set the night Connor and Cordy take off from the hotel

[cordys_bitch]

I couldn't stay here anymore. Maybe it wasn't my place to voice my opinion on how to handle Harry, but it was annoying that they pushed me away one minute and then expected me to step in and fix shit later. You'd think that Dad of all people wouldn't do that to me since everyone does it to him, but I guess that is the way it goes. It was clear they

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[cordys_bitch]

It was a three hour drive to San Francisco which meant we'd get there in two. She wanted to know what was going on, and really so would I. It was so fucked up, and no one seemed to be looking at things logically.

Okay this was our family. Logic wasn't exactly a genetic trait. Still it was more cut and dry than Dad and Faith wanted to make it to be. It wasn't like I wanted to hurt Harry or discounted what it would do to them and everyone to lose him, but hello he had no soul, had fangs, and was now on drugs. Oh and don't forget where he lives and works at now.

"Harry is back on the performance enhancers that is killing Lily and made him so sick that Dad had to turn him. His excuse is that it's for protection from us and that it can't kill him now that he is already dead. When Dad was drinking from Harry back on the island, the drugs in Harry's blood made Dad kind of nuts. So, basically Harry is working at Wolfram and Hart, has no soul, is on drugs that could make him crazy, but when I suggest we take care of the problem I'm the asshole."

That wasn't all of it, but it was the part that had me seething right now. They didn't get that basically they were poking the wild animal with a stick and eventually it was going to bite.

"So, he and Dad had a fight and Dad apparently told him goodbye in the 'you're not you so you're not mine' kind of way yet translates too 'I'm angry with you so let me emotionally punish you and I'll be stalking you from the shadows since I can't really let you go.' Except Harry is likely not to get the translation. I'm pretty sure that means he is going to want to hurt Dad, but you know what do I know? I'm just the guy who comes in and tries to help when people have already let shit get out of control."

[visiongirl]

I knew that I had missed a lot while they were on that island all summer but from the little bits and pieces I'd recovered there had been something to do with drugs that Angel turned Harry to save him from. But on top of that there was also some talk of that room and the insanity that ensued. I didn't really know for sure besides the blinding glimpse that the vision had given me. The only thing I did know was that when Angel and Faith came back, they weren't the same.

Luckily for me, Connor still was the same. Although maybe a little more eager than usual to see me given the circumstances. But could you really blame us? We'd spent a lot of damn time apart when he was on that island. So not the point.

And great, it looked like we had another Darla on our hands. Did we really have to go back to LA? Well, maybe I did because of the business but did we have to go back to the hotel?

"He has no soul, he works for Evil Incorporated and he's on drugs? You had me at Wolfram and Hart. That place never did anything good for anyone." Even though I had to say that I was relieved that Angel wasn't working there anymore. Could you really blame me for that? And I understood all too well where Connor was coming from because Angel and his little vampire obsessions? Never a good thing. Usually it leads to getting fired and going psycho. One good thing did come out of Darla and I'm looking at him, but there no way in hell I'm going to voice that opinion outloud. It's hard being skank of the year's future daughter-in-law but I manage.

"The way I understand it, everytime Harry dies Wolfram and Hart just brings him back but can't we just lock him up somewhere for like...ever?" I asked hopefully in Connor's direction.

[cordys_bitch]

"The contract isn't his fault, but life isn't fair. He's bound to them, and it sucks that it went down like that but it is what it is. Now we can't even rely on Dad being able to control him because Harry is acting like a defiant teenager who is pissed his car got taken away. I doubt he's just going to vandalize a building when he decides to try and get Dad's attention."

I felt like a dick for seeing it all black and white, but someone had too right? At least Cordy agreed with me. If Gunn was around he'd agree too. I sort of wanted to put it to a vote, but I wasn't sure if it would go in our favor.

If we took matters into our own hands how would everyone who wasn't on team shove Harry into a box for eternity deal with it? Dad and Faith, with their souls, could be forces of nature when scorned.

"I'd say the ocean, but it's cruel and sadistic. He's not killing people so I'm not sure if that is even overkill. Maybe we could shove him in the cage and get Grace to work some powerful spell that wouldn't let him be released? But then he becomes like an animal in the zoo. I don't know, Cor, I really don't know what we're supposed to do hear. He isn't acting like I thought he would, and he has kids who love him. I don't know how to handle it."

[visiongirl]

Cruel and sadistic? Pffft. The last thing I wanted was for Angelus Jr. to show up and try something cruel and sadistic on Angel or Connor or God forbid, his children. Screw cruel and sadistic, I'm all for the cruel and sadistic treatment of the cruel and sadistic.

"I don't think you can handle it." I told him truthfully, and I wondered if Angel could open his eyes enough right now to at least see the pain in his son. God damn it, sometimes that vampire really needed to be smacked upside the head. Connor took way too much onto himself, he reminded me of his father that way but he couldn't carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, it just wasn't possible. Trust me on that one.

"At least not alone." I clarified for him when he gave me a look. "You can't fight Harry and Angel and Faith all at the same time coming from different directions. It's too much for one person, even the miracle prophecy child." I grinned at him a little bit as I tightened my fingers around his as we cruised down the interstate.

"And what do you mean he's not killing people? That's what evil vampires do. They kill people. At least the last time I checked that's what they do."

[cordys_bitch]

That was the bitch of it, right? He wasn't even eating people. At least he said he wasn't and fine I stalked a little too. I hadn't seen any traces of him killing people.

"Being turned by Dad with his soul apparently made him a little different. Less with the 'i want to rip your throats out and litter the streets with the carnage of the innocent' and more with the 'it's not fair Faith was possessed and killed me and people don't trust me now' whining."

Maybe I wasn't being real fair either, but the entire situation was fucked up. Fine, we didn't stake Dad when he was Angelus, but we would have if we couldn't have returned his soul.

"Maybe..." I paused and then looked at her. "Maybe we could send him to Quor'toth. He wouldn't be stuck under the ocean, and he'd have things to feed and hunt. Demons with demons and all that stuff. It's more humane than sinking him to starve for eternity."

[visiongirl]

"So he's only whining people to death then?" I asked him as I furrowed my eyebrows. I'd never heard of anything like that before and I really wasn't sure what to say about it. Did Angel break him when he turned him? Had that ever even been done before? Angel turned a vampire with a soul so what did that mean exactly? I'd be really curious if I wasn't mostly terrified which meant there was no way in hell I was going anywhere near Harry again anytime ever unless I had to.

"I don't really understand the problem then, except for the whole evil Wolfram and Hart thing." But Angel worked for Wolfram and Hart and okay, even I can admit that I hated that he was working there but we all managed to get over it eventually. Because I knew what kind of man Angel was and that he would be able to rise above their influence but Harry? Not so much.

"Which, on second thought is a pretty big evil thing." I sighed as I looked over at him again. "I would say just leave him alone and let him do his evil thing but I know your father and once he gets it in his head that he's responsible for someone he doesn't back off." I said, giving him a pointed look because I knew that Connor had learned that lesson harder than any of the rest of us had. Let's just say Angel puts the skulking stalkery thing back into....skulking and stalking.

"Maybe it's not too late for Angel to help him. That is what he does. Maybe he can reach him still." I was at a loss here, and by the looks of it so was Connor.

[cordys_bitch]

"If he is going to do that then he has to be clearly on that side. When he kicked me out, I thought he hated me, Cordy. I was a kid, yeah, but I still thought he hated me. He never made me think he wouldn't let me back, but still it was a blow."

I kept my eyes on the road as I listened to her say that Wolfram and Hart was a problem. Yeah, and I was the reason he really got tangled up in it. And Harry and Faith were tangled up thanks to their family too.

"It's like if we try and ask him to stay a part of the family we put the kids and everyone at risk. But if we push him away aren't we giving Wolfram and Hart too much control over him? I don't know. It shouldn't be this hard. I should be able to stake him and that be the end of it or we should be able to put a stuff a soul into him. This current state he's in...it's frustrating."

[visiongirl]

"I know." I said sympathetically when I watched Connor struggle with what the right decision here is. It was impossible to put Harry out of his misery if Wolfram and Hart would continue to bring him back and over and over again. Containment was really the only solution but I had the feeling that would be met with strong opposition at the hotel.

With a sigh I rubbed my hand over the length of his arm as he kept driving. If he hit that pedal any harder the Viper might turn into the Delorian and we'd end up in the future or back in the past which come to think of it might not be so bad right at this very moment. Connor was taking everything too hard, just like he always did but he can't fix every problem. He's only one man, an extraordinary one but still only one.

"Well, today we are not in Los Angeles, we're going to San Fransisco because you need a break. I know you badly want to fix all of this for your dad and for Faith and for those kids but you can't right now. You deserve a break, bub. So I'm going to take your mind off of everything that's going on for the next couple days. Okay?" I smiled at him.

[cordys_bitch]

"When did I turn into Dad?" I asked her with a wry smile. She was right because I couldn't fix all of them. It was exhausting to try and keep them afloat. I was mostly freaked out that somehow I became the adjusted one. Could we get everyone mindwipes?

"I've never been to San Francisco before, have you?"

There were a lot of places she and I had yet to visit together. I needed to seriously look into arranging a proper honeymoon for us. It wasn't right that we were constantly having to help everyone else and neglecting taking time for ourselves.

"I'm not even logging into my journal for the next few days. They can call if it's an emergency, but unless there is an apocalypse, let's just forget about Los Angeles for awhile."

[visiongirl]

I smiled a little bit at him. "I think we all turn into our parents a little bit, we can't help it. But you could have a worse role model." I pointed out to him. Like Richard Chase for example. Leaving a string of illegitimate children across the state of California, Tax Fraud Extraordinaire.

"I've been there a few times when I was younger but it's been a long time." I admitted to him. "The beaches are great, it's very pretty there." Just the kind of place where we could go and escape the hellish drama of our lives for a few days. I'd have Connor unwound and relaxed in no time at all.

"Forgetting about LA for a few days? That sounds like a plan." I smiled at him, determined to forget that the last time I did that Connor ended up getting kidnapped to a hell dimension. But since he was here with me? I didn't have to worry about that, now did I?