Cordy pulled the car over and parked it on the side of the road. Angel, with his coat over his head, jumped out and ran into the shade. Cordy unbuckled Catherine from her car seat and took her over to her father.
"OK, you have straight shot in the shade to the museum. Can you handle that?"
"Yes dear, I think that we will be fine, won't we chipmunk?" Catherine just giggled.
"Call me when you are ready to leave, and I'll meet you right here." Angel kissed her.
"Don't worry. We'll be fine." He whispered.
"Catherine, you be a good girl for daddy."
"I good girl."
"Have fun baby."
"Have fun." Catherine replied. Angel took her hand and they walked to the museum. Cordy didn't leave until they were safely in the door. Because of Angel's last excursion outdoors, she considered staying right there, but she knew that Angel would be angry if he saw her, so she slowly pulled away and headed back to the hotel.
"Daddy, look." Catherine squealed when she saw the giant play area with slides and tunnels. It was so big that Angel would be able to crawl in there with her. She grabbed his hand and proceeded to drag him over to the play area. "Mon, Daddy, play."
"OK, chipmunk. First we have to take off your shoes." She ignored him and headed to the slide. This was Angel's first problem of the day. "Catherine, wait. We have to take your shoes off" He picked her up and she kicked him. "Settle down, right now, young lady and let me take your shoes off."
"NO." She yelled and she hit him with her tiny hand.
"Catherine Suzanne Angel, you do not hit." Just to prove to him that she could, she did it again. "That's it. You are going to time out." He said sternly and she began to cry. He looked around and saw an empty bench in front of a giant slide. He carried her over there and plopped her down on it. She immediately got up and tried to run but her father was too quick for her. He picked her back up and sat her right back down. He bent down to her level and looked her right in the eyes. "You are in time out. You will sit here." Her big brown eyes were full of tears and her bottom lip was quivering. Angel had a strong desire to pick her up, hug her and let her play but he knew that he had to be strong. He sat next to her for two very long minutes while she sniffled next to him.
"Catherine, you do not hit. That was very bad. Now, you tell daddy you are sorry." He said to her when her time was up.
"Sorry daddy." She whispered.
"Can I have a hug?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "I love you chipmunk."
"Love you daddy." He quickly removed their shoes and they began to climb through the tunnels. She was fast, and lucky for him his vampire speed worked well for crawling. When they arrived at the slide, he pulled her onto his lap and they slid down, Catherine laughing the entire time. He went back up with her a few more times and then she insisted on going alone. He was nervous, but he knew that he could get to her within a matter of seconds if she needed him so he relented and his little independent daughter went off by herself.
"Which one is yours?" A very attractive red head asked him.
"Dark hair in the green tunnel." He replied never taking his eyes off of Catherine.
"Mine is the redhead in the blue tunnel."
"That's nice."
"How old is she?"
"Two."
"Wow, she is pretty brave to go up there by herself." Angel finally looked at her for a quick second.
"She is just like her mother."
"Is she with you?"
"No." He said simply and the redhead raised her eyebrows. She also noticed that he wasn't wearing a ring on his left hand.
"Daddy watch." Catherine yelled from the top of the slide.
"I'm watching." She slid down with a look of pure delight on her face. She clapped her hands and ran up to do it again.
"She is beautiful." The redhead said as she placed her hand on his upper arm.
Angel sighed. He wasn't in the mood for these games. He gently removed her hand. "Yes, she is beautiful. In fact she looks just like her mother, who is waiting at home for us. I didn't come here today to make any new friends. I came here to spend the day with my daughter, now, if you don't mind, I would like to get back to that." He said without ever looking at her. "Come on, chipmunk, let's go paint." Catherine grabbed his hand and they walked off leaving the redhead standing there with her mouth wide open in shock.
By the end of the afternoon Angel and Catherine had went through a maze, explored a cave, went for a ride in a train through the inside of the human body, and she painted a bowl for her dad. Unfortunately, everything was not perfect. He had to deal with multiple women hitting & flirting with him. At one point he seriously considered taping a sign to his back that would let them know that he was in love with another woman. Catherine had thrown another fit during lunch when Angel wouldn't let her eat only cookies. She got over it after she ended up in another time out and ended up without any cookies. They were playing with giant blocks, waiting until they had to leave to meet Cordy when Angel noticed a woman lurking around him and Catherine. His first thought was she was hanging around to flirt with him but he noticed that she was watching Catherine, not him, and then he picked up a very familiar scent. Making sure Catherine was occupied; he got up from his spot on the floor, walked over to the woman, grabbed her by the elbow and drug her to the side of the room. She was in full vamp mode when Angel swung her around to face him.
"Do you have any idea who you are messing with?" She growled. Angel vamped.
"Do you?" He growled back. "No one can think about drinking my daughter and live to tell about it." And with one swift movement, he drove a stake that he was carrying with him, right into her heart and watched with great satisfaction as she turned into a pile of dust.
"Are you ready to go see mommy chipmunk?" He asked his daughter. She nodded and allowed him to pick her up. He knew that she was exhausted and by the time they reached Cordy, she was sound asleep on his shoulder.
--
"You really staked her right there in the museum?" Connor asked laughing.
"She wanted to eat your sister. Hell yes I staked her." Angel responded.
"Why is that guy running out there?" Ciara asked.
"He is trying to steal second….He did it." Connor stood up cheering and Ciara looked more lost.
Angel, Connor and Ciara were sitting at a Dodgers night game. Their seats were three rows behind home plate thanks to a friend of Lorne's who got them these amazing seats. Connor and Angel were loving it and Ciara, who was not a sports fan was completely lost. All three of them were wearing the Dodger jerseys that Cordy had bought them. It was a sight to see. Connor and Ciara begged Cordy to come with them, but she insisted she had to stay home with Catherine. They finally got her to agree to a double date at a later time.
"So stealing is a good thing?" Ciara asked and Connor had to bite back a laugh.
"It's only good as long as it's our team that's doing the stealing."
"Oh I give up."
"Don't worry baby, you'll get it one day." Connor kissed her forehead.
"I'm going to get a beer." She announced. Angel's mouth dropped open. "Yes I do drink beer. I am of age."
"I didn't say a word."
"You were thinking it. Do you guys want anything?" Angel jumped to his feet.
"I'll go."
"No, you guys stay and watch whatever it is that they are doing out there. I won't care if I miss anything. You guys would be miserable if you missed a touchdown."
"Trust me honey, that won't happen." Connor said laughing
"It could happen." She said placing her hands on her hips.
"Touchdowns are in football not baseball."
"Whatever." She was becoming slightly frustrated. "Now do you want anything?" Connor ordered a beer and two hot dogs. Angel gave her some cash insisting that this whole night was his treat. She kissed them both and headed off.
"Dad, did they have baseball when you were a kid?" The guy next to Connor gave him the oddest look, because, number one Angel didn't look old enough to be his father and secondly, baseball has been around for years.
"We had something similar, but we didn't call it baseball. Actually, I don't remember what we called it or if we called it anything at all."
"What did you do?" Connor was genuinely interested in his father's life as human. He just wished that he would talk about it more often.
"We had a stick and someone would throw a piece of fruit from a nearby tree and we would see who could hit it the farthest."
"Did you win?" Angel grinned
"I held my own."
"Do you miss being human?" Now the guy next to them was convinced that that they had escaped from a mental institution.
"I can hardly remember it and what I do remember isn't all that pleasant."
"You just remembered something pleasant."
"OK, you're right but it's weird to think about. If I had never met Darla, then I never would have been turned, and if I was never turned then I wouldn't have saved the lives that I had saved, I never would have met Cordy and I wouldn't have you, Ciara or Catherine. So I guess the answer to your question, is no I don't miss it because I am much happier now then I ever was as a human."
"What was Darla like?" Angel looked at his son. Connor has never really asked about Darla before.
"Honestly son, she was evil. She was almost as bad as Angelus was, but she changed when she was pregnant with you."
"How did she change?"
"Because you are my son, you had a soul, and you shared your soul with her and she experienced a feeling that she has never had before. She loved you Connor."
"Then why did she stake herself?"
"Because she knew that as soon as you were born and she would lose that shared soul and in turn she would lose that feeling. In fact she would forget that she even loved you and her only desire would be to kill you so she did the only thing that she could, she killed herself while she still loved you to save your life."
"Wow."
"Do you wish that you had a childhood?"
"Sometimes when I watch Catherine playing and see all of the innocence of her, I wish that I could of have had that. On the other hand, if I were actually my true age, I wouldn't have met Ciara and being in love with her is worth not having a childhood but I do worry about what kind of father I will be without having a childhood."
"Something I should know?"
"No, not yet. We are young, we have lots of time."
"Well Connor, when the time comes I know that you will be a great father."
"I have a great role model." Father and son smiled at each other when Ciara returned with the hot dogs and beer. She handed Angel a beer.
"Ciara, I didn't ask for this."
"I know but it's part of the whole baseball experience." She said grinning.
--
"I can't believe that all of those woman were flirting with you. What nerve. You were there with your daughter for crying out loud. What tramps." Ciara ranted. They were walking home from the game, which the home team won. Ciara was walking in between Connor and Angel, each of her hands holding one of their hands.
"It's amazing how much things have changed since I was young. Back then, women waited for the man to make the first move unless of course they were prostitutes." Angel said grinning
"Did you associate with them?" Ciara asked. Angel chose not to answer but his silence was answer enough.
"Damn dad, you did."
"Only occasionally, but I was never at a loss for an available woman. I was quite the stud back in the day."
"You were a male whore." Ciara said and Angel laughed.
"At times I was. Not my finest moment but now I am a one woman man."
"And a damn good one at that." Connor said.
Suddenly someone or something came up behind Ciara and grabbed her. She screamed and turned into her demon half but her attacker wasn't scared. Ciara fought with all of her might, but it was of no use. The vampire that had her was too strong for her. Connor and Angel immediately jumped into action. Without speaking they each knew that Connor would be the one to stake the bastard who grabbed his wife. Angel grabbed the vamp and threw him to the ground and he then grabbed a sobbing Ciara. Connor jumped on top of the vamp, and staked him then quickly ran over and took his wife in his arms, who had slightly calmed down.
"I love you." Ciara cried into Connor's chest.
"I know sweetie, I know." He crooned. Angel stood back and watched his son, soothe his wife. He was so proud of the man that Connor had become.
They all parted ways at the hotel. Ciara hugged Angel tightly. "Thank you for saving my life today." She whispered
"Connor did most of the work."
"Can I ask you something Angel?"
"You know that you can ask me anything."
"Can I call you dad?" She asked softly.
"Ciara, I would be honored. I already think of you as a daughter."
"I love you dad."
"I love you Ciara."
As soon as Connor and Ciara pulled safely away he happily ran to his room. Cordy was asleep in bed but woke up as soon as he loudly burst into the room, turning on the lights. She was going to yell at him, but as soon as she saw the huge grin on his face she changed her mind.
"Have fun?" She asked as he stripped out of his clothes and climbed into bed wearing his boxers.
"Ciara asked if she could call me dad." He said happily. His eyes were sparkling with happiness.
"That's great babe."
"Connor and I had a great conversation. We talked a little about Liam's childhood and adolescence. Ciara called me a male whore. He asked about Darla and he is thinking about fatherhood."
"Now?" Ciara didn't tell her that she was pregnant.
"No. According to Connor, they are young and they have lots of time."
"Good. They need time to just enjoy each other and speaking of enjoying each other…"
"Tomorrow is your day baby." He said as he leaned forward and kissed her gently.
"Well it is technically tomorrow." She whispered.
"You have to wait because when we enjoy each other we are going to do it without having to worry about waking Catherine, or keeping our voices down."
"OK then." She pouted and he kissed her nose.
"Don't worry, it will be well worth the wait."
"It better be buster." She giggled as he pulled her tightly into his arms.
"Thank you for today Cordy. It was a perfect day, with the exception of the vampire attacks."
"I didn't do anything but put the idea in your thick noggin. Wait did you say attacks? I thought that there was only one."
"There was another one that attacked Ciara on the way home from the game."
"Is she OK?"
"Just shaken up but Connor is taking good care of her."
"Like father like son."
"I love you Cordelia."
"I love you Angel."