Chapter 7: A Change in Plans

The four members of Angel Investigations left the funeral in a melancholy mood. For Cordelia and Angel, it was an easy distraction from, respectively, her failed test and Wesley's presence at the funeral. For Groo and Connor, it was their first experience of a true Earth funeral, and, even though they had never met Willow, being surrounded by her crying loved ones was enough to make them sad as well.

"How long are we going to be in Sunnydale?" Connor asked from the back of the car. It should have been a question used to figure out when he could launch his revenge plan, but it didn't quite feel like that with all the mourning in the air.

Angel shrugged. "I guess we could say good-bye tomorrow." But he hesitated.

Cordy bumped his shoulder, light enough that he didn't swerve the car. "We'll check to see if Buffy wants us - well, let's be real, you - to stick around long–"

She froze, and Angel quickly pulled off to the side of the road.

"Cordy?" "Princess?"

She snapped out of it, and shook off the vision. "Well that answers that question," she murmured to herself.

†

"You're staying?"

Buffy couldn't believe her ears. Angel had mentioned Cordelia's visions to her when they met after her resurrection, and he had told her about a few in particular when they talked in the days before the funeral, but this one seemed too good to be true.

Cordelia just shrugged. "The Powers were pretty specific. Get Gunn and Fred, stay in Sunnydale, some vague evil is coming."

"A vague evil doesn't seem very specific," Dawn said, though she also seemed pretty happy that more people were going to be staying in Sunnydale.

Cordelia laughed. "Believe me, for them this is practically the equivalent of those old time-y authors who spent five pages describing what color the house is."

Tara was deep in thought before she asked her question. "Should we ask Giles and Oz to stay too? I-If it's big enough for you to come here?"

"Oz, yes," Buffy responded. "But I already talked with Giles. A coven of witches wants him in England."

Cordelia nodded in agreement, before turning a question to the whole room. "Where are we going to stay?"

"Wouldn't we just stay in the hotel we're in now?" Connor asked.

"Too expensive," Cordy said.

"But houses aren't."

Everyone turned to Tara, who pushed a loose piece of hair behind her ear. "Sunnydale already has cheap housing, and your business might make it easier to – to get a loan."

Cordelia nodded, obviously already thinking through all the details. "That might actually work. And we just paid off the hotel thanks to some demons that wanted to chop off Fred's head, so the banks can't hold that against us."

"Could you call it a business expansion?" Dawn asked.

"I'm not sure," Angel said, a crease in his eyebrows. "But if not, we can just say we're planning on finding an office after we move in."

"The only question is finding the house," Cordelia said.

Dawn got a slightly mischievous smile on her face. "The house next door is for sale."

"That could work," Cordelia said, but Angel was just looking at Buffy.

"Would you be okay with that?" he asked.

Buffy laughed. A true laugh like she hadn't had since probably before she was resurrected. "What, like I'm going to be against having the guy I love staying five feet away from me? Of course I'm fine with it."

Angel smiled back at her, and they held eye contact for a few seconds before being interrupted by Xander.

"Uh, you two aren't going to get too buddy-buddy, are you? Cause that might not be a good idea."

Buffy rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. "Xander, we've gone years without doing anything. I'm sure we'll be able to survive when we've got people literally in the house telling us not to."

†

The group split apart soon after that. Angel went to the kitchen to call Fred and Gunn and tell them about the vision. Groo pulled Cordy outside to talk, and Tara and Dawn were heading over to the Osbourne house to talk with Oz.

"Well then," Xander said. "I'm gonna head out."

"See you tomorrow."

"You've got it."

And it was just Buffy and Connor.

Buffy wasn't quite sure what to think of Connor. Obviously, he was Angel's son, and so she put him down as someone to trust and hopefully like, but she doubted he was completely recovered from growing up in a hell dimension, something Angel likely hadn't thought about considering how much worse he had been when he first came back from Acathla's dimension. Plus, there was the whole Angel's son thing.

"So…" she finally said. "You're Connor."

He nodded. "And you're Buffy."

"Yep."

They were quiet for a moment.

"Cordelia said you were a vampire Slayer?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah."

"Why are you always girls?"

She shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I was never one for Slayer history," she admitted.

Buffy hesitated before asking her question. "Angel mentioned you grew up in a hell dimension."

He nodded, not seeming remotely disturbed.

"Are you okay after that?"

He shrugged. "Yeah? I mean, I never knew anything else."

She nodded. It made sense. "Well," she said. "If you ever need anyone to talk to about it, you happen to have the perfect dad for that situation."

Connor looked at her, confusion evident on his face, and Buffy realized there was probably a lot she just took for granted that people knew.

"Long story," she told him, "But basically I sent your father to a hell dimension for what felt like a hundred years."

"Do you love him?"

Buffy was thrown off guard by the abrupt subject change. "Huh?"

"Back, when we were all talking. You called him the guy you love. I…" he paused. "I know you dated, but do you still love him?"

"I– Yes," she said. "I don't think I ever really stopped."

"Why?"

The question was odd, but then she supposed Connor hadn't actually known Angel for very long, or had the chance to fall in love himself. "Well, he's kind. He'd do just about anything to save someone. He feels guilty for all the lives he took when he was soulless, even though he couldn't control what was happening. He always puts others before himself. And… I don't know," she said. "It's hard to explain love. I know he has flaws, and he's hurt me before, but…" she shrugged. "I can't explain it. You have to live it to know it."

He nodded, though his forehead was creased.

With a small smile on her face, Buffy left him alone with his thoughts, while her own continued to swirl, but almost gently this time.

She felt better, in some way.

Her heart was still weighed by Willow's death and the vague evil of Cordelia's vision was ominous, but she wasn't alone, not by a long shot. Angel was going to be right there to talk to, and Giles even had a legitimate reason not to be in Sunnydale.

For the first time in a long time, Buffy felt hope.

More canon divergence! And the gang's all getting (and staying) together! Operation 'Everyone Gets Along and is Happy' is getting underway! (Okay, that last one was a joke. Kind of.)

Buffy and Connor's conversation is interesting, and I like it. They're two of the most important people in Angel's life (Cordelia being the only one I would consider near that level) and while that's pretty much the only thing that connects them at the moment, I think they could get along really well. I haven't pre-written enough to know how much this will pan out, but they'll have at least one more one-on-one conversation on-screen.

Also, I'm so sorry it took so long to update! I'm just currently not in a Buffy mood, and can't guarantee when an update will come.