White Knight's War

The Prodigal

The ride back to the Hyperion was tense to say the least. Lindsey wasn’t exactly happy to be with them, and was making sure they all knew it. Xander still had no clue how to deal with his ex, so made a point of keeping as far from him as possible, spending the journey talking quietly with Spike, catching him up on everything that had been going on in his and Dawn’s lives over the past couple of years. It was hard to say the least, knowing that Lindsey was listening to every word; but Xander was determined not to let the lawyer know how frazzled his presence made him.


Any hopes that things would be easier back at the hotel died the second they entered the lobby. Wes and Gunn were huddled round a crying Fred, but when they saw Angel they stormed across the room. Amidst all the yelling and screaming, it was hard for Xander to figure out what was going on, so he grabbed Faith in the hopes of getting a clear explanation.


When he heard what had happened, it was all he could do not to scream himself; they didn’t need more trouble on top of what was already raining down on them. But this had to be dealt with and dealt with quick. The fact that Angel had a son was mind boggling enough, but the scale of the spell that had been used to hide him was staggering. The only one he’d ever heard of that came near it, was the one the monks had used to create Dawn.


The strange thing was, he almost found himself taking Angel’s side in the argument; Xander had always fought first and foremost to protect those he loved, and he could understand the desperation Angel must have felt to have to turn to Wolfram and Hart for help. Xander would do anything for Dawn, and for the first time he realised that Angel truly was subject to the same human weaknesses as the rest of them. In the past Angel had always seemed to put his need for redemption first, and that’s why Xander had found it so hard to trust him; now he was going to have to re-evaluate his opinion of the man.


None of these thoughts were going to help him defuse the near riot in his lobby and Xander realised he’d have to reign everyone in soon or his tentative alliances were going to fall apart on him. He pushed his way between Angel and Wes, who were literally standing chest to chest, and simply said, “Enough.”


When Wes made to keep going Xander cut him off with a wave of his hand, “Look I know you have issues, well who here doesn’t; we’ve got enough fucked up people in this room to keep every shrink in the state employed for years. For now you’re just gonna have to suck it up and deal with it after the apocalypse, always providing we live that long.”


Neither Wes nor Gunn looked exactly happy about that idea, but at least they shut up for the moment. They’d all been so busy arguing, that Xander didn’t think they’d had time to really think through the consequences of what had happened. Xander wasn’t looking forward to being the one that had to point out the dangers to Angel.


Xander sucked in a deep breath and looked at Angel, “Wolfram and Hart did the spell that hid your son, didn’t they?”


“Look I’ve already told Wes that I did the right thing, I’m not going to apologise for wanting to protect Connor.”


“Not getting at you here. Just…..” Xander tried decide how to tell Angel what he’d figured out, opting in the end for the direct approach. “Angel, if Wolfram and Hart did the spell, then it’s been broken now for a reason. We know the Immortal’s one of the Senior Partners, and that means he’s known about your son all along. The spell breaking right after you show up here can’t be a coincidence.” Xander could only watch in sympathy as Angel’s face crumpled and he collapsed into a chair.


“Connor.” Angel’s voice was little more than a whisper and when he looked up, Xander could see unshed tears glistening in his eyes.


“Angel, where is he?” At first Xander wasn’t even sure that Angel had heard him, so he asked again, “Angel, tell me where to find Connor.”


“Why?” Angel sounded like a man that had lost all hope.


“So we can go get him. I’m not leaving anyone in Wolfram and Hart’s hands and we need to get there before they do, so come on Angel; talk to me. You can’t tell me that you let him go without some way to check up on him, you must now where he is.”


“Palo Alto. He…uh…he’s with a family in Palo Alto. His family, the one he should have had. Oh god what must he be feeling, he’ll have gotten all his memories back too.”


“You can ask him when you see him.” Xander stayed to try and comfort Angel, knowing that his Slayers would already be preparing a team, now that they had the boy’s location.


“If he’s who he was before the spell, then he’ll probably try to stake me on sight.”


“Maybe not, “ Dawn moved to sit by Angel, “He’ll have the old memories, but he’ll have the new ones too. This time around he’s been raised by people who loved him and that’s going to change how he thinks. Trust me, it doesn’t matter if the memories are real or not; they shape who you are just the same.”


The look in Angel’s eyes said that he desperately wanted to believe in what Dawn had said, but he’d been through too much with Connor not to always expect the worst. After everything Dawn had yelled at him the night before, he was surprised she was willing to offer him even words of comfort, so he was startled when she reached out to hold his hand.


“Angel, I won’t pretend to understand what you went through when you lost him; but I do know a little about being different. I’ve got fifteen years of memories that never happened. Despite what you and I remember; last night was the first time we actually met, but that doesn’t change anything does it? Even though you know they never happened, you still have all the feelings associated with the old memories, and so will Connor. He’s going to know what you sacrificed for him, and he’s going to have years and years of good memories to prove it. You just have to have a little faith that things’ll work out.”

Angel looked at the girl, no the young woman sitting close beside him and was almost convinced by her quiet certainty. Reaching up a hand, he stroked her hair back from her face, “I do remember you; you were always so scared of me. Angelus made sure of that, you’d peep out at me when I came to see Buffy but you never relaxed when I was there. I wanted you to see I wasn’t that monster anymore, but I never had the first clue how to talk to you.”


“And I was always so sure you never noticed me at all, never mind gave me a second thought, that was always one of the reasons I didn’t like you; you made me feel unimportant.”


“Never that, you always been important to everyone around you; and you’re right, it doesn’t matter at all if the memories are real. It’s the feelings that count.”


Seeing that Dawn appeared to be taking care of Angel better than he could, Xander decided to check on the preparations for Connor’s retrieval, he was surprised when Amy was the first to approach him.


She started talking the second he came close. “I can do the spell to merge Angel’s soul before you go, I’ve already got everything set up.”


“Doesn’t that kind of thing usually wipe someone out, Angel’s going to want to be at full strength for this.” Xander really wasn’t happy at the idea of risking a spell this big right before they went into a major fight.


“Actually he’ll be better than ever, according to Willow’s notes, he’s expending a lot of energy keeping Angelus clamped down, once he doesn’t need to do that; it’ll be like he’s got a new lease of life.”


“New and improved Angel huh? Well I just hope that he stays under control, now why don’t you tell me what else is up, you look like you need to say something I don’t want to hear.”


Amy hesitated for a second before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the crystal pendant she’d been working on for the last few days.


“No.”


“Xander it’ll be dawn before you get to Palo Alto.”


“Amy…Damn it…..That’s supposed to be for the end game remember; the big surprise to catch the bad guys off guard.”


“It’s his son.” And damned if Amy hadn’t inherited Willow’s resolve face along with her memories.


The truth was that Xander really didn’t want to fight her on this. The tactician in him might want to keep the surprise that they had a way to let the vampire’s fight in the sun, in reserve; but the part of him that made him the White Knight just couldn’t stomach it. Angel could have the pendant, he wasn’t going to let this battle he was trapped in, make him as ruthless as those he had to fight.


“Guess I’ll go and give him his funky new jewellery, and have him get ready for the spell.”


Amy leaned up and kissed Xander on the cheek, “That’s why we’re willing to follow you, you know. You care about more than just winning, it’s what we do along the way that truly shows who we are.”


Xander just hoped she was right, and that this decision wouldn’t come back to bite them. Knowing that waiting wasn’t going to help, he headed back to Angel and started to explain what Amy wanted to do.

Tbc……


I know this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but it’s the big fight scene next; and so far (despite umpteen re-workings) it’s still more tom and jerry then gladiator, so I thought you’d like this bit to tide you over