Title: Fathers and Sons
Author: Slayer87
Rating: PG-13 (For mild swearing and darker issues)
Disclaimer: My name is not Joss Whedon, therefore I do not own any characters seen here that are not mine. The plot isn't even mine. I only own Gabriel.
Suddenly Daddy Challenge
This is in response to the Suddenly Daddy Challenge from Gigi on the Chocolate Covered Strawberries board.
The busy life at Wolfram & Hart was starting to take a toll on Wesley now. His eyes were always hurting, headaches were constant now, and he had to constantly listen to Harmony, whose desk was yards outside his office, complain about something. But he soldiered on, thumbing through the many books, scanning the archives for lost prophecies regarding the will of some of their clients. Each day, something new appeared, some new case or problem that had to be solved.
So when Wesley walked into his office, he didn't think he'd ever have a problem quite like this.
There, sitting in a chair in front of his desk, was a little boy. Wesley guessed around 3, the boy had a light complexion, dark short hair, and the darkest brown eyes he'd ever seen. The boy was looking at him, possibly sizing him up.
Coming back to earth, Wesley cautiously walked over to the boy. "Hello there. Where did you come from?"
The little boy didn't say anything, just looked at Wesley.
"Well, can I ask your name?" Wesley tried again, crouching next to the boy.
"Gabriel."
Wesley smiled. He was making progress. "Hello there Gabriel. Can you tell me how you got here?" he asked next.
"I brought him here." Came another voice. Wesley stood up and turned around to see a woman, dressed in a typical business-like suit, walk into his office. "Sorry I wasn't here to greet you when you walked in, but I was having a word with your boss, Mr. Angel."
"Um, what is going on Ms…?" Wesley asked her.
The woman reached over and shook his hand. "Mrs. Murray. I'm with Social Services. Very nice to meet you Mr. Wyndahm-Pryce."
"Is a case of one of our clients, because Mr. Gunn is head of our legal department-" Wesley started to say but was cut off by a wave of Mrs. Murray's hand.
"No, no Mr. Wyndahm-Pryce. This is about you. Do you remember Virginia Bryce?" she asked him. Wesley nodded.
"Virginia…yes. I haven't spoken to her in years though. Not since…what does this have to do with me?" Wesley asked.
Mrs. Murray gestured to the child, Gabriel. "This has everything to do with you now. This here is your son."
Wesley tried to process the information that was just presented to him but it didn't quite go well. He blinked, looking from Mrs. Murray to the child.
"What?" he asked.
"Mr. Wyndahm-Pryce, this is your son, Gabriel. As you might have guessed, this is also Virginia's son," Mrs. Murray explained. Wesley closed his mouth, but it fell open again.
"Well, where is she?" Wesley asked. "If she never told me about our son, why is she dumping this on me now?"
Mrs. Murray looked over at Gabriel and sighed. "Ms. Bryce died last week. She had a bad case of pneumonia, and it was strong enough to take her before doctors could help her. I'm very sorry Mr. Wyndahm-Pryce."
Wesley was in shock. Virginia dead? When was this? How could he not have been told? Why did she have to keep this child a secret from him? Now he couldn't even be mad at her since she was gone.
"I am too," was all he managed to choke out. He looked at his son, not really seeing any part of her in him. He was shocked to see the kid was almost a splitting image of himself.
"So I'm here to make sure you can take him in. He has nowhere to go now. Mr. Bryce, Virginia's father, wants nothing to do with this," Mrs. Murray said. Wesley sighed, remembering the man that once tried to have his daughter sacrificed to the goddess Yeska. "Anyways, you are the one that Virginia wanted to raise your son."
Wesley snapped to attention. "Me?"
"Yes, you. Mr. Wyndahm-Pryce, you are the only one left. If you choose not to take custody of your son, then we will put him into an orphanage. It is all up to you," Mrs. Murray told him.
Wesley unconsciously tapped his finger on his desk. 'Why now? Why does this have to happen now? I'm not fit to raise a child. My life wouldn't allow it. I'd put him in too much danger. I can't," he thought.
"Yes, of course I'll take him," Wesley said. Mrs. Murray smiled happily and pulled some papers from her briefcase. Wesley signed in the right spots, smiling the whole time. When they were finished, Mrs. Murray stood up and put a hand on Gabriel's tiny shoulder.
"Everything is set now. We'll have Gabriel's belongings moved to your place tonight," she told Wesley. With that, the woman left the office, leaving Wesley with his new son alone together.
"Well, that was unexpected," Wesley said to himself. He looked at Gabriel again, the boy was watching him as well. "I'm sorry about your mother."
Gabriel nodded and looked down.
"Can I get you anything? Something to eat? Maybe I can get you a movie and you can watch it?" Wesley asked. When Gabriel said nothing, Wesley sighed.
"How about you tell me about you?" Wesley tried. "How old are you now?"
Gabriel lifted his hand, holding up three fingers. "Three," he said.
"That's wonderful. What sort of things do you like?" Wesley asked, seeing he was maybe getting somewhere.
Gabriel looked Wesley in the eye, an almost sad expression on his face. "Are you gonna be my daddy?"
Wesley softly smiled. "I am your dad."
That seemed to be enough for Gabriel, as he returned the smile and answered Wesley's question. "I like race cars. Ones that go real fast! And I like Spiderman. He's really cool. And I have a puppy, Duke. The lady wouldn't let me bring him with me here. But he's at home," he told Wesley excitedly.
"Well Gabriel, all that sounds really cool. When we get home tonight, you can tell me a whole lot more okay?" Wesley said, standing up.
"What are you going?" Gabriel asked. "Can I come?"
Wesley looked over at the door and wished so much he didn't have work to finish. "I'll be right back okay. I just need to go ask someone something.
"Okay," Gabriel replied, playing with his shoelace.
Wesley smiled at his son again and left his office, making sure to close the door. He let out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. As much as he was already enjoying fatherhood, his mind was doing flips. It was all too much to process. First there was the news that Virginia was dead. His heart grieved for her, as he did still miss her after all this time. And now he had a son…this was too much.
"Wesley, just the person I wanted to talk to," Fred Burkle greeted him. Wesley focused on her, trying to forget this newfound news for a few moments.
"Fred, what do you need?" he asked, smile on his face.
"Well, I need to ask you about Spike. I'm still trying to find a way to decorporealize him and I need to know if you have any more info on if this has maybe happened before," she told him.
Wesley was about to reply when the doors to his office opened and the three-year old Gabriel stood there, legs slightly crossed and bouncing up and down.
"Daddy, I gotta go potty!" the boy cried, trying with all his might to hold it.
Wesley nodded and took the boy by his hand. Fred was looking at the two like they were dreams, her mouth slightly ajar.
"Wesley? Daddy?" she asked, looking at Wesley, then the child.
"I'll explain in a minute, I just need to…" Wesley gestured to Gabriel, who was on the verge of exploding. Fred nodded and watched as father and son made their way to the nearest restroom.
"So he's your son?" Gunn asked.
The entire gang was now in Wesley's office, watching Gabriel play with some of the toys that he had with him.
"Yes. Yes he is," Wesley replied, eyes locked on the boy.
"Well I think it's good you took him in. I mean, could you really say no?" Fred asked.
"Wes, you do know this is a bad environment for a child. Especially if he's clueless about demons," Angel said. Wesley noted the way Angel looked at Gabriel, a sort of jealousy etched on his face.
"I realized that, but I wasn't about to abandon him," Wesley replied, lowering his voice. "His mother just died. I would have made things worse by refusing to take custody of him."
"Still, its bad having him here. What if the Senior Partners hear? Who knows, we could end up fighting off demon cults trying to kill him like with Con-" Angel trailed, ignoring the looks of confusion from his friends. "The point is, you won't be able to give him a normal childhood."
"I can try," Wesley said.
"There is a daycare center here. It's on the 10th floor," Fred said to Wesley.
"No, I don't really think that is the best thing. I can keep an eye on him here. I don't leave the office that much anyways," Wesley told her.
"And if you have to, leave the munchkin with me. We'll have a blast!" Lorne offered.
"Thank you for the offer Lorne," Wesley said sincerely.
"Well I hope I don't have to tell you we still have a business to run. I hope that he isn't a liability to you Wes, otherwise, even the tiniest threat will make you loose you head," Angel said to Wesley, before walking out of the office.
"Boy, he's a Mr. Grouchy Pants this morning," Lorne muttered.
"Well, he'll warm up to this later. He probably is just in a funk. You know how Angel gets," Fred said, looking to Wesley.
"Yes, well I suppose we'll just have to see," Wesley replied, looking towards Gabriel, who was still preoccupied with his toys.
"Not to interrupt all the good news Wes, but I have some issues that need to be taken care of on a case of mine," Gunn said, holding up some files he had been holding. "Think you can take some time in helping me out? This is more of a mystical deal so I need your brain on this."
"Yes, we can discuss it later on," Wesley replied. "Right now I need some time to…think about things."
"Sure thing. Let me know when you're ready to hear the details," Gunn said, starting to go.
"I guess I better head back to the lab. Knox is working on our latest project and probably needs help. I'll stop by later okay, see how you are doing," Fred said. Then bending down to Gabriel's level, she ruffled the boy's hair. "It was nice meeting you Gabriel."
Gabriel nodded at her, waving. Fred smiled at him and walked out of the office.
Wesley sighed, staring at her retreating figure.
"Need to work fast amigo. That ship won't be there forever you know," Lorne said, surprising Wesley out of his gaze.
"What?" he replied, looking at the Pylean native.
"Fredikins. I can sense that love bug you have for her. You don't even have to sing, it's coming off you in waves. So go after her," Lorne told him.
Wesley walked away from the green skinned demon. "We're not talking about this," he said.
Lorne took a sip of his Seabreeze and smiled. "Whatever you say cupcake." With that, he too left Lorne's office. That left Wesley and Gabriel alone once more.
"What do you say we go out and find things for your new room?" Wesley asked. He needed to get out of the office. He too thought this place was no place for a child, let alone his child. But he wasn't going to let him out of his sight. There was probably a lot of pain and confusion in Gabriel's heart now, with the death of his mother recently, how much more could the boy take. Wesley was going to do his best here. He was going to make sure his child had a better childhood than he had.
"Okay," was all Gabriel responded, picking up his toys, holding them tightly. The two turned to the door, but stopped.
Wesley stared. "Well this is a surprise," he said.
There, standing in the doorway to his office, was his own father, Rodger Wyndahm-Pryce.
A/N: Next chapter…more Wesley/Gabriel bonding, Wesley's dad, and a new threat.