Chapter 69
Hundreds of flickering candles surrounded Cordelia as she slept. Two of Jasmine's followers stood over her, looking down at her with awe. After a moment, they backed out of the room and closed the door. When they were gone, Angel opened the window and crawled in, tripping over the window sill and tumbling to the floor with a crash, knocking candles and knickknacks everywhere. He leapt to his feet, listening intently for any reaction from within the hotel. Buffy and Fred followed him through the window
"Great move stealth guy." Buffy said.
Angel only shrugged as they approached Cordelia's bed. Fred looked around, completely terrified they were going to get caught. "I can't even count all the ways this is wrong."
"It's not like she'll feel it. Right? I mean, she's.." Angel said.
"Brain-dead?" Buffy asked. "The expression doesn't exactly leave a lot to the imagination, does it?"
"It just makes what I have to do a little easier." He took out a knife and kneeled next to Cordelia. He looked at her for a moment, then kissed her on the forehead. "I'm so sorry.." As he raised the knife, Cordelia's hand suddenly shot up and seized his wrist. Excited, Angel dropped the knife and held Cordelia's hand. "She's awake! Cordy? Cordelia, can you hear me? We're right here." No response. "Did you see that? She grabbed my hand."
"Angel, people in comas, sometimes their bodies just do things.. mumble words, maybe even open their eyes. It doesn't necessarily mean they're waking up." Fred said.
"But it could, right? I mean, stranger things have happened."
"Like Cordelia giving birth to a beautiful ebony goddess?" Buffy asked.
"Not the example I was looking for but yeah."
"I know. Sorry. Maybe we should get this over with."
Angel picked up the knife and held it over Cordelia's open hand. He sliced open her wrist and Fred held a small bowl beneath Cordelia's hand as Angel let her blood drip from the knife wound into it. After a minute, the little bowl was half full.
"Is that enough?" Fred asked.
Before Angel could answer, the door behind him opened and Lorne stepped in. Buffy, Fred, and Angel quickly turned their backs so that he couldn't see their faces. In the dark room, they just appeared to be random followers paying their respects to Cordelia.
"Any more room at the inn?" Lorne asked. He started to pick up the candles Angel had knocked over. "Oh, look at this. Pigs in paradise. Mind if I pay my respects to the woman who made peace on earth a possible possibility? Thank you, Cordelia, for your sacrifice. For bringing our Jasmine into the world and.." Lorne stopped. Buffy saw the blood running from Cordy's wrist and knew Lorne saw it too. "Hey. Hey! What are you doing to the holy.." Buffy shot up and clamped a hand around Lorne's mouth, shoving him against the wall. "Unclean! Unclean!" He mumbled.
"Angel, slice him!" Buffy hissed.
Angel took the knife and slit Lorne's wrist. He mumbled "OW!" and then Angel rubbed the blood into Lorne's wound. After a moment, Lorne stopped struggling and Buffy let him go. "Sorry." Angel said.
"What the hell did you do to me!?" Lorne asked, angrily.
"What we had to." Buffy said. "If I were you, I'd stay away from Jasmine now."
"Why? Because you people are crazy and want to kill her with your hate?"
"Lorne, please! You know we wouldn't do this to you if there wasn't a good reason."
"What?"
Buffy remembered a song that had stuck with her after watching A Walk To Remember on DVD while she had been pregnant. She had loved the song so much, she had sent Angel to buy her the soundtrack. "There's a song that's inside of my soul. It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again. I'm awake in the infinite cold. But you sing to me over and over and over again. So I lay my head back down. And I lift my hands and pray to be only yours, I pray to be only yours, I know now you're my only hope." She sang softly. Lorne stared at her and then his face became a mask of pain. Buffy gave him a hug. "Sorry."
Lorne made a small whimper sound. "It's ok. At least I got you to sing again didn't I?"
Buffy smiled. "Only for you Lorne."
He sighed as Buffy took Cordy's first aid kit from a drawer and started to bandage Lorne's wrist. "Well, you sing better than your husband. He and Connor sang a new rendition of 'Mandy' devoted to Jasmine."
Buffy turned to look at Angel. He shrugged sheepishly. She turned back to Lorne. "Hey Lorne, we need you to do something for us."
"What's that?"
"Can you get Wesley and Gunn up here?"
"I can try." Buffy nodded and Lorne took out a flask and took a swig. Fred peered around the corner, then stepped out in the hallway, followed by Buffy, Angel, and Lorne.
"You're sure you can do this?" Angel asked.
Lorne stared at the floor, depressed, then nodded, raised a flask, and took another deep swig. "Hallelujah."
Gunn sat with his head in his hands, devastated. Both he and Wesley had bandages on their wrists now. Wesley looked at Fred and Buffy. "How did you figure it out?"
"It was Buffy and Angel. They figured since Cordy gave birth to Jasmine, they might share a blood link as well as a mystical one." Fred said.
"We hoped Cordy's blood would have the same effect when we exposed you to it." Buffy said, holding tightly to Angel.
"Thanks for nothing." Gunn said.
"Yeah. You slashed this wrist. Now I'm ready to do the other one myself." Lorne said.
"Everything we believed.. deception." Wesley said.
"And how do we convince several million other people that Jasmine's message is false?" Angel asked.
"It's impossible." Fred said. "Even if we're able to develop a synthetic analog to the blood, there's.. I mean, how do we fight something this huge and powerful?"
"I don't know yet but what I do know is that I'm not leaving this hotel without our son." Buffy said.
Wesley stood up. "I'll get him. I've kidnapped him before." With that, he left.
Buffy turned to Angel and led him over to a corner while they waited. He held her chin with his hand and kissed the tip of her nose. "It's going to be ok. We're going to get Connor back and figure out a way to stop Jasmine."
"It's not just this. Even if we do stop Jasmine, there's still the First in Sunnydale." Buffy said. "I don't even think I can beat that."
"You can and you will. Buffy, you've faced incredibly impossible odds before and you've always come out on top. This one's no different."
"It is. Because this is the big apocalypse. I can just feel it. Jasmine: I don't know what she's got up her sleeve, but it can't be that great. Humanity is too evil to be redeemed fully."
"It's not as hopeless as you think. You've got people behind you that are here to help. You've got me to fall back on when you need me and I'll step in and kill the big bad thing for you. You'll never be alone again. I promise you."
"Hey guys, heads up." Gunn said. "Connor's comin'."
Buffy and Angel moved behind the door and Fred walked over to a darkened corner. Gunn and Lorne stayed in the open since Connor didn't know they were on Angel's side again. Connor walked in and saw Gunn. "What?" Then he noticed Fred in the corner. "Hey!" Angel seized him from behind, pinning his arms as they all surrounded him. "No!"
Buffy walked in front of him. "It's gonna be okay. You've been lied to. We all have."
"Don't make this any harder." Angel said.
"Let go!" Connor said, struggling to get away from Angel. Gunn steps forward with a knife and sliced open Connor's shirt. Connor lashed out with his feet, kicking Gunn in the belly and sending him staggering backward. Wesley snatched up the knife and took over, placing the blade against Connor's chest and dipping the fingers of his other hand in Cordelia's blood. "Don't.." Wesley sliced, cutting Connor's chest, then rubbed the blood into the wound. "I'm gonna kill you!" Connor yelled at Angel.
Buffy stroked Connor's cheek gently. "It'll pass."
"Yeah, right, cause lord knows, he's never tried that before." Lorne said.
"You're back with us now, Connor." Gunn said.
Connor looked around wildly, then the fight went out of him. He sagged backward against Angel who let him go. Buffy smiled and went to get the bandages for Connor's chest. Angel looked at Connor. "Sorry. It was the only way to make you see."
"What you're feeling is normal." Fred said. "We're all feeling it. The sadness.. it gets better after a while."
"Jasmine.." Connor said despairingly.
"You understand why we're here?" Buffy asked, setting the first aid kit on a table.
Connor nodded sadly. He shook his head and walked aimlessly around the room, ending up by the door. He stared at the group for a moment, then opened the door and shouted down the hall. "They're here! Come quick! They're here!"
"Connor, you have to listen to us."
"Listen to you? You're the ones who lie. You're the ones who hate."
"No, Connor.."
"Jasmine's controlling you, controlling your feelings." Angel said.
"You're wrong, dad. About me, about her, everything. It doesn't matter anymore what you say." Connor looked down the hall at the approaching mob, then back at Buffy and Angel. "We're gonna tear you apart."
Angel lunged at the door, slamming it shut and locking Connor and the approaching mob outside. He leaned against the door with all his force. "Run! Get the car! Get out of here. I'll hold him off. Someone who knows the truth has to live through this. Go!"
Buffy stared at Angel. "I'm not leaving you."
"Yes you are."
She slammed her hand against the door and held it. "I'm staying. I can't lose you."
"They need someone Buffy. Someone who can lead them and keep them safe." Angel kissed Buffy gently. "Please. For me."
She hesitated and then Wesley came and took her hand. "Come on." Buffy took one last look at Angel and then dashed out after the rest of the gang. They clambered down the fire escape and they ran off to get the car Angel had parked a few blocks away. Buffy gave Wesley the keys as they all piled in. He pulled the car out back behind the fire escape and screeched to a halt ten minutes later.
Buffy looked up at Cordy's window and then down at her watch. "I'm going back up."
"No. Just wait." Wesley said.
"He's been gone too long. This is all wrong. There has to be a way we could.."
"We could cut the power, create a diversion." Gunn said.
"No, she has hundreds of followers in there all acting with a single, focused will." Wes said. "We can't risk going against that. Not now. Someone.."
Connor landed on the hood of the car, face down and then Angel landed on the hood of the car on his feet. Angel jumped down and pulled Connor's body to the ground then jumped in the car, in the front seat beside Buffy. "Drive."
"Angel that's our son!" Buffy said, trying to crawl out over him. "We can't just leave him."
Angel grabbed her waist and held her. "I know what he is. Wes, drive."
The mob, followed by Jasmine, approached the car. Wes put it in reverse, screeching the tires as he pulled away. Jasmine watched them go. Buffy turned to Angel angrily. "What the hell did you do to our son?"
"I didn't kill him. He's going to be fine."
"NO! He's not. He's with that THING and you left him there!"
"I had to."
"No, you didn't." Buffy started to cry. Angel knew she was still hurting and he didn't want to make her hurt anymore, but he had to leave Connor there for everyone's sake. All he could do was hold her and keep her safe in his arms.
Wesley turned the radio on as he pulled onto the highway. The radio announcer sounded way too happy. "And in an impromptu speech today, the mayor, I really love that guy, don't you? The mayor declared Los Angeles the first 'Citadel of Jasmine', a cradle of civilization which will usher in a new age for all of humanity. In related news, the L.A. Archdiocese has stated to the press that it will remove all false idols from its churches, replacing them with images of she who walks among us. Way to go, Catholic Church. Yes, it's a great day to be alive."
"Well, talk about media bias." Lorne said. "Well, not that I wanna talk about media bias. It seems rather moot right now. Speakin' of moot, what about us? Anyone else feel like the last feisty wife in Stepford?"
"What are we gonna do? What can we do?" Fred asked.
"There has to be an answer." Wesley said.
"There has to be a way. We just need time." Angel said.
"To hell with that." Gunn said. "We need a damn break. But the universe don't seem to be handing breaks out to the underdog lately. No leads, no database, no weapons, no shelter."
"And very little gas." Wes added.
"We should've taken Connor with us. He looked so.." Fred said, thinking of Buffy. "What if he doesn't wake up?"
"What if we took him and he did?" Angel asked, looking at Buffy.
She turned away and stared out the windshield. Connor was her son and she had lost him once already. Now to just leave him with the bad guy purposely: It was a little more than she wanted to handle. Everything had gone so wrong in the past week and it kept getting worse. Buffy hated to be so mad at Angel having just got him back, but she couldn't exactly help it. Even though she knew he was right about Connor waking up. She looked at Angel's hurt face, knowing she had caused it, and then took his hand. She was apologizing in her own little Buffy way. Angel looked over at her and offered a small smile and a light squeeze to her hand telling her he wasn't angry with her.
Wesley turned onto another off ramp and drove a little ways to another gas station. There were a lot of people gathered there, but not as many as first few places they'd tried. Wes stopped in the shadows and stared at the mass. Lorne was the first to speak. "Oh, I don't know, kids. That's a whole lot of pod people."
"Well, it's better than the last three places. We won't make it out of the city without any gas." Angel said.
"So that's our big plan? Just keep runnin'?" Gunn asked.
"I hear good things about Belize." Lorne offered.
"If we could get out of the sphere of Jasmine's influence, we might be able to warn people, prepare some form of resistance." Wesley said.
"We could always go to Sunnydale." Gunn said.
"Do you really want to get involved in another apocalypse before this one ends?" Buffy asked.
"Let's not go to Sunnydale. Bad idea."
"Look at 'em. They're all so happy." Fred said, looking at the people.
"Yeah, they'll be happier when they're gouging out our eyes and stompin' us 'til their shoes get sticky." Gunn said.
"That's why we have to do this fast." Angel said.
"Fast works for me." Buffy said.
"They're just under her spell. All right? But if it does come down to a choice between us or them.."
"Believe me, I'm there." Gunn said.
Gunn slipped out of the car and snuck up behind a man pre-paying for gasoline at the pump. He turned to put the nozzle in his SUV, but Gunn punched him out and took the nozzle from the man. "Sorry, bro. It's for your own good." Wesley backed the car up to the pump. Gunn addressed the other people there. "That's right. It's the big, bad free will gang, gassin' up!"
Buffy and Angel stepped out of the car and Angel looked around. "All right, stay back. We don't wanna hurt anybody."
"But you are hurting them, Angel, just by being." Jasmine said. Buffy and Angel spun to find an Asian man standing there instead of Jasmine. "You're a disease in the body Jasmine, and you'll be purged."
"Ok, that's new." Buffy said.
The young Asian man lunged toward Buffy, trying to punch her, but Buffy easily knocked him down. Behind them, Lorne called, "Soccer mom, 12 o'clock!" A woman swung a huge wrench at Wesley, but he punched her down.
A man dressed in camouflage broke the bottom off of a bottle and stalked Fred. "You can't outrun my love. It has wings made of radio.." He said in Jasmine's voice. He jabbed at Fred with the broken bottle, but Buffy ran up and punched him, knocking him out.
An SUV pulled up behind Gunn and a little girl in the back seat rolled down her window and addressed him with Jasmine's voice. "My love sings over the wires that bind this world."
"Ok, gettin' a little creepy." Buffy said.
"The city is mine, heroes." Jasmine said all around them through the people all at once. "All the tools are mine."
A man carrying a wrench walked purposefully toward Buffy and Angel. Angel backed up a bit. "Yeah, we're workin' on that." He shoved Buffy in the car and then jumped in himself, followed by Fred. "Ok. Pit stop's over. Let's go."
Lorne, Gunn, and Wes jumped in. Lorne sighed dramatically. "No snacks? I thought snacks.."
Wes put the car in gear and drove off just as the man with the wrench reached the car. The man rolled off of the hood of the car and fell to the ground as they drove off so fast the tires screeched. Two police cars followed them with sirens blaring. The man with the wrench sat up and watched them go, laughing in Jasmine's voice.
"Ok, that was majorly creepy back there." Buffy said.
"Her telepathic link is getting stronger." Wesley said.
"Just when you need a telepathic witch to fight a telepathic bitch.." Buffy sighed, leaving the sentence hanging in the air.
Hundreds of flickering candles surrounded Cordelia as she slept. Two of Jasmine's followers stood over her, looking down at her with awe. After a moment, they backed out of the room and closed the door. When they were gone, Angel opened the window and crawled in, tripping over the window sill and tumbling to the floor with a crash, knocking candles and knickknacks everywhere. He leapt to his feet, listening intently for any reaction from within the hotel. Buffy and Fred followed him through the window
"Great move stealth guy." Buffy said.
Angel only shrugged as they approached Cordelia's bed. Fred looked around, completely terrified they were going to get caught. "I can't even count all the ways this is wrong."
"It's not like she'll feel it. Right? I mean, she's.." Angel said.
"Brain-dead?" Buffy asked. "The expression doesn't exactly leave a lot to the imagination, does it?"
"It just makes what I have to do a little easier." He took out a knife and kneeled next to Cordelia. He looked at her for a moment, then kissed her on the forehead. "I'm so sorry.." As he raised the knife, Cordelia's hand suddenly shot up and seized his wrist. Excited, Angel dropped the knife and held Cordelia's hand. "She's awake! Cordy? Cordelia, can you hear me? We're right here." No response. "Did you see that? She grabbed my hand."
"Angel, people in comas, sometimes their bodies just do things.. mumble words, maybe even open their eyes. It doesn't necessarily mean they're waking up." Fred said.
"But it could, right? I mean, stranger things have happened."
"Like Cordelia giving birth to a beautiful ebony goddess?" Buffy asked.
"Not the example I was looking for but yeah."
"I know. Sorry. Maybe we should get this over with."
Angel picked up the knife and held it over Cordelia's open hand. He sliced open her wrist and Fred held a small bowl beneath Cordelia's hand as Angel let her blood drip from the knife wound into it. After a minute, the little bowl was half full.
"Is that enough?" Fred asked.
Before Angel could answer, the door behind him opened and Lorne stepped in. Buffy, Fred, and Angel quickly turned their backs so that he couldn't see their faces. In the dark room, they just appeared to be random followers paying their respects to Cordelia.
"Any more room at the inn?" Lorne asked. He started to pick up the candles Angel had knocked over. "Oh, look at this. Pigs in paradise. Mind if I pay my respects to the woman who made peace on earth a possible possibility? Thank you, Cordelia, for your sacrifice. For bringing our Jasmine into the world and.." Lorne stopped. Buffy saw the blood running from Cordy's wrist and knew Lorne saw it too. "Hey. Hey! What are you doing to the holy.." Buffy shot up and clamped a hand around Lorne's mouth, shoving him against the wall. "Unclean! Unclean!" He mumbled.
"Angel, slice him!" Buffy hissed.
Angel took the knife and slit Lorne's wrist. He mumbled "OW!" and then Angel rubbed the blood into Lorne's wound. After a moment, Lorne stopped struggling and Buffy let him go. "Sorry." Angel said.
"What the hell did you do to me!?" Lorne asked, angrily.
"What we had to." Buffy said. "If I were you, I'd stay away from Jasmine now."
"Why? Because you people are crazy and want to kill her with your hate?"
"Lorne, please! You know we wouldn't do this to you if there wasn't a good reason."
"What?"
Buffy remembered a song that had stuck with her after watching A Walk To Remember on DVD while she had been pregnant. She had loved the song so much, she had sent Angel to buy her the soundtrack. "There's a song that's inside of my soul. It's the one that I've tried to write over and over again. I'm awake in the infinite cold. But you sing to me over and over and over again. So I lay my head back down. And I lift my hands and pray to be only yours, I pray to be only yours, I know now you're my only hope." She sang softly. Lorne stared at her and then his face became a mask of pain. Buffy gave him a hug. "Sorry."
Lorne made a small whimper sound. "It's ok. At least I got you to sing again didn't I?"
Buffy smiled. "Only for you Lorne."
He sighed as Buffy took Cordy's first aid kit from a drawer and started to bandage Lorne's wrist. "Well, you sing better than your husband. He and Connor sang a new rendition of 'Mandy' devoted to Jasmine."
Buffy turned to look at Angel. He shrugged sheepishly. She turned back to Lorne. "Hey Lorne, we need you to do something for us."
"What's that?"
"Can you get Wesley and Gunn up here?"
"I can try." Buffy nodded and Lorne took out a flask and took a swig. Fred peered around the corner, then stepped out in the hallway, followed by Buffy, Angel, and Lorne.
"You're sure you can do this?" Angel asked.
Lorne stared at the floor, depressed, then nodded, raised a flask, and took another deep swig. "Hallelujah."
Gunn sat with his head in his hands, devastated. Both he and Wesley had bandages on their wrists now. Wesley looked at Fred and Buffy. "How did you figure it out?"
"It was Buffy and Angel. They figured since Cordy gave birth to Jasmine, they might share a blood link as well as a mystical one." Fred said.
"We hoped Cordy's blood would have the same effect when we exposed you to it." Buffy said, holding tightly to Angel.
"Thanks for nothing." Gunn said.
"Yeah. You slashed this wrist. Now I'm ready to do the other one myself." Lorne said.
"Everything we believed.. deception." Wesley said.
"And how do we convince several million other people that Jasmine's message is false?" Angel asked.
"It's impossible." Fred said. "Even if we're able to develop a synthetic analog to the blood, there's.. I mean, how do we fight something this huge and powerful?"
"I don't know yet but what I do know is that I'm not leaving this hotel without our son." Buffy said.
Wesley stood up. "I'll get him. I've kidnapped him before." With that, he left.
Buffy turned to Angel and led him over to a corner while they waited. He held her chin with his hand and kissed the tip of her nose. "It's going to be ok. We're going to get Connor back and figure out a way to stop Jasmine."
"It's not just this. Even if we do stop Jasmine, there's still the First in Sunnydale." Buffy said. "I don't even think I can beat that."
"You can and you will. Buffy, you've faced incredibly impossible odds before and you've always come out on top. This one's no different."
"It is. Because this is the big apocalypse. I can just feel it. Jasmine: I don't know what she's got up her sleeve, but it can't be that great. Humanity is too evil to be redeemed fully."
"It's not as hopeless as you think. You've got people behind you that are here to help. You've got me to fall back on when you need me and I'll step in and kill the big bad thing for you. You'll never be alone again. I promise you."
"Hey guys, heads up." Gunn said. "Connor's comin'."
Buffy and Angel moved behind the door and Fred walked over to a darkened corner. Gunn and Lorne stayed in the open since Connor didn't know they were on Angel's side again. Connor walked in and saw Gunn. "What?" Then he noticed Fred in the corner. "Hey!" Angel seized him from behind, pinning his arms as they all surrounded him. "No!"
Buffy walked in front of him. "It's gonna be okay. You've been lied to. We all have."
"Don't make this any harder." Angel said.
"Let go!" Connor said, struggling to get away from Angel. Gunn steps forward with a knife and sliced open Connor's shirt. Connor lashed out with his feet, kicking Gunn in the belly and sending him staggering backward. Wesley snatched up the knife and took over, placing the blade against Connor's chest and dipping the fingers of his other hand in Cordelia's blood. "Don't.." Wesley sliced, cutting Connor's chest, then rubbed the blood into the wound. "I'm gonna kill you!" Connor yelled at Angel.
Buffy stroked Connor's cheek gently. "It'll pass."
"Yeah, right, cause lord knows, he's never tried that before." Lorne said.
"You're back with us now, Connor." Gunn said.
Connor looked around wildly, then the fight went out of him. He sagged backward against Angel who let him go. Buffy smiled and went to get the bandages for Connor's chest. Angel looked at Connor. "Sorry. It was the only way to make you see."
"What you're feeling is normal." Fred said. "We're all feeling it. The sadness.. it gets better after a while."
"Jasmine.." Connor said despairingly.
"You understand why we're here?" Buffy asked, setting the first aid kit on a table.
Connor nodded sadly. He shook his head and walked aimlessly around the room, ending up by the door. He stared at the group for a moment, then opened the door and shouted down the hall. "They're here! Come quick! They're here!"
"Connor, you have to listen to us."
"Listen to you? You're the ones who lie. You're the ones who hate."
"No, Connor.."
"Jasmine's controlling you, controlling your feelings." Angel said.
"You're wrong, dad. About me, about her, everything. It doesn't matter anymore what you say." Connor looked down the hall at the approaching mob, then back at Buffy and Angel. "We're gonna tear you apart."
Angel lunged at the door, slamming it shut and locking Connor and the approaching mob outside. He leaned against the door with all his force. "Run! Get the car! Get out of here. I'll hold him off. Someone who knows the truth has to live through this. Go!"
Buffy stared at Angel. "I'm not leaving you."
"Yes you are."
She slammed her hand against the door and held it. "I'm staying. I can't lose you."
"They need someone Buffy. Someone who can lead them and keep them safe." Angel kissed Buffy gently. "Please. For me."
She hesitated and then Wesley came and took her hand. "Come on." Buffy took one last look at Angel and then dashed out after the rest of the gang. They clambered down the fire escape and they ran off to get the car Angel had parked a few blocks away. Buffy gave Wesley the keys as they all piled in. He pulled the car out back behind the fire escape and screeched to a halt ten minutes later.
Buffy looked up at Cordy's window and then down at her watch. "I'm going back up."
"No. Just wait." Wesley said.
"He's been gone too long. This is all wrong. There has to be a way we could.."
"We could cut the power, create a diversion." Gunn said.
"No, she has hundreds of followers in there all acting with a single, focused will." Wes said. "We can't risk going against that. Not now. Someone.."
Connor landed on the hood of the car, face down and then Angel landed on the hood of the car on his feet. Angel jumped down and pulled Connor's body to the ground then jumped in the car, in the front seat beside Buffy. "Drive."
"Angel that's our son!" Buffy said, trying to crawl out over him. "We can't just leave him."
Angel grabbed her waist and held her. "I know what he is. Wes, drive."
The mob, followed by Jasmine, approached the car. Wes put it in reverse, screeching the tires as he pulled away. Jasmine watched them go. Buffy turned to Angel angrily. "What the hell did you do to our son?"
"I didn't kill him. He's going to be fine."
"NO! He's not. He's with that THING and you left him there!"
"I had to."
"No, you didn't." Buffy started to cry. Angel knew she was still hurting and he didn't want to make her hurt anymore, but he had to leave Connor there for everyone's sake. All he could do was hold her and keep her safe in his arms.
Wesley turned the radio on as he pulled onto the highway. The radio announcer sounded way too happy. "And in an impromptu speech today, the mayor, I really love that guy, don't you? The mayor declared Los Angeles the first 'Citadel of Jasmine', a cradle of civilization which will usher in a new age for all of humanity. In related news, the L.A. Archdiocese has stated to the press that it will remove all false idols from its churches, replacing them with images of she who walks among us. Way to go, Catholic Church. Yes, it's a great day to be alive."
"Well, talk about media bias." Lorne said. "Well, not that I wanna talk about media bias. It seems rather moot right now. Speakin' of moot, what about us? Anyone else feel like the last feisty wife in Stepford?"
"What are we gonna do? What can we do?" Fred asked.
"There has to be an answer." Wesley said.
"There has to be a way. We just need time." Angel said.
"To hell with that." Gunn said. "We need a damn break. But the universe don't seem to be handing breaks out to the underdog lately. No leads, no database, no weapons, no shelter."
"And very little gas." Wes added.
"We should've taken Connor with us. He looked so.." Fred said, thinking of Buffy. "What if he doesn't wake up?"
"What if we took him and he did?" Angel asked, looking at Buffy.
She turned away and stared out the windshield. Connor was her son and she had lost him once already. Now to just leave him with the bad guy purposely: It was a little more than she wanted to handle. Everything had gone so wrong in the past week and it kept getting worse. Buffy hated to be so mad at Angel having just got him back, but she couldn't exactly help it. Even though she knew he was right about Connor waking up. She looked at Angel's hurt face, knowing she had caused it, and then took his hand. She was apologizing in her own little Buffy way. Angel looked over at her and offered a small smile and a light squeeze to her hand telling her he wasn't angry with her.
Wesley turned onto another off ramp and drove a little ways to another gas station. There were a lot of people gathered there, but not as many as first few places they'd tried. Wes stopped in the shadows and stared at the mass. Lorne was the first to speak. "Oh, I don't know, kids. That's a whole lot of pod people."
"Well, it's better than the last three places. We won't make it out of the city without any gas." Angel said.
"So that's our big plan? Just keep runnin'?" Gunn asked.
"I hear good things about Belize." Lorne offered.
"If we could get out of the sphere of Jasmine's influence, we might be able to warn people, prepare some form of resistance." Wesley said.
"We could always go to Sunnydale." Gunn said.
"Do you really want to get involved in another apocalypse before this one ends?" Buffy asked.
"Let's not go to Sunnydale. Bad idea."
"Look at 'em. They're all so happy." Fred said, looking at the people.
"Yeah, they'll be happier when they're gouging out our eyes and stompin' us 'til their shoes get sticky." Gunn said.
"That's why we have to do this fast." Angel said.
"Fast works for me." Buffy said.
"They're just under her spell. All right? But if it does come down to a choice between us or them.."
"Believe me, I'm there." Gunn said.
Gunn slipped out of the car and snuck up behind a man pre-paying for gasoline at the pump. He turned to put the nozzle in his SUV, but Gunn punched him out and took the nozzle from the man. "Sorry, bro. It's for your own good." Wesley backed the car up to the pump. Gunn addressed the other people there. "That's right. It's the big, bad free will gang, gassin' up!"
Buffy and Angel stepped out of the car and Angel looked around. "All right, stay back. We don't wanna hurt anybody."
"But you are hurting them, Angel, just by being." Jasmine said. Buffy and Angel spun to find an Asian man standing there instead of Jasmine. "You're a disease in the body Jasmine, and you'll be purged."
"Ok, that's new." Buffy said.
The young Asian man lunged toward Buffy, trying to punch her, but Buffy easily knocked him down. Behind them, Lorne called, "Soccer mom, 12 o'clock!" A woman swung a huge wrench at Wesley, but he punched her down.
A man dressed in camouflage broke the bottom off of a bottle and stalked Fred. "You can't outrun my love. It has wings made of radio.." He said in Jasmine's voice. He jabbed at Fred with the broken bottle, but Buffy ran up and punched him, knocking him out.
An SUV pulled up behind Gunn and a little girl in the back seat rolled down her window and addressed him with Jasmine's voice. "My love sings over the wires that bind this world."
"Ok, gettin' a little creepy." Buffy said.
"The city is mine, heroes." Jasmine said all around them through the people all at once. "All the tools are mine."
A man carrying a wrench walked purposefully toward Buffy and Angel. Angel backed up a bit. "Yeah, we're workin' on that." He shoved Buffy in the car and then jumped in himself, followed by Fred. "Ok. Pit stop's over. Let's go."
Lorne, Gunn, and Wes jumped in. Lorne sighed dramatically. "No snacks? I thought snacks.."
Wes put the car in gear and drove off just as the man with the wrench reached the car. The man rolled off of the hood of the car and fell to the ground as they drove off so fast the tires screeched. Two police cars followed them with sirens blaring. The man with the wrench sat up and watched them go, laughing in Jasmine's voice.
"Ok, that was majorly creepy back there." Buffy said.
"Her telepathic link is getting stronger." Wesley said.
"Just when you need a telepathic witch to fight a telepathic bitch.." Buffy sighed, leaving the sentence hanging in the air.
