"Connor."
Connor is scared and suspicious. He came through the rift, killed a demon, and now there are a bunch of strangers staring at him. He doesn't know why, but their staring instantly puts him on edge. The teen can smell that the one with the weird hair and no tan is a vampire. There's a green skinned demon with horns near, what looks like, the office. The rest smell like humans. A few of the surrounding people have a hint of demon in their scent.
His mom had taught him to always be ready for a fight, so he lowers himself into a fighting stance he'd perfected over the years. Connor balls his hands into fists, ready to attack.
"Woah! It's okay! It's okay. We're not going to hurt you." Angel tries to soothe his son. The vampire can't imagine how hard this is for Connor. Leaving the only place he's ever known and ending up in a strange building surrounded by strangers. "I'm Angel. This is Gunn, Fred, Cordelia, Lorne, and Groo." Angel says as he turns behind him and points at each member of Angel Investigations.
The other names mean nothing to him, but Connor recognizes the name 'Angel'. That's the name his mother used to refer to his father. All of the stories she told of him over the years made Connor yearn to meet his dad. Now that he is, though, he's unsure of how to feel. On the one hand, Connor has wanted to meet his dad for his entire life, and finally putting a face to a name soothes something inside of him. On the other hand, he's scared. He's scared that the real Angel won't live up to the picture he's painted in his head of him.
Just then, Buffy drops from the rift. She lands on her feet and assesses the situation in front of her. She sees her kid, who's clearly on the defense, and Angel, who has a pleading look in his eyes.
When she dropped, both father and son looked at her. "Buffy?" Angel whispers. Now that his mom's here, Connor feels a little more comfortable and exits out of his fighting stance. "Hi, Angel." Buffy says. She's glad they finally made it out. Hopefully, her kid can still have a future that doesn't revolve around demons and darkness.
"We'll get our reunion on, don't worry, but first I am in desperate need of a shower." The Slayer says, while looking disgustedly down at her ruined clothes and dirty body. "Of course, I'm sure Connor would like to shower too. Cordy, will you show them upstairs? Connor can wear some of my clothes." the vampire says looking at Cordelia.
"Sure. Come on, Connor." Cordy says as she moves towards the stairs. Connor looks at her suspiciously before looking at his mom. Buffy nods, so he hesitantly follows the woman upstairs. Once Connor is out of sight, Buffy turns to Angel. "Don't worry. I'll talk to him. He's just suspicious of the unknown." the Slayer says as she follows Connor and Cordy upstairs. She finds them both in Angel's room, and Cordy is explaining how to use a shower to Connor. After she thinks he has a handle on it, she leaves the bathroom, closing the door behind herself. She then walks over to Angel's closet and sets out clean clothes for him.
"Come on, Buffy. You can wear some of my clothes. I keep some here in case of overnighters." Cordelia says over her shoulder as she leaves Angel's room. The room Cordelia leads her to is clean and tidy. It's obvious she's been spending the night here a lot recently. "Cordy?" Buffy asks.
"Yeah, Buffy?" Cordelia replies as she trifles through her clothes to find an outfit for Buffy. "How long has it been since we've been gone?" the Slayer wonders. She definitely looks older now. She's 37 now, afterall, but everyone else still looks the same. "It's only been a few weeks. Time moves differently in hell dimensions, so it's not surprising it's been years for you."
Cordelia turns back to Buffy. "Here are some clean clothes, The shower is through there. We'll all be downstairs. You'll probably want to talk to Connor. This has to be pretty scary for him." She says before she leaves the room, closing the door behind her.
The shower feels heavenly. It's been so long since she's had one that she forgot how good it feels. She really wants to enjoy this, but she needs to talk to Connor because he's probably really confused right now. So Buffy makes quick work of washing all of the dirt and grime from her body. She pays special attention to her hair. The Slayer has to wash the long blonde locks three times to get it fully clean. Once she steps out, she wraps a towel around her body. The Slayer then returns to the connected room and quickly gets dressed. She needs to talk to her son.
Entering Angel's room, Buffy sees Connor almost fully dressed. He was able to get the boxers, socks, and pants on with no problem. The boy has slipped the shirt over his shoulders, but he seems confused by the buttons.
When he hears the door open, Connor looks up at his mother. Buffy walks to him, and starts buttoning the shirt for him. The clothes are way too large for Connor's skinny body. His pants are almost falling down, so Buffy walks over to Angel's closet and looks for a belt. Buffy asks Connor to hold up the pants, so he does. The Slayer then starts to slip the belt through the belt loops on the pants, and then proceeds to buckle it.
"There! Now they can't fall down. We'll have to go shopping and get you some clothes of your own." Connor was silent. Buffy sighs "Connor, let's sit down." She leads Connor to sit on the edge of Angel's bed. Buffy puts her arm around his shoulders. "Sweetheart, I know this is frightening for you. Being thrust into this new confusing world, surrounded by people you don't know. Just understand this." She says as she puts a finger from her free hand under his chin and tilts his head up until he's looking at her. "I would never let anything hurt you. I know Angel. He loves you more than anything in the world. I haven't lied to you when I told you stories about him. Just give him a chance. He just wants to get to know you. And once he does, he'll love you even more. The people that Angel works with can be trusted too. If they are Angel approved, I trust them. I know each of them took care of you when you were a baby. Before you became my son. Just give this new world a chance. You're surrounded by people who love you." Buffy says as she touches her forehead to his.
"Okay." is all Connor says. "Okay?" Buffy confirms. Connor nods, and they get up ready to head back down stairs.
Downstairs, Angel is pacing through the lobby. Honestly, he's terrified. He's so scared that Connor is going to get to know him and end up hating him. What little relationship they have now is fragile. He has to tread carefully or else it might break. For the past thirty minutes, Angel has been so lost in his thoughts, he barely noticed Buffy and Connor come back downstairs.
His eyes are instantly on Connor, studying him. His clothes hang on Connor's smaller frame. Gunn's clothes probably would have fit better, but a part of him wanted to see his son in his clothes. The kid's hair comes a little past his ear, but not quite down to his shoulders. Angel can see the resemblance between him and Darla in his son's facial features. Connor looks apprehensive, but he doesn't look as suspicious as before so that's a small win.
"Hey!" Angel says as he looks at his kid and the love of his life. "You guys hungry?" Connor's eyes land on him and he looks to be doing the same studying of him that he did moments ago. "Yeah, sure! Do you have actual people food here?" Buffy inquires. She doesn't know who all live here or if Angel lives by himself. "Yeah. Fred, Gunn, and Lorne live here also. Food has become a necessity over the last year." He tells her. Angel makes a waving motion with his hand and leads the way to the kitchen.
Connor has yet to say a word to him. Despite wanting his son to talk to him, Angel understands. Connor doesn't know him. He probably doesn't even know how to start getting to know him. Angel's going to have to make the first move.
The trio enter the kitchen, where the rest of Angel Investigations are making lunch. None of them really cook except for Angel, even though he can't eat what he makes, so they're having sandwiches for lunch.
Connor turns his head and catches Angel still staring at him. The vampire has this look in his eyes that Connor doesn't recognize. He doesn't know how to feel about Angel right now, but he promised his mom he would give him a chance, so he will.
After lunch is finished, everyone takes their lunch to the lobby, leaving Angel and Connor the only ones in the room. Angel just stands there and watches Connor while he eats. The boy must have been starving. Connor took one bite out of the sandwich, opened it, and removed the tomatoes. 'Okay, he doesn't like tomatoes' Angel files away for later. The vampire wants to learn anything and everything about his child. He's missed so much.
Angel walks over to the table where his son is seated, and takes a seat opposite him. "My mom has told me about you." Honestly, Angel wasn't expecting Connor to be the one to start a conversation with him. "Good things I hope." Angel chuckles nervously. He doesn't doubt that Buffy would have told Connor good things about them. Their time together was the best years of his life, before Connor was born that is. But, just because they had a lot of good times together, doesn't mean there wasn't bad also. Like when he and Buffy slept together, and he lost his soul, becoming Angelus again. That was pretty bad.
"She told me stories about your time together. She also told me you're a good person, but you have a dark past. She wouldn't tell me the details though." That makes Angel, metaphorically, breathe a sigh of relief. He wants to eventually be completely transparent with his son. He doesn't want to lie to him, but Angel wants to develop a relationship with Connor first before he opens up about his murderous past.
"Yes. A few years ago, Buffy and I were very close, before I moved to L.A. After that, contact between us kind of dwindled, but we remained friends. She had her life, I had mine." Angel replied. Connor looked contemplating for a moment. "Why did you leave her?"
That was not what Angel was expecting the boy to ask, but he answered him anyway. "I'm a vampire, as you know. Buffy was eighteen and just starting out her life. I was holding her back from the life she could have. She wanted kids eventually, and I couldn't give her that. At least I thought I couldn't." He says as he gestures at Connor. "I couldn't take her out into the sunlight. I couldn't give her anything outside of darkness. We couldn't be together without me losing my soul." Angel vaguely skipped over that topic. He was not ready to have the sex talk with his son, if Buffy hadn't covered it already. "I thought leaving was giving her the best chance she could have at finding happiness." the vampire finishes.
"How did you meet her?" Connor asked. After he started, the boy couldn't stop asking his father questions. Angel explained how he met Buffy, and how he saw her before he met her. How they would go patrolling together, and how he would kiss her goodnight when he walked her home. How they went on a few dates and how they spent her birthdays together, leaving out the part of how her seventeenth birthday ended. How he broke up with her, and showed up to the prom for her. How he was poisoned, how he was forced to feed on her to live, and taking her to the hospital. And finally, how he left.
Then Cordelia is rushing into the kitchen. "Angel!" The portal is still open!" she yells as she disappears from the kitchen once again. She caught the attention of both father and son. Angel stood and rushed to the lobby, Connor right behind him.
When they get there, the rift is still crackling in the air. Angel turns to Cordelia. "Cordy, can you use your new demon powers to close it?" he asks. Before Connor and Buffy came back from Quor'toth, Cordelia had killed all of the slug demons using her new powers, so it's a valid theory. "I can try." she replies. With that she walks up to the rift and raises her hands. "I command you close!"
The rift crackles once more. "Okay, I got nothing!" Cordy says as she steps back. Then, Lorne speaks up. "I've got a contact that specializes in closing rifts and portals! I can give her a call."
Angel looks at him. "Call your contact. We need to get this closed as soon as possible. We don't want anything else coming out of there."
A few hours pass, and Lorne finally returns with his contact. In the meantime, Angel has gotten to know his son better. Connor did all of the questioning before. Now it's his time to ask questions. Connor told him about his childhood and growing up with Buffy. Angel feels so much pride as Connor continues to talk. He's so happy Buffy loved Connor as if he was her own. It's just another thing to love about Buffy.
He's also extremely proud of Connor. Despite having a horrible start in life, he can tell his son has a pure heart. He can tell that the boy loves his mom more than anything and would die for her. Angel's again thankful to Buffy for raising Connor to be such a kind young man.
Lorne busts through the door. "What took you so long?" Cordelia grouches. They've had to stay in the lobby for hours to make sure nothing else came through the rift. "Mistress Mirada is a very hard woman to find." Then Mistress Mirada disappears from Lorne's side and reappears coming down the stairs. "See what I mean? It's been like this all day. What I wouldn't give for a lasso and some crazy glue." Lornes says as he steps down the two stairs and takes off his hat.
Mistress Mirada steps up to the rift. "It's not a portal. There are no portals to Quor'toth, and for good reason. It's not a place anybody should ever go." At that, Fred steps up behind her. "If it's not a portal, what is it?" she inquires. Fred didn't think there was a way to get to other dimensions other than portals. "A tear in reality. Big cosmic no no." Mistress Mirada then puts her hands up to the rift. "Something punched its way through. Something I really don't want to meet." Buffy looks at Connor and they share a small, knowing smile.
The Mistress then disappears, then reappears behind Cordelia, causing her to scream. "Scuse me. Sorry." she says as she walks back up to the rift. Lorne walks up with a bowl. "Just the way you asked." He says as she puts protective glasses on. "Should we leave or get behind something?" Lorne asks. "Nah, it's pretty routine. Just sometimes I get a little shmoots in my eye.'' She responds and puts on a black cloak. The Mistress circles her hand over the bowl as she chants. She then shoots the paste in the bowl up into the rift. It shimmers around for a moment before closing the rift. The Mistress takes down her hood and takes off the glasses. She looks back to the group. "It's closed."
"Well, can you tell if anything else came through it?" Cordelia asks.
"Not sure, and not sticking around to find out. Bye." She says as she waves and leaves the hotel.
After she left the group dispersed to go along with their regular nightly activities. Of course, that's when Cordy has a vision. "What! Where?! Angel, there's a bar vampires! A gang of them! Angel, can you hear me?!" Meanwhile, Angel is trying to talk loud enough so she can hear him. "Cordy, slow down!" Cordelia finally snaps out of it. She looks around, and Buffy and Connor are staring at her, confused. "Angel, there's a girl in a bar with a gang of vampires. You have to help her."
Angel looks at his son. "Look, I've got to go out."
"Yeah, I get it."
"It's kind of my job."
"I understand."
"It's very dangerous. There's going to be a lot of fighting. You wanna come?"
At that, Connor grins a little. "Sure." Angel turns to look at Buffy. "You in?" Buffy sees this as the perfect opportunity for father son bonding time, so she makes up an excuse. "No, I'm good. I got to call Dawn and my friends. They're probably worried." Connor turns to start walking out the door. Buffy is able to catch Angel's eye before he does the same, and she winks.
On the way to the bar, Connor is mesmerized. They are in Angel's car with the top down. The wind is whipping Connor's slightly long hair all around his face. The boy isn't paying attention to any of that. He's too preoccupied looking up at all of the lights. He's never seen so many.
When they pull in, Angel pulls two stakes out of his leather duster and hands one to his son as they're heading inside. Angel hops into the fight that was forming as soon as they get inside, but Connor stays back and watches his dad fight. He instantly recognizes some of his own fighting techniques. It makes Connor wonder how much he really inherited from his dad.
After a minute, Connor joins the fight. He jumps and flies several feet forward. "Nice! Take the one on the-" Angel doesn't get to finish because Connor jumps again. This time behind the bar. "Well, yeah. That-that makes most sense." Angel mutters to himself before he's punched in the face. Connor stakes the vampire that was attacking the woman. He grabs the woman by the shoulder and ushers her out from behind the bar. The woman looks at him strangely, as if she knew him. Connor finds this strange, as he's never seen this woman before.
Angel grabs the back of his shirt and pulls him away from her. "Go! Get outta here!" he yells at her because if she doesn't, Angel doesn't know if he'll be able to stop himself from hurting her for her part in the plan to take his son. He doesn't want to set that example for his son. Justine listens and rushes through the crowd.
Punches and kicks are being delivered to every vamp that comes at them. Angel and Connor back up until they're shoulder to shoulder. They look at each other before focusing back on the vamps in front of them. As they are fighting, Angel realizes that, together, they make an unstoppable team.
One vampire makes a run for it. Connor quickly follows him out the alley entrance of the bar. He slowly exits the door and focuses his ears, hoping to hear the vampire. He hears something behind him, and quickly turns, aiming the stake towards the vampire's heart. Angel catches his arm before he makes contact. Angel lets go of his arm, and gives it a push burying it into the vampire's heart. Angel saw it sneaking up behind his son.
"Vampires don't need to breathe." Angel points out. "You did-you did good in there." he compliments his son. "Normally I'd take you to a ball game or a museum or something. It's just-It's good to know you can handle yourself in a fight." At that, Angel pretends to attack Connor, and Connor's instincts have him back away slightly with a smile on his face. "It's good to know you can do that too." Angel says, proudly.
Connor retaliates by pretending to punch at his dad's stomach. "Oh." Angel says while laughing. They continue this for ten minutes, and when they do head home, they go with smiles on their faces. Angel's so happy to be sharing this moment with his son.