After the demon disappeared into the night, all three men turned and walked back to Buffy and Dawn. Buffy was furious and began yelling at Connor immediately, "What the hell is going on Connor? What were you two doing up here at this time of night? You know it's too dangerous to be out alone."
She jumped up from Dawn and pointed her finger in his face. Connor backed up slowly, raising his hands in defense, "Hey, hold on now, we came up here earlier to talk and look at the stars. It got late and we fell asleep. You don't think I would do anything to put Dawn in danger do you? It's not like we went walking through the grave yard or anything."
He had that puppy dog look in his eye, just like his father and the sight made Buffy melt. She began to calm and asked the others for help to get Dawn to her room. Connor shooed them away and picked her up. Buffy was about to object but Angel quickly stopped her.
He carried Dawn to her room and laid her on her bed. They were worried that she had not woken up yet but just as Connor laid her down she began to open her eyes and lightly moan.
"Hey guys, I think she's waking up." Connor yelled. They all ran to the room just as Dawn began to sit up. Buffy dived for the bed and drew her sister into a hug that almost took her breath away.
"Buffy, I need to breath." Dawn muttered out. Buffy pulled away and smiled. "God Dawnie, don't scare me like that. What were you two doing up there anyway. We have a perfectly good atrium down stairs that you could have looked at the stars from. Jesus, you scared the shit out of me."
"God Buffy, act like we're ten or something. Smothering much? We are adults you know, eighteen here, and we never left the hotel." Dawn was getting very upset and what business was it of hers anyway?
"Fine, I'll stay out of it, but if you get hurt there will be hell to pay." And with that said Buffy strode out of the room dragging Angel with her.
"You worried us little bit, big sis is just looking out for ya. I'll shove off now, you know were to find me if you need me." Spike turned to leave and Dawn stopped him. "Thanks Spike, I will talk to her in the morning, ok?" Dawn gave Spike a hug and he left the room closing the door behind him. A few seconds later they heard a knock on the door. Connor opened it to find Spike standing there again, "Forgot to tell you bit, Red's look-in for ya, said it's important, just thought you should know."
Connor watched as Spike left, then turned to look at Dawn, "Well, that was…..well…intense is all I can think of." They both began to laugh.
"It wouldn't be my life if it wasn't." Dawn tried to spit out while giggling about the whole situation.
"Yea, I'm starting to think that drama is a family trait." Connor said as he sat next to Dawn on the bed. She knew exactly how he felt, because she felt the same way. The only thing she could think about was getting back to school to getting a break from the demon fighting world.
"I don't think your sister likes me very much anymore. I could smell the anger on her. I thought she was going to explode." Connor said with his head hung low.
"What do you mean you can smell her anger?" Dawn said with a look on her face that was totally puzzled.
"Um, yea, I can smell a lot of things. Fear, anger, deceit, lots of stuff. I can even smell how much you like me." Connor had a smug look on his face.
"Can I just say…. Ewe, that's just…..really gross. There are some things I think I would rather not know. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that you feel comfortable enough to share your secrets with me but that was definitely over sharing." Dawn sat back on the bed with her face drawn in like she was sucking on something sour.
By the time Buffy reached her room, she was steaming with anger. She wanted to punch Connor for putting Dawn in danger. Angel could tell she was getting angrier by the minute as he watched her storm into the room and flop down on the couch across from the bed.
"Buffy do you want to talk about it?" He knew she wanted to talk but he wasn't looking forward to this conversation.
"Your son is a total jerk. I mean what the hell was he thinking? They both should have known better. If he thinks that I won't kick his little ass he is sadly mistaken." Buffy leaned back and crossed her arms while turning to give Angel an icy glare.
"Look, are you angry because they were up there by themselves or that they were alone together?"
"What? No, I mean yes……I don't know. Don't you think it's a little weird that they are spending so much time together? Do you think they like each other?" She knew they did but it scared her that her sister would be dating the son of her lover. She felt like Connor should have been her son and not Darla's, and seeing her and Conner together freaked her out more than she wanted to admit.
"I think they do like each other, a lot in fact, and if they want to date it's not for us to decide. They are both adults now, even though I would have preferred to keep Connor a kid longer. He is old enough to make his own decisions on who he dates. Are you upset that your sister is dating, or that she is dating my son?"
"No, that's not it. It's just….strange is all, don't you think. I mean I just found out that he was your son, and I accept that, then all of a sudden he is dating my sister. I guess I am overreacting a little; I can be somewhat over protective when it comes to Dawnie. Connor is a great kid. I like him a lot, don't ever think I don't. I just went a little wiggy is all but I'm fine. No big."
Buffy sat back and stared off into space. She wanted to tell Angel how she really felt but she didn't want him to think she was being petty. Sure she liked Connor but she hoped he would be like family, not date her family.
The sun finally rose and slowly people began to filter into the kitchen. Willow had managed to get a little more sleep but was eagerly waiting for Wesley to come down to join them. She was surprised to see Buffy and Angel come in first. It had been days since the two had come up for air it seemed and Willow was disturbed by the look on Buffy's face.
"Hey Buff, good to see you. Is everything alright?" She asked her friend hoping it would be nothing.
"Morning Will everything is….. Peachy," Buffy tried to give her friend a small smile.
"I have some good news but I want to wait for Wes to come down before I tell everyone." Willow was smiling from ear to ear in hopes of making Buffy feel better.
Everyone was in the kitchen eating breakfast when Wesley finally arrived. He seemed well rested and approached the crowd with a smile, "Good morning everyone, I hope you all slept as well as I."
They all greeted him as he sat down next to Willow. "I'm glad you slept good Wes, I have some updates for you on our project. It seems I had a dream that awoke a memory and I am very excited to tell you about it. I had it last night and was almost tempted to wake you." Willow was almost bouncing in her seat as she spoke to him.
"That's marvelous Willow, please continue." Wesley's tried to convey his appreciation.
"Well I had a dream about when we brought Buffy back the last time. We thought she brought a demon back from hell with her and let me tell you that was way freaky; it was jumping into people making them do and say the craziest things. Like one time Dawnie breathed fire, and Buffy saw dead people in pictures….oh and Anya tried to cut her face off with a big..."
She was suddenly cut off as everyone yelled at once 'Willow'.
"Sorry guys, sometimes I get excited and go all whoosh. Anyway, what was I saying, oh yea, the jumping demon. So this demon or entity had no solid form so it had to jump into someone else's. With a spell we were able to make it corporeal and Buffy slayed it. Now I was thinking if we could separate Illyria and Fred then we could maybe use that spell to make Illyria corporeal. What do you think?"
The whole group was quiet for several minutes until Buffy broke the silence, "Ok I get the solid making part but how are you going to separate them exactly?"
"I was hoping Wes and Dawn could help me with that. Remember when that demon Toth separated Xander? He was split into two different people but they were both still Xander. If we could find the spell he used maybe we could use it to separate them, then make Illyria whole or corporeal or what ever, you know what I'm trying to say."
Wesley sat there staring at Willow then cleared his throat as he took off his glasses and started to clean them. "Yes, well, that would be an idea, which you have; um…… what demon was that again?"
Before anyone could say another word a loud crash was heard coming from upstairs followed by a horrible scream. They all began to frantically scan the room wondering where the awful screams were coming from.
Another scream was heard and Buffy jumped up immediately followed by Angel, Xander, and Wesley. "Dawn" Buffy yelled while she was running up the stairs followed by the rest of the gang.
Buffy flew the door open and darted into the room prepared to fight. Dawn was in the corner yelling for Connor who was hanging out the window. Angel ran towards him but was stopped by the sunlight spilling into the room. Buffy ran over to grab the dangling boy and screaming, 'Grab my hand Connor' Just as he grabbed for her hand a flying demon swooped in and snatched Connor from the window ledge.
Dawn ran towards the open window screaming, "Oh my god, Connor, NO!" She went to dive out the window after him just as Buffy pulled her back in and they both hit the floor hard.
Buffy held her as she began to sob uncontrollably crying Connor's name. "Don't worry Dawnie we will get him back, he is very strong he will be ok. Shush, it's going to be ok."
She looked over to see a distraught Angel hovering in the shadows near the door. She wanted to go to him but she was afraid to leave her sisters side. "We can't wait until dark Angel. I will take the girls and track this demon. We will get your son back. Do you hear me? I'm going to find him." She kept repeating this in Dawn's ear trying to calm her down and assure Angel that she would do just that.
