Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the plot. Everything else is the
property of Joss Whedon. I owe all my inspiration to him.
Chapter 2
Angel slid the key in the lock. The lock gave some resistance, but finally gave under the constant heavy pressure of Angel turning it. The smell of stale air and dust assaulted their noses. A faint smell or perfume and flowers still hung in the air.
Fades to haze
"Come sit. You look tired. Big Nasty give you a run for your money?" Cordy looked so beautiful. She was wearing a smile that could light a thousand suns.
'This isn't real.' Angel thought to himself. "You are dead."
"No I most certainly am not. See, touch right here." She lifted Angel's hand and placed it over her steadily beating heart. "Very much alive thank you."
Fade back to present
"Angel you okay. You aren't looking so hot. You rather look like you have seen a bleeding ghost."
"Huh..." The sounds of Spike's voice called him back. "Just old memories. This place holds a lot of them for me."
"Where should I put..."
"In one of the bedrooms on the second floor. They should still have beds in them. We will take care of that after sundown. He didn't really have any family. Just Anne and the old gang he hung with. I'll use the tunnels and try to find them in a bit. They would want to be there."
"Are you going to find your son while you are out?"
"Yeah... But I am pretty sure I know where to find him. Are you coming with or do want to stay here and wait for Illyria to get back."
At almost the same moment, Illyria pushed the door to the hotel open using her back. She cradled the lifeless body of the one she loved in her arms. She walked in and straight to the stairs. "I will be with him."
"Blue...Illyria, maybe it would be best if you came with us."
"You would ask me to leave him again? Who is it that will keep watch over him?"
"Illyria, Spike is right. You should come with us. They will be fine. I am sure there are heavenly beings keeping an eye out. We really should find Gunn's old gang and let them know what has happened. Not to mention Connor. The last time I saw him was yesterday and I made him leave before he got himself killed."
"I go because it pleases me."
"Lerry, do yourself a favor and stop acting so damn tough. We understand you loved him. It is okay to show that and to grieve."
When Spike looked at her, his heart broke for her. She had never asked to come her. She didn't want to be in a world that was so different from that which she was used to, but Wes had helped her. Tried to help her adjust to life as a superhero and not a god. She had Fred's memories of love and her own need to bond to Wes. It was understandable that she ached for him. Felt like the world had crumbled around her again. He knew how it felt. The memory of Buffy dying did it to him every time. Even when she had been standing in front of him, so close that he could feel her breath.
"Cry, scream, be angry, do something other than act like it isn't bothering you."
"You do not do these things."
"No offense, but I didn't love Wes. But if it helps, I did when Fred died. I did when Buffy died. In fact I was a big sniveling baby when she died and I am man enough to admit it!"
"Spike, give her time. She is still adjusting to this world. It may take some time to hit her."
With that the three made their way to the basement and down into the sewers. Their first priority was to find Connor. Angel needed to see him. Because he knew it very well could be his last. Angel was right. He found him sitting in the same coffee shop he had the day before. "Connor."
"Dad! I was worried you wouldn't get out in time."
Connor wrapped his arms around his father. It felt right to worry about Angel. It was like a knife through the heart every time a memory of the true past hit him. To know what he had done, what the truth was, and all Angel wanted was for him to be happy and have a normal life. Finally releasing Angel from his clutch he realized that Angel had been hugging him back and had not let go. He still clung to his son.
Angel let his arms drop to his side. "I am okay. I just needed to know that you were."
"Yeah I am. I was worried about you, but I figured you would come find me if you got out of this alive and hey look I was right, because here you are." Connor looked over Angel from head to toe. "You look like shit. You do know that don't you?" There was a slight laugh in his voice, but it was tilted with sadness.
"Yeah pretty well had figured that one out." Pausing he noticed that Illyria was looking a little to out of place. She had morphed into Fred's form to be in public, but she still was covered in bruises and looked like she needed to be in a hospital instead of a coffee house. "Wes and Gunn didn't make it. We need to find Gunn's old gang so we can give the two of them a proper good-bye. Do you want to help?"
"Sure. Where should I start? I still have my lovely ability to tack everything on God's green earth. So just tell me where to start."
"We will go together. That is if you don't mind going by sewer. Gunn mentioned a few weeks ago that the shelter had moved, but that it was only a few blocks from the old one, so we shouldn't have any trouble finding it."
"I am with. Let me grab me stuff."
"Still working on that resume?"
"Yeah, but I am not really getting anywhere with it. Keep getting stuck. Not being able to think." Connor gathered the papers he had splayed out across the top of the table he had been sitting at and stuffed them into a nap sack before slinging it over his shoulder.
"You'll get it figured out when you stop worrying about it."
"You're probably right."
The four of them moved to the rear of the building and slipped into the back room unnoticed by anyone. Spike opened the door that was the opening to the sewers. They dropped down into the hole and Spike pulled the door down over them.
Spike pulled a cigarette from his coat pocket and rummaged around for his lighter. "Bloody hell. Anyone got a light? I seem to have misplaced my lighter."
"You left it at the Hyperion."
"How do you know that?"
"I saw you lay it down there and then not pick it back up."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Why would I?"
"Good point. You wouldn't."
Together the group trudged on. Weaving and winding their way through the underbelly of LA.
"That is where we go up. It should dump us in an abandoned warehouse that is on the backside of the new shelter."
"Who is going to go get Anne?" Connor asked.
"Do you mind going. Get Anne and ask for any of his old crew to come out to talk to me. I will tell them what happened." Before Angel could even finish the sentence Connor was out of sight.
"Damn that boy is too much like you Angel." Spike was actually rather amazed by it, but tried his best to hide it. "So when do you plan on explaining how he got here in the first place?"
"Later Spike." Angel was tired and Spike was not helping. Though he didn't need sleep, he felt like he could sleep for a thousand years right now and he just couldn't. There was too much to be done. Sleep would have to wait till later.
"Have you given thought to how we are going to get to Europe? We don't exactly have a jet at our disposal anymore."
"Yes we do. The Senior Partners are not on this plane. The LA office of Wolfram & Hart may have been destroyed when we took out the Circle of the Black Torn and the hellion army, but the plane is real and still sitting at LAX. All we need to do is find someone to fly it."
"Oh and that will be so easy."
"I don't know about that. As far as demon kind knows, I went evil. Member of the Circle remember. I should be able to use that to our advantage. Only one still standing kind of thing."
"Hello what about me and Illyria? They are going to know we didn't turn evil."
"We'll sing an old song. It was 'follow me and do my biding or die.'"
"And you actually think that anyone is going to believe that one?"
"I don't care if they do or not. If they question me, I will kill them."
"Well there is that."
Illyria seemed to care less about the conversation they were having around her. She sat on a broken stone column, with her head tilted to the side in it's normal fashion and stared into the wide-open space of the warehouse. Letting her thoughts drift. Reliving Fred's life through her memories. Wracked with pain and anger. It was beginning to become hard to tell where Fred ended and she began. Even the two sets of Fred's memories seemed to be merging together.
Chapter 2
Angel slid the key in the lock. The lock gave some resistance, but finally gave under the constant heavy pressure of Angel turning it. The smell of stale air and dust assaulted their noses. A faint smell or perfume and flowers still hung in the air.
Fades to haze
"Come sit. You look tired. Big Nasty give you a run for your money?" Cordy looked so beautiful. She was wearing a smile that could light a thousand suns.
'This isn't real.' Angel thought to himself. "You are dead."
"No I most certainly am not. See, touch right here." She lifted Angel's hand and placed it over her steadily beating heart. "Very much alive thank you."
Fade back to present
"Angel you okay. You aren't looking so hot. You rather look like you have seen a bleeding ghost."
"Huh..." The sounds of Spike's voice called him back. "Just old memories. This place holds a lot of them for me."
"Where should I put..."
"In one of the bedrooms on the second floor. They should still have beds in them. We will take care of that after sundown. He didn't really have any family. Just Anne and the old gang he hung with. I'll use the tunnels and try to find them in a bit. They would want to be there."
"Are you going to find your son while you are out?"
"Yeah... But I am pretty sure I know where to find him. Are you coming with or do want to stay here and wait for Illyria to get back."
At almost the same moment, Illyria pushed the door to the hotel open using her back. She cradled the lifeless body of the one she loved in her arms. She walked in and straight to the stairs. "I will be with him."
"Blue...Illyria, maybe it would be best if you came with us."
"You would ask me to leave him again? Who is it that will keep watch over him?"
"Illyria, Spike is right. You should come with us. They will be fine. I am sure there are heavenly beings keeping an eye out. We really should find Gunn's old gang and let them know what has happened. Not to mention Connor. The last time I saw him was yesterday and I made him leave before he got himself killed."
"I go because it pleases me."
"Lerry, do yourself a favor and stop acting so damn tough. We understand you loved him. It is okay to show that and to grieve."
When Spike looked at her, his heart broke for her. She had never asked to come her. She didn't want to be in a world that was so different from that which she was used to, but Wes had helped her. Tried to help her adjust to life as a superhero and not a god. She had Fred's memories of love and her own need to bond to Wes. It was understandable that she ached for him. Felt like the world had crumbled around her again. He knew how it felt. The memory of Buffy dying did it to him every time. Even when she had been standing in front of him, so close that he could feel her breath.
"Cry, scream, be angry, do something other than act like it isn't bothering you."
"You do not do these things."
"No offense, but I didn't love Wes. But if it helps, I did when Fred died. I did when Buffy died. In fact I was a big sniveling baby when she died and I am man enough to admit it!"
"Spike, give her time. She is still adjusting to this world. It may take some time to hit her."
With that the three made their way to the basement and down into the sewers. Their first priority was to find Connor. Angel needed to see him. Because he knew it very well could be his last. Angel was right. He found him sitting in the same coffee shop he had the day before. "Connor."
"Dad! I was worried you wouldn't get out in time."
Connor wrapped his arms around his father. It felt right to worry about Angel. It was like a knife through the heart every time a memory of the true past hit him. To know what he had done, what the truth was, and all Angel wanted was for him to be happy and have a normal life. Finally releasing Angel from his clutch he realized that Angel had been hugging him back and had not let go. He still clung to his son.
Angel let his arms drop to his side. "I am okay. I just needed to know that you were."
"Yeah I am. I was worried about you, but I figured you would come find me if you got out of this alive and hey look I was right, because here you are." Connor looked over Angel from head to toe. "You look like shit. You do know that don't you?" There was a slight laugh in his voice, but it was tilted with sadness.
"Yeah pretty well had figured that one out." Pausing he noticed that Illyria was looking a little to out of place. She had morphed into Fred's form to be in public, but she still was covered in bruises and looked like she needed to be in a hospital instead of a coffee house. "Wes and Gunn didn't make it. We need to find Gunn's old gang so we can give the two of them a proper good-bye. Do you want to help?"
"Sure. Where should I start? I still have my lovely ability to tack everything on God's green earth. So just tell me where to start."
"We will go together. That is if you don't mind going by sewer. Gunn mentioned a few weeks ago that the shelter had moved, but that it was only a few blocks from the old one, so we shouldn't have any trouble finding it."
"I am with. Let me grab me stuff."
"Still working on that resume?"
"Yeah, but I am not really getting anywhere with it. Keep getting stuck. Not being able to think." Connor gathered the papers he had splayed out across the top of the table he had been sitting at and stuffed them into a nap sack before slinging it over his shoulder.
"You'll get it figured out when you stop worrying about it."
"You're probably right."
The four of them moved to the rear of the building and slipped into the back room unnoticed by anyone. Spike opened the door that was the opening to the sewers. They dropped down into the hole and Spike pulled the door down over them.
Spike pulled a cigarette from his coat pocket and rummaged around for his lighter. "Bloody hell. Anyone got a light? I seem to have misplaced my lighter."
"You left it at the Hyperion."
"How do you know that?"
"I saw you lay it down there and then not pick it back up."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Why would I?"
"Good point. You wouldn't."
Together the group trudged on. Weaving and winding their way through the underbelly of LA.
"That is where we go up. It should dump us in an abandoned warehouse that is on the backside of the new shelter."
"Who is going to go get Anne?" Connor asked.
"Do you mind going. Get Anne and ask for any of his old crew to come out to talk to me. I will tell them what happened." Before Angel could even finish the sentence Connor was out of sight.
"Damn that boy is too much like you Angel." Spike was actually rather amazed by it, but tried his best to hide it. "So when do you plan on explaining how he got here in the first place?"
"Later Spike." Angel was tired and Spike was not helping. Though he didn't need sleep, he felt like he could sleep for a thousand years right now and he just couldn't. There was too much to be done. Sleep would have to wait till later.
"Have you given thought to how we are going to get to Europe? We don't exactly have a jet at our disposal anymore."
"Yes we do. The Senior Partners are not on this plane. The LA office of Wolfram & Hart may have been destroyed when we took out the Circle of the Black Torn and the hellion army, but the plane is real and still sitting at LAX. All we need to do is find someone to fly it."
"Oh and that will be so easy."
"I don't know about that. As far as demon kind knows, I went evil. Member of the Circle remember. I should be able to use that to our advantage. Only one still standing kind of thing."
"Hello what about me and Illyria? They are going to know we didn't turn evil."
"We'll sing an old song. It was 'follow me and do my biding or die.'"
"And you actually think that anyone is going to believe that one?"
"I don't care if they do or not. If they question me, I will kill them."
"Well there is that."
Illyria seemed to care less about the conversation they were having around her. She sat on a broken stone column, with her head tilted to the side in it's normal fashion and stared into the wide-open space of the warehouse. Letting her thoughts drift. Reliving Fred's life through her memories. Wracked with pain and anger. It was beginning to become hard to tell where Fred ended and she began. Even the two sets of Fred's memories seemed to be merging together.