Disclaimer: I don't own anything and you know it! I will make claims to Lexia, she's mine. Don't take her from me, or I'll cyber-kick your ass! Thank you come again!


Title: A True End


Summary: Sequel to Friendly Reflection. Lexia and Connor fight to stay together against the apocalypse. As if Connor had never hooked up with Cordy in Rain of Fire.


Rating: I'ma make it R for fun!




Chapter 8:

Connor grabbed a stack of newspaper and swung it right into the vamps head. It staggered back, only to be replaced by another one, ready to fight Connor as well. They were everywhere. Every time Connor seemed to get the upper hand, another popped into the game.

One of the vampires pushed Connor into a metal canister. Connor turned and twisted the wheel on the top, releasing gasses from within. The vampires shrieked, disoriented. Connor managed to knock a couple of them down now, but two more vampires grabbed him by each arm, holding him for a third vampire.


"Lemme guess. Out-of-towners?" Connor asked.


"Yeah, Tucson," the vampire who was advancing on him said.

The vamp came near and Connor kicked him in the chin, knocking him down. He pulled with his left arm, knocking the two holding him into each other. He released the trigger on the wrist sheath he was wearing, staking one. Another vamp launched himself at Connor and he dodged, causing him to fall into the window of the building behind him. He punched the vampire that had tried to triple team him before, throwing him into a billboard. The vamp fell to the ground, and turned to run. Only to come face to face with Lexia.


"Welcome to L.A.," she told him as Connor hurled a stake at him, dusting him. She smirked. "Tourists."

"Where the hell were you?" Connor demanded.

"What?" she asked picking up the stake. "Oh, I was just getting ambushed. Sorry to worry you."

"So was I!" he exclaimed motioning to the piles of vamp dust. "If you had kept up-."

"If you hadn't run off like Batman," Lexia interrupted. "Neither of us would have been. But no. You have to be some big macho hero-," she stopped when she noticed a group of vampires coming down the alley behind Connor. He looked too and Lexia looked behind herself. Another group was headed down the opposite side of the alley.

+ + +

Later Lexia and Connor entered the hotel, beaten and exhausted. Connor held the door open for her, and tried to say something but Lexia just walked past him, down the steps. She was not gonna bond over slaying groups of vamps with him. Everyone watched her plop down on the couch except Cordelia who was all worried about Connor. Of course, Lexia thought.


"Connor, what happened? Are you all right?" she asked him.


"They're coming from all over. Too many to fight," he said coming down the steps. He stopped when he realized everyone was staring at him. "What?"


Wesley came in from the basement before anyone could answer. "He wants blood."


"I'll get it," Fred volunteered quickly.


"Me too," Gunn jumped in and they went about getting Angelus some blood. Lexia frowned as Connor looked about the group, confused as she was. He turned and went up the stairs. Lorne looked over at Lexia and gave her a sympathetic smile. Lexia tried to smile back, but her lips just didn't want to form it.

"So what's goin' on here?" she asked going over and looking down at the monitor.

"Oh, Angelus is giving a good show," Lorne said. "He uh, let it slip. About Connor and Cordy."

"So that was- the- what with weird looks," Lexia mentioned of the others.

"That would be it warrior princess."

"Good," Lexia said whipping around and heading upstairs to clean up.

+ + +

After she had gotten cleaned up Lexia remembered Connor hadn't brought any clothes from his apartment. Apart of her just wanted to let him fend for himself, but she knew another part of her would like to see him running around shirtless so she went to Angel's room and stole a shirt from him. She headed down to Connor's room and knocked lightly. He didn't say anything for a long time, so she started to drop the shirt and just walk off. "Come in Lexia," he called softly.

Lexia opened the door but stayed in the doorway. Connor was indeed shirtless, his hair wet, and she could smell the soap from his shower. She held out the shirt.

"Hope you like black."

"Thanks," he said taking it and putting it on. "This is his."

"Well, he won't be using it. But I could ask the lame wearing demon," Lexia pointed out.

"No it's fine," Connor said. Lexia was about to turn to go when she saw Connor getting his weapons ready again.

"You're not gonna go back out are you?"

"Somebody has to."

"Don't be dumb," Lexia said which actually got him to look at her. "You're tired. They're too many of them-."

"I wanna get out of here, ok?" Connor broke in. "They all still look at me like it's my fault. Like I'm the one who's connected to the Beast."

"No, that's not it. They know," Lexia said meaningfully. "About what happened the other night. Angelus said something. So they know."

"Good," Connor repeated her from earlier.

"Connor..."

"Angel doesn't care, why should I?" he asked.

"Whatever," Lexia sighed crossing her arms and turning to leave. "You need to get some rest."

"You don't want to be with me-fine. You're not. But don't tell me what to do," Connor told her.

Lexia slammed Connor's door shut. She stomped down the hallway to her room. Why did it have to be like this? Why did Connor have to ruin things? Why do I still have to love him?, she wondered.

+ + +

After Lexia left, Connor had so much tension in him he didn't know what to do. He would have liked to go out and patrol, but he was far too tired. Wouldn't admit that to her though, he thought. Then he decided to do something that was bothering him since they had brought Angelus back. Talk to him.

It was easy to sneak down to the basement. Everyone else was too busy fighting over Fred. Looks like he got to them, Connor thought. Angelus looked up as Connor came down the stairs. He walked up to the cage and looked at the demon that was now his father.


"Everyone's afraid of you," he began.


"Is that my shirt?" Angelus asked.


"Not anymore," Connor said pacing in front of the bars.


"Looks good on you, son," Angelus said with a smirk.


"So did Lexia," Connor glared at him.


"I bet she looks good on a lot of people."


"Angel warned me about you. Said I should remember you're not my real father."


"Yeah," Angelus said standing. "That was a nice speech. Touching. I think it ended with you promising to kill me."


"I remember."


"Kind of unnecessary, don't you think?" Angelus asked as he neared Connor. "I mean, with your track-record, I'll be staking myself by the end of the day."


"It's fine by me," Connor said walking away.


"Darla felt the same way," he said leaning against the bars. "It made her sick, you squirming inside her. So, she jammed a stake in her own heart, just so she wouldn't have to hear your first whiny breath."

"You don't know anything."


"Then there was Holtz. It disappointed him so much that he stabbed himself in the neck."


"My fa—," Connor caught himself as he got angry. "Holtz was a good man. All he ever wanted was for you to get the punishment you deserve. And you will."


"And now my boy's in love. All hearts and flowers," Angelus said of Lexia. Then he shook his head. "But you went and ruined it by boning a woman who's the closest thing to a mom you ever had. But, doesn't it freak you out that she used to change your diapers? Doing your mom, trying to kill your dad, and breaking your girlfriends heart. Hm. There should be a play."


"That wasn't my fault. It was your's," Connor said pointing at Angelus.

"What?" Angelus asked with a chuckle. "I didn't lock you in a room with Cordelia. The Beast did. All I did was try to save you."

"If you had told us about your involvement with the Beast that would have never happened. And she would still-," Connor faltered as emotion rose up inside him. "Besides, you think I care what you say? Angel told me how you'd try to hurt me, how you aren't my real dad, just some animal in a cage. Angel's my dad."


"I think I'm gonna cry," Angelus said fluttering his eyelashes.


"That's what he told me. And he thought I believed him," Connor turned away remembering the conversation. "The truth is, Angel's just something that you're forced to wear." He looked back at Angelus. "You're my real father."


"You know," Angelus mused rubbing the bars with his hands and leaning his head to one side. "Me and that Lexia have a lot in common. Both been hurt by the same people, both got that demonic edge. Plus," Angelus smiled imagining things. "She's a real fox."

"You just stay away from Lexia," Connor warned.

"All that demoness...," Angelus widened his eyes and looked at Connor. "Things could take a while."

Connor stepped forward and slammed his hands against the bars. Angelus didn't flinch, just stepped closer. "I'm right here son," he said holding out his arms. "Come and get me."


"You'd like that."


"You couldn't take me anyway," Angelus shrugged and walked away from the bars.


"We'll see," Connor threatened.


"Promises, promises. Don't make 'em, if you can't keep 'em."


"I wouldn't think of it," Connor said with a smirk.


"It might be your best chance," Angelus turned back to Connor. "Don't disappoint daddy."

Then Cordelia came down the stairs. "Connor. Go upstairs," she ordered


"No," he said glaring at Angelus.


"Please, go upstairs."


"It's your lucky day," Connor said turning and going up the stairs.


"Yeah. Go to your room, mama's boy," Angelus called after Connor.

Connor's hands shook as he headed upstairs. When he entered the lobby he saw Lexia was there now, and had been watching the monitor. Their eyes met and Connor felt as if she was reaching out to him. He started toward her, but she looked down, then went and sat on the settee away from him. Connor sighed and went and sat down behind the desk. No matter what he did, he knew he wasn't going to get her back.

+ + +

Later Lexia was looking through some books trying to help find the Svea priestesses. She was coming up short though. It may have been because her book was in another language.

"Finding anything?" Lorne asked her.


"No," Lexia said sighing and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I think mine's in Swahili."


"Oh. Well I think we can safely say Nordic Priestesses won't be in there," Lorne said taking the book from her. Lexia happily gave it up and leaned back on the settee. She was tired. Very tired. Can I sleep for like, a year?, she wondered.

"'Bout 25 minutes, depending on traffic. They're in Pacoima," Gunn said reading from a phone book.

Lexia stood and went over to the group. Looks like they found them, she thought. Wesley started giving out jobs.

"Connor, Cordelia you can come with me," Wesley said. "Gunn, watch the monitors. Lexia-," Wesley faltered as if he didn't want to ask her.

"You want me to guard Angelus," she guessed.

"Besides Connor I think you may be the only one strong enough to possibly fight him," Wesley said.

"I could stay too," Connor offered.

"I need one of you to go with me."

"I'll stay," Lexia said. "Besides I have something to help me ignore Angelus better than anybody could."

"What?" Fred asked interested.

"Korn," Lexia said holding up a C.D.

+ + +

Lexia headed down to the basement, C.D player in her back pocket, and a magazine in hand. Angelus looked up and whistled as she reached the landing.

"Ooh, hot stuff coming through," he said standing and walking towards the bars. "Are you gonna interrogate me too or did they send me rations?"

"No," Lexia said taking the only chair and turning it around. "I'm your babysitter."

"If I'm naughty do I get spanked?" Angelus asked leaning against the bars. Lexia smirked and straddled the chair, sitting down. "Ooh, never mind. Do that again. That was sexy."

"Would you still think I was sexy if I rammed you head into a concrete wall?" she asked opening her magazine.

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "That would be kinda kinky."

"You're a pig," she told him slipping the headphones over her hears.

"Popular opinion today," Angelus mused before she hit the play button and he was drowned out by loud rock music.

+ + +

Connor followed Cordelia, and Wesley back into the hotel 3 hours later. He felt defeated, and nauseated. All the priestesses, and their family, were dead when they arrived. Been that way for days. Just the thought of what had once been a happy family, dead like that for days... Connor could just imagine the nightmares.


"What happened?" Gunn asked.


"Vamps," Connor said.


"You didn't get the Svear," Fred noticed.


"No, the Beast did," Wesley informed. "Slaughtered the entire family."


"Guess he found a way to kill them after all," Fred murmured.


"So much for our big priestess rescue," Gunn muttered.


"Are we sure Angelus doesn't know anything more?" Fred asked. "I mean, maybe we should talk to—."


"No. I think he's told us everything he's going to," Wesley said sadly.


"Which means our last-ditch plan, turning Angel into a soulless monster, it's a bust. If Angelus can't help us—," Gunn began


"It's time to bring back Angel," Cordelia finished for him.

Connor frowned and walked out of the lobby. He headed upstairs. Everything was too much for him. His dad not being evil, then being evil after all, Lexia leaving him, and Cordelia... She hadn't said anything about what happened in the warehouse since it happened. She acted as if nothing had happened.

He went to his room near the end of the hall and shut the door behind him. Connor slipped off his jacket. He felt exhausted, his limbs weighted down. He plopped down on the bed and laid back, wanting to go to sleep, but knowing he shouldn't. That he needed to stay awake...

Then his door opened. He lifted his head up and saw it was Lexia, standing in his doorway. Her hair was down around her shoulders now, and the jacket she had worn over here was off, showing her shoulders were bared by a tank top. Connor sat up and looked at her questioningly.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Lexia stepped into the room and closed the door. She walked over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. Connor was surprised when her lips met his softly, sweetly. He started to say something when they broke apart but Lexia shushed him.

"Don't talk," she ordered, sitting in his lap. "Don't say anything. Just kiss me."

Connor put his hands behind her head and pulled her to him. Their kiss deepened as Connor closed his eyes and Lexia wrapped her arms around him. Connor let himself fall back onto the bed...

"Connor!" he heard. His eyes snapped open. He sat up and saw Lexia standing in the doorway, hair still up in a pony tail, jacket on. It was a dream, he realized.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Angel's soul. It's gone."

+ + +

Lexia watched the monitor along with Fred. Gunn was filling up her flame thrower with gasoline. Angelus looked up at the monitor.


"Awfully quiet up there," he mused. "I've had time to think, and I've realized something important. Being evil is wrong. I want to be good. I want to be Angel again. You hear me? I'm ready!"


"I'm ready too, fang boy," Gunn said testing the flame thrower.


"He knows, doesn't he?" Fred asked with a sigh. "That his soul's missing."


"Probably knew before we did," Gunn mused.

"Damn those vampire's with their super-senses," Lexia muttered flipping a stake in the air.


"I hope that shaman can help us," Fred said.


"That shaman should never have been brought here," Gunn told them. "Now, instead of just worrying about the big bad Rocky, we got Darth Vampire living in the basement."

"That was our best chance," Fred argued.

Oh, great, Lexia thought rolling her eyes. Just as she thought they would, they started arguing about Wesley. At least I keep my personal drama's to myself.


"Like smacking your girl around?" Angelus said through the monitor as they argued. "I betcha Wes would never hit her. He's all proper and English. And that accent—Oh, chicks just love a good accent. Makes 'em all buttery in their nether regions. Isn't that right, Fred? You know, I had a bit of an Irish brogue back in the day. If you'd like, I could use it on you when I rape you to death... or—."

Gunn reached around Lexia and shut the monitor off. "Son of a bitch," he muttered.

Well, maybe if you guys wouldn't argue every five seconds he wouldn't hear you, and then he wouldn't say shit, Lexia thought. But it would do her no good to argue, so she just flipped the monitor back on but turned down the sound.

+ + +

Connor looked over at Lexia. It was later and they had gotten back from talking to the shaman. Connor had noticed a stressful air when he returned, especial since no one was speaking to each other. Now Lexia sat with her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. She did that often when she was worried.

Taking his chances Connor went and sat down beside her. Lexia looked over at him, then pushed her hair away from her face and looked down at the floor. "You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah...," Lexia said fiddling with the ring on her right hand. "There's just too much tension around here. Fred's mad at Gunn, Gunn and Wesley are mad at each other, and you and I...," she trailed off shrugging. "I just feel all caged in. I don't like that feeling."

"You're used to being on your own," Connor concluded. "Like me."

"Yeah, like you," Lexia agreed.

"Dammit!" they heard Gunn shout all of a sudden. He was looking at the monitor and suddenly ran toward the basement door. Connor and Lexia jumped up and followed, everyone else behind.

Connor saw Lilah turning to run when he reached the landing. Gunn shot Angelus with a trank dart and kept the gun pointed at him. Wesley followed Lilah into the dark corner she'd ran to and Connor started to follow.

"Connor," Gunn said. "Wait here. We may need you incase there's others."

Connor stopped and looked toward Angelus who was collapsed on the floor of his cage. Lexia picked up the crowbar Lilah had dropped. Connor pulled on the door of the cage only to find it still locked. He looked at Gunn who shrugged. Lexia flipped the crowbar over in her hand.

"Who's the dirty bulimic looking chick?" she asked.

"Lilah," Cordelia said coming farther into the room. "She used to work at Wolfram & Hart."

"What kind of brain fart made that witch try and let Angelus out?" Gunn wondered.

"How'd she even know he was here?" Lexia asked.

"She's a muckety-muck at Wolfram & Hart. It's her job to know," Gunn said.

"I thought all the lawyers were dead," Fred pointed out.

"Maybe she cut some kind of deal with it," Gunn said.

"You really think she has a connection with the best?" Connor asked.

"Having a partner would explain why the Beast has been tip-toeing around us, getting everything done," Cordelia mused.

"I don't think anyone human could actually kill all those people," Lexia said looking toward the unconscious Angelus. Cordelia rolled her eyes. Why would Lexia saying that bother her?, Connor wondered.

"But the Beast could still have minions doing his dirty work," Gunn pointed out.

"Morons," Angelus said waking up and trying to sit. "The big rock doesn't have minions. It is the minion."

"No it's not," Fred told him. "We've all seen what he can do."

"You've just seen the warm up act," Angelus sneered at her.

"What are you saying?" Cordelia asked putting a hand on her hip.

"I'm saying there's something bigger," he said standing. "Something worse. The Beast has a boss."

"Worse than the Beast?" Gunn asked doubtfully.

"That's- that's not possible," Cordelia stammered.

"How did you survive this long, being so retarded?" Angelus asked nastily.

"He's right," Lexia agreed. Connor looked at her in surprise. "Nothing that big can be that clever."

"10 points to the girl with the big rack-, oh I meant brain" Angelus said leering at her. Lexia shot him a dirty look. Connor clenched his fists.

"How do you know there's something worse than the Beast?" Connor spit at him.

"'Cause I have a brain, son," Angelus spit right back at him "The Beast I knew was big into smash and slaughter. Had the brawn to be really good at it too, but the big picture—not his strong point. But whoa! Flash forward. Now he's all rain of fire, destroying the Ra-Tet, blotting out the sun. Big moves for a guy whose head is made out of rock."

"Maybe he got smarter," Cordelia suggested.

"And maybe I'll sprout some wings and flutter away," Angelus said sarcastically fluttering his hands. There's something out there- more powerful, more vicous, pulling all the strings. Ooh, don't know about you, but I'm just dying to find out what it is."

+ + +

Lexia was up in her room, butting on her jacket. She put a stake in her sleeve, and another in her belt. Then she stuck a dagger in her boot. She then headed out of her room, and down the stairs. As she was heading down the stairs, Lilah and Wesley came in the door. Everyone looked at Lilah.

"What?" she asked. "No cake?"

"Where is it?" Fred demanded.

"What?"

"Angels' soul," Cordelia jumped in.

Oh, God, Lexia thought. More suspicion and drama. Ignoring the rest of the conversation she went down the last few steps and past Wesley and Lilah.

"Where are you going?" Wesley asked her.

"Patrolling," she said and went out the door. She started down the side walk but Connor caught up with her.

"Hey, you should stay here," he said.

"If I can't tell you what to do, you can't tell me," she told him.

"Lexia-."

"Connor, look," she said stopping. "I gotta get outta there for now. There's just too much going on. I'm stir crazy. And the best way for me to do that had always been kicking the crap out of somebody."

"I know," Connor said sighing. "Just be careful."

"I always am," she said and turned to go.