††††††††††
"I promise you, Father, Angelus will pay," Connor said
He had buried Holtz out in the woods with Justine's help, although he had decapitated his foster father to make sure he wouldn't turn. Following this, they made a plan on how to get revenge on Angel, then Connor returned to the Hyperion
"Hey," Angel said, "Holtz has left town. He gave this to give to you"
"It's a lie. It's all a lie," Connor thought as he read the letter, "What the demons wants"
"So, uh, what do you want to do?" Angel asked
"How do you do what you do?" Connor asked, "Fighting, I mean"
"I could teach you if you want"
"Yeah. I want to learn"
††††††††††
"You know that morning after experience you get?" Wesley asked, "It came early"
He rolled over, as Lilah smiled and snuggled up to him
"Never thought a Watcher could be such an animal in bed. But now, duty calls"
She got out of the bed and started to get dressed, as Wesley remained in bed
"Don't be thinking about me when I'm gone," she said, heading for the door
"I wasn't thinking about you when you were here," Wesley shot back
Lilah ignored the comment and left the apartment, as Wesley got out of bed, putting his jeans on, before grabbing a shirt and pouring a glass of scotch, as someone knocked at the door. Loosely putting his shirt on, he answered the door
"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," Cordelia said, entering the room
"Please, come on in," Wesley said sarcastically, closing the door
"Why did you do it?" Cordelia asked, "Why did you kidnap my son and hand him over to the enemy?"
She noted how Wesley's eyes suddenly became filled with sorrow and self-loathing
"I didn't plan to hand him to Holtz. I was going to take him away myself"
"Why did you do it? And don't tell me 'because of the prophecy'"
"I had no one to turn to. I feel disconnected from Gunn and Fred. Obviously I couldn't tell Angel. I was alone"
"Yeah, lucky for you I was away on holiday," Cordelia said, "Can you imagine how I felt when I came back and my best friend had kidnapped my son?"
"Can you imagine how I felt when I was unable to completely explain myself to my friends, who turned their backs on me and I had nothing left in my life?"
Cordelia's expression softened slightly as she put Ashleigh onto the couch
"I tried so hard to disprove the prophecy, Cordelia," Wesley said as he began to pace, "But everything kept pointing to the signs and I believed it to be true"
"You do know that the prophecy was actually fake? Angel was never going to kill Connor?"
"Yes, Fred told me. She also told me to never return to the Hyperion under the penalty of death from Angel"
"It's not like I exactly blame the guy. Connor is my son as well, Wesley"
"Yes, I know. I was there when he was born, remember? I wanted to protect him"
"Why the hell couldn't you have called me?"
Wesley stayed silent as he thought about that. He had been so wrapped up in the prophecy and trying to disprove that Angel would kill Connor that he had forgotten about Cordelia, forgotten that Connor was her son as well
"I'm sorry, Cordelia. I'm so sorry for everything," Wesley said quietly
"I hope you do know that Connor is back to us, albeit-"
"As a teenager. Yes, I know. I saw him at the nightclub with his father"
"What were you doing at the nightclub? Trying to pick up?" Cordelia asked with the faintest of smiles
"Consorting with unsavoury company," Wesley replied, "But moving on"
"Well, hopefully, everything will turn out okay. Connor's come back to us and I believe that he will leave Holtz completely and be our son. And who knows? Maybe in time, Angel and I can forgive you and you'll be able to come back"
"I won't keep my hopes up," Wesley said
††††††††††
"That's good, that's good, keep your balance," Angel said, before grabbing Connor's arm and twisting it back, "You lose your balance, you lose"
He put Connor upright again and got into a stance
"And go"
Connor and Angel traded a few blocks and blows, as Gunn came in from behind
"Vampire," Angel called
Connor spun around and knocked Gunn aside, as Fred appeared almost instantly
"Civilian"
Connor moved Fred aside, as Angel came in again and they kept up their training
"Okay, that's good, you're getting good," Angel said
"I want to learn more," Connor said
"Is this kid a chip off the old block or what?"
"Well, I'm not playing vampire no more," Gunn said, groaning, "I give in"
"Can I be the vampire this time?" Fred asked, before growling loudly
"You're a vampire, not a lion," Angel said
Fred responded with a small growl, as Angel smiled and shook his head in amusement
"Tell you what, let's call it a night and go out somewhere. How about the movies?"
"What's that?" Connor asked
"Oh, we'll go to an action movie," Angel continued, "You'll love that"
††††††††††
The helicopters fired their missiles, destroying the landscape, as soldiers fought back, bullets blazing across and enemies going down from the bloody wounds
"How do they do that?" Connor asked in interest, eating popcorn
"Oh, it's all fake," Gunn replied, "But it's so cool. Girl, you ate all the popcorn?"
"Oh, I did too," Fred smiled, before giving him a kiss
"I'll get some more"
He hopped out of the Plymouth and headed off, as Connor watched the movie with interest. He had never seen anything like this before and it fascinated him. Just then, two assault helicopters flew up from behind the screen
"Is that fake too?" Connor asked
"No, that's definitely not fake," Angel replied
The spotlight played over the cars, before resting on the Plymouth, as soldiers clad from head to toe in black began descending from the helicopters on cables
"Tie me up, poke me with sharp objects?" Linwood said, watching from inside a van, "Oh, they'll pay for that. They should know they shouldn't mess with us"
Angel and Connor were out of the Plymouth in a flash, taking on the soldiers together. Angel punched a soldier, whirling around and delivering a backhand that dropped him, before blocking another soldier and striking him in the stomach, then grabbing him, spinning around once and throwing him into two more soldiers. Connor kicked a soldier behind the knee, bringing him down, then knocking him with a blow to the jaw, as another soldier came at him with a flying kick. Dodging him, Connor twisted his arm so he was pitched forward, before driving his knee into the soldier's stomach
"Hey"
A soldier whirled around, as Gunn tossed the box of popcorn at him, as Fred struck the soldier over the head with a wooden bat. Gunn moved in quickly, taking the soldier down with a few blows, before catching the bat from Fred and cracking another soldier across the face with it, flipping him onto his stomach
"Abort, abort, abort," Linwood ordered, "Get us out of here"
The soldiers had been defeated, as Angel spied a van and stormed over, ripping the doors open, before dragging Linwood out by his lapels and dangling him off his feet
"Are you suicidal?" Angel growled, "Stay away from my family"
Angel was suddenly pushed away, as Connor stepped before Linwood
"Stay away from him," he demanded, "Leave my father alone"
"We can help you, Steven," Linwood said, "You don't need to hang around with him"
"My name is Connor"
Angel smiled to himself, as Connor shoved Linwood back into the van and it sped off
"Come on, son, let's head home," Angel said, resting his hand on Connor's shoulder
††††††††††