Connor woke the next day to find Aurora gone, the blanket she'd been wrapped in before remained as the only reminder she'd been there.
He got changed into a jumper and jeans and walked into the lounge to see Aurora dressed in a pair of his jeans that seemed too loose around her slim waist and a singlet, her blonde hair pulled back into a messy ponytail as she stood near the washing machine watching her clothes.
"Aura what are you wearing?" asked Connor.
"Oh I hope you don't mind but your dad needed his shirt and all my clothes are still dirty. I doubted you wanted me walking around here naked so I put on the first things I saw in your closet." Said Aurora turning around to face him, nearly making Connor's jaw drop at how beautiful she made his clothes look on her.
"Its OK. You had any breakfast?' asked Connor, recovering as Aurora turned back to the washing machine.
"Not really, just a few pieces of toast and a glass of water. I'm not usually so hungry in the morning." Shrugged the blonde female as Connor walked into the small kitchen.
"Me neither to be honest. But I'd better have something or else my dad'll shove some of his cooking down my throat." Said Connor, loud enough so she could hear as he went to the fridge.
He made and ate a small fruit salad and walked back to where Aurora was stood putting all her washing in a washing basket.
"Um Connor where's the dryer?" asked Aurora as she piled the rest of her wet clothes into the basket.
"I don't have one up here, there is one in the basement though. I'll show you it in a minute." Said Connor as he slipped his feet into his boots.
Aurora picked up the basket and followed Connors lead down the stairs to the lobby.
When the two arrived and saw the whole of the AI gang sat around the table in the middle of the lobby researching. Or at least they were until they saw the two teenagers.
"Connor…didn't know you were the type to bring home a girl and not introduce her to us." Said Cordelia, which got her a glare from Angel.
Connor looked at Aurora who was shivering at being watched and put his arm reassuringly around her waist.
"Guys this is Aurora…Aura this is Gunn, Cordelia, Fred, Lorne, Wesley and of course you know my dad." Said Connor.
"Hi." Smiled Aurora weakly and Connor led her toward the stairs to the basement ignoring the rest of his 'family's' stares.
" You OK Aura? I didn't know they were here they usually don't turn up until after midday after a night of Patrolling." Said Connor leading her down the stairs to the basement.
"I'm fine…it's just been a while since I've been around so many people." Smiled Aurora Weakly as they arrived at the bottom.
Connor directed her to where the dryer was sat and left her to it while he looked around the basement. There he saw the old cage his father's alter ego had taken up residence when Angel had lost his soul. Along with a cabinet containing weapons and while much of Wesley's watcher stuff including several Watchers' journals and other books he'd been issued with during his term as watcher were in three trunks stacked in a corner.
Connor turned around to see Aurora sitting on the upturned washing basket against the wall watching him, though her gaze quickly moved to the dryer when she saw him looking at her.
Connor approached her and stood, leaning against the wall not far from where she was sat. He watched her bit her lip under his gaze as if she was nervous though he doesn't understand why…they were closer than this the night before.
Aurora played with her hands as though she wanted to keep herself looking anywhere but at him.
Soon the dryer stopped and Aurora gratefully got to her feet and picked up the basket before putting all the clothes from the machine into the basket.
Connor let her go up the stairs first and took a glance around the room before following the blonde girl's lead up the stairs.
The two appeared in the lobby to see everyone had gone except for Wesley and Angel the latter of who was deeply entranced in the book he was reading. Connor bit his lip as he looked at the ex watcher…he had to ask the man some questions about how slayers were trained.
"Go on up Aura, I'll be up in sec." Said Connor with a smile at the blonde.
"Ok don't be too long." Said Aurora as she walked up the stairs barely waiting for his reply.
"Dad you want a cup of blood or something?" asked Connor taking the only tactic he could think of at that moment.
"Yeah some blood would be nice Connor." Said Angel not looking up from the book.
"Wes you want anything?" asked Connor tilting his head toward the kitchen at the ex watcher.
Wesley seemed to get the gist because he nodded silently at the teenager before speaking.
"Yes I think I'll have a cup of tea." Said Wesley getting to his feet before following Connor's lead into the kitchen, shutting the door behind him.
"So what's up Connor?" asked Wesley.
"Wes, what do you know about the process used to train Slayers?" asked Connor as he went to the fridge and picked a bag of blood out for his father.
"Enough why? What's going on?" asked Wesley as he pulled out two mugs one for himself and the other for Angel's blood.
"Well Dad and Buffy seem to think that Aurora is a potential slayer and they want me to take her to Cleveland to be trained." Said Connor pouring the blood into the mug.
"Really? Because Aurora doesn't seem the type to me." Said Wesley as he put water in the kettle and turning it on.
"That's what I said but dad gave me this crap about how the training makes the slayer not the person they are." Said Connor.
"I suppose he's right when he uses that logic. But still the poor girl will be terrified. I mean she was scared out of her wits meeting us, she'll probably be worse meeting the other potentials, Buffy and the scoobies." Said Wesley.
"So what should I do?" asked Connor.
"Well stay with her until she is settled in is really the only thing you can do if Angel won't let you stay with her. Make sure she is acquainted with other Potentials that way she will slowly gather her confidence." Said Wesley putting a tea bag in his cup as the kettle boiled.
"I haven't got any other choice do I?" sighed Connor when he heard his father yell fro him from the Lobby as he put the blood in the microwave, "Yeah I'm coming dad!"
"It'll be OK Connor." Assured Wesley as He poured water into the mug and watched the tea slowly work its way into the water.
"I hope so." Said Connor as the microwave beeped and he pulled the mug out.
"If you need to talk about this anymore my office is always open." Assured the Ex watcher before the teenager left the kitchen to give his father his blood.
"Thanks Connor. Have you decided when your taking Aurora to Cleveland?" asked Angel sipping the blood, careful not to scald the inside of his mouth.
"Maybe tomorrow. I've still as of yet not got around to telling her." Said Connor.
"Well avoiding it will only make telling her harder Connor. You need to tell her soon." Said Angel.
"I know and I will. I'd better get back up there before she does a runner." Said Connor before he walked up the stairs.
He arrived in the lounge to see Aurora rocking back and forth on the couch looking really freaked out, a knife in front of her.
"Aura, Aura what happened?" asked Connor slowly approaching her when he saw blood on the knife.
He looked up into her eyes and Aurora began to sob, though her face looked fine he didn't know how the blood had got on the knife until he saw her hands with deep bloody cuts around the wrists as if she had been trying to chop of her hands, blood dripping down her arms.
"Aura, what happened to your wrists?" asked Connor reaching for her hands, which caused Aurora to moved away from him whimpering with pain.
"Aura…. What's wrong? Why did you do that?" asked Connor his heart aching with concern as he crouched down in front of her.
Aurora continued to merely sob with pain and humiliation and Connor didn't know what to do in order to stop her crying.
He got to his feet and went to the phone that was connected to the phone down in the lobby so he could call his dad.
"Hello Dad?" said Connor his gaze pinned on Aurora who was rocking back and forth.
"No this Wesley. Connor, what's wrong?" asked the ex watcher able to interpret the tone in the teenager's voice to mean something was wrong.
"Can you and Dad come up here? Bring some bandages, something's wrong with Aurora." Said Connor.
"We'll be right up." Said Wesley before he hung up, Connor putting down his phone before crouching back in front of the hysterically blonde female.
He wanted to hug her, to reassure her that everything would be OK but he really had no idea what had caused Aurora to do what she had.
Soon Wesley and Angel appeared and Wesley immediately began to bandage Aurora's Wrists while Angel picked up the knife, ignoring the tempting smell of blood, to wash it in the sink.
"Do you know why she did this Connor?" asked Angel looking at his son who had been watching the blonde girl try and stop Wesley from bandaging her wrists.
"No idea. I just came up here and there she was rocking back and forth with the knife in front of her with blood on it." Said Connor biting his lip.
"Too strong, hands dangerous." Whispered Aurora flinching as Wesley tied the bandages on her left and right hand in place.
"Aura, what do you mean?" asked Connor sitting down beside her.
"Hands hurt people, hands rip doors off hinges," murmured Aurora as she leaned her head on Connor's shoulder, letting the male wrap his arm around her waist and pull her into a hug.
Connor exchanged worried glances with his father and Wesley as the blonde girl began to sob into his shoulder.
"Ssshhh Aura, its ok." Assured Connor stroking the girl's hair, kissing her forehead.
Connor watched his father and Wesley leave as he sat the girl in his lap gently rocking her as she sobbed, he didn't know what else to do.
The only other women he'd had to put up with in this kind of mood was Cordelia but to calm her down all you had to do was give her a tub of ice cream and a bar of chocolate and she'd be good.
But with Aurora he doubted somehow she was the type that would work for so instead he continued to rock her and kissing her forehead until she finally tired herself out soon falling asleep in his lap, her head rested against his chest, her hands clutched to her chest.
Connor picked her and moved her to his bed before leaving her to sleep off her pain and sorrow.
He had a strong suspicion he needed to do a bit more research on the position of slayer, maybe there was a way he could help Aurora through it before leaving her in Cleveland.
He checked that the girl was sleeping peacefully before going down stairs to ask Wesley for some books on slayers when he saw the ex watcher and his father were way ahead of him on the research front.
"Find anything useful?" asked Connor watching his father look up at his son's presence.
"Not as of yet…maybe we should contact Giles…Maybe he knows the explanation for Aurora's behavior." Said Wesley taking at look at his boss.
"No we can't let Giles know…if Giles knows then Buffy will too and there is no doubt in my mind that she will blame Aurora's break down on me or Connor." Said Angel.
"Maybe I should begin taking her to Cleveland tomorrow? Maybe she's getting stressed by all the other people here…" shrugged Connor looking at Wesley.
"Possibly. However I don't know if traveling while she is in that sort of state is a good idea…anything could happen and if something does you would have to deal with it alone Connor. Do you think you could handle that?" asked Wesley.
Connor felt his father's gaze on his face silently asking the same question.
"I'm sure I can handle It. " assured the teenager when he heard the sound of footsteps coming down to the lobby.