THE LABOUR & THE WOUNDS

By Allegra

See Part 1 for disclaimers etc.

PART 10

The weather couldn't have been more appropriate for the occasion. Rain beat down like gravel on the heads of a small, discreet gathering under a highway bridge in downtown. Only Cordelia had spared a thought long enough to bring a hooded coat with her. The absence of hair and a tough jacket left him fairly intact and even Fred had somehow managed to deflect much of the downpour. It was Wesley who had come off the worst, in every sense of the word. Bedraggled and soaked to the core, his icy fingers clutched a map of the city, different regions circled and hot spots marked with a red pen which was already bleeding across the page.

"Did someone check out the observatory?" Gunn enquired, helpfully.

Cordelia pulled a grim face. "I did. Nada."

"Don't you think we should tell Angel? He's the only one of us who..." Fred began.

Wesley darted her a determined look. "No Angel. We'll find him...on our own."

Fred shrunk under the glare but continued, "Wesley, he could track Connor by scent. We have nothing to go on..."

Once more, Wesley cut her short, striding towards the car. "Let's move on to the next region. There's still a few places to try."

Cordelia exchanged a defeated look with Gunn but chose to follow silently rather than kick up a fuss. The panic emanating off the Englishman was almost enough to set her off but he deserved a few more minutes of co-operation before she insisted they tell Angel. Just when they were close to putting past events behind them once and for all, Wesley's loyalty was once again thrown into question. He had made a deal with Holtz less than a year before, so was Cordelia wrong to question his motives now? Yes. She liked to go on gut instinct. Just as she had known Buffy Summers was trouble with her bad hair and terrible nails, Cordy knew that Wesley had always harboured the best intentions. True, they had got him into trouble on more than one occasion, and this was one of them, but he had never wanted to hurt Angel.

The four subdued figures climbed into Wesley's SUV, lost in their own thoughts as they headed for the next dispersal site.

**********

"Charles..."

"The answer's no."

"What do you mean 'no'? You don't even know what I was going to ask," Fred said, indignantly.

Gunn turned back to his girlfriend. "You were going to ask if we should call Angel and tell him that Connor's missing. And the answer's 'no'."

Fred pursed her lips, sheepishly. "You're siding with Wesley?" she ventured.

Gunn pulled himself up straighter. "What's so wrong about that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe something to do with the fact that you hate Wesley's guts. I thought you'd be jumping at the chance to..."

"To what? Tell on him? I'm not in kindergarten anymore, Fred. Sure, Wes and I aren't on the best of terms right now but... but this could have happened to any of us." His voice softened.

Fred smiled, "So you guys are going to make up?"

Gunn eyed her for a moment and toyed with his axe distractedly. "No, I don't think so. Until he takes his beady eyes off my girl for a while, we're going to have a problem. I ain't doing this for Wesley."

Fred frowned, confused. "But you just said it could have happened to anyone."

"Yeah, it could, but Angel's been through enough in the past few months. He deserves an easy time of it and we're going to give it to him. Besides, it might be raining but the sun's still shining so unless he fancies helping Connor by getting vampire ash in his eyes, he's no use to us anyway."

Fred continued walking, following the grubby alley way to the next block. "Fine, just another few hours though. Connor could be miles away by then. Angel's going to flip if we haven't told him." That particular argument over with, Fred's mind wandered to the more sensitive subject of Wesley's relationship with Gunn, herself and, well, pretty much everyone at Angel Investigations. "Charles?"

"Yes?" he replied, drawing out the vowel with deliberate wariness.

"Don't you think it's about time you eased up on Wesley a bit? I mean, after everything he's been through..."

"You mean losing Connor - twice? Yeah, my heart bleeds for the guy."

"He made a mistake!" Fred battled on.

Gunn turned on her, eyes blazing. "It's more than that, Fred! The way he looks at you sometimes...it makes me want to throttle him. It's like he thinks he's better than me. I don't trust him!"

Fred's expression changed from mild offence at her boyfriend's raised tone to something closer resembling anger. "And what about me? Do you trust me, Charles?! I'm the one in the middle here. It takes two to break you and me apart."

"You think so?" Gunn's voice was quiet and deadly.

Fred felt a surge of irritation mounting inside her chest. "Do you really think I'm that weak? That I'd let someone dominate me against my will? Because if that's true, what does that say about the foundations of our relationship?"

Gunn's jaw was clenched and Fred could see a small muscle twitching, biting back his hatred of Wesley...or was some of it directed at her? He turned away from her and continued walking, his thoughts tightly locked into his brain as always. He was getting as bad as Angel for secretiveness.

**********

Angel paced the hotel menacingly, unable to sleep and unable to make contact with any of his team. Sure, most of them had become as nocturnal as he had due to the antisocial hours of their job, but they usually answered their phones nevertheless. He had already got Cordelia's voicemail, Gunn's cell had rung a few times only to be discovered under a coat in the office. Fred, well, Fred, despite being the queen of techno-jargon, did not possess a mobile phone at all.

There was only one person left to try. Wesley could be counted on to have his cell handy at any given moment.

"Hello?" Wesley's anxious voice echoed down the line.

"Wesley, it's me. What's up?" Angel tried to keep his tone calm. He didn't want to sound foolish if there was nothing afoot.

"Uh, nothing. Everything's fine." Wesley could hear the strain in his own voice. How on earth was he going to convince Angel if he couldn't even convince himself? Cordelia had already guessed who was calling and was rolling her eyes expressively in his direction. It was clear what she was willing him to say, to tell the truth about Connor's disappearance.

He deliberately avoided any kind of eye contact with her, concentrating on the next excuse he could conjure up. "What are you doing?" he asked, casually. Cordelia sighed in evident exasperation but once again Wesley ignored her.

Angel's concern about sounding foolish died into nothing when he heard the restless tone in his partner's voice. "There's something wrong, isn't there? Wesley?" he queried when the Englishman did not respond.

"No, no, it's all fine..."

"You can't hide it, Wesley. I can hear it in your voice. Where's Connor? Can I speak to him?" He clutched the phone with clenched fingers.

"Oh, Angel, Connor's still resting. He needs to sleep and recuperate. I'd rather not wake him..."

Angel persevered. "I thought you were going to stay with him. You're outside, I can hear you. Is he with you? Why aren't you at home?"

Wesley stammered something incoherent before the phone was torn from his hands by Cordelia. "Actually, Wesley does have something important to say." Without ceremony, she put the cell phone roughly back towards her companion.

"Angel, I'm really sorry..." The sentence did not need completing.

"Where could he have gone?" Angel's voice was grave but perfectly calm.

"I don't know. I swear he was only out of my sight for a moment..."

"Tell me where you've looked and I'll pick up the slack."

Wesley cut him short. "Angel, there's more. Connor told me something which may help us find him. He signed a contract with the man at the club."

"What did it say?"

"I don't know. I think Connor was pretty out of it when he signed it. Considering his success at The Cage, I'd presume it would be a contract to fight. For how long, I would guess..."

"...until death," Angel finished.

Wesley nodded to himself, grimly. "Angel, I'm sorry. I just wanted to find him."

"I know." Angel's tone was impenetrable. Wesley knew he was once again to blame but a father's wrath knew no bounds where a child was concerned. Angel had shown that after Connor's first disappearance. What possible reaction would he have now? But Wesley was less concerned about his own skin than the poor boy who had been entrusted to his care.

**********

The dome rose out of the desert like some obscene blister on the land, gleaming confidently as if daring its viewer to take on the power and strength of the demons harboured in its fetid belly.

It brought a smile to Fax Torrance's face and an excited lurch in his stomach. To him, it was a swollen maternal belly containing womb fruit - fruit of his labours, fruits of the vengeance which had lain stagnant in his heart for decades. Finally, he had found something to quench the eternal anger and resentment burning inside him. Yet, no matter how much blood was spilt or money was made, Fax had felt something lacking in his endeavours. Now he was complete. He had found the crowning glory. His immortal enemy's son, perhaps the most important person in the world to Angelus.

His plans for revenge were finally to be fulfilled. Fax clutched his contract close to his chest. He just had to get to his trustworthy warlock before Angel found his son missing. Given his proximity to the dome already, that didn't look like it would be a problem. Home and free. Fax looked dotingly on his charge who was still drifting somewhere between sickness and health. Colour was gradually returning to the youthful cheeks and he stirred occasionally. Years had passed in darkness but finally Fax's world was starting to brighten.

**********

"Someday I'll fly away...!" Fred sang, tremulously. She stared hard at Lorne, willing him to interpret the few slices of information she might have unconsciously stored in her brain which would lead them to Connor. Unfortunately, it wasn't working. Lorne waved his hand energetically in the air to stop her sorrowful warble. "That's enough, sugar. You could give Nicole Kidman a run for her money," he lied, knowing how much young Fred loved 'Moulin Rouge'. "Sorry, Fred, all I'm vibing is confusion and frustration. There's nothing solid."

"I always said this was a bad idea," Gunn piped up from his vantage point behind the reception desk.

Fred shrugged her shoulders in dejection. "Well, it was worth a try. We can't just sit here and do nothing."

"I hate to say it, poodle, but I'm starting to think that's about all we can do. We've investigated every lead, scouted all his usual haunts, beaten up the usual bad guys and sneaks with their ears to the ground. Some time we're going to have to accept that we've done everything there is to do."

"Unless Angel and Cordy get that spell working. If it locates Connor's energy like the shaman said it could..."

Fred stopped as the hotel doors swung open. Cordelia and Angel could not have looked more muted. Ever hopeful, Fred asked, "Any luck?"

"Nada," Cordelia replied bluntly. "Nothing but a big pile of stinky herbs and a shaman with an attitude problem. He cost the earth, too."

"So now what?" Fred asked again. Gunn and Lorne looked to Angel. The green demon had already summed up their course of action pretty well but it was the vampire who gave the go ahead.

Angel looked from one expectant face to the next. "Now...well, now I guess we wait. Something's got to turn up sooner or later. It had just better be sooner."

**********

Wesley pulled the collar of his coat tighter around his neck, feeling the chill more acutely than usual. Rain beat down around him. It barely ever rained in Los Angeles but, since Connor's disappearance, it had hardly stopped. At times he had even wondered if the grey cloud wasn't just following him wherever he went, a constant reminder of his failures, a meteorological notch on his post of let-downs. He kept his eyes down, averted from accusing faces, strangers and acquaintances alike.

For the tenth time that night, Wesley took a turn down a darkened alley and stepped into the next demon bar in search of some clue. Vampires immediately caught his eye, their senses aware of the human meat in their midst, but the Englishman barely noticed. A young creature with translucent skin which still showed faint traces of mortal blood approached him at the bar. Perhaps she was newly turned. The cold skin of her arm draped across his shoulder and she sank gracefully down onto the stool beside him. "Can I buy you a drink?"

Wesley's eyes hardened as he turned to her. He was in no mood for banter. "No."

"Ooh, I'm hurt. Can't a girl reverse the gender roles anymore? What brings you to a place like this anyway?" The Englishman's lip curled into a smile of faint amusement. Such a pick-up line wouldn't cut in the mortal world, let alone the immortal one. As if picking up on his thoughts, the girl let out a shrill tinkle of laughter. "Well, you've got to admit, it's a more fitting line now than it would have been at Felt, don't you think? A single human walking into a bar of demons and the like. It's like a lamb to the slaughter."

"Perhaps," Wesley replied, monosyllabic. "Perhaps not."

"Come on. One drink..."

Feeling suitably irritated but in no mood for taking on a bar fight, Wesley stood up and threw a handful of notes across the counter in payment. He headed for the door but paused on the threshold. A poster had been newly stuck to the notice board. HYBRIDOME - THE FIGHT OF YOUR LIFE DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND, MOJAVE.

Underneath the large print was a logo depicting two vicious looking monsters and a number of magical implements. Without another moment's thought, Wesley tore the poster down and stuffed it into his pocket before stepping back out into the miserable rain.

He grabbed for his cell phone and dialled the Hyperion. Cordelia answered. "I think I know where Connor is. Meet me at my apartment in half an hour. Bring a torch."

**********

END OF PART 10

Not that long a section, I know, but I wanted to keep the ball rolling so to speak. I really hope you enjoyed it. Please, please, please review!