Disclaimer: I own none, only Casey. I may not even own the plot which may be owned by Ivorycat (read her stories, they're good!). She also may be writing for this, so look out for her input. Joss, the insane god he is, owns the whole cast of characters you see, save again, for Casey, she is mine.
Attention: Look, there will be talk of, if not seen, cases of child abuse from Holtz. This happens because in my time line, Holtz took much of his anger out on Casey, and some out on Connor. But Connor was the favorite child of the two. More about that later. There also may be instance of corporal punishment. I would like to inform people that child abuse and corporal punishment are two different things. Corporal punishment will only happen when there is need for it to happen, and it will always be done in a loving environment.
Author's Note: I am going to try and put my teenage characters though what normal teenagers go through. That may be bad grades, idiot teachers, sexual harassment, drugs, alcohol, and that such. Some may be embellished a little, but guess what? If they are, that's because I have yet to experience them in my high school. Now don't say that I make this some kind of soap opera, because quite frankly, life is one.
Summery: When the Fang Gang learns of Connor's misdeed, people take it different ways.
Chapter Four: The Real Traitor
As the month passed Connor came around more and more, getting comfortable with the people that lived in the Hyperion. The people in the Hyperion warmed up to Connor slowly but surely, not really knowing what the volatile teenager would too if provoked.
Casey had quickly adapted to the people around her. Once observing how the males acted around her, she grew somewhat more comfortable. But the only times she fully felt relaxed was when she was around Cordelia, the first person who had shown her kindness in this strange world. The Fang Gang knew Casey as a fun loving girl that would stand up for her rights. The only time that anyone saw her not do this was when Connor was around.
Whenever the brother and sister were around one another Connor was dominating and Casey was submissive. But even then she held a small amount of anger towards him. She was still uneasy around him, maybe it was because she grew up with him, but who knew.
But Connor aside, Casey was generally happy with her new life. Once she became Cordelia's constant shadow, she grew to love the busy life that was LA. Even by just being around Cordelia so much, she grew to trust Angel himself. She even got the two to admit their 'mutual attraction' to one another, which was a big plus on her side.
On the night of Cordelia and Angel's first date, Angel asked Cordelia to wait at the hotel as he prepared a moonlit picnic by the beach. With this in mind he went by himself to set everything up, promising to call once everything was set up, the only thing was, he never called. Everyone soon became concerned when dawn came rolling around, but there was nothing they could do, save for try and keep calling his cell phone and waiting.
When Connor came home from his nightly romps and saw everyone waiting around, he just shrugged it off and went to bed. This just made Casey's hackles rise. She knew that he had a crush on Cordy, it was blatantly obvious, but it was also blatantly obvious that Cordelia was in love with Angel so Connor didn't even stand a chance. But what really bothered her was that Connor didn't even stop to ask what was wrong.
And that just pissed her off even more.
Casey genuinely liked Angel; he had accepted her as his daughter and treated her, as a father should, not the way Holtz had. And he had done more of it in one month than Holtz ever had. Casey enjoyed her life, and if she found out that Connor had anything to do with messing it up, there would be hell to pay.
Angel never came home that evening, leaving Lorne, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, Cordelia, and Casey in turmoil. Connor acted as if nothing had happened, although he did partake in the nightly patrols, but usually he just went off on his own, coming back at dawn. Casey was still suspicious of her brother, but without any proof, she had nothing, so she just put those suspicions in the back of her mind and that's the way life was over the summer.
Until one day she started to look through and practice some mental exercises that were in the books Wesley didn't know Casey was looking at. Relaxing, as was her custom, she felt her inner being rise up and begin to float. She was looking for things to explore when she came across Connor who was sprawled out upon his bed, sleeping. Looking at him though her mind's eye, Casey debated if she should enter his mind or not. Finally her curiosity got the better of her and she dove in.
What she found surprised her and she soon found herself back in her body. Her eyes were opened wide and her breathing was rapid and heavy. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself and went to stand up. She had to find Wesley. Casey knew that Wesley would most likely be upset with her for going though his stuff, but finding out where Angel was, was a much more important thing to worry about.
Casey was right, Wesley was rather perturbed at her for going though his stuff and promptly set her off to catalogue the new shipments of books they had gotten in. It was a boring task, but Casey did it in the neat handwriting that Holtz had required from her. Maybe what he taught her wasn't all bad, just most of it was. She heard Wesley and Gunn leave and she prayed that they would find Angel soon, both she and Cordelia missed the souled vampire greatly.
As Casey was finished writing down all the books, she turned to see Fred dragging an unconscious Connor down the stairs. "Good, you got him," Casey said sweetly, letting a dark side, a by-product of living in Quor-Toth, show itself.
"Yes I do, now will you help me?" Fred asked. The two carried him into the kitchen and tied him up.
Just as Connor regained continuousness Casey heard Wesley and Gunn come in, half-dragging something rather heavy in. Casey turned for just a second and saw the two men put Angel on a couch. Seeing the tiny scabs on Wesley's arm, Casey realized what was happening to her father, at least the closest thing she was going to get to a father. Rushing towards him, she pulled up her sleeve and put it close to Angel's mouth.
As Angel stopped drinking from Casey's arm, there was a loud crash, as if someone hit the wall.
"Fred!" Gunn ran in to see his girlfriend slumped against the wall.
Gunn charged at Connor, who just sent him flying towards Fred, knocking him out. By that time Cordelia had come downstairs with Lorne, when they both saw Angel in the lobby, they rushed over to him, Cordelia in tears. With their help he walked over to the kitchen where Casey was standing in the doorway, looking at Connor, holding his attention.
"Look who the traitor is now," she whispered, giving a manacle grin.
"It's still you, you know," Connor spit out, but his eyes remained locked upon hers.
Slowly Angel put a hand on Casey's shoulder, but unlike the first time he did this, she didn't shrink away. "It's my turn," he whispered into her ear. She nodded and looked away, towards Gunn and Fred who were just waking up.
"Sit down," Angel commanded. Connor looked at him, rebellion clearly written in his eyes, but after a moment, he did what he was told.
Angel looked at him, and gave him a friendly smile, "So, how was your summer? Mine was fun. Saw some fish. Went mad with hunger. Hallucinated a whole bunch."
Connor scowled, "You deserved worse."
Angel raised an eyebrow at this, "Because I killed Holtz? Except I didn't. I tried telling you that while you were busy offshore dumping me, but I didn't know the whole score. Holtz killed himself. Actually, he had your buddy Justine do it with an ice pick. Just to make you hate me."
Connor looked at him, the information sinking in, "Even if - you still deserved it," he sputtered.
Angel just crept closer to him and kneeled down to his level. "What you did to me - was unbelievable, Connor. But then I got stuck in a hell dimension by my girlfriend one time for a hundred years, so three months under the ocean actually gave me perspective. Kind of a M. C. Esher perspective - but I did get time to think. About us, about the world. Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. It's harsh, and cruel. But that's why there's us. Champions. It doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world was what it should be, to show it what it can be. You're not a part of that yet. I hope you will be." Angel sighed; this next decision of his was going to be one of the hardest ones he would ever have to make. "I love you, Connor. Now get out of my house."
Connor stood up and brushed past Casey, running back out into the night, leaving Angel to sink to the floor out of pure tiredness.
Okay, people, I'm sure you recognized passages and dialogue from the episode Deep Down. Well God. There was a reason why I put them in there. Okay, for clarification, Lorne never went to Vegas and Cordy never became a higher being. Wesley's good, cause I like the tough rugged him. So there. And we really do need him. Oh yeah, please review, I love the ones I got, but I really do love the ones I do get!