Disclaimer: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel are not mine, I'm just playing with them.
Chapter 16: Rain of Fire
Angel was still shaking his head at Buffy's exit. She really knew how to make them. Now that Fred and Wes had been found, Angel was free to concentrate on Dawn, and his son. He still couldn't believe that after all this time Connor was back in his life. True, he didn't remember anything, and he was only going on what someone had told him, Angel was sure that this time it would be different. Connor could just never know that he had been the one to wipe his memories. Angel's wasn't sure that Connor would ever be able to forgive him for that, seeing as how his whole life had been one big lie implanted into his brain.
Angel sighed, and rose from his office chair. He reached for the phone on his desk, and dialed Buffy's cell number. If they were still in the sewers, then she probably wouldn't answer. However, if they had found a lead, they may have gone above ground, and Angel was desperate to hear any news. His eyes widened as Buffy answered her phone after the second ring.
*
"Hello?" Buffy said, putting her cell phone to her ear. She was still maintaining a grip on Lindsey's collar. Spike was standing on her other side, waiting to see who was on the line. Buffy listened for a minute, before speaking again. "Hi Angel." She replied, and gestured for Spike to take over her grip on their southern captive, who was now struggling to get away. She walked a few feet away. "That's good. I'm glad Wes and Fred are okay." Buffy said into the phone. She was silent again. "Yeah, I think we've hit pay dirt. Let me give you the address." Buffy rattled the address off to Angel and hung up. She turned back around.
"Everything peachy, Luv?" Spike asked, trying to mask the jealousy in his voice. It bugged him to no end that Buffy still treated the Poof as a friend. They would never be friends, not really. He'd told them as much, once.
"Yeah. Angel's on his way." Buffy made an after you gesture towards at Lindsay and Spike gave the brunette a firm push down the hall.
*
Connor and Dawn reappeared on an old and decrepit balcony. They were still clinging to each other, and it was a moment before Dawn stepped out of his embrace. Both of them tried to ignore the sudden emptiness. At first, Dawn admitted to herself, she had been very upset with what Connor had done to Angel. Now she felt like she had a little more insight into what Connor's life had been like, she understood why he'd felt the need to do it a little bit better. She didn't, and couldn't ever condone it, but she understood.
They had both started to wordlessly examine their new location when the sky above them opened up. Just great, Dawn sighed to herself. More rain. She'd really just gotten dry after the last memory involving rain.
Except it wasn't. It was fire.
"Dawn, watch out!" Connor cried, pulling her out of the way. A ball of fire just missed her, singeing some of her hair. She and Connor crowded under what little protection the balcony afforded them as they registered voices coming from behind the sheer curtain that acted as a doorway to the balcony. By unspoken agreement they pulled the curtain aside and stepped into a dimly lit room.
Standing in front of them was Connor's younger self, and a brunette woman. Dawn recognized her immediately.
"Cordelia!" Dawn exclaimed. Older Connor looked at the woman who was now touching the cheek of his younger self as they looked out at the fire raining down.
"All your life, you never had anything real." Cordelia said to Younger Connor. Younger Connor just stared at her, clearly shocked. "You should have something that's real." Cordelia went on, leaning up to kiss Younger Connor.
"Oh, no way." Dawn breathed in disbelief, looking at Older Connor. He was taken aback, as well. Dawn clapped her hand over her eyes as the couple began making out in front of them suddenly began removing clothes, and heading for the bed. Older Connor had his jaw dropped. God, he'd had sex with someone and it had been wiped from his memory! "I can't watch this." Dawn protested, clapping a hand over her eyes and whirling around to face the view from the balcony. Her actions turned Older Connor's attention from the couple writhing on the bed back to her. They watched the rain of fire come down, with the sound of moaning filling the air. Embarrassed, Dawn felt the need to distract them. "Well, since we're uh, gonna be here a few minutes, let's go over what we've learned so far." Dawn said to Older Connor.
He sighed and shot one last look at his younger self and the hot brunette on the bed. God, he wished he remembered this. He turned back to Dawn, and immediately felt guilty. Dawn sat, facing the balcony, and patted the floor beside her as a gesture for Older Connor to join her. He did after a moment, and they sat with their knees brushing.
"Ok." He said. "My mom, Darla, staked herself so that I could be born. A total gain for society, from what I've been told." Older Connor began. Dawn didn't refute that. Darla had been bad news.
"Then you were kidnapped and taken to that alternate dimension by that creepy guy with the trench coat and facial hair." Dawn continued for him.
"Holtz, I'm pretty sure." Connor volunteered. "I was so mad at Angel because I thought he killed someone named Holtz, that I dropped dear old dad to the bottom of the ocean. It makes sense that he raised me in the alternate dimension, and that's why I hated my dad so much." He stated.
"Oh, good point." Dawn agreed. "So Holtz takes you, raises you to hate Angel, and then you come back and try to kill Angel, and then drop him to the bottom of the ocean. Angel is found, and then he kicks you out of the hotel." She continued.
"And somehow, I ended up here, with this Cordelia chick my dad kept talking about, and now we're..."Older Connor trailed off. The sound of moaning echoed in the silence.
*
Buffy stared down at her sister's unconscious form, as it lay entwined with Connor's unconscious form. She turned back to Lindsey, clearly pissed.
"I'm not sure who I'm going to kill first." She threatened. Lindsey put his hands up in a defensive posture.
"Look, I can explain." He said.
"This oughta be good." Spike sneered. He pushed Lindsey up against the wall. "In fact, it had better be very good." Spike threatened.
"They just showed up on my doorstep. Connor is my cousin." Lindsey explained.
"Yeah, Mate." Spike wasn't having any of it. "Sing us another one, why don't you?"
"He said that some stuff was going on, and he and your sister needed to stay here for a few hours." Lindsey continued. Three years ago, he would have been a confidant, cocky, son-of-a-bitch. Now he was an out of work lawyer for a law firm that wanted him dead. The last thing he wanted was to end up dead, and from what he'd read about Ms. Buffy Summers, she was not one you fooled around with. Sure, he was human, but that didn't mean she wouldn't put him in traction. Now that Angel was on his way over, well, Buffy would put him in traction, and Angel would just finish him off.
"We can see that, Sherlock." Buffy replied sarcastically. "What did you do to them?" She demanded, staring down at her sister.
"Nothing." Lindsey answered.
"This is not nothing!" Buffy cried. Spike vamped out.
"I'd start talking. You never know when I might get a little peckish." He threatened.
"You vampires. Always thinking with your teeth." Lindsey jibed. "They did this to themselves. I had nothing to do with it." He went on. Buffy and Spike shared a look, clearly debating on whether or not they believed him. Spike released him. "It's a spell. Connor said it was supposed to return lost memories or something." Lindsey explained.
At that moment, the shrill ring of Buffy's phone sounded in the silent room. She slapped the phone up to her ear.
"Hello?" Buffy said, her tone impatient. "Will!...Dawn said what? Yeah, she...I'm going to kill her. No, it's ok. No, I'll strangle her once she wakes up." Buffy held her side of the conversation in a rush. "What?" She paused. "Are you sure about...yeah, ok, we'll see you in a few." Buffy hung up the phone and shot a helpless look at Spike.
"Everything all right, Love?" He asked, knowing that it wasn't. Even Lindsey had a bad feeling about the situation. From everything he knew about this kind of spell, the one doing the memory traveling had to have an anchor in the physical plane, otherwise they would have trouble getting back.
"No, it's not." Buffy said. "Dawn called Willow, who told her about the spell. The only thing is, Dawn's not supposed to be unconscious." She told Spike.
"She's supposed to be his anchor." Lindsey said his thought aloud. Buffy gave him a sharp look.
"You know, for someone who's supposed to be just Connor's cousin, you sure do know a lot about vampires and witchcraft. Who the hell are you, anyway?" Buffy asked Lindsey.
"Lindsey McDonald." He answered her. "I'll help anyway I can." Lindsey offered.
"Well, Willow is teleporting in. She'll know how to fix the situation." Buffy reassured him.
"Until then?" Spike wanted to know.
"They'll be stuck wherever they are." Buffy replied.
*
"Who is this woman, anyway?" Older Connor questioned Dawn. The way he figured it, he'd had sex with her; he should at least know something about her.
"She's an old friend of your dad's and my sister's. Long story short, she worked for you dad for a few years, helping him in his fight against evil. I never knew this happened." Dawn gave a basic explanation.
"And where is she now?" Older Connor wanted to know.
"In a coma." Dawn nearly whispered. If Older Connor hadn't had super sensitive hearing, he wouldn't have heard her over the moaning. He just stared at her for a minute. "I don't know all the details. My sister and her friends still treat me like I'm a kid sometimes. They didn't want me to know." She explained, embarrassed about looking like a little kid in front of him.
"I don't think you're a kid." He reassured her, placing his hand on top of hers. Both of them stared down at their hands, and then into each other's eyes.
"You don't?" She breathed. A long, loud exclamation from Cordelia spoiled the moment, both of them looking away, and blushing to the roots of their hair. Dawn's eyes narrowed as she tried not to let it show. "She's so faking it." Dawn said critically.
"What?" Older Connor exclaimed, surprised.
"Cordelia. She's faking it." Dawn repeated. Older Connor spared a glance behind them.
"No way." He denied.
"Please. Haven't you ever seen 'When Harry Met Sally'?" Dawn refuted. Movement outside caught her eye and she got up suddenly. Older Connor followed suit, confused. Dawn walked out onto the edge of the balcony for a closer look, and grabbed Older Connor's arm. "Oh my Goddess." She whispered.
"What?" Older Connor nearly shouted. Dawn pointed to the roof of the building across the alley.
"It's Angel." She said. The flash of light came suddenly, and then they were gone.
*
Lindsey ran a shaking hand through his hair as he headed for the door. Someone was pounding insistently, and he was pretty sure it was Angel. Taking a deep breath, Lindsey gathered his courage. He grabbed the doorknob, twisted, and pulled the door open.