Fic -A New Understanding
Title -- A New Understanding
Author--
cornerofmadness
Fandom -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Angel the series
Disclaimer -- Joss Whedon owns them.
Rating -- teen
Characters/Pairing -- Rupert Giles,
Timeline -- Post series, taking into consideration the IDW comic canon for Angel but not the Darkhorse Buffy comic canon
Word Count -- 9,653
Summary -- Giles has been given a unique opportunity in rebuilding the new and improved Watchers Council. He has unfettered access to study the son of two vampires, not to mention an Ancient One, two souled vampires and, of course, a living key.
Author’s Note -- This was written for the
summer_of_giles challenge. Thanks to
dragonydreams for the beta and to
evil_little_dog for being a sounding board. Unfortunately, pro writing commitments and research travel got in the way of me polishing this so this is draft number two. If you want to wait for the polished final project, check my AO3 by Labor Day. Sorry! I'm currently not putting it up on AO3 until I get a chance for a final polish). If you read the draft and see something wonky feel free to tell me.
XXX
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein
July 9th 2006
I have been afforded an amazing opportunity to observe a completely unique being whose birth was foretold by the Great Potentate of Ul-Thur. It took some doing just to find that prophecy back when Buffy and Faith had come across some of Ul-Thur’s followers. Every part of my Watcher upbringing screams vampires cannot have children, and yet I’m watching the so-called miracle child, the offspring of two vampires fighting one of my Slayers. Of course he doesn’t particularly like to be called the miracle child and who could blame him. He is a bit more attached to the title he earned in Quor-Toth of all places: The Destroyer. I should probably start this entry at the beginning in Portland.
X X X
Giles watched completely bemused as Connor sparred with Faith. When they finished up stopping Ethan Rayne and a group of mages from opening a hellmouth in Portland, Oregon, they’d taken Angel up on his offer to come back to L.A. for some rest and planning. Mostly it had been offered because Dawn had met and fallen for Angel’s son. Giles wisely kept as far out of that mess as he could. He suspected Buffy wanted his input, and if she asked directly, he’d offer his thoughts, though he wasn’t sure it would be what she wanted to hear. Connor had been willing to be examined and added to the Watchers’ archives and Giles thought it might be because he was interested in the Watchers. Hell, he’d be a great special ops one.
Giles had wanted Buffy to be the one to face off with Connor - and she probably would at a later date - but the boy had chosen Faith to showcase what he could do. Dawn sat next to Giles. supervising. He didn’t blame her. It was obvious Connor admired Faith and that could easily get out of hand. Buffy watched from his other side and Angel sat next to her, admiring the sparring match. Fists and feet flew faster than Giles could track them easily. He was exhausted just watching them.
Connor leapt back as Faith’s heel nearly landed in his groin. “Hey! We’re sparring. No kicking me in the nuts!”
Faith slung back her sweat-dampened hair. “All’s fair in love and war, kid.”
Connor’s blue eyes narrowed, and he lashed out, knocking Faith head over tea kettle. Giles wrote a note in his book. The Destroyer didn’t like when people didn’t play by the pre-set rules. Knocked a Slayer over like she was a toddler he scrawled. Giles caught Angel craning his neck to see what he was writing. He obviously wasn’t as okay with Connor being studied as his son was.
“Serves you right for trying to kick him there, Faith,” Dawn called. “Get her, Connor!”
“He doesn’t need encouraging,” Buffy said. “Take him, Faith!”
“If you think it’s so easy, B, you get out here,” Faith panted, narrowly missing getting a foot to the gut.
“No tag teaming me!” Connor cried, dodging Faith’s fist. He grabbed her arm and took her down. He put his hand on Faith’s throat lightly.
“And that’s a kill shot,” Buffy sighed.
Giles felt his chest tighten even though he knew it was a sparring match and technically Faith wasn’t his Slayer. Not that that mattered any more, if it ever did. He and Wes had failed her in Sunnydale and even though he knew Connor wasn’t going to hurt her, seeing one of his Slayers down was hard to bear. Connor let her up, offering her a hand. She ruffled his hair then swatted him on the butt.
“Brat, that was amazing.” Faith’s butt swat turned into a little grab and next to Giles, Dawn gritted her teeth, especially when Connor didn’t protest. Giles wondered if anyone had ever bothered to tell the boy about relationships, flirting and jealousy. That was outside of his duties. All he wanted was to observe and record a completely unique individual.
Giles studied Connor and Faith both. While they both breathed hard, they didn’t show the proper level of exhaustion, given how hard they had exerted. Maybe the off-hand comment that Connor was a Boy Slayer had some merit. He doesn’t like that term he scrawled in his notebook as Willow appeared with a stethoscope and BP cuff. “Connor come here please,” he said. “Willow is going to take your vitals.”
“That alone will probably jack them up,” Angel muttered, and Willow beamed at him.
What a change Giles thought. I remember when she would have blushed as bright as her hair.
“I’m sweaty,” Connor said.
“So long as you don’t sweat acid or something demony, it’ll be fine,” she replied.
Connor gave her some masterful stinky eye. “Not demony.”
“You are a bit,” Willow replied cheerily as she slipped the BP cuff on him.
Connor sniffed. “Where’d you learn to do this?”
“Anatomy class when I was still in college.”
Giles felt the pain of that. He hated that Willow’s education had been put on hold between Buffy’s death, the loss of Sunnydale, and everything that came after. He set his pain aside because he had to. Education could always happen, and he’d see that it would once things were settled. “What’s his BP?”
“A startling one fifteen over seventy. How are you doing that?” Willow eyed him.
“That’s low right?”
“Yes, and with all that exercise, you should be elevated.” She took his wrist, watching the stopwatch she’d brought. “And your pulse is only seventy-five right in themed-range.”
“And here I thought I would have made your pulse go crazy,” Faith drawled, hip bumping him. Giles braced for the blow back.
“Faith!” Dawn snapped right on cue. Faith cocked her hip in response, waggling her eyebrows at Dawn.
Connor opened his mouth to say something, but Giles and Angel shot him a look that screamed ‘no.’ so Connor merely said, “So, my vitals should be much higher, right?”
“Much. It’s interesting. We’ve been talking about getting a real research lab for the Watchers. I’d love to know what your DNA is like.”
Connor made a face. “I’m not sure I want it on record.”
“Smart.” Faith replied.
“Planning a life of crime?” Buffy asked, and Giles could tell it was only a half joke. She was overprotective of Dawn and still not keen on Dawn dating Connor even if he was Angel’s son.
“No, but cameras are going up all over right? We break into a lot of places. Dad said that lawyer, the one who liked my mom, had tattoos that let him slip past surveillance. I don’t like magic but those might be helpful. I don’t want to be seen on CCTV stabbing someone and they not get it’s a vampire or something,” Connor said.
“Clever.” Giles noted that in his journal, and then said, “I’ve been thinking about that myself if this continues it would certainly complicate things. I’ve wondered how the Initiative handle it.”
“Riley never said and we’re persona non grata,” Buffy replied.
“Initiative?” Connor queried.
“It’s a long story,” Giles replied. “Willow and I are working up some ideas to test your upper limits for strength.”
“Oh?”
“And for your other senses.”
“I want to see you put to the test,” Willow said.
“That’s easy enough. I can jump a few stories without problems.”
He’s very sure of his abilities. “So, you’re okay with it?”
“Giles, you’re asking a man to show off. Of course, he’ll do it.” Faith rolled her eyes.
“Yes, how foolish of me,” Giles replied dryly. “Well, I think this is enough for today.”
“Cool, but you wanted to know more about Holtz for your records.”
“After lunch,” Giles said, and he nodded.
“Tomorrow you face me.” Buffy pointed at Connor.
There was something in Connor’s answering smile that put Giles in mind of Ethan. The self-satisfied smugness perhaps. “Sure! Hey, Dad, got some time to talk?”
Angel lit up like a Christmas park display. “Of course.”
They disappeared somewhere into the big building. Dawn wrinkled her nose.
“Think he’d spare a moment for me,” she muttered.
“I’m just happy he wants to talk to his dad. He doesn’t usually,” Buffy replied.
Giles took stock of her expression and decided she missed the subtext. “Buffy, no doubt he’s asking Angel how to fight you.”
Her grin was wicked. “Let him. Angel hasn’t fought with or against me in ages. I have moves he’s never seen.”
“Good, kick his ass for me. Just picture the naughty things he does to your baby sister. That should do it.” Faith slapped Buffy’s shoulder before sauntering off.
“Hey! Don’t you dare!” Dawn shoved Buffy who only grinned broader.
Giles almost pitied the boy.
July 10th 2006
I regret giving Connor the stack of books he’d asked for. He wanted what the Watchers’ had written about Daniel Holtz, Angelus, Darla and the order of Aurelius. He swore he could handle it, that he already knew the worst of his parents. That was true up to a point. Holtz wasn’t there for the 1800s. There was a century of evil he hadn’t been exposed to until I blithely handed him off the books. I hoped I hadn’t done damage to a noticeably fragile psyche. He played tough. I saw the sorrow.
I hadn’t gotten much sleep, finding myself worrying about him just as I did Buffy, Dawn and all the others. Come morning I learned I hadn’t needed to worry quite so much. The Destroyer had seen a lot of horrible things in his short days. He could adjust or at least fake it.
XXX
Giles woke up earlier than he’d like but it wasn’t unusual. He’d slept poorly, worrying as he often did about the young people who looked to him as a mentor, as a father-figure which was both flattering and occasionally uncomfortable. He shouldn’t have listened to Connor who claimed he could handle the books about his terrible family. He should have realized that Angelus, Darla, Spike and Dru having volumes written about them made them some of the worst of the worst and no one needed to know that much ugly about their family. He wanted some tea to wash away the anxiety rolling around his brain. Oddly he didn’t worry what Angel might do to him for upsetting Connor because he knew at the end of the day Angel wouldn’t actually do anything to him. Of course, he could be completely unaware of it because Connor hadn’t wanted Angel to know about the books and Giles had no intention of betraying his young subject’s confidence.
He entered the kitchen of Angel’s complex and was greeted by the smells of tea brewing and eggs cooking. Connor busily fried sausages, bacon, mushrooms and eggs. He had a pot of beans bubbling away. He smiled at Giles.
“Morning. Hey, put in some toast for yourself. This is almost ready. Tea’s ready too.”
Giles eyed the meal. “Looks like a proper fry up but you forgot the tomatoes. I can forgive the black pudding.” He grinned knowing exactly why there were no tomatoes. Connor had made his feelings very clear in Portland.
Connor grimaced. “Tomatoes are gross. I can’t find black pudding here and if I used Angel and Spike’s pig blood to make some they’d whine. Also, the ladies are going to have some breakfast and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t touch it.”
“Buffy had some once when we were in Scotland. She liked it until someone clued her in.” He smiled wryly. Buffy had been furious with him for a week for not telling her what it was.
Connor snorted. “I bet that didn’t go well.”
“Not particularly. Anything I can do besides toast? Would you like some tea?”
“Yeah, thanks. I like a lot of sugar, no cream.”
Giles poured the tea and got the toast for them both. Connor filled up plates but there was definitely enough for a few more meals left in the pan. They sat at the kitchen table. To his surprise, the fry up proved tasty.
“You’re a good cook.”
“Thanks, see, wasn’t a fluke in Portland.” Connor grinned.
Giles remembered the buffalo chicken sandwiches Connor had made for them all there. “Not at all but you do know you don’t have to cook for me, right?”
Connor shrugged one shoulder. “I know but you’re here to talk to me and you’re one of the reasons that I get to spend more time with Dawn here. I appreciate that. Besides, I’m used to cooking for me and Father and I used to help Fred, not to mention I had to cook for Cordy. I kinda like it really.”
“How are you doing today? I felt bad for giving you those books.” Giles watched Connor’s expression morph from pleased with himself to baffled.
He cocked his head. “Why?”
“You were obviously upset. I should have realized the affect the books would have and tell you no.” Giles pushed the toast under some beans and sampled them. They weren’t quite right, a bit smoky and sweet but not unpleasant.
“I’m not sorry.” Connor took a big bite of bacon, chewed for a moment before adding, “I needed to know. I guess that’s strange to you but if I’m going to make intelligent decisions about my relationship with Angel, I need to know the good and bad. He’s my dad and I was taught to hate him. It was easy when I did. Learning to love him made things very complicated and my head full of fake memories doesn’t help. More knowledge can only be good.”
He sat back, studying Giles for a moment. That level of intensity made Giles uncomfortable for a moment and he almost said something, but Connor continued, “I was sad. It hurt knowing those things but it’s better this way, controlled. What would happen if I’m out there in a fight and someone drops one of those horrible things on me and it distracts me? Or someone shows up for revenge and decides hurting me works just as well, because I’ve been down that path more than once with Angel’s enemies.”
Giles knew that was putting it mildly. He couldn’t imagine growing up in hell. “Or one of his friends showing up thinking you’d be willing to help them and Angelus.”
Connor bobbed his head. “Like Drusilla. I’m glad I know what she looks like now. Seems safer that way but I’m certainly not happy to know what Mom and Dad did to her to turn her into what she is. But it’s better I know. Look at what happened in Portland with Ethan.”
Giles scowled. “And not for the first time. I nearly lost Buffy when she was still just a teen more than once because of Ethan and because I never told them all the bad things in my past so maybe you have a point.”
“Yeah, so don’t feel bad. Reading that stuff isn’t even close to the worst thing I’ve dealt with. Remember Father used to tell me bad things Angelus and Darla did every day.” Connor shrugged and tucked into his eggs.
Giles set his own fork aside, his appetite waning. How Holtz could have done that to a child, he had no idea. Then again that’s how some Watchers raised potentials back in the day but at least the potentials weren’t related to the monsters in the cautionary tales.
The need to say something was overridden by the appearance of Buffy, Dawn and Willow. Faith wasn’t with them. He wouldn’t be surprised if she were still asleep after being out half the night.
“Something smells good,” Buffy said, stifling a yawn. She had on loose shorts and a t-shirt with her hair in a sloppy tail. The other two young women looked equally casual and only partially awake.
“Connor made a very good fry up,” Giles replied.
“Help yourselves. There’s plenty,” Connor said. “Might even be enough left for Faith or one of the guys whoever gets to it first.”
“Boy, that looks good.” Willow eyed it hungrily.
“You’ll need to put on your own toast,” he replied.
Dawn jumped to the head of the line and got hers first. She sat next to Connor and kissed his cheek. “You’re the best boyfriend.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“So humble,” Buffy laughed, eating a strip of bacon while she waited on her toast. “But this is a point in your favor.”
“Figured I might need a few.” He grinned.
“Few what, son?” Angel stumbled in followed by Spike and Illyria.
Giles couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Not only was she stunning, what she represented was so outside the scope of what any Watcher could have hoped to safely study: an Old One. By rights she should be killing them but somehow between Wesley’s efforts coupled with Spike, Angel and Gunn they had tamed her. He couldn’t believe it, but the proof was standing there, hovering in the doorway, studying him as hard as he scrutinized her. He’d have to make a separate journal for her, though she wasn’t as willing to answer questions as Connor. Never before had one Watcher had such opportunity to leave a mark. Not only was he Watcher to arguably the best Slayer on record, go-to guide for many of the new Slayers, trainer of a new breed of Watchers but now able to study a living interdimensional key, the child of two vampires, two souled vampires and an Old One. He allowed himself a moment of ego. This would outlive him.
After those few long moments of staring, Illyria wheeled around and disappeared into the big building without a word. Realizing he’d been lost in his own world, having lost the thread of the conversation, Giles ate a bit of sausage and tried to catch up. Connor bristled, eyes narrowed cluing him in on the fact he’d missed something important.
“I’m not fixing you breakfast, and don’t you use my damn mugs.” Connor stabbed a finger at him.
“Who died and made you boss, mini-brood?” Spike smirked at him.
Giles pushed back from the table, so he could move fast if he had to and he had promised Buffy something outside of Angel and Dawn’s hearing. She trusted his opinion on whether or not Connor was dangerous. Spike’s words about him being rough, what she had witnessed in the battle in Portland haunted her.
“I’m the one who got this place,” Connor replied. “Technically you’re living with me free of charge.”
“That’s Spike’s m.o.,” Angel snorted, and Spike rolled his eyes.
He pulled out his cigarettes, slipping one between his lips. “Brat.”
Connor stood and yanked the cigarette away, tossing it in the sink. “No smoking in here. You go outside.”
“Sun’s up.”
“Not my problem.”
“Are you two going to play nice?” Dawn asked.
“No,” they said in unison.
“It’s bad enough Angel is always strutting around firing off orders, I don’t need to take that from junior. Not taking orders from someone who’s younger than some of my t-shirts.” Spike stabbed a finger at Connor.
“Again, you live here for free and Dad left me in charge of Angel Investigations so….”
“Is the only time he’s not obnoxious is in battle?” Spike fired that off at Angel and Giles nearly choked on his tea. Also the look in Dawn’s eye made him wonder if Spike was going to find her foot lodged somewhere tender. Dawn cared about Spike, but her loyalties were with Connor. It made Buffy worry and Giles did a bit, but this made him a little less so. Connor seemed content to make this a war of words.
“Oh, he can be obnoxious then too,” Angel replied earning himself a vicious look.
“Giles, is there a way to revoke a vampire’s invitation into your home? I thought Holtz mentioned that when I was a kid?”
The words were sweet but the glint in his eyes was as wicked as any Giles had seen. “Dawn and Willow know the spell. It was one of the first ones I showed them.”
“But they like me, and they aren’t’ going to do it.” Spike’s smarmy look drew a smirk out of Connor.
“Not my only weapon. You keep pestering me I’ll fill those air humidifiers I have around the common rooms with holy water and see what happens.”
Angel face palmed. “No don’t,” he said softly.
Spike stared wide eyed. “That was Angelus worthy.”
“That’s not what I want from the guy who made this great breakfast,” Buffy said, and Giles reached over, putting a hand on her wrist. He wanted her to let this play out. He wanted to see more of how Connor would handle this without her interference.
“Now are you going to go in the basement and use the microwave there and keep your fingers off my stuff?” Connor asked. “Or do I go to church?”
“Angel, can’t you make him be less of a hard ass?”
Angel snorted. “Have you seen anything that would give you any hope of that?”
“So, that’s a no?” Connor popped a piece of bacon in his mouth then twisted on his seat to face the women. “Ladies, do you think you can get him to get his butt into his downstairs apartment and use his own mugs for his disgusting meal? Spike likes to annoy men, but he listens to women.”
Buffy laughed, nearly upending her plate as she slapped the table. “That’s exactly what Angel told us about you.”
Connor glared over his shoulder at his father. “Thanks, Dad.”
“What? It’s true. I swear you two are actually related.”
“Probably that order of Aurelius thread going through us,” Connor said.
Giles felt certain that his face might hold as much surprise as Spike’s. He didn’t seem to care if Angel knew about the books or maybe Holtz had known about the order. Dawn stood and made shooing motions are Spike.
“Go on, Spike. Go to bed and quit winding Connor up. I’m not entirely sure he was kidding about the holy water,” she said, and then grabbed Connor’s elbow. “And you, let’s go in the library and you can plot out how you’re going to face off with Buffy later. You made breakfast we can clean up.”
“Fine, so long as he knows I’ll be interring him in a dust buster if he uses my mugs again,” Connor griped as he let himself be led away, proving Buffy and Angel right about how he could be handled by women.
“Oi, Rupert, any chance you can mellow him out when you’re studying him?” Spike mimed smoking.
Giles regretted him ever learning he liked to smoke a joint or two.
Angel nudged Spike to silence him. He turned his attention to Giles and said, “I know he was deep into our history yesterday. Maybe it’s better that he knows.”
“He thought so,” Giles replied.
Angel nodded and walked out. Giles heard his foot steps on the stairs, probably going to his own sunlight-free resting area.
“You shouldn’t upset Connor, Spike,” Willow said. “He’s had it rough and you know it. Besides, it upsets Dawn.”
“And he had a very bad day yesterday.”
Spike shrugged. “Is that what Angel meant?”
Giles nodded. “He was reading the diaries about you four in Europe.”
Spike made a face. “Probably shouldn’t have done that. No wonder he was so testy.”
With that he followed Angel downstairs. Buffy turned to Giles and asked, “What do you think of all that?”
“Connor butts head with men. We were warned about that,” he replied. “And Spike’s annoying but that’s not news.”
Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. Giles ignored her. “I think he handled it with restraint if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“And the holy water threat?” She arched her eyebrows at him.
“Something I wish I’d thought of and seriously am considering for the new Watchers’ complexes. They’ll be public buildings, so it would be an ingenious protection.” He smiled, and she eyed him sourly.
“It is,” Willow agreed, getting up to handle the dishes.
Buffy leaned closer and asked. “Is he okay after learning all that about Angel and Darla?”
He shook his head. “No but he’s adjusting better than I did. I felt guilty all night, but he had good reasons for learning that information and it doesn’t seem to have damaged his relationship with Angel.”
“That’s already damaged enough.”
“True but what’s done is done. And just because he got a little rattled, don’t go easy on him today when you spar,” Giles said with a smile.
Buffy answered his grin. “No fears. I want to kick his little butt.”
Giles laughed. “I’m looking forward to it but now, I’m going to go make note of the holy water thing. I’d hate to forget that.”
He bussed his own plate, but Willow took it to wash. Giles went to pick up his journal. This warranted documenting.
July 11th 2006
I’m beginning to wonder if these sparring matches are a good idea. Buffy won against Connor but he gave her a run for her money. That surprised me because I thought he’d throw the fight. He wants on her good side because of Dawn. He either never thought about that or he wasn’t wired that way. Potentially he wanted to impress her. It was afterwards things digressed, giving me second thoughts.
I did, after all, want to know more than just Connor’s brute strength. How intelligent was he, reasonably so at first glance but did he have more to him? He seemed to think of his abilities more in the pre-spell sense than afterwards. How much had been forced into his head? What else did he like besides Dawn and taunting Angel? There was so much to learn and I thought I had a way of doing that without looking completely intrusive, even if he expected it.
XXX
Giles tucked his legs closer to him, trying to make himself smaller as the sparring session disintegrated into nonsense. Dawn, Willow, Gunn and Xander seemed to be treating it like they were watching a football game from the bleachers or more accurately a gladiator match from the Coliseum.
Connor had taken being beaten by Buffy with good grace, obviously having enjoyed the battle. While they were taking a breather someone - either Faith or Spike, Giles hadn’t been paying attention as he’d been making notes in the journal - said something and suddenly it was Slayers against vampires. Connor seemed far more interested in kicking his father’s butt along with Spike, at least at first. Giles didn’t find that shocking.
What took him by surprise was when they teamed up, batting Spike between them like a shuttlecock, Buffy and Faith stopped and watched, amused. Giles noted how well Angel and Connor did work together, getting Spike down fast. Faith and Buffy fell on them trying to get them down too. No surprises that Buffy took on Angel and Faith wanted to redeem herself after the first sparring loss to Connor. Their friends’ hoot and hollering added to the chaos. By the end, all five of them were shagged out on the mats, each claiming victory, even Spike who had obviously lost. At some point in the bedlam, Illyria had slipped into the room, unnoticed until it was over.
Connor staggered over to where they sat, Faith trailing behind him. “Don’t care what you say, Faith. I beat you.” He grinned, slinging back his damp hair.
“In your dreams, probably with some sexy add ons for after.” Faith swung her hips.
“Hey!” Connor scowled, stopping in front of Dawn. “Ignore her.”
“I’m practiced at that but you,” Dawn pushed him back with a finger, “stink and need a shower before anyone is going to want to get close to you.”
“I can’t argue that.”
Giles watched Illyria cross over to Connor and put a hand on his shoulder. She pointed at Buffy and said, “That one desires my pet, but she also wants Angel.”
Connor snorted as Buffy turned beet red. “That sums it up pretty well.”
“And you desire these two.” Illyria pointed at Dawn and Faith. “But you stay with only one.”
“Also, accurate.”
“Really?” Dawn asked colder than Antarctica in winter.
Connor shrugged. “I’m not blind nor dead yet.”
“Keep talking and you might be,” Angel warned.
“Being with just one seems like an inefficient way to procreate your species,” Illyria said.
“Says the person who goes into heat once a millennium.” Connor rolled his eyes.
She shook him. “I still expect your cooperation next time.”
“See me in a thousand years. Dawn will be tired of me by then,” Connor repeated what he had said back in Portland.
“She’s probably tired of you now,” Spike said.
“Dawn knows I’m a lot of things, one of them is loyal,” Connor replied.
“Makes no sense. Your best method of insuring your lineage would be to mate with all the females you desire,” Illyria said and in spite of himself, Giles remembered his Ripper days when he, Ethan and the others had tried that.
“Don’t look at me. I was raised in a hell dimension. Half the time I feel as confused about what humans think as you do.” Connor shrugged. “Fake memories aside. Talk to the ladies. Maybe they can help you understand. I need to find that shower.” He sauntered off.
“Did he just dump this nonsense on us?” Dawn asked.
Giles snorted. “Yes, and that sounds like a fine idea. I have some notes to make.”
“Oh no you don’t.” Buffy stabbed a finger at him.
Giles decided any conversation, no matter how uncomfortable, with an Old One was worth pursuing. Illyria, however, seemed bored by it. She forcibly collected Spike and took him off somewhere and the rest of the combatants dispersed, probably in search of showers of their own. He took a break and hunted Connor back down once the young man had time to clean up and rest.
Dawn sat in on the afternoon query session. Unsurprisingly, Connor was good at and quick to figure out anything relating to fight strategy and tactics. Giles didn’t know if it was something Angel had asked for or if Wolfram and Hart - looking forward to a time when mind-wiped Connor would have gone on to law school - had planned it but his education was classical, something Giles’s own father would have approved of. Connor liked science and history, but Giles found the weak spot in what had been done to Connor. He had no background in art or music.
He’d picked up a little of music from his college days before the spell broke. He gladly shared it with Giles, Linkin Park, Fuel, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Staind and several others he’d never heard of before. Dawn fetched a cd player and Giles listened to some of it. She explained some of her favorite art to Connor as Giles mulled over lyrics. Much of it was dark but he could see the appeal for Connor especially with his history.
“Do you hate it? Angel does,” Connor said.
Dawn covered his hand with hers. “I think I can see why.”
“We all can but no, I don’t. I love music and I can find something to like in most music.” Giles ignored Dawn’s look of disbelief. Sure, he had criticized some of Buffy’s music in the past, at least until he realized that he sounded just like his father and how much he had hated his father’s scorn for his own music.
“I shouldn’t say this, but Faith let it slip that she learned Angel loves power ballads and Barry Manilow.” Connor grinned, and Dawn laughed. “And I think that we might have sang some together under Jasmine’s influence.”
“Now, Manilow does have some really good songs,” Giles protested.
“So, what do you like?”
An idea struck him, and Giles levered himself up to his feet. “I’ll be right back with that answer.” He hustled to the room he’d been given within the new Angel Investigations complex and came back with his guitar. He’d taken it to Portland in hopes they were wrong about a hellmouth opening there and looking forward to playing at some open mic nights. Sadly, they hadn’t been wrong but at least he had it.
Connor smiled seeing the instrument. “You play? Cool! I wish Angel had thought to reprogram me to do something cool like play and instrument or play a sport or something. Though it was probably smart that I didn’t get on a sports team because I’d probably have accidentally really hurt someone.”
Giles let the sadness of that wash over him. He had never gotten a handle on how to help Buffy truly deal with her isolating physical strength and had even less words of wisdom for Connor on that matter. Instead he sang, playing the Rolling Stones Wild Horses first before launching into The Eagles Hotel California which might have been a bit on the nose really given that until recently Angel and company had been living in an old hotel.
Dawn leaned against Connor’s shoulder as they listened, obviously content. He slipped an arm around her. As he sang, Spike and Angel appeared from somewhere, keeping to the shadows. Spike requested some Sex Pistols, but he didn’t know the chords for their stuff. He settled for singing along with Giles to Pink Floyd: another note for his journal. William the Bloody had a decent voice and liked to sing.
“Do you want to sing?” Giles asked Connor and Dawn.
He shook his head. “Dawn can if she wants. I’m not much of a singer.”
“Better than me,” Angel said.
“A cat with its tail in the ringer sings better than you,” Spike snorted.
“I’d like to learn how to play the guitar though. Could you teach me?”
Giles had trouble disappointing him. When was the last time any of them wanted him to teach them anything? Fix problems yes, but just learn something for fun? It had been years. It felt good to be needed. “I’ve never taught anyone before so I’m not sure. You’d need to learn to read music, in theory though some people do play by ear.”
Connor’s excited expression fell. “Oh.”
“But I could show you a few chords to start with, let you get the feel of the instrument. If you still think you’d like to learn, we can give it a bash,” Giles promised. He beckoned Dawn to move over, so he could sit next to Connor. He showed him how to hold the guitar and positioned his hand into a simple chord.
“You need to press the strings but not too hard, not with your strength. You don’t want to break them. And with the other hand you strum the strings here.” Giles tapped them with the pick which he handed off to Connor.
Connor strummed it, nearly dropping the pick. “Ow, that actually hurts!”
“Did I forget to mention that?” Giles smiled. “You’ll eventually build up calluses but yes, it’s wire so it cuts.”
“Wasn’t expecting that.” Connor tried the same chord.
He played it a few more times. Giles showed him a few others. He didn’t do it well, but he tried.
“You’re terrible. Give up.” Spike laughed.
“Ignore him. Everyone starts somewhere.” Dawn glared at Spike. “Besides, there’s something sexy about guitarists.”
“That’s why I learned,’ Giles muttered.
“Definitely give up. The last thing we need is for Li’l Bit to find even more reasons to stick with a wanker like you.”
Connor curled his lip at Spike then his expression brightened as he glanced at the door. “Buffy, you ever kill a vampire with a guitar string?”
She laughed, coming into the room with Faith. “No, but I did use a cymbal off a drum set once.”
“Wicked.”
“I should start a tally every time your brat says something Angelus like.” Spike stabbed a finger at Connor.
“Can’t you shut up and go away. You’re driving me nuts,” Connor said.
“Better add that to the tally, Spike. Angelus told you that five times a day for years,” Angel smirked, and Spike shot him a two-fingered salute.
“Show me another, please Rupert,” Connor said.
“Of course. Here, try this one.” Giles rolled up his sleeves and demonstrated it and flowed into a rift.
“That was cool. Hey, you have a tattoo. It’s neat,” Connor said.
“No, you’re wrong,” Buffy said with an eye roll.
Giles ran his thumb over the mark of Eyghon. “She might be right. Remember our conversation about pasts coming back to haunt us and not having enough information being dangerous?”
“Yeah.”
“This is one thing I didn’t want to tell Buffy and her friends because it was bad and embarrassing, but it nearly got them killed. Jenny would have died if not for your father,” Giles said, trying not to think about the irony of Angel being both her savior and slayer.
“A tattoo did all that?”
“It was used to call a demon into the people who have the tattoo. Ethan has it too,” Giles said, surprised it wasn’t easier to admit it after all these years.
Connor made disgusted face that brought all that guilt back to Giles. “Why would you do that?”
“Um…” Giles plucked off his glasses and gave them a clean. “For the power and for the energy physical, mental, sexual.”
“There were orgies,” Buffy supplied.
“Ah.”
“Maybe you should warn him why this is a bad idea, Angel,” Buffy said.
He waved her off. “He hates demons. He’s not going to invite any inside himself.”
Connor laughed. “Besides, I have demon enough in me to be good on all those fronts anyhow.”
“And third Angelus-ism in a row.” Spike sauntered over to Buffy. “You really should kick this bell end to the curb.”
“Spike go away,” Connor and Angel chorused to no effect.
“Spike might have a point,” Faith said. “Or maybe Dawn’s just one lucky lady.”
“Of course, I am,” Dawn patted Connor’s shoulder and Buffy rolled her eyes.
Angel turned to his son and asked, “And did you like the guitar, Connor?”
“Hard to say yet. I’d like to give it a real try. It would be nice to have something to do that’s not all about fighting.”
“We’ll keep working at it, but it might be better without an audience,” Giles said, hoping the others would take the hint. Angel chivvied Spike off. Dawn went with her sister and Faith.
Giles worked with Connor for a little while longer, enough to know that he obviously learned quickly but when he didn’t - and music wasn’t natural to him - he got easily frustrated. Still he kept with it until he got a few chords down. Talking one on one gave him a better feel for the young man and the things he wanted, the things he feared. What did one say to someone who felt no one - Dawn aside - liked him? At least he could speak to having different dreams than the one a father might have had for him. He might have ended up following in his father’s footsteps, much as Connor was doing the same, but the path there had been different. That mattered. He hoped his insights helped Connor. Maybe he needed to make some notes about his subject turning the lens back on himself.
July 13th, 2006
I find myself siding with the young folk today. If anyone needs a babysitter - and this is definitely a babysitting occasion, not a Watcher one - less than Connor, I can’t imagine it. Dawn is a capable young woman and since they are college aged I have no idea why Buffy and her friends were so insistent I keep an eye on them. They were out with Angel and Spike checking out something that had made Illyria nervous, which should have us all worried. Connor wanted to go along with them. Buffy refused to allow Dawn to do the same.
Shockingly it took Dawn some convincing to keep Connor at home. He needed schooling in picking up clues from women. He might like to please them, but he was years behind a man his age when it came to figuring them out such as any man could understand. He needed to talk to his father or even Spike about this but I suspect he’d ask me first.
Certainly, Buffy picked up that Dawn planned for some naked fun far faster than Connor did, which will probably amuse anyone reading this journal. It is, of course, the reason I was put in charge. I said yes but Buffy had to be out of her bloody mind if she thought I was interfering in any of that.
What I didn’t expect was Dawn wanting to come along with me as soon as the sun fell, and everyone was gone. An old friend from Glasgow now had a magic shop here in L.A. and I wanted to see how she was doing. Dawn heard ‘magic shop’ and insisted on a little shopping. She might be thinking of Anya . I knew I was. Connor, now having sex on the brain, was in no mood for shopping. She mollified him with the reminder of Buffy and company didn’t expect to come back until morning.
I decided it would be fine. I’d send them home afterward and take Ailsa out for dinner and drinks. It would be a pleasant evening, I thought. Instead everything got bolloxed up. I shouldn’t be surprised.
X X X
“I don’t like magic,” Connor muttered staring up at the magic shop’s understated sign.
“So, you’ve said, about a thousand times in the last hour.” Dawn hip bumped him.
Giles had already tuned him out for the most part. “You’ll learn as you get older, Connor, that you’ll do a lot of things that don’t interest you in order to keep your girlfriend happy.”
“I suppose. She has to put up with me so it’s the least I could do,” he replied.
Giles knew he wasn’t quite as flippant as he sounded. Connor honestly disliked, maybe even feared, magic. Most of what Ailas would have in stock would be for fairly minor magic that probably wouldn’t be upsetting to him. Of course, Connor had no way of knowing that. Giles planned to point him toward the jewelry or gemstones that Ailas would doubtless stock for the wanna-bes or the merely curious. It should keep him busy.
The shop seemed bigger on the inside when they walked in bringing up remembrances of Doctor Who when he was younger. Celtic music played softly in the background. A few customers were in the store perusing wiccan books. Ailas worked in a back corner showing another customer some altar-sized cauldrons.
“This is a fantastic store,” Dawn said, and she was gone running from one display to the next.
Giles exchanged glances with Connor.
“I have never been that excited about anything,” Connor said with a hangdog expression.
“That’s a pity. Here, you might enjoy looking at these until she’s ready to go or has something she wants you to see.”
“Okay.”
Giles left him near the front of the store, looking at the Celtic themed jewelry. He wasn’t sure when the connection between paganism, magic and Celtic symbols started but it seemed entrenched now. Connor quickly moved from there to the small rack of CDs of Celtic music.
Once Ailas finished up she greeted him with a wide smile and wider arms. Giles accepted the hug. Seeing her again, silver strands in her red hair, he remembered days in Scotland, post Eyghon, licking his wounds. She had picked him up, dusted him off and they had had several wonderful weeks there as he got his life back in order.
“You are looking lovely, Ailas,” he said.
“And you look well,” she replied.
“This is a very nice shop. How do you like it here in L.A?”
“Ah, it’s an adventure. I miss home sometimes though.” Ailas glanced around the shop. “Those two young people you brought with you, are they your kids?”
Giles chuckled. He was certainly more father to Dawn than Hank Summers ever had been, and Connor seemed to enjoy his company more than he did his own father most days. “Only in a broad sense. Dawn wants to be a Watcher.” He gestured to her. “Connor is here because of her.”
“Young love.” Ailas grinned.
“Oh yes. Though he’s not the world’s biggest fan of magic, been on the bad side of it,” Giles replied.
Her blue eyes clouded. “Hurt badly?”
“In many ways but that is not a safe conversation in a public setting, nor my story to tell.” Giles noticed Connor had gotten closer. He’d forgotten how good the boy could hear and he was obviously eavesdropping. “Connor, are you finding things okay?”
Connor shrugged and then pointed to the jewelry display. “These look like Angel’s tattoo a bit. Guess I didn’t know how many things have that Irish feel to them.” He squinted but Giles suspected he was looking inside himself trying to sort out the memories. No doubt Angel would have had Wolfram and Hart embed a sense of Irish culture in his son.
Ailas’s face brightened. “Would you like a closer look, maybe find something for your friend?” She inclined her head to where Dawn was studying spell components.
“Okay, maybe the earrings.”
She set the tray out for him to look at them more closely before turning back to Giles. “You’ve been hard to keep track of lately, Rupert.”
“I’ll be here in Los Angeles for a while. I was hoping you’d like to go out for dinner tonight or some other time.”
“I have a few special customers in the back room where I keep the stuff for the more advanced mages,” she said, lowly. “I’d love to go dinner and maybe drinks afterwards.”
“You’re reading my mind,” he replied. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Connor ignoring them, not nearly as put out by older people flirting as he was used to being confronted with. Suddenly, Connor tenses, sending Giles into high alert.
“Isn’t that one of the idiots from the arboretum.” Connor fell into a defensive stance.
Giles and Ailas turned to see three people coming out of the back room Ailas had said was where the high-powered items were kept.
“That’s the moon-side coven,” Ailas said.
“Hate to tell you, the lady there tried to bring a hell lord here to rule this world,” Giles growled.
“Destroyer!” the woman snarled.
Before Giles could do anything, the witch blasted Connor with a spell. It knocked him straight out of the store taking the front door with him. Some of the amateur witch customers shrieked and raced out the busted door.
“Bloody hell.”
“What is happening?” Ailas asked.
“Giles!” Dawn cried.
“Check on Connor,” he said, hoping to get her out of the store.
“All I want is out of here.”
He was tempted to just let her go to be sure Ailas, Dawn and the other innocents still inside were safe but that could put others at risk down the road. “What were they after in the back Ailas?”
“I don’t stock dark stuff,” she said hurriedly.
“What hell god?” a woman with the Portland witch asked, backing away. “What did you do to that boy, Julia?”
“I don’t have time for you, Anne,” Julia snapped bringing her hand up.
Giles didn’t give her the opportunity. He cast a spell of his own, looping blue bands of light around her, taking her to the ground. Her two friends deserted her, fleeing the shop but they didn’t seem to know what was going on and he probably couldn’t keep all three confined.
Ailas cast a silencing spell over the screaming woman. “What the bloody hell is going on, Rupert?”
“Julia here teamed up with Ethan Rayne and several others to open a portal to Quor-Toth, using Dawn as a key to a dimension, let’s just call it a special talent of hers. Connor was raised there, and conquered it a bit, hence the Destroyer. She was more than willing to unleash hell here and kill whoever stood in her way.”
Ailas grimaced. “Now I’m terrified to think what she might have been able to turn whatever she was looking for in the back into. Now what do we do with her?”
“As it turns out there are a few special ops Watchers not far. I’ve had them in various locations, those who survived the culling. I’ll give them a call. Keep an eye on her, I need to be sure Connor wasn’t badly hurt.”
Ailas pointed over his shoulder. Connor staggered in, Dawn holding his hand, more to hold him back than affectionately. Blood poured down his head from a scalp wound and Giles swore the color reflected in the young man’s eyes. He took a step between Connor and the fallen witch.
Giles held up his hand. “It’s handled.”
A feral grin flashed like lightening across Connor’s face. “Not really.”
Drawing himself up, Giles sternly replied, “It’s over.” If he knew anything about how Holtz would have handled Connor - a dour man from the eighteenth century - it would have been with an iron fist.
Connor’s shoulders dropped, proving Giles’s hypothesis. “I really, truly hate magic!”
“We know,” Dawn said, exasperated. “Now, sit your butt down and let me clean up your head. I think you have splinters from the door in it. Do you have any towels, ma’am?”
“I’ll get them.”
Ailas disappeared deeper into her shop and Giles made his phone call. He hated having to do this. Demons and vampires were so much easier to deal with. Dispatching them left very little behind in the way of guilt. Sending this woman off for what she had tried to do and might do in the future made his chest tighten. The Watchers still had therapists and counselors. Maybe she’d become less of a threat. Regardless, it would be a long hard wait until Special Ops made it to the magic shop.
X X X
The sun was nearly up when Giles disembarked from the cab, still buzzed from all the scotch he and Ailas had drank all night before a nice long shag. He hadn’t given much thought about what waited for him when he got back to Angel’s home not until he nearly collided with the foursome as they dragged inside.
Buffy’s eyes widened. “Where were you?”
“Out.” He was in no mood to be interrogated. He was too mellow and pleasantly drunk.
“And you left them alone?” Buffy pointed toward the second floor. Angel and Faith beat a track inside. Giles wished he could follow them.
Spike, not surprisingly, loitered and offered up a simple, “Wanker.”
“I’m not even going to waste however much time it would take pointing out they were alone for weeks.” Giles sailed past them into the lobby. Angel hadn’t completely disappeared, nor had Faith though she hovered in a doorway, spectating. “Besides the magic shop was attacked and Connor ended up pretty well concussed, though that head of his is fairly hard. Dawn spent the evening playing nursemaid. I left her to it.”
“You smell like booze,” Spike said at the same time Angel put in, “My son was attacked?”
“What the hell happened, Giles?” Buffy tossed away her annoyance and became all business.
“We were just there shopping. An old friend of mine, Ailas owns it but by pure chance we ran across one of the mages from the portal debacle in Portland. She tried to fight her way out and blasted Connor out of the building.”
“Is he okay?” Faith asked.
“He’s fine, a bit headachy and very grumpy about magic. He was however very intrigued by the Special Ops Watchers I had retrieve the mage.”
Spike snorted. “Your boy is gonna turn into a Watcher if you don’t watch him, Peaches,”
Angel shrugged. “Worse thing to be.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “I’d check on him, but he’d probably stake me if I go up there now.”
“You think there’s a probably in there?” Faith laughed.
“Did you find that nest of Zogian demons?” Giles asked, edging toward the stairs.
“Not tonight.”
“Better luck tomorrow...today…whatever. I need to get some sleep,” Giles said.
“We weren’t done talking about you leaving them alone.”
“Buffy, they’re college-aged, they need no chaperone.”
“And Ailas is a woman’s name,” Angel said. “And also, I wouldn’t want to be hanging around here either if I was Giles.”
“Exactly. Good night.” Giles quickly made his escape. He’d probably hear more about it in the morning but for the next several hours all he wanted was some sleep.
July 14th, 2006
After this morning’s cup of tea and all the conversation whirling around it, I’ve decided I need more journals. Angel and Spike deserve new ones of their own. I could probably fill one with how much Connor hates magic. On the other hand, I think a corner has been turned. We’ll be staying here in L.A. for the foreseeable future. I think this will be good for all of us. I can see big things on the horizon and it’s my honor to be part of them.
X X X
“If you think you hate magic,” Spike said, losing another cigarette to Connor’s quick hands. “You should ask Angel about it.”
“I know about the whole soul thing.”
“Not what I’m talking about.” Spike chuckled and Angel’s face darkened. Giles took his tea cup off his notebook, prepared to start writing because he suspected this would be good.
“Shut your mouth, Spike.” Angel stabbed a finger at him.
“I’ll let you smoke one cigarette if you tell me,” Connor countered. Dawn, Buffy and Faith leaned against the dining room table, watching like this was going to be a Tony winning play.
“He was investigating a children’s show that seemed to be making kids sick.” Spike started laughing and Angel shoved him.
“Shut up!”
“A spell turned him in a wee little puppet man!” Spike blurted out in a rush.
The room fell silent. Angel grimaced and then Connor asked, drawing the word out. “A puppet?”
Spike bobbed his head. “A puppet.”
Connor burst into laughter followed by everyone in the room except Angel. Giles couldn’t write it down, too busy laughing so hard his ribs ached. Connor held his own sides, nearly toppling out of the chair he was laughing so hard. Faith slid down the wall, puddling into a giggling pile on the floor.
“A puppet!! Tell me there are pictures!” Connor begged.
“No!” Angel barked.
“I think there are.” Spike beamed.
“I have to have them!” Connor rubbed his side.
“Me too,” Buffy agreed between giggles.
“Did he…have vamp face as a puppet?” Connor managed to get out.
“Tiniest little fangs you ever saw,” Spike replied, and the laughter redoubled.
“Oh damn, I wish I had seen that!”
“You would have seen puppet me kicking the crap out of Spike,” Angel huffed. “If Wolfram and Hart was still around it would probably be on the security tape.”
“You beat Spike as a puppet?” Giles asked, unable to keep the question in.
“He makes it sound more dramatic than it was.” Spike glared at Angel.
“It was plenty of dramatic and you lost.” Angel allowed himself a laugh and Spike shot him a two-fingered salute.
“A bloody puppet,” Giles murmured writing it down.
“Don’t you dare,” Angel snapped, and Giles took a page out of Spike’s book with the salute.
“It’s going in.”
“Let me write this one up, Giles. Because I want all the details…if I can stop laughing.” Connor said.
“Told you, he’s going to be a Watcher,” Spike sing songed.
“Oh, speaking of that, Connor and I were talking over breakfast, he’s interested in what I do,” Giles said.
“The Special Ops guys were kinda neat,” Connor said.
“The word you’re looking for is thugs,” Faith grumbled. “Might be good for you.”
“Bite me. Anyhow, Giles said if it was okay with you, Dad and Buffy, he’d stay here with us a little longer, at least until I decide if I’m going back to college or not,” Connor said.
“Really? That’s great. I can stay right, Buffy,” Dawn asked. “I know I’d like to be a Watcher, after all. Connor and I can learn some of the tricks of the trade together.”
“That isn’t what he wants you here for Li’l Bit,” Spike scoffed, and she rolled her eyes.
“If this is what you want, Connor, I have no problems with it,” Angel said.
“I don’t’ know what I want but I like having everyone here. I want to explore this,” Connor replied.
“That’s fine with me. Every if Giles does have to go to wherever the next big bad is, you can go with him if that’s what you want.” Angel patted Connor on the shoulder.
“I’m content to stay here for the time being,” Giles said. “I think it’ll be good for everyone.”
Buffy nodded. “I wouldn’t mind putting down some roots for a while.”
“Yes!” Dawn hugged her and then Connor.
“This will be great,” Connor said.
“I think you’re right.”
Giles smiled. It did feel like they were a family again, if only for a little time. It went beyond the research opportunities or the recruitment of new Watchers. They were better together, stronger, that’s what the world needed them to be, that’s what they needed to be. This might only last a few more weeks but he planned to make the most of it. Changes like this didn’t come that often after all. He looked forward to whatever this chance brought.
Author--
cornerofmadness
Fandom -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/ Angel the series
Disclaimer -- Joss Whedon owns them.
Rating -- teen
Characters/Pairing -- Rupert Giles,
Timeline -- Post series, taking into consideration the IDW comic canon for Angel but not the Darkhorse Buffy comic canon
Word Count -- 9,653
Summary -- Giles has been given a unique opportunity in rebuilding the new and improved Watchers Council. He has unfettered access to study the son of two vampires, not to mention an Ancient One, two souled vampires and, of course, a living key.
Author’s Note -- This was written for the
summer_of_giles challenge. Thanks to
dragonydreams for the beta and to
evil_little_dog for being a sounding board. Unfortunately, pro writing commitments and research travel got in the way of me polishing this so this is draft number two. If you want to wait for the polished final project, check my AO3 by Labor Day. Sorry! I'm currently not putting it up on AO3 until I get a chance for a final polish). If you read the draft and see something wonky feel free to tell me.
XXX
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein
July 9th 2006
I have been afforded an amazing opportunity to observe a completely unique being whose birth was foretold by the Great Potentate of Ul-Thur. It took some doing just to find that prophecy back when Buffy and Faith had come across some of Ul-Thur’s followers. Every part of my Watcher upbringing screams vampires cannot have children, and yet I’m watching the so-called miracle child, the offspring of two vampires fighting one of my Slayers. Of course he doesn’t particularly like to be called the miracle child and who could blame him. He is a bit more attached to the title he earned in Quor-Toth of all places: The Destroyer. I should probably start this entry at the beginning in Portland.
X X X
Giles watched completely bemused as Connor sparred with Faith. When they finished up stopping Ethan Rayne and a group of mages from opening a hellmouth in Portland, Oregon, they’d taken Angel up on his offer to come back to L.A. for some rest and planning. Mostly it had been offered because Dawn had met and fallen for Angel’s son. Giles wisely kept as far out of that mess as he could. He suspected Buffy wanted his input, and if she asked directly, he’d offer his thoughts, though he wasn’t sure it would be what she wanted to hear. Connor had been willing to be examined and added to the Watchers’ archives and Giles thought it might be because he was interested in the Watchers. Hell, he’d be a great special ops one.
Giles had wanted Buffy to be the one to face off with Connor - and she probably would at a later date - but the boy had chosen Faith to showcase what he could do. Dawn sat next to Giles. supervising. He didn’t blame her. It was obvious Connor admired Faith and that could easily get out of hand. Buffy watched from his other side and Angel sat next to her, admiring the sparring match. Fists and feet flew faster than Giles could track them easily. He was exhausted just watching them.
Connor leapt back as Faith’s heel nearly landed in his groin. “Hey! We’re sparring. No kicking me in the nuts!”
Faith slung back her sweat-dampened hair. “All’s fair in love and war, kid.”
Connor’s blue eyes narrowed, and he lashed out, knocking Faith head over tea kettle. Giles wrote a note in his book. The Destroyer didn’t like when people didn’t play by the pre-set rules. Knocked a Slayer over like she was a toddler he scrawled. Giles caught Angel craning his neck to see what he was writing. He obviously wasn’t as okay with Connor being studied as his son was.
“Serves you right for trying to kick him there, Faith,” Dawn called. “Get her, Connor!”
“He doesn’t need encouraging,” Buffy said. “Take him, Faith!”
“If you think it’s so easy, B, you get out here,” Faith panted, narrowly missing getting a foot to the gut.
“No tag teaming me!” Connor cried, dodging Faith’s fist. He grabbed her arm and took her down. He put his hand on Faith’s throat lightly.
“And that’s a kill shot,” Buffy sighed.
Giles felt his chest tighten even though he knew it was a sparring match and technically Faith wasn’t his Slayer. Not that that mattered any more, if it ever did. He and Wes had failed her in Sunnydale and even though he knew Connor wasn’t going to hurt her, seeing one of his Slayers down was hard to bear. Connor let her up, offering her a hand. She ruffled his hair then swatted him on the butt.
“Brat, that was amazing.” Faith’s butt swat turned into a little grab and next to Giles, Dawn gritted her teeth, especially when Connor didn’t protest. Giles wondered if anyone had ever bothered to tell the boy about relationships, flirting and jealousy. That was outside of his duties. All he wanted was to observe and record a completely unique individual.
Giles studied Connor and Faith both. While they both breathed hard, they didn’t show the proper level of exhaustion, given how hard they had exerted. Maybe the off-hand comment that Connor was a Boy Slayer had some merit. He doesn’t like that term he scrawled in his notebook as Willow appeared with a stethoscope and BP cuff. “Connor come here please,” he said. “Willow is going to take your vitals.”
“That alone will probably jack them up,” Angel muttered, and Willow beamed at him.
What a change Giles thought. I remember when she would have blushed as bright as her hair.
“I’m sweaty,” Connor said.
“So long as you don’t sweat acid or something demony, it’ll be fine,” she replied.
Connor gave her some masterful stinky eye. “Not demony.”
“You are a bit,” Willow replied cheerily as she slipped the BP cuff on him.
Connor sniffed. “Where’d you learn to do this?”
“Anatomy class when I was still in college.”
Giles felt the pain of that. He hated that Willow’s education had been put on hold between Buffy’s death, the loss of Sunnydale, and everything that came after. He set his pain aside because he had to. Education could always happen, and he’d see that it would once things were settled. “What’s his BP?”
“A startling one fifteen over seventy. How are you doing that?” Willow eyed him.
“That’s low right?”
“Yes, and with all that exercise, you should be elevated.” She took his wrist, watching the stopwatch she’d brought. “And your pulse is only seventy-five right in themed-range.”
“And here I thought I would have made your pulse go crazy,” Faith drawled, hip bumping him. Giles braced for the blow back.
“Faith!” Dawn snapped right on cue. Faith cocked her hip in response, waggling her eyebrows at Dawn.
Connor opened his mouth to say something, but Giles and Angel shot him a look that screamed ‘no.’ so Connor merely said, “So, my vitals should be much higher, right?”
“Much. It’s interesting. We’ve been talking about getting a real research lab for the Watchers. I’d love to know what your DNA is like.”
Connor made a face. “I’m not sure I want it on record.”
“Smart.” Faith replied.
“Planning a life of crime?” Buffy asked, and Giles could tell it was only a half joke. She was overprotective of Dawn and still not keen on Dawn dating Connor even if he was Angel’s son.
“No, but cameras are going up all over right? We break into a lot of places. Dad said that lawyer, the one who liked my mom, had tattoos that let him slip past surveillance. I don’t like magic but those might be helpful. I don’t want to be seen on CCTV stabbing someone and they not get it’s a vampire or something,” Connor said.
“Clever.” Giles noted that in his journal, and then said, “I’ve been thinking about that myself if this continues it would certainly complicate things. I’ve wondered how the Initiative handle it.”
“Riley never said and we’re persona non grata,” Buffy replied.
“Initiative?” Connor queried.
“It’s a long story,” Giles replied. “Willow and I are working up some ideas to test your upper limits for strength.”
“Oh?”
“And for your other senses.”
“I want to see you put to the test,” Willow said.
“That’s easy enough. I can jump a few stories without problems.”
He’s very sure of his abilities. “So, you’re okay with it?”
“Giles, you’re asking a man to show off. Of course, he’ll do it.” Faith rolled her eyes.
“Yes, how foolish of me,” Giles replied dryly. “Well, I think this is enough for today.”
“Cool, but you wanted to know more about Holtz for your records.”
“After lunch,” Giles said, and he nodded.
“Tomorrow you face me.” Buffy pointed at Connor.
There was something in Connor’s answering smile that put Giles in mind of Ethan. The self-satisfied smugness perhaps. “Sure! Hey, Dad, got some time to talk?”
Angel lit up like a Christmas park display. “Of course.”
They disappeared somewhere into the big building. Dawn wrinkled her nose.
“Think he’d spare a moment for me,” she muttered.
“I’m just happy he wants to talk to his dad. He doesn’t usually,” Buffy replied.
Giles took stock of her expression and decided she missed the subtext. “Buffy, no doubt he’s asking Angel how to fight you.”
Her grin was wicked. “Let him. Angel hasn’t fought with or against me in ages. I have moves he’s never seen.”
“Good, kick his ass for me. Just picture the naughty things he does to your baby sister. That should do it.” Faith slapped Buffy’s shoulder before sauntering off.
“Hey! Don’t you dare!” Dawn shoved Buffy who only grinned broader.
Giles almost pitied the boy.
July 10th 2006
I regret giving Connor the stack of books he’d asked for. He wanted what the Watchers’ had written about Daniel Holtz, Angelus, Darla and the order of Aurelius. He swore he could handle it, that he already knew the worst of his parents. That was true up to a point. Holtz wasn’t there for the 1800s. There was a century of evil he hadn’t been exposed to until I blithely handed him off the books. I hoped I hadn’t done damage to a noticeably fragile psyche. He played tough. I saw the sorrow.
I hadn’t gotten much sleep, finding myself worrying about him just as I did Buffy, Dawn and all the others. Come morning I learned I hadn’t needed to worry quite so much. The Destroyer had seen a lot of horrible things in his short days. He could adjust or at least fake it.
XXX
Giles woke up earlier than he’d like but it wasn’t unusual. He’d slept poorly, worrying as he often did about the young people who looked to him as a mentor, as a father-figure which was both flattering and occasionally uncomfortable. He shouldn’t have listened to Connor who claimed he could handle the books about his terrible family. He should have realized that Angelus, Darla, Spike and Dru having volumes written about them made them some of the worst of the worst and no one needed to know that much ugly about their family. He wanted some tea to wash away the anxiety rolling around his brain. Oddly he didn’t worry what Angel might do to him for upsetting Connor because he knew at the end of the day Angel wouldn’t actually do anything to him. Of course, he could be completely unaware of it because Connor hadn’t wanted Angel to know about the books and Giles had no intention of betraying his young subject’s confidence.
He entered the kitchen of Angel’s complex and was greeted by the smells of tea brewing and eggs cooking. Connor busily fried sausages, bacon, mushrooms and eggs. He had a pot of beans bubbling away. He smiled at Giles.
“Morning. Hey, put in some toast for yourself. This is almost ready. Tea’s ready too.”
Giles eyed the meal. “Looks like a proper fry up but you forgot the tomatoes. I can forgive the black pudding.” He grinned knowing exactly why there were no tomatoes. Connor had made his feelings very clear in Portland.
Connor grimaced. “Tomatoes are gross. I can’t find black pudding here and if I used Angel and Spike’s pig blood to make some they’d whine. Also, the ladies are going to have some breakfast and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t touch it.”
“Buffy had some once when we were in Scotland. She liked it until someone clued her in.” He smiled wryly. Buffy had been furious with him for a week for not telling her what it was.
Connor snorted. “I bet that didn’t go well.”
“Not particularly. Anything I can do besides toast? Would you like some tea?”
“Yeah, thanks. I like a lot of sugar, no cream.”
Giles poured the tea and got the toast for them both. Connor filled up plates but there was definitely enough for a few more meals left in the pan. They sat at the kitchen table. To his surprise, the fry up proved tasty.
“You’re a good cook.”
“Thanks, see, wasn’t a fluke in Portland.” Connor grinned.
Giles remembered the buffalo chicken sandwiches Connor had made for them all there. “Not at all but you do know you don’t have to cook for me, right?”
Connor shrugged one shoulder. “I know but you’re here to talk to me and you’re one of the reasons that I get to spend more time with Dawn here. I appreciate that. Besides, I’m used to cooking for me and Father and I used to help Fred, not to mention I had to cook for Cordy. I kinda like it really.”
“How are you doing today? I felt bad for giving you those books.” Giles watched Connor’s expression morph from pleased with himself to baffled.
He cocked his head. “Why?”
“You were obviously upset. I should have realized the affect the books would have and tell you no.” Giles pushed the toast under some beans and sampled them. They weren’t quite right, a bit smoky and sweet but not unpleasant.
“I’m not sorry.” Connor took a big bite of bacon, chewed for a moment before adding, “I needed to know. I guess that’s strange to you but if I’m going to make intelligent decisions about my relationship with Angel, I need to know the good and bad. He’s my dad and I was taught to hate him. It was easy when I did. Learning to love him made things very complicated and my head full of fake memories doesn’t help. More knowledge can only be good.”
He sat back, studying Giles for a moment. That level of intensity made Giles uncomfortable for a moment and he almost said something, but Connor continued, “I was sad. It hurt knowing those things but it’s better this way, controlled. What would happen if I’m out there in a fight and someone drops one of those horrible things on me and it distracts me? Or someone shows up for revenge and decides hurting me works just as well, because I’ve been down that path more than once with Angel’s enemies.”
Giles knew that was putting it mildly. He couldn’t imagine growing up in hell. “Or one of his friends showing up thinking you’d be willing to help them and Angelus.”
Connor bobbed his head. “Like Drusilla. I’m glad I know what she looks like now. Seems safer that way but I’m certainly not happy to know what Mom and Dad did to her to turn her into what she is. But it’s better I know. Look at what happened in Portland with Ethan.”
Giles scowled. “And not for the first time. I nearly lost Buffy when she was still just a teen more than once because of Ethan and because I never told them all the bad things in my past so maybe you have a point.”
“Yeah, so don’t feel bad. Reading that stuff isn’t even close to the worst thing I’ve dealt with. Remember Father used to tell me bad things Angelus and Darla did every day.” Connor shrugged and tucked into his eggs.
Giles set his own fork aside, his appetite waning. How Holtz could have done that to a child, he had no idea. Then again that’s how some Watchers raised potentials back in the day but at least the potentials weren’t related to the monsters in the cautionary tales.
The need to say something was overridden by the appearance of Buffy, Dawn and Willow. Faith wasn’t with them. He wouldn’t be surprised if she were still asleep after being out half the night.
“Something smells good,” Buffy said, stifling a yawn. She had on loose shorts and a t-shirt with her hair in a sloppy tail. The other two young women looked equally casual and only partially awake.
“Connor made a very good fry up,” Giles replied.
“Help yourselves. There’s plenty,” Connor said. “Might even be enough left for Faith or one of the guys whoever gets to it first.”
“Boy, that looks good.” Willow eyed it hungrily.
“You’ll need to put on your own toast,” he replied.
Dawn jumped to the head of the line and got hers first. She sat next to Connor and kissed his cheek. “You’re the best boyfriend.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“So humble,” Buffy laughed, eating a strip of bacon while she waited on her toast. “But this is a point in your favor.”
“Figured I might need a few.” He grinned.
“Few what, son?” Angel stumbled in followed by Spike and Illyria.
Giles couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Not only was she stunning, what she represented was so outside the scope of what any Watcher could have hoped to safely study: an Old One. By rights she should be killing them but somehow between Wesley’s efforts coupled with Spike, Angel and Gunn they had tamed her. He couldn’t believe it, but the proof was standing there, hovering in the doorway, studying him as hard as he scrutinized her. He’d have to make a separate journal for her, though she wasn’t as willing to answer questions as Connor. Never before had one Watcher had such opportunity to leave a mark. Not only was he Watcher to arguably the best Slayer on record, go-to guide for many of the new Slayers, trainer of a new breed of Watchers but now able to study a living interdimensional key, the child of two vampires, two souled vampires and an Old One. He allowed himself a moment of ego. This would outlive him.
After those few long moments of staring, Illyria wheeled around and disappeared into the big building without a word. Realizing he’d been lost in his own world, having lost the thread of the conversation, Giles ate a bit of sausage and tried to catch up. Connor bristled, eyes narrowed cluing him in on the fact he’d missed something important.
“I’m not fixing you breakfast, and don’t you use my damn mugs.” Connor stabbed a finger at him.
“Who died and made you boss, mini-brood?” Spike smirked at him.
Giles pushed back from the table, so he could move fast if he had to and he had promised Buffy something outside of Angel and Dawn’s hearing. She trusted his opinion on whether or not Connor was dangerous. Spike’s words about him being rough, what she had witnessed in the battle in Portland haunted her.
“I’m the one who got this place,” Connor replied. “Technically you’re living with me free of charge.”
“That’s Spike’s m.o.,” Angel snorted, and Spike rolled his eyes.
He pulled out his cigarettes, slipping one between his lips. “Brat.”
Connor stood and yanked the cigarette away, tossing it in the sink. “No smoking in here. You go outside.”
“Sun’s up.”
“Not my problem.”
“Are you two going to play nice?” Dawn asked.
“No,” they said in unison.
“It’s bad enough Angel is always strutting around firing off orders, I don’t need to take that from junior. Not taking orders from someone who’s younger than some of my t-shirts.” Spike stabbed a finger at Connor.
“Again, you live here for free and Dad left me in charge of Angel Investigations so….”
“Is the only time he’s not obnoxious is in battle?” Spike fired that off at Angel and Giles nearly choked on his tea. Also the look in Dawn’s eye made him wonder if Spike was going to find her foot lodged somewhere tender. Dawn cared about Spike, but her loyalties were with Connor. It made Buffy worry and Giles did a bit, but this made him a little less so. Connor seemed content to make this a war of words.
“Oh, he can be obnoxious then too,” Angel replied earning himself a vicious look.
“Giles, is there a way to revoke a vampire’s invitation into your home? I thought Holtz mentioned that when I was a kid?”
The words were sweet but the glint in his eyes was as wicked as any Giles had seen. “Dawn and Willow know the spell. It was one of the first ones I showed them.”
“But they like me, and they aren’t’ going to do it.” Spike’s smarmy look drew a smirk out of Connor.
“Not my only weapon. You keep pestering me I’ll fill those air humidifiers I have around the common rooms with holy water and see what happens.”
Angel face palmed. “No don’t,” he said softly.
Spike stared wide eyed. “That was Angelus worthy.”
“That’s not what I want from the guy who made this great breakfast,” Buffy said, and Giles reached over, putting a hand on her wrist. He wanted her to let this play out. He wanted to see more of how Connor would handle this without her interference.
“Now are you going to go in the basement and use the microwave there and keep your fingers off my stuff?” Connor asked. “Or do I go to church?”
“Angel, can’t you make him be less of a hard ass?”
Angel snorted. “Have you seen anything that would give you any hope of that?”
“So, that’s a no?” Connor popped a piece of bacon in his mouth then twisted on his seat to face the women. “Ladies, do you think you can get him to get his butt into his downstairs apartment and use his own mugs for his disgusting meal? Spike likes to annoy men, but he listens to women.”
Buffy laughed, nearly upending her plate as she slapped the table. “That’s exactly what Angel told us about you.”
Connor glared over his shoulder at his father. “Thanks, Dad.”
“What? It’s true. I swear you two are actually related.”
“Probably that order of Aurelius thread going through us,” Connor said.
Giles felt certain that his face might hold as much surprise as Spike’s. He didn’t seem to care if Angel knew about the books or maybe Holtz had known about the order. Dawn stood and made shooing motions are Spike.
“Go on, Spike. Go to bed and quit winding Connor up. I’m not entirely sure he was kidding about the holy water,” she said, and then grabbed Connor’s elbow. “And you, let’s go in the library and you can plot out how you’re going to face off with Buffy later. You made breakfast we can clean up.”
“Fine, so long as he knows I’ll be interring him in a dust buster if he uses my mugs again,” Connor griped as he let himself be led away, proving Buffy and Angel right about how he could be handled by women.
“Oi, Rupert, any chance you can mellow him out when you’re studying him?” Spike mimed smoking.
Giles regretted him ever learning he liked to smoke a joint or two.
Angel nudged Spike to silence him. He turned his attention to Giles and said, “I know he was deep into our history yesterday. Maybe it’s better that he knows.”
“He thought so,” Giles replied.
Angel nodded and walked out. Giles heard his foot steps on the stairs, probably going to his own sunlight-free resting area.
“You shouldn’t upset Connor, Spike,” Willow said. “He’s had it rough and you know it. Besides, it upsets Dawn.”
“And he had a very bad day yesterday.”
Spike shrugged. “Is that what Angel meant?”
Giles nodded. “He was reading the diaries about you four in Europe.”
Spike made a face. “Probably shouldn’t have done that. No wonder he was so testy.”
With that he followed Angel downstairs. Buffy turned to Giles and asked, “What do you think of all that?”
“Connor butts head with men. We were warned about that,” he replied. “And Spike’s annoying but that’s not news.”
Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. Giles ignored her. “I think he handled it with restraint if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“And the holy water threat?” She arched her eyebrows at him.
“Something I wish I’d thought of and seriously am considering for the new Watchers’ complexes. They’ll be public buildings, so it would be an ingenious protection.” He smiled, and she eyed him sourly.
“It is,” Willow agreed, getting up to handle the dishes.
Buffy leaned closer and asked. “Is he okay after learning all that about Angel and Darla?”
He shook his head. “No but he’s adjusting better than I did. I felt guilty all night, but he had good reasons for learning that information and it doesn’t seem to have damaged his relationship with Angel.”
“That’s already damaged enough.”
“True but what’s done is done. And just because he got a little rattled, don’t go easy on him today when you spar,” Giles said with a smile.
Buffy answered his grin. “No fears. I want to kick his little butt.”
Giles laughed. “I’m looking forward to it but now, I’m going to go make note of the holy water thing. I’d hate to forget that.”
He bussed his own plate, but Willow took it to wash. Giles went to pick up his journal. This warranted documenting.
July 11th 2006
I’m beginning to wonder if these sparring matches are a good idea. Buffy won against Connor but he gave her a run for her money. That surprised me because I thought he’d throw the fight. He wants on her good side because of Dawn. He either never thought about that or he wasn’t wired that way. Potentially he wanted to impress her. It was afterwards things digressed, giving me second thoughts.
I did, after all, want to know more than just Connor’s brute strength. How intelligent was he, reasonably so at first glance but did he have more to him? He seemed to think of his abilities more in the pre-spell sense than afterwards. How much had been forced into his head? What else did he like besides Dawn and taunting Angel? There was so much to learn and I thought I had a way of doing that without looking completely intrusive, even if he expected it.
XXX
Giles tucked his legs closer to him, trying to make himself smaller as the sparring session disintegrated into nonsense. Dawn, Willow, Gunn and Xander seemed to be treating it like they were watching a football game from the bleachers or more accurately a gladiator match from the Coliseum.
Connor had taken being beaten by Buffy with good grace, obviously having enjoyed the battle. While they were taking a breather someone - either Faith or Spike, Giles hadn’t been paying attention as he’d been making notes in the journal - said something and suddenly it was Slayers against vampires. Connor seemed far more interested in kicking his father’s butt along with Spike, at least at first. Giles didn’t find that shocking.
What took him by surprise was when they teamed up, batting Spike between them like a shuttlecock, Buffy and Faith stopped and watched, amused. Giles noted how well Angel and Connor did work together, getting Spike down fast. Faith and Buffy fell on them trying to get them down too. No surprises that Buffy took on Angel and Faith wanted to redeem herself after the first sparring loss to Connor. Their friends’ hoot and hollering added to the chaos. By the end, all five of them were shagged out on the mats, each claiming victory, even Spike who had obviously lost. At some point in the bedlam, Illyria had slipped into the room, unnoticed until it was over.
Connor staggered over to where they sat, Faith trailing behind him. “Don’t care what you say, Faith. I beat you.” He grinned, slinging back his damp hair.
“In your dreams, probably with some sexy add ons for after.” Faith swung her hips.
“Hey!” Connor scowled, stopping in front of Dawn. “Ignore her.”
“I’m practiced at that but you,” Dawn pushed him back with a finger, “stink and need a shower before anyone is going to want to get close to you.”
“I can’t argue that.”
Giles watched Illyria cross over to Connor and put a hand on his shoulder. She pointed at Buffy and said, “That one desires my pet, but she also wants Angel.”
Connor snorted as Buffy turned beet red. “That sums it up pretty well.”
“And you desire these two.” Illyria pointed at Dawn and Faith. “But you stay with only one.”
“Also, accurate.”
“Really?” Dawn asked colder than Antarctica in winter.
Connor shrugged. “I’m not blind nor dead yet.”
“Keep talking and you might be,” Angel warned.
“Being with just one seems like an inefficient way to procreate your species,” Illyria said.
“Says the person who goes into heat once a millennium.” Connor rolled his eyes.
She shook him. “I still expect your cooperation next time.”
“See me in a thousand years. Dawn will be tired of me by then,” Connor repeated what he had said back in Portland.
“She’s probably tired of you now,” Spike said.
“Dawn knows I’m a lot of things, one of them is loyal,” Connor replied.
“Makes no sense. Your best method of insuring your lineage would be to mate with all the females you desire,” Illyria said and in spite of himself, Giles remembered his Ripper days when he, Ethan and the others had tried that.
“Don’t look at me. I was raised in a hell dimension. Half the time I feel as confused about what humans think as you do.” Connor shrugged. “Fake memories aside. Talk to the ladies. Maybe they can help you understand. I need to find that shower.” He sauntered off.
“Did he just dump this nonsense on us?” Dawn asked.
Giles snorted. “Yes, and that sounds like a fine idea. I have some notes to make.”
“Oh no you don’t.” Buffy stabbed a finger at him.
Giles decided any conversation, no matter how uncomfortable, with an Old One was worth pursuing. Illyria, however, seemed bored by it. She forcibly collected Spike and took him off somewhere and the rest of the combatants dispersed, probably in search of showers of their own. He took a break and hunted Connor back down once the young man had time to clean up and rest.
Dawn sat in on the afternoon query session. Unsurprisingly, Connor was good at and quick to figure out anything relating to fight strategy and tactics. Giles didn’t know if it was something Angel had asked for or if Wolfram and Hart - looking forward to a time when mind-wiped Connor would have gone on to law school - had planned it but his education was classical, something Giles’s own father would have approved of. Connor liked science and history, but Giles found the weak spot in what had been done to Connor. He had no background in art or music.
He’d picked up a little of music from his college days before the spell broke. He gladly shared it with Giles, Linkin Park, Fuel, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Staind and several others he’d never heard of before. Dawn fetched a cd player and Giles listened to some of it. She explained some of her favorite art to Connor as Giles mulled over lyrics. Much of it was dark but he could see the appeal for Connor especially with his history.
“Do you hate it? Angel does,” Connor said.
Dawn covered his hand with hers. “I think I can see why.”
“We all can but no, I don’t. I love music and I can find something to like in most music.” Giles ignored Dawn’s look of disbelief. Sure, he had criticized some of Buffy’s music in the past, at least until he realized that he sounded just like his father and how much he had hated his father’s scorn for his own music.
“I shouldn’t say this, but Faith let it slip that she learned Angel loves power ballads and Barry Manilow.” Connor grinned, and Dawn laughed. “And I think that we might have sang some together under Jasmine’s influence.”
“Now, Manilow does have some really good songs,” Giles protested.
“So, what do you like?”
An idea struck him, and Giles levered himself up to his feet. “I’ll be right back with that answer.” He hustled to the room he’d been given within the new Angel Investigations complex and came back with his guitar. He’d taken it to Portland in hopes they were wrong about a hellmouth opening there and looking forward to playing at some open mic nights. Sadly, they hadn’t been wrong but at least he had it.
Connor smiled seeing the instrument. “You play? Cool! I wish Angel had thought to reprogram me to do something cool like play and instrument or play a sport or something. Though it was probably smart that I didn’t get on a sports team because I’d probably have accidentally really hurt someone.”
Giles let the sadness of that wash over him. He had never gotten a handle on how to help Buffy truly deal with her isolating physical strength and had even less words of wisdom for Connor on that matter. Instead he sang, playing the Rolling Stones Wild Horses first before launching into The Eagles Hotel California which might have been a bit on the nose really given that until recently Angel and company had been living in an old hotel.
Dawn leaned against Connor’s shoulder as they listened, obviously content. He slipped an arm around her. As he sang, Spike and Angel appeared from somewhere, keeping to the shadows. Spike requested some Sex Pistols, but he didn’t know the chords for their stuff. He settled for singing along with Giles to Pink Floyd: another note for his journal. William the Bloody had a decent voice and liked to sing.
“Do you want to sing?” Giles asked Connor and Dawn.
He shook his head. “Dawn can if she wants. I’m not much of a singer.”
“Better than me,” Angel said.
“A cat with its tail in the ringer sings better than you,” Spike snorted.
“I’d like to learn how to play the guitar though. Could you teach me?”
Giles had trouble disappointing him. When was the last time any of them wanted him to teach them anything? Fix problems yes, but just learn something for fun? It had been years. It felt good to be needed. “I’ve never taught anyone before so I’m not sure. You’d need to learn to read music, in theory though some people do play by ear.”
Connor’s excited expression fell. “Oh.”
“But I could show you a few chords to start with, let you get the feel of the instrument. If you still think you’d like to learn, we can give it a bash,” Giles promised. He beckoned Dawn to move over, so he could sit next to Connor. He showed him how to hold the guitar and positioned his hand into a simple chord.
“You need to press the strings but not too hard, not with your strength. You don’t want to break them. And with the other hand you strum the strings here.” Giles tapped them with the pick which he handed off to Connor.
Connor strummed it, nearly dropping the pick. “Ow, that actually hurts!”
“Did I forget to mention that?” Giles smiled. “You’ll eventually build up calluses but yes, it’s wire so it cuts.”
“Wasn’t expecting that.” Connor tried the same chord.
He played it a few more times. Giles showed him a few others. He didn’t do it well, but he tried.
“You’re terrible. Give up.” Spike laughed.
“Ignore him. Everyone starts somewhere.” Dawn glared at Spike. “Besides, there’s something sexy about guitarists.”
“That’s why I learned,’ Giles muttered.
“Definitely give up. The last thing we need is for Li’l Bit to find even more reasons to stick with a wanker like you.”
Connor curled his lip at Spike then his expression brightened as he glanced at the door. “Buffy, you ever kill a vampire with a guitar string?”
She laughed, coming into the room with Faith. “No, but I did use a cymbal off a drum set once.”
“Wicked.”
“I should start a tally every time your brat says something Angelus like.” Spike stabbed a finger at Connor.
“Can’t you shut up and go away. You’re driving me nuts,” Connor said.
“Better add that to the tally, Spike. Angelus told you that five times a day for years,” Angel smirked, and Spike shot him a two-fingered salute.
“Show me another, please Rupert,” Connor said.
“Of course. Here, try this one.” Giles rolled up his sleeves and demonstrated it and flowed into a rift.
“That was cool. Hey, you have a tattoo. It’s neat,” Connor said.
“No, you’re wrong,” Buffy said with an eye roll.
Giles ran his thumb over the mark of Eyghon. “She might be right. Remember our conversation about pasts coming back to haunt us and not having enough information being dangerous?”
“Yeah.”
“This is one thing I didn’t want to tell Buffy and her friends because it was bad and embarrassing, but it nearly got them killed. Jenny would have died if not for your father,” Giles said, trying not to think about the irony of Angel being both her savior and slayer.
“A tattoo did all that?”
“It was used to call a demon into the people who have the tattoo. Ethan has it too,” Giles said, surprised it wasn’t easier to admit it after all these years.
Connor made disgusted face that brought all that guilt back to Giles. “Why would you do that?”
“Um…” Giles plucked off his glasses and gave them a clean. “For the power and for the energy physical, mental, sexual.”
“There were orgies,” Buffy supplied.
“Ah.”
“Maybe you should warn him why this is a bad idea, Angel,” Buffy said.
He waved her off. “He hates demons. He’s not going to invite any inside himself.”
Connor laughed. “Besides, I have demon enough in me to be good on all those fronts anyhow.”
“And third Angelus-ism in a row.” Spike sauntered over to Buffy. “You really should kick this bell end to the curb.”
“Spike go away,” Connor and Angel chorused to no effect.
“Spike might have a point,” Faith said. “Or maybe Dawn’s just one lucky lady.”
“Of course, I am,” Dawn patted Connor’s shoulder and Buffy rolled her eyes.
Angel turned to his son and asked, “And did you like the guitar, Connor?”
“Hard to say yet. I’d like to give it a real try. It would be nice to have something to do that’s not all about fighting.”
“We’ll keep working at it, but it might be better without an audience,” Giles said, hoping the others would take the hint. Angel chivvied Spike off. Dawn went with her sister and Faith.
Giles worked with Connor for a little while longer, enough to know that he obviously learned quickly but when he didn’t - and music wasn’t natural to him - he got easily frustrated. Still he kept with it until he got a few chords down. Talking one on one gave him a better feel for the young man and the things he wanted, the things he feared. What did one say to someone who felt no one - Dawn aside - liked him? At least he could speak to having different dreams than the one a father might have had for him. He might have ended up following in his father’s footsteps, much as Connor was doing the same, but the path there had been different. That mattered. He hoped his insights helped Connor. Maybe he needed to make some notes about his subject turning the lens back on himself.
July 13th, 2006
I find myself siding with the young folk today. If anyone needs a babysitter - and this is definitely a babysitting occasion, not a Watcher one - less than Connor, I can’t imagine it. Dawn is a capable young woman and since they are college aged I have no idea why Buffy and her friends were so insistent I keep an eye on them. They were out with Angel and Spike checking out something that had made Illyria nervous, which should have us all worried. Connor wanted to go along with them. Buffy refused to allow Dawn to do the same.
Shockingly it took Dawn some convincing to keep Connor at home. He needed schooling in picking up clues from women. He might like to please them, but he was years behind a man his age when it came to figuring them out such as any man could understand. He needed to talk to his father or even Spike about this but I suspect he’d ask me first.
Certainly, Buffy picked up that Dawn planned for some naked fun far faster than Connor did, which will probably amuse anyone reading this journal. It is, of course, the reason I was put in charge. I said yes but Buffy had to be out of her bloody mind if she thought I was interfering in any of that.
What I didn’t expect was Dawn wanting to come along with me as soon as the sun fell, and everyone was gone. An old friend from Glasgow now had a magic shop here in L.A. and I wanted to see how she was doing. Dawn heard ‘magic shop’ and insisted on a little shopping. She might be thinking of Anya . I knew I was. Connor, now having sex on the brain, was in no mood for shopping. She mollified him with the reminder of Buffy and company didn’t expect to come back until morning.
I decided it would be fine. I’d send them home afterward and take Ailsa out for dinner and drinks. It would be a pleasant evening, I thought. Instead everything got bolloxed up. I shouldn’t be surprised.
X X X
“I don’t like magic,” Connor muttered staring up at the magic shop’s understated sign.
“So, you’ve said, about a thousand times in the last hour.” Dawn hip bumped him.
Giles had already tuned him out for the most part. “You’ll learn as you get older, Connor, that you’ll do a lot of things that don’t interest you in order to keep your girlfriend happy.”
“I suppose. She has to put up with me so it’s the least I could do,” he replied.
Giles knew he wasn’t quite as flippant as he sounded. Connor honestly disliked, maybe even feared, magic. Most of what Ailas would have in stock would be for fairly minor magic that probably wouldn’t be upsetting to him. Of course, Connor had no way of knowing that. Giles planned to point him toward the jewelry or gemstones that Ailas would doubtless stock for the wanna-bes or the merely curious. It should keep him busy.
The shop seemed bigger on the inside when they walked in bringing up remembrances of Doctor Who when he was younger. Celtic music played softly in the background. A few customers were in the store perusing wiccan books. Ailas worked in a back corner showing another customer some altar-sized cauldrons.
“This is a fantastic store,” Dawn said, and she was gone running from one display to the next.
Giles exchanged glances with Connor.
“I have never been that excited about anything,” Connor said with a hangdog expression.
“That’s a pity. Here, you might enjoy looking at these until she’s ready to go or has something she wants you to see.”
“Okay.”
Giles left him near the front of the store, looking at the Celtic themed jewelry. He wasn’t sure when the connection between paganism, magic and Celtic symbols started but it seemed entrenched now. Connor quickly moved from there to the small rack of CDs of Celtic music.
Once Ailas finished up she greeted him with a wide smile and wider arms. Giles accepted the hug. Seeing her again, silver strands in her red hair, he remembered days in Scotland, post Eyghon, licking his wounds. She had picked him up, dusted him off and they had had several wonderful weeks there as he got his life back in order.
“You are looking lovely, Ailas,” he said.
“And you look well,” she replied.
“This is a very nice shop. How do you like it here in L.A?”
“Ah, it’s an adventure. I miss home sometimes though.” Ailas glanced around the shop. “Those two young people you brought with you, are they your kids?”
Giles chuckled. He was certainly more father to Dawn than Hank Summers ever had been, and Connor seemed to enjoy his company more than he did his own father most days. “Only in a broad sense. Dawn wants to be a Watcher.” He gestured to her. “Connor is here because of her.”
“Young love.” Ailas grinned.
“Oh yes. Though he’s not the world’s biggest fan of magic, been on the bad side of it,” Giles replied.
Her blue eyes clouded. “Hurt badly?”
“In many ways but that is not a safe conversation in a public setting, nor my story to tell.” Giles noticed Connor had gotten closer. He’d forgotten how good the boy could hear and he was obviously eavesdropping. “Connor, are you finding things okay?”
Connor shrugged and then pointed to the jewelry display. “These look like Angel’s tattoo a bit. Guess I didn’t know how many things have that Irish feel to them.” He squinted but Giles suspected he was looking inside himself trying to sort out the memories. No doubt Angel would have had Wolfram and Hart embed a sense of Irish culture in his son.
Ailas’s face brightened. “Would you like a closer look, maybe find something for your friend?” She inclined her head to where Dawn was studying spell components.
“Okay, maybe the earrings.”
She set the tray out for him to look at them more closely before turning back to Giles. “You’ve been hard to keep track of lately, Rupert.”
“I’ll be here in Los Angeles for a while. I was hoping you’d like to go out for dinner tonight or some other time.”
“I have a few special customers in the back room where I keep the stuff for the more advanced mages,” she said, lowly. “I’d love to go dinner and maybe drinks afterwards.”
“You’re reading my mind,” he replied. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Connor ignoring them, not nearly as put out by older people flirting as he was used to being confronted with. Suddenly, Connor tenses, sending Giles into high alert.
“Isn’t that one of the idiots from the arboretum.” Connor fell into a defensive stance.
Giles and Ailas turned to see three people coming out of the back room Ailas had said was where the high-powered items were kept.
“That’s the moon-side coven,” Ailas said.
“Hate to tell you, the lady there tried to bring a hell lord here to rule this world,” Giles growled.
“Destroyer!” the woman snarled.
Before Giles could do anything, the witch blasted Connor with a spell. It knocked him straight out of the store taking the front door with him. Some of the amateur witch customers shrieked and raced out the busted door.
“Bloody hell.”
“What is happening?” Ailas asked.
“Giles!” Dawn cried.
“Check on Connor,” he said, hoping to get her out of the store.
“All I want is out of here.”
He was tempted to just let her go to be sure Ailas, Dawn and the other innocents still inside were safe but that could put others at risk down the road. “What were they after in the back Ailas?”
“I don’t stock dark stuff,” she said hurriedly.
“What hell god?” a woman with the Portland witch asked, backing away. “What did you do to that boy, Julia?”
“I don’t have time for you, Anne,” Julia snapped bringing her hand up.
Giles didn’t give her the opportunity. He cast a spell of his own, looping blue bands of light around her, taking her to the ground. Her two friends deserted her, fleeing the shop but they didn’t seem to know what was going on and he probably couldn’t keep all three confined.
Ailas cast a silencing spell over the screaming woman. “What the bloody hell is going on, Rupert?”
“Julia here teamed up with Ethan Rayne and several others to open a portal to Quor-Toth, using Dawn as a key to a dimension, let’s just call it a special talent of hers. Connor was raised there, and conquered it a bit, hence the Destroyer. She was more than willing to unleash hell here and kill whoever stood in her way.”
Ailas grimaced. “Now I’m terrified to think what she might have been able to turn whatever she was looking for in the back into. Now what do we do with her?”
“As it turns out there are a few special ops Watchers not far. I’ve had them in various locations, those who survived the culling. I’ll give them a call. Keep an eye on her, I need to be sure Connor wasn’t badly hurt.”
Ailas pointed over his shoulder. Connor staggered in, Dawn holding his hand, more to hold him back than affectionately. Blood poured down his head from a scalp wound and Giles swore the color reflected in the young man’s eyes. He took a step between Connor and the fallen witch.
Giles held up his hand. “It’s handled.”
A feral grin flashed like lightening across Connor’s face. “Not really.”
Drawing himself up, Giles sternly replied, “It’s over.” If he knew anything about how Holtz would have handled Connor - a dour man from the eighteenth century - it would have been with an iron fist.
Connor’s shoulders dropped, proving Giles’s hypothesis. “I really, truly hate magic!”
“We know,” Dawn said, exasperated. “Now, sit your butt down and let me clean up your head. I think you have splinters from the door in it. Do you have any towels, ma’am?”
“I’ll get them.”
Ailas disappeared deeper into her shop and Giles made his phone call. He hated having to do this. Demons and vampires were so much easier to deal with. Dispatching them left very little behind in the way of guilt. Sending this woman off for what she had tried to do and might do in the future made his chest tighten. The Watchers still had therapists and counselors. Maybe she’d become less of a threat. Regardless, it would be a long hard wait until Special Ops made it to the magic shop.
X X X
The sun was nearly up when Giles disembarked from the cab, still buzzed from all the scotch he and Ailas had drank all night before a nice long shag. He hadn’t given much thought about what waited for him when he got back to Angel’s home not until he nearly collided with the foursome as they dragged inside.
Buffy’s eyes widened. “Where were you?”
“Out.” He was in no mood to be interrogated. He was too mellow and pleasantly drunk.
“And you left them alone?” Buffy pointed toward the second floor. Angel and Faith beat a track inside. Giles wished he could follow them.
Spike, not surprisingly, loitered and offered up a simple, “Wanker.”
“I’m not even going to waste however much time it would take pointing out they were alone for weeks.” Giles sailed past them into the lobby. Angel hadn’t completely disappeared, nor had Faith though she hovered in a doorway, spectating. “Besides the magic shop was attacked and Connor ended up pretty well concussed, though that head of his is fairly hard. Dawn spent the evening playing nursemaid. I left her to it.”
“You smell like booze,” Spike said at the same time Angel put in, “My son was attacked?”
“What the hell happened, Giles?” Buffy tossed away her annoyance and became all business.
“We were just there shopping. An old friend of mine, Ailas owns it but by pure chance we ran across one of the mages from the portal debacle in Portland. She tried to fight her way out and blasted Connor out of the building.”
“Is he okay?” Faith asked.
“He’s fine, a bit headachy and very grumpy about magic. He was however very intrigued by the Special Ops Watchers I had retrieve the mage.”
Spike snorted. “Your boy is gonna turn into a Watcher if you don’t watch him, Peaches,”
Angel shrugged. “Worse thing to be.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “I’d check on him, but he’d probably stake me if I go up there now.”
“You think there’s a probably in there?” Faith laughed.
“Did you find that nest of Zogian demons?” Giles asked, edging toward the stairs.
“Not tonight.”
“Better luck tomorrow...today…whatever. I need to get some sleep,” Giles said.
“We weren’t done talking about you leaving them alone.”
“Buffy, they’re college-aged, they need no chaperone.”
“And Ailas is a woman’s name,” Angel said. “And also, I wouldn’t want to be hanging around here either if I was Giles.”
“Exactly. Good night.” Giles quickly made his escape. He’d probably hear more about it in the morning but for the next several hours all he wanted was some sleep.
July 14th, 2006
After this morning’s cup of tea and all the conversation whirling around it, I’ve decided I need more journals. Angel and Spike deserve new ones of their own. I could probably fill one with how much Connor hates magic. On the other hand, I think a corner has been turned. We’ll be staying here in L.A. for the foreseeable future. I think this will be good for all of us. I can see big things on the horizon and it’s my honor to be part of them.
X X X
“If you think you hate magic,” Spike said, losing another cigarette to Connor’s quick hands. “You should ask Angel about it.”
“I know about the whole soul thing.”
“Not what I’m talking about.” Spike chuckled and Angel’s face darkened. Giles took his tea cup off his notebook, prepared to start writing because he suspected this would be good.
“Shut your mouth, Spike.” Angel stabbed a finger at him.
“I’ll let you smoke one cigarette if you tell me,” Connor countered. Dawn, Buffy and Faith leaned against the dining room table, watching like this was going to be a Tony winning play.
“He was investigating a children’s show that seemed to be making kids sick.” Spike started laughing and Angel shoved him.
“Shut up!”
“A spell turned him in a wee little puppet man!” Spike blurted out in a rush.
The room fell silent. Angel grimaced and then Connor asked, drawing the word out. “A puppet?”
Spike bobbed his head. “A puppet.”
Connor burst into laughter followed by everyone in the room except Angel. Giles couldn’t write it down, too busy laughing so hard his ribs ached. Connor held his own sides, nearly toppling out of the chair he was laughing so hard. Faith slid down the wall, puddling into a giggling pile on the floor.
“A puppet!! Tell me there are pictures!” Connor begged.
“No!” Angel barked.
“I think there are.” Spike beamed.
“I have to have them!” Connor rubbed his side.
“Me too,” Buffy agreed between giggles.
“Did he…have vamp face as a puppet?” Connor managed to get out.
“Tiniest little fangs you ever saw,” Spike replied, and the laughter redoubled.
“Oh damn, I wish I had seen that!”
“You would have seen puppet me kicking the crap out of Spike,” Angel huffed. “If Wolfram and Hart was still around it would probably be on the security tape.”
“You beat Spike as a puppet?” Giles asked, unable to keep the question in.
“He makes it sound more dramatic than it was.” Spike glared at Angel.
“It was plenty of dramatic and you lost.” Angel allowed himself a laugh and Spike shot him a two-fingered salute.
“A bloody puppet,” Giles murmured writing it down.
“Don’t you dare,” Angel snapped, and Giles took a page out of Spike’s book with the salute.
“It’s going in.”
“Let me write this one up, Giles. Because I want all the details…if I can stop laughing.” Connor said.
“Told you, he’s going to be a Watcher,” Spike sing songed.
“Oh, speaking of that, Connor and I were talking over breakfast, he’s interested in what I do,” Giles said.
“The Special Ops guys were kinda neat,” Connor said.
“The word you’re looking for is thugs,” Faith grumbled. “Might be good for you.”
“Bite me. Anyhow, Giles said if it was okay with you, Dad and Buffy, he’d stay here with us a little longer, at least until I decide if I’m going back to college or not,” Connor said.
“Really? That’s great. I can stay right, Buffy,” Dawn asked. “I know I’d like to be a Watcher, after all. Connor and I can learn some of the tricks of the trade together.”
“That isn’t what he wants you here for Li’l Bit,” Spike scoffed, and she rolled her eyes.
“If this is what you want, Connor, I have no problems with it,” Angel said.
“I don’t’ know what I want but I like having everyone here. I want to explore this,” Connor replied.
“That’s fine with me. Every if Giles does have to go to wherever the next big bad is, you can go with him if that’s what you want.” Angel patted Connor on the shoulder.
“I’m content to stay here for the time being,” Giles said. “I think it’ll be good for everyone.”
Buffy nodded. “I wouldn’t mind putting down some roots for a while.”
“Yes!” Dawn hugged her and then Connor.
“This will be great,” Connor said.
“I think you’re right.”
Giles smiled. It did feel like they were a family again, if only for a little time. It went beyond the research opportunities or the recruitment of new Watchers. They were better together, stronger, that’s what the world needed them to be, that’s what they needed to be. This might only last a few more weeks but he planned to make the most of it. Changes like this didn’t come that often after all. He looked forward to whatever this chance brought.