The Case

She should have gone to Angel.

She should have gone to Angel and gotten his help to figure out what had happened.

He would have gotten his friends to help, because he would know this wasn't normal.

But mostly, she should have gone to Angel, because she had to die for their son to live, and Darla needed him to be taken care of.

But he didn't know, and now he never would.

She wouldn't abandon her son, though. She couldn't. Not when he was the one good thing she had ever done, not when he was the one person she had ever truly loved.

So Darla called the pregnancy shelter that had found her, right after she had realized she was sharing her son's soul and was having a breakdown, and told the girl that had given her an ultrasound and offered baby supplies to come to the alley she was next to.

Slowly, she put down a blanket and lay down with her stomach above it. She rubbed her hand over where the baby was and whispered to him.

I love you.

You'll be okay.

Your dad would love you.

Please, be safe.

And when she heard the light footsteps approaching, Darla plunged the piece of wood into her heart.

I love you.

†

It was Kit's first time as a social worker for a baby, and it was the strangest case she had seen.

"She left him in the alley?"

The girl – Kelly – nodded, her face filled with conflicting emotions. "I don't get it. She called, and said to come, instead of just bringing him back."

"Do you have a name, or something that could be used to identify her?"

Kelly shook her head.

"What about the baby's father?"

She shrugged. "She was a bit incoherent, but she said she hadn't told the father, but that she wished she had." She paused. "I think she called him 'angel'."

Kit sighed. "An ex-boyfriend, then."

"Do you think you can find him?"

"I'll try."

†

"I'm sorry, who are you here for?" Kelly asked.

"The baby," the dark haired girl said. "They said I could find him here."

"Whose baby?"

"My family," she responded, a sad look on her face. "Darla and Angel. Did she tell you her name?"

Kelly's eyes widened. "Are– are you an aunt, then?"

She smiled. "I'm family."

"I– I need to call his social worker, but–"

She whined sadly, and Kelly wondered how sane she was. "Can you at least tell Connor his Auntie Dru is here?"

"Connor?"

"His name, silly."

†

"'Darla' and 'Angel', and an aunt Drew who has no chance of passing the psych test, even if she bothered to show up to a meeting that's not her knocking on the door in the middle of the night." Kit sighed. "We have no chance of finding anyone."

"Is Connor going to be adopted, then?"

Kit nodded, before she paused. "Are you keeping the name Connor?"

Kelly shrugged. "I figure he should have something from his family. Besides this."

She handed over a photograph to Kit, showing a pregnant blonde woman in a red shirt looking adoringly at an ultrasound.

"His mother?" she asked.

Kelly nodded. "He deserves something."

†

Connor's first adoption failed. Apparently some of the people in the neighborhood were absolute wackos, and the couple couldn't handle it.

Kit was sympathetic, and since he was still so young, he easily found new parents.

But the wackos followed, and Kit got more nervous. And then Connor accidentally broke his (now ex) mom's finger just by squeezing. (Kit wasn't sure she believed that, but that was the story they gave.)

The wackos continued to follow, and Connor kept having accidents. And that was forgetting the death (and oh, was she trying to forget it).

After just under six years of this, Kit was at the end of her rope when she got the message that someone might actually be able to take Connor.

†

Buffy Summers was single, which wasn't preferred, but she was a woman, which made it okay (an obvious double standard, but one that wasn't going away). She had a full-time job and great recommendations from all sorts of people. She only had a couple years of foster parenting under her belt, but, on top of raising her teenage sister after their mother died, she had apparently become known for taking the people who had "accidents".

But none of that mattered if she couldn't take care of Connor.

So Kit set up a meeting, and knew the moment she walked in that she had struck gold.

Buffy was sweet and charming and had an unflappable air about her. She talked adoringly about her past foster kids, and started playing with Connor the moment he asked her to.

Kit was going to kill anyone who messed up this placement.

†

"How's everything going?"

"Good," Buffy said on the other end of the phone. "He's settling in nicely, and seems more comfortable."

"That's good. Anything else I should know?"

"I don't think so." There was a pause. "Do you mind if I ask you more about his family?"

"Sure," she responded. "Any reason why?"

"Connor mentioned I look like his mom."

Kit frowned. "I… suppose so. I've only seen a picture, but you're both blonde."

"Is she wearing red in the picture?"

"How did you– yes."

"I was wearing a red shirt today," she responded.

"Oh. Well, yes, she was wearing a red shirt. Apparently a girl who works for a pregnancy center found her and brought her back. She got an ultrasound before she ran off, then called the center, asking someone to go to a specific alley. The girl arrived and just found Connor."

"That's…"

"Yep."

"What about that aunt you mentioned?"

Kit frowned. "Potentially insane. And she never showed up to any appointments; just kept knocking on the door in the middle of the night. She did give Connor his name though, and made sure we spelled it right." She snorted at the last sentence, remembering Kelly's slightly terrified face as she recounted Drew's instructions.

"That's sweet," Buffy said. "That he got his name from his family."

"Yeah."

†

"Connor?"

It was a normal inspection, and while they were in his room, Buffy had gone outside to check on dinner.

"Yes Ms. Kit?"

"Don't you usually put up the photo of your mom in your room?"

Connor blushed, and looked down at the floor as he fiddled with his shirt. "I didn't want to."

"Why not?"

He continued to look everywhere but her, and Kit let him sort out his thoughts.

Finally, he whispered, "I want Buffy to be my mom."

Kit gave a small smile, before she answered, "What does that have to do with your photo?"

He shifted back and forth before he suddenly blurted it out. "If it's out she'll see the photo, and she'll remember I have a mom, and then she won't be my mom because I'll have a mom, but if she doesn't see it then she can forget and she can be my mom."

"Sweetie, you can have more than one mom."

Connor looked up at her with a scrunched nose. "No you don't."

"Connor…" she hesitated. "Do you mind if we talk to Buffy about this?"

"No."

†

About a week later, Kit got the call from Buffy that Connor had brought it up, and she had called in her sister to talk to him.

"According to Dawn, she's had four moms, so she's the expert at it."

"Four moms?"

"Mom, me, and my friends Willow and Tara, who helped raise her after… Mom died back in Sunnydale."

Kit nodded and made a noise in response. "So… does that mean you're 'Mom' now?"

"Yeah."

"I'll get the adoption paperwork ready."

"Thank you."

†

Adoption took a long time, but every step of the process was worth it.

She continued checking in with Connor and Buffy, and even ended up meeting Buffy's boyfriend, who, if multiple babblefests she could hardly understand were any indication, Connor adored as much as Buffy did.

It may have taken years, but finally, finally, Connor would have a family.

And then the call came.

"Buffy?"

On the other end of the phone, Kit heard a sigh. "I hope you're ready for your paperwork to get 50 times more complicated."

…And that's what she got for tempting fate.

"What happened?"

"I found Connor's dad."

"... You're joking."

"Nope."

Kit slammed her head against her desk.