SEVEN: CONNOR
Dear Connor,
Forgive him,
Love Buffy.
Connor stared at the folded piece of paper that had been handed to him. He unfolded the paper and found only six words written inside. He read them, wondering who this person was.
Forgive him.
He could only assume that the 'him' was Angel. Who was this girl who had made his father cry? Who was this girl who had asked him to forgive his father? And how did this girl know that he still resented Angel for the acts of Angelus?
He looked up at his father and found that Angel was still in tears. He approached carefully.
"Who was she?" Connor asked quietly.
Angel looked at his son and gave him a tiny smile. "The first person I ever loved. She…before you, she was my everything."
Connor nodded and began realising why this girl as so important. Connor reached out and slowly took Angel's note from Buffy and read it. This girl had loved his father deeply. Deeply enough to tell Angel that she would always be his. She'd obviously forgiven Angel completely for what he'd done.
"We couldn't be together," Angel continued, his voice hushed, sad and quiet. "So I left. She…if anyone should have been your mother, it should have been her. She would have loved you with everything she had and then some. I don't even know how she knew about you."
"And she loved you?" Connor asked.
Dawn managed a snort of laughter even through her tears. "That's an understatement," she said.
Angel couldn't help but feel slightly gratified that it wasn't just he who had held onto Buffy, but that Buffy had held onto him as well.
Connor nodded and could only hope that over the coming years, he would find out what it was that this person who should have been his mother had seen in Angel. Perhaps he could learn more about her and slowly begin to forgive his father for the things that Connor logically understood he'd had no control over. Connor sighed and slowly began to forgive his dad.