Chapter Twenty One
Cyvus Vail.
Wesley had no idea what this demon wanted with Wolfram & Hart. But the way Angel was acting recently was enough motivation to dig deeper. Especially with the presence of the young man Connor, who Wesley find himself making startling observations of similarities with Angel. And he wasn't the only one. He had seen the looks on Willow and Buffy's faces when they were introduced. Something was going on, and he was determined to find out what.
Wesley lifted his head as he heard Jondy enter his office. Her arms were laden with old parchments and books, yet she carried them as if they were light as feathers.
Advantages of having a genetically enhanced supersoldier working for you, he thought with an almost-smile gracing his unshaven features.
"Here's all the stuff this place has got on Cyvus Vail," Jondy said as she dumped half of the stack onto Wes's arms and the other half on his desk.
"Thank you, Jondy."
"No problem. Oh, and this was wandering around human resources." She gestured vaguely behind her to reveal Illyria standing in the doorway.
"Max is off doing the mating ritual with the white-haired one," Illyria said by way of explanation as she stepped into the room, carefully observing everything in sight. Jondy coughed back a laugh.
"I guess that's my cue to leave..." Wesley nodded uncomfortably.
Jondy had only gotten a few feet away when Wesley said, "Wait! There's one more thing I'd like you to do. Can you get Buffy and Willow up here?" Jondy nodded slowly.
"Sure thing...I'll be back in a few."
"Thanks." Wesley watched her leave and then turned back to his desk to see Lorne reading one of the files on Vail. "See anything worth reading aloud?" Lorne started to shake his head when he suddenly stopped.
"Actually yeah. We got Vail listings under accounts paid," he replied. Wesley blinked in surprise and readied himself for the coming information.
"Wolfram & Hart did business with him?"
"You could say that...Looks like he was one of their go-to warlocks, magical mojo-wise. Specialized in memory reconstructing, mind control, temporal shifts..." Lorne flipped to the next page in the file and his eyes widened. Wesley inwardly cringed.
"What is it?"
"You could buy any South American country with what we paid 'im," Lorne replied. Wesley grasped the file from him and began reading.
"Some sort of reality shift..." he relayed, letting his eyes skim farther. What he saw made his heart clench uncomfortably. "It happened on the day we took over Wolfram & Hart." He and Lorne exchanged a worried look.
"Am I to perceive that you are entertaining the idea that one of your people made a deal with this Vail?" Illyria questioned tonelessly. Wesley grimaced.
"I'm not sure wh..."
"Yo! Could use a little help here!" Wesley recognized Faith's voice immediately and hurried into the lobby.
"Dear lord..." he breathed as he took in the sight before him. Faith's sleeve was stained and ripped open, revealing the bullet wound beneath, the same went for Alec's leg. Yet they were both attempting to hold up Gunn, who was out cold.
"As soon as you've stopped finding the color and viscosity of our blood so interesting, would you mind giving us a hand?" Alec smirked, but the pain in his eyes was apparent. Wesley muttered an apology and hurried forward, detached Gunn from Faith and Alec, and carefully began to help him along to medical. He winced under the added weight but tried to ignore it.
"Illyria, help Alec," he ordered. Illyria cocked her head to the side and stared silently at him. Then without a word she lifted Alec's arm and began to help him up the stairs as well. Wesley would have laughed at the shocked expression on Alec's face if the situation wasn't so urgent.
When they reached the top of the stairs, Buffy and Willow nearly collided with them.
"My god...what happened?" Buffy asked, her eyes trailing sympathetically from Gunn, Alec, and Faith.
"Just got a few holes in our bodies made by bullets when we got Gunn back," Faith replied. Buffy and Willow nodded in understanding and fell in step with them as they hurried down the hallway.
"Wesley, Jondy said you wanted to talk to us about something. Was this it?" Willow asked, gesturing to the others. Wesley gave one shake of his head.
"No. It's something else. I'll fill you in later."
Wesley sat silently at his desk watching the scene in front of him. His face wasn't showing any kind of emotion, but Buffy watched him carefully nonetheless. She didn't quite know why, but this quiet Wesley wigged her out a little. His personality transformation from five years ago was drastic. She couldn't see how he could ever have been the bumbling, accident-prone watcher that he was. She didn't know for sure what had triggered the change. Losing Fred had turned him even colder, but something had happened before then. And right now, she was guessing it had something to do with Angel.
"He wants me to kill someone?"
Connor's shaky tone brought Buffy back to the present.
"Yeah. A demon named Sahjahn," Angel replied. A flicker of recognition flashed in Wesley's eyes. Buffy frowned slightly at the reaction.
"Who's Sahjahn?" she asked. Angel sent her a fleeting glance before responding.
"A demon. Strong." Wesley gave a snort of disbelief and eyed Angel with an earnest look.
"That's a bit of an understatement don't you think? The last time you fought he nearly killed you." Buffy and Willow's eyes widened and they exchanged a look.
"Wait. If he almost killed you...what chance do I have?" Connor asked. Angel sighed.
"You're different," he began. "Special. There's a prophecy that says you're the only one that can kill him."
"But I don't even know how to fight," Connor protested.
"That's not a problem. I'll teach you."
"Angel. Stop and think for a moment. How do we know this Vail is telling the truth?"
"Wesley's right. You could be walking into a trap. And I've had my fair share of them to know what's what," Buffy added.
"Obviously not enough since I know Vail isn't lying," Angel snapped. Buffy blinked in surprise at his tone.
"We're just trying to help," Willow said hurriedly before they got into another argument. "We just think we should find out more about this Cyvus Vail guy before we have Connor go and kill some demon for him."
"I already know enough," Angel replied shortly before heading out the door, motioning for Connor to follow him. Connor hesitated.
"If I do this...will he leave my family alone?" Angel nodded once and Connor stood up, determined. "Then what are we waiting for?"
"Angel! Vail can't be trusted! On the day we took over Wolfram & Hart, he cast a huge..." Wesley attempted again to change his mind.
"Not now, Wesley," Angel snapped without slowing down. Tongue in cheek, Wesley seemed to almost shoot stakes at Angel's retreating back.
"We need to find out more about Vail and that spell," he stated evenly. Buffy and Willow nodded in agreement, though while Buffy and Wesley seemed angry and determined, Willow felt the slimy, awful appearance of dread hanging in the air.
This isn't going to end well...
Wesley wove his way through aisles of file cabinets with Illyria, Buffy, and Willow following him. The were in the basement archives of Wolfram & Hart files. It had only taken a few minutes after Angel had left for Wesley to remember Wolfram & Hart kept a record of every contract and deal they ever made down in the archives. So here they were, searching for something that would either put Angel in innocent light or one that would burn him up to itty bitty dust particles.
"You are so concerned with names, dates, times..." Illyria broke the silence as Wesley reached the file cabinet he was looking for. "What do you really expect to accomplish from this?"
"Reality's been changed," Wesley replied shortly as he opened the cabinet and began rifling through the files.
"Define change." Buffy rolled her eyes and reached below Wesley to search in the next drawer. Not finding what he was looking for, Wes shut the drawer and Buffy relinquished her spot to him.
"Now is not the time for a Modern Times lesson alright, Blueberry?" Buffy said. Illyria narrowed her eyes slightly but Willow slipped between them.
"Now also isn't the time to start a fight in a very tight, enclosed area," she commented, giving Buffy a pointed look. Sighing and rolling her eyes, Buffy turned back to Wesley, who was still rifling through files.
"Find anything yet?"
"No..." Another long silence followed before Illyria suddenly looked at Wesley with a curious expression on her face.
"Memories are important to you," she stated. Wesley didn't answer and Buffy smiled sarcastically.
"Wow. That was just the perfect thing to say...if we wanted to discuss something completely off topic." Illyria ignored her.
"Fred changed the moment her memory did." Wesley froze.
"Fred's memory was changed?" he asked softly, shock apparent. Illyria cocked her head to the side, studying his back.
"Does this change the way you feel about her? Is she the same person you once knew?" Wesley dropped his head to look at the file he held in his hand.
"What is it?" Willow asked as she saw his jaw drop open. Without answering, Wesley dropped the file and rushed out of the room. Illyria, Buffy, and Willow exchanged perturbed looks and looked down at the contract.
Alec sat on the edge of his hospital bed with the edginess of a kid about to get his first shot. He looked up when he heard the door open and his face lit up. Max greeted him with a smile of her own and affectionately ruffled his hair.
"Wondering when you were gonna come and check on your buddy Alec. Don't know what took you so long. But a certain blonde vampire comes to mind..." he teased. Max rolled her eyes.
"Please, that happened before your little rescue mission." Alec raised his eyebrows, which Max ignored. "Nah, I was just busy calling Logan and OC."
"Without me? Aw Max, you know how much I love to torture the fogy. You couldn't hold on til I got back?" Max gave him a false sympathetic look and used one hand to squeeze his cheeks, making his lips puff out.
"I'm sowy Awec. I didn't wealize Logan was so spwecial to you," she teased in a baby voice. "There's always next time." Alec grimaced.
"That's not funny," he mumbled through his puffed lips. Max laughed and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, removing her hand.
"So how's your leg?" she asked, sitting next to him on the bed.
"Fine. You know how bullet wounds are... 'cept I'd like to get outta here and these people won't let me."
"You have a hole in your leg, Alec. They can't just fill that up with clay and claim you're as good as new. It's called 'healing correctly'." Alec rolled his eyes.
"They already got the bullet out and it's all patched up. What is there left to do?" he retorted.
"A little something called rest." Alec smirked and gestured widely to the bed they were sitting on.
"I'm resting see? I'm on a bed...I'd just rather be on a king-sized one with extra puffy comforters and a hot girlfriend..." Max stood up with a laugh.
"And to that I say good luck and goodbye," she replied, heading for the door.
"Wait!" Max turned back to face him.
"What?" Alec adopted a look of helplessness.
"It's awfully hard to rest in a place that smells like pee...don't you think you could sneak me outta here? At the very least get an air freshener and tuck me in?" Max stared at him incredulously for a brief second before bursting out in laughter.
"Alright pretty boy, let's get your 'hot girlfriend' and I'll take you back to the hotel. You can tuck each other in 'cause I've got better things to do." She lifted Alec's arm onto her shoulder and wrapped her own arm around his waist.
"Yeah," Alec snorted. "Like Spike." Max dug her fingers into his rib cage. "Ow! It was just a joke Maxie!" Max smiled innocently at him.
"Oh, I know. My fingers just slipped." Alec scoffed but didn't retort.
"Open the doorway..."
Buffy recognized Angel's voice immediately and it sent a twist of emotions through her body. Swallowing the dread, she slowly crept forward with Willow, Wesley, and Illyria following her.
"...No need to bring back the past if we don't have to..."
Buffy didn't recognize this voice but as she peeked around the corner she quickly matched it with a creepy red demon with an IV of blood attached to his wrist and who was holding a glowy cube. She glanced over at Angel and saw that he was watching Connor fight a demon who could only be Sahjahn-judging by his appearance and the fact that he just punched Connor across the room-with a helpless expression on his face. Connor got back up and swung at Sahjahn only to be rewarded with a hit to his kidneys. Buffy winced in sympathyand turned to Willow.
Now, she mouthed.
Willow muttered a few choice words under her breath and Vail suddenly froze. Illyria stepped forward and lightly grasped the glowing cube, handing it over to Wesley. He stared at it silently and all three females noticed a muscle working in his jaw.
"Vail, open it n..." Angel's voice faltered as he turned around and Buffy looked up to meet his gaze, a stony expression on her face. He blinked in surprise before his eyes fell on the cube in Wesley's hands. "W-What are you doing here?"
"You sold us out to Wolfram & Hart," Wesley ground out.
"What...? No...Wes, give me that..." Angel approached him but Buffy quickly stepped in front of him.
"Don't make me do it," she said softly. Angel stared at her for a beat before looking back at Wesley.
"No, you don't understand..."
"Then explain it to me."
"Uh, guys? I don't know how long I can keep the spell up," Willow pointed out. The others ignored her.
"You changed the world," Wesley said, accusation lacing his tone. Angel sent Buffy a fleeting glance before locking onto Wesley's again.
"He's my son, Wesley. Connor's my son."
Buffy's eyes widened and she stumbled backwards, shock overwhelming her. Barely registering the fact that the others were still talking, she looked over at Connor and Sahjahn. Connor was still getting his butt whooped. Buffy brought her hands up to her forehead and finally got herself to look at Angel again. He was rushing towards Wesley with a desperate look on his face. Not understanding what happened, Buffy turned to Wes in a daze in time to see him smash the glowing cube.
A blast of bright yellow light sent her and the others flying across the room.
I know when you're around, whether I see you or not, I feel you-inside-and it throws me.
Throws me too.
You bailed me out last night. I'd like us to be even.
We're keeping score now.
It's confusing. When we're apart it's easier. It hurts, every day. But I live with it. And now you're actually here, and I can reach out and...It's more than confusing. It's unbearable.
But we have to bear, right? It doesn't work with us. It can't.
I can't give you a life, or a future, or anything a normal girl would want.
No matter how much we miss each other.
Or what we feel in the moment.
I'm really sorry I kissed you like that.
You are?
Well, not for the kiss itself.
Good. I mean, 'cause as far as kisses go that was well above average.
It was incredible.
You know, it's a good thing I didn't fantasize about you turning human only about ten zillion times because today would have been a real let down.
It's a good sound. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
It feels pretty amazing.
I'm so glad we didn't logic ourselves out of this. We'll make it work, right?
We will.
Angel? This is the first time I've ever really felt this way.
What way?
Just like I've always wanted to. Like a normal girl, falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend. It's perfect.
Is he in trouble? Cordelia, what are we, in second grade here? Tell me!
Oh, you wanna talk about being mature? Maybe it's time you grew up and realized that you can't have everything. You can't have Angel and save the world.
I went to see the Oracles. I asked them to turn me back.
What? Why?
Because now more than ever I know how much I love you.
No. No you didn't.
If I stayed mortal then one of us will wind up dead, maybe both of us. You heard what Mohra said.
Mohra's dead! We killed him.
He said others would come.
They always come. And they always will. But that's my problem now, not yours.
No, I won't just stand by and let you fight, maybe die, alone.
Then we fight together.
So what? You just took a whole 24 hours to weigh the ups and downs of being a regular Joe and decided it was more fun being a superhero?
You know that's not it. How can we be together if the cost is your life, or the lives of others?
I understand. So what happens now?
The Oracles are giving us back the day.
When?
Another minute.
A minute? No. No, it's not enough time! How am I supposed to go on with my life knowing what we had? What we could have had?
You won't. No one will know but me.
Everything we did.
It never happened.
It did. It did. I know it did! I felt your heart beat...I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget...
Buffy opened her eyes with a gasp. Quickly noting that her vision was blurry, she brought her palms up to her eyes and wiped away the tears. She stared at Angel with a mixture of shock and dismay. He visibly swallowed when his eyes suddenly widened and he scrambled to his feet.
"Connor..." he said softly, rushing to the doorway.
Buffy got unsteadily to her feet and looked over at the others. Wesley had the exact same expression as her and was staring blankly in shock at Angel's back.
"Buffy..." Willow's voice sounded thicker than usual and she seemed to be at a loss for words. She didn't know. She couldn't. With one last fleeting glance at Angel, Buffy rushed out of the room.
A/N-This is a very short chapter, I know, but I didn't want to get into the next part yet. Plus I'll be adding more well-known and loved characters...(three guesses who...hehe) Review please!
satelliteblues21-Lol, thanks ;o) I'm always unsure about writing dialogue for British people so it means a lot to know that it doesn't suck...hehe.
CharmingAngel-Thanks ;o) Don't worry, I promise the update wait won't be as long again.
Doza-Lol, thanks ;o) I'll see what I can do about the Connor/Max fight but it's not definite. I'll be sure to check out your new story, too :o)
screaminheathen69-Thanks ;o) Good to know :o)
meri24-Thanks ;o) Those kinds of fight scenes are always fun to write.
rabid squirrel-Lol, thanks ;o) That's alright, I've gotten a few fics confused with each other too :o)
