Finding Connor

Everyone just stared at Spike in disbelief. The girls who were in the office working came out and joined in the shocked stares. Fred was the only one looking confused. She looked at Spike and then looked around at everyone else. They all seemed to know him but Angel, Cordy and Wesley seemed the most shocked at his presence.

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes at what he was about to say. "Look Angel…I know you hate my guts and all and truth be told I don't really fancy you either but I need your help." There was a long pause as they all continued to stare. "Will you help me or not?" Spike asked looking strait into Angel's eyes pleadingly.

"Spike," Buffy finally spoke. "What are you doing here? Where have you been?"

Spike looked at her and smiled slightly. She had noticed he was gone. This made him feel a little better about pretty much everything. "It's a long story love…one I don't have time to tell right now."

"What could you possibly need help with Spike?" Wesley said in a cocky way.

"There's a boy that needs our help," Spike answered. Before he could say anything else he was interrupted by laughter from Wesley, Cordelia and Giles.

"You…want to help someone? And how much would you like us to pay you for helping this boy Spike?" Giles asked mockingly.

Spike shook his head and looked to the ground. He knew this wasn't going to be easy but he had no idea how he was going to convince them that he genuinely cared. "Nothing…I just…he needs help alright and I need you all to help me find him."

"What is this some kind of joke?" Cordelia asked as she laughed a little harder. Spike just threw up his arms in frustration.

"No," Angel answered for him, "He's not joking." Angel looked deep into Spikes eyes as if he was concentrating on something inside of him. "Spike has a soul," Angel said with disbelief. Even as he sensed it he couldn't really believe it.

"What?" Faith asked as she walked in jumping in at the tale end of the conversation.

Spike looked at Angel with extreme confusion. "How did you know that?"

"I sensed it," Angel explained. "Whoever this boy is you're genuinely concerned about him. Vampires don't care about anyone but themselves…unless…they have a soul."

"Whah…when…how?" Buffy tried to say. She was so shooked that she couldn't even form full sentences.

Spike just smiled at her. "Like I said pet…long story. Now are you guys going to help me or what?"

Angel sighed at the thought of actually helping the person that he probably hated most in the world. "Where do we start?"

"Well…that's just the thing…we can't," Spike explained. "We need to find him before the sun goes down. Unlucky for you and me we can't even start looking until the sun goes down."

"Why do we need to find him before sundown?" Angel asked.

"Because he's a werewolf," Spike answered. "He doesn't know that he is though. Last night I was out for a walk and I heard a scream. I fallowed it and I found Connor, that's his name, being attacked by a werewolf. I got the werewolf off of him but not before it bit him."

"What happened to the other werewolf?" Willow asked.

Spike paused before answering. He was kind of hoping they wouldn't ask that question. "I umm…I killed it," he answered as he looked down at the ground in shame. The faces of the others dropped. "I didn't mean to do it," Spike defended. "It was trying to hurt the boy and I just…"

"It's ok," Buffy interrupted. "You did what you had to do. Now how do we find Connor?"

"I don't know," Spike answered with a sigh. "I'm the only one who knows what he looks like and I can't go outside," he added with frustration.

"There's nothing else you know about him?" Wesley asked. "Where he lives? What is last name is?"

"He doesn't have a home," Spike answered. "He lives on the streets. I wasn't sure what I should do last night so I brought him back to my place, gave him some food and a place to stay. I figured I would just figure something out later before the sun went down but I didn't have the chance to. When I got in the shower he must have been looking for something to drink. He opened my fridge and saw my blood. He freaked out and ran off. That's when I came to you guys."

"You have a place? How long have you been in LA?" Cordelia asked with confusion.

"That's not what's important right now," Buffy said with an angry look on her face. She was obviously not happy about the fact that Spike had been in LA and had a soul and hadn't contacted her or told her anything. But as usual she suppressed her anger to deal with the issue at hand. "We need to find this kid."

"But how?" Anya asked. "None of us know what he looks like."

"Spike can answer a few questions and hopefully give us enough information to find him," Buffy responded. Then she turned her gaze to Spike. "We need to know what he was wearing, about how old he is, what color hair he has and anything else you can tell us."

Spike knew he better answer her quickly. She was in leadership mode and there was no time to step out of line. "He can't be any older then 18. He's wearing old ratty looking blue jeans and my black button down shirt. His arm is heart but he doesn't show it so I guess that probably isn't useful. He's probably about 5 foot 7 inches or so. Oh and he might be carrying a box of pop-tarts."

"Pop-tarts?" Tara asked looking confused.

"Yeah, you know their like a breakfast food or something," Spike explained.

"Oh…I know what they are…but…why would he be carrying around a box of pop-tarts?" Tara asked.

"He took it when he ran out," Spike explained. They all gave him strange looks. "He's homeless people, what do you expect? Pop-tarts are like a gourmet meal for the kid."

"Right…we should get moving," Giles said.

As they all started getting ready and moving towards the door Angel looked around with frustration. "You guys this is crazy. I want to find this kid and help him as much as you guys do but this is a huge city. It'll be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"We have to try," Buffy said as she led the others out the door leaving Angel and Spike behind.

XXXXXX

When Gunn and Xander got home from work the sun was almost down and the others hadn't returned yet. Angel and Spike explained what was going on and their frustrations were growing even more when Gunn and Xander decided that they should go out and help look.

"The sun is almost down," Angel yelled at Gunn and Xander as they were walking out the door.

"All the more reason for us to go," Gunn explained.

"It's pointless," Angel responded. "Just wait a few more minutes for the sun to go down and Spike and I can track him."

"He has a point mate," Spike said. "If anything, the biggest thing we should be worrying about now is finding the others as well before the wolf version of Connor finds them."

"Oh my God," Xander said with a very worried look on his face. "I didn't even think about that. We have to move."

They started walking out the door. "Just wait a few more minutes," Angel pleaded. "I can track the others while Spike tracks Connor. We'll find them faster."

Gunn and Xander didn't even stop walking. "So we'll have three parties looking for them then. Xander and I will get a head start," Gunn yelled back to Angel as they walked away.

Angel looked very angry. "Good to know I'm listened too," he said sarcastically.

"Forget about it mate they can take care of themselves," Spike said. "The sun is almost down. I'll track Connor and you track the girls. Hopefully they'll be in different places since I don't think they found him and once that sun goes down we don't want him to find them."

"Right, should be just a few more minutes," Angel said as he looked at his watch. He had never been so anxious for the sun to go down in his life. It was times like these that really made it hard to be a vampire.

XXXXXX

The first group that had went out to look for Connor separated into five groups of two to try and cover more ground. Wesley knew the city pretty well so he split it into five parts where he thought a young homeless boy might be. He and Fred took one part, Giles and Cordelia took another, Buffy and Dawn took the third, Faith and Anya took the fourth and Willow and Tara took the last.

They weren't sure at first if they should split up but the sun was starting to go down and they didn't have much time so they had no choice. The sun was about to go down when Buffy and Dawn were walking through an alley after seeing a young boy run down the it. He looked like he was in pain.

This was starting to worry Buffy. She was almost hoping that this boy wasn't Connor. The sun was going to go down in a matter of minutes and it was just her and her sister there to stop him from hurting anyone. She knew that if it was him, and he changed, Buffy couldn't let him get away and hurt anyone but she didn't want her sister to get hurt and although she knew she could take care of herself she worried about the baby. What if she got hit in the stomach, what if she fell on her stomach, what if she over did it, or worst of all what if she got bitten? How would that affect the baby?

There were a million things going through her mind but she knew what she had to do. She needed to focus and no matter what she needed to never let her guard down. "Dawn I want you to stay here," Buffy said as her and Dawn stopped before turning a corner. They could hear the boy screaming in pain.

"No Buffy, I'm not letting you go over there by yourself," Dawn said bravely. She was scared to death for her sister, their babies and herself but she knew she had to be strong. She had to be there for her sister.

"No!" Buffy said sternly. "You can be my back up, now please just listen to me for once and stay here," she added as she started to walk away.

"But…" Dawn started to say.

"Don't…move," Buffy said sternly as she started to turn the corner.

As Buffy turned the corner she saw the boy down on his knees holding his stomach in pain. "Connor?" she asked.

The boy forced his head to look up at her. He had so much pain in his eyes and his hair was folded over them. "How…" he started to say before another burst of pain hit him. "How do you know my name?" he asked as she tried to stand up.

'Great,' Buffy thought to herself. This boy was Connor and he was about to change. She didn't really know what to do. She wanted to comfort him and beat the consciousness out of him all at the same time.

"Listen Connor, I know this is hard to believe but that thing that Spike saved you from last night. It bit you and it made you like it. That's what's happening to you right now. As soon as that sun goes down and the moon comes up," she said as she pointed to the sun in the sky, "You're going to change into a werewolf."

"What?" he asked looking at her in disbelief.

"You're going to turn into a monster and you're not going to have control over yourself. You're going to try and hurt me and if you get past me you're going to try and hurt others. I'm sorry but I can't let that happen," Buffy explained.

Connor looked at her with anger in his eyes as his hands started to change. He stood up and screamed in pain as his shirt ripped and the rest of his body began to change. "Oh shit," Buffy said with fear in her ton. "I was really hoping I'd get to knock you unconscious before you did that."

Buffy just stood there for a moment and watched as the young boy she had first saw turned completely into a monster. When Connor changed completely he rushed at Buffy with extreme speed. She dodged him knowing that he wouldn't go anywhere. He wanted to feed and Buffy was the closest person around. He nearly ran into a wall but turned around quick enough to miss it.

He lunged at Buffy again. This time she gave him a round house kick to his face sending him flying into a wall. "Cool…I'm pregnant but I've still got it," she quipped with a smile. As good of a kick as that was she knew this wasn't the end of the fight.

The werewolf quickly recovered. As Buffy prepared for another attack the beast stopped and sniffed the air. As he realized he wasn't getting anywhere with Buffy he ran to the next closest person he could smell. "Dawn," Buffy whispered to herself with extreme worry.

She ran after the wolf as fast as she could. When it got around the corner it immediately ran towards Dawn. She screamed and ran as fast as her legs would carry her. "Buffy!" she yelled in fear as the wolf got closer.

As Buffy ran she realized she wasn't gaining any ground. She was out of shape from taking it easy with the baby coming. She knew she wasn't going to get to the wolf before it got to Dawn but all she could do was continue to run, continue to try.