Let The Sleeper Awaken.

Spoilers- Up until the second last episode of S4, AU's after Connor beats up the police officers.
Disclaimer- The characters belong to Joss, I'm just borrowing them to make the fans feel better, I hope.
Note- I have finally made a dent in my fic pile. I spent the afternoon typing and I swear my molecules were nearly bonded with the chair but I did it. Enjoy- if anyone's still out there.
xxx

Chapter 2: Part 2: Plans and Mixed Emotions

"Cordy? Where's the evil guy?" Connor slid to stop beside the tombstone Cordelia had flopped onto once she was well clear of the pyramid.

"Huh?" Cordelia looked up and self consciously rubbed at the tears that had fallen onto her cheeks. "Oh, Connor, it's fine. He's dead."

"Oh." Connor slumped. "You sure? He might just be faking?" After the trip to Sunnydale with only Gunn's unique mixture of rap and classical music to keep him company he really wanted something to kill, really.

Cordelia smiled gently. "Sorry, Connor. Maybe we'll run into a vampire on the way back to the cars, though."

Connor grinned. "Do you think?"

Cordelia stood. "This is Sunnydale. Anything's possible, especially vampires in a graveyard."

Gunn rounded a large gnarled tree, panting heavily. "There… you… are…" He stopped and placed his hands on his knees.

Cordelia passed some of the weapons over to Connor, keeping her katanna and slipping the strap over her shoulder. "Yep, here we are. You coming?"

She started to walk away, Connor trailing after her like a puppy.

Gunn groaned. "What? Aw man. Why ya gotta pick on the human?"

"I'm human." Connor glared at Gunn.

Cordelia raised her eyebrows at him. "Son of two vampires, sweetie. You might be human, but you certainly aren't normal."

Gunn straightened "Hey, where's Angel?"

xxxxx

Buffy strode up the temple steps and into the graveyard, Angel following close behind.

"You need us in this, Buffy."

Buffy turned to face him. "No, I need you gone."

Angel crossed his arms and stared at her. "No"

"No?" Buffy repeated incredulously. "Angel, if this thing gets past Sunnydale-"

"Then we're all dead anyway. This our best chance of defeating the First. The plan that Cordelia came up with, this is it."

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "See, that's where I'm having the problem. I know Cordelia's some seer now but last I checked we both have years more battle experience on her and-"

Angel leaned in close to her. "And if you don't follow this plan you're all going to die. Cordelia had a vision; we changed some things in L.A. Unfortunately that means that things aren't going to go so good here. That's why we're here. We're meant to be here. This plan can work, it has to. 'Sides it's not like Spike could do any better." Angel crossed his arms and just for a moment, he pouted.

"Spike. Actually there's something you should know-"

"Yeah, he's got a soul, you trust him, and he's making a difference. He's a champion. He's in your heart. I already know."

"How?" Buffy looked shell shocked.

"Cordelia's vision," Angel explained, a bit smugly.

"Oh." Buffy paused. "So, this plan, you're sure it'll work?"

"As sure as I can be."

"That's comforting," Buffy muttered.

Angel ignored her. "Wes is getting the last of the necessary stuff now."

"Yeah, what's with Wesley? Willow said that he was all Marlboro man lately."

"That's a long story."

"And Faith and Willow said something about Connor?"

Angel winced. "Really long story."

Buffy slipped her arm through his and smiled up at him. "I've got some time."

"Well, isn't this a blast from the past?" Cordelia smiled at them as she emerged from behind a mausoleum. Her smile was as hard as nails. "It's so nice to see you two crazy kids together again."

"Cordelia?" Connor stood close to her. Something was wrong. Cordelia never acted like this.

Cordelia turned to Connor. "Connor, this is Buffy. She's the other slayer. Buffy, I'm sure Angel's told you all about Connor."

Connor studied Buffy, his head cocked to the side. "She's so little. Not at all like Faith."

"You aren't exactly bodybuilder of the year either," Buffy huffed.

Connor glared at her. He looked over at Angel. "You dated her?"

Angel squirmed uncomfortably under Connor's glare and Cordelia's smirk. Awkwardly he pulled his arm away from Buffy's. "It was quite a few years ago."

Connor frowned, looking Buffy over from head to toe. "And she's the one that made you lose your soul?" There was a derisive lilt to his voice.

"Hey!" Buffy crossed her arms and frowned.

"Wow, and here I thought that Connor would have inherited the slayer thing from you, Angel. Huh, must just apply to Faith then."

Connor flushed darkly. "I don't-"

"You're allowed to have crushes, sweetie, it's part of growing up."

Buffy gaped at the wiry young man, whose resemblance to a certain spiky haired vampire was becoming more apparent. "You said time difference, but I never thought… he's older than Dawn now."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. Ladies and Gentlemen, Buffy Summers: Queen of stating the obvious! "Yes, well as much as I'd love to stand around a cemetery in the dead of night in the middle of the Hellmouth and listen to this riveting conversation, the others are waiting for us back at the car."

Angel frowned, his gaze quickly skipping over Cordelia. "I thought you were going for weapons."

Cordelia scowled. Thankfully, Gunn had volunteered to take the weapons back to car while she and Connor went back for Angel. "You obviously didn't need them. After all you had Buffy by your side."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Cordelia sighed and closed her eyes. "The others are waiting. Can we just go?"

xxxxx

Wesley looked around anxiously. Where were they? Angel and Gunn were supposed to head straight for the Summers' house while Wesley made a few stops to loot some of the abandoned shops. And yet there was no sign of Angel and Gunn's vehicles.

Drawing in a deep breath, Wesley told himself to bite the bullet. So what if he hadn't seen most of these people for years? If the last time he saw them he was bumbling fool who was the butt of their jokes? He had matured during his time in L.A. He had grown, become a fighter and realized how delicate the line between good and evil was.

Nodding decisively, Wesley rapped sharply on the door.

Almost immediately the door was yanked open and a torch was shone in his eyes. Wesley winced, raising a hand to protect his eyes from the harsh glare.

"Oh, wow…"

"Andrew, who is it?"

"The Marlboro Man's younger and hotter brother."

"Bloody hell," Wesley cursed. "Will you get that bloody light out of my eyes?"

"And he's British," the strange little man they called Andrew breathed. He lowered the torch. "You must be looking for Giles."

Wesley blinked, tiny spots playing over his eyes. "I am actually."

"Wesley! I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

Wesley sighed with relief. Finally, a familiar voice. "Willow. There have been a few developments since you left."

The strange little man that had opened the door and nearly blinded him with the torch held a hand out to him. "Hi, I'm Andrew."

"Wesley Wyndham-Price." Surprisingly there was still a bit of that old pompousness in his voice.

Willow gave him a nervous glance. "What can we help you with, Wesley?"

Wesley paused. "Actually, we're here to help you."

xxxxx

Buffy opened her front door and gestured to the group behind her to enter. Absently, Buffy glanced into the dinning room and stopped suddenly.

"Dawn!"

Dawn walked over to her sister, her eyes burning with anger. Dawn suddenly kicked Buffy in the shin.

Buffy pouted. "Ow."

Dawn rolled her eyes, anger momentarily forgotten. "Dumbass."

Buffy looked over at Xander. He was seated in a chair, Anya holding an icepack to his head.

Xander shrugged. "Don't look at me. This is a Summers' thing. It's all very violent."

Buffy looked back to her sister. Dawn stared stonily at her, her arms crossed.

Buffy sighed. "Fine. If you get killed, I'm telling."

The Scooby gang turned at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Angel and the rest of his family were waiting in the doorway.

"Buffy, what have we told you about bringing home strays?" Xander smirked.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow at him. "If she didn't bring home strays, you wouldn't be here, Harris."

"Ah, Cordelia. How we missed your biting wit. Oh, wait… No, we didn't."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "And you still aren't funny, Xander. Although, our relationship was a joke."

"I don't think making out in janitor closets can be considered a relationship, Cordy. Although the amount of time you spent in there-"

Xander was cut off by a low and menacing growl. Xander swallowed hard at the look on Angel's face; the vampire was fighting to hold his human persona. Vamp yellow eyes glared fiercely at him.

"You wanna call off the guard vamp there, Cordy?"

Cordelia sighed and elbowed Angel hard. "Stop being such a big fat dork."

Angel blinked, surprised. Her words had a much harsher bite to them than usual.

"I'm not fat!" He protested.

"No, but you are a dork!" Cordelia glared at him.

"I don't like him," Connor stated, glaring at Xander.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "It must run in the family then."

"I don't know about that," Gunn said, glaring at Xander

"You just have a way with people, don'tcha, Xander?"

"This is hardly the time for reviving high school grudges," Giles scolded. "We are in the middle of a war the likes we've never seen before."

Cordelia and Xander lowered their eyes. "Sorry, Giles."

Willow cleared her throat awkwardly. "Did you find out anything about the scythe?"

Buffy held it up with a wicked grin. "It slices, ices and makes julienne preacher."

"Caleb?" Giles asked with concern.

"I cut him in half."

"All right!" Willow cheered.

"He had it coming," Anya said smugly, resting her hands on Xander's shoulders.

Cordelia rolled her eyes and muttered lowly under her breath. Connor glanced at her, a worried look on his face.

"Hey," Xander said gleefully. "Party in my eye socket and everyone's invited.

Everyone stopped and stared at Xander.

Xander shook his head sadly. "Sometimes I shouldn't say words."

"No kidding."

xxxxx

Cordelia firmly shut the basement door and leaned against it.

A repetitive thudding and the sound of angry muttering drew Cordelia further down into the basement. Her lips twitched.

Spike stood in the middle of the basement, punching a punching bag. A black and white hastily draw picture of vampire with spikey hair and a frown was taped to the bag.

"So," Spike said without pausing, "where's tall, dark and forehead?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "With Buffy, where else?"

Spike finally stopped punching the punching bag and looked at Cordelia. "Careful, Love, you don't want to choke on that bitterness."

"You're one to talk."

Spike strolled over to his cot and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. "What are you lot doing here anyway?"

"Saving the world, again."

"Guess, now that Peaches is here, I'm not needed."

Cordelia snorted. "This isn't Buffy's choice, it isn't just her war. We're all in this. We need all the Champions we can get."

Pensively, Spike lit his cigarette and looked Cordelia over. "You know, you and I could always-"

"Don't even think about it, Blood Breath."

"Spike?"

Cordelia gritted her teeth as Buffy's voice floated down the stairs.

"I was wondering if-" Buffy stopped the moment she saw Cordelia. "Oh. Hi, Cordelia."

"Buffy. I'll just be going." Cordelia started up the stairs, brushing past Buffy.

"Cheerleader?"

Cordelia stopped and look back at Spike. "Yes?"

"Keep that offer in mind, yeah?" Spike leered.

Cordelia shook her head with a wry smile and continued up the stairs.

Buffy placed her hands on her hips. "What offer?"

xxxxx

Breakfast the next morning would have been incredibly awkward and silent had it not been for the Potentials. The girls chatted to and fawned over the new male arrivals.

Chantelle, one of the younger Potentials, knocked against Connor.

"S-sorry, Connor," the girl said, blushing madly.

Connor frowned. These teenage girls were very strange.

"Good morning, everyone!" Buffy cheerfully bounded out of the basement. "How are we all?"

"A little freaked out," Willow said. "Are you okay, Buffy?"

Cordelia sneered, but didn't say anything.

"I realized something last night," Buffy announced to the crowded kitchen. "Something that never occurred to me before. We're going to win."

"You thought we weren't?" Fred asked with a worried tremor.

"Well, no, but-"

"Girl, thinking that way's gonna get you beat before you start," Gunn scowled.

Lorne clapped Gunn on the shoulder, extremely glad the girls had barely batted an eyelash at his appearance. "Now, don't go ruining the girl's buzz."

Giles set down his mug of tepid tea. "So you have a plan then?"

Buffy grinned happily. "Oh, do I have a plan."

"Finally," Cordelia muttered lowly to Lorne. "I thought I was going to have to do it for her."

xxx

end part 2