TRYING THIS AGAIN
NOTE: I don't own Angel or Buffy but I will gladly take position of them if Joss ever takes the big plunge.
A/N: I came up with this story talking to one of my friends. It just hit me in the head somehow. Anyway, here's the rundown. This takes place during what should be the eighth season of Buffy and the fifth season of Angel. Angel finally succeeds in saving the world so he is given the chance of a lifetime and I don't just mean W&H law offices. You'll see. Well, please enjoy.
CHAPTER 5Gunn lay on the couch in the living room on his back while Natalie bounced on his stomach. He had spent the entire day with the little girl and she had been doing a very good job of driving him insane, as per usual.
"Nat, you going to sleep anytime soon?" Gunn asked her as she continued to bounce.
"Nope," Natalie replied bluntly, still bouncing.
"Let me rephrase that," Gunn said, sitting up, making her tumble into his lap. "How 'bout you go to bed... now."
Natalie considered it for a moment. "Nope," she said again and started to bounce.
Gunn simply raised an eyebrow. "What'd you say?" he asked her in what Natalie referred to as the 'Daddy Voice'.
Natalie instantly stopped bouncing in his lap and looked up at him, smiling brightly. "I said it's time for bed," she chirped,
"That's what I thought you said," Gunn smirked, lifting her up.
Natalie stalled going to bed as long as she could, which included changing her mind about which pajamas she wanted to wear, wanting a glass of water, and then having to go to the bathroom. When Gunn finally was able to get her into bed she just stared up at the ceiling, grumpily.
The four-year-old girl glanced around at different objects in her room, mostly toys that she would only want to play with at bedtime. Natalie's eyes drifted over to her night light, which seemed to be burning brighter than usual. In fact it began to burn so brightly, that it turned from a pearly white to a pale blue. The light in her room spread father and father until the blue light soon bathed everything. Natalie shrieked and pulled the covers over her head before she could feel the blue light come towards her. She then decided to get her parents.
Fred and Gunn sat in the living room, snuggled up, glad to finally have some alone time. Then Natalie raced down the stairs and into the living room, a frantic look on her face.
"Mama, Daddy, something's wrong!" she cried.
"Nat, honey, calm down," said Fred gently.
"Go back to bed, girl," Gunn said with a roll of his eyes, she hadn't even been in bed ten minutes.
"No! Something's wrong. My night light's broken," Natalie tried to explain.
Fred looked towards Gunn.
He sighed. "I swear something better be wrong with that light." Gunn stood and proceeded up the stairs and into Natalie's room.
Fred reached out to Natalie and pulled her into her lap and began to gently stroke her hair. Even though Natalie was the master of staying up late, Fred had to feel for her. She just looked so frightened. Gunn soon rejoined them.
"She was right," he said. "The bulb on that night light blew out."
"Probably all the blue light," Natalie muttered.
Fred and Gunn exchanged a confused look.
Fred pulled Natalie out to meet her eyes. "Baby, you want to sleep in our bed tonight?"
Natalie nodded quickly. "Uh huh."
Gunn groaned softly to himself. Would he get any peace?
Buffy pulled back the blanket off the bed and climbed in with Angel. Buffy noted how he had been acting a little more like himself most of the evening. Angel, who wasn't really tired, just stared down at the blanket he was under.
"What are you thinking?" Buffy asked him softly.
Angel looked over at her. "What?"
"That's your thinking look," she explained.
"Oh." Angel turned on his side and looked at her. "I believe you. I really want to believe that you're real, that Rachel's real, and that Leah is real. But it all seems like it's just going to... vanish."
Buffy nodded her head slowly. "I would say that you're going through a midlife crisis, you know, if you weren't ancient and all but I really do think you have a problem. Something up with your psyche maybe."
"It's just that every time I look at you and then at Rachel I think about the one person who's not here," Angel said in a low voice.
"Dawn?" Buffy asked, a confused expression on her face. "Angel she will be back before the summer is over."
Angel stared at her strangely. "No. I mean... I mean... my son."
"Oh!" Buffy finally realized. "You're worried about Connor."
Angel sat up suddenly, his eyes focused on her. "You know about Connor?"
"The word duh comes to mind," Buffy replied, also sitting up. "Our thirteen-year-old son? We shipped him off to sleep away camp. That way he can enjoy the summer and we... can be miles away from him and Rachel fighting."
"Connor's here?" Angel nearly exclaimed. "Now? We have to go see him."
"Angel, relax. He's fine. In fact we go to pick him up in a couple days."
"No." Angel shook his head. "I have to see him. Tomorrow."
Buffy sighed and started to play with his hair. "Will that make you... less with the insanity?"
"I'll try," Angel said, his voice just above a whisper.
"Then we'll go get him, bring him home," Buffy promised, still messing with his hair.
"Thank you." Angel planted a light kiss on her lips. "Don't touch the hair," he said, lifting her hand off the top of his head.
"Anytime... I think."
That next morning, a Sunday, Buffy dialed Connor's camp, saying that they wanted him home due to a family emergency. Both Angel and Buffy climbed into the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Buffy in the driver's seat. Rachel sat in the back, rocking back and forth. Buffy drove the miles down, leading to the camp, going what Angel referred to more than once as Grandma speed.
Once there, Buffy went into the camp's office to collect Connor. An apprehensive Angel stood out by the car next to Rachel. He was pleasantly surprised that he was not bursting into flames. But then again, he hadn't when going to the car earlier that morning, but he was preoccupied in seeing his son. Soon Buffy walked up, carrying a suitcase. A short, brown haired boy walked up behind her, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, with a sleeping bag in his hand.
Angel quickly got the scent of who it was and rushed over, grabbing Connor in a tight embrace. "Connor, it's you," was all he said.
"Whoa. D-Dad, too tight, breathing an issue here!" Connor exclaimed.
Angel released him then with a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that." He looked him over. "You look good, son."
Connor slowly nodded. "Uh, thanks. You, too." He went over to the back of the car and tossed his stuff in. "So whom do I thank for getting me out of this crap hole?"
Buffy pointed at Angel. "That would be him," she said, and then she tacked on, "Don't swear."
Connor hopped on top of the car. "Thanks, Dad. I owe you one."
"What happened?" Rachel asked Connor, referring to the camp.
"Nothing worth writing home about," Connor replied, looking down at her. "Hey, small and plenty."
"Hey, big and skinny," Rachel shot back.
"And there they go again," Buffy sighed, slipping on a pair of shades.
Over at the Magic Charm Leah stood next to Willow stacking a new shipment of books into one of the bookshelves, which stood directly above the entrance of the store.
"Mum," Leah called, glancing at the cover of one of the books. "What are E-ro-ha demons?"
"They're corny. Eroha wondered through the earth a couple hundred years ago and drunk the brain juice of humans." Leah gave her a funny look. "What? I said they wore corny."
"Well, look who it is," Spike's voice sounded.
Leah and Willow walked over to the banister and looked down on the store. Angel, Buffy, and Rachel had just walked in with Connor.
"Oh, no," Leah groaned, walking down the stairs to the main part of the store. "Who released you, freak boy?"
"Cute," Connor said dryly. "You know the only thing that gave me hope while I was at camp was the thought of you not being here when I got back."
Leah approached him. "Well, you know, I could always make you disappear by accident. I'm pretty sure we'd all be a lot better off."
"You two are like brother and sister," Giles commented from behind the cash register.
"Thanks for the imagery," Leah said as Connor reacted with a "Gross!"
"Welcome home, Connor," Willow called down from where she still stood, looking down at them.
"Thanks, Aunt Will," Connor called back to her, going to roam around the store.
"Mum, you're kind of a traitor to the We Hate Connor Club," Leah grumbled.
"Wasn't Broody Jr. supposed to come home tomorrow?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, but, Angel kind of wanted to see him," Buffy explained.
"Oh, what's the matter, Peaches?" Spike said to Angel. "Missed your baby? Needed a little male bonding?"
Angel ignored the bleached vampire and went over to sit on the couch.
"Be nice," Buffy hissed at Spike, going up to the counter. "He's going through a thing."
"How sad," Spike said dryly, pretending to wipe away a tear.
Rachel went up and hopped on the counter next to Spike. "Hey, Uncle Spike, you're kinda mean."
Spike leaned against her. "Figured that out all by yourself did ya?"
"So are you remembering anything?" Angel asked Connor quietly.
Connor looked at him funny. "Remember what?"
"Anything? About Quor-toth, Holtz..." Angel trailed off, noticing the confused looks he was getting from Connor. "Getting kidnapped?"
"Dad, you been taking those red pills again?" Connor asked him.
Angel shook his head. "No. What about Darla?"
"My birth mother? Nope. I don't know much about her. You won't let me, but if you're willing to divulge info…" Connor shrugged.
"Never mind," Angel said quickly. "What about Buffy?" he changed the subject to a much safer one.
"She's adopted mother. Are you going to make me write a biography or something?"
"No." Angel slowly reached out and touched Connor's hair, playing with it a little. "Everything's fine." He pulled Connor into a tight embrace.
"Great," Connor choked out. "Let go now." He stood quickly and patted his hair back into place.
A/N: I know you guys are going to have some questions on Connor and I don't feel like answering them so let me give you the gist. Since this is Angel's new life Connor was never kidnapped by Wesley or anything like that. That's all you need to know I think. Now thanks goes out to Pyro Bear once again for being a major help. Please review.