A/N Ok, I know I said Tara shouldn't die, but I decided that Willow should
go on a vengeance kick. This is supposed to follow both shows right?
Well, even though it boggles my mind as to why Joss would do that, I feel
it should happen for the purpose of next season (and also by a reviewers
suggestion). Oh, and my friend April wanted me to say hey in one of my
chapters. So, Hey Apes!
Chapter 27
Conner sat on his bed when the knock sounded on his door.
"Come in."
Buffy came in and shut the door behind her. "Hey."
"Hi."
"We're about ready to go."
"Ok."
"How's your cheek?"
"Stings a little. What about yours?"
"I heal fast."
They stayed in silence for a few minutes. He noticed that she stood a little uncomfortably and she avoided looking directly at him.
"You don't have to stay. Just come get me when you're ready to go." Conner said.
"Conner, sweetie, I know that you feel bad about last night. I just wish that you could feel better. I love you and I'm not that mad about the whole beating your father and knocking me out and trying to put your father in the ocean forever. You thought that Angel had killed Holtz, the man that raised you, but he's not your father. Angel is a good man, and he loves you. Just try to accept that."
"I'm trying. The only thing that really confuses me is that my dad is a vampire and my mom is a vampire slayer. You're human, but he's not."
"Conner, to me, Angel is human. He may not have a beating heart like the rest of the human race and he has superhuman strength, but hey, so do we." Buffy walked over and sat down next to Conner. "Angel has a soul, he loves me and he loves you."
"I know. That's not the answer I was really looking for."
"Oh. You want to know how you got here." Conner nodded his head. "To tell you the truth, I don't know myself. There was a prophecy that the two warriors of the light will come to together and make one. But that really doesn't explain you, does it?"
"Not really."
"I can't answer that question the exact way that it should be answered, but I can give you the birds and the bees talk."
Conner smiled and let out a small laugh.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Fath.Holtz, gave me that talk."
"Oh. Well, he probably gave it to you wrong. I doubt the guy ever had sex the whole time he was here. Unless Justine decided to. Ok, I'm gonna shut up here."
"You don't have to. I saw how bad she was.and how bad Holtz was. It's not easy."
"What's not?"
"Telling them apart. The ones that are evil and the ones that are good."
"No, it's not easy. I had to help my friend Riley out with the same topic."
"How'd that work out?"
"Not as well as it should have, but it helped him a little. He was part of a government thing that didn't allow any place for that 'gray area' between good and evil. All he saw was demons and vampires bad, humans good. Then he started to see that 'gray area' where Angel, you, me, Cordy, Lorne, and a lot of others stand. We." Buffy was interrupted by the door opening and Angel popping his head in.
"Sorry, but just wanted to let you know: we're packed and ready to go." Angel said.
"Ok." Buffy said. She turned to Conner. "We'll continue this back at home. Ok?"
"Sure." Conner and Buffy stood up and walked out into hallway with Angel.
"Dawn's downstairs waiting for us." Angel said.
"Ok. Let's go." Buffy said. She grabbed Angel's hand and put her arm around Conner's shoulders. They walked downstairs and Dawn joined them on the landing.
"Smile!" Gunn called. He took a picture of the family. "That one is going to be framed."
Buffy walked up to him and hugged him. "I'm gonna miss you."
"Hey, I'm always a phone call and an hour and a half drive away." She went to Fred and hugged her. Fred was crying a little.
"Hey, don't cry. We're not leaving forever. We'll be here to visit often." Buffy said.
"I know, it's just you all look so good together." Fred said.
"Thank you." Buffy hugged Fred again then turned to Conner.
"Hey Conner." Fred said.
"Hi."
"Are you ready to go to Sunnydale?"
"I guess, kind of."
"Hey! Where's Cordy and Gru?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know." Angel said, coming up beside her.
"She wouldn't miss this."
"We tried her apartment again, but there still wasn't any answer." Gunn said.
"We'll swing by before we leave and say bye if she's there." Angel said.
"Keep in touch man!" Gunn said to Angel.
"You know it." Angel smiled and shook hands with Gunn.
"You too Conner. You're quite the teenage warrior. We've gotta keep a close eye on you." Gunn smiled.
Conner smiled back as they all said their last goodbyes and went out to the Jeep. Dawn and Conner got in the back and Buffy and Angel up front. They drove to Cordy's apartment, but no one was there. They figured that Gru and Cordy were off somewhere because they found a note lying on the ground in front of the door.
It read, "I've gone. You love another and I cannot stand to watch you grow away from me. I will be at the LA airport waiting for you to come prove me wrong. I bought two tickets to New York City in case you decide to come. I love you princess."
"That's so sad." Buffy said.
"Who else did Gru think that Cordy was in love with?" Angel asked.
"I don't know."
"I'll call Gunn on the way home and tell him that Cordy and Gru are in New York. I'll leave the letter here in case they come by."
"Good idea."
They walked back to the car and drove off. Angel called Gunn and told him about the letter. Then they were on the freeway back home. Conner and Buffy were out for an hour before Angel woke them up. They were home.
On Buffy's front lawn, a sign read "Welcome Home Conner!" Buffy smiled and so did Angel. Willow, Tara, Xander, and Giles walked out of the house. Buffy's eyes widened as she saw Giles. She bolted out of the car and ran into his arms.
"Giles! Oh Giles! I missed you."
"Hello Buffy. It is good to see you too."
They hugged each other for a few more seconds before Buffy broke away.
"Giles, there is someone I want you to meet." She motioned for Conner to come to her. He did with Angel right behind him. "Rupert Giles, I would like you to meet my son, Conner. Conner, this is my watcher, Rupert Giles."
"Hello." Conner said. "Mom talks about you every now and then."
"Hello." Giles said in all his British guy manners. "Shall we go inside? Willow and Tara have made food."
"Oh, yeah. Come on." Buffy took Conner's hand and they walked into the house. "Conner, this is Willow Rosenburg."
"Hi, you can call me Aunt Willow." Willow said brightly.
"And this is Tara Stephens."
"Hi." Tara said. "It's nice to meet you. I hope you like it here."
"Hi to both of you." Conner said.
"Hey there sport!" Xander said.
"Conner, this is Xander Harris. He's the one we got your middle name from." Buffy said.
"Alexander." Conner murmured.
"Yup, that's my name. Oh, but please don't call me that. Just call me Uncle Xander."
"Conner, do you want to go up and see your room?" Willow asked.
"Yeah sure." He replied.
Willow led them upstairs and into the little room that Angel had had built less than two months ago. They had refurnished it with boy stuff. There were a couple of sports posters on the walls and a ball and glove lying on a little dresser. The twin-sized bed was decked out in dark blue sheets.
"Willow! This is amazing!" Buffy said. "How did you pay for all this?"
"Well, when you called and told us Conner had gotten older, we went and sold all of his baby things, except the stuffed animals, and bought this stuff." Willow replied happily.
"Thank you Will!" Buffy hugged her best friend.
"Yes, thank you so much Willow." Angel said, hugging her too.
"Thank you Willow." Conner said.
"Ah, you guys need to thank Tara and Dawn. It was their idea after all."
"Oh. Well, let's drop your things in here and go join the party. What do ya say?" she asked Conner.
"Ok. Sure." Conner answered.
Angel went into his and Buffy's room and got a little suitcase and brought it back into the little room. He laid it down then walked back to his mom and dad. Willow had gone back downstairs.
"Mom, there's a lot of people down there." Conner said.
"I know. I'm not the biggest crowd person myself, but they're my family. Willow and Tara live here too, but they are going to move out for the new school year. That way we'll have more room." Buffy said.
"Oh."
"Are you ready to go down and mingle?" Angel asked.
"Yeah, sure." Conner said.
They headed back downstairs. Willow met them at the bottom with a big gift in her arms.
"What's this?" Buffy asked.
"It's for Conner." Willow answered.
"Me?" Conner asked.
"Yeah. Here, could you kinda take this? It's kinda heavy."
"Ok." Conner picked it up with little effort. He took it in the living the living room and sat it down on the floor. He knelt down and opened the wrapping carefully.
"You don't have to worry about tearing it. It's paper." Willow said.
"I know, but this paper is pretty. I would like to keep it."
"Oh."
Buffy smiled. Conner opened the box and found a little TV in it.
"What's this?" he asked.
"It's a television. It shows moving pictures that tell a story." Buffy explained.
"We'll get you cable." Angel said.
Suddenly, Spike and Faith came bursting through the door, both out of breath.
"Faith! Spike! What's wrong?" Buffy asked stepping up to them.
"Warren. he's. really strong." Spike said between breaths.
"What?"
"Oh, bloody hell slayer! That psycho nerd Warren?"
"I know who you're talking about!"
"He's bleedin' strong! He just jumped Faith and I."
"We just barely got away." Faith said.
"Ok guys, time to spring into action. Xander, go to the Bronze, see if you can catch him there. Willow, bring out those disks that we found a while back, try and get some info off of them. Giles, you and Tara go back to the Magic Box and see if you can find a spell that might cause someone human to gain strength. There's no way that Warren can get that strong without some sort of power. Spike and Faith, you go out and patrol some more. We'll meet you guys later. Angel, you, me, and Conner will stay here and wait for any useful info off those disks. Everybody know what to do?" They all shook their heads. "Ok. Let's get to work."
They all headed to their places. Willow booted up her laptop and soon had the disks decoded. They had found cameras a while back that they had discovered were planted in every possible place that one could find the Scooby Gang. Buffy had gotten jealous because they had caught Spike and Anya together. That was long over with now. She was happy with Angel. Back to the subject at hand. Willow had been talking and Buffy had been wrapped up in unhappy memories.
".they're going to hit at the amusement park just outside of town tonight." Willow finished.
"Good. Then that's where we'll go." Buffy said.
"What about me?" Dawn asked.
"You're going to stay here and help Willow out."
"Why can't I come with?"
"Because."
With that, Buffy, Angel, and Conner left, heading towards the amusement park.
When they arrived, Warren was turning over a truck. Buffy ran and silently landed on top of the overturned truck.
"Unless this is your bank, that's gonna cost you." Buffy said.
"Oh good I was hoping you'd show." Warren said.
"Wouldn't want to disappoint." Buffy said, jumping off the truck. They exchanged a few blows. Buffy was shocked to find how strong Warren was. She wasn't about to show that though. She hit him and then he sent her flying back onto the ground.
"Time to show you what a real man's like. Do you know who I am?" Warren asked smugly.
"You're a murderer." Buffy answered. She shot up and punched him a few times before she kicked him sending him back onto the stone arch holding up the sign to the amusement park. It came crashing down on Warren. Buffy grimaced and then looked at Andrew and Jonathan who were being held by Conner and Angel. "This can go either way. It can hurt bad or it can hurt worse."
"I think it's gonna hurt worse." Andrew said.
Buffy looked at where he was looking and saw Warren stand from beneath the rubble.
"That hurt slayer." He attacked. They exchanged more blows and then Buffy kicked him into the back of the truck. He said something that Buffy really wasn't listening to because Jonathan was on her back.
"It's the orbs. Smash the orbs." Jonathan whispered. Then he was gone. Angel had yanked him off of her. Then Warren was on her again. He was stronger than she had first anticipated. He kicked her into a bench and she turned around to see him coming up to her.
"Say goodnight bitch."
Buffy saw the orbs in a little brown satchel attached to his belt. Before he could stop her, she reached up and yanked them off, smashing them on the pavement. There was a bright flash of light and then Warren looked confused. Buffy stood up and looked him in the eye.
"Goodnight bitch." Then she kicked him full force in the stomach and he went flying back. Angel and Conner released Andrew and Jonathan. Warren stood painfully.
"I'll be back slayer. You just watch." Then Warren pulled off his jacket and revealed a jet pack. He took off.
Buffy looked up after him. "Oh COME ON!"
"You've won this time slayer," Andrew pulled off his jacket.
"Why didn't I get one?" Jonathan whined.
"See you all later." Andrew took off, but the roof of an awning stopped him and knocked him out.
Buffy stifled a laugh as the cops' sirens started. She motioned to Conner and Angel to follow her. They took off and headed back home.
When they arrived, everyone was asleep. Buffy called Giles at the Magic Box and told him to go ahead and pack up. He said that he had to leave first thing in the morning to go back to England.
"What? Why? You just got here." Buffy said.
"I know. But I have to get back to my job. I came because I wanted to meet my slayer's son and see her happy family." Giles said.
"This sucks!"
"I'll be back I promise."
"Whatever. I have to go put my son to bed. Goodnight Giles." Buffy hung up and went to bed. She laid awake most of the night, talking quietly to Angel.
Buffy was poking around in her back yard when Xander, Angel, and Conner walked up.
"Is it spring poking time already?" Xander quipped.
"Just checking for trez nerds cameras, or is that uno nerds?"
"You mean the evil playing card game?" Angel asked.
Buffy smiled. "Hey Conner."
"Hey mom."
"How are you? Like it here?"
"It's fine. It's going to take some getting used to, but." Conner trailed off as Warren came barreling around the corner holding a handgun.
"You think you could just do that to me? Huh? Well, I'm gonna make you pay." Warren shot at them. Angel grabbed Conner and shoved him to the ground while Buffy blocked Xander and took a bullet to her left shoulder. She fell to the ground in pain.
Upstairs, Willow's shirt was suddenly splattered with blood.
"Your shirt." Tara said as she fell to the floor.
Angel shot up and went to Buffy's still form. "Buffy? Oh God, Buffy! Come on baby. Don't do this to me. Xander, go call an ambulance."
Buffy laid there, staring up at the crystal clear sky as she felt herself start to die from a gunshot wound.
"Buffy!" Angel called.
Chapter 27
Conner sat on his bed when the knock sounded on his door.
"Come in."
Buffy came in and shut the door behind her. "Hey."
"Hi."
"We're about ready to go."
"Ok."
"How's your cheek?"
"Stings a little. What about yours?"
"I heal fast."
They stayed in silence for a few minutes. He noticed that she stood a little uncomfortably and she avoided looking directly at him.
"You don't have to stay. Just come get me when you're ready to go." Conner said.
"Conner, sweetie, I know that you feel bad about last night. I just wish that you could feel better. I love you and I'm not that mad about the whole beating your father and knocking me out and trying to put your father in the ocean forever. You thought that Angel had killed Holtz, the man that raised you, but he's not your father. Angel is a good man, and he loves you. Just try to accept that."
"I'm trying. The only thing that really confuses me is that my dad is a vampire and my mom is a vampire slayer. You're human, but he's not."
"Conner, to me, Angel is human. He may not have a beating heart like the rest of the human race and he has superhuman strength, but hey, so do we." Buffy walked over and sat down next to Conner. "Angel has a soul, he loves me and he loves you."
"I know. That's not the answer I was really looking for."
"Oh. You want to know how you got here." Conner nodded his head. "To tell you the truth, I don't know myself. There was a prophecy that the two warriors of the light will come to together and make one. But that really doesn't explain you, does it?"
"Not really."
"I can't answer that question the exact way that it should be answered, but I can give you the birds and the bees talk."
Conner smiled and let out a small laugh.
"What?" Buffy asked.
"Fath.Holtz, gave me that talk."
"Oh. Well, he probably gave it to you wrong. I doubt the guy ever had sex the whole time he was here. Unless Justine decided to. Ok, I'm gonna shut up here."
"You don't have to. I saw how bad she was.and how bad Holtz was. It's not easy."
"What's not?"
"Telling them apart. The ones that are evil and the ones that are good."
"No, it's not easy. I had to help my friend Riley out with the same topic."
"How'd that work out?"
"Not as well as it should have, but it helped him a little. He was part of a government thing that didn't allow any place for that 'gray area' between good and evil. All he saw was demons and vampires bad, humans good. Then he started to see that 'gray area' where Angel, you, me, Cordy, Lorne, and a lot of others stand. We." Buffy was interrupted by the door opening and Angel popping his head in.
"Sorry, but just wanted to let you know: we're packed and ready to go." Angel said.
"Ok." Buffy said. She turned to Conner. "We'll continue this back at home. Ok?"
"Sure." Conner and Buffy stood up and walked out into hallway with Angel.
"Dawn's downstairs waiting for us." Angel said.
"Ok. Let's go." Buffy said. She grabbed Angel's hand and put her arm around Conner's shoulders. They walked downstairs and Dawn joined them on the landing.
"Smile!" Gunn called. He took a picture of the family. "That one is going to be framed."
Buffy walked up to him and hugged him. "I'm gonna miss you."
"Hey, I'm always a phone call and an hour and a half drive away." She went to Fred and hugged her. Fred was crying a little.
"Hey, don't cry. We're not leaving forever. We'll be here to visit often." Buffy said.
"I know, it's just you all look so good together." Fred said.
"Thank you." Buffy hugged Fred again then turned to Conner.
"Hey Conner." Fred said.
"Hi."
"Are you ready to go to Sunnydale?"
"I guess, kind of."
"Hey! Where's Cordy and Gru?" Buffy asked.
"I don't know." Angel said, coming up beside her.
"She wouldn't miss this."
"We tried her apartment again, but there still wasn't any answer." Gunn said.
"We'll swing by before we leave and say bye if she's there." Angel said.
"Keep in touch man!" Gunn said to Angel.
"You know it." Angel smiled and shook hands with Gunn.
"You too Conner. You're quite the teenage warrior. We've gotta keep a close eye on you." Gunn smiled.
Conner smiled back as they all said their last goodbyes and went out to the Jeep. Dawn and Conner got in the back and Buffy and Angel up front. They drove to Cordy's apartment, but no one was there. They figured that Gru and Cordy were off somewhere because they found a note lying on the ground in front of the door.
It read, "I've gone. You love another and I cannot stand to watch you grow away from me. I will be at the LA airport waiting for you to come prove me wrong. I bought two tickets to New York City in case you decide to come. I love you princess."
"That's so sad." Buffy said.
"Who else did Gru think that Cordy was in love with?" Angel asked.
"I don't know."
"I'll call Gunn on the way home and tell him that Cordy and Gru are in New York. I'll leave the letter here in case they come by."
"Good idea."
They walked back to the car and drove off. Angel called Gunn and told him about the letter. Then they were on the freeway back home. Conner and Buffy were out for an hour before Angel woke them up. They were home.
On Buffy's front lawn, a sign read "Welcome Home Conner!" Buffy smiled and so did Angel. Willow, Tara, Xander, and Giles walked out of the house. Buffy's eyes widened as she saw Giles. She bolted out of the car and ran into his arms.
"Giles! Oh Giles! I missed you."
"Hello Buffy. It is good to see you too."
They hugged each other for a few more seconds before Buffy broke away.
"Giles, there is someone I want you to meet." She motioned for Conner to come to her. He did with Angel right behind him. "Rupert Giles, I would like you to meet my son, Conner. Conner, this is my watcher, Rupert Giles."
"Hello." Conner said. "Mom talks about you every now and then."
"Hello." Giles said in all his British guy manners. "Shall we go inside? Willow and Tara have made food."
"Oh, yeah. Come on." Buffy took Conner's hand and they walked into the house. "Conner, this is Willow Rosenburg."
"Hi, you can call me Aunt Willow." Willow said brightly.
"And this is Tara Stephens."
"Hi." Tara said. "It's nice to meet you. I hope you like it here."
"Hi to both of you." Conner said.
"Hey there sport!" Xander said.
"Conner, this is Xander Harris. He's the one we got your middle name from." Buffy said.
"Alexander." Conner murmured.
"Yup, that's my name. Oh, but please don't call me that. Just call me Uncle Xander."
"Conner, do you want to go up and see your room?" Willow asked.
"Yeah sure." He replied.
Willow led them upstairs and into the little room that Angel had had built less than two months ago. They had refurnished it with boy stuff. There were a couple of sports posters on the walls and a ball and glove lying on a little dresser. The twin-sized bed was decked out in dark blue sheets.
"Willow! This is amazing!" Buffy said. "How did you pay for all this?"
"Well, when you called and told us Conner had gotten older, we went and sold all of his baby things, except the stuffed animals, and bought this stuff." Willow replied happily.
"Thank you Will!" Buffy hugged her best friend.
"Yes, thank you so much Willow." Angel said, hugging her too.
"Thank you Willow." Conner said.
"Ah, you guys need to thank Tara and Dawn. It was their idea after all."
"Oh. Well, let's drop your things in here and go join the party. What do ya say?" she asked Conner.
"Ok. Sure." Conner answered.
Angel went into his and Buffy's room and got a little suitcase and brought it back into the little room. He laid it down then walked back to his mom and dad. Willow had gone back downstairs.
"Mom, there's a lot of people down there." Conner said.
"I know. I'm not the biggest crowd person myself, but they're my family. Willow and Tara live here too, but they are going to move out for the new school year. That way we'll have more room." Buffy said.
"Oh."
"Are you ready to go down and mingle?" Angel asked.
"Yeah, sure." Conner said.
They headed back downstairs. Willow met them at the bottom with a big gift in her arms.
"What's this?" Buffy asked.
"It's for Conner." Willow answered.
"Me?" Conner asked.
"Yeah. Here, could you kinda take this? It's kinda heavy."
"Ok." Conner picked it up with little effort. He took it in the living the living room and sat it down on the floor. He knelt down and opened the wrapping carefully.
"You don't have to worry about tearing it. It's paper." Willow said.
"I know, but this paper is pretty. I would like to keep it."
"Oh."
Buffy smiled. Conner opened the box and found a little TV in it.
"What's this?" he asked.
"It's a television. It shows moving pictures that tell a story." Buffy explained.
"We'll get you cable." Angel said.
Suddenly, Spike and Faith came bursting through the door, both out of breath.
"Faith! Spike! What's wrong?" Buffy asked stepping up to them.
"Warren. he's. really strong." Spike said between breaths.
"What?"
"Oh, bloody hell slayer! That psycho nerd Warren?"
"I know who you're talking about!"
"He's bleedin' strong! He just jumped Faith and I."
"We just barely got away." Faith said.
"Ok guys, time to spring into action. Xander, go to the Bronze, see if you can catch him there. Willow, bring out those disks that we found a while back, try and get some info off of them. Giles, you and Tara go back to the Magic Box and see if you can find a spell that might cause someone human to gain strength. There's no way that Warren can get that strong without some sort of power. Spike and Faith, you go out and patrol some more. We'll meet you guys later. Angel, you, me, and Conner will stay here and wait for any useful info off those disks. Everybody know what to do?" They all shook their heads. "Ok. Let's get to work."
They all headed to their places. Willow booted up her laptop and soon had the disks decoded. They had found cameras a while back that they had discovered were planted in every possible place that one could find the Scooby Gang. Buffy had gotten jealous because they had caught Spike and Anya together. That was long over with now. She was happy with Angel. Back to the subject at hand. Willow had been talking and Buffy had been wrapped up in unhappy memories.
".they're going to hit at the amusement park just outside of town tonight." Willow finished.
"Good. Then that's where we'll go." Buffy said.
"What about me?" Dawn asked.
"You're going to stay here and help Willow out."
"Why can't I come with?"
"Because."
With that, Buffy, Angel, and Conner left, heading towards the amusement park.
When they arrived, Warren was turning over a truck. Buffy ran and silently landed on top of the overturned truck.
"Unless this is your bank, that's gonna cost you." Buffy said.
"Oh good I was hoping you'd show." Warren said.
"Wouldn't want to disappoint." Buffy said, jumping off the truck. They exchanged a few blows. Buffy was shocked to find how strong Warren was. She wasn't about to show that though. She hit him and then he sent her flying back onto the ground.
"Time to show you what a real man's like. Do you know who I am?" Warren asked smugly.
"You're a murderer." Buffy answered. She shot up and punched him a few times before she kicked him sending him back onto the stone arch holding up the sign to the amusement park. It came crashing down on Warren. Buffy grimaced and then looked at Andrew and Jonathan who were being held by Conner and Angel. "This can go either way. It can hurt bad or it can hurt worse."
"I think it's gonna hurt worse." Andrew said.
Buffy looked at where he was looking and saw Warren stand from beneath the rubble.
"That hurt slayer." He attacked. They exchanged more blows and then Buffy kicked him into the back of the truck. He said something that Buffy really wasn't listening to because Jonathan was on her back.
"It's the orbs. Smash the orbs." Jonathan whispered. Then he was gone. Angel had yanked him off of her. Then Warren was on her again. He was stronger than she had first anticipated. He kicked her into a bench and she turned around to see him coming up to her.
"Say goodnight bitch."
Buffy saw the orbs in a little brown satchel attached to his belt. Before he could stop her, she reached up and yanked them off, smashing them on the pavement. There was a bright flash of light and then Warren looked confused. Buffy stood up and looked him in the eye.
"Goodnight bitch." Then she kicked him full force in the stomach and he went flying back. Angel and Conner released Andrew and Jonathan. Warren stood painfully.
"I'll be back slayer. You just watch." Then Warren pulled off his jacket and revealed a jet pack. He took off.
Buffy looked up after him. "Oh COME ON!"
"You've won this time slayer," Andrew pulled off his jacket.
"Why didn't I get one?" Jonathan whined.
"See you all later." Andrew took off, but the roof of an awning stopped him and knocked him out.
Buffy stifled a laugh as the cops' sirens started. She motioned to Conner and Angel to follow her. They took off and headed back home.
When they arrived, everyone was asleep. Buffy called Giles at the Magic Box and told him to go ahead and pack up. He said that he had to leave first thing in the morning to go back to England.
"What? Why? You just got here." Buffy said.
"I know. But I have to get back to my job. I came because I wanted to meet my slayer's son and see her happy family." Giles said.
"This sucks!"
"I'll be back I promise."
"Whatever. I have to go put my son to bed. Goodnight Giles." Buffy hung up and went to bed. She laid awake most of the night, talking quietly to Angel.
Buffy was poking around in her back yard when Xander, Angel, and Conner walked up.
"Is it spring poking time already?" Xander quipped.
"Just checking for trez nerds cameras, or is that uno nerds?"
"You mean the evil playing card game?" Angel asked.
Buffy smiled. "Hey Conner."
"Hey mom."
"How are you? Like it here?"
"It's fine. It's going to take some getting used to, but." Conner trailed off as Warren came barreling around the corner holding a handgun.
"You think you could just do that to me? Huh? Well, I'm gonna make you pay." Warren shot at them. Angel grabbed Conner and shoved him to the ground while Buffy blocked Xander and took a bullet to her left shoulder. She fell to the ground in pain.
Upstairs, Willow's shirt was suddenly splattered with blood.
"Your shirt." Tara said as she fell to the floor.
Angel shot up and went to Buffy's still form. "Buffy? Oh God, Buffy! Come on baby. Don't do this to me. Xander, go call an ambulance."
Buffy laid there, staring up at the crystal clear sky as she felt herself start to die from a gunshot wound.
"Buffy!" Angel called.