Destiny - Chapters 11 & 12
Oct. 30th, 2003 07:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psubratAuthor: PSUbrat
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is part three of a trilogy and is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Wesley and Gavin square off while Buffy and William face an uncomfortable situation...
Timeframe: Immediately following "Morning After"
Behind the tinted windows of the office building across the street from the Magic Box, Gavin Park observed the slayer and her watcher enter the shop. He noticed that the attitude between the two had changed drastically from what he had observed yesterday. He checked the time on his watch and entered it on a notepad along with a few words. Wolfram and Hart was still unclear as to the identity of the new watcher, but they had a few ideas of who it could be. The options were amazing if any were true. He walked over to his desk and sat down. As he was about to have his secretary place a call for him, her voice came over the intercom.
"Mr. Park, you asked me to let you know when Mr. Wyndham-Pryce arrived. He just went into his office, sir."
"Thank you, Ms. Blackwell," Gavin stated with a scowl. He stood up, grabbed the packet of pictures, and headed towards Wesley’s office. There was no way he was going to allow Wesley to get away with this, not on his watch.
Wesley was sitting quietly at his desk sifting through several prophecies when Gavin barged into his office. He glanced up at the man who had just intruded and then back at his paperwork, barely even registering the man’s presence.
"Care to explain these?" Gavin growled as he threw the pictures on Wesley’s desk.
"Oh look, pretty pictures, and they’re of me, at my house. How charming. Is there something I can help you with, Gavin?"
Gavin’s face colored and his jaw clenched. "When were you going to tell me you had the boy?" He demanded as he pounded Wesley’s desk with his fist.
Without flinching, Wesley gave Gavin a cold glare. "I suppose you wanted me to call you at three in the morning to tell you I had a house guest?"
"Yes. That’s proper procedure Mr. Wyndham-Pryce!"
"Yes, well. I’ve never really been one for procedures. I was back in the day, but I found it to be all very...droll."
"Where is he now?" Gavin challenged.
"I sent him off to school."
"You what!" Gavin exclaimed. "You sent him off to school? Are you an idiot?"
"I assure you I’m no idiot, Mr. Park. I thought it prudent that the child attend school to keep up appearances. If this is a problem, I can go over there now and escort the boy here. Would that be better?"
Gavin clenched his fists and breathed deeply. He glowered at Wesley, but said nothing.
"I thought not. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do. Good day, Gavin." He looked back down at the prophecy he was translating and waited for the man to leave his office.
Spinning on his heels, Gavin left Wesley’s office in a huff. "Get Ms. Morgan on the phone. Now!" He seethed as he passed his secretary’s desk. He walked into his office and slammed the door. It had to be her doing, but that was fine; he knew how to deal with her kind.
Dawn was looking out the window, admiring the view, when a knock came at the door. "Come in," Dawn said unenthusiastically.
"Hi Dawn," Fred smiled. "I’ve brought a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that you might be able to wear. Or if they don’t fit you, I’m sure we can go through my closet and find something else."
"They’ll be fine. Thanks." Dawn smiled slightly at the girl, but didn’t offer any other words.
"I’ll just leave them on the bed then. You know, you can come downstairs and hang out with us if you want. You don’t have to stay up here all by your lonesome. We don’t bite. I guess that’s not really true though, because Angel, he does bite, technically. I just mean..."
"Thanks. Maybe I will." At this point, Dawn just wanted the girl to leave her alone. "Cordelia said that Angel would be up to talk to me soon. Is he coming or not?"
Fred finally sensed the tension in Dawn’s voice. "Angel got called away on business..."
"He’s out on business in the daylight?" Dawn demanded. Something felt strange about that.
"Well, yeah. He goes through the sewers and tunnels. Gunn went ahead of him in the truck. Happens just about everyday."
"I see. Who’s Gunn?"
"Gunn is part of the team. He used to fight vampires with a gang and joined Angel after his sister was killed by one."
"Is Connor part of the team?"
Fred was stunned by the teen’s question. "Uhm. Not really. He was just...he’s just someone Angel cares for, that’s all." She hoped that Dawn couldn’t sense her hesitation in answering the question.
"Why is it that it seems that everyone wants to know if I know this Connor, yet they won’t even tell me who he is? What’s the big secret?"
"I..." Fred stuttered.
"Hey Dawn," Cordelia said as she came in the room to rescue an MIA Fred. "Feel like a shopping trip?"
Buffy stood in front of William, shocked to say the least, at the display of affection that Cecily was showering on the man. With everything that had occurred the night before, she hadn’t even thought about the impact that their relationship might have on the ex-vengeance demon. Lucky for them that Cecily was an ex-demon because she knew things weren’t going to go over well. She could tell that William was very uncomfortable since he was blushing deeply and trying his best to push the woman away, but it was to no avail. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she cleared her throat.
"Oh, Buffy," Cecily said blushing. "I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there!"
Buffy smiled. "I bet you didn’t."
Cecily just smiled and put her arms around William.
"Darling, where have you been? Your phone is busy and I wanted to tell you about Dawn!"
"What about Dawn?" Buffy asked with concern.
"Don’t you know?" Xander asked. "I’ve been trying to reach you all morning at home but the machine never picked up."
"Oh. Well I..." She looked at William with wide eyes.
"Buffy stayed the night at my place..." He could feel Cecily’s body stiffen next to him. This was not going to be pretty.
"It was just that it was closer and I was really tired from looking for Dawn..."
"Buffy, there’s a message on the machine for you," Anya stated.
"From who?" Buffy questioned.
"From Angel," Anya replied.
"Oh! It’s probably about Dawn being there..."
Xander studied his friend closely. It seemed like she was keeping something from them. "How did you know Dawn was there? I mean, obviously she couldn’t reach you at home..."
"I...uh..."
"Bit called my place last night to let me know," Spike said, covering for Buffy.
"Yeah. That’s how it went down. I should probably give her a call and make sure she’s doing better this morning." Buffy walked quickly to the office to call Dawn at the Hyperion. How in the world were they going to explain this to everyone?
Cecily grabbed William’s hand and tugged him towards the table. "Darling, I was thinking, maybe we could go away for the weekend. Just the two of us...nice little place in the country. What do you think?"
"Uhm. Pet, I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. I have my watcher duties..."
"I’m sure you can take one weekend off," Anya said, patting him on the back. "Giles used to do it all the time."
"Thanks Anya," William sighed. "We’ll talk about it later, alright? Right now I need to study part of the prophecy that Giles left with me, okay?"
Cecily felt deflated. She had been sure that he would have jumped at the chance to go to the country with her. "Okay," she whispered. She watched him go into the office. Something seemed different about him today.
A giddy Cordelia and Dawn returned to the hotel sometime after noon with bags in hand. Dawn had enjoyed her shopping trip, even though it had been with ‘Queen C’. She was really starting to like Cordelia, it seemed like she had really grown up a lot since moving to L.A. While at the mall, they talked about Sunnydale but Dawn made sure that she didn’t discuss Steven. She had been vague when Cordelia had asked if she had a boyfriend now.
"Dawn, your sister called," Fred stated as the teen sat down on one of the couches.
Dawn cringed. "Did she sound angry?"
"No, not at all. She sounded relieved that you were okay. I told her that you were out shopping with Cordelia and that you would call her back when you got in."
"Thanks. Is Angel back yet?"
Cordelia and Fred exchanged glances, which didn’t go unnoticed by Dawn.
"Okay. I’m tired of you guys treating me like some kid. All I want to know is why Angel wigged out on me last night and who this Connor guy is. I don’t see what the big deal is!" She was angry now. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at the two women. "I want to talk to Angel. Now."
"Good afternoon one and all," a voice from the front doors called suddenly.
"Lorne," Fred exclaimed as she ran over to the demon to give him a hug.
"How was Las Vegas, Lorne?" Cordelia asked with a smile.
"It was fantabulous! But it just wasn’t what I expected. There’s really not a large selection of clientele there. You’d think a place called ‘Sin City’ would be teeming with demons and such."
Standing off to the side, Dawn’s anger continued to swell since her presence had been completely forgotten with the arrival of the demon. Quietly seething, she studied the green creature with red horns and eyes. Finally, trying to regain attention to herself, she coughed loudly.
"And just who is this precious little pouter?" Lorne asked, walking towards Dawn.
Cordelia walked over to Dawn and put her arm around the teen. "Lorne, this is Dawn. Dawn, this is Lorne."
Before Lorne could shake Dawn’s hand, Fred added, "She’s Buffy’s sister."
"The Buffy?" He asked in amazement after looking at Cordelia for confirmation.
"Why does everyone say that when they hear Buffy’s name?" Dawn demanded.
"Your sister is a bit of a legend around here," Lorne stated cheerily.
"Among other things," Cordelia added under her breath.
Lorne shot her a look that said ‘not now’. "So tell me Dawn, what brings you to the City of Angels?"
Dawn looked at Cordelia. "It’s okay Dawn. Lorne’s one of us. Your secret is safe here."
Lorne put his arm around Dawn and led her to one of the couches. "Tell Uncle Lorne everything about yourself. Wanna sing a little song for me?"
"Huh?" Dawn questioned with a puzzled look.
"Lorne," Cordelia warned, shaking her head.
"Okay. No songs yet. Just spill girlfriend." He gave Dawn a warm smile that put the teen totally at ease.
"Well," Dawn started. "It’s a pretty long story..."
"I have a lot of time," Lorne replied.
Cecily had been hovering around William constantly all morning and even managed to whisk him off to lunch with her. Understandably, Buffy was upset that William had agreed to go, but realized that now was probably not the best of times to be sharing the fact that they had reunited. Finally, after hours of stolen glances and light touches, the two found some time alone together later that afternoon in training.
"Anya, Buffy and I are going to train in the back. Please make sure we’re not disturbed." His request was not out of the ordinary. Often times Giles would ask the same thing.
Anya had been busy with a customer and had only nodded her answer in return.
"Need any help with that?" Xander had asked the watcher.
"Nope. I think the Slayer and I can manage." The last thing he wanted was for Xander to accompany him to the back room.
The tension in the training room was thick enough to cut through. They had both changed into workout clothing and were half an hour into their training session when William suggested that Buffy stop working out with the bag and start working out on him.
"I don’t want to hurt you," Buffy hesitated.
"Don’t worry about that, Pet. I can hold my own. Just show me what you’ve got."
She eyed him warily, but as soon as he gave her the patented cocky smile, she flew at him.
William was ready for her tackle and held his ground easily. He blocked several of her kicks and then landed one of his own to her chest. She went down hard.
"Wanna tell me how you did that?"
He shook his head. "Not yet, Luv." He then signaled for her to come at him again.
This time Buffy landed a punch that sent him sprawling to the floor. "I’m sorry! Are you okay?" She ran to his side to make sure that she hadn’t broken anything.
As soon as she leaned over him, he reached up and pulled her down to the floor. "What do you think?" He asked suggestively with a raised eyebrow.
"I think you have a lot of explaining to do, like where you got this kind of strength." She allowed him to pull her closer so that they were face to face.
"I’ll tell you after..."
"After what?"
"After this..." He said, pulling her into a passionate kiss.
Neither had noticed that the training room door had opened, nor had they noticed Cecily standing in the doorway watching.
Author: PSUbrat
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is part three of a trilogy and is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Buffy and William's secret is uncovered while Lorne discovers a few things about Dawn...
Timeframe: Immediately following "Hidden Agendas"
Lorne and Dawn were about two hours into their conversation when Gunn and Angel finally arrived back from their mission. Both were dripping in demon guts and other gooey type substances.
"Ugh!" Fred exclaimed. "What’s that awful smell?"
"I’m pretty sure it’s us," Gunn replied. "Big man over there decided that the two of us could take on a Goethe demon alone."
"Well we killed him didn’t we?" Angel asked with a sheepish smile.
"After we took a beating first. We had to hack this thing up into small pieces..."
"And then we had to dispose of it in the waste water facility."
"Hence the smell." Gunn sniffed himself and wrinkled up his nose.
Cordelia came out of Wesley’s old office, covering her mouth with her hand. "You two hit the showers! You’re getting goop all over the clean floor and you smell nasty! Move it!"
"Like you have to tell me twice," Gunn muttered as he dragged himself into the back rooms for his shower.
Angel walked over to Cordelia and tried to pull her into an embrace. "What? Don’t you think this could be...?"
Cordelia backed away from Angel, giving him a warning glance.
He turned around to see Dawn and Lorne sitting on one of the couches, he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t noticed them before. "Hey Lorne. How was Vegas?"
"Hi sweet cheeks. I’d come over there and give you a hug but I just had this suit dry cleaned. Vegas was great but it’s nice to be back home."
Angel then turned to Dawn. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up and then we can have that talk, okay?"
Dawn nodded her head. She had a lot of questions for him now, especially about the little interaction between him and Cordelia that she just witnessed. "That’s fine. I think we have a lot to discuss."
"Yeah." Angel agreed as he climbed the stairs and disappeared down the hall.
"So, my little green blob of energy," Lorne said, trying to get the girl’s attention back to their talk.
Dawn looked at him in surprise. "How did you...?"
"You’d be amazed. I know a lot of things. Ready to sing for me yet?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Why don’t you try it and find out," Lorne said grinning.
The limousine pulled up to the curb in front of the Wolfram and Hart offices in Sunnydale. Gavin watched from his office window as Lilah emerged from the car. He should have known she was on her way her when Ms. Blackwell couldn’t reach her at the Los Angeles office. He was willing to wage money that Lilah was here to see Wesley. Determined that he wasn’t going to let the two of them play him, he picked up his packet of information on Lilah and started for Wesley’s office. Just before he reached the door, the direct line to the senior partners buzzed loudly. Gavin grinned and returned to his desk to take the call.
Wesley sat at his desk, deep in thought. Things were going well for him here at Wolfram and Hart. He had a corner office with plush furniture and everything he needed was at his fingertips. The work was challenging and intriguing, something that he hadn’t gotten enough of at Angel Investigations. He sat up in his chair when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in."
Lilah sauntered into his office with a grin plastered across her face. She closed the door and locked it without saying a word. "Good afternoon, Wesley," she cooed at him.
"Lilah," he stated in a subdued manner. "What brings you to Sunnydale? As if I didn’t already know..."
"I told you last night that I was going to thank you properly for delivering the boy. Didn’t you think I would make good on my promise?" She ran her finger seductively over the leather of the visitor chair while giving him a small pout.
"I see." He continued to sit in his chair as she moved behind him to massage his shoulders.
She spun his chair around and crawled into his lap, gently kissing his neck and nibbling on his ears.
Wesley made no move to encourage or discourage her advances. He closed his eyes and let her take control.
The two were startled when a knock came at the door.
Wesley cleared his throat. "Who’s there?"
"Mr. Pryce? It’s me, Connor."
Lilah and Wesley exchanged surprised glances. Wesley practically threw her down to the floor as he quickly stood up. "Make yourself presentable before I open that door," he demanded. "Be right with you Connor."
Lilah smirked at him, but did as she was told.
After he made sure that Lilah looked respectable, he opened the door and let the teen come inside.
They had managed to keep their sexual tension in check since the kiss and were now working on Buffy’s reflexes.
"You know, we should probably tell them," Buffy stated as she kicked another knife to the side.
"You’re right," William grunted as he threw a dagger at her head.
After successfully stopping the dagger between both hands, she tossed it to the floor and continued. "I mean, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, specifically night time. If we don’t tell them, it’s going to look really suspicious."
William studied the new dagger intently, contemplating the ramifications of them being a couple. "I should talk to Cecily first," he sighed. It would be hard, but it needed to be done. He just couldn’t continue leading her on, she deserved better.
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"No. Go get cleaned up. I think we’ve worked hard enough today."
Buffy walked over to him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Let her down easy."
"Luv, I don’t think there’s going to be anything easy about this."
"I know. I’ll go shower first."
His emotions were all over the place as he watched her walk off towards the bathroom. How could he be so happy and so sad at the same time?
"Xander?" Anya asked as she squeezed his arm. "Would you go downstairs and find me a box of key chains?"
"Key chains? Since when do we have...?" He trailed off as she glared at him and then nodded towards Cecily. "Oh. Those key chains. Sure. No problem." Grabbing his comic book, he headed down to the basement.
"Cecily?" Anya asked, walking up behind her friend. "Is something wrong?" Cecily turned around and Anya noticed the woman’s tears. "Oh Cecily, what’s wrong?"
"Nothing," she sniffed. "I just thought William would want to go with me to the country." It was a lie. She had seen them, the two of them, in the back room, doing everything but training.
"Oh sweetie. I’m sure he will later. He’s pretty new to this whole watcher thing. I’m sure it’s nothing personal." Anya put her arm around her friend and gave her a small squeeze.
William walked out of the backroom and looked at Cecily. Suddenly he went cold. "Is everything okay, Pet?" He asked, walking over to her.
"Everything is fine, William," she replied without looking at him.
He frowned. "Anya, Luv, would you give us a few minutes please?"
Sensing that the two needed to talk, she moved towards the basement door. "Sure. I’ll just help Xander with the key chains in the basement."
After Anya was gone, William took Cecily by the hand and sat her down in one of the overstuffed chairs in the corner. "I think we need to talk," he began as he kneeled in front of her.
She glared at him with ice-cold eyes. "I saw you," she hissed. "The two of you...I saw everything."
He didn’t know what to say. "I’m sorry. That’s not the way I wanted you to know..." He looked at her pleadingly, trying to make her understand that he hadn’t meant to hurt her.
"I love you, William, and this is how you repay that love? By sneaking around with that...that...ungrateful bitch? I should have known..."
His eyes narrowed and his cheeks flushed with anger. "Now see here! You’re talking about the woman that I love! Look at me," he demanded as he cupped her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes. "I’m in love with Buffy. I always have been. I tried to convince myself otherwise but I just couldn’t fight it. I’m sorry that I hurt you..."
"You’re sorry?" She asked incredulously. "Well, it’s too late for sorry. The damage is done!"
He fell backwards as she abruptly stood up and pushed him over. "Cecily, please listen to me," he begged. "I’m sorry..."
"Stop," she yelled, spinning around to face him. "I became a vengeance demon because of you," she cried.
"And I became a vampire because of you!"
She stared daggers at him. How dare he make her the reason he became a vampire! Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Buffy quietly watching. "I may not be a vengeance demon any longer, but make no mistake about it, William, I will have my vengeance!" With that she stormed out the front door leaving a very contrite William sitting on the floor.
"Hello Connor. What brings you by this afternoon? How was school?" Wesley asked, showing Steven to one of the visitor chairs.
"It was too confining," he stated with a grimace. "Do I have to go back?"
"I’m afraid so," Wesley replied. "All teenagers your age are required and we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, now do we?"
Connor shook his head. He hadn’t thought of it that way. "I just wanted to let you know Dawn wasn’t in school today."
Wesley and Lilah exchanged puzzled glances. "Are you quite certain?" Wesley inquired.
"Yeah. I looked for her everywhere and I asked her friend Janice if she had seen her. She hadn’t."
"Well that’s odd," Lilah said with a frown. "You would think Buffy would ensure Dawn’s attendance, especially since social services keeps breathing down her neck."
"And I couldn’t imagine why they would be doing that," Wesley stated dryly.
Lilah grinned at him.
"Connor, do you have any idea where Dawn might be?" He asked the teen.
"No. But I can try to find out from her sister if you want."
"No," Wesley snapped. "That won’t be necessary. We’ll find Dawn soon enough." He stood for a moment in deep thought and then nodded at Lilah.
"Connor, forgive Mr. Pryce for not introducing me. I’m Lilah Morgan," she said extending her hand to the boy. He made no move to shake it. She smiled and continued. "I’m so glad that you agreed to work with us. As soon as Buffy is out of the way we will make sure that you and Dawn are well taken care of."
Steven studied the woman before him. He didn’t like her, something felt off about her. "How do I know you’re telling the truth, that Dawn won’t be hurt?"
"Because she is more important to us alive. I promise you."
He nodded, still not trusting her. "Fine. When do you want me to go after Buffy?"
"Tonight," Lilah stated.
The boy looked at Wesley for confirmation. Wesley nodded his head. "Consider it done," he said as he stood up to leave.
Angel answered the door as he towel dried his hair. The green demon before him looked upset. "Hey Lorne. What’s up?"
"Angel, you’ve got to tell her what’s going on," Lorne said, concern coating his voice. "That’s one powerful little girl sitting downstairs. I wouldn’t want to piss her off too much."
Angel snorted at Lorne’s comment. "I think you’re overreacting just a bit, don’t you? She’s only a teenager..."
"That’s where you’re wrong. She’s older than anything you’ve ever faced. Hell, I think she’s even older than existence itself. You better tell her about Connor, the sooner the better."
"Or what?" Angel questioned still not understanding the urgency in Lorne’s voice.
"Or you’re going to have one very pissed off ball of energy coming at you."
Angel stared at Lorne. "I guess I’ll go talk to her now..."
"You do that. Make sure you tell her everything. You have no idea what you’re dealing with...she only sang a little ditty for me and my head felt like it was going to explode."
"I’ll go now. Any suggestions about how I explain Connor’s existence?"
"I think she knows all about the birds and the bees sweet cheeks."
Angel pulled his shirt on and ran his fingers through his hair. He knew this was going to be the toughest, no, make that the second toughest thing he was going to have to do that day. The first toughest was telling Buffy.
Buffy walked over to William and sat down beside him on the floor. As soon as she saw the tears well up in his eyes, she pulled him close to her and rocked him gently. She knew this was going to be hard on him, especially since she knew there was a part of William that was always going to love Cecily, until the day he died. Just like there was a part of Spike that would always love Drusilla. She supposed the same was true for her and Angel as well. No matter what happened in life, and how much time had passed, there would always be that little part of them that had feelings for their first loves.
William let Buffy comfort him. This was so different from what had transpired between the two lovers less than a year ago. He had always been the one comforting her, her touchstone. Now she was there for him. After looking into her green eyes, seeking reassurance that he had done the right thing, he realized that he had and kissed her passionately.
"Excuse me? Hello? You two want to share what’s going on here?" Xander demanded, standing in front of them with a horrified look on his face.
William and Buffy both looked at Xander with wide eyes and then looked at each other.
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is part three of a trilogy and is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Wesley and Gavin square off while Buffy and William face an uncomfortable situation...
Timeframe: Immediately following "Morning After"
- 11 -
Hidden Agendas
Hidden Agendas
Behind the tinted windows of the office building across the street from the Magic Box, Gavin Park observed the slayer and her watcher enter the shop. He noticed that the attitude between the two had changed drastically from what he had observed yesterday. He checked the time on his watch and entered it on a notepad along with a few words. Wolfram and Hart was still unclear as to the identity of the new watcher, but they had a few ideas of who it could be. The options were amazing if any were true. He walked over to his desk and sat down. As he was about to have his secretary place a call for him, her voice came over the intercom.
"Mr. Park, you asked me to let you know when Mr. Wyndham-Pryce arrived. He just went into his office, sir."
"Thank you, Ms. Blackwell," Gavin stated with a scowl. He stood up, grabbed the packet of pictures, and headed towards Wesley’s office. There was no way he was going to allow Wesley to get away with this, not on his watch.
Wesley was sitting quietly at his desk sifting through several prophecies when Gavin barged into his office. He glanced up at the man who had just intruded and then back at his paperwork, barely even registering the man’s presence.
"Care to explain these?" Gavin growled as he threw the pictures on Wesley’s desk.
"Oh look, pretty pictures, and they’re of me, at my house. How charming. Is there something I can help you with, Gavin?"
Gavin’s face colored and his jaw clenched. "When were you going to tell me you had the boy?" He demanded as he pounded Wesley’s desk with his fist.
Without flinching, Wesley gave Gavin a cold glare. "I suppose you wanted me to call you at three in the morning to tell you I had a house guest?"
"Yes. That’s proper procedure Mr. Wyndham-Pryce!"
"Yes, well. I’ve never really been one for procedures. I was back in the day, but I found it to be all very...droll."
"Where is he now?" Gavin challenged.
"I sent him off to school."
"You what!" Gavin exclaimed. "You sent him off to school? Are you an idiot?"
"I assure you I’m no idiot, Mr. Park. I thought it prudent that the child attend school to keep up appearances. If this is a problem, I can go over there now and escort the boy here. Would that be better?"
Gavin clenched his fists and breathed deeply. He glowered at Wesley, but said nothing.
"I thought not. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do. Good day, Gavin." He looked back down at the prophecy he was translating and waited for the man to leave his office.
Spinning on his heels, Gavin left Wesley’s office in a huff. "Get Ms. Morgan on the phone. Now!" He seethed as he passed his secretary’s desk. He walked into his office and slammed the door. It had to be her doing, but that was fine; he knew how to deal with her kind.
******
Dawn was looking out the window, admiring the view, when a knock came at the door. "Come in," Dawn said unenthusiastically.
"Hi Dawn," Fred smiled. "I’ve brought a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that you might be able to wear. Or if they don’t fit you, I’m sure we can go through my closet and find something else."
"They’ll be fine. Thanks." Dawn smiled slightly at the girl, but didn’t offer any other words.
"I’ll just leave them on the bed then. You know, you can come downstairs and hang out with us if you want. You don’t have to stay up here all by your lonesome. We don’t bite. I guess that’s not really true though, because Angel, he does bite, technically. I just mean..."
"Thanks. Maybe I will." At this point, Dawn just wanted the girl to leave her alone. "Cordelia said that Angel would be up to talk to me soon. Is he coming or not?"
Fred finally sensed the tension in Dawn’s voice. "Angel got called away on business..."
"He’s out on business in the daylight?" Dawn demanded. Something felt strange about that.
"Well, yeah. He goes through the sewers and tunnels. Gunn went ahead of him in the truck. Happens just about everyday."
"I see. Who’s Gunn?"
"Gunn is part of the team. He used to fight vampires with a gang and joined Angel after his sister was killed by one."
"Is Connor part of the team?"
Fred was stunned by the teen’s question. "Uhm. Not really. He was just...he’s just someone Angel cares for, that’s all." She hoped that Dawn couldn’t sense her hesitation in answering the question.
"Why is it that it seems that everyone wants to know if I know this Connor, yet they won’t even tell me who he is? What’s the big secret?"
"I..." Fred stuttered.
"Hey Dawn," Cordelia said as she came in the room to rescue an MIA Fred. "Feel like a shopping trip?"
******
Buffy stood in front of William, shocked to say the least, at the display of affection that Cecily was showering on the man. With everything that had occurred the night before, she hadn’t even thought about the impact that their relationship might have on the ex-vengeance demon. Lucky for them that Cecily was an ex-demon because she knew things weren’t going to go over well. She could tell that William was very uncomfortable since he was blushing deeply and trying his best to push the woman away, but it was to no avail. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, she cleared her throat.
"Oh, Buffy," Cecily said blushing. "I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there!"
Buffy smiled. "I bet you didn’t."
Cecily just smiled and put her arms around William.
"Darling, where have you been? Your phone is busy and I wanted to tell you about Dawn!"
"What about Dawn?" Buffy asked with concern.
"Don’t you know?" Xander asked. "I’ve been trying to reach you all morning at home but the machine never picked up."
"Oh. Well I..." She looked at William with wide eyes.
"Buffy stayed the night at my place..." He could feel Cecily’s body stiffen next to him. This was not going to be pretty.
"It was just that it was closer and I was really tired from looking for Dawn..."
"Buffy, there’s a message on the machine for you," Anya stated.
"From who?" Buffy questioned.
"From Angel," Anya replied.
"Oh! It’s probably about Dawn being there..."
Xander studied his friend closely. It seemed like she was keeping something from them. "How did you know Dawn was there? I mean, obviously she couldn’t reach you at home..."
"I...uh..."
"Bit called my place last night to let me know," Spike said, covering for Buffy.
"Yeah. That’s how it went down. I should probably give her a call and make sure she’s doing better this morning." Buffy walked quickly to the office to call Dawn at the Hyperion. How in the world were they going to explain this to everyone?
Cecily grabbed William’s hand and tugged him towards the table. "Darling, I was thinking, maybe we could go away for the weekend. Just the two of us...nice little place in the country. What do you think?"
"Uhm. Pet, I’m not sure that’s going to be possible. I have my watcher duties..."
"I’m sure you can take one weekend off," Anya said, patting him on the back. "Giles used to do it all the time."
"Thanks Anya," William sighed. "We’ll talk about it later, alright? Right now I need to study part of the prophecy that Giles left with me, okay?"
Cecily felt deflated. She had been sure that he would have jumped at the chance to go to the country with her. "Okay," she whispered. She watched him go into the office. Something seemed different about him today.
******
A giddy Cordelia and Dawn returned to the hotel sometime after noon with bags in hand. Dawn had enjoyed her shopping trip, even though it had been with ‘Queen C’. She was really starting to like Cordelia, it seemed like she had really grown up a lot since moving to L.A. While at the mall, they talked about Sunnydale but Dawn made sure that she didn’t discuss Steven. She had been vague when Cordelia had asked if she had a boyfriend now.
"Dawn, your sister called," Fred stated as the teen sat down on one of the couches.
Dawn cringed. "Did she sound angry?"
"No, not at all. She sounded relieved that you were okay. I told her that you were out shopping with Cordelia and that you would call her back when you got in."
"Thanks. Is Angel back yet?"
Cordelia and Fred exchanged glances, which didn’t go unnoticed by Dawn.
"Okay. I’m tired of you guys treating me like some kid. All I want to know is why Angel wigged out on me last night and who this Connor guy is. I don’t see what the big deal is!" She was angry now. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at the two women. "I want to talk to Angel. Now."
"Good afternoon one and all," a voice from the front doors called suddenly.
"Lorne," Fred exclaimed as she ran over to the demon to give him a hug.
"How was Las Vegas, Lorne?" Cordelia asked with a smile.
"It was fantabulous! But it just wasn’t what I expected. There’s really not a large selection of clientele there. You’d think a place called ‘Sin City’ would be teeming with demons and such."
Standing off to the side, Dawn’s anger continued to swell since her presence had been completely forgotten with the arrival of the demon. Quietly seething, she studied the green creature with red horns and eyes. Finally, trying to regain attention to herself, she coughed loudly.
"And just who is this precious little pouter?" Lorne asked, walking towards Dawn.
Cordelia walked over to Dawn and put her arm around the teen. "Lorne, this is Dawn. Dawn, this is Lorne."
Before Lorne could shake Dawn’s hand, Fred added, "She’s Buffy’s sister."
"The Buffy?" He asked in amazement after looking at Cordelia for confirmation.
"Why does everyone say that when they hear Buffy’s name?" Dawn demanded.
"Your sister is a bit of a legend around here," Lorne stated cheerily.
"Among other things," Cordelia added under her breath.
Lorne shot her a look that said ‘not now’. "So tell me Dawn, what brings you to the City of Angels?"
Dawn looked at Cordelia. "It’s okay Dawn. Lorne’s one of us. Your secret is safe here."
Lorne put his arm around Dawn and led her to one of the couches. "Tell Uncle Lorne everything about yourself. Wanna sing a little song for me?"
"Huh?" Dawn questioned with a puzzled look.
"Lorne," Cordelia warned, shaking her head.
"Okay. No songs yet. Just spill girlfriend." He gave Dawn a warm smile that put the teen totally at ease.
"Well," Dawn started. "It’s a pretty long story..."
"I have a lot of time," Lorne replied.
******
Cecily had been hovering around William constantly all morning and even managed to whisk him off to lunch with her. Understandably, Buffy was upset that William had agreed to go, but realized that now was probably not the best of times to be sharing the fact that they had reunited. Finally, after hours of stolen glances and light touches, the two found some time alone together later that afternoon in training.
"Anya, Buffy and I are going to train in the back. Please make sure we’re not disturbed." His request was not out of the ordinary. Often times Giles would ask the same thing.
Anya had been busy with a customer and had only nodded her answer in return.
"Need any help with that?" Xander had asked the watcher.
"Nope. I think the Slayer and I can manage." The last thing he wanted was for Xander to accompany him to the back room.
The tension in the training room was thick enough to cut through. They had both changed into workout clothing and were half an hour into their training session when William suggested that Buffy stop working out with the bag and start working out on him.
"I don’t want to hurt you," Buffy hesitated.
"Don’t worry about that, Pet. I can hold my own. Just show me what you’ve got."
She eyed him warily, but as soon as he gave her the patented cocky smile, she flew at him.
William was ready for her tackle and held his ground easily. He blocked several of her kicks and then landed one of his own to her chest. She went down hard.
"Wanna tell me how you did that?"
He shook his head. "Not yet, Luv." He then signaled for her to come at him again.
This time Buffy landed a punch that sent him sprawling to the floor. "I’m sorry! Are you okay?" She ran to his side to make sure that she hadn’t broken anything.
As soon as she leaned over him, he reached up and pulled her down to the floor. "What do you think?" He asked suggestively with a raised eyebrow.
"I think you have a lot of explaining to do, like where you got this kind of strength." She allowed him to pull her closer so that they were face to face.
"I’ll tell you after..."
"After what?"
"After this..." He said, pulling her into a passionate kiss.
Neither had noticed that the training room door had opened, nor had they noticed Cecily standing in the doorway watching.
Author: PSUbrat
Rating: PG-13 Some language and violence
Disclaimer and spoiler warning: These characters belong to Joss Whedon and whomever else he sells them to, I'm just borrowing them for a while. This story is part three of a trilogy and is based upon the alternate universe I created in Reset.
Update List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Destined_Fic
Summary: Buffy and William's secret is uncovered while Lorne discovers a few things about Dawn...
Timeframe: Immediately following "Hidden Agendas"
- 12 -
Ramifications
Ramifications
Lorne and Dawn were about two hours into their conversation when Gunn and Angel finally arrived back from their mission. Both were dripping in demon guts and other gooey type substances.
"Ugh!" Fred exclaimed. "What’s that awful smell?"
"I’m pretty sure it’s us," Gunn replied. "Big man over there decided that the two of us could take on a Goethe demon alone."
"Well we killed him didn’t we?" Angel asked with a sheepish smile.
"After we took a beating first. We had to hack this thing up into small pieces..."
"And then we had to dispose of it in the waste water facility."
"Hence the smell." Gunn sniffed himself and wrinkled up his nose.
Cordelia came out of Wesley’s old office, covering her mouth with her hand. "You two hit the showers! You’re getting goop all over the clean floor and you smell nasty! Move it!"
"Like you have to tell me twice," Gunn muttered as he dragged himself into the back rooms for his shower.
Angel walked over to Cordelia and tried to pull her into an embrace. "What? Don’t you think this could be...?"
Cordelia backed away from Angel, giving him a warning glance.
He turned around to see Dawn and Lorne sitting on one of the couches, he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t noticed them before. "Hey Lorne. How was Vegas?"
"Hi sweet cheeks. I’d come over there and give you a hug but I just had this suit dry cleaned. Vegas was great but it’s nice to be back home."
Angel then turned to Dawn. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up and then we can have that talk, okay?"
Dawn nodded her head. She had a lot of questions for him now, especially about the little interaction between him and Cordelia that she just witnessed. "That’s fine. I think we have a lot to discuss."
"Yeah." Angel agreed as he climbed the stairs and disappeared down the hall.
"So, my little green blob of energy," Lorne said, trying to get the girl’s attention back to their talk.
Dawn looked at him in surprise. "How did you...?"
"You’d be amazed. I know a lot of things. Ready to sing for me yet?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Why don’t you try it and find out," Lorne said grinning.
******
The limousine pulled up to the curb in front of the Wolfram and Hart offices in Sunnydale. Gavin watched from his office window as Lilah emerged from the car. He should have known she was on her way her when Ms. Blackwell couldn’t reach her at the Los Angeles office. He was willing to wage money that Lilah was here to see Wesley. Determined that he wasn’t going to let the two of them play him, he picked up his packet of information on Lilah and started for Wesley’s office. Just before he reached the door, the direct line to the senior partners buzzed loudly. Gavin grinned and returned to his desk to take the call.
Wesley sat at his desk, deep in thought. Things were going well for him here at Wolfram and Hart. He had a corner office with plush furniture and everything he needed was at his fingertips. The work was challenging and intriguing, something that he hadn’t gotten enough of at Angel Investigations. He sat up in his chair when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in."
Lilah sauntered into his office with a grin plastered across her face. She closed the door and locked it without saying a word. "Good afternoon, Wesley," she cooed at him.
"Lilah," he stated in a subdued manner. "What brings you to Sunnydale? As if I didn’t already know..."
"I told you last night that I was going to thank you properly for delivering the boy. Didn’t you think I would make good on my promise?" She ran her finger seductively over the leather of the visitor chair while giving him a small pout.
"I see." He continued to sit in his chair as she moved behind him to massage his shoulders.
She spun his chair around and crawled into his lap, gently kissing his neck and nibbling on his ears.
Wesley made no move to encourage or discourage her advances. He closed his eyes and let her take control.
The two were startled when a knock came at the door.
Wesley cleared his throat. "Who’s there?"
"Mr. Pryce? It’s me, Connor."
Lilah and Wesley exchanged surprised glances. Wesley practically threw her down to the floor as he quickly stood up. "Make yourself presentable before I open that door," he demanded. "Be right with you Connor."
Lilah smirked at him, but did as she was told.
After he made sure that Lilah looked respectable, he opened the door and let the teen come inside.
******
They had managed to keep their sexual tension in check since the kiss and were now working on Buffy’s reflexes.
"You know, we should probably tell them," Buffy stated as she kicked another knife to the side.
"You’re right," William grunted as he threw a dagger at her head.
After successfully stopping the dagger between both hands, she tossed it to the floor and continued. "I mean, we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, specifically night time. If we don’t tell them, it’s going to look really suspicious."
William studied the new dagger intently, contemplating the ramifications of them being a couple. "I should talk to Cecily first," he sighed. It would be hard, but it needed to be done. He just couldn’t continue leading her on, she deserved better.
"Do you want me to go with you?"
"No. Go get cleaned up. I think we’ve worked hard enough today."
Buffy walked over to him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Let her down easy."
"Luv, I don’t think there’s going to be anything easy about this."
"I know. I’ll go shower first."
His emotions were all over the place as he watched her walk off towards the bathroom. How could he be so happy and so sad at the same time?
******
"Xander?" Anya asked as she squeezed his arm. "Would you go downstairs and find me a box of key chains?"
"Key chains? Since when do we have...?" He trailed off as she glared at him and then nodded towards Cecily. "Oh. Those key chains. Sure. No problem." Grabbing his comic book, he headed down to the basement.
"Cecily?" Anya asked, walking up behind her friend. "Is something wrong?" Cecily turned around and Anya noticed the woman’s tears. "Oh Cecily, what’s wrong?"
"Nothing," she sniffed. "I just thought William would want to go with me to the country." It was a lie. She had seen them, the two of them, in the back room, doing everything but training.
"Oh sweetie. I’m sure he will later. He’s pretty new to this whole watcher thing. I’m sure it’s nothing personal." Anya put her arm around her friend and gave her a small squeeze.
William walked out of the backroom and looked at Cecily. Suddenly he went cold. "Is everything okay, Pet?" He asked, walking over to her.
"Everything is fine, William," she replied without looking at him.
He frowned. "Anya, Luv, would you give us a few minutes please?"
Sensing that the two needed to talk, she moved towards the basement door. "Sure. I’ll just help Xander with the key chains in the basement."
After Anya was gone, William took Cecily by the hand and sat her down in one of the overstuffed chairs in the corner. "I think we need to talk," he began as he kneeled in front of her.
She glared at him with ice-cold eyes. "I saw you," she hissed. "The two of you...I saw everything."
He didn’t know what to say. "I’m sorry. That’s not the way I wanted you to know..." He looked at her pleadingly, trying to make her understand that he hadn’t meant to hurt her.
"I love you, William, and this is how you repay that love? By sneaking around with that...that...ungrateful bitch? I should have known..."
His eyes narrowed and his cheeks flushed with anger. "Now see here! You’re talking about the woman that I love! Look at me," he demanded as he cupped her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes. "I’m in love with Buffy. I always have been. I tried to convince myself otherwise but I just couldn’t fight it. I’m sorry that I hurt you..."
"You’re sorry?" She asked incredulously. "Well, it’s too late for sorry. The damage is done!"
He fell backwards as she abruptly stood up and pushed him over. "Cecily, please listen to me," he begged. "I’m sorry..."
"Stop," she yelled, spinning around to face him. "I became a vengeance demon because of you," she cried.
"And I became a vampire because of you!"
She stared daggers at him. How dare he make her the reason he became a vampire! Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Buffy quietly watching. "I may not be a vengeance demon any longer, but make no mistake about it, William, I will have my vengeance!" With that she stormed out the front door leaving a very contrite William sitting on the floor.
******
"Hello Connor. What brings you by this afternoon? How was school?" Wesley asked, showing Steven to one of the visitor chairs.
"It was too confining," he stated with a grimace. "Do I have to go back?"
"I’m afraid so," Wesley replied. "All teenagers your age are required and we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, now do we?"
Connor shook his head. He hadn’t thought of it that way. "I just wanted to let you know Dawn wasn’t in school today."
Wesley and Lilah exchanged puzzled glances. "Are you quite certain?" Wesley inquired.
"Yeah. I looked for her everywhere and I asked her friend Janice if she had seen her. She hadn’t."
"Well that’s odd," Lilah said with a frown. "You would think Buffy would ensure Dawn’s attendance, especially since social services keeps breathing down her neck."
"And I couldn’t imagine why they would be doing that," Wesley stated dryly.
Lilah grinned at him.
"Connor, do you have any idea where Dawn might be?" He asked the teen.
"No. But I can try to find out from her sister if you want."
"No," Wesley snapped. "That won’t be necessary. We’ll find Dawn soon enough." He stood for a moment in deep thought and then nodded at Lilah.
"Connor, forgive Mr. Pryce for not introducing me. I’m Lilah Morgan," she said extending her hand to the boy. He made no move to shake it. She smiled and continued. "I’m so glad that you agreed to work with us. As soon as Buffy is out of the way we will make sure that you and Dawn are well taken care of."
Steven studied the woman before him. He didn’t like her, something felt off about her. "How do I know you’re telling the truth, that Dawn won’t be hurt?"
"Because she is more important to us alive. I promise you."
He nodded, still not trusting her. "Fine. When do you want me to go after Buffy?"
"Tonight," Lilah stated.
The boy looked at Wesley for confirmation. Wesley nodded his head. "Consider it done," he said as he stood up to leave.
******
Angel answered the door as he towel dried his hair. The green demon before him looked upset. "Hey Lorne. What’s up?"
"Angel, you’ve got to tell her what’s going on," Lorne said, concern coating his voice. "That’s one powerful little girl sitting downstairs. I wouldn’t want to piss her off too much."
Angel snorted at Lorne’s comment. "I think you’re overreacting just a bit, don’t you? She’s only a teenager..."
"That’s where you’re wrong. She’s older than anything you’ve ever faced. Hell, I think she’s even older than existence itself. You better tell her about Connor, the sooner the better."
"Or what?" Angel questioned still not understanding the urgency in Lorne’s voice.
"Or you’re going to have one very pissed off ball of energy coming at you."
Angel stared at Lorne. "I guess I’ll go talk to her now..."
"You do that. Make sure you tell her everything. You have no idea what you’re dealing with...she only sang a little ditty for me and my head felt like it was going to explode."
"I’ll go now. Any suggestions about how I explain Connor’s existence?"
"I think she knows all about the birds and the bees sweet cheeks."
Angel pulled his shirt on and ran his fingers through his hair. He knew this was going to be the toughest, no, make that the second toughest thing he was going to have to do that day. The first toughest was telling Buffy.
******
Buffy walked over to William and sat down beside him on the floor. As soon as she saw the tears well up in his eyes, she pulled him close to her and rocked him gently. She knew this was going to be hard on him, especially since she knew there was a part of William that was always going to love Cecily, until the day he died. Just like there was a part of Spike that would always love Drusilla. She supposed the same was true for her and Angel as well. No matter what happened in life, and how much time had passed, there would always be that little part of them that had feelings for their first loves.
William let Buffy comfort him. This was so different from what had transpired between the two lovers less than a year ago. He had always been the one comforting her, her touchstone. Now she was there for him. After looking into her green eyes, seeking reassurance that he had done the right thing, he realized that he had and kissed her passionately.
"Excuse me? Hello? You two want to share what’s going on here?" Xander demanded, standing in front of them with a horrified look on his face.
William and Buffy both looked at Xander with wide eyes and then looked at each other.
