley's office and he gave her a cup of tea
"Kim is good people. She came to see me a couple of years ago." Lorne filled in.
"He put me on my true path." Kim said.
Lorne smiled "She was throwing her life away in medical school, when she should have been a singer."
"Yeah. Who needs more doctor's in the world when you can have singing demons?" Gunn said.
"Well, the demon part is new." Kim said
"Ha! Singing demons, flying nuns. Good one, G!" Angel said.
Angel took another drink from his glass of blood as Gunn looked over at him.
"Well, she hooked up with this band a couple of weeks ago and..." Lorne started.
"They were mellow organic types. They never touched drugs or played a diminished chord." Kim said.
"I like nuns. How did the flying nun fly anyway? Was it god or magic?" They all looked at Angel and Buffy whacked him in the chest. "What? You think about these things sometimes." He motioned to Kim. "Please - continue!"
"Uhm well, then they started changing. Stevie, the lead guitar grew a seventh finger like overnight." Kim said.
"Seventh?" Buffy intoned.
"Well, he already had six. I just thought... I don't really know what I thought. And Raw, the drummer, suddenly sprouted that spiny thing on his back..." Kim continued.
Wesley and Fred were standing over a microscope on Cordy's desk. They were examining some of Kim's saliva.
"...And they started playing this beyond industrial trash noise funk day and night. And then it happened to me. You saw it. Am I gonna turn into that?" Kim asked.
"No. You're human. They're not. What's happening to you isn't permanent. It's just an infection." Wesley said.
"Which you can get rid of by taking twenty milligrams of Cylenthium powder twice a day for a month." Fred said.
"Mystical antibiotic. I'll get you some." Lorne offered
Fred held up a glass slide "I thought your saliva was suspect. What with being green and all... No offense, Lorne. Under the microscope it showed traces of Penloxia."
"Oh, they're Wraith-ers." Lorne said
"Wraith-ers?" Kim asked.
"Demons that can make themselves look human for a time." Wesley said showing her an entry from one of his books. "Ten days, two weeks, then they revert to what they really are."
"I wonder why they would wanna look like musicians?" Gunn asked.
"For the chicks. Musicians get the chicks!" Off Buffy's look. "What? They're gonna appear as dentists? Let's take 'em out." He turned to Kim. "Where are they?"
"In a rehearsal space. It's an old loading dock behind the shop'n'go in Echo Park." Kim said.
"Wes?" Angel asked.
"You'll have to kill them. It's the only thing you can do with Wraith-ers. You, Gunn, Fred, and Buffy can go. Lorne, stay here with the baby. I have some business to take care of." Wesley said.
"Guys, shouldn't we call Cordelia and the Groosalug back into action? I mean, if one of us gets hurt, say, killing Wraith-ers for example. We're gonna need some backup around here." Fred said.
"Nah, I don't wanna disturb her. It's the only break she's had in years. Besides, you know, it's just a couple of Wraith-ers and we have Buffy."
"Three actually." Kim said.
"Piece of cake!" Angel said, pulling some shadow boxing. "I'm up for a little kick-ass! Come on! Who's with me?"