Ceremony Of InnocenceBy DM Evans
Chapter: 8
LOS ANGELES
"I feel like an idiot," Gunn mumbled as he and Wes rode up the elevator to the floor just below the penthouses. A special key was needed to go all the way to the top but Lindsey couldn't get one. He did know the pass code for the stairwell fire doors, however.
Wesley looked over his companion who was in a suit, perhaps the first time he had ever seen Gunn in one barring the night at the ballet. They both wore the best suits they had but marred the professional image slightly with shoes bearing good running soles. "Lindsey insisted. So long as we act like we belong here no one will question us."
"Yeah, looks like he was right," Gunn admitted reluctantly, stepping off the elevator.
"He’s not a stupid man," Wes replied as they nonchalantly made their way to the stairwell and the pass code worked.
Gunn peered around the cracked open door. "Clear view. Only two guards. Let’s do this."
Both Gunn and Wes slipped tranquilizer guns out from under their jackets. Wesley had gotten a liking for them back in Sunnydale, seeing how well they worked on werewolves. These were much smaller than the gun Giles kept, easier to hide. They had both guards down before they even knew there were intruders. Gunn cuffed them while Wesley searched them for keys. He came up with a promising ring of them.
"Hurry up." Gunn put his back to the wall, frantically trying to keep an eye on both ends of the hall.
"I’m trying." Wes rolled through the keys impatiently.
The lock clicked but the room was empty. Cursing, Wesley tried two more suites before finding an occupied one. A fireplug of a man swung off the bed, startled by the sound of his door opening. He scratched at his thin, newly grown brown beard, staring at Gunn and Wesley.
"Great, just what I needed, more lawyers."
"Kevin McDonald?" Wesley asked.
McDonald edged toward the wall, obviously not trusting them.˜ "Yeah, but you already know that."
"We’re here to rescue you. Lindsey sent us," Wesley said.
"He gave us this." Gunn slipped the badge out of his pocket.
Kevin stepped closer, peering at it. "So you have my badge. You probably grabbed it up when you kidnapped me."
Gunn looked over at Wes. "Lindsey knows his brother."
"So I see. Mr. McDonald, Lindsey told us to tell you he sent us to help you like you helped him back on Coles' farm," Wesley said. He scowled, wishing Lindsey had given him more information to help sway his brother. Kevin was scanning the room for a weapon most likely, even though by now he knew there wasn’t one. Wesley decided to improvise. "He said you’d get the meaning."
Kevin snorted. "Okay, if he told you about how I had to get in between him and Old Man Coles before he got chucked into the thresher, you have to be on the level. He wouldn’t tell that story to just anyone."
"This way, Kevin," Wesley said, pointing. "We have to get out of here quickly."
"You ready to run steps?" Gunn asked, heading down the hall.
"If it gets me out of here, I’ll scale down the walls," Kevin shot back.
"Hopefully it’ll be easier than that," Wesley said, going for the stairwell.
"So why was Coles trying to put your brother in a thresher?" Gunn asked, then, "What’s a thresher?"
Kevin paused to pull a stun gun off the cuffed guard. "I got a call from Becki Ann Coles, screaming her daddy was gonna kill Lin. I get there and Coles is dragging that scrawny kid bare:assed naked for the thresher. I can just imagine what Lin and Becki Ann cut class to do up in the hay loft."
"Your brother said the rescue was off if you told us the story," Wesley said, punching in the door code.
Kevin laughed. "I bet."
"For all the details, we’ll make an exception," Gunn smirked, heading into the stairwell.
Kevin’s grin was a lot like Lindsey’s. "Done and done."
---
"I’m glad you know the way," Faith said after the fifth turn in the identical hallways. "I think I’d be lost."
"Easy enough to do," Lindsey said, then pointed. "Right around that corner."
They crossed into the last corridor. The guard looked up from his console. He scowled, seeing Faith and Angel. "Who are they, Mr. McDonald? You know this area is restricted."
"Didn’t you get Ms. Morgan’s memo? They’re specialists," Lindsey said, straightening the lines of his Armani jacket as he got next to the guard. "Check for it."
As soon as the guard looked down at his desk, Lindsey tasered him. While Faith stripped the guard of his weapons and cuffed him, Lindsey punched in the door code on the console.
"Bring the tranq gun. We might need it," Lindsey said, "Sometimes Connor gets in a fury, bouncing off the walls and otherwise hurting himself."
"And you wait until now to tell me this?" Angel snarled, advancing on the lawyer. Faith put a restraining hand on him.
"I needed you to think clearly to make a good plan of attack. If I told you how bad it really was you couldn’t do that," Lindsey snapped, punching in the last code. The door clicked open.
Angel raced in then stopped dead. Faith plowed into his leather-clad back, her slight weight not budging the bulky vampire. Both stared at the hideous video splayed out all over the walls and ceiling. Angel wrinkled his nose against the stench permeating the room, trying to ignore the piteous moaning he could pick out over the show tunes. Blood and unwashed body odors with a hint of something like stale sex filled the vampire’s nose as he watched his son, curled up in a tight ball on his knees on the floor, repeatedly slamming his head off the floor. Bruises and lash marks stood out in stark relief to his pale, dirty skin.
"Connor," Angel whispered, his knees feeling like smoke.
Connor’s head snapped up, a line of drool dangling from his cracked, swollen lips. Snarling like a feral thing, Connor exploded off the floor, charging the spell wall and getting bounced back repeatedly for his efforts.
"Connor," Angel cried, only serving to send the boy into a flurry of attacks on the walls.
"Someone’s really worked him over since I last saw him. Those don’t look like something that happened in the pits," Lindsey waved a hand at Connor’s wounds.
Angel shook his head. "Torture."
"He did bite Lilah bad enough to require stitches. Needless to say, she was not pleased and this on top of you threatening her. She was on a tear about all of it. She’s not at work today, something about a medical procedure. Maybe he gave her hand a good infection." Lindsey smirked at the thought.
"I did this to him," Angel whispered, feeling the bottom drop out of his stomach. "I pushed her too hard."
"It’s not your fault, Angel." Faith put a hand on his arm. "I should have separated Lilah from her head instead of going to work for her way back when and spared a lot of people tons of suffering."
Shaking off his despair, Angel turned to Lindsey. "How do we get him out?"
"I have a charm that should get us passed the barrier. I beat up Gavin for it." Lindsey grinned. "We should get moving before someone finds him tied up naked in an old file room."
"You stripped him?" Faith raised an eyebrow.
"Onerous work but he’ll probably think twice about running for help should he get free," Lindsey replied, producing the charm.
"I hope being naked isn’t going to slow Connor down." Faith jerked a thumb at the boy stalking the cage ferally.
"He has yet to seem to mind," Lindsey shot back.
"Give me that charm." Angel snatched it from Lindsey’s hand. "Connor, I’m coming in there to get you out."
Connor paced closer to the edge of the cell, blood dripping down his face from where he had split his forehead open again. "Filthy demon."
"I think Lindsey might have been right about the effect all of this had on the kid." Faith nodded towards the walls as she
plucked the charm from Angel’s big hand. "Come on now, Connor. We gotta fly. I’m going to come in there and we can walk
out together."
Connor made a peculiar moaning noise then fled to the far side of the cell, covering his face.
"Well, that was just odd." Faith turned confused dark eyes on her companions.
"Lilah's probably who beat him like that. She’s been the one tormenting him since they captured him from what I can tell."
"We’re losing time," Angel muttered as Faith took aim with the tranq gun. He pushed the muzzle down toward the floor. "Please, Connor, we’re here to help you. Just relax."
"Connor, look at me," Lindsey said, waving for the charm to be passed back to him. "I brought help just like I promised."
Connor stopped pacing, staring at Lindsey.
Faith put the charm in Lindsey’s hand and he looked over at Angel. "If he kills me, I’m coming back to haunt you."
"You’re friends with demons," Connor muttered, his blue eyes burning holes in the lawyer.
"You’re not building my confidence, kid, but I trust Faith’s aim." Lindsey went into the confinement area. It shimmered and wiggled like mystic Jell-O. "Come on, like I promised. You’re going to be safe."
Connor came over and let Lindsey grab his hand. Lindsey pulled him into the spell wall and it cracked loudly, sending them both sprawling. Connor rolled to his feet, growling.
"Damn that hurt," Lindsey said, shaking his head.
"What went wrong?" Angel pressed his hands to the confinement bubble, nearly falling through. He hadn’t realized it was that easy to pass from the outside.
"I’m hoping the charm isn’t keyed to Gavin alone." Lindsey got up. "Maybe it won’t take two at a time as a precaution in case Connor grabbed one of them. Go first, Connor then toss it back to me." Lindsey surrendered the charm.
The boy stared at it momentarily then charged the spell wall. He passed through, stumbling. Angel caught him. Connor yelped, fighting. Angel wrapped his arms around the flailing boy tightly.
"Connor, it’s okay. The stuff in the video isn’t real but I am," he said softly. "I’d never hurt you."
Connor’s knees gave away, a sob tearing out of him. Angel held him up as Faith took the charm out of the boy’s hand and flipped it through the wall to Lindsey. He caught it and came through.
"Angel, we’re not going to be able to just walk him out the way we came. They’ll notice a naked kid," Faith said.
Angel nodded, so happy to have his child in his arms that he barely noticed the rankness of Connor’s filthy body was making his eyes water. He peeled Connor away from him then shrugged out of his duster. He handed it to Connor. The boy fumbled with it. Faith helped him pull it on. Connor, lost in the big coat, trembled at her touch.
"It’s okay, Connor. Faith is someone you want on your side," Angel said. "You liked working with her against the Beast, remember?"
"This way," Lindsey broke in. "There’s a way out from the basements."
"You okay to walk, Connor?" Angel asked and the boy nodded.
Lindsey took point and led the way deeper under ground and Angel gauged they had gone several blocks before Lindsey brought them up into a different building. They were only a few blocks away from the Belvedere.
The top was up on the car. Gunn sat behind the wheel. He and Wes spilled out of the car with a burly man Angel assumed to be Lindsey’s brother. Lindsey broke into a run and let the man pick him off his feet. Wes and Gunn caught hold of Angel and Connor in a rough hug then just as quickly herded them into the car. It was a tight squeeze with Gunn, Wes and Kevin in the front. Angel, Lindsey and Faith made it into the back seat, Angel pulling Connor with him. The boy half sprawled across Angel’s lap and Faith’s.
"Drive!" Angel ordered.
Gunn peeled away from the curb, driving like the hounds of hell were trying to bite the wheels. "Was anyone following you?"
"Got away clean but someone’s bound to notice the unconscious guards," Angel said.
"Not to mention a naked lawyer in a file room," Faith added, taking Connor’s hand, which was limp against her belly. She squeezed gently. Connor looked over his shoulder, quivering.
˜Angel stroked his hair, pushing it off his son’s tear-dampened face. "You’re safe, son. No one’s going to hurt you now."
Connor sighed, his body going to jelly. Angel tightened his grip, wanting to cry with relief. No one would blame him if he did. Instead he just concentrated his gaze out the window, finding an odd contentment in the simple warmth of his son’s body resting again him. He ignored everything else but the sounds of Connor’s breathing, except for one exchange impossible to tune out.
Gunn looked in the rear view mirror and asked, "Lindsey, what’s a thresher?"
Lindsey leaned forward and slapped the back of his brother’s skull. "You told!"
Kevin just laughed, rubbing his head.
Angel realized then he’d have to offer some form of protection for the brothers. It was a small price to pay for the rescue of his child.
LOS ANGELES
Lilah lay on her hospital bed, watching TV without actually seeing it. She felt sick, completely mental causes she knew but that didn’t change how she felt. She couldn’t believe she had gone through with it. Lilah studied her hands crossed over her belly. Her bitten hand now only bore a small red mark. Dr. Outing’s aide had healed it completely since they didn’t want the antibiotics to negatively impact the procedure.
And it had been a success. Lilah had a friend in law school who claimed she knew she was pregnant from the day it happened with each of her pregnancies. Lilah had always considered it bullshit. Still, here she was feeling a total difference in her body. She knew instinctively Dr. Outing and her demon aide had accomplished their objective and Wolfram and Hart would be depositing a quarter of a million in her offshore accounts. Lilah knew she was pregnant but with Outing using demon magic to insure the procedure she figured that was a dead certainty going into it.
How many times had she heard jokes or seen it on TV about how men dreaded prostate examines? She wished they’d catch a clue. They had nothing on a woman’s pelvic exam. They got the finger up the butt and one up the vagina while the doctor tried to catch their ovaries between those invading fingers. That topped anything a man had to deal with as far as she was concerned. Not to mention the speculum and the brush they used to collect the cells for the yearly pap smears.
And as humiliating as a yearly gynie was it had nothing on˜ the procedure she had endured today. Naked, her legs up in the stirrups with that damn speculum cranking her open in a manner unchanged since medicine’s barbaric beginnings : those things she could deal with, she did so every year : Lilah felt stripped of all dignity by the addition of something that was going to grow in her like a parasite. How unlike her was it for her to have knuckled under and agreed to motherhood?
This felt horribly wrong. Despite wanting to jump Angel for a good hard romp, she had nothing but disgust for him. The same went for his plain little son. How Angel and Darla : two reasonably attractive people : had produced such an ungainly homely, child she had no idea. Now their blood mixed with hers? Could she really do this? Would she come to love this thing growing inside her? What would that mean for her if she did? Could she just let Wolfram and Hart take away something that lived within her if it turned out the kid was a freak like its father? Would she just hand them the baby and run? The worst part was she had nine months to regret this decision.
Just as her mind’s whirling was slowing, her cell phone rang. As much as she wanted to just let it ring, Lilah didn’t dare do so. It might be a senior partner checking on her or checking up on her report that Connor looked ready, finally, for brainwashing. She had stopped to see him before heading off for her procedure. The mere sight of her freaked him out. He seemed broken at long last.
"Hello - oh, God!" Lilah’s fingers went numb. "How did this happen? Yes - fine, whatever they pack for me will do. Do you know where I’m going? Yes, of course, not discussing it by phone is best...yes, sir, I feel all right. I’ll be ready when they get here."
Lilah signed off, a wave of panic threatened to wash her deep into the fabric of her hospital bed. She rubbed her belly. Would the life in her stay Angel’s hand now that Connor was free? Would Connor simply kill her regardless? She wasn’t going to stick around L.A. to find out.
LOS ANGELES
"I didn’t know what to do," Fred said, waving her hands around at the table overflowing with food. "I didn’t know if he’d be hungry or hurt or anything from your call so I ordered a little something to eat."
"This isn’t little, baby." Gunn kissed her cheek, seeing the spread of take out Chinese, Mexican and pizzas.
Fred pouted. "All you said was you had him. You didn’t want to say more because we still don’t know what kind of surveillance we might be under. I thought everyone might be hungry."
"I am," Faith said, not waiting on the others to dig in.
"I’m going to check on Connor," Angel said, climbing the steps. He hadn’t wanted to leave his son but upon returning home, the boy’s strength seemed to vanish. He mumbled a request to go to his room and Angel carried him there with Faith in tow. Connor refused to let her hand go. Angel explained how they had given Connor a different room that was all ready for him in anticipation of his rescue. They hadn’t wanted to put him back in a room painted with the horrors of his capture. Angel neglected to mention it was only two doors down from his own. He doubted Connor wanted to be that close to him but for now Angel wanted his son where he could hear him.
Once in the room, Connor insisted on being alone, letting Faith go finally. He went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Angel hadn’t wanted him to be by himself but Connor got so agitated Angel feared to stay. But he had only given it ten minutes, just long enough to reassure Fred that Connor was okay, before heading back upstairs.
He could hear the shower running. The door to the room was open so he went in. He knocked on the bathroom door. "Connor, I’m coming in, okay?"
Not hearing an answer, Angel could have sworn his heart started hammering in his chest. He went in, sloshing on the wet floor. Connor sat in the tub, back to the wall, the curtain not pulled. He rocked back and forth, the tub, which had been plugged, overflowing. The air in the room hung ripe with the flowery perfumed shampoo and body wash Fred and Cordy had stockpiled. Connor had scrubbed himself red, opening some of his wounds, staining the water pink and brown with blood and dirt. His hair was wet and stuck to his face.
Connor didn’t even look up as Angel turned off the showerhead. Angel knelt on the puddle floor and touched Connor’s shoulder. The boy’s blue eyes snapped over at him, wild like a spooked stallion.
"I think you’re clean now, son," Angel said softly. Connor just stared as if not comprehending a word. "We have food downstairs. Would you like to eat?"
Connor just blinked a few times, his rocking ceasing. He slipped deeper into the tub sloshing water over the tub lip, soaking Angel.
"You stay right here, son. I’m going to get some bandages so I can patch you up."
Connor didn’t respond. Angel hurried down the hall. He gathered up more towels, boxes of dressings and a tube of antibiotic ointment. He dropped the medical supplies on the bed and took all the towels into the bathroom. Connor seemed half asleep in the tub. Angel tossed the towels down to mop up the floor, reserving one for Connor.
"Can I open the drain?" Angel asked.
Connor’s eyes opened and he nodded. Angel pulled the plug and Connor levered himself out of the tub. He accepted the towel from Angel who retreated to the bedroom. Connor came out quickly, looking small, cold even, swathed in the large towel.
Angel gestured to the clothing laid out on the bed. "Fred bought you some new clothes. These are some of them. I hope they’re okay." Angel grimaced. It was so awkward. He never knew what to say to Connor and now it was even worse. He could only guess what Connor had endured at Lilah’s hands and what his mental state might be. Connor picked up the boxers, staring at them as if confused by them. Angel nodded encouragingly. He watched as Connor wordlessly pulled on the bright underwear.
"Sit, before you finish dressing. I’ll see what I can do for the worst of these lash marks," Angel said.
Connor sat obediently. The look in his son’s china eyes felt hauntingly familiar, as was the docile nature. Connor was acting so Dru-like Angel expected him to start spouting nonsense. As he bandaged the worst rents in his child’s flesh, Angel wondered what he could possible do to help.
"How long?" Connor asked, his voice rough.
Angel startled at the sound of his son’s voice. "What?"
"How long did she have me in the cage?"
Angel paused in his treatment of Connor’s wounds, studying the boy’s face. Connor wasn’t looking at him. He seemed to be concentrating on the new picture on the wall. Angel had sketched it in those daylight hours he couldn’t sleep for worrying about his son. It was Connor in sunlight, how he had looked in the courtyard that first day he had seen his adult child.
"Almost four months."
"So long," Connor whispered, trembling harder.
Angel wished he knew what to say. "We tried, Connor. We did everything we could to find you. We had just learned of the fight pit. Then Lindsey showed up."
"He liked Mother."
"Yes, he did. Somehow I think Lindsey saw what was human in her," Angel said, beginning to work on the wounds again.
"Fred ordered a ton of food. I think I might have mentioned that before. Would you like to go down and eat? Or if you don’t feel like going down there with everyone I can bring it up here for you. Or would you rather not be alone?" Angel knew he was babbling but all he could think of was that he didn’t know what he’d do if Connor was as broken as Dru.
"Not alone," Connor said.
"Then you won’t be." Angel finished taping up the large tear across Connor’s thigh then smoothed the material of the soft boxer shorts down over the pristine bandage. "There. That was the worst of it. Go ahead and get dressed."
Connor did so mechanically then looked at Angel expectantly. Angel put a hand on his shoulder briefly not sure if he’d have to lead the boy downstairs. Connor sighed a little then started down on his own sans shoes. Angel just let that go. Everyone was grouped around the food table. They all stopped talking as they saw them on the stairs. Connor slumped on the round couch once he got downstairs. Angel touched his shoulder again.
"Want me to get you something to eat?" Angel asked and Connor nodded. "What would you like?"
"Don’t care."
Angel went to the table and stared at the wide variety, bewildered. He picked up a plate and utensils. He glanced over at Fred.
"Do you have a clue what Connor likes?"
"He’s a Hoover," Gunn replied. "He’ll eat anything."
Fred bobbed her head and took the plate from Angel. "I’ll help."
Angel watched her load up the plate with a little of everything. He could have done that much. She gave him back the plate, obviously knowing he’d want to be the one to give it to Connor. Fred dogged Angel’s heels back to the couch. Seeing her get close, Connor whimpered, tucking his feet up, almost turning into a ball on the odd couch.
"Angel?" Fred turned questioning eyes on him.
Angel put the plate in her hands. "I think Lindsey was right. After what Lilah did to him, Connor’s not feeling comfortable with women around." He sat with Connor, pulling him upright. "Connor, you know Fred isn’t going to hurt you."
"Has once," Connor muttered and Angel looked up at Fred in surprise.
She glanced over at Gunn, shuffling nervously. "He’s right. When Wes called us and told us what Connor had done to you, I tasered Connor after bringing him..." she paused, a pained look in her eyes, "A plate of food."
"Oh." Angel’s dark eyes flicked down to the plate she had now. "Why did you do that exactly? Did he try to hurt you?"
"It was more pre-emptive. We weren’t sure what he might do," Gunn said, defensively.
"Look Connor. I’ll just put the plate here beside you and go over there okay, if that’ll make you feel safer." Fred put the plate down and reached out quickly to stroke Connor’s hair. She felt him flinch. "I’m so glad you’re home, baby."
He waited for her to back off before he took the plate. Connor ate greedily with his fingers, ignoring the utensils Angel still had in hand. Father and son both glanced up seeing someone get near the couch. Lindsey’s brother stood there, hand extended to Angel.
"I wanted to properly thank you for helping to get me out of there." Kevin shook Angel’s hand. "Why did they take your boy? Was it the same reason they took me?"
"I doubt it," Angel replied.
"Looks like the bastards were harder on him than they were on me," Kevin said sympathetically, looking at Connor. He turned to his brother, giving the impression of a bull preparing to charge. "Lin, you know what’s going on. I know you do."
"Yeah, Lindsey, tell us about this Sunnydale deal," Angel said, sarcasm leaking into his voice.
Lindsey waggled his cell phone. "I’m trying to call my parents. I want them to know Kevin’s okay only no one’s picking up. I’m getting worried."
Kevin crossed the room. "You think these guys got 'em?"
"I don't know, Kev. I got them out of Oklahoma all right." Lindsey sat on the reception desk.
"Where?" Kevin stuck close to his younger brother.
"I sent them on their dream vacation and I managed to keep them from blurting out where over the phone. Mostly because I arranged all this through Abby."
"Is...how is she?" Kevin asked, slumping against the wall.
"Your wife and kids are fine. I got Abby to convince the whole family they had to do this. You know how Mom and Dad are about accepting gifts from us kids, especially me." Lindsey grimaced, knowing he had a terrible relationship with his ‚simple folk parents. "But Abby understands that the people who got you might be coming after the rest of them. So, the whole family is up in Canada at Niagara Falls." Lindsey shrugged.
"Maybe they’re just out sight-seeing. Abby would make sure Mom and Dad got to see it, no matter the circumstances," Kevin said, desperately hopeful look on his face.
"That’s what I’m hoping." Lindsey looked at his phone as if willing it to ring.
"Not to interrupt but I think you’d better see this," Gunn said, pointing to the small TV at the end of the table.
Angel craned his neck so he could see what Gunn was interested in. There was a news bulletin on.
"An attorney with the Wolfram and Hart was found murdered in a file room in the office building. Preliminary reports theorize that Lindsey McDonald was killed by intruders, possibly connected with a case he was working on. The police are still
attempting to contact his family. And in other news.."
Gunn turned the sound down. "Any reason they’d leak that report?"
˜"Oh, God. Gavin." Lindsey covered his mouth.˜ "I got him killed. I should have known."
"Known what, Lindsey?" Kevin asked, his blue eyes narrowed as he loomed over his brother.
"I know how Wolfram and Hart treat failure. I shouldn’t have left him there like that. I didn’t think...damn." Lindsey punched numbers on his cellular again. "Come on....pick...oh, hi, Abby. It’s me. Listen very closely. I need you to get everyone out of wherever it is you’re staying...I don’t care where. Don’t even tell me. Just do it. The people who took Kevin have just faked my death to get the police looking for Mom and Dad. They might be able to track you to Canada. Just rent a car and go anywhere but where you’re at now...and I have someone who wants to talk to you."
Lindsey handed over his phone to Kevin who disappeared into the office to talk to his wife in private.
"It’s not your fault, Lindsey," Wesley said, picking at his orange chicken distractedly.
"I knew better," Lindsey replied. "But I can’t change it. I wonder what Lilah and company are going to do with the Moahilya demons in Sunnydale now that I’m dead."
"Tell us about that," Angel urged.
Lindsey hopped off the desk. "Look, they wanted the Moahilyas to build an apparatus that can tap into the energies around the Hellmouth. They have a way to basically mine that energy and store it so Wolfram and Hart can use it. The Moahilyas and I have worked together before and they liked me so much so they would only deal with me." Lindsey paused, a wry look flickering across his face. "So, they took Kevin to make me do it."
"Do you have any idea how dangerous messing the Hellmouth can be?" Wesley asked, his lips setting sternly.
"How do we stop it?" Angel shifted on the couch a bit as Connor set down his plate and leaned against him.
Lindsey gave a bitter laugh. "Too late. It’s done. The mining’s started. They were only keeping me around to make sure the product was pure and I think they wanted to extend the deal." Lindsey paced the room.˜ Have you gone nuts? There’s no such thing - okay, maybe there are in hell but not here. They don’t just wander around on earth."
"Yes, they do. That’s why I left Wolfram and Hart in the first place. I got tired of working with demons. It was only a matter of time before I died gruesomely. Look at my arm, Kevin, see this faint scar?" Lindsey raised his arm, jerking his sleeve down. "Angel over there cut my arm off a few years back. Guess what? Wolfram and Hart’s demon surgeons put on a new one from one of my friends. They killed him and gave me this hand, which was when I got out before they decided I was more useful as body parts."
"I knew that riding junior rodeo would catch up with you. You’ve taken a few too many shots to the head," Kevin said, tapping his own head for emphasis.
"No, I haven’t. Demons are real. I dealt with them daily. Ghosts, werewolves, vampires, all real, Kevin." Lindsey stabbed a finger at Angel. "He’s a vampire."
Kevin snorted. "I have no idea why you’re trying to pull my leg like this Lindsey but it’s not funny."
"It’s true. He’s one of the blood-sucking undead." Lindsey growled. "Don’t believe me, go put that cross of Grandpa’s you always wear on his hand and watch him smoke."
"Um, let’s not try that," Angel said, trying to ignore the ghost of a smile that played on his son’s mouth at that idea.
"Your brother is right, Kevin. Demons are very real," Wesley said.
"Vampires murdered my sister," Gunn put in, picking up another slice of pizza.
"I was trapped in a hell dimension." Fred gave Kevin an earnest look.˜ "And Faith here is a vampire Slayer."
"Okay, I’ve been rescued by lunatics," Kevin said, crossing his arms across his chest as if to protect himself from the weird truth.
"Just prove it to him, will you, Angel," Lindsey snarled, gesturing angrily at the vampire.
"How can you prove what isn’t real?" Kevin rolled his eyes, getting his ‚I'm-dealing-with-a-dumb-perp- look.
"Like this," Angel said, morphing into his vampiric visage.
Kevin nearly smashed himself into the wall backing away. Connor reached up and ran a finger along Angel’s forehead ridges.
Angel caught his hand. "Don’t." His face went back to normal. "Lindsey’s right. I’m a vampire. There’s no doubt in my mind Lindsey helped set up a mining project right over the mouth of hell and we need him to help undo this. Lindsey, I’ll do everything I can to keep your brother safe. I owe you that much for helping me rescue Connor."
"To do that you’d have to take him..." Lindsey trailed off, scowling. "You’d have to take him to Sunnydale with us."
"Wolfram and Hart might not think to look for him there," Wesley said, his chopsticks hovering over a piece of chicken.
"And he’d have two Slayers to protect him." Faith cocked her head, crossing her arms and giving Lindsey a look as if to say 'isn’t that protection enough?'
"Well, brother, you always wanted to travel." Lindsey wilted. "How do you feel about a trip to the Hellmouth?"
Kevin just stared white-faced. "How did you get involved in all of this?" His voice went tight and accusatory.
Lindsey just held up his hands. "Long story. When are we leaving, Angel?"
"Not until morning probably. We’re nearly out of night as it is. It’s going to be a long trip in the trunk for me or we black out the windows in the GTX," Angel said. "Wesley, Faith, Gunn, Fred, can I see you in my office. Connor, Lindsey’s going to stay here with you, okay?"
Connor just nodded and everyone went into the office and closed the door. Angel sat behind the desk, feeling somehow too exhausted to start up his usual pacing.
"I don’t want to put you at risk, Fred, by dragging you to the Hellmouth but you’re probably even more at risk if you stay here
where Wolfram and Hart know they can find you," Angel said. "Is there someplace else you could go that they wouldn’t know?
This is your decision."
Fred looked over at Gunn who gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. "I’ll go with you, Angel. Like Faith said, there’s two Slayers not to mention all of us. I won’t be out in the line of fire. Trust me, I’m content with staying in the back ground and doing any needed research between bouts of morning sickness."
Angel smiled at her. "Thanks. Now, the question is, what do I do with Connor? Do I drag him with us? Or does one of us stay behind with him?"
"He looks pretty shocky," Wesley said, scrubbing a hand over his beard.
"I know. And I’m hoping that that’s all it is. You didn’t see what they were doing to him, Wes. It could drive anyone mad," Angel said.
"Lindsey seemed confident the kid was okay the last time he saw him," Gunn said, encouragingly. "Connor’s tough."
"Leaving him behind or sending him away is probably the wrong thing to do," Wesley said.
Angel nodded. "I know. I just don’t want to traumatize him more. Sunnydale's traumatic on a daily basis. But...I'm afraid of what he’ll do if I leave him behind. Connor’s still got those ideas about punishment. I don’t think he’d balk at killing Lilah."
"Seeing what she did to him, I can see why he might want to do that," Faith said. "But that would be inviting a lot of trouble."
"I didn’t rescue him just let him go to jail. If he kills Lilah you know that Wolfram and Hart would see to it he’d be arrested," Angel said, thinking in all actuality he wanted to be the one to kill Lilah for daring to hurt his child. "But be thinking of ways that he’s not alone, if I can’t convince him to come along. I never know how he’s going to react to my suggestions."
They went back out. Lindsey was leaning against the wall. His brother seemed to be ignoring him, his cross now out from under his shirt. Connor had curled back up into a ball, shaking from head to toe.
Angel looked over at Wes. "Can you handle contacting Sunnydale and finding rooms for those two." He nodded at the McDonald’s. "I want to get Connor upstairs. He’s not looking really good."
"Oh course. Take care of him," Wes replied.
Angel went over and put a hand on Connor’s arm. "Let’s go back upstairs."
Connor didn’t argue. He unfolded from the couch and followed his father to the stairs.
"Connor," Fred said, stopping him. "I told Cordelia they were bringing you home. She can’t wait to talk to you. I’ll call her back and let her know you’re really okay and that you’ll call her when you feel up to it. She wanted me to give you a hug and a kiss but I think we’ll just tell her I did since I think you’d rather skip being touched right now."
"Thanks," he murmured then turned back to Angel who put a hand on his back, gently guiding him up the steps.
He went to his room and pulled down the covers on the bed before crawling in completely clothed. Angel decided to just let him do it. He wasn’t sure how the boy usually slept but since he had been kept naked in a cell for months he probably needed some kind of armor. He pulled the covers up over Connor, tucking them in tight.
"Do you want the light on or off?"
"Haven’t seen darkness since they took me," Connor replied.
"I’ll turn them off for you." Angel said, then stroked Connor’s hair. It was incredibly soft now that it was clean. It reminded him of Darla’s. "Do you want me to stay awhile or should I go so you can sleep?"
Connor held out a hand to him. Angel flicked off the lights and sat on the edge of the bed. He let Connor take his hand. His son’s grip was incredibly strong but soon it softened and went slack. Once Connor’s breathing evened out Angel gently laid his hand down at his side but he couldn’t leave the room. He didn’t want Connor out of his sight. He opened the closet door quietly, took down the spare pillow from the shelf then curled up on the floor of the closet with it, just in case he fell asleep and the sun rose. He could see the bed, hear his son breathing and he couldn’t imagine anything being more right than that.