SECOND
CHANCE
NOTE: I own none of the Scooby gang because they belong to mean old Joss.
A/N: I'd like to say thank you to everyone for the reviews that I've gotten so far. I have a plot planned out for this story but if you have any suggestions or requests then I might fill them in.
CHAPTER 13
Autumn's eyes slowly opened, very slowly. She quickly felt an aching pain in her head, causing her to wince. As she slowly came through Autumn could see the blurred back of a front seat. She realized that she was resting in someone's lap and slowly started to sit up but quickly put her head back down wearily.
"She's waking up," Autumn heard a gentle voice say. It was the voice of the person she was resting on.
"Where am I?" Autumn moaned lowly.
"Are you OK?" a voice from the front seat asked.
"I think so," Autumn replied. "What's going on?"
"Don't worry," the one Autumn was resting on assured her.
Another voice from the front seat told her, "You're lucky we were coming by. Those vampires knocked you unconscious. But they could have done worse than just bite you. Trust me on that."
Autumn finally sat up and got a clear picture of everything. She had been sleeping on Fred. The two up front were Angel and Gunn. Autumn was in a strange car yet she wasn't as scared as she had been when she first woke up.
"Uh, just outta curiosity, who are you people?" Autumn asked the three adults.
"Oh. I'm sorry," Fred apologized. "Hey. I'm Fred Burkle." She pointed to the black man in the passenger seat. "That's my boyfriend, Charles Gunn."
"Never call me Chuck," he warned. Gunn caught Autumn's uneasy look in the mirror. "Just Gunn. Leave it at that."
Autumn started to nod but felt her head. The headache was slowly going away but not fast enough.
"I'm Angel." The vampire looked into the mirror. Autumn saw someone snoring next to her. Connor drooled on her shoulder a little. "That's my son, Connor. Now who are you?"
"Autumn," the girl groaned, holding her head, and shooting a glare at the sleeping Connor. "Autumn Tucker."
"Where do you live?" Angel asked. "We'll take you home."
"No!" Autumn suddenly exclaimed then calmed. "I can't."
"Why not?" Fred asked with concern.
"I just can't, OK?" Autumn sighed.
"A little more info?" Gunn chimed in.
"That's none of your business!" Autumn suddenly snapped.
Gunn was about to say something but Angel stopped him. "We'll figure it out later. Just leave her alone."
Gunn just shut up.
Autumn turned to the window, looking out of it at everything that raced by. Fred played with Autumn's red hair gently. After about five minutes of silence Autumn's headache slowly went away and she began to get bored.
"Where are we going?" Autumn whispered to Fred, who seemed to be the nicest of the three adults.
Fred smiled at her. "A friend of Angel's."
The car finally pulled to a stop. Autumn glanced out the window and quickly recognized the house that they had stopped in front of.
"This is Buffy and Dawn's house," said Autumn.
"You know them?" Angel asked, climbing out of the car followed by Gunn.
"Yeah," Autumn replied as she and Fred also got out of the car. "Buffy's the slayer and Dawn's her sister."
Gunn looked at Fred who just shrugged. "How do you know that?" Gunn asked Autumn.
"Well, we, uh, met," Autumn answered.
"Wake up, Connor," Angel shouted to his son.
Connor stirred a little before opening his eyes. "What?" he whispered.
"We're here," Fred told him.
Autumn watched the teenaged boy get out of the car, wiping drool from his bottom lip. Autumn looked aghast at him. He was so scrawny and seemed to have more hair than body. Autumn turned to Angel. The vampire was so tall and masculine, not to mention gorgeous. How could his son look like a starving puppy?
"Hi," Connor muttered, noticing the red head.
Autumn waved her hand a little. "Hey."
The others followed Angel up to Buffy's house, Angel immediately ringing the bell. Buffy appeared at the door a few seconds later, clearly just woken up, her blonde hair in a tight ponytail. Buffy squinted up at the one who had rung her bell and had to rub her eyes to believe it.
"A-Angel?" The slayer stuttered.
Angel gave her a small smile. "Buffy..."
They stood there, frozen.
Gunn finally decided to interject. "OK. Awkward silence is fun but the sun will be up soon and, you know, Angel would be a pile of dust that we'd have to vacuum up with one of them dirtdevils."
Buffy glanced pass Angel at the others and Autumn. "Is this gonna happen every night?" She turned back to Angel. "Come in."
The others all followed Buffy into her living room where she offered them all a seat. Fred sat down next to Gunn on the couch, Connor sitting at the end. Autumn sat down in Buffy's armchair. Before Angel could take a seat Buffy grabbed his arm and ordered him to follow her into the kitchen. Angel did so and Buffy turned to him, arms folded, clearly angry.
"What?" Angel asked confused with her expression.
"What? What? Angel, you wake me up at..." Buffy glanced at a clock. "Five o'clock in the morning, no call, no warning, nothing! I'm sick of this happening. Believe it or not it's big with the annoying."
"Look I'm sorry," Angel apologized, a little snapping in his voice. "I wouldn't have come so late but, you know, sunlight and I don't agree."
Buffy sighed deeply. "What's going on?"
"What do you mean?"
"Angel, come off it. Whenever we see each other something is wrong," Buffy pointed out bluntly. "Neither of us our big with the social so just tell me what's up."
Angel sighed. She had a point. "I need your help."
Buffy kept her arms folded. "With?"
"Something tried to come after Connor," Angel told her. "Only we can't ID it. Gunn and I have both looked at our sources, Fred's done all the research she can, but this thing doesn't want to be found."
"So why come to me?" Buffy asked him.
"Because I need your help," Angel replied simply. "So... can I get it?"
Buffy thought for a moment, fidgeting a little, then nodded.
In the living room everyone was pretty quiet except for Fred who made comments about how she liked Buffy's home. Gunn pretended to listen but felt like falling asleep. Autumn twitched a little, getting an uneasy feeling from Connor looking at her.
"Do you have to stare at me?" Autumn suddenly snapped at him.
"Sorry," Connor apologized coolly. "But one question?"
"What?"
"Are you stupid or just good vamp prey?" Connor asked her.
Autumn scowled. "Are you ugly or were you born with some kind of medical condition or were you just some kind of insane plastic surgeon's prey?"
Gunn chuckled.
Fred hid a giggle behind her hand.
Connor glared at a smirking Autumn.
Dawn came down then, clad in pajamas. She stopped when she saw Autumn and the group of strangers. "Uh, hi?"
"Hi," Fred waved with a smile.
Gunn nodded his head.
"Hey," Connor grunted.
"Hi, Dawn." Autumn looked her over. "Those are nice PJ's. How much do those go for?"
Dawn blushed a little. "What's going on here?"
Buffy and Angel re-entered the living room then. "OK," Buffy started. "You guys can stay here until we figure out what's going on with, uh, Connor."
"Who's Connor?" Dawn asked her sister. Buffy pointed at the thin boy on the couch. "Oh."
"One thing, Autumn," said Buffy to the red haired girl. "Why are you with them?"
Autumn shrugged. "I got knocked out by a vampire, they saved my life, I'm forever in debt now."
Buffy nodded coolly. "Yeah, been there, done that."
A/N: This chapter seemed to take me forever to write. So you have to review and be very nice please.