Lorne was just coming out of his stupor when Angel and Cordelia entered the hotel, back from what they described as a completely uneventful patrol, although from the look on Cordelia's face, Fred had a feeling it was anything but uneventful in the personal sense.

"Merciful crap darlin'!" Lorne exclaimed before either Angel or Cordelia had the chance to say anymore, "I feel like I've just been forced to sit through a Hanson concert without any ear plugs, what the hell did that potion do to me? Do I still have both horns?"

"The potion did exactly what it was supposed to," Fred told him sheepishly. "You'll just be feeling a bit icky for a little while afterwards. Sorry about that."

"Hey, no hard feelings sweetie," Lorne said with a small shrug. "It's one way of fighting the good fight I guess. But where is everyone? Did you get the bad guy?"

"Not exactly." Angel replied. "We couldn't even find the bad guy. Nothing's stirring out there, so we thought we would come back here and wait for the others. Gunn is patrolling, Connor is doing some recon and Buffy is....where is Buffy, Fred?"

It was then Fred's face went white as if suddenly recalling something she should have told them sooner. Angel's heart leapt in fear.

"Oh Angel I didn't tell you! Dawn went after Connor to help him break into Wolfram and Hart! She left a note for Buffy telling her that and when Buffy found out, she went chasing after them."

"What?" Angel exclaimed, "that's crazy! It's too dangerous for Dawn to be there!"

"I know, that's why I followed them." Buffy's voice was hard and as Angel turned to look at her, he wondered if he was imagining the accusatory element to her tone. "It's OK, they're fine. I beat them back here, so they should be coming through that door any minute with some information."

"Well that's a relief at least." Cordelia stated, suddenly feeling slightly smothered by the tension that all of a sudden existed in the room. Buffy had already crossed the lobby and was standing as far away from Angel and everyone else as she could get. The slayer was less than happy.

"I told her to stay here with you Fred," Angel continued, feeling suddenly incredibly guilty that it was his son that Dawn decided to put herself in danger for. "Why didn't you keep an eye on her?" Fred flushed a deep crimson before Buffy leapt to her defense, her voice level, yet seething with unreleased emotion.

"Don't blame this on her Angel, we both know it isn't her fault."

"Oh? And what does that mean?" He snapped, unable to bear the implications in her eyes.

"It means," she said, her voice growing in force, eyes flashing with fury, "that maybe if you had kept a better watch over your son, or taught him not to bring civilians into deadly situations I wouldn't have been sick with worry all night after finding out she was gone!"

"Don't you dare bring Connor into this!" Angel shot back, clenching his fists and hating himself for reacting with such antagonism. "If you want to blame anyone, why don't you look a little closer to home first before going after my son?"

"Are you saying this is my fault?" Buffy exclaimed, choking on her words, unable to believe what he was implying.

"Angel, Buffy..." Cordelia stepped tentatively towards Angel, fearing that even though the two of them were on opposite sides of the room, things were becoming far too volatile.

"What I'm saying," Angel continued harshly, ignoring Cordelia's attempts at an intervention, "is that if you weren't so caught up in yourself and all the cruelties this world had inflicted upon you, you would have been able to see how your sister was feeling and stop her from putting her life in danger. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she does these things to get your attention? That maybe you're too selfish to pay any attention to her when it's not a life or death situation? You ever think about that Buffy?"

Buffy's face went white as the harshness of his words, and the cruelty in his eyes hit her full force. She took a step back and let her arms fall to her sides limply, wanting to turn away so that the others couldn't see the naked hurt she was trying so desperately to conceal. Angel was right of course. She had been so wrapped up in her own problems, that she hadn't seen or even thought about anything Dawn might be feeling or going through. Still, the way that he had just spoke to her hurt her more than any physical wound ever could.

Angel watched her face crumple with pain and immediately hated himself for inflicting it on her so willingly. She had been worried for her sister, and although he was angry with her, it wasn't for the reasons he had made her believe. Certainly the last thing he had ever wanted to see was her in pain once again because of something he had said or done. He longed to apologize, but the words refused to roll off his tongue. He was about to take a step towards her, when the front doors opened once more and an excited Dawn bounded in followed by his son, who although seemingly just as excited, was limping slowly as if wounded.

Turning away from Buffy's stricken face, he rushed to Connor's side, and asked his son if he was OK.

Surprisingly Connor didn't reject the concerned arm that Angel placed on him and even allowed him to help him over to the couch so that he could sit down.

"I'm OK." He eventually said. Indeed, despite his wounds, his face and voice did have a lighter tone to them. It was almost as if Connor had been freed of some sort of silent burden. "Thanks to Dawn being there, I'm OK."

"Don't be mad at me Buffy, please!" Dawn pleaded with her sister. "I know what I did was stupid, but I'm in one piece and we got the file you guys needed."

"It's fine Dawn," Buffy said shakily, still reeling from Angel's verbal onslaught. "I'm just glad that you're not hurt."

"Have you looked at the file yet?" Angel asked his son, hoping to steer the conversation back to the mission and away from all manner of emotional complications attached to it.

"Not yet," Connor admitted. "But I'm sure there's something useful in there. Dawn has it."

"Fred and I will take a look at it," Cordelia offered softly. "We'll do some research and let you know what our next move should be."

"Sounds like a good idea." Angel agreed. "Maybe someone should give Gunn a call and let him know."

"Already done." Buffy all but whispered. "He's on his way."

"Well then that takes care of that I guess." Lorne said, a little uncomfortable among all these intensely emotional auras right now. "As for me, I'm thinking a long hot bath is on the menu. Anything else you guys need me for you just holler OK?"

"I'm going to go to bed if that's OK with everyone." Buffy said softly, feeling the full weight of the day come crashing down around her. "You guys let me know what you figure out in the morning OK?"

"Buffy..." Angel said, attempting to step towards her. Buffy lifted a hand, effectively stopping him from speaking any further.

"Just leave me alone OK Angel?"

Dawn watched, concern etched all over her face as her sister wearily climbed the steps and headed down the hallway towards their room. She knew something had happened in the basement between her and Angel, but what could it have possibly been to prevent her not only from not yelling at her for sneaking out with Connor, but to make her so incredibly sad?

Dawn's face hardened with resolve as she found herself determined to find out.