FUTURE IMPERFECT

Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Nick, Callie, and Hope.

CHAPTER 22-A THORN IN MY SIDE

Angel cautiously made his way along the brick wall of the building, careful to stay in the shadows and keep out of the sight of most of the coeds that were hurriedly making their way back to their dorm rooms in time to get enough sleep to be able to wake up for morning classes.  A quick glance up at the digital clock on the side of one of the buildings reminded Angel that he didn't have to many more hours before the sun would rise and his chance could be lost.  Connor followed close behind, making sure to keep the sword that he wore strapped to his back from casting off any reflections that would garner any unneeded attention.  Gwen did her best to follow father and son and even through her past as a thief she had difficulty keeping up with them.  Along the way she had been forced to duck down and hide behind a rather prickly bush, doing her best to keep from crying out as the thorns dug into the soft skin of her legs.  Because the night had started off warm Gwen had worn shorts, but from almost the moment they got near the crime scene she had regretted her decision.  The temperature seemed to have dropped a dozen degrees in a matter of seconds, sending chills up her spine and bringing goose bumps to the top layer of her skin, instantly shocking anyone that came to close to her. 

"Hey…Gwen, watch it," Connor exclaimed with an angry and frustrated scowl on his face as he turned back and glared menacingly at the woman that was trying her best to capture his father's heart.

"You keep your hands to yourself and we won't have any problems kid," Gwen growled back with an angry and confrontational tone to her voice that made Angel turn from observing what he could see of the crime scene and turn back to make sure that the two didn't kill each other.

"Don't make me come back there and separate you two…God if I'd know that all you two would do is bicker the whole damn time I would have never agreed to letting you come," Angel growled coldly under his breath with a very serious expression on his face as he stares the two down.

"Sorry…," Gwen mumbled with a sad frown on her face as she slipped from behind the bushes and began to amble towards the burnt out shell of the tree.

"No…Gwen wait…," Angel started to shout with an extremely frustrated look on his face before he caught himself and his shout turned out as more of a hiss, a sound that only made Gwen slump her shoulders and quicken her walk a bit.

"Nice work dad…good to see that you haven't lost your touch with the ladies," Connor whispered with an almost sinister snicker and smile on his face as he leaned in close to Angel's ear before he checked around and then headed off after Gwen.  Angel started to angrily sigh and roll his head upward before he caught the scent of gun oil against the backdrop of perfume trails that peppered the area.

"Con…," Angel started to shout in a hiss before Connor stopped dead in his tracks, followed a few seconds later by Gwen, whose body seemed to almost be glowing in the dark.

"What the fuck…," Gwen started to say with a slightly faltering tone to her voice before her voice cut out as a dart appeared from out of the darkness and found its mark in her jugular.  With eyes as wide as silver dollars Gwen slumped to the ground.

"Gwen…," Connor shouted before he had to almost bend over backwards to avoid a dart aimed his way as Angel could sense many humans closing in on them.

"Connor get down," Angel shouted in alarm as he dove back behind the line of bushes, gritting his teeth as mud smeared his shirt and three distinct sounds of darts hitting the bricks mere centimeters above his head.  In seconds Angel was back on his feet, tearing as silently as he could through the line of bushes as he could see heavily armed and hi tech goggle wearing assailants pressing their way towards him, guns drawn.  One of the unlucky assailants got a little to close to Connor and met with a knee to the gut and then the but end of his gun rammed back into his face.  The next few minutes were a blur as Angel and Connor charged towards their assailants and used the elements of surprise and chaos to their fullest.  It took Angel all of that time to make it to Gwen's side as those attacking him seemed to be trying to keep him away from her.

"Who are these guys," Connor asked with a shout as he ducked under a punch and then shattered the mans nose against a guardrail.

"No clue…but they do…remind me of someone…that I'd hoped that I'd…never have to see again…and his band of…demon hunting extremists," Angel replied with a nervous and frustrated frown on his face in between knocking one assailant after another away from him.

"The Initiative…," Connor and Angel both growled with angry expressions on their faces as they clenched their fists and pressed their attack.

*                            *                         *                     *                        *                         *

He awoke to find himself staring up into two of the most beautiful brown eyes that he had ever seen, and covered in drool.  A part of him begged to react in shock and disgust but out of the corner of his eye he could see his archangel sitting on the edge of the bed wrapped in only a towel, one that seemed to be slowly slipping lower and lower as time went on, and brushing the kinks out of her hair with a mischievous smile spread across her face and the antique ceiling fan above him softly humming along.  He debated about what to say for what seemed like an eternity before he decided that it was best to stay silent, at least for the time being.  On her own accord Hope flung herself down onto her father, resting her tiny forehead against his, staring deeply into his eyes until her vision blurred.  Barely moving the upper part of his body Wesley reached up and lightly tickled the soft bottom of Hope's right foot.  Almost instantly the giggling began, starting with the youngest Wyndam-Pryce before quickly spreading first to Wesley and then to Faith, who couldn't help herself as she dove down beside Wesley and wrapped her arms tightly around him while burying her face into the crook of his neck, delicately placing soft kisses that made him shiver.  His giggles died down first, at least until Faith noticed this and moistened her lips before she trailed her tongue from his collarbone up to his ear, initially sucking on it slightly and then nibbling the back of it.  He couldn't help himself and openly laughed at the absurdity of the situation, a move that Hope seemed to welcome with glee as his little angel rolled off towards the interior of the bed in a fit of giggling. 

"Now this is a Saturday morning…," Wesley mumbled softly with a happy smile on his face as he turned his head towards Faith and planted a gentle kiss on her lips.

"If only we didn't have like a hundred people waiting to talk to us, that giggling little angel between us and whoever on the way I'd love nothing better than to stay here in bed with you all day…," Faith returned with an equally happy smile on her face as she brushed some hair back away from her face before she leaned in and kissed Wesley.  The kiss would have gone on longer but there was a hurried knock on the door that shook all three Wyndam-Pryce's out of their peaceful moment.

"Wesley…Faith, come quickly," Giles exclaimed through the door with a very concern laden tone to his voice as he stood outside of their bedroom.

"Giles….," Faith muttered under her breath as she shook her head and rose up out of the bed, pulling her towel back tightly around her as she headed back towards the bathroom.

"Yes Giles…what is it what's wrong," Wesley asked with an unhappy frown on his face as he picked a still softly giggling Hope up off of the bed and walked to the door, slowly opening it.

"It's Gwen, Connor called just a few minutes ago with Angel's cell phone…," Giles started to say with a great deal of worry in his voice as Wesley became worried at the sight of the old watcher in such a nervous state of affairs.

"I thought that he hated those bloody things," Wesley mumbled with a sarcastic smirk on his face before he remembered the drool from earlier and hurried to wipe it off of his face.

"He does…anyway Connor said that shortly after they got to the crime scene they were attacked and Gwen was shot," Giles replied with a nervous look on his face as Wesley followed him down the hall and into the kitchen; which he found filled with Buffy trying her best to hold her breakfast down, Dawn and Spike arguing over what to eat, Willow madly typing away on her laptop, and Fred staring intently at the few family pictures that hung on the wall.

"My God…shot, is she alright…what hospital did they take her to," Wesley asked with a shocked and grim frown on his face as most of those assembled in the kitchen ignored his pointed question.

"They're not sure, she was hit with some sort of dart that knocked her out almost instantly, probably because she was struck near the jugular vein in her neck, she hasn't woken up since, and because of the nature of her attack and Angel being as he is there really was nowhere for them to take her as other than being unconscious there's as of yet nothing truly wrong with her, other than she won't wake up and it's been a few hours since the attack," Giles replied with a nervous frown on his face as the two continued their walk through the kitchen and walked out onto the deck, with Wesley mentally cursing himself for not putting more clothes on himself and Hope before walking outside.

"What if the dart was just a simple tranquilizer…that would explain her not waking up and her being knocked out almost instantly," Wesley offered up with an optimistic smile on his face as he pulled Hope close and tried his best to keep her warm with his body heat.

"That would yes…but Connor did say that the area directly surrounding the dart had started to change in color, turning from a normal peach or in Gwen's case a lightly bronzed color to a pea green and then intensely deep purple," Giles said with a very serious and dark frown on his face as he cupped his right hand under his chin and supported that with his left arm wrapped around his midsection in a thoughtful pose.

"Wesley…what the hell do you think you're doing, do you know how cold it is out there, get back inside right now," Faith shouted loudly as she interrupted the two from the doorway of the sliding door, clad in a hastily thrown on pair of Wesley's sweatpants with the drawstring tied as tightly as it would go and a two sizes to big sweatshirt on top, so big in fact that it kept falling off of her shoulder and forcing her to pull it back up.

"Faith…I…of course," Wesley stammered out with a shocked and slightly scared look on his face before he quickly hurried back inside the house with a flustered and embarrassed Giles right behind him.

"It's freezing out there, why did you take Hope out there in only her jumper, you both could have froze to death out there," Faith asked again with an angry and yet intensely worried look in her eye as she cocked her hips to one side and planted her fists on her hips, looking still very much imposing if not like a little girl playing badly matched up dress up. 

"I wasn't thinking Faith and I'm sorry, Giles and I got to talking and I just lost track of where we were…," Wesley started to reply with a humbled expression on his face before all hell broke loose in the living room.

"Move…," Angel shouted as loudly as he could without thinking as he stormed in after Connor, with a heavily smoking blanket thrown over him, with an unconscious and hurt looking Gwen in his arms.  Without a second thought Wesley handed Hope to Faith and rushed into the living room with Giles and Spike close behind.

"Who'd you piss of now Angel," Spike asked with his usual cocky smirk on his face before he saw the panicked look on Angel's face and rushed to close the blinds as Angel gently laid Gwen on the couch before violently throwing the blanket off.

"What happened," Willow asked with a shocked look on her face as she stumbled into the living room with her laptop in hand.

"We were attacked, before we could even do anything, they came out of nowhere, Gwen was hit first with this…whatever they dipped this in it must have been powerful because she was out and on the ground in a flash," Connor answered with a very grim and nearly frantic look on his face as he pulled a small metal dart out of his pocket and handed it to a grim looking Giles.

"Are you okay," Buffy asked with a worried look on her face as she came into the living room and looked back and forth between Angel and Connor.

"Fine…Gwen's not," Angel grumbled back his reply with a panicked expression on his face, his gaze never leaving Gwen's face, as her breathing had become a bit labored. 

"Do you have any idea who they were Angel," Wesley asked with a grave look of concern on his face as he knelt down beside Angel and gently took Gwen's pulse.

"I don't know, they looked an awful lot like those Initiative guys that I took out back when Buffy was still dating Riley," Angel replied with an overwhelmed frown on his face as he half turned to Wesley.

"Bastards…," Spike growled under his breath as he smashed his closed right fist into the open palm of his left hand.

"But why would Riley…or the Initiative for that matter, do something like this…attack you," Fred asked meekly with a worried and slightly aghast look on her face as she poked her head around the corner and looked down at Angel before looking up and around at everyone else.

"Riley and Angel didn't exactly part on the best of terms that night, they nearly killed each other," Buffy interjected with a serious look on her face as he crossed her arms and stepped back to stand beside Spike.

"But surely Riley wouldn't be carrying a grudge against Angel after all this time…that'd be…petty," Dawn asked with a confused look on her face as she turned back to look at Buffy and Spike.

"Petty is that ponce's middle name Nibblet," Spike joked back with a very serious and unhappy frown on his face before Buffy started to clear her throat to stop him but decided against it as a part of her agreed with him.

"Or has anyone thought that it was indeed an agent of the Initiative that was killed up in that tree and they didn't like the three of you snooping around," Faith wondered out loud with a very straightforward look of seriousness on her face as she held Hope a bit closer, using her daughter's weight to keep the sweatshirt from slipping off of her shoulder again.

"That would explain a lot, but why the use of the dart, that obviously wasn't dipped in a simple tranquilizer, why go through all of this trouble," Wesley added with a very serious and confused frown on his face as he looked up at Faith.

"With the Initiative who knows…," Buffy said with a sad and worried tone to her voice before she leaned over and laid her head on Spike's shoulder.

*                           *                        *                      *                      *                               *

"Are you sure about this…," Callie asked with a very nervous and discombobulated look on her face as she wiped away the tears that were spilling down her cheeks.

"Callie…I've never been as serious about anything in my entire life…so…what do you say…," Nick replied with an extremely nervous but forced look of calm on his face as he lifted the small box upwards towards Callie.

"I…I'm mean we've only been together for a few months…ah what the hell…yes…," Callie said softly with a worried look etched across her face before a jubilant smile flashed across her face and Nick slumped noticeably in relief before he joined her in smiling.  With nervously shaking hands Nick slowly stood up and pulled the ring from the box, slipping it onto Callie's finger before pulling her close and sharing an excited kiss.  "It's beautiful…and it fits perfectly…how did you…I didn't…," Callie stuttered out her question with a flabbergasted look on her face as she pulled away from the kiss and stared intently at the shine of the ring.

"You remember a few weeks ago when you thought that you'd lost you're favorite ring…well you didn't, I took it to a jeweler and he used it to size this one," Nick replied with a sheepish grin on his face as Callie weakly glared back at him before the two broke into a happy and relaxed laugh.

"I knew it…I knew that terrible excuse you used about finding it behind the couch wasn't what really happened," Callie joked with a fake look of anger on her face as she lightly punched Nick in the shoulder.

"Sorry…forgive me," Nick whimpered back softly with his best puppy dog look on his face as Callie did her best to keep from laughing at him.

"You're forgiven…," Callie whispered back softly through a short chuckle before she pulled Nick close and kissed him with all of the happiness that she was feeling at that moment.  As Callie and Nick slowly made their way towards the bed they failed to notice the small sounds of the floorboards creaking out in the hallway outside of Callie's front door.  Seconds later two small canisters rolled into the bed room, shooting out billows of dark smoke.  Before they could even get off of the bed both Callie and Nick passed out and lay sound asleep as they were then lifted up and loaded into the back of a moving van.

*                     *                           *                               *                     *                             *

"How is she," Cordelia asked with a true look of concern on her face as she handed Angel a mug of warm pig's blood and sat down beside him.  Unsure of exactly what to do Gwen had remained on the couch, with Faith providing an extra pillow and blanket for her to use, as Gwen's temperature had dropped suddenly a few hours after Angel and Connor had first brought her back.  Angel had stayed at her side the entire time, endlessly trying to figure out what had gone wrong and now how he would be able to help her.

"Still out…she's getting worse Cordy…it might not look like it from the outside but her pulse has quickened and she's starting to have a hard time breathing…," Angel replied with an almost emotionless look on his face before Cordelia's next question was interrupted by the phone ringing.  Angel picked the receiver up reluctantly and was surprised to hear the voice at the other end.

"Hello Angel…," The voice said with the slightest bit of mockery in the voice as Angel slowly set the mug of pig's blood down on the desk beside the phone.

"Riley…I should have known that you were behind this…," Angel growled with an angry scowl on his face, fighting the demon within to remain in control of his emotions as the expression on Cordelia's face soon mirrored his.

"I'm sorry about your friend but it was necessary to get your cooperation for what we have planned," Riley said with a calm tone to his voice as he sat in a car parked near Wesley and Faith's house, one that was well hidden in the thicket.

"I don't care what you have planned…what did you do to her," Angel demanded with a very serious and threatening tone to his voice as he clenched the phone a bit tighter and Cordelia was afraid that he was going to break it in half.

"We gave her a bit of Quikoslan demon venom, she'll remain comatose and slowly worsen over time until death takes her…that is unless you do what we say and help us with a problem that requires your…unique…talents," Riley replied with an almost bored look on his face as Sam watched on, her jaw set firm and her hands tightly clenching the wheel.  She had been against this plan of action from the beginning but Riley had smiled and reassured her that the venom wouldn't do any permanent damage as long as Gwen received the antidote in time.

"Listen you sick son of a bitch…I don't care what problem you have, you either give me the antidote to that venom right now or else…," Angel growled deeply into the phone, his voice laden with all of the malice that he could muster.

"Calm down Angelus, a temper like that will get you in trouble, I'm sure that by now you've heard of a Mr. Saburon, he contacted a couple of friends of your ally Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and asked for assistance, a Callie Freeman and Nicholas Burton, in truth Mr. Saburon is the one that started this all by casting a spell that opened the portal to another reality, bringing in a rather dangerous tribe of fire breathing reptilian demons, what we want you and your friends to do is get rid of the demons for us and close the portal before anything worse comes out, if you don't do what we say or try anything Ms. Raiden won't be the only one in trouble…," Riley said with a chipper smile on his face as he flipped through the contents of the clipboard on his lap before the conversation was abruptly halted as Angel reached his breaking point and leapt out of the chair, slipped into his game face, and hurled the phone and desk that it sat on against the wall. 

END OF CHAPTER 22