The best laid plans....
As plans go, his was a simple one. After Connor had helped Peter clean out Griffin's lab for anything that could be useful in regards to Harry, he intended to go back to the penthouse, drop his weapons there, take a shower, drive to Silver Hills looking presentable (as opposed to having Griffin's blood and eye fluids all over him), get Harry released, bring him back to the penthouse, and then sleep. Connor couldn't remember when he had slept the last time. He knew that their worries were far from over, that worst actually might not have happened yet; after all, Griffin had taunted him with the fact he had given Harry doses of the original green goo, not from the safer modified versions Peter had produced. But superpowers or not, Connor had his limits, and he needed to rest in order to be of any use to anyone. Now that the Goblin was dead and couldn't damage Harry or anyone else even further, he could allow himself to. After getting Harry out of Silver Hills. No way Harry was going to stay there a minute longer.
Unfortunately, his very simple plan started to unravel at the "get back to the penthouse" stage already when he was greeted by none other than his parents, who looked exhausted and livid enough to have been up and about the entire night as well. He had expected Angel to come to New York sooner or later, but not that soon. Darla he had not expected at all, and knew he should have. So much for any more attempts to downplay or hide what was going on. At least with the Goblin identified as someone other than Harry and dead, he didn't have to go through the entire insistence on Harry's innocence with them, and didn't have to put Angel on the list of people he was afraid would want to harm Harry. Darla said "you idiot" and hugged him fiercely; Connor was too drained not to hug her back. Dimly, he remembered the first time he had harmed a human being after the mindwipe. It had happened in her presence, and he had been horrified and shocked by the ease of it, and by the fact he had been sure, then, that she was really his mother. This night, the sole reason why he hadn't killed another human was that the guy had died through his own poison, and Connor had taken great satisfaction in hurting him before that happened.
There was something crazy and right at the same time in being with his parents after that.
The next unexpected thing that happened was that Angel told him they had been looking for Kara as well as for Connor. Now Kara had said she wanted to come to New York, but she had also said she would call Connor once she had arrived, and she had not done so. At this point, Connor thought of actually checking his cell phone and noticed he had forgotten to switch it back on after turning it off during his secret Thursday night visit to Silver Hills. After some arguments about what should come first, freeing Harry or looking for Kara - which now that the sun was up Angel was no longer in a position to do - Darla suggested that as Kara had come to New York to visit Harry to begin with, she would contact him sooner or later, and would be more likely to respond to a phone call from him than she would to one from any of them. Harry, Darla said, had claimed Kara had been there some time on Friday already, but hadn't exactly been in a condition to be sure. This brought the image of Harry full of tranquilizers and in that place again back full force to Connor, and he insisted on leaving to get him out, immediately.
Which was when Angel with surprising worldliness pointed out that no doctor worth his title would release a patient who had only checked in a few days earlier with obvious problems, and that Connor better use that new power of attorney Harry had given him to make a sizable donation to Silver Hills in order to make the release worth the staff's while. Obviously, that year as CEO of Wolfram and Hart still had aftereffects. Not that one could say he was wrong.
Harry's cheque book in hand, Connor drove off to Silver Hills and for one of the few times in his life followed his father's advice. By the time money had won over conscience, he found it increasingly difficult not to check himself in instead. Then he saw Harry again, and the sheer relief Harry was lucid, not in a stage of decomposition and about to return with him cut through the numbness and exhaustion, enough to make him smile for the first time since the entire madness started.
The temptation to do what they had done on Tuesday night and go to a hotel in order to have some quiet hours alone before facing the next step was nearly overwhelming, but there was the Kara situation, and Connor couldn't bring himself to lie about this. Kara needed to know the good news, she needed to be found, and maybe they'd even manage to get through a big scale family reunion without any more bloodshed. So the only thing Connor didn't tell Harry when explaining all was that Griffin had slipped him doses of the original formula.That, and its implication, really could wait.
The "driving back to the penthouse" part of the plan unravelled as much as everything else, though. For starters, Connor had planned to drive, and secondly, he had wanted to treasure every moment. But somewhere between the Silver Hills main building and the parking lot Harry told him he looked ready to pass out, and suggested to drive instead. Letting someone fresh out of medical care behind the wheel sounded surprisingly rational at this point. He got into the passenger seat, leaned his head back and tried out various things to say, such as "I'm sorry I didn't figure out it was him sooner" or "don't worry about my parents, I think they really just want to collect Kara and go home" or "you know, I had this crazy idea about asking Kara to... no, forget it", or "don't be surprised if Peter thinks I'm nuts now, and you know, getting tasered really is a bitch". Or just maybe "I love you". But somehow none of this made it beyond the fragmentary thoughts stage.
He was asleep before Harry took the first exit to New York.
Unfortunately, his very simple plan started to unravel at the "get back to the penthouse" stage already when he was greeted by none other than his parents, who looked exhausted and livid enough to have been up and about the entire night as well. He had expected Angel to come to New York sooner or later, but not that soon. Darla he had not expected at all, and knew he should have. So much for any more attempts to downplay or hide what was going on. At least with the Goblin identified as someone other than Harry and dead, he didn't have to go through the entire insistence on Harry's innocence with them, and didn't have to put Angel on the list of people he was afraid would want to harm Harry. Darla said "you idiot" and hugged him fiercely; Connor was too drained not to hug her back. Dimly, he remembered the first time he had harmed a human being after the mindwipe. It had happened in her presence, and he had been horrified and shocked by the ease of it, and by the fact he had been sure, then, that she was really his mother. This night, the sole reason why he hadn't killed another human was that the guy had died through his own poison, and Connor had taken great satisfaction in hurting him before that happened.
There was something crazy and right at the same time in being with his parents after that.
The next unexpected thing that happened was that Angel told him they had been looking for Kara as well as for Connor. Now Kara had said she wanted to come to New York, but she had also said she would call Connor once she had arrived, and she had not done so. At this point, Connor thought of actually checking his cell phone and noticed he had forgotten to switch it back on after turning it off during his secret Thursday night visit to Silver Hills. After some arguments about what should come first, freeing Harry or looking for Kara - which now that the sun was up Angel was no longer in a position to do - Darla suggested that as Kara had come to New York to visit Harry to begin with, she would contact him sooner or later, and would be more likely to respond to a phone call from him than she would to one from any of them. Harry, Darla said, had claimed Kara had been there some time on Friday already, but hadn't exactly been in a condition to be sure. This brought the image of Harry full of tranquilizers and in that place again back full force to Connor, and he insisted on leaving to get him out, immediately.
Which was when Angel with surprising worldliness pointed out that no doctor worth his title would release a patient who had only checked in a few days earlier with obvious problems, and that Connor better use that new power of attorney Harry had given him to make a sizable donation to Silver Hills in order to make the release worth the staff's while. Obviously, that year as CEO of Wolfram and Hart still had aftereffects. Not that one could say he was wrong.
Harry's cheque book in hand, Connor drove off to Silver Hills and for one of the few times in his life followed his father's advice. By the time money had won over conscience, he found it increasingly difficult not to check himself in instead. Then he saw Harry again, and the sheer relief Harry was lucid, not in a stage of decomposition and about to return with him cut through the numbness and exhaustion, enough to make him smile for the first time since the entire madness started.
The temptation to do what they had done on Tuesday night and go to a hotel in order to have some quiet hours alone before facing the next step was nearly overwhelming, but there was the Kara situation, and Connor couldn't bring himself to lie about this. Kara needed to know the good news, she needed to be found, and maybe they'd even manage to get through a big scale family reunion without any more bloodshed. So the only thing Connor didn't tell Harry when explaining all was that Griffin had slipped him doses of the original formula.That, and its implication, really could wait.
The "driving back to the penthouse" part of the plan unravelled as much as everything else, though. For starters, Connor had planned to drive, and secondly, he had wanted to treasure every moment. But somewhere between the Silver Hills main building and the parking lot Harry told him he looked ready to pass out, and suggested to drive instead. Letting someone fresh out of medical care behind the wheel sounded surprisingly rational at this point. He got into the passenger seat, leaned his head back and tried out various things to say, such as "I'm sorry I didn't figure out it was him sooner" or "don't worry about my parents, I think they really just want to collect Kara and go home" or "you know, I had this crazy idea about asking Kara to... no, forget it", or "don't be surprised if Peter thinks I'm nuts now, and you know, getting tasered really is a bitch". Or just maybe "I love you". But somehow none of this made it beyond the fragmentary thoughts stage.
He was asleep before Harry took the first exit to New York.