Gift

Chapter Three

Shock

            Liberty had settled into a nice routine.  She'd been working for Wolfram and Hart for a month and half.  She'd finally learned her way around the building, been able to help a number of clients and team Angel, which she loved.  She finally felt like she was doing some good around her.  She'd become good friends with Spike and Lorne, Angel adored her and Wesley seemed proud he'd trusted his instincts on her.  The only person who hadn't warmed up to her was Gunn, but she'd sort of gone out of her way to avoid him.  He just gave her the wiggins, so she tried to not talk to him.  She'd see him in staff meetings and that was about it.  He seemed to be as distrustful of her as she was of him, but she wondered if his distrust was because she was suspicious of him.  She hadn't mentioned her suspicions to anyone, though she had a feeling Lorne knew of them.  Speaking of the green demon, he popped his head in, "Hey, Sweets.  I wanted to make sure we were still doing dinner tonight."

"Of course, unless something comes up, but it's been a slow week."

"Which you should take full advantage of, because speaking from experience, slow is like the eye of the storm.  Something will come.  It always does."

"Thanks, Lorne.  I love it when you talk gloom and doom.  I thought you were supposed to be uplifting."

Lorne laughed before giving her a wave as he left.  Liberty leaned back in her desk chair, staring at the computer screen ahead of her.  It really had been a slow week.  She was playing Solitaire due to lack of things to do. *buzz*

Liberty looked down at the phone, Lorne's words seeping into her mind.  Yep, the eye of the storm.

"Yes?"

Harmony's cheerful voice spoke, "Libby?  Angel wants to talk to you.  He's being Mr. Grumpypants about it, too.  I hope you're not in trouble."

"I don't think I am, Harm.  Guess we'll find out.  Tell Angel I'll be there in a few."

"Okie dokie."  Liberty heard the phone disconnect as she stood up.  She hadn't done anything wrong that she knew of.  Her clients had been okay in all of the follow-ups she'd made, so she couldn't figure anything out.  She slid on her jacket as she walked down to the elevator, deciding that she'd find out soon enough.

            Angel's face was ashen, well, more so than usual.  He tried to paste a smile on his face, one of the fake, cheerful ones, but he couldn't even manage it.  Wesley was there with him and Angel could see the full reaches of the spell Wolfram and Hart had performed.  No sign of recognition hit Wesley's face, nor the boy's in front of him.  Angel felt like his heart had been ripped out and stabbed with a stake a few hundred times.  It just hadn't been a good year for him.  First Cordelia, then Spike popping up, then Fred, and now this. Things weren't supposed to be this way, but things never went the way they were supposed to.  He tried to focus on what the family was telling him, but he couldn't.  He had to get Libby in his office.  She could take care of the boy.  She would have to.  Someone knocked on the door softly and then it opened.  Liberty smiled sweetly at him after seeing there were others in the office.  "You wanted to see me, Angel?"

"Yes, Libby, come on in."  Liberty walked in, examining Angel's face.  He looked like death warmed over, pun intended.  He seemed heartbroken, relieved, and hurt all at once.  Quite a combination of emotions for the master brooder. 

"Liberty Jamieson is in charge of our Teen Research Division.  Liberty, these are the Johnsons, Jonathan and Elizabeth.  This is their-" Angel paused before continuing, "their son, Connor."

The boy turned to face her and Liberty felt like she'd been hit by a truck.  Someone had been messing with his mind, the confusion was there.  He was obviously human, but he seemed to have powers that no human could ever have, even with magicks. 

"Hey."  He said it sullenly, as if it hurt to speak.  He looked like he could give Angel a run for his money in the brooding department, but on him, it was cute.  His eyes were brown and soulful and his hair was a shaggy brown, a bit falling in his eyes.  He looked like he was around her age, so she knew why Angel had called her in.  What she didn't understand was what had made Angel so grumpy about this case.  It didn't seem to be any different than any of the others they had experienced.

"Hi."  The parents exchanged looks, as if to say, 'teenagers?!'  Angel continued on with his conversation with the parents.

"Liberty can help us research Connor's abilities.  Wesley will be looking into them as well, but I think Libby will be able to take better care of Connor."

He looked up at Liberty and addressed her, "Why don't you take Connor to your office?  I think he'll be more comfortable talking to you than he will me.  I'm just an old guy."

"Angel, you're not that old…"

Angel chuckled a bit, the first hint of the Angel she recognized since she'd walked into the office.  Okay, so maybe Angel was old.

"Connor, if you want to come upstairs with me while your parents finish up talking to Angel and Wesley, that'd be great.  You can tell me why you're here."

"Okay.  I'll see you later, Dad."

Angel opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself just as Connor added in a goodbye to his mother.  Liberty tried to figure out what was going on with Angel, but just couldn't.  Connor followed Liberty on out the door, thinking that she was pretty young to be some lawyer.  Not that he would mind spending time with her; she was beautiful.

            Liberty made a sweeping motion with her arm, "Voila.  My office!"

Connor grinned at her, feeling considerably better than he had for a few weeks.  That's when they'd discovered his abilities.  "You can sit on the couch.  Or one of the chairs in front of my desk.  Or on my desk. I don't really care.  Just take a seat."

She seemed nervous to him which was fascinating.  She'd seem so sure of herself when she'd been introduced to him by the CEO of Wolfram and Hart.  She was in charge of her very own division and she was nervous around him?

"How old are you, Liberty?"

"17.  I promise I am perfectly capable of taking care of your situation." 

There was the girl he'd seen.  She was back in her comfort zone, maybe.  She was still talking, so Connor tried to focus on her words, not her actions.

"If your not comfortable with me helping you, though, I'm sure Angel can have someone else take it over."

"No.  You're fine, Liberty.  I just wanted to know a little bit about you."

His smile was disarming.  Liberty wasn't used to having boys smile at her the way Connor was.  She'd always been very 'independent' as she liked to call it.  Really, it meant she never had boyfriends and few friends.  She was shy, quiet, rarely let herself get close to people.  She considered it a hazard of her gift, but she may have just been trying to excuse her loneliness. 

"Oh.  How old are you?"

"18.  I started college last fall."

"I can't wait until I can go to college.  I still have a year and a half to go, though."

He nodded as he took a chair in front of her desk.  It was leather, stiff and uncomfortable, but Connor seemed to be adapting just fine.

"Why are you here, Connor?"

His smile vanished as he started to remember the problems he'd been having of late.  Starting college had been amazing.  He had more freedom than he'd ever had and more time to do what he wanted.  He loved it, until he'd started having his nightmares.  Then he'd just felt alone, not free.

"I started having nightmares a while back.  Well, I don't know if they were nightmares, exactly.  They were more like flashes of a past life, not like I've been reincarnated kind of thing, just like me before I graduated.  I don't know.  Some of it has been scary, monsters of all sorts.  Demons, I guess.  And I would see others.  A woman, in particular. 

"Shortly after I started having the dreams, I realized I had heightened senses.  I could hear things that no one else could, not that I'm insane.  I could run surprisingly fast, jump up floors of buildings.  From like the street to a balcony.  I was strong, too.  Super-strong, and I promise this isn't some kind of Superman complex.  I've been wanting to fight, too, and I'm good at it.  Other things, too, there's just so much to tell you.  It's weird.  I came to my parents and I showed them what was happening to me.  Apparently, I wasn't special like that as a child, so I'm just a freak, now.  I've always been so normal, but I'm not now."

"You're not a freak."

Connor raised an eyebrow not really believing what she'd just said.  Of course, he didn't know about her gift and she wasn't ready to tell him about it yet.  But he wasn't a freak, she was. 

"I don't know where these powers or abilities or whatever the hell you want to call them are.  I want to know, I just don't.  That's why we came to Wolfram and Hart.  We'd heard you guys specialized in some 'eccentric' cases."

Liberty giggled.  "If that's what you wanna call 'em.  I'll start researching new mystical energies in the air.  Maybe you got stuck in the crossfire of a spell or something. I'll see-"

"Hey, Love, do you know what's got Peaches' knickers in a twist today?"

Spike appeared in the doorway, smoking a cigarette.  He puffed out another cloud of smoke and Liberty coughed.

"Spike, I hate it when you smoke.  Just because you're lungs can turn black doesn't mean mine can."

Spike promptly put the cigarette out and then propped himself on the doorframe.
"Didn't know you had clients, pet."

"Yes.  Connor, this is Spike-our-uh-well…" Liberty stopped, feeling a bit perplexed.  She didn't know exactly what Spike was.  He just hung around.
"Spike, this is Connor Johnson."

The name struck a chord in Spike's memory.  Connor.  He tilted his head, staring at the boy.  The boy shifted uncomfortably, well aware of Spike's unusual scrutiny of him.

"Spike, what are you doing?"

 Liberty had never seen Spike react in the way he was then.  Angel and Spike had both reacted oddly. She didn't know what Spike was thinking, though.  Connor sounded so familiar, he looked familiar.  His eyes, his entire build looked like-Angelus.  Especially with the shaggy hair.  He looked like a miniature Angelus.  But Angel didn't have a son.  Vampires didn't have children.  Even as he thought that, the entire situation seemed familiar to him.  It was driving Spike crazy, but he decided he'd harass Peaches later.

"Connor just reminds me of someone."
"Okay.  Well, I'll talk to you later, Spike.  I am with a client."

"Right, love.  Dinner tonight?"

"Can't.  I'm going with Lorne.  How about tomorrow?"

"All right." Spike nodded at the boy again before disappearing from the room.

            Liberty apologized for Spike immediately.  He'd been kind of rude, though that was Spike.  Connor shrugged it off, assuring her it was fine.  He'd been creeped out by Spike's staring at him, but other than that, he was fine.

"It would be helpful if you could write down what you're seeing in your dreams.  If you can write it down for me tonight or tomorrow and bring it by, that would be really helpful.  I might be able to connect the dreams with your sudden burst of powers."

"Okay.  I'll bring it tomorrow."
"I come in at 3:30.  This is an after school job."

"Nice one, if I do say so.  I worked at Barnes and Noble."

The corners of Liberty's mouth curved as she licked her lips.  Connor couldn't help but stare at her.  She was truly fascinating.
"I'll come in at four, okay?"

"I'll write you in."

Connor stood up and started to the door.  "Thank you for helping me, Liberty."

"It's my job." 

Her eyes were sparkling and Connor was positive he would be lost in them if he didn't disconnect their gaze.  He didn't want to leave.  He wanted to talk with her more.  He wanted to talk about everything except his problems.  He wanted to know about her life, how she started working with Wolfram and Hart, what she liked to do when she wasn't working and going to school.  But he knew his parents would be ready to leave and he did need to give her time to research his situation.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Connor."

"Okay."  He sounded like a lovesick schoolboy just with that one word. He hardly knew her and he was already acting like a complete idiot.

"Can you find your way back to Angel's office?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."  Connor finally opened the door and walked through it, though he was aware that it took a great amount of willpower.  When the door shut, Liberty sighed.  Connor was hot.  She couldn't stop herself from thinking it, though crushing on a client was a definite no-no.  She'd simply have to force herself to not crush on Connor.  Since she had so much control over it.