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~*~ Chapter 16 – Truths ~*~


Once again they left at sunset. They arrived in Seattle a few hours later, still early in the morning.

“The first thing to do is to find a hotel, preferably in the vicinity of where Dawn and Connor live,” Angel said.

Cordelia pulled out the Seattle map she had bought and gave directions to Angel.
Once in the neighbourhood, Angel parked in front of the first hotel he saw.

“This one will do,” he decreed. “And sunrise is getting a little too close for comfort.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

At six o’clock that night, they met in the lobby after some well-deserved rest.

“Have you got the address?” Spike asked Buffy.

She took Dawn’s envelope out of her bag and they checked with the map. They were even closer than they thought, and it turned out they could walk to Dawn and Connor’s place.

The more they were getting closer, the more Buffy was becoming nervous. “I hope she won’t be mad at me for coming without calling.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be mad at her because she ran away? I think you’ve got some priority here” Cordelia replied.

They stopped in front of a timeworn building and went inside.

“Apartment 4C,” Buffy said.

The hallway had a creepy look but was clean. They heard a sudden screaming, followed by giggles, then another scream. A male voice resounded, then a loud thump. And silence.

“I think…I think that was Dawn,” Buffy said hesitantly.

Spike gritted his teeth. “Ok, if that git touched her…”

“Spike, they’ve been living together for three months, what do you think happened?”

“Yeah, and besides, maybe she was the one taking advantage of him,” Angel said.

Buffy turned to him. “Hey! It’s my sister you’re talking about!”

“I’ll say,” muttered Cordelia.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Connor lived in a hell dimension all his life. He doesn’t know anything about girls and sex,” Angel explained.

“And it’s not like you could teach him anything about that,” Spike intervened, smirking.

The three others glared at him.

“He’s totally innocent,” Angel added.

“So is my sister.”

“Maybe they just lived like brother and sister then,” Cordelia offered with an ironic smile.

“Yeah, right,” Spike snorted.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Ok, guys, what about we sit down to continue this nice chat and order some tea and biscuits…oh no, wait, I have a better idea: why don’t we knock on that damn door already?”

“Why knock? I suggest we barge in,” Angel said, and Spike seemed to approve.

Buffy shot them a furious glance. “No. No barging in. We knock on the door like
civilized people…even though some of us are obviously not.”

Cordelia sighed. “This is ridiculous. Let’s get done with this.” She gave a firm knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

Cordelia exchanged a glance with Angel. It was Connor’s voice.

Buffy put her hand on the door. “Dawn? Are you there?”

There was an exclamation just before the door opened.

“Buffy!”

Dawn jumped in her arms and Buffy held her tight.

“Hey Dawnie.”

“Buffy, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” She took her sister’s hand and led her in the apartment.

“Come inside. Connor, this is my sister Buffy, and…Spike!” she exclaimed, noticing the blonde vampire. She jumped into his arms as well, much to Angel’s surprise.

“I’m so happy to see you!”

“Me too, Nibblet. You gave us quite a scare, you know.”

Angel and Cordelia walked in the apartment. Connor tensed, but his face betrayed real shock when he heard Dawn say, “Hey guys. What are you doing here?”

“You know them?” Connor asked Dawn.

She turned to him, surprised by his harsh tone. “Well, yes…it’s Angel and Cordelia.” She was about to explain who they were when Angel said, “Hi Connor.”

It was Dawn’s turn to be stunned. “You know each other?”

“Angel is my father,” Connor answered between clenched teeth.

“What? That’s impossible.”

Buffy stepped in. “You mean you don’t know who you are? What did you guys talked about for three months?”

“Well maybe we had better things to do than talk,” Connor said with a nasty grin, and Dawn gasped. She then realised what they must look like. Connor was wearing the bottom of his pajamas, and she was wearing the top. The bed was messed up, because they had been…well, busy. Connor pointing out the obvious was really not necessary.

Spike immediately reached out to Connor and grabbed him by the neck. “I don’t like your tone, mate. Apologies to the girl,” he said, showing Dawn, who was now looking at Connor with hurt and incomprehension on her face.

“Spike, let him go,” Angel ordered his childe.

Connor gave Angel a angry look “I can handle myself, thank you. I don’t need your help.”

Connor shoved Spike’s arm away and went to Dawn. “I’m sorry Dawn. I didn’t mean it.” He turned to the others. “I don’t understand. Why are you here? How did you find us?”

“Your address was on the letter Dawn sent me,” Buffy explained.

Connor looked at Dawn. “Why didn’t you tell me you had asked her to come?”

“I didn’t. And I didn’t expected her to arrive like this without warning, and with the whole gang.”

“You hadn’t given me your phone number,” Buffy said. “I could have tracked it down, but when I received your letter I just wanted to come immediately and see for myself that you were fine. You had mentioned Connor’s name, and Willow did the math. That’s why Angel and Cordelia are with us.”

Dawn smiled. “I’m glad you came, Buffy.”

Seeing that Angel didn’t know what to do in front of his son’s opened hostility, Cordelia went to Connor. “Connor, why did you run away like that? We were so worried about you.”
“I heard you and Dad. You don’t want me around.” And while saying that he looked more like a lost child than an angry teenager.

“Connor, that’s not true,” Angel said, finally intervening in the conversation. “I certainly never said I didn’t want you around. Whatever conversation you overheard, you didn’t stay long enough to hear Cordy and me say that we loved you and wanted to form a real family. I know things have been really hard, but why didn’t you let us a chance to explain?”

Connor hesitated. That was true, he hadn’t stayed to listen to the whole conversation. He had left without hearing the rest.

“Connor, I know I probably deserve the gold medal for the worst dad ever, but please trust me when I say I never wanted you to leave. I want us to finally build the relationship we never had the chance to have.”

While saying this, he had come over Connor and had put his hand on his shoulder.
Connor didn’t push him away.

“First, Dawn and I need to talk,” he finally said.

Dawn turned to her sister. “I still don’t get how Connor can be Angel’s son. Did you know this?”

“Willow mentioned it to me last year. With all that happened, I never got the chance to tell you. I don’t even think Xander knows.”

“It’s a long story,” Angel said.

“And I prefer to tell her about it myself,” Connor added. “Listen, I don’t want to be rude, but…Dawn and I really need to talk. Do you mind coming back tomorrow?”

Buffy was about to protest when she saw the look on Dawn’s face. She was watching the boy with worry and love.

“Alright,” she conceded. “Cordelia and I will come back tomorrow morning, and we can all have dinner tomorrow night, what do you say?”

Dawn nodded. “It’s fine. We’re not working tomorrow. Connor?” she asked in an almost pleading tone.
He looked at her with the same love on his face that Buffy had seen on Dawn’s. It was obvious he wouldn’t refuse her anything, even if he still had a lot of reservations about the situation.

“Ok,” he finally agreed, earning a relieved smile from his girlfriend.

“Well, time to go, then,” Buffy said with a significant glance to Spike and Angel.

The two sisters hugged, and Spike kissed Dawn on the forehead, attracting another surprised look from Angel.

The four of them left, leaving the two teenagers alone with a multitude of questions hanging between them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Oh, for God’s sake, mate, stop brooding!”

They were sitting in a nearby restaurant. Angel hadn’t opened his mouth much since they had left the apartment.

He shot a frustrated look at Spike. “Well, my son hates me, so I think that for once I really deserved the right to brood.”

Cordelia put her hand on his and entwined their fingers. “He doesn’t hate you. He’s just angry.”

“More hurt than angry,” noted Spike with his usual perceptiveness. But he certainly didn’t want to interfere between Angel and his son. He had his own teenage girl to deal with, thank you very much.

“I can try to talk to him tomorrow, if you want,” Buffy proposed.

“It’s worth the try,” Cordelia said.

Angel smiled to Buffy. “Thanks.”

Spike didn’t add anything, he was too busy eating. Buffy watched with growing alarm all the dishes displayed in front of him. He had ordered most of his favorite meals.

“Spike, you’re not going to eat all this, right?”

“I’m hungry. And I’ve wanted to eat some of these for months.”

“I thought you ate real food before”, Cordelia pointed out.

“Well yeah, but at least now it tastes something.”

“But what with the sudden gluttony? “

He shrugged. “Like I said, hungry. And when you work I don’t fancy to prepare a meal for myself, so I just pick at whatever’s in the fridge. So I thought this would be a good occasion to have a good taste at everything. I can’t believe how much I missed it.”

“Yeah, I remember what it felt like,” Angel said dreamily, and when the girls stared at him he realised with horror what he had let slip. He was supposed to be the only one who remembered that day. One of his most wonderful and painful memories.

“You remember what?” Cordelia asked.

“Uh…nothing.”

Fortunately – and surprisingly – she didn’t insist. She put her hand on her forehead. “Ooh! Vision!”

Angel turned to her with a worried look.

“I see…I see a huge indigestion for a certain vampire in the next twenty-four hours.”

Spike glared at her.

“And I’m afraid it’s too late to save him now,” she added in a defeated tone.

“It’s my bloody stomach and I do whatever I want with it. Why don’t you look at your own plate?” he said like a stubborn child.

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Your stomach that hasn’t seen such a huge amount of food in 120 years. Spike, I wish you’d slow down. You’re going to regret it.”
Spike looked at Buffy, saw she was really worrying. He put his fork down on the plate.

“Ok baby,” he said, and the smile he earned was worth abandoning those delicious chicken wings.

Angel watched him with a mix of surprise and disdain. “You are so whipped.”

Spike shot him an indifferent look and put his arm around Buffy’s waist, pulling her to him. “Yeah. And you know what? I don’t give a damn.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Dawn was sitting on the bed and Connor on the chair.

“I didn’t know you were unhappy,” he finally said.

“Connor, I’m not! I love you. But Buffy is my sister, and I love her too. I missed her so much. I told you about the letter, remember?”

He nodded, hurt written all over his face. Dawn was torn between the joy of seeing her sister again, and the pain to see the man she loved like that.

“Will you leave?”

She stared at him. “What?”

“Will you go back with her?”

“No! Of course not…Connor, is that what you’re afraid of? That I would leave you? Without a glance back? What kind of girl do you think I am?” she asked angrily.

He shrugged helplessly. “Well, I don’t know Dawn. Your sister was right. We’ve been living together for three months and we barely know anything about each other.”

Her anger vanished. She got up from the bed and came to kneel in front of him.

“Ok then. Maybe it’s time we talk about ourselves. But before we do, I want you to know that I love you. I don’t care who you are. I love Connor, whatever his last name or background can be. And nothing will change that. And nothing or no one will separate me from you.”

He felt suspicious moisture behind his eyes and closed them to repress it. “I love you too, Dawn. I don’t want to lose you,” he said in a hoarse voice.

She put her hand on his cheek. “You won’t.”

He leaned and kissed her. She smiled. “Time for proper introductions.”

They settled on the bed, holding hands.

“I’ll start,” Connor said. “In fact, you know already the bigger part, about me living in a hell dimension and all.”

“Yes. It’s the you being Angel’s son that I don’t get.”

“I know this is going to sound really weird, but…nine month ago, I was wearing diapers.”

She frowned, confused. “What do you mean? You were incontinent or something?”

“What’s incontinent?”

She looked embarrassed and he dismissed the comment. “Whatever. I mean that I was born last year. I was a baby, until Holtz took me to Quortoth. Time goes faster in that dimension. When I came back a few weeks later, I was sixteen…or seventeen, I’m not really sure. It’s not like we use to celebrate birthdays in a hell dimension.

Dawn had paled. “So, what you’re saying is that a few month ago, while I was going to high school and talking about fashion and boys to my friends, you were still a baby?”

“Exactly.”

“Ok. That’s kind of creepy,” she admitted.

“I know. I don’t realize it the same way because I grew up normally…if you can say so…in that dimension.”
“But how come you’re Angel’s son? He’s still a vampire, right?”

“As far as I know. Well, he was when I was conceived, anyway. And so was my mom. There was some prophecy involved.”

Dawn’s eyes grew wide. “Your mom being…?”

“Darla. I never knew her. She died when I was born.”

Dawn nodded. “I remember Buffy mentioning her name. But I never met her.”

“How come you knew my dad then?”

Dawn noticed he had said ‘dad’ and not ‘father’ but didn’t say anything.
“Right after we arrived in Sunnydale, a few years ago, he started to hang out with my sister, helping her to fight. She’s the Slayer.”

“I heard people talking about the Slayer in Quortoth. I thought she was more like a myth or something. I don’t remember Angel mentioning her though.”

“Probably because it’s been kind of a painful subject for a long time. They both moved on now, apparently, but your father and my sister once shared the ultimate big love. It lasted three years, with a lot of angst and tears, and Angel finally deciding to leave. He wanted Buffy to have a normal life. Not that she did. And now, it looks like she’s with Spike, so…”

“What about him?”

“Spike’s a vampire. Angel made Drusilla, and Drusilla made Spike. That makes him sort of your nephew, when you think about it…talk about a creep factor.”

Connor frowned. “I’m not sure I want to be related to that guy.”

“Wait until you know him. I know he was evil once, and he did his share of wrong deeds. But the last three years, he helped Buffy a lot. He took care of me, saved my life several times, as well as the Scoobies – my sister’s friends. He’s like a brother to me. And the way he loves my sister…I always wished to meet someone who would love me like that…and lucky me, I found him,” she smiled, and he smiled back.

“I was scared that you would be freaked out by the baby-suddenly-turned-teenager thing.”

She laughed. “Wait until you hear my story. I’m afraid I beat you on the weirdness scale. Nine months ago, you were a baby. Well, two years ago, I didn’t exist. I was a green ball of mystical energy, aka the Key. I opened door between dimensions. And after a long and hectic story, about which I’ll tell you some other time, I just became a regular girl…I think.”

“And amazing and beautiful regular girl,” he said tenderly, caressing her cheek.

She smiled. “I think we covered the most important stuff. And we have the rest of our lives to discover all the little things.”

“Do we?” he asked, uncertainty shadowing his gaze.

She kissed him, hoping to chase the remains of doubts away, and the question she could read in his mind.

What’s going to happen now?





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