CHAPTER FIVE

Darla heard the baby screaming even before the knock on the door came. She was in tears as she opened it. Somewhere, her son and his wife were mourning the loss of their child. How had Eve kidnaped the baby away from the hospital? Eve just grinned, seeing her pain. Darla wiped her face, getting herself back under control. She hated to let the bitch, or worse, the square-jawed monster she had with her, see her like this. Darla had seen enough human monsters in her day to recognize them quickly. Gene was one of those. He might have rugged good looks but if one stared into those blue eyes, they'd see the coldness, the lack of soul.

"Ready to meet your grandson, Darla?" Eve gave her a haughty look, handling the infant like a sack of potatoes.

Darla took the baby away, unable to bear seeing the other woman holding him. She cradled him close and his wailing lessened. He was so beautiful with enormous eyes and a shock of curly dark hair. She hadn't seen a baby with so much hair before. Darla stroked his hair, which felt like cotton fluff under her fingers. "He's hungry," she said, knowing that Eve wouldn't have cared enough to pay attention to that sort of thing.

"Give her the book," Gene said, his tone bored.

"Oh yeah. Here's a memory book." Eve nodded at Gene who tossed a baby car seat stuffed with items on the table. "It's in there with some other junk for the baby. We want you to write down feeding times, diaper changes and anything else you think belongs in a baby diary. You've probably done this before."

Darla thought about the children she had had in mortal life, none living past the age of five. Pregnancy had been impossible to avoid back then in her 'career,' and children had been more an annoyance than a joy. She had been denied that until Connor, and even then she had to die in order to feel it. "We didn't keep diaries."

"Just do it," Eve snapped, scooping the baby away from Darla roughly. He shrieked, his tiny fists flailing. "We want everything recorded about little Lindsey's life."

Darla snorted, wanting to rip the baby back away from Eve but she didn't move. "Lindsey? I'm not calling him that."

"That's his name," Eve insisted, her lips falling into a petulant pout.

"Why? Because you think it's funny to name him after a man who loved me once?" Darla's jaw set. When Eve's eyes opened wide, her face losing color, Darla understood in a flash that Eve hadn't known about that. More importantly, Eve had cared for Lindsey once herself.

"What are you talking about?" Eve hissed.

"Lindsey was mine. What? He never told you that?" Darla tossed her hair, giving Eve a superior look. "Guess you didn't mean much to him. Everything between him and Angel came back to me." Darla didn't know if that were true but it looked like a good button to push.

Eve shook her head, stepping closer to Gene, who seemed indifferent to the whole conversation. "I doubt that. He never mentioned you, and he would have. I gave up everything for Lindsey, right down to my immortality."

"And I'll bet Lindsey never noticed, too wrapped up in making Angel pay, right?" Darla smirked. "And this is just part of that." She swept a hand towards the baby.

"Lindsey's dead. Angel murdered him. That's what this is about," Eve said, her voice as dead as her eyes.

Darla tried not to let the shock show. She hadn't known Lindsey was gone. "It's sad really. Not about Lindsey because if my poor boy went after Angel, he probably got what was coming to him," she said, not believing a word of it. If she could rattle Eve, she might be able to get past her. "I'm just looking at you and realizing, you look a little like me, without the class. I guess when he couldn't have the original, Lindsey settled for a poor copy."

Darla braced herself for a run past Eve, hoping she could snatch the baby easily while Eve fumed. She had forgotten one key thing, how weak she was now. She had also underestimated Gene's penchant for violence. As she made her charge, his fist caught Darla hard in the gut, taking her right off her feet. Darla slammed into the living room rug hard.

"Good try, Darla but we're not that easy to manipulate." Eve dumped the car seat over, letting baby stuff shower everywhere. She tossed the baby down into the car seat like he wasn't even a living creature worthy of care.

Darla crawled to the coffee table where her grandson was screaming himself purple, frightened and maybe hurt by Eve's rough treatment. "How did you do it? How did you get him out of the hospital with Connor and Angel there?"

Gene laughed roughly. "She thinks we'd actually be dumb enough to wait for the freak family get together at the hospital."

Darla looked at him, confused. "What?"

Eve grabbed her by the hair, hauling her up. "If we waited for the bitch to go into labor, then we would have had to deal with Connor and possibly Angel getting in our way. We couldn't have that."

Darla's breath caught, horrible scenarios dancing in her mind's eye. "What did you do, you bitch?"

"Surely you've heard of a Caesarian." Eve smirked. "Of course, Gene didn't use any anesthetics."

Darla's eyes filled with tears. Her poor son, his poor wife. "You killed her?"

"Oh, she's very dead, toast." Gene chuckled. "Or roast as the case may be."

"So get with the bonding, Darla. You're the only mom the brat is going to know...at least as long as we have use for him alive," Eve said, coldly. "We'll leave you to it."

Darla didn't even try to stop them leaving. Hearing the bolts being thrown on the other side of the door, she burst into tears. She levered herself onto the couch, holding her throbbing stomach. Trying to calm herself, she picked up the infant, knowing she couldn't calm him if she were crying, too. Finally she got him quieted some, then went into the kitchen and microwaved some of the formula Eve had left.

As her grandson greedily guzzled it down, Darla held him close, trying not to think about his mother's last moments. She had murdered many women in her day but even she hadn't cut a baby out of its mother. Still, she had drank down any number of infants but she didn't believe this was a punishment on her son and grandson for her wrong doings. It was just their misfortune to be caught in the back lash of the things she and Angel had wrought.

After feeding and burping him, she carried the baby into the nursery and laid him in the crib. Darla stroked his soft warm skin. "Time to sleep, Liam," she said, deciding she'd call the baby anything but Lindsey. Maybe Connor would have given his son his father's name. She had no way of knowing. It would do for now. The baby started fussing the moment she laid him down so Darla scooped him back up and sat in the rocker. As she rocked, she sang a lullaby she had sung to her own children.

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When you are King, dilly dilly,
I shall be Queen
Who told you so, dilly dilly,
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,
That told me so

X X X

Buffy opened the door suspiciously, hoping it wasn't the detectives. She didn't think Connor was up to that. Four people were on the porch, three men and a woman, all of them wearing masks of sorrow. "Can I help you?"

"Captain Rassmussen said Connor was here. We're part of Ladder Seventeen. We were..." the red-headed man said, breaking off. His voice was thick with pain.

"Could we come in? We just want to be with him a while," the dark-skinned woman said.

Buffy nodded, stepping back to let them into Angel's spacious home. "Connor's resting. Come on into the living room. I'll see if he's up to visitors."

"You were there at the fire," the mousy-brown haired man said, sizing up Buffy quickly.

"Unfortunately." She scrutinized him right back. "You were trying to keep Connor from going in."

"Thank God. We thought it was Thally's partner in there and that was bad enough. I'm Tim by the way." He tapped his chest then indicated his partners. "Scott, Peter and Monisha."

"Buffy. I'm Angel's girlfriend." She waved a hand at the living room furniture. "Have a seat."

"Angel, Connor's talked about him. I got the impression there were...problems," Monisha said, hesitantly.

"Sadly. The brothers don't get along so well. That's why Angel and I were going to meet Thalia last night. She was trying to bring the family together," Buffy said as Giles got up from where he was studying at a computer screen at the table. He gave her a look. "Giles, these are some of Connor's coworkers. This is Giles, a friend of the family."

Giles inclined his head to them. "I'm sorry to meet you all under these circumstances. Can I get you anything?"

"We're good," Scott said, for them all. No one gainsaid him.

"I'll go get Connor," Giles said, leaving the room.

Buffy sat down nervously. "I'm sorry you all had to see Thalia like that...and I'm glad you stopped Connor from going in there. I don't think...he couldn't have survived that."

Scott leaned, elbows on knees. "I don't know how much the police told you the scene since it's SOP to start an investigation with the family but we know Connor had nothing to do with this."

"He adored his wife," Monisha said, vehemently.

Buffy nodded. "I know."

"Thalia had been handcuffed to the table," Scott said, surprising Buffy.

"God," she whispered, wondering if that meant Thalia hadn't been killed before someone cut her up. A killer didn't need to restrain a dead person.

"What?" Connor's voice snapped loudly as Angel helped guide him into the room. Connor's eyes were so sunken Buffy expected them to roll back in his head like a broken China Doll's.

Monisha was at his side almost instantly, before they could expound on what they saw at the crime scene. She swept him up in a tight embrace. The rest of the firefighters descended on Connor, expressing their condolences, pounding his back, hugging him before finally escorting him away from Angel and to the couch.

"Did you say Thalia was handcuffed?" Angel asked, leaning against the marble fireplace.

Scott nodded. "Pete and I found her. And I know we shouldn't be telling you this, Connor, until the detectives clear you but damn it, we know you didn't have anything to do with this."

"I know Danforth," Tim said, slightly optimistic. "She won't stop at the easy answers."

"Someone handcuffed Thalia to a table, Connor," Scott said softly. "This was no accident."

"We're so sorry." Monisha put her arm around him.

Connor nodded. "I know. Couldn't have been an accident...but if she was handcuffed." Connor went the color of spoiled sour cream. "Oh, God. She was alive when..."

Buffy got up and sat on the coffee table. She took his hands. Angel moved behind the couch, resting his hands on the pillows on either side of Connor's drooping neck. "Don't think on it, Connor."

He squeezed her hands so hard she thought he'd break bone, Slayer strength or no. He craned his head up at his father. "Why would they do this to her? Killing her first would have been a mercy."

"We think she was dead when the fire started, Connor," Pete said gently, looking at a complete loss as to what to do.

Connor shook his head violently, gripping Buffy's hands harder. "That's not what...oh...oh..god. Angel..."

Angel put a hand on Connor's shoulder. "I'm sorry. We tried to track who did it but we couldn't. We're not giving up."

"But she was alive," Connor snarled, forcing Buffy's hands down and away from him. "Why would someone hurt her like that?"

Giles took off his glasses, cleaning them. "I didn't want to suggest it, Connor, but if they wanted the baby alive, Thalia had to be alive when they took him or he would have been brain damaged."

Connor shuddered, drawing away from Monisha, into himself. "Of course," he said, remembering his basic lifesaving rules.

"I don't understand," Monisha said, letting Connor have his space.

"Are you saying the baby's alive?" Scott looked at Giles.

Buffy watched Angel swallow hard, barely able to control his emotion. "Yes," she whispered.

"The detectives think that someone cut Thalia open and took the baby," Angel said and Connor whimpered. He stroked his son's back. "We tried to see if we could find a trail away from the fire that the detectives hadn't had time to find but we got nowhere."

For several long moments the firefighters said nothing, too stunned for rational thought. Tim spun away from the group, his body shaking. He glanced back at Connor. "I have four kids," he said for Angel, Giles, and Buffy's benefit. "I don't know what I'd do if someone touched one of them, let alone something like this." He shuddered, furious at the impotence they were all facing.

"Connor doesn't have any enemies," Monisha said, not a hint of doubt in her voice. "Who would do this to him?"

"Who needs a reason?" Pete snapped but she didn't flinch. "You hear about stuff like this on the news. You just never think..."

"The cops don't really think you did it, do they Connor?" Scott asked. "We all know that's where they look first, but they have to see this is a dead end and they're wasting precious time."

"I don't know," Connor whispered, seemingly oblivious to the tears cutting tracks down his face and dripping off his chin.

"They're coming soon to get a list of enemies from me," Angel said. Buffy heard the shame in his voice, the assumption of guilt. They had no way of knowing if this had anything to do with Angel but she knew he'd take the blame. It was an Angel thing to do. It might have to do with the demons that had something against Connor. It could be what Pete had suggested, a random act of violence. Buffy hoped it wasn't the latter. There would be no way of narrowing the field that way.

"You have enemies?" Monisha's dark eyes could have flayed Angel where he stood. "Ones that would kill a woman and steal her baby?"

"Someone took my baby once," Angel whispered, and Giles surprised Buffy by putting a supportive hand on Angel's arm.

"Did you get him back?" Tim asked.

Angel shook his head, looking at Connor. "I never got my son back."

Buffy saw the horrible empty expression on Connor's face but she knew Angel wasn't exactly lying. He had gotten back Holtz's son and that rift remained between them. She gave Connor's hands another squeeze, and his gaze turned to her. She smiled gently, hoping he knew she loved him, simply because he was part of Angel if for no other reason. She knew how much he needed to feel that love now.

"Damn," Scott whispered. "What can we do for you, Connor?"

Connor slumped over on the couch. "Nothing. I don't...I don't know. It's too soon. I can't think."

"We'll do anything you need, Connor," Monisha said then she looked at Buffy. "Will he be staying here? If not, one of us can stay with him at home."

"He's staying here but if he changes his mind, where can we contact you guys?" Buffy asked as someone knocked on the door.

"That'll be the police," Giles said.

"If they see us, they'll know we told Connor about the scene," Pete said, looking slightly worried.

"Let 'em know," Tim replied. "If Connor accidentally tells them what we just told him, they'll know it came from us. They won't be thinking anything stupid."

Scott got up and clamped a hand on Connor's shoulders. "Anything you need, Connor, you let us know." He turned to Buffy. "Scott Holquist, I'm the only one in the white pages."

"We'll make sure to call you," Buffy said as Giles headed for the door to let the detectives in. "And I'm sure even if he stays here, Connor will appreciate your company so just call and come back."

The firefighters headed for the door as a group, knowing the detectives wouldn't appreciate their presence. Monisha turned and said to Buffy, "You take good care of him."

"We will," she assured her, noting the hot look Danforth gave the firefighters as Giles led her and her partner in.

Connor looked at the detectives, the words dying before they left his mouth, his eyes shattered. Buffy watched him fade and die in front of her eyes.

"Have you learned anything?" she asked for Connor, knowing he needed someone to be his voice at the moment. He was no longer capable.

Danforth's head shake was almost imperceptible. "We need to speak to you, Mr. Reilly."

"Alone would be good," Zuelsdorff said, his eyes cutting to Giles, Buffy and Angel.

"Is that necessary? He's barely holding together," Angel said, putting a protective hand on his son's shoulder.

"They think I killed her," Connor said flatly. He raised his gaze to the detectives, his head wobbling like a new born kittens. "A house burns in an arson fire you look at the owners, a wife dies you look at the husband."

"Connor didn't do this to Thalia," Buffy said. "If he's a suspect, are you going to take him to the station? We'll get him a lawyer. If not, then we're staying here...and maybe he still needs a lawyer."

Danforth looked at her coolly. "We just need to clear a few things up. A lawyer shouldn't be necessary. We can do things here."

"We really need to speak to Connor alone," Zuelsdorff said, his pink face getting redder.

"They aren't going anywhere. They never do," Connor whispered. "Ask your questions while I'm still calm enough to answer."

Danforth sat down. "Thank you. We don't want this to become adversarial. How was your wife's business doing?"

Connor gave her a hollow-eyed stare for a moment. "Tell me first, do you have a clue where my son is?"

"We've checked all the hospitals for a newborn being brought in for an emergency exam or being left there but nothing so far," Danforth asked.

"And no signs yet...that the baby didn't survive," Zuelsdorff added and Connor flinched.

"As far as I know the business was doing well. She just hired two new employees to handle the work. You'd have to ask Jay Demmer, he handled the money," Connor replied. "She didn't ask me to torch the place for the insurance money."

Zuelsdorff made a note. "It was amateur hour when it came to the arson from what we've been told. You didn't know your wife was going to be there."

Connor wagged his head. "Not until Angel and Buffy told me. Zoe was supposed to be there."

"Zoe Lalagos, yes, you told us that yesterday. We've checked with her and she was sick yesterday or she would have been there," Danforth said. "We spoke briefly with your wife's sister. She said you and Thalia had a good relationship."

"But she does live in Waukesha so she doesn't get to see you all that often," Zuelsdorff added, giving it ominous relevance.

"It's only a little over an hour. We saw her family at least once a month," Connor countered. "I'm sure you've already asked my friends and family, or will ask, about our relationship. I can't think of anyone who'd say differently."

"So far no one has given us any reason to suspect you, Mr. Reilly," Danforth said, her eyes flickering over to Buffy, Angel and Giles.

"How did you feel about becoming a father?" Zuelsdorff scrubbed a hand over his buzz-cut white-gold hair.

Connor's eyes flashed fire and Buffy felt Angel stiffen furiously next to her. She saw what was going on, a very subtle good cop, bad cop. Every time Danforth reassured Connor, Zuelsdorff moved in with a tough question.

"I was thrilled. I've always wanted a family," Connor replied.

"Thalia was so excited, too," Buffy spoke up and the detective's eyes turned to her. "She told me so. She was so proud of the way Connor made up the nursery all by himself. She laughed about..." her voice broke, tears spilling down her face. "About him having all kinds of sympathy pregnancy stuff."

Connor's lips trembled as he started losing his control. "She told you about that?"

Buffy nodded, not trusting her voice, and Angel looped his arm around her.

Giles cleared his throat softly. "Detectives, if I may offer an outside opinion, it's been a long while since I've seen two people so happy about the future and the impending birth of their child. I can't imagine what could have possibly gone so wrong that Connor would wish to hurt his wife."

Danforth nodded then turned to Angel. "You said you had a list of people who might wish you and your family harm."

"I have it ready." Angel got up and went into the next room. He came back with a computer printout. "Here. Most of these people were back in Los Angeles the last I knew. Both Connor and I lived there but that was several years ago. There are one or two here in Wisconsin. I made special note of them."

Danforth slipped it into her notebook without looking at it. "Thank you. Unfortunately the security camera at your wife's business was too badly damaged. Nothing can be recovered from it."

"We're looking at neighboring stores and hoping if we find something it'll be digital and not crappy video," Zuelsdorff added. "We've already sent uniforms to the businesses to make sure they don't dump their digital. A lot do after twenty-four hours."

Connor nodded. "If you see something...if I can help identify the person, just ask."

Danforth got up. "We will. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Reilly. We've a lot more leg work to do. We'll be in touch."

Giles showed the detectives out. Connor collapsed back on the couch, burying his face in his hands. "They'll be talking to everyone I've ever known, every neighbor, digging up dirt. It's...violating."

Buffy sat with him, putting her arms around him. "I know, baby, but it's the only way they'll figure out what happened."

He pulled away from her. "Only they won't, because it's not going to be normal cop stuff. All of this will have to do with him." Connor stabbed a hand toward Angel. "Or me or this weird abnormal life we live."

"I want to tell you that's not true, Connor, but now that it's happened, I almost want this to be because of us." Angel's eyes went golden. "Then we can handle it our way."

Connor's answering smile was feral, chilling Buffy to the bone. "That's what I wanted to hear."