Disclaimer: I don't Angel. It belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Enjoy.
A Mother's Love
By David Knight
Chapter 2: The Morning After
Gunn walked down the stairs of the hotel. Last night had not been a peaceful night. First thing he had to wake up to would be the massive clean up of demon parts from last night's fight, then having to deal with helping to fix the hotel...
"Wha..." He became fully alert when he saw that the entire lobby looked thoroughly clean, devoid of the body parts and muck from last night. He was about to wonder who was behind this nice surprise... He frowned when he saw the only other person up this morning.
Illyria. She was standing over some plants in the garden outside, yet doing absolutely nothing.
"She's been standing there since the sun came up," Lorne told him as he emerged from the kitchen with a cup of coffee.
"Doing what?" Gunn asked, "talking to the plants?"
"Actually yeah." Both of them turned to see Connor sitting on the stairs, watching his mother. "She does this every morning. Listening to the Song of the Green and a few others."
Lorne smiled. "Song of the Green... does she sing?"
"She sang to me when I was a baby. It was the only way I'd stop crying." Connor smiled back slightly.
Suddenly Illyria moved and walked into the hotel. She looked at Connor. "How did you sleep?"
"The beds alone make it worth staying here," Connor responded. "I don't remember sleeping on anything that soft."
"I'm glad you feel that way," Illyria said kindly. The softness in her features showed how close to Fred she looked even with the blue look.
"Connor was telling me that you sing," Lorne said with a smile. "I'd like to hear you sometime."
"Sometime," Illyria replied, before going over to pick up her cloak, which hung over a bench. She put it over herself.
"Mom?" Connor asked.
"I'm going to be out for the day," Illyria said and before Connor could say anything else she continued, "you should get to know your father better than just from stories I have told you."
Connor had to admit, he did want to get to know his father better. "So are you going to go out as is or are you going to go to looking like that other girl from last night like you..." he stopped when he saw Illyria's stare at him. "... crap. I did it again."
Lorne tilted his head. "I could show you around," he told her gently. "There are ways for people like us to remain unseen around Los Angeles."
"I think maybe she's got some way of doing that," Gunn muttered, looking at Illyria disdainfully. "Isn't that right, Smurfette?"
Illyria tilted her head. "'Smurfette'? Wesley once called me a blue Smurf. I have yet to know what that is even after all this time."
"Perhaps," Lorne said, "but I think you should know these ways as well. It might be better for everyone involved."
Illyria was about to move when Gunn called out to her, "just going to avoid the question demon girl? Like how you murdered Fred!"
"Why you!" Connor was up on his feet, ready to hit Gunn until Illyria called out.
"Connor!" Her voice made him halt. Gunn saw how Connor stopped on her word, and then noticed her approach.
"In my time, we managed to trust each other to fight against the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart. Yet here all I see is your disgust and distrust of me," Illyria said flat out as she started to change before their eyes. She changed into Fred, dressed in dark red shirt and skirt, with red shoes. Yet the cold face before Gunn let him know it was Illyria and not Fred. "I can only hope with time, that will change."
"I wouldn't really go out like that," Lorne said gently. "Especially," he added, "if you don't want Fred to know you can do that."
"Um... it's a little too late for that." Hearing Cordelia's voice, they turned to see her and Fred at the top of the stairs.
Connor hung his head. "I really have to learn to keep my mouth shut."
Illyria looked up at Fred, and for both of them to look exactly the same at that moment, the sight was a bit unnerving.
Fred turned away, leaving the top of the stairs. Without a look behind him, Gunn ran after her, bounding up the stairs two and three at a time. "Would you like to... return to your former appearance, and I will show you around?" Lorne asked. Illyria gave him a long, considering look.
"Why do you wish me to return to my former appearance?" she asked.
"Mostly, to cut down on the confusion," he said pleasantly. "And I wish to get to know you - as you'll be here a while - and I want to get to know your face, not you with Fred's face."
Illyria nodded, her appearance changing back to what it was before. "I believe we should leave now. I am..." she paused for a moment before speaking again, "...not yet prepared to have a conversation with Winifred Burkle."
"It doesn't look like she was prepared to talk to you, either," Cordelia said as she walked down the stairs. "And Lorne, take her shopping. I trust your taste in clothes."
"Um, don't mean to wreck things even further," Connor spoke up, "But mom's bodysuit doesn't come off. Only time I've seen her wear clothes is when she's... well..."
Cordelia shot him an irritated look. "Just go, Lorne."
"Gone," the demon said, offered his arm to Illyria, and swept her off to the basement.
Connor looked down, sitting down on the stairs, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make trouble...its just. I know I was born in this world, but I feel so lost."
Cordelia touched his shoulder gently as she walked past him. "I imagine whatever you were going to say was probably something better left unsaid," she told him on her way for coffee.
"I know this has to be really hard for you all. I get that you all probably don't trust my mom," Connor said slowly, "But she's not evil. I just hope you can learn to trust her."
"You have to give us time," Cordelia said. "Angel's probably not happy that he doesn't get to raise you as he would have liked. We're not happy that you were stolen from us. And Ill... your mother looks way too much like Fred for any of us to be comfortable. We know there's a story there, but no one's talking."
Connor let out a sigh. "And I thought Quor-toth could be harsh at times. "
Cordelia rolled her eyes, although he couldn't see it. "Everywhere is harsh at times," she told him flatly, on her way back into the room where he waited. She paused in the doorway. "Do you want coffee?"
"Coffee?"
At his confused look, she grinned. "Probably better you don't get started on it. Never mind." She walked further in and sat down near him. "As I said, everywhere is harsh at times. It's just a different harsh than you're probably used to."
"You mean the part where I don't seem to be fighting side by side with my mother or demon friends against demons that want to kill me for being half-human/half-demon?" Connor asked flippantly. "Yeah. I kind of don't know if I should be feeling really relaxed or bored out of my skull right now."
"Go for relaxed," Cordelia said. "You can be bored later. And if all turns out okay, you can be fighting with us against demons that hate you because you have some human in you. Or, they may like you because you have some demon in you - at least until you kick their butts back to their houses. Or, wherever they live"
Connor couldn't help but laugh. The way she said what she did was just too amusing to him.
Cordelia grinned. "Yeah, go ahead, laugh at the one trying to help you."
"You're really nice," Connor said between laughs. "And funny. Only Lilim could ever make me laugh like this."
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. "Who is Lilim?" she asked, and sipped at her coffee.
"Lilim's the daughter of one of Demon Lords of Quor-toth that me and Mom stayed with over the years. Her dad helped mom teach me how to fight." Connor explained, "I can't believe she even told me her age. But I guess it can be funny if you think about it. She's a succubbi whose over four hundred years old and she still looks like she's only fifteen. She acts like half the time."
Cordelia shrugged. "So, she's about your age," she said. "Species age differently." Then she blinked. "A succubbi? I bet that was interesting, growing up with her around."
"Yeah. They are nothing like the vampires I've only heard of. They don't have deformed faces, instead they can just make bat wings come out of out of their backs whenever they want." Connor said, then blinked. "... you know it just hit me. Aside from meeting my father last night, I've never really seen a vampire."
"You haven't?"
Connor shook his head, "None ever got to Quro-toth."
"Probably have a dimension of their own," Cordelia said. "I'll stick with the ones here. I know what to do about them. And you'll meet them. We seem to attract them."
Connor had a smile on his face. "Cool."
-----
Gunn had gone up to Fred's room. When he opened the door he found her on her bed. "Fred?" he asked as he walked over to her.
She smiled at him, a brittle smile that reminded him of the girl that had just come back from Lorne's dimension. "Hey, Charles."
As soon he was close enough, Gunn put his arms around her. "I didn't trust Smurfette before, and after this..."
"Well, if she's here, that won't happen to me, right?" She leaned into him, shivering slightly.
"Not if I got anything to say about it," Gunn vowed, holding her tightly. "You aren't going to go through that Fred. I'd rather die first than let that happen to you."
"Oh. But I don't want you dead," she said.
"That ain't happening either," Gunn assured her. He let out a sigh. "Why does Angel even trust her?"
"I'm sure he has his reasons," Fred soothed. "I'd feel better if she'd sing for Lorne. He's never lied to us."
"Yeah that's for sure," Gunn agreed. "...so how are you feeling?"
"Charles..."
"Fred. I want to help." Gunn said comfortingly, "Just how do you feel right now. When you saw what she did?"
"Strange," she admitted after a moment. "It scares me that she could do things as me, and I wouldn't know until to late. We've never really had to worry about identity theft before."
"Tell me about it," Gunn muttered.
"What?" Fred asked.
"Nothing."
"Now who's fooling who?" Fred questioned with a knowing smile.
Gunn smiled for a moment before speaking, "I think maybe the part that makes me distrust her is because of how she looks and the whole story behind it that we don't know yet... but that's my only reasons. What she said before, about us fighting against the people from Wolfram and Hart, I don't thinks he was lying about that. Maybe there's some point in Angel keeping her here besides making Connor happy. Just not going to make me feel comfortable about her being here any time soon."
"No," Fred agreed. "I'm not really that comfortable, either. And I can't keep hiding. Not forever," she added ruefully.
"Well you won't have to worry about blue girl for a while now," Gunn said, "She went out with Lorne if I heard right. Going to be showing her how to handle dealing with living in LA as a demon during day light."
Fred perked up, drawing away from him. "Good," she said. "I'm hungry."
"So am I. Let's go eat." Gunn smiled.
"I wonder how Lorne's doing though." Fred asked.
"He's probably getting fed up with Smurfette right now. I bet she's boring him to death," Gunn chuckled.
-----
"I was what?!" Lorne exclaimed.
"The casino owner in Vegas had you billed as a star attraction, having green skinned dancers with you, yet you told him who had great destinies and he stole them to be sold on the black market, while he had you stuck inside of a steel bar cage living out your days." Illyria said casually to him. "So unless you actually would enjoy living in a prison, Las Vegas should not be a part of your future."
"Darn it," Lorne muttered. "There goes one more dream."
"Tell me. Do you know what a Smurf is?" Illyria asked as she followed Lorne in the sewers, as he had said it was best for demons to walk through them during daylight. "All these years gone by and still I have no idea what one is."
"It's a small blue creature on a cartoon," Lorne said with a distasteful grimace. "They sing in very annoyingly high voices."
"I see. Then that is why Wesley called me a Smurf when he was drunk." Illyria stated.
Lorne paused. "I know things worked out differently," he said slowly, "but right now, Wes is... persona non grata. It might be best to not mention his name for a while. Angel-cakes is still pretty upset, and having Connor back at fifteen might make it worse."
"Connor is seventeen," Illyria corrected him, then stopped. "... Wesley is not with you?" She raised her right hand and between her thumb and index finger blue sparks started to flow from them.
"What are you doing?" Lorne asked in wonder.
"Silence." Illyria ordered, making Lorne confused before she stopped showing sparks. However her face contorted with rage. "NO!" she punched right through a wall, making a rather large hole in it. One Lorne didn't believe could have been made by someone of her slight frame.
"Is... something wrong?" he asked hesitantly.
"I will not allow Wesley to have sexual intercourse with that..." Illyria searched for the correct words to use to describe the woman she was thinking of, as from Winifred's memory being accurate, she would agree with her that the woman in question was a... "...filthy harlot that works for the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart!"
"Filthy harlot..." Lorne blinked. "Lilah? He's..." He shuddered theatrically. "Can you tell me where he is? I'll get you to him now, if you need to get there."
"I did not see that perverse act happen thank the Ancients." Illyria stated. "I only know that Wesley had intercourse with Lilah because Winifred Burkle learned of it from another person and Wesley did not deny it. What you saw was me accessing her memories, which are stored within my essence."
"Ah." Lorne thought a moment. "Well, I think I know where he is now. I could... introduce you, but you can't mention it to Angel-cakes. Or, for appearances, Connor."
Illyria thought about this for a moment before speaking. "Show me how to get here under these tunnels. But I shall not see him till night fall."
"Any particular reason?" Lorne asked.
Illyria took a while before speaking, "... I have to think hard about how to approach the human... the man I have longed to see ever since he died in my arms."
Lorne's eyebrows went up. "I guess Fred wasn't the only one," he said softly. "I will show you. And... if you want, I could introduce you. That might make it a little easier a transition. But I suggest not going as Fred. Although," he added, "you might have figured that one out."
"Yes. You would be correct."
-----
BOOM!!!
There goes the punching bag. Angel mused as he looked down at the now destroyed punching bag. He had been hitting it like he did every morning.
This time however his punches were being fueled by his own self-loathing.
You must be enjoying this Angelus. I can hear you laughing in the back of my mind. Angel sighed. He had asked Illyria for the high lights of the apocalypses that were to come. Considering he signed up to run the LA office of his enemies, he knew it was bad.
He just didn't expect to hear that he actually agreed to let his friends take away his soul, let Angelus back into the world of man just to find out about this thing called the Beast... The fact that I don't even remember him and Illyria does means the puppeteer is already at work and I don't like that. he growled, knowing that it was the puppeteer who actually was pulling their strings to make sure Angelus was let out.
There wasn't a chance in hell Angel was going to allow his demonic counterpart out of the box. He'd done enough damage the last time he was free. More than Angel cared to remember though he would never let himself forget either.
Angel wasn't sure how far he could trust Illyria, but he knew he could trust her much more than he trust Wolfram and Hart. Especially if trusting Illyria meant he never had to work for them.
And in thinking of Illyria, Angel thought to what else she had done. Something he wish he had the chance to do himself but thanks to Holtz he had been robbed of it: the chance to raise his son, perhaps the only son he would ever have in his life.
There's so much I've missed of his life. So many firsts. Angel said sadly to himself. The first time that he walked, his first words, his first birthday... now he's here but he's seventeen now. He's here, he's safe and alive... so why do I feel like I'm even further from him than when he was in Quor-toth?
He turned to go up the stairs, only to stop when he saw Connor in the doorway, holding his bag of weapons over his right shoulder.
"Cordelia said you like to train down here," Connor said.
"Um, yeah," Angel replied, looking at his son while he put the bag down. Both father and son stared at each other for a while, not sure of what to say to the other.
Connor broke the silence, "Seventeen years of not seeing my father, and now when I get see you, I can't figure out what to say."
"Well if it helps I'm not much better either," Angel offered.
Connor had a slight smile on his face, "Mom give you cliffnotes version of her life?"
"She did, does that mean..."
Connor shook his head, interrupting Angel. "Mom doesn't like talking much about the past. And I'm keeping my mouth shut with what little I do know, as I'm sure you know more than me. This morning I've managed to make problems between my mom and..."
"Gunn and Fred?" Angel asked.
"Yeah... kind of gave away that my mom can make herself look exactly like Fred," Connor sighed. "It's so weird. Seeing them at the same time like that."
Angel shook his head, though knew everyone would learn about that aspect of Illyria eventually. "You have to understand it's going to..."
"Take time for everyone to accept her," Connor said, knowing what Angel would have said, "Cordelia gave me the same speech."
"Then you have to understand that is going to take time." Angel stressed.
"Yeah. Doesn't mean I have to like it." Connor muttered, taking a seat down on the floor, his back against the wall.
Angel also sat down on the ground, facing his son, "... I tried to find you. When Holtz took you I tried so hard to get you back. I couldn't. Even still I didn't think of you being lost to me. Not forever."
"And now that I'm a teenager?" Connor questioned.
"I won't deny that I'm hurting. Missing all these years of your life, not being there for you, I wish I could have been there for you." Angel told him sincerely. "But I am here for you now. Connor I want to be a part of your life."
For a while there was nothing but silence between them. Then suddenly Connor went into bag and pulled out a weapon one that he tossed to Angel. Angel caught the item in his hands and saw that was it was sword of the purest silver that had a glow all around it. Angel had never seen a sword quite like it ever.
"Consider it an over due Father's Day gift." Connor smirked.
"I... I..." Angel was at a loss for words. "I haven't even given you a birthday present and you give me this?!"
"Well, you can start paying me back for seventeen long over due birthdays," Connor said, the smirk never leaving his face as he got up on his feet. He pulled out of his bag the sword he had from last night and got into a fighting stance.
Angel couldn't help but smile as he got to his own feet. "Sure you want to go at it this soon?"
"You afraid to lose someone two centuries younger than you?" Connor quipped, trying to get a rise out of his father.
It didn't work. "I don't fall for taunts son." Angel shook his head, "I just hope you know what you are in for."
"I've trained with mom and demon lords for almost a decade," Connor said confidently, "Wonder how good you are."
"You want to do this or you just want to keep talking?" Angel asked.
Silence filled the room, and that was answer enough for both of them. Connor was the first to move, striking with his sword, yet Angel was already there to block the strike. Both blades met each other, the two struggling to see who would be the one with the edge.
He's strong and skilled. Angel observed; he couldn't help but feel pride in his son if his skills from this opening exchange were any indication.
Holy... he's definitely in Kanan's league! Connor stared, remembering how Kanan was one of the best swordsmen in Quor-toth and he had studied under him. Connor knew from what his mother had told him, that his father was a great warrior but as he got older he put less faith in legends and more in seeing with his own eyes.
Connor was seeing that his father was every bit the man his mother described and then some.
Still, I don't want to lose. Connor gritted his teeth as he fell backwards, hoping to roll back onto his feet and then try again.
Unfortunately for him as he tried to do that, Angel kicked his sword out of his hand. The surprise of that made Connor fall on his back. He was going to get up but saw his father have his sword at his throat, in mock position. Connor let himself stay on the ground, "This is so embarrassing. I've never got beaten this quickly. Ever."
"Don't try falling backwards like that again. It leaves you to open. You should try moving toward the sides if you want to get a reprieve." Angel advised him as he lowered his sword and offered a hand up to Connor.
Connor took it, "Thanks." He said as he got back on his feet.
"You're not that bad at all." Angel said.
"I had lots of teachers." Connor replied.
"Then I guess you won't mind if I be your teacher?" Angel asked.
Connor had a smile on his face, "Definitely. Training is definitely a way to beat being bored here."
Angel just smiled. He had missed a lot of his son's life. Talking wasn't exactly his strongest suit and trying to talk to his son, in this situation, was a bit awkward, for both of them.
But fighting, fighting it seemed was a place where they had common ground. My son is a warrior. His life in Quor-toth made him one. As warriors, by training together I can get to understand my son better. Everything else will follow from there.
"Hey dad you tired already?" Connor asked, shaking Angel out of his thoughts. "Just because I lost one match doesn't mean I want to stop training."
"Just for that," Angel smirked, "We're going to work on seeing how good you are at fighting without weapons."
Connor just shrugged, "Weapons or no weapons. Either works for me. I just want to have a work out."
Angel laughed lightly, "Believe me, you're going to get one, son."
Connor had a small smile on his face, "Thanks dad."
The two of them moved a bit further into the room before deciding to fight each other with their bare hands. For anyone that could see them sparing, the smiles on their faces could not be missed.
-----
They were not missed by a certain former high school cheerleader.
I may not know what to think of you just yet Illyria, Cordelia mused as she watched father and son continue their sparing brawl. But raising Connor to love his father and getting rid of Holtz before he could make Connor hate Angel. That gets you points on my nice demon list. She decided to leave them to their bonding in a warrior style, as she didn't feel it was right to disturb them at all.
Besides I think I heard footsteps from up stairs. I better stop Gunn or Groo from making another kitchen disaster. Cordelia shuttered as she went up the stairs, hoping to never go through that again.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: I'm amazed at how many review I'm getting for this story and how fast considering I only put it up two days ago. This will definitely be one my constant project works.
For those of you expecting Wesley, he'll be around in the next chapter, as Angel and Connor are going to have some more father and son bonding... in a bar full of vampires.
Until then.