Chapter 34
Buffy sighed and grabbed her keys. "Dawn! Are you coming?"
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Dawn called back from her room.
"Damn it Dawn, we don't have all day."
"I know!"
"Then come on."
Angel walked into the penthouse. "Hey."
"Hi." Buffy pounded on Dawn's door. "I swear if you don't come out this second I'm going to break down this door and drag you out by your hair."
"What'd I miss?"
"Dawn and I're going to go explore the UCLA campus."
"I don't really want to go there." Dawn said, opening the door.
"Well, I want you close to home."
"I got accepted to Penn State!"
"That's a whole country away. No."
"It's not like we don't have the money."
"I said no, Dawn."
"I don't know why you're acting like this. When you wanted to go to college, you wanted to go to Timbuktu and mom was going to let you."
"Ok, it was the Hellmouth. Why would I want to go to school on the Hellmouth? For four more years anyway. And once I figured out that I was doomed to stay there, mom was the one pushing me to leave."
"Well, push me. I don't want to go to school in LA."
"And I do."
"Buffy, I'm almost 18 years old!"
"And?"
"It means that I'm growing up and it's time for me to move on with my life."
"Oh no, there will be no moving on."
"You can use Wolfram and Hart to watch me if you want, but please just let me go to Penn State!"
"No."
"Buff...."
"I said no Dawn. Jesus, you're as hard headed as Connor!"
Dawn stopped. "Who's Connor?"
Buffy looked at Angel and then back at Dawn. She took a deep breath and then said, "He's no one. Let's just go. Please."
Dawn grabbed her purse. "I have to let Wesley know that I'll be out for a while." With that, Dawn left.
Buffy rubbed her face with her hands and sighed. "I hate life."
"No you don't." Angel said, kissing Buffy's hair.
"I don't know how much more I can take of this."
"Of what?"
"Watching Dawn grow up in this place. I understand why she wants to go away, I really, really do, but she just can't. It's just too dangerous."
"And staying here isn't?"
"Don't reverse psych me."
"You know either way, she's not completely safe."
"But if she's here, I can be there for her when she's in trouble."
"And you know that's not true."
"I had to let one kid go, don't make me let her go too."
Angel touched Buffy's cheek. "Baby, you don't have to let her go completely. She just needs some space to grow up."
"She's too grown up already. Most of her life has been covered in death and despair and heartache." Buffy allowed a tear to fall. "And it's mostly my fault."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it? Ever since I became the Slayer, I've brought horrible things home with me. Sometimes I blame myself for my parents splitting and my dad leaving and Dawn's horrible life."
"But look at the woman she's becoming."
"I don't want to. I want her to be that annoying little brat she was when we first moved to Sunnydale." Buffy wiped away her tears. "And I'd just love to be 16 again." She finished sarcastically. "God, I'm such a sap."
"You're such a mother. Without you, I think this whole family would fall apart."
"What little family?"
"Me, Gunn, Wesley, and Dawn. Ever since Fred.... You've been nothing but motherly towards everyone. Hell, even before that you were the one taking care of everyone and watching out for them."
"I was a mother.... Once. But I failed miserably at it. So bad it led to this place." Buffy sighed. "I need to go. The campus tour starts in 45 minutes."
Angel grabbed Buffy's hand. "I love you."
"I love you."
Angel kissed Buffy deeply and whispered in her ear, "You're not a bad person Buffy. It's just the things that happen to you are bad."
***
Dawn followed Buffy into the office that used to be Fred's. Wesley was standing there watching Illyria. Buffy had heard that Wes had brought her here and she wanted to check on him. Wesley looked over at Buffy. "She's either.... counting oxygen molecules or analyzing the petri dish she just put into her mouth. Or sleeping. I can never quite tell."
"You sure this was a good idea?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, we have plenty of petri dishes."
"I meant...."
"I know what you meant."
"You don't have to do this all yourself."
"Who else is there? We're running out of people, Buffy. We're getting no further with Gunn...."
"I'm not leaving Gunn in a hell dimension. We'll get him out. In the meantime, I need you to let us help you with her."
"She's my responsibility."
"She's our responsibility. If she's gonna be here, there are things that we should be doing...."
"Yeah like testing her powers.... studying her." Dawn piped up. "I mean.... She actually put a whole petri dish in her mouth!"
"Illyria can be.... difficult. Testing her might be hard without getting someone seriously hurt."
"We'll make Spike do it." Buffy said teasingly.
"Good." Wesley said. "She doesn't understand our world. She needs someone to guide her. She needs...."
Buffy touched Wesley's arm. "When was the last time you slept? You're not her savior. Angel and I need you here, working, not off drinking yourself into a coma, chasing ghosts. Fred's dead, Wes. You're still alive. Start acting like it." With that, Buffy walked out leaving Dawn with Wesley.
***
Later that evening, Buffy walked back into Wolfram and Hart's lobby and started to head over to the stairs when Angel walked down them.
"Hey, where's Dawn?" He asked.
"She's staying with some friends. Probably complaining about what a bitch I am." Buffy said, kissing Angel lightly.
"Well, you can't blame her."
"Hey!"
"Kidding. So, are you feeling better?"
"About what?"
"About what we talked about earlier."
"Oh.... I don't know. Ask me in ten years if we're still alive."
"Hey mom!" The Slayer stopped and turned to see Connor staring at her. "Dad." Buffy looked to see Angel standing directly behind her looking even paler than usual.
"What.... What are you...." Buffy couldn't speak.
"Mom?"
A woman standing behind Buffy and Angel with an older man and Wesley looked at Connor. "Yeah, it's ok. Come on over."
Connor walked forward, past Buffy and Angel, toward the couple from Wesley's office. "You know, they have dried scorpions in the vending machines downstairs."
Wesley looked at Buffy and Angel. "Buffy, Angel, good. This is Laurence and Colleen Reilly, and this is their son...."
"Connor." Connor held out his hand to Buffy and she shook it. "Hi. Nice to meet both of you."
"The Reillys need to talk about some issues regarding Connor here, and I thought we could...."
"No." Angel said.
"What?"
"I'm sorry. There must be some mistake. We can't help you." Angel walked away.
"Angel!" Buffy looked at the others apologetically. "Sorry." She turned and ran after Angel. She slammed the door behind her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"That's our son out there!" Angel said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah? And?"
"The Senior Partners and us.... We had a deal. What is he doing here?"
"You didn't give them a chance to explain that what with the walking out and the 'no' part!" Buffy put her hands on Angel's chest, but he walked away from her. "I'm pissed off too that this happened. But it happened. He's here and he needs our help. What kind of parents would we be if we didn't help our son?" Buffy picked up the phone. "Wesley, can you get in here? Bring Connor's case with you." She looked back at Angel. "I don't give a damn how mad you are. I'm helping my son." Wesley walked in carrying a file. "Ok, what's going on?"
"A van ran him down." Wesley said. "He got up and walked away.... unharmed."
Buffy noticed that the little family was standing by Wesley's office. "How'd they find us?"
"Police officer mentioned our name, said we might be able to help."
"We're not taking this case." Angel said.
"Why not?" Wesley asked.
"Because with everything going on, we don't have time to deal with small stuff like this."
"Small stuff?" Buffy asked. "This is what we do.... or what we're supposed to do. They need help. And they seem like good people."
"All the more reason to get them out of here. We know what this place does to good people."
"But they won't be staying here long. We'll get to the bottom of this and...."
"No. We won't. Wesley, send them home."
Wesley looked between husband and wife and then left. Buffy wheeled on Angel. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you are NOT bossing me around like that. I'm not some one night stand. I'm you're wife and there is no way in hell that I'm going to take this from you."
"I'm not letting this place corrupt our son."
"The only person corrupting our son is you!"
"And how do you figure that, Buffy?"
"By turning him away when he needs our help. Someone could've found out that he's our son and now they're after him." She turned and looked at the family leaving in the elevator. "Look at him! That's my little boy out there. He needs his mother. And damn it...." Buffy grabbed her coat. "He's gonna get me."
"Buffy...."
"Shut up Angel." Buffy walked out and slammed the door almost breaking it off the hinges. Everyone stared at her as she stormed to the elevators. "Back to work people!"
Angel watched her go and then got Hamilton on the line. A few minutes later, he walked through the door. "Oh, we'll have to get someone to fix that. I hear your wife through a tantrum."
"What the hell is going on?" Angel asked.
"Angel? I'm at your disposal."
"My son walks in through my door!"
"Yours and Buffy's son, if I may correct you and you make him walk right out again. I found that interesting."
"I want him as far away from here as possible!"
"Yes. But it might have been smart to get some information out of him first. It could help us understand what's happening. At least Buffy gets that."
"Tell you what. Why don't you just tell me?"
"Let's be clear about this. Things run differently now. I'm not a little girl. Now, with that in mind, how can I help you?"
"The senior partners and us had a deal."
"Yes, you did. They took your son.... your raging psychopathic son.... gave him a new family, changed his memories, changed everyone's memories, actually, in order to give him a new life, a normal life."
"And we came to work here!"
"And we couldn't be happier. The senior partners honor their deals. And believe me, they have no desire to upset such a.... profitable partnership."
"So this is just a.... an unfortunate coincidence."
"Oh, no, I didn't say that. I said the senior partners weren't behind it. This isn't an accident. Someone out there's trying to send you a message.... and they're using your son to do it."
***
Buffy had managed to follow Connor's car from the rooftops as they drove back to a motel not far from Wolfram and Hart. She watched as demons attacked the car. Connor sent one flying when it went after the mother. Another demon jumped at Connor from a nearby car top, punching Connor and throwing him into another car. Connor cowered on the ground as the demon started coming back for more, but Buffy swooped in from above the car and tackled the demon. She engaged two demons at once in an amazing display of punches and kicks. To end the fight, Buffy raised one of the demons over her head and slammed it dramatically into the ground.
"Oh my God!" Connor said.
Buffy turned to him. "Connor, listen to me...."
"You almost broke that guy in half! That was awesome! Seriously, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"Well, it's.... It's not a big deal. I mean, I do stuff like that a lot. But.... Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"
"Connor!" Connor's.... mother.... walked out from behind the car helping his.... Father.... stand.
"Dad!" Connor ran over to them.
"I'm ok." The dad said.
"We need to get him to a hospital." The mother said.
"We've got doctors at Wolfram & Hart." Buffy said just loud enough for them to hear. "We can help." She looked at Connor. "You and I have some things we should probably talk about."
"Yeah. I kinda figured." Connor said.
***
Buffy and Connor walked out of the medical wing of Wolfram and Hart. Buffy had informed Angel what was going on and then hung up on him. She was still pissed at him, but at the moment, she was spending time with her son. "Your dad's gonna be fine." She said. "He's in good hands. Or claws, as the case may be. They're good doctors."
"What were those things that attacked us?" Connor asked.
"Some kind of demon. I'm having it looked into."
"Is that what I am? Some kind of demon?"
"Oh.... No! Of course not!"
"Then.... what am I?"
The question stung Buffy's heart, but she put on her best smile. "Best we can tell, you're a healthy, well-adjusted kid, with, uh.... enhanced abilities."
"And you're a Vampire Slayer. And your husband's a vampire?"
"Weird, I know."
"So.... demons, vampires, doctors with claws.... and I'm some sort of super- hero. Ok."
"You're taking this pretty well."
"What am I supposed to do, complain? I just don't know how I'm gonna explain it to my parents. You got family?"
"I did."
"What happened?"
"I came to work for this place. It lost their trust. Not to mention that my dad ran out on me and my sister when he found out about.... Everything the day before my wedding. And my mom died a few years ago."
"Sorry."
"I'm over it."
"Still, you seem like a really cool person for all this bad stuff to be happening to."
"Thanks."
"So, do you ever plan to have kids?"
"We can't."
"I thought vampires could...."
"Myths. Angel can't, therefore I can't."
"Sorry. Touchy subject."
"Actually, no. I've accepted the fact that we'll never have kids. Maybe we can adopt someday when I feel ready."
"Change of subject. So you guys, like, fight crime and save the world here, that sort of stuff?"
"Well, that's the idea."
"Wow. Is everyone here a superhero? This place must be insane."
"It's mostly paralegals and secretaries. Pretty boring, really."
As they walked down the hall together, Buffy and Connor had to stop as Spike was thrown through the training room doors. His clipboard was thrown after him. "You filthy harlot!" Spike got to his feet. "I'm gonna tear your neck out!" He charged back into the training room intently.
"You wanna meet some of my co-workers?"
"Ok."
Buffy tentatively opened the door and peered in. When she thought it was safe, she allowed Connor to head on in. Illyria was standing on Spike's head, holding him down with one foot. "Guys, you wanna come here for a second?" Buffy asked. Illyria took her foot off of Spike's head and quickly turned to face Buffy.
"What is she?" Connor asked.
"She's a.... to be honest, I really don't know. She's some sort of ancient demon."
"She have any powers?"
"Glad you asked." Spike said. "So far, I've established that she can hit like a Mack truck, selectively alter the flow of time, and, uh.... possibly talk to plants."
"I'd like to keep Spike as my pet." Illyria said.
"Sure whatever." Buffy said. Spike scoffed. "Connor, this is Spike and Illyria. Guys, this is Connor." Spike looked at Buffy knowingly and she just lifted an eyebrow.
"Hi." Connor said. Illyria stared at him, looking up and down his body, then into his eyes. "Um.... I like your outfit."
"Your body warms." Illyria said to him. She looked at Buffy. "This one is lusting after me."
"Oh.... no, I.... I.... It's just that.... it's the outfit." Connor leaned over to Buffy. "I guess I've always had a thing for older women."
"They were supposed to fix that." Buffy mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing. Connor's brought us a case. We're looking into it, just showing him around."
Lorne walked into the training room. "Hey.... you kids playing in the training room?"
"Whoa! Man, this place is way better than college." Connor said.
"Yeah, Blondie-babe, Wes is requesting your presence upstairs. Has a little demon info for your peepers."
"Ok. You ready?" Buffy asked Connor.
"Yeah, sure." Connor looked back at Spike and Illyria. "It was nice meeting you."
"You like college?"
"Not as cool as this, but yeah."
"Lemme guess.... Notre Dame."
"No. Stanford."
"Stanford? Nice. When did you start?"
"Well, I went to Notre Dame, but I didn't really like it too much. More sports than learning. So, mom and dad sent me to Stanford."
"Very nice."
Buffy sighed and grabbed her keys. "Dawn! Are you coming?"
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Dawn called back from her room.
"Damn it Dawn, we don't have all day."
"I know!"
"Then come on."
Angel walked into the penthouse. "Hey."
"Hi." Buffy pounded on Dawn's door. "I swear if you don't come out this second I'm going to break down this door and drag you out by your hair."
"What'd I miss?"
"Dawn and I're going to go explore the UCLA campus."
"I don't really want to go there." Dawn said, opening the door.
"Well, I want you close to home."
"I got accepted to Penn State!"
"That's a whole country away. No."
"It's not like we don't have the money."
"I said no, Dawn."
"I don't know why you're acting like this. When you wanted to go to college, you wanted to go to Timbuktu and mom was going to let you."
"Ok, it was the Hellmouth. Why would I want to go to school on the Hellmouth? For four more years anyway. And once I figured out that I was doomed to stay there, mom was the one pushing me to leave."
"Well, push me. I don't want to go to school in LA."
"And I do."
"Buffy, I'm almost 18 years old!"
"And?"
"It means that I'm growing up and it's time for me to move on with my life."
"Oh no, there will be no moving on."
"You can use Wolfram and Hart to watch me if you want, but please just let me go to Penn State!"
"No."
"Buff...."
"I said no Dawn. Jesus, you're as hard headed as Connor!"
Dawn stopped. "Who's Connor?"
Buffy looked at Angel and then back at Dawn. She took a deep breath and then said, "He's no one. Let's just go. Please."
Dawn grabbed her purse. "I have to let Wesley know that I'll be out for a while." With that, Dawn left.
Buffy rubbed her face with her hands and sighed. "I hate life."
"No you don't." Angel said, kissing Buffy's hair.
"I don't know how much more I can take of this."
"Of what?"
"Watching Dawn grow up in this place. I understand why she wants to go away, I really, really do, but she just can't. It's just too dangerous."
"And staying here isn't?"
"Don't reverse psych me."
"You know either way, she's not completely safe."
"But if she's here, I can be there for her when she's in trouble."
"And you know that's not true."
"I had to let one kid go, don't make me let her go too."
Angel touched Buffy's cheek. "Baby, you don't have to let her go completely. She just needs some space to grow up."
"She's too grown up already. Most of her life has been covered in death and despair and heartache." Buffy allowed a tear to fall. "And it's mostly my fault."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it? Ever since I became the Slayer, I've brought horrible things home with me. Sometimes I blame myself for my parents splitting and my dad leaving and Dawn's horrible life."
"But look at the woman she's becoming."
"I don't want to. I want her to be that annoying little brat she was when we first moved to Sunnydale." Buffy wiped away her tears. "And I'd just love to be 16 again." She finished sarcastically. "God, I'm such a sap."
"You're such a mother. Without you, I think this whole family would fall apart."
"What little family?"
"Me, Gunn, Wesley, and Dawn. Ever since Fred.... You've been nothing but motherly towards everyone. Hell, even before that you were the one taking care of everyone and watching out for them."
"I was a mother.... Once. But I failed miserably at it. So bad it led to this place." Buffy sighed. "I need to go. The campus tour starts in 45 minutes."
Angel grabbed Buffy's hand. "I love you."
"I love you."
Angel kissed Buffy deeply and whispered in her ear, "You're not a bad person Buffy. It's just the things that happen to you are bad."
***
Dawn followed Buffy into the office that used to be Fred's. Wesley was standing there watching Illyria. Buffy had heard that Wes had brought her here and she wanted to check on him. Wesley looked over at Buffy. "She's either.... counting oxygen molecules or analyzing the petri dish she just put into her mouth. Or sleeping. I can never quite tell."
"You sure this was a good idea?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, we have plenty of petri dishes."
"I meant...."
"I know what you meant."
"You don't have to do this all yourself."
"Who else is there? We're running out of people, Buffy. We're getting no further with Gunn...."
"I'm not leaving Gunn in a hell dimension. We'll get him out. In the meantime, I need you to let us help you with her."
"She's my responsibility."
"She's our responsibility. If she's gonna be here, there are things that we should be doing...."
"Yeah like testing her powers.... studying her." Dawn piped up. "I mean.... She actually put a whole petri dish in her mouth!"
"Illyria can be.... difficult. Testing her might be hard without getting someone seriously hurt."
"We'll make Spike do it." Buffy said teasingly.
"Good." Wesley said. "She doesn't understand our world. She needs someone to guide her. She needs...."
Buffy touched Wesley's arm. "When was the last time you slept? You're not her savior. Angel and I need you here, working, not off drinking yourself into a coma, chasing ghosts. Fred's dead, Wes. You're still alive. Start acting like it." With that, Buffy walked out leaving Dawn with Wesley.
***
Later that evening, Buffy walked back into Wolfram and Hart's lobby and started to head over to the stairs when Angel walked down them.
"Hey, where's Dawn?" He asked.
"She's staying with some friends. Probably complaining about what a bitch I am." Buffy said, kissing Angel lightly.
"Well, you can't blame her."
"Hey!"
"Kidding. So, are you feeling better?"
"About what?"
"About what we talked about earlier."
"Oh.... I don't know. Ask me in ten years if we're still alive."
"Hey mom!" The Slayer stopped and turned to see Connor staring at her. "Dad." Buffy looked to see Angel standing directly behind her looking even paler than usual.
"What.... What are you...." Buffy couldn't speak.
"Mom?"
A woman standing behind Buffy and Angel with an older man and Wesley looked at Connor. "Yeah, it's ok. Come on over."
Connor walked forward, past Buffy and Angel, toward the couple from Wesley's office. "You know, they have dried scorpions in the vending machines downstairs."
Wesley looked at Buffy and Angel. "Buffy, Angel, good. This is Laurence and Colleen Reilly, and this is their son...."
"Connor." Connor held out his hand to Buffy and she shook it. "Hi. Nice to meet both of you."
"The Reillys need to talk about some issues regarding Connor here, and I thought we could...."
"No." Angel said.
"What?"
"I'm sorry. There must be some mistake. We can't help you." Angel walked away.
"Angel!" Buffy looked at the others apologetically. "Sorry." She turned and ran after Angel. She slammed the door behind her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"That's our son out there!" Angel said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah? And?"
"The Senior Partners and us.... We had a deal. What is he doing here?"
"You didn't give them a chance to explain that what with the walking out and the 'no' part!" Buffy put her hands on Angel's chest, but he walked away from her. "I'm pissed off too that this happened. But it happened. He's here and he needs our help. What kind of parents would we be if we didn't help our son?" Buffy picked up the phone. "Wesley, can you get in here? Bring Connor's case with you." She looked back at Angel. "I don't give a damn how mad you are. I'm helping my son." Wesley walked in carrying a file. "Ok, what's going on?"
"A van ran him down." Wesley said. "He got up and walked away.... unharmed."
Buffy noticed that the little family was standing by Wesley's office. "How'd they find us?"
"Police officer mentioned our name, said we might be able to help."
"We're not taking this case." Angel said.
"Why not?" Wesley asked.
"Because with everything going on, we don't have time to deal with small stuff like this."
"Small stuff?" Buffy asked. "This is what we do.... or what we're supposed to do. They need help. And they seem like good people."
"All the more reason to get them out of here. We know what this place does to good people."
"But they won't be staying here long. We'll get to the bottom of this and...."
"No. We won't. Wesley, send them home."
Wesley looked between husband and wife and then left. Buffy wheeled on Angel. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you are NOT bossing me around like that. I'm not some one night stand. I'm you're wife and there is no way in hell that I'm going to take this from you."
"I'm not letting this place corrupt our son."
"The only person corrupting our son is you!"
"And how do you figure that, Buffy?"
"By turning him away when he needs our help. Someone could've found out that he's our son and now they're after him." She turned and looked at the family leaving in the elevator. "Look at him! That's my little boy out there. He needs his mother. And damn it...." Buffy grabbed her coat. "He's gonna get me."
"Buffy...."
"Shut up Angel." Buffy walked out and slammed the door almost breaking it off the hinges. Everyone stared at her as she stormed to the elevators. "Back to work people!"
Angel watched her go and then got Hamilton on the line. A few minutes later, he walked through the door. "Oh, we'll have to get someone to fix that. I hear your wife through a tantrum."
"What the hell is going on?" Angel asked.
"Angel? I'm at your disposal."
"My son walks in through my door!"
"Yours and Buffy's son, if I may correct you and you make him walk right out again. I found that interesting."
"I want him as far away from here as possible!"
"Yes. But it might have been smart to get some information out of him first. It could help us understand what's happening. At least Buffy gets that."
"Tell you what. Why don't you just tell me?"
"Let's be clear about this. Things run differently now. I'm not a little girl. Now, with that in mind, how can I help you?"
"The senior partners and us had a deal."
"Yes, you did. They took your son.... your raging psychopathic son.... gave him a new family, changed his memories, changed everyone's memories, actually, in order to give him a new life, a normal life."
"And we came to work here!"
"And we couldn't be happier. The senior partners honor their deals. And believe me, they have no desire to upset such a.... profitable partnership."
"So this is just a.... an unfortunate coincidence."
"Oh, no, I didn't say that. I said the senior partners weren't behind it. This isn't an accident. Someone out there's trying to send you a message.... and they're using your son to do it."
***
Buffy had managed to follow Connor's car from the rooftops as they drove back to a motel not far from Wolfram and Hart. She watched as demons attacked the car. Connor sent one flying when it went after the mother. Another demon jumped at Connor from a nearby car top, punching Connor and throwing him into another car. Connor cowered on the ground as the demon started coming back for more, but Buffy swooped in from above the car and tackled the demon. She engaged two demons at once in an amazing display of punches and kicks. To end the fight, Buffy raised one of the demons over her head and slammed it dramatically into the ground.
"Oh my God!" Connor said.
Buffy turned to him. "Connor, listen to me...."
"You almost broke that guy in half! That was awesome! Seriously, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen."
"Well, it's.... It's not a big deal. I mean, I do stuff like that a lot. But.... Are you ok? Did they hurt you?"
"Connor!" Connor's.... mother.... walked out from behind the car helping his.... Father.... stand.
"Dad!" Connor ran over to them.
"I'm ok." The dad said.
"We need to get him to a hospital." The mother said.
"We've got doctors at Wolfram & Hart." Buffy said just loud enough for them to hear. "We can help." She looked at Connor. "You and I have some things we should probably talk about."
"Yeah. I kinda figured." Connor said.
***
Buffy and Connor walked out of the medical wing of Wolfram and Hart. Buffy had informed Angel what was going on and then hung up on him. She was still pissed at him, but at the moment, she was spending time with her son. "Your dad's gonna be fine." She said. "He's in good hands. Or claws, as the case may be. They're good doctors."
"What were those things that attacked us?" Connor asked.
"Some kind of demon. I'm having it looked into."
"Is that what I am? Some kind of demon?"
"Oh.... No! Of course not!"
"Then.... what am I?"
The question stung Buffy's heart, but she put on her best smile. "Best we can tell, you're a healthy, well-adjusted kid, with, uh.... enhanced abilities."
"And you're a Vampire Slayer. And your husband's a vampire?"
"Weird, I know."
"So.... demons, vampires, doctors with claws.... and I'm some sort of super- hero. Ok."
"You're taking this pretty well."
"What am I supposed to do, complain? I just don't know how I'm gonna explain it to my parents. You got family?"
"I did."
"What happened?"
"I came to work for this place. It lost their trust. Not to mention that my dad ran out on me and my sister when he found out about.... Everything the day before my wedding. And my mom died a few years ago."
"Sorry."
"I'm over it."
"Still, you seem like a really cool person for all this bad stuff to be happening to."
"Thanks."
"So, do you ever plan to have kids?"
"We can't."
"I thought vampires could...."
"Myths. Angel can't, therefore I can't."
"Sorry. Touchy subject."
"Actually, no. I've accepted the fact that we'll never have kids. Maybe we can adopt someday when I feel ready."
"Change of subject. So you guys, like, fight crime and save the world here, that sort of stuff?"
"Well, that's the idea."
"Wow. Is everyone here a superhero? This place must be insane."
"It's mostly paralegals and secretaries. Pretty boring, really."
As they walked down the hall together, Buffy and Connor had to stop as Spike was thrown through the training room doors. His clipboard was thrown after him. "You filthy harlot!" Spike got to his feet. "I'm gonna tear your neck out!" He charged back into the training room intently.
"You wanna meet some of my co-workers?"
"Ok."
Buffy tentatively opened the door and peered in. When she thought it was safe, she allowed Connor to head on in. Illyria was standing on Spike's head, holding him down with one foot. "Guys, you wanna come here for a second?" Buffy asked. Illyria took her foot off of Spike's head and quickly turned to face Buffy.
"What is she?" Connor asked.
"She's a.... to be honest, I really don't know. She's some sort of ancient demon."
"She have any powers?"
"Glad you asked." Spike said. "So far, I've established that she can hit like a Mack truck, selectively alter the flow of time, and, uh.... possibly talk to plants."
"I'd like to keep Spike as my pet." Illyria said.
"Sure whatever." Buffy said. Spike scoffed. "Connor, this is Spike and Illyria. Guys, this is Connor." Spike looked at Buffy knowingly and she just lifted an eyebrow.
"Hi." Connor said. Illyria stared at him, looking up and down his body, then into his eyes. "Um.... I like your outfit."
"Your body warms." Illyria said to him. She looked at Buffy. "This one is lusting after me."
"Oh.... no, I.... I.... It's just that.... it's the outfit." Connor leaned over to Buffy. "I guess I've always had a thing for older women."
"They were supposed to fix that." Buffy mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing. Connor's brought us a case. We're looking into it, just showing him around."
Lorne walked into the training room. "Hey.... you kids playing in the training room?"
"Whoa! Man, this place is way better than college." Connor said.
"Yeah, Blondie-babe, Wes is requesting your presence upstairs. Has a little demon info for your peepers."
"Ok. You ready?" Buffy asked Connor.
"Yeah, sure." Connor looked back at Spike and Illyria. "It was nice meeting you."
"You like college?"
"Not as cool as this, but yeah."
"Lemme guess.... Notre Dame."
"No. Stanford."
"Stanford? Nice. When did you start?"
"Well, I went to Notre Dame, but I didn't really like it too much. More sports than learning. So, mom and dad sent me to Stanford."
"Very nice."