Angel smiled down at the precious bundle he had in his arms. Alex gurgled happily up at Angel, before closing his tired little eyes. Angel looked back at the bed that now held Connor's body. Angel knew that Connor was in a better place, but he still could not get over the slight ping of regret he had for letting him die. A pink tear ran down the side of Angel's face as he mourned the death of his son. Movement in his arms caused Angel to look away from his dead son and down at the tiny baby boy staring up at him.
" Hey little guy, I thought you were asleep." Angel smiled as Alex looked up at him with his big innocent eyes. It was as if Alex knew that Angel was upset, and decided to cheer him up. " I'm sorry that you never got to meet your brother Alex. I'm sure Connor and you would have gotten along great." As Angel gently lifted up Alex to hug him, a photo slowly floated to the ground. Curiously, Angel bent down and picked up the photo to see what it was of.
Angel almost dropped Alex when he saw the photo. The photo was of Connor holding Alex while in his hospital bed. A pink tear escaped his eye again as he looked up, and whispered thank you to whomever gave him this photo. Angel looked back down at Alex, only to see him smiling at him. " Did you know about this?" Angel asked while smiling at Alex. Alex in return just smiled up at Angel, then turned his head towards Angel and drifted off to sleep.
" Well little one, let's go face the troops." Angel took one last look at Connor. He then walked towards the waiting area to tell everyone what had happened. On his way to the waiting area, Angel stopped and told a nurse that he had sad goodbye to his son and that they could take him away. When Angel finally reached the waiting area, everyone turned around and started to fire things at him.
" Angel how could you?" Buffy yelled.
" Oh my god, Connor!" Cordy said as she rushed to Angel's side.
" Do you hate Xander that much Angel?" Willow questioned from Tara's arms.
" My god man, what have you done?" Giles questioned.
The only ones who kept quiet during this whole ordeal were Tara, Dawn, Fred, and Spike. When it looked as if Buffy was going to attack Angel and the baby, Spike stepped in.
" Stop Buffy, you don't under-" Spike never got to finish his sentence because Buffy punched him across the face and it sent him to the ground. Her rings had also caught on Spike's flesh, and had caused three nasty claw marks down the side of his face.
" Shut the Fuck up Spike. I cannot believe you would support that murderer over me. You are a worthless piece of shit Spike. Xander was you friend, or so I thought. I should have never got back together with you, you worthless excuse for a vampire." All Spike could do was look up at the woman he loved in shock. Spike was startled out of his state of mind by Cordy's voice.
" Hey, this is not Connor. This kid is too old, and looks a lot different from Connor. Angel, what's going on?" Every eye turned on Angel at that moment.
" Yes Angel, tell us what the Fuck you have done." Buffy spat at him. In the mean time, Dawn and Fred knelt down and helped Spike to his feet.
" Why don't you ask Spike?" Angel spat back.
" Spike knows nothing Angel. Now tell us what you've done, and who is that kid?" Buffy said with such venom in her voice.
" Tell them Spike." Angel said kindly as he looked over at Spike. " And don't say anything till Spike is done Buffy." Angel commanded when he saw Buffy about to interrupt.
" That is not Connor, as you all bloody know. That is Xander in Angel's arms. I don't know how he bloody did it, but that's him." Everyone looked at Spike astonishingly, then all eyes turned on Angel.
" Angel, where is Connor?" Cordy asked.
" Who cares? We got Xander back and that is all that matters. Now all we have to do is find a way to get him back to his right age, and all will be well. So give him here Angel, and we will get started." Buffy moved towards Angel to get Xander, but was stopped by a vamped out Spike. " Spike, what the hell are you doing?"
" You are not taking him Buffy."
" Why, the hell not? He needs to be turned back, so give him here." Buffy tried to get past Spike, but he kept on moving right in front of her. Just as Buffy raised her hand to smack Spike, Xander started to cry. Everyone, except Cordy and Gun, were astonished by the way, Angel handled him. He whispered kind things in his ear, and rocked him gently till he was back asleep.
" Angel please tell us what is going on." Willow said as she moved towards Angel.
" It is a long story, and right now Alex is tired. Actually, I too am sleepy. We are leaving now and I want to be left alone with my son." Angel made a pass to leave, but not before most of the scooby gang stood in his way.
" You are not taking Xander anywhere Angel." Giles said as calmly as possible. " Now if you would please hand the child to me, you can be on your way." Angel was starting to inwardly panic. He knew he could not get past all these people without waking up, or possibly hurting Alex. Right as he was about to take the risk, a gentle hand on his shoulder caused him to turn around. Behind him stood the only people he could trust right now Spike, Dawn, Tara, and Fred. Dawn held out her arms for Alex, and Angel gently laid him in her arms.
" Alright Dawnie, now bring Xander to us." Willow smiled.
" His name is not Xander, or didn't you hear that part? His name is Alex, and you will not take him from his father." Angel and the others formed a protective circle around Dawn, and they slowly started to shift their way towards the doors.
" Angel man, this is crazy. You won't tell us a thing and you have a kid there who should be a grown man."
" I do not expect you to understand Gunn, and maybe you never will. This child is mine and I am taking him out of here no matter what."
Buffy tried to advance on them, but was stopped by Giles's hand on her shoulder. " They are trying to take him away Giles, we have to stop them." Buffy pleaded.
" Not right now Buffy. We can not take the risk of hurting Xander in the commotion. We will get him back but we have to let him go right now."
" No Giles! He has been my friend since we were little and I will not let that monster take him away!" Willow started to cast a spell, but was stopped by Tara. " Why are you doing this Tara?"
" Because Willow, the boy needs to be with his father. Don't make me hurt you baby because I will to protect him."
" You bitch! If you side with him, I never want to see you again. Are you willing to take that risk?"
" If it means that Alex is safe, then yes. I don't want to hurt you, but I feel the need to keep him with Angel. Why can't you understand that?" Tara asked as tears poured out of her eyes.
" Xander is ours; you have no right to take him away! I hate you Tara. I hate you more than I have ever hated anything in my life." Willow said the last part with such utter calmness that it sent shivers down everyone's spines. Tara felt her whole world crashing down before her, but before she could fall, there were hands helping her to stay up.
This whole time Buffy not once took her eyes away from Dawn. " You better hope and pray I never see you again Dawn. If I ever see you again, you will pay." Buffy turned her cold eyes towards Spike who had a hand on Dawn's shoulder.
" You don't have to bloody say anything else Buffy, you have said enough already. I get the picture." Buffy took one last look at the people she now considered traitors and left the building, with the rest of the scoobies in tow.
Angel looked over to where Gunn was standing with Cordy, " where do you two stand in this?"
" We have been discussing it amongst ourselves and we don't want apart in this." Gunn said calmly.
" You had the chance to have Connor back, and you did this. I don't think I can handle this right now. It just hurts too much. I love you Angel, but I don't understand why you're doing this." Cordy shook her head. " Frankly, I don't care either. Right now, just don't come near us. We will tell Lorne and take him with us back to LA, but don't come near us. We need some time to think about all this." Before Angel could say anything Cordy added, "Don't worry, we will find our own way back to LA. Come on Gunn." And with that, they were gone.
" What are we going to do Angel?" Dawn asked as she handed Alex back to Angel.
" I don't know. You guys justgot Buffy on you bad sidehere for me, why?"
" I don't know about them peaches, but I bloody didn't do it for you, I did it for him." All the girls turned their eyes on Spike and gave him a knowing look. " Ok, so I kind of did it for you too, you being my sire and all." Spike mumbled the sire part hoping that they didn't hear, but the girls just smiled at him."Bugger, surrounded by girls and getting all nancy like because of it."
" But you love us Spike!" Dawn smiled as she kissed his cheek.
" Hey now little bit, need to keep up the big bad image here. No girly kisses here." With that said, all three girls kissed Spike's face.
" I think you got a fan club Spike." Angel mused.
" Well just don't go spreading this around town peaches." Spike gave him a sly grin. " On second thought. Go ahead and tell everyone." Spike turned around abruptly as he was hit on the back of the head, only to see Fred smiling at him.
" On a serious note Angel, what are we going to do now? We can't stay here, or they will come after us." Dawn said forlornly.
" You guys could move somewhere together for a while till this blows over. You can also protect Fred for me Spike. I have to take Alex somewhere safe." Angel said.
" As much as I would love to peaches, I think we need to stick together. You are going to need help with him, and we are just the bunch of bloody misfits to help you." Spike grinned at Angel.
" You always had a soft spot for kids Spike." Angel smiled down at Alex.
" Nah, just Dawn, Glinda, him, and now brains here." Spike smiled, as Fred looked at him wide eyed and playfully smacked him.
" Guys I would love that, but I am not going back to LA. There are too many bad memories there. Plus, that is the first place they will look for us. I will not let anyone hurt him. I have to change everything about us. Who we are, where we're from, everything. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to make it look as if you never existed?"
" Angel, what do we have to lose?" Dawn asked sadly. Angel realized immediately what these people gave up for him and Alex. They no longer had the comfort and protection of their families; this was their family now. This was his family now.
" Alright, let's go." Angel said as he shifted Alex in his arms.
" Hey now, what about food and clothing?" Dawn asked.
" I'll take care of it Dawn." Angel said.
" Transportation?"
" I'll take care of it Dawn." Angel said again.
" Potty breaks?"
" I'll take-" Everyone laughed at Angel's almost slip up. Angel looked over his shoulder and mock glared at Dawn, who smiled happily in return.
" Hold on." Everyone mock glared at Fred. She laughed and said, " Seriously, what about Willow and them finding us? They got a couple of smart people on their team. Plus, where are we going to go that they won't find us?" Fred looked around worryingly. They all started to seriouslythink about it until Dawn spoke up.
" Tara can hold off Willow for a while, and I think I know whom to call about making us disappear." Dawn smiled at everyone reassuringly, and inwardly hoped that she could get a hold of him.
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