Chapter 20
Gunn ran for the weapons cabinet. Gru moved to the side to get a clear shot at the teenager, swinging his ax. Angel turned towards them, holding out a hand.
"Wait!"
The teen launched two stakes at Angel in quick succession as Angel turned back to face him.
"No!" Buffy screamed from the stairs. The teen heard her and paused for a fraction of a second, then ignored her and watched the stakes fly towards Angel.
Angel turned as the stakes traveled through the air, aimed at his heart. The first one almost lodged in his shoulder, but he turned with it and batted the second one aside. Even as the stakes flew towards Angel, Gru's ax flew through the air at the teen, who deflected the ax, mirroring Angel's motion.
Both Angel and the teen straightened back up and resumed their former positions staring at each other, the teen with the stake-launcher once again aimed at Angel, as the last of the stakes clattered to the floor.
"Interesting." The teen said.
"My god. It's you. Conner."
Conner launched three more stakes at Angel, who ducked and rolled to avoid them.
"Angel!" Buffy called. She tossed the sword that she had gone to pick up, and Angel caught it out of the air as he rolled back to his feet while Buffy jumped from the second floor landing. Conner tossed the stake launcher aside and swiped at Angel with the blade in his left hand. Angel parried the blow on his sword.
Conner did a one-handed cartwheel, then flipped up, kicking both Gunn and Gru in the chest in quick succession before landing on his feet in front of the counter.
Cordy positioned herself in front of Lorne and Fred, holding another sword in a guard position.
"Will you just stop for..." Angel started.
Conner spun back to swipe at Angel. Angel spun so that for a moment the two of them were standing back to back, parrying the blade in Conner's left with the sword in his right.
"Can't we just talk about this?"
Conner elbowed Angel in the back, dropping him face first on the floor, and grabbed a hold of one of Angel's ankles, sending him sliding across the floor between his own spread legs. As he slid, Angel turned onto his back and caught the down swing of Conner's blade on his sword.
"Wait!" Buffy called. Conner paused for a fraction of a second again. Angel saw a look of recognition cross his face in that fraction, but Conner was back to fighting again.
Angel kicked both feet up into Conner's face, sending him flying into a backward flip. Conner landed flat on his back, but did a quick kip-up back to his feet. One that looked almost identical to Buffy's.
Gunn and Gru were also back on their feet, and together with Buffy and Angel formed a diamond around Conner as they all shifted positions.
"Okay. Everybody just calm down." Angel said.
Gru swiped at Conner and got knocked back into the stairs. Conner turned and parried the swing Gunn aimed at him, then spun out of it into a punch at Angel, back around to punch at Buffy. He kept spinning and kicking and punching at his four opponents in turn in rapid succession.
"Angel, if Peter Pan here doesn't stop..." Gunn started
Conner jump-kicked Gunn hard in the chest, then moved in for the killing blow. Before he could complete it, Buffy hit him on the back of the head with a two handed punch, knocking him away from Gunn.
Angel dropped the sword, and straddled Conner, hitting him with a hard right cross, then forcing the blade strapped to Conner's left wrist closer and closer to his own throat.
The tip of the blade started to dig into Conner's throat. Suddenly Angel's eyes widened. He ripped the blade from Conner's arm and tossed it behind him, then slowly backed off, staring at his son. Cordy, still standing guard in front of Lorne and Fred, watched as Angel slowly offered his hand to help Conner up. But Conner only squirmed back a little, then jumped to his feet and ran up the steps and out of the front doors of the Hyperion.
Buffy and Angel ran after him.
Conner came running out of the doors into the courtyard of the Hyperion. He ran from the shadows by the doors out into the bright sunshine.
"No!" Buffy yelled.
Angel started to backpedal even as Gunn and Gru reached out to pull him back before he ran out into the sunlight himself.
"Conner!" Angel cried.
"You're gonna fry out here, man! You don't have you're ring on. Come on."
Angel watched Conner run out of the gates, Buffy not too far behind.
"We'll go." Gunn said as he and Gru took off after Conner and Buffy. Angel stood in the shadows by the door staring after them as Cordy came running out.
Gunn and Gru turned a corner and spotted Conner suddenly standing on a street corner, Buffy coming up slowly next to him. He spotted Gunn and Gru and ran out into the middle of the busy street and cars honked and swerved in an effort to avoid hitting him. Gunn and Gru stopped at the side of the road, blocked from following by the erratic traffic and trying to hold Buffy back so she wouldn't go after him in the busy street. Conner made it to the center of the street and stood on the centerline, staring back at Buffy, Gru, and Gunn as cars passed between them, honking. A bus passed behind Connor and he took off running, then scaled up the back of it.
Buffy, Gru, and Gunn watched him disappear down the street, crouched on top of the bus.
Buffy and Angel in the lead, everyone filed back into the hotel.
"Okay, anyone get the number of that bus?" Angel asked.
"Seventeen. I'll call, see where it ends up." Gunn said.
"Let me check online. It'll be faster." Fred said.
"That was it. That was it, Angel." Cordy said.
Angel, pulling on his coat, turned to Cordy. "No. No, it isn't. I'm gonna go find him."
"I mean the fight you just had. That was the vision I warned you about yesterday."
"You never mentioned Conner!"
"Because I only saw you."
"Angel? I hate to bring that up, but are we sure this was Conner? Just 'cause he said 'hi, dad'?" Gunn asked.
"That was him." Buffy said quietly.
"Couple of weeks ago he was wearing diapers. Now he's a teenager?"
"Tell me we don't live in a soap opera." Cordy murmured.
"Yeah, well, personally I'm less worried about the 'how he grew up' than the 'why he came back.'" Lorne said.
"He came back because he could. He found a way to escape that place." Angel said.
"Yeah, well, that's a possibility. Here is another: you sure he said 'hi, dad' and not 'you're dead'?"
"He's angry and afraid. As soon as we get a chance to talk to him... Fred?" Buffy said.
"Seventeen goes all the way downtown. Ends up at Union Station." She answered.
"Okay. Look, we're going underground. Somebody hit the surface streets."
Buffy and Angel ran off towards the basement.
"We got it, man." Gunn said.
"We will not fail man." Gru said.
Gunn turned to look at Gru.
"Let's split up." Cordy said, turning to Fred and Lorne. "You guys start at the end of the line work your way backward..." Cordy trailed off as the air above the Pentagram started to crackle and hiss again. "Okay. That can't be good."
"I'm guessing the dimensional rift from Quor-toth must still be open?" Fred asked.
"Yeah. So, what's say we close it up before anything else slithers, skitters or slides out of there." Lorne said.
"Amen to that." Gunn put in.
"Princess, perhaps your newfound powers can seal it shut." Gru suggested.
After a beat, Cordy said, "Can't hurt to try." She stepped into the middle of the Pentagram and lifted her hands to point at the air above her. "I command you: Close!" The air continued to crackle and Cordy turned away. "Okay. I got nothing."
"Actually we do know somebody who might be able to..." Fred started
"No. I already went to Wes's. Can't do that again." Gunn said.
"Well, I might know a guy, who knows another guy." Lorne said.
"Is it dangerous? Gunn and I can protect you." Gru said.
"Well, no. It's not dangerous, it's just awkward. This guy is all hands. I mean, all hands, like fifty of them. Anybody fluid in sign language?"
"You know, we can't all walk out of here when we have a cosmic crack hanging over us." Cordy said.
"Then I will stay and guard the hotel." Gru said, picking up a sword.
"I'm with him." Cordy said. She turned to Gunn and Fred. "You two hit the streets. Lorne..."
"Already gone."
Everyone headed out as Cordy got herself a sword to join Gru on his watch.
"You went to Wesley for me? He's the one who told you how to save me?" Fred asked.
"Yeah. He made it clear. That's a door none of us is ever going to be knocking on again." Gunn said.
Buffy and Angel walked along the sewer tunnels.
"I couldn't catch him. I couldn't catch him Angel! He's my son and I couldn't catch him!" Buffy said.
"I know. We're gonna find him and get him back. I promise you." Angel said.
"This is one promise that you better keep!"
"I will."
"Why couldn't I catch him damn it? Isn't that what a mom is supposed to do? You know, be there to help her child out?"
"Buffy."
"No! I'm a bad mom."
"No you're not."
"And you know the worst part? He knew it was me. He knew I was his mom. Or at least some part of him did. Did you see those two times when I said something he paused! He paused Angel."
"I saw." Suddenly, Angel's cell phone chirped. He looked at it and opened it up. "Did you find him?"
"No. Looks like we just missed him though. He's leaving a trail." Gunn said.
"What? Did he hurt somebody?"
"No, nothing like that. I mean gawkers. Folk's not used to seeing a kid in animal skins riding on top of a bus, not south of St. Monica Boulevard, anyway."
"Two more Robin Hood reports." Fred said in the background.
"You hear that? He's still headed downtown." Gunn said.
"Where are you?" Angel asked.
"Ah, just east of Union."
"He won't head all the way into town."
"You don't think?"
"Too many people. He'll jump off, head for some place less populated."
"Well, you want us to turn around, come and get you guys?"
"No. Just keep following the trail. The minute it goes cold, let me know."
"And if it doesn't go cold? I mean, if we find him first." "He's my son. He's my son, and he's alive. He's gonna stay alive."
"Right. Anything else we can do for you?"
"Yeah. Find my son and keep him safe until Buffy and I can talk to him." Angel closed his cell phone and he and Buffy moved on.
Three police cars surrounded the derelict car in the aqueduct. Gunn was talking to one of the officers. After a few minutes of friendly chit chat, he made his way out from under the yellow tape to meet up with Fred.
"A couple of shopkeepers saw Conner jump off the bus right up the road from here." Fred said.
They walked a little ways to where Buffy and Angel were standing in the shadows.
"He was here. I can smell him." Angel said.
"Cops say it was a drug thing gone wrong. Some guy got killed. It wasn't our boy. They caught one of the badies. ID-ed a local as the shooter." Gunn said.
"So, he was here but not part of..." Fred started.
"Oh, he was part of it, lot of mayhem." He looked at Buffy then at Angel. "Including the guy's ear sliced off as a trophy."
Fred made a face. "Uh!"
"He was raised in a hell dimension, okay?" Buffy said defensively.
"So, how do you wanna play this?" Gunn asked.
"Well, it'll be dark soon. You two head back to the hotel."
"Shouldn't we all keep looking?" Fred asked.
"We have a better chance finding him by ourselves. We don't wanna scare him. He's all alone in a strange world."
"Sunny?" Conner called. He had saved Sunny earlier from that bad guy that was tying to hurt her. Now Conner owned that guy's ear.
There was no answer and Conner slowly made his way across the room. He heard some wood creaking and spun to look behind him.
"Sunny?" he called.
When there was no answer he continued on, and pushed open the door to the bathroom, revealing Sunny slumped against the side of the bathtub. There was a tourniquet around her upper arm and a syringe still sticking out of her forearm.
Conner crouched down beside her, briefly touching her shoulder.
Conner stared quietly. "Sunny?"
He reached down and picked up a packet of 'medicine' Sunny had showed him earlier, then stood up. Conner turned around to find a blond woman that seemed really familiar to him and Angelus standing in the door behind him.
"Conner." The blond woman said.
Buffy and Angel saw Sunny slumped against the bathtub and Buffy grabbed a hold on Conner's arm, pushing his sleeve up.
"She didn't shoot any of this crap in you, did she?" Buffy asked tenderly.
Conner pulled free. "No."
Buffy held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Okay. I'm sorry. I just..." Buffy looked at Angel who was glancing at Sunny. "We'll take care of this, okay? Together. All three of us."
Conner shook his head. "Too late. Too late."
Conner walked past Buffy back into the main motel room.
"Connor. I'm sorry about... Was she you're friend? Conner. Just talk to me. I know that somewhere inside, you know who I am."
Buffy and Angel trailed after Conner and watched him pick up a jacket and sniff at it.
"Well, you know, I figure you have to be feeling like you traded in one hell dimension for another right about now, but if you just let me..." Angel started gently. "What are you doing?" He took the jacket away from Conner. "What is that?"
"Give that back!" Conner said.
Angel sniffed the jacket. "Why? Who're you tracking?"
Conner made a grab for the jacket, but Buffy stopped him. A quick search of the pockets by Angel brought out another packet of drugs.
"Right. I get it. You're going after they guy that gave her the junk." Angel said.
"His medicine killed her." Conner said.
"And you're going to do what about it?"
"Punish."
"You mean, kill?" Buffy asked.
Connor made another stab at the jacket, and again Buffy stopped him.
"Slow down." She said.
Conner attacked Angel, but Angel took a hold of him and pushed him up against the wall.
"Listen to me!" Angel said.
Conner slammed Angel up against the wall in turn. "No!"
"Hey! Back off you two!" Buffy said, putting an arm on each of their shoulders.
Angel sighed as Conner let go of him and went to retrieve the jacket. Angel took a hold of his son, and again pushed him up against the wall.
"You will listen." Angel said.
Conner hauled back and clocked Angel across the face.
Angel pushed Conner's face into the wall.
"HEY!" Buffy yelled.
"I'm not gonna let you walk out that door and get into any more trouble. Hear me?" Angel asked.
"Fine." Conner replied.
Angel let go of him and took a step back. After a moment Conner spun around and attacked Angel again, only to get tossed on the floor by Buffy.
Buffy let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. You just don't understand how this world works."
"I understand. Sunny was nice. Now she's dead." Conner said, looking up at the strong blond woman.
"Conner..."
"Stop calling me that! My name is Steven."
Buffy and Angel just looked at Conner.
Gunn ran for the weapons cabinet. Gru moved to the side to get a clear shot at the teenager, swinging his ax. Angel turned towards them, holding out a hand.
"Wait!"
The teen launched two stakes at Angel in quick succession as Angel turned back to face him.
"No!" Buffy screamed from the stairs. The teen heard her and paused for a fraction of a second, then ignored her and watched the stakes fly towards Angel.
Angel turned as the stakes traveled through the air, aimed at his heart. The first one almost lodged in his shoulder, but he turned with it and batted the second one aside. Even as the stakes flew towards Angel, Gru's ax flew through the air at the teen, who deflected the ax, mirroring Angel's motion.
Both Angel and the teen straightened back up and resumed their former positions staring at each other, the teen with the stake-launcher once again aimed at Angel, as the last of the stakes clattered to the floor.
"Interesting." The teen said.
"My god. It's you. Conner."
Conner launched three more stakes at Angel, who ducked and rolled to avoid them.
"Angel!" Buffy called. She tossed the sword that she had gone to pick up, and Angel caught it out of the air as he rolled back to his feet while Buffy jumped from the second floor landing. Conner tossed the stake launcher aside and swiped at Angel with the blade in his left hand. Angel parried the blow on his sword.
Conner did a one-handed cartwheel, then flipped up, kicking both Gunn and Gru in the chest in quick succession before landing on his feet in front of the counter.
Cordy positioned herself in front of Lorne and Fred, holding another sword in a guard position.
"Will you just stop for..." Angel started.
Conner spun back to swipe at Angel. Angel spun so that for a moment the two of them were standing back to back, parrying the blade in Conner's left with the sword in his right.
"Can't we just talk about this?"
Conner elbowed Angel in the back, dropping him face first on the floor, and grabbed a hold of one of Angel's ankles, sending him sliding across the floor between his own spread legs. As he slid, Angel turned onto his back and caught the down swing of Conner's blade on his sword.
"Wait!" Buffy called. Conner paused for a fraction of a second again. Angel saw a look of recognition cross his face in that fraction, but Conner was back to fighting again.
Angel kicked both feet up into Conner's face, sending him flying into a backward flip. Conner landed flat on his back, but did a quick kip-up back to his feet. One that looked almost identical to Buffy's.
Gunn and Gru were also back on their feet, and together with Buffy and Angel formed a diamond around Conner as they all shifted positions.
"Okay. Everybody just calm down." Angel said.
Gru swiped at Conner and got knocked back into the stairs. Conner turned and parried the swing Gunn aimed at him, then spun out of it into a punch at Angel, back around to punch at Buffy. He kept spinning and kicking and punching at his four opponents in turn in rapid succession.
"Angel, if Peter Pan here doesn't stop..." Gunn started
Conner jump-kicked Gunn hard in the chest, then moved in for the killing blow. Before he could complete it, Buffy hit him on the back of the head with a two handed punch, knocking him away from Gunn.
Angel dropped the sword, and straddled Conner, hitting him with a hard right cross, then forcing the blade strapped to Conner's left wrist closer and closer to his own throat.
The tip of the blade started to dig into Conner's throat. Suddenly Angel's eyes widened. He ripped the blade from Conner's arm and tossed it behind him, then slowly backed off, staring at his son. Cordy, still standing guard in front of Lorne and Fred, watched as Angel slowly offered his hand to help Conner up. But Conner only squirmed back a little, then jumped to his feet and ran up the steps and out of the front doors of the Hyperion.
Buffy and Angel ran after him.
Conner came running out of the doors into the courtyard of the Hyperion. He ran from the shadows by the doors out into the bright sunshine.
"No!" Buffy yelled.
Angel started to backpedal even as Gunn and Gru reached out to pull him back before he ran out into the sunlight himself.
"Conner!" Angel cried.
"You're gonna fry out here, man! You don't have you're ring on. Come on."
Angel watched Conner run out of the gates, Buffy not too far behind.
"We'll go." Gunn said as he and Gru took off after Conner and Buffy. Angel stood in the shadows by the door staring after them as Cordy came running out.
Gunn and Gru turned a corner and spotted Conner suddenly standing on a street corner, Buffy coming up slowly next to him. He spotted Gunn and Gru and ran out into the middle of the busy street and cars honked and swerved in an effort to avoid hitting him. Gunn and Gru stopped at the side of the road, blocked from following by the erratic traffic and trying to hold Buffy back so she wouldn't go after him in the busy street. Conner made it to the center of the street and stood on the centerline, staring back at Buffy, Gru, and Gunn as cars passed between them, honking. A bus passed behind Connor and he took off running, then scaled up the back of it.
Buffy, Gru, and Gunn watched him disappear down the street, crouched on top of the bus.
Buffy and Angel in the lead, everyone filed back into the hotel.
"Okay, anyone get the number of that bus?" Angel asked.
"Seventeen. I'll call, see where it ends up." Gunn said.
"Let me check online. It'll be faster." Fred said.
"That was it. That was it, Angel." Cordy said.
Angel, pulling on his coat, turned to Cordy. "No. No, it isn't. I'm gonna go find him."
"I mean the fight you just had. That was the vision I warned you about yesterday."
"You never mentioned Conner!"
"Because I only saw you."
"Angel? I hate to bring that up, but are we sure this was Conner? Just 'cause he said 'hi, dad'?" Gunn asked.
"That was him." Buffy said quietly.
"Couple of weeks ago he was wearing diapers. Now he's a teenager?"
"Tell me we don't live in a soap opera." Cordy murmured.
"Yeah, well, personally I'm less worried about the 'how he grew up' than the 'why he came back.'" Lorne said.
"He came back because he could. He found a way to escape that place." Angel said.
"Yeah, well, that's a possibility. Here is another: you sure he said 'hi, dad' and not 'you're dead'?"
"He's angry and afraid. As soon as we get a chance to talk to him... Fred?" Buffy said.
"Seventeen goes all the way downtown. Ends up at Union Station." She answered.
"Okay. Look, we're going underground. Somebody hit the surface streets."
Buffy and Angel ran off towards the basement.
"We got it, man." Gunn said.
"We will not fail man." Gru said.
Gunn turned to look at Gru.
"Let's split up." Cordy said, turning to Fred and Lorne. "You guys start at the end of the line work your way backward..." Cordy trailed off as the air above the Pentagram started to crackle and hiss again. "Okay. That can't be good."
"I'm guessing the dimensional rift from Quor-toth must still be open?" Fred asked.
"Yeah. So, what's say we close it up before anything else slithers, skitters or slides out of there." Lorne said.
"Amen to that." Gunn put in.
"Princess, perhaps your newfound powers can seal it shut." Gru suggested.
After a beat, Cordy said, "Can't hurt to try." She stepped into the middle of the Pentagram and lifted her hands to point at the air above her. "I command you: Close!" The air continued to crackle and Cordy turned away. "Okay. I got nothing."
"Actually we do know somebody who might be able to..." Fred started
"No. I already went to Wes's. Can't do that again." Gunn said.
"Well, I might know a guy, who knows another guy." Lorne said.
"Is it dangerous? Gunn and I can protect you." Gru said.
"Well, no. It's not dangerous, it's just awkward. This guy is all hands. I mean, all hands, like fifty of them. Anybody fluid in sign language?"
"You know, we can't all walk out of here when we have a cosmic crack hanging over us." Cordy said.
"Then I will stay and guard the hotel." Gru said, picking up a sword.
"I'm with him." Cordy said. She turned to Gunn and Fred. "You two hit the streets. Lorne..."
"Already gone."
Everyone headed out as Cordy got herself a sword to join Gru on his watch.
"You went to Wesley for me? He's the one who told you how to save me?" Fred asked.
"Yeah. He made it clear. That's a door none of us is ever going to be knocking on again." Gunn said.
Buffy and Angel walked along the sewer tunnels.
"I couldn't catch him. I couldn't catch him Angel! He's my son and I couldn't catch him!" Buffy said.
"I know. We're gonna find him and get him back. I promise you." Angel said.
"This is one promise that you better keep!"
"I will."
"Why couldn't I catch him damn it? Isn't that what a mom is supposed to do? You know, be there to help her child out?"
"Buffy."
"No! I'm a bad mom."
"No you're not."
"And you know the worst part? He knew it was me. He knew I was his mom. Or at least some part of him did. Did you see those two times when I said something he paused! He paused Angel."
"I saw." Suddenly, Angel's cell phone chirped. He looked at it and opened it up. "Did you find him?"
"No. Looks like we just missed him though. He's leaving a trail." Gunn said.
"What? Did he hurt somebody?"
"No, nothing like that. I mean gawkers. Folk's not used to seeing a kid in animal skins riding on top of a bus, not south of St. Monica Boulevard, anyway."
"Two more Robin Hood reports." Fred said in the background.
"You hear that? He's still headed downtown." Gunn said.
"Where are you?" Angel asked.
"Ah, just east of Union."
"He won't head all the way into town."
"You don't think?"
"Too many people. He'll jump off, head for some place less populated."
"Well, you want us to turn around, come and get you guys?"
"No. Just keep following the trail. The minute it goes cold, let me know."
"And if it doesn't go cold? I mean, if we find him first." "He's my son. He's my son, and he's alive. He's gonna stay alive."
"Right. Anything else we can do for you?"
"Yeah. Find my son and keep him safe until Buffy and I can talk to him." Angel closed his cell phone and he and Buffy moved on.
Three police cars surrounded the derelict car in the aqueduct. Gunn was talking to one of the officers. After a few minutes of friendly chit chat, he made his way out from under the yellow tape to meet up with Fred.
"A couple of shopkeepers saw Conner jump off the bus right up the road from here." Fred said.
They walked a little ways to where Buffy and Angel were standing in the shadows.
"He was here. I can smell him." Angel said.
"Cops say it was a drug thing gone wrong. Some guy got killed. It wasn't our boy. They caught one of the badies. ID-ed a local as the shooter." Gunn said.
"So, he was here but not part of..." Fred started.
"Oh, he was part of it, lot of mayhem." He looked at Buffy then at Angel. "Including the guy's ear sliced off as a trophy."
Fred made a face. "Uh!"
"He was raised in a hell dimension, okay?" Buffy said defensively.
"So, how do you wanna play this?" Gunn asked.
"Well, it'll be dark soon. You two head back to the hotel."
"Shouldn't we all keep looking?" Fred asked.
"We have a better chance finding him by ourselves. We don't wanna scare him. He's all alone in a strange world."
"Sunny?" Conner called. He had saved Sunny earlier from that bad guy that was tying to hurt her. Now Conner owned that guy's ear.
There was no answer and Conner slowly made his way across the room. He heard some wood creaking and spun to look behind him.
"Sunny?" he called.
When there was no answer he continued on, and pushed open the door to the bathroom, revealing Sunny slumped against the side of the bathtub. There was a tourniquet around her upper arm and a syringe still sticking out of her forearm.
Conner crouched down beside her, briefly touching her shoulder.
Conner stared quietly. "Sunny?"
He reached down and picked up a packet of 'medicine' Sunny had showed him earlier, then stood up. Conner turned around to find a blond woman that seemed really familiar to him and Angelus standing in the door behind him.
"Conner." The blond woman said.
Buffy and Angel saw Sunny slumped against the bathtub and Buffy grabbed a hold on Conner's arm, pushing his sleeve up.
"She didn't shoot any of this crap in you, did she?" Buffy asked tenderly.
Conner pulled free. "No."
Buffy held up her hands in a placating gesture. "Okay. I'm sorry. I just..." Buffy looked at Angel who was glancing at Sunny. "We'll take care of this, okay? Together. All three of us."
Conner shook his head. "Too late. Too late."
Conner walked past Buffy back into the main motel room.
"Connor. I'm sorry about... Was she you're friend? Conner. Just talk to me. I know that somewhere inside, you know who I am."
Buffy and Angel trailed after Conner and watched him pick up a jacket and sniff at it.
"Well, you know, I figure you have to be feeling like you traded in one hell dimension for another right about now, but if you just let me..." Angel started gently. "What are you doing?" He took the jacket away from Conner. "What is that?"
"Give that back!" Conner said.
Angel sniffed the jacket. "Why? Who're you tracking?"
Conner made a grab for the jacket, but Buffy stopped him. A quick search of the pockets by Angel brought out another packet of drugs.
"Right. I get it. You're going after they guy that gave her the junk." Angel said.
"His medicine killed her." Conner said.
"And you're going to do what about it?"
"Punish."
"You mean, kill?" Buffy asked.
Connor made another stab at the jacket, and again Buffy stopped him.
"Slow down." She said.
Conner attacked Angel, but Angel took a hold of him and pushed him up against the wall.
"Listen to me!" Angel said.
Conner slammed Angel up against the wall in turn. "No!"
"Hey! Back off you two!" Buffy said, putting an arm on each of their shoulders.
Angel sighed as Conner let go of him and went to retrieve the jacket. Angel took a hold of his son, and again pushed him up against the wall.
"You will listen." Angel said.
Conner hauled back and clocked Angel across the face.
Angel pushed Conner's face into the wall.
"HEY!" Buffy yelled.
"I'm not gonna let you walk out that door and get into any more trouble. Hear me?" Angel asked.
"Fine." Conner replied.
Angel let go of him and took a step back. After a moment Conner spun around and attacked Angel again, only to get tossed on the floor by Buffy.
Buffy let out a sigh. "I'm sorry. You just don't understand how this world works."
"I understand. Sunny was nice. Now she's dead." Conner said, looking up at the strong blond woman.
"Conner..."
"Stop calling me that! My name is Steven."
Buffy and Angel just looked at Conner.