Chapter 21

"I don't like it." Buffy said, sitting down the remote.

Giles glanced up from his book and Angel set down the newspaper. "Don't like what?" Angel asked calmly. The three of them resembled a normal family relaxing in the den. Connor wasn't home from school yet, but he was due anytime.

Well, all seemed normal until Buffy said, "It's been too quiet. Where's the demon carnage already?"

"What?"

"It's been almost two months since anything big happened."
"Consider it a blessing." Giles said.
"I can't. I feel like something big is going to happen."

"It is." Angel said. "You're going to have twins in three months."

"Exactly. I think the Powers are waiting for the twins to be born. I think that's when they're going to strike."

Giles seemed more interested in the conversation now and he set down his book. "Have you been having dreams?"

"No. Just... feelings. I think the Powers are going to do whatever it is they're going to do when these babies are born."

Angel sighed. "I don't know, Buffy, maybe they just realized that they're not going to win."

Buffy stared at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Boy, can we say denial?"

"She may have a point." Giles said.

"See, I'm pointy... And I'm also hot. Is it just me or is it hot in here?"

"It's just you, baby, but I can turn up the AC if you want."

"Please?"

Angel got up and Giles covered himself with a blanket. The front door opened and Connor walked. "Brr, it's freezing in here!" He set down his books and grabbed his coat out of the closet, walking into the den. "Hey, so what'd the doctor say? Do I have little brothers or little sisters? Or do I have a little brother AND a little sister?"
Angel walked back into the room. "Buffy decided not to know what they were. She wanted it to be a surprise."

"What? I can't wait another three months. I need to know... Now."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Did you see Dawn today?"

"I saw her for all of point five seconds. She practically dove into a random classroom like she always does when she sees me coming. You know, I think he's putting a whammy on her."

"You think?"

"Yeah! I mean, she's always got this look in her eyes... Like she's not all there or something."

"Wishful thinking on your parts?" Angel asked. He looked to Giles for his input, but Giles had gone back to his book.

"No!" Buffy said.

"I've seen it. She's got this sort of, I don't know, glazed look going on when she's around Elijah. I managed to see her the other day when she hadn't been around him and her eyes seemed to focus better."

"Maybe it is a whammy then." Angel said sarcastically.

Buffy smacked his arm. "Something's got to explain her behavior. And I'm getting tired of it."

"Maybe we could set up a diversion." Connor said, ignoring his father.

"Like, how?"

"Well, I could watch Dawn for a week and Elijah for a week. Get to know their schedules and then you can catch Dawn when Elijah's not around. Get her talking... Break through the whammy."

"Or, we could have Willow try to break through it."

"But she'd have to know what kind of whammy it is. Wouldn't do us any good."

"Good point."

"I still think he's just filling her head with pointless thoughts." Angel said.

"Pointless? If they were pointless, she'd be sitting here with us and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Now there's a point well made." Connor said. He stood up. "I'm getting something to drink. You want anything, mom?"

"A glass of sweet tea?"

"Coming right up."

Giles stood up suddenly. "I think I'll join you. Would anyone like some strawberry scones while I'm up?"

"Me please!" Buffy said.

"I'm good." Angel said.

As soon as everyone was out of the room, Buffy wheeled on him. "What is the matter with you!"

"What?"

"You can't at least once, just once, take my side and see where I'm coming from! NO! You have to contradict every little thing I say. I know I'm right about this. And damn it, I'll prove it. You just watch." Buffy managed to pull herself off the couch and storm out of the room just as Connor came walking back in with the tea.

Connor watched his mother storm up the stairs and then turned to Angel. "I was only gone for a minute! What did you do?"

Connor leaned against Elijah's Corvette and checked his watch. In exactly three minutes, the little scumbag would come out of his building, head for his car, and drive over to pick up Dawn. After two weeks of following Elijah and Dawn, Connor had gotten to know their schedules almost better than his own. Buffy was across the campus waiting for Dawn to come out of class. They had arranged this and Buffy had managed to convince Angel to let her drive by herself. She had told him that the babies weren't due for another three months and she highly doubted that she would be attacked in daylight. Giles had backed her up and told Angel that the Powers were most likely waiting for the birth to strike. Of course, it had made Angel queasy when Giles had gone on to say that given Buffy's weak and incapacitated condition during child-birth, it would be the easiest and most likely time to strike.

The bell rang and Connor watched as students swarmed out of the building. Elijah kept his head down as he read a book and walked towards his car. Connor stood up and smiled broadly. "Hello Elijah."

Elijah's head shot up. "You. What do you want?"

Connor noted the look of fear that crossed Elijah's face as Connor stepped towards him. "You don't look happy to see me."

"You're not exactly the welcoming type."

"You just don't know me well enough."

"Dawn's tells me all I need to know."

"Why do I doubt that?" Connor sighed. "Man, I just came here to make peace. Thought you and I could head over to that coffee house down the road and chat it up."

"I have plans with my fiancee."
"With your who? Since when?"

"I haven't asked her yet, but I was planning to. Tonight."

Yeah, that's gonna go over well with mom. Connor thought. He shook his head and looked at Elijah. "You've only known her a few months."

"I love her."

Once more, with feeling there. Connor smiled. "Come on man, it's only a few minutes. Besides, Dawn'll understand." Connor smiled and watched Elijah carefully.

Buffy inspected her nails as she waited for Dawn to get out of class. She had parked where Dawn could easily see her and hoped Connor could distract Elijah long enough. Just as Buffy looked up from a particularly interesting nail, Dawn came out of the building and headed towards the parking lot. It was a beautiful sunny day and Buffy had the top down on the convertible, so Dawn spotted her pregnant sister immidietly.

"What are you doing here?" Dawn asked. The usual over-kill with the venom wasn't dripping from her voice.

"Thought we could go out for a late lunch." Buffy said.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be out by yourself."
"I won't be if you'll get in the car." Dawn looked a little unsure. "Look, Dawn, I spent all morning convincing Angel to let me go out by myself to come pick you up. Please don't make it all in vain."

Dawn waited a beat before she tossed her books and bag in the backseat. "How did you manage to talk your way into this one?" She asked as she hopped in the passenger's seat.

"Oh, you know, I am one with the guilt trip. Plus I convinced him that the Powers probably aren't going to attack today seeing as how we've all got this theory that they're waiting for these twins to be born."

"That's the new theory?"

"Yep."

"Interesting. So, what did you have planned?"

"I thought we could go out to eat and then maybe do a little shopping."

"Maybe I should call Elijah and..."
"Dawn, this is a sisters' night out. No boys allowed. You don't see me calling Angel, do you?"

"He knows where you're at."

"Shows how much you know." Buffy put on her sunglasses with a smirk and turned on the ignition.

Elijah ran over to Dawn's building just in time to see her pull off in a black convertible with a blonde at the wheel. The Slayer had gotten to her first. That damn Connor had been there to distract him. They had planned this. This was unacceptable! This was not according to his plan. He dialed Dawn's cell phone, but she had it turned off. Probably forgot to turn it back on after she got out of class. No thanks to the Slayer. Those babies would be born soon and that's when the Powers would strike. Until then, there wasn't much Elijah could do except keep things on a tight rope with the Slayer's feelings.

Connor watched Elijah react to seeing Dawn drive off with Buffy. He was seething and Connor could feel the waves of anger rolling off Elijah from this distance. After a few minutes of seething, Elijah headed back to his car and got in. Connor made it over to his car and began to follow Elijah. Something was off about this guy and Connor was going to find out. He hadn't talked about this with anyone except Spike and Spike had encouraged him to find out on his own. He knew his parents would be pissed that he was doing this, but he had to know. He had to show that he and Buffy were right about this guy.

Elijah drove for almost an hour and a half and straight to the worst part of town. All the buildings here were run down and looking like they could cave at any minute. Connor didn't even think gangs would venture here. Deciding his car would stick out too much, Connor parked it in a dark, abandoned ally and hoped it wouldn't get stripped or stolen while he was gone. Quickly ascending to the rooftops, Connor easily followed Elijah's car, only having to jump to the street from one roof and run across to scale up to another roof across the street. Half an hour later, the sun had began to set and Elijah parked his car outside of a large, old, shaggy apartment building. Thankfully, there was an ally that Connor could jump down into and sneak around to the front of the building.

Elijah unlocked the front doors and headed inside. Connor used his supernatural speed to dash into the building before the door closed. He was doing good. Elijah had no clue that he was there. Connor waited a minute before he followed Elijah up the stairs. The guy went all the way to the fourth floor and took a right, walking down a purple shag carpeted hallway. Connor peered around the corner and watched as Elijah knocked on the door and then opened it. What Connor saw was something completely different from the entire neighborhood. The apartment Elijah entered was brand new, full of state-of-the-art equipment. Its walls were nicely plastered with no cracks visible anywhere. The carpet was brand new white with absolutely no stains or marks or anything of any kind. Then, Connor smelled something he thought had gone into hiding for good. The smell affected him so bad, he turned and ran out of the buidling, back to his car. This wasn't good.

As soon as he was on the interstate back towards the Hyperion, Connor whipped out his phone and dialed the number. "Angel Investigations." Willow said into the phone.

"Willow, I need to talk to dad." Connor said.
"Hey Connor. Hold on." Willow put the phone to her shoulder and called for Angel. A minute later, he was transferred to his father's office.

"Connor, everything ok?" Angel asked.

"No."
"What's wrong? Where are you?"

"I'm on the interstate right now headed your way. We've got trouble."

"What's going on?"

"Shy's back and Elijah's working with him."