Authors Note: Sorry for taking such a long time to post my new chapter. School's been really stressful lately. I have two forty five minute speeches coming up soon and so it might be a little hard to update so fast. I really appreciate all the reviews though. Also, scruffybunny, thank you for your comments and input on the story. I really like it when I get feedback like that. Thanks for taking the time to send me something that makes me as the writer think of what I want to get across to the readers. Well, with that said. Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen

Fear

Frantically I paced back and fourth from one side of the room to the other. My head was pounding fast, but I just pushed the pain aside and continued my pacing.

"We shouldn't have left him like that." I stated as I turned to walk to the other side of the room.

"What else were we supposed to do Buffy? You were knocked unconscious and we were slowly getting picked off one by one. If we stayed, we just would have gotten ourselves killed." Connor answered me. He was busy nursing a head wound, something I should have been doing. Instead I just kept wiping away the blood that ran down my cheek. I didn't have time to worry about myself.

"He could be dead Connor."

"He's not dead. You would have felt it if he was."

"Would I?" I stopped my movements and looked at him in fury for leaving behind his father. "I've been dead for three hundred years, I don't know him anymore. What we used to have it could be gone for all I know."

"He's not dead Buffy."

"Would you even care?"

"Of course I'd care. He's a good fighter and we need him."

"No," I said looking at him strangely. He acted as if this was nothing. "He's your father Connor. Would you care if your father died?" He just looked at me un answering. "Forget it." I quickly took up my pacing once again.

I wanted nothing more then to go out there and look for him. To make sure he was okay. But the house we're in was put on lock down almost the moment we got back. No one entered and no one left without the guards knowing about it. There was only one entrance and exit in the whole entire house now, and it was heavily guarded by some sort of magical barrier. A barrier that would only be let down if the sorcerer of the house said so.

I had already gone to this guy and tried to beat him into letting me go outside, but no matter how hard I hit, my blows deflected off of him. After a little over an hour I had to finally give up. Now I was in the study of where ever the hell we were, desperately trying to think of a way that I could get out of here. Get to Angel.

"Angel knows where we're supposed to meat up. I'm sure he'll be here any minute."

"Connor! It's been over three hours now! We need to go out there and find him."

"I told you before Buffy, it's not safe. All the vamps know what we look like now. They're all out on the streets at this very moment searching for any signs of us. We can't risk sending someone out there to look for him, especially you."

"Does it look like I really care about that?" I yelled at him. No matter how much I screamed around here, no one seemed to be relenting. But what else was there to do. "He's you're father Connor! God, would it kill you to show a little remorse?"

"It's complicated alright."

"Yeah? Well you're looking at a girl that's died twice and is still kicking. You can't get much more complicated then that." I glared at him.

"She giving you a hard time?"

My mind and body froze as I heard this voice. Slowly, not quite believing it yet I turned around. Angel leaned heavily against the door way, looking as if he could barley stay on his own two feet. Blood dripped off of him in rivulets almost making tiny little spots on the wooden floor beneath him.

"Angel," I breathed, running up to I threw my arms around his neck. He grunted as the force of my body came in contact with his. "Sorry."

I was about to pull away from him when his arms came around me and held me to him close. He sighed, holding me so tight, almost as if he was worried he was never going to see me again.

"You need to sit down." I told him gently, taking his hand and easing him away from the doorway onto the couch. He unconsciously winced as he slowly lowered himself to the soft cushions below. It was at that moment I knew he was in more pain then he wanted to let on.

"How'd you get away?" Connor asked, with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

Angel seemed to take this in stride though and answered anyways. "Stabbed him in the heart and ran."

I looked at him disbelievingly. "So he's dead."

Angel laughed. "No, he's immortal remember. Killing the slayers is the only way to kill him. I just distracted him that's all." He leaned over and spit some blood to the floor. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he continued. "They know we're out here. I must have gotten jumped seven times on the way over here. They're all prowling the streets waiting for us to slip up. I don't think they know you're the slayer though. Or at least I haven't heard anything."

I started unbuttoning his shirt, slowly revealing a mass of bruised flesh underneath. "We need to get you cleaned up. We can worry about Leon tomorrow."

He grabbed my hand, preventing me from walking away to get the first aid kit. "Are you okay?" He eyed the cut on my forehead warily.

I smiled slightly, even when he's hurt like this, I'm all he seems to think about. "I'm fine. Right now I need to just worry about you."

Connor got up, obviously a little sickened at the way we looked at each other. "I think I'm going to go lay down or... or something."

"Connor," Angel got up, pain lashing across his features as he did. In the end, I had to help him stand, and even then I was afraid to take my arm back from around his waist. The slight sway to his stature wasn't encouraging me. "I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait?" He said impatiently.

"No." Connor nodded his head in consent. Angel hesitated though, not quite meeting my eyes. "Could you leave us alone for a minute?"

I raised my eyebrows. Here he was, barley even able to stand in front of me and he wanted me to leave him alone. "Why?"

"Buffy, I need to talk to Connor. Please."

Was he actually kicking me out? He was kicking me out. I couldn't believe it. Giving a warning glance at Connor I slowly pulled away from Angel and left the room silently, shutting the door in my departure.

With a heavy sigh I flopped down onto a nearby chair. It was times like this that I wished I wasn't so noble. Because of me Angel was in the other room, a mass of scrapes and cuts, all because I had to be the good guy. I had to save the innocent when in the long run it would have probably been better just to let it go. Sure the rescue was a success. Mark was upstairs at the moment being tended too. Within a few weeks time he would be able to start living a normal life again, or as normal as you can get in this town. But was it worth it?

Was it worth pissing Leon off so much that he and every other Tom, Dick, and Harry in this town are now out looking for us. I traded one lousy life in for what? A life in secret? Well, more secret then it's already been. I'm not a fool. It's only going to be a matter of time before this catches up to me, costing the life of someone I love or even myself. Not that it matters if I die. I never seem to stay dead in the first place.

"Buffy?" Connor came out of the now opened door. "We're done if you want to talk to him." He looked upset.

"Sure," I got up from my spot on the cushions and was about to walk right by him. "You okay?"

He crossed his arms over his chest protectively. "I'm fine."

"You sure?"

He glanced up at me and quickly changed the subject. "You should probably go in there. He's pretty beaten up." Without saying another word he walked away.

Trying to shrug it off, I went into the study. Angel had his eyes closed as he sat on the sofa. It was then that it struck me how pale he was. Not just the usual pale, but the kind of pale that should scare the living daylights out of people. He seemed to be as white as a sheet of paper, and the once faint black circles under his eyes seemed to darken by the minute.

Sitting down beside him I felt his head as an automatic impulse from the years of checking Dawn for fevers. He was warm, more so then any vampire, any human for that matter, should be.

"Hey," He said, opening his eyes a fraction of an inch.

"You're running a fever."

"I'm fine."

"Angel..." He interrupted me though.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" A small smile was on his lips.

"Thank you?" It was more of a question then an automatic response.

"I love you."

"Angel what the hell is going on? You're starting to scare me." The foe smile dropped from his face when I caught onto his little game.

"Buffy, don't worry about it. I'm..."

"Don't give me that I'm fine crap, because we both know it's not true. What happened?" He didn't answer. "Was it Leon? Did he do something?"

Silence regained the room once again as he looked at me sadly. The fear that I felt nearly shook my bones. Slowly he took my hand into his now clammy one.

"Tell me that you love me."

He whispered it so quietly I almost didn't hear him. "I love you." I complied.

Swallowing heavily he looked me straight in the eyes. Fear was pouring out of his twin souls so fast that it almost overwhelmed me.

"Kiss me."

Tiny little pinpricks of water dotted my vision at his heartbroken words. Something was happening and I didn't know how to stop it, how to control it. So I did the only thing I could think of.

Leaning down I pressed my lips to his in a sweet slow kiss. I made sure not to put any pressure on his wounds. I just pressed my lips lightly to his, letting him know that everything would be okay. That I was here. Slowly he melted into my embrace and sighed. That's when I knew that the worst had yet to come.