Stolen Innocence
Part Five
Posted: May 7, 2004
Disclaimer: see first chapter
Challenge: see first chapter
Author's notes: Ok, here's the next chapter! My mom's pretty much forgotten all about my month grounding, but then she's working night this week, so she's not home! Lol. Please enjoy!!!
Reader Responses:
BAShipper: Yeah, being grounded sucks. Glad you can feel the 'vibes' coming from our favorite couple. And this chapter's just gonna make it all the better for us, and not so much for those that dislike these two being together. Thanks for your review!
GidgetGirl: thanks for the grammar help. Now that I'm done with judging, of which you had many stories, I don't care about grammar! I just felt really bad about sitting there, going "no, not that new, this knew..." and explaining why, and then having bad grammar myself. I might end up changing the mistakes you showed me, but I tend to be lazy...
And I'm still super uber-thankful that you did thw whole grammar as you go for chapter...3. I tend to do that when I have NOTHING else to do...thanks so very much! I'll probably change those mistakes, just so your hard work wasn't for nothing!
Only two reviews this time...pouts
Oh, in this chapter, there's a...reference to something...let's see if you can figure it out!
(yes, this is my ploy to get more reviews, but you love me anyway, right?)
"Hey, Ash, ya wanna go to the zoo?" Dawn asked at lunchtime, as she breezed into the office, saving Angel from the rest of the day with the 'demon child' as he had come to think of her as.
"YA!" she cried, jumping for joy. "Can Angel come with us?!" Angel couldn't understand how a child could understand and sense so much, and yet still be so naive at the same time.
"Uh...well..." Dawn trailed off, unsure of how to explain it to the girl that her favorite person couldn't come with them.
"I have tons of work I have to get done. Maybe later, though?" he said, knowing it would never happen.
"Ok!" she agreed grabbing Dawn's hand. She skipped out of the office, dragging Dawn behind her.
Angel sat down at his desk, and pulled out his research. He settled down to work on deciphering Wolfram and Hart's plans for the children, but he didn't get far. About an hour after he was freed from the little girl, another blond stuck her head into his office. One he hadn't seen in a month.
"Hi, Angel," she tried to smile, but it didn't hide the pain on her face.
"Oh, Nina, hi. Is it that time already?"
"Yeah. I, uh, told my sister. She sorta freaked."
"She'll come around."
"She, uh, kicked me out." She held up her backpack.
"Do you need a place to stay?" he asked.
Relief showed clearly on her face, "That'd be nice."
"I'll get something fixed up for you, ok?"
"Thanks." But her face had fallen just a little bit. Angel was oblivious to it though, while he shuffled papers.
"But your 'suit' is ready, though it's still early." He said, looking out the window.
"Yeah it is. A-are you free? You wanna do something?"
"No, I'm really not. I have this huge thing I'm working on, I'm sorry."
"That's fine. I'll just go find something to amuse myself with. See you later." She gave him a little wave, and left. He sighed, ready to get back to work, and managed 25 minutes of uninterrupted working time, when yet another blond came into his office. He sighed in irritation at the interruption.
She didn't notice his frustration as she plopped down in a chair. "Nobody wants to hire a 25 year old, with no prior experience!" she grumbled.
"Then start up Angel investigations." He sighed.
"But that's not getting away from my destiny. And I know that normal jobs haven't always worked well for me, but I just want something that sets me apart from my destiny." Then she sat up straight, "Wait, where's Ashleigh?"
"Dawn took her to the zoo. Saving me from playing hide and seek and not getting any work done."
"She's attached to you." Buffy noted.
"To say the least. Oh, I got some of Wolfram and Hart's files, trying to figure out what they're up to. Wanna help?"
A smiled lit her face for the first time that day, "Sure."
"I wanna go see the polar bears." She said, dragging on Dawn's hand.
"We already saw them. Let's go look at the snakes."
"No! The polar bears!"
"We're going to see the reptiles." Dawn dragged the child towards the reptile house.
"NO! I WANNA SEE THE POLAR BEARS!" Dawn smiled at the people who turned to look; embarrassed by the attention Ashleigh was drawing.
"Do you want some cotton candy?"
"NO!!! LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, and now everyone was staring at them.
"Look, you," Dawn said, kneeling down before her, "You'd better behave, or I'm going to tell Angel, and you won't be able to hang out with him tomorrow." The little girl started pouting. And then she was crying. Dawn stood, exasperated.
"First kid?" a kind woman asked.
"Oh, uh, no. She's my sister. And let's just say, I so want to be the youngest again."
The woman laughed. "Sorry," she sobered, "You can't let her act like that. Take control of the situation."
"I'm trying. Hopefully she'll tire soon," she looked at the screaming girl.
An hour later, she sighed as she stared through the glass at the arctic bears.
"Blood. Why is it always blood?"
"What? Let me see it." She passed his the text she was looking through.
"See, right there. Blood. Why the hell is it always got to be blood?"
"Just keep looking. We're close, I can feel it." He dismissed the ritual calling for the blood of three witch sisters and an angel to bring about Armageddon. He passed her the book back, and their hands brushed. She jolted back like she'd been stung, the book clattering to the table.
"This is foolish. We're acting like teenagers!" she complained.
"You're the one that pulled away."
"That's besides the point."
"You're right, we're both adults, we should be able to work together, putting aside whatever feelings we have for each other, and our past."
"Then why is the only thing I can think of is kissing you?" she murmured. He leaned over the huge table and she leaned forwards also, to meet him. Their lips met, and she reached her arms around him, trying to pull him across the table. Slowly they stopped, and he retreated across the table. They sat there in an uncomfortable silence for what seemed like ages. Buffy couldn't get the thought of the feel of his cool lips on hers out of her mind.
"Buffy that was uncalled for-"
"There you are, I just wanted to let you know I'm going down now."
"Uh, ok." Buffy turned to see the newcomer, interrupting whatever was going on between them.
"Nina?" she asked, recognizing her old school friend.
"Buffy! Oh my God, it's been ages!" the two women hugged, and Angel suddenly felt very uncomfortable. "How have you been?"
"Good, considering, you?"
"Well, werewolf."
"No way! Wow. My friend's ex-boyfriend was a werewolf. Well, he still is, but he figured something out...I never really understood it all."
"Yeah, I hear ya. It's been so long! Whatcha been up to?"
"Battling the forces of evil. Here, and then overseas." Buffy decided to come clean, if Nina knew she was a werewolf, then she would be more open to the idea, she hoped.
"Wow, overseas. And evil, like are you in the military or something?"
"No, the demonic variety."
"Wow, cool. What type of demons?"
"Vampires mostly." Nina shot a hurried glance at Angel, then back to Buffy. "Oh, don't worry, me and Angel go way back. He's safe."
"That's awesome. How's your sister been? I saw here during April break. Did she do well this semester?"
"You saw her in April?"
"She didn't tell you?"
"No, she wasn't exactly supposed to be here. Speak of the devil." Buffy said and Nina turned, to watch a speeding blond blur fly by, attaching itself to Angel's leg, and a bedraggled Dawn following. "How was the zoo?"
"The polar bears were cool." Dawn said dully.
"What else did you see?"
"Polar bears. And ice. And fish in the polar bear enclosure. Seems that Ashleigh likes Polar bears."
"Yup!" Ashleigh exclaimed from Angel's leg.
"Could you let go of my leg?" he asked. She did so, and held up her arms. He sighed, and picked her up. "You're too big to pick up." But she was already in his arms.
"That girl has you whipped." Nina commented, and Ashleigh stared at her.
"You're here to break things apart." She said ominously.
"Ashleigh, that's not very nice. Ash, this is my old friend Nina. Nina, this is Ashleigh."
"Your daughter?"
"Oh, no. She's my younger sister."
"I don't like her here." The girl whispered in Angel's ear. "She's here to keep people apart. And that'll ruin it."
"Ruin what?"
"The ascension."
After Nina and Buffy had caught up, and Dawn had taken Ashleigh up to Angel's apartment, Angel told her what the girl had said.
"She opens up to you, but not her sister."
"At least we now know what we're dealing with, ok? We have to find out what this ascension is about, and who's ascending. And to what."
"Then we kill it, right?"
"If we can. Wolfram and Hart doesn't deal in just one demon, Buffy, it would be too small for them to care about."
"So you're saying this might be a whole race of demons?"
"Maybe, unless it's one of the senior partners. I have a feeling we're in over our head."
"So I'm not the only one. There goes my normal job." She sighed.
Angel began watching Ashleigh while Buffy, Dawn and Wesley researched at the big table in his office. In the afternoon, Buffy would go and work on the rooms in the hotel, since she had a feeling she would end up needing them in the coming days. Whatever they found out didn't make anyone feel any better about what was to come.
"Harm, do you know where Ashleigh is?" Buffy asked one afternoon, coming to get the girl so Angel wouldn't have to bring her home.
"Angel took her upstairs for a nap. He doesn't want to be disturbed." "Ok, thanks." Buffy smiled at the thought of the vampire, but the train of thought scared her, and she wiped the smile off her face. They had spoken of nothing more than the upcoming ascension and Ashleigh since they had kissed. She got into the elevator, and waited patiently until the doors opened. She walked out into the apartment, and towards the bedroom. The scene she saw there made her heart melt.
Angel was curled up on the bed, with Ashleigh asleep in his loose arms. Her long blond hair was fanned out around her, and she rested her head on Angel's arm.
Buffy crawled onto the bed, and lay down beside Ashleigh.
"Hi," he whispered.
"Hi," she returned, "you look comfy."
"I'm just lucky my arm can't fall asleep. Though I'd rather it be you." He said with conviction.
"But you two are so cute." She teased to cover up her delighted embarrassment.
"You're cuter." he slowly moved his hand from under her, trying to slowly creep away, but the girl latched onto him, wrapping her arms about his chest.
"She's really attached to you." She commented.
"Literally." He joked. He slowly reached his left hand over the sleeping child and ran his thumb over her cheek. She allowed him to stroke her cheek as she lay there.
"I missed you, " he said, "ever since I left, I've missed you, every day."
"But you still left."
"I felt I had to. I almost wish I hadn't, now."
"Almost?" he heard the emotion in her voice.
"Look at what you've become, what you've done! You wouldn't have been able to, if I had stayed."
"Oh sure, I blew up a high school, died, blew up an entire town, and now I live in a house, provided by an organization I used to hate, and my every need is taken care of, by them."
"You are a thoroughly gorgeous, fiery woman of 25 or so, with an unquenchable lust for life. You've taken care of your sister since you were 20, becoming her legal guardian, and now you are essentially Ashleigh's mother. You have come so far from the teen you once were."
"I don't want to be her mom!" she cried, the fear showing clearly in her eyes. He shushed her quietly. "I can't be her mom. I don't know how," she whispered sadly.
"Yes you can. I'll help you."
"What do you know about raising a kid?" She cried, sitting up.
"Hey, shh, now. I-I have to tell you something. It's been eating me up inside. No one else knows or remembers. Due to some interference on someone's part, a higher being or what have you; I had a son four years ago. He was kidnapped and taken to a demon dimension. When he came back, he was an adult. W-hen I signed on with Wolfram and Hart, I made a deal with them. They'd give my son a real family, the family he deserved, where monsters and demons don't exist." he finished quietly, "They want me here to keep tabs on me, and if I leave, Connor gets dragged back into hell." she just sat there, silent.
"I-I'm sorry." she said finally.
"I'm dealing. But...I want to help with her. I-I can be her father figure." She slowly lay down again.
"It's no fun when your parents are separated." she murmured.
"Can we trust ourselves?"
And so begins the flooding of reviews, right?
And I just wanna be the first to say...aww! I loved writing this chapter SO much!!! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed reading it!