Big Bad Trouble

Buffy glanced around the living room. Spike and Cassie were both pacing, the duo of vampires had been tense ever since their daughter stormed out into the night. Cass assured everyone that Brody could take care of herself but that didn't seem to make Spike feel any better.

Willow had sent Xander home for the night, she knew her friend wouldn't be able to curb the impulse to annoy Angel.

Dawn was also no longer in the living room. Buffy had sent her up to bed promising to wake her the moment Angel and Connor arrived.

(Which,) Buffy thought. (Will be any minute.)

She could feel the familiar tug at her senses letting her know her former boyfriend was near. Just as Buffy thought, a few minutes later there was a knock on the door. She moved into the foyer and opened the door. Angel stood there with a young man at his side. Even if Buffy hadn't know who Connor was she would have known then. Like Brody, he was the spitting image of his father.

"Hey guys, come on in." Buffy said with a smile. Once they were inside she held her hand out to the boy. "I'm Buffy."

"Connor." He said shaking her hand.

Uh oh. He had an amazing voice too.

(Maybe i should lock Brody and Dawn away until they leave.) Buffy mused.

"Everyone's in the living room." Buffy said moving toward the room.

Angel glanced around, Willow smiled sweetly at him, Spike glared, and Cass looked nervous. The latters eyes were darting around refusing to meet Angel's.

"Where's Brody?" Angel asked.

"Spike pissed her off and she stormed out." Buffy said with a smirk.

"Why am i not surprised?" Angel muttered.

"We figured we'd wait for you then go look for her. We as in you, me, Connor, and Cass. Willow said she's stay here and watch Dawn and since Spike is already on her bad side i didn't think it was a good idea if he came too."

"She the one who punched you in the face?" Angel asked pointing to Spike's swollen nose.

Spike sneered and Cassie chuckled.

"I thought so. That's fine with me Buffy. What about you Connor? Up for a little tracking?"

The boy smirked. "Like you even have to ask."

Angel smiled. "I figured. So do we have a plan?"

"I figured you and Connor could hit the cemeteries, Cass could check by the Bronze, and i'd look around down by the docks and then head over to the mansion."

"I gave Connor a quick tour before we came here. You remember where the mansion is?" He asked his son, when Connor nodded Angel continued. "Why don't i check out by the graveyards and Connor can do the mansion."

"Fine with me. We have a little under two hours before dawn. Let's meet back here in an hour."

Everyone agreed then went out to start the search.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel was on his fifth cemetery when the scent hit him. She was here. He'd found traces of her scent everywhere he'd checked so far but it was really strong now. He found her perched atop a mausoleum, feet hanging over the side swinging back and forth like a child, stake in one hand, cigarette in the other.

She watched him approach cautiously but didn't make a move. There was a bit of recognition in her eyes. Before they'd parted ways Cass had said she shown her daughter his picture.

"Does your mother know you smoke?" He asked, stopping a few feet away.

"She's never said anything but i'm sure she does. Kinda hard to hide this kinda thing from a vampire." She said sliding foward and off the little building landing on her feet in front of him.

Angel smiled slightly and nodded. "So what did Spike do to deserve getting smacked?" Angel asked moving to sit on a bench a few paces to their right. "Besides existing."

"He called my mother a whore." She said moving to sit beside him.

"He's not really known for his tact."

"Obviously." She said with a sigh. She looked so sad.

"You okay?" He asked.

"They're always gonna be like this aren't they? My mom and dad. Always as each others throats, throwing hurtful remarks and nasty glances at one another."

"I wish i could say no but i can't. From the moment they met that's the way it was."

"Then why am i here? I mean why were they sleeping together?"

"They always had a passion for each other, a fire. Usually they turned it into a fight but sometimes not." Angel said.

She nodded and lifted her cigarette to her lips. She took a drag and released the smoke on a sigh. "And what about you and my mom?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you two gonna be snarking at each other too? Did you have the same kind of fire?"

"We had fire, but not like her and Spike." Angel murmured.

"What do you mean?" Brody asked flicking her cigarette away and turning her full attention to Angel.

"Your mom and i, we were...I guess you could say we were two of a kind." He said shifting a bit. He did not want to tell this girl how he and her mother had ruthlessly killed people. But as if she knew his thoughts she nudged his shoulder lightly.

"It's okay, i know all about my mom's, uh, dark days. She's always been honest with me about it. But when ever i would ask her about you, or the two of you together she would get kind of fidgety."

"If you know her history then there isn't really much left to tell. We were a team. Pretty much unstoppable." He said with a dry ironic laugh. "If i had been with you mother instead of Darla i probably would have never been cursed."

"And YOU would probably be my dad instead of Spike."

Angel started a bit at the longing in her voice. Did she want him to be her Dad? She didn't even know him. When he related his thoughts to her she shrugged.

"When my mom talks about Spike she has this sort of bite to her voice, anger too. But when she talks about you, it's kind of soft. Happy almost. I don't know. Sorry. I'm still kind of upset and whenever that happens i tend to get clingy and emotional."

"It's okay." Angel said sliding an arm around her shoulders. "You can cling if you want to."

She smiled a bit and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Connor's lucky. Here i am the kid of your jackass grandchilde and the woman who represents everything you hate about your past and you're comforting me."

"Yeah well, it's a dirty job but someone has to do it."

She giggled a bit. "Thanks Angel. I bet you're a really great dad."

"He has his moments." Connor said as he stepped out of the shadows.

"You must be Connor. I'm Brody." She said with a smile.

Connor returned it. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. Hope you don't mind, i was just borrowing your dad for a bit. Since mine's being a jerk."

"It's okay." Connor said sitting down beside her. He'd heard most of the conversation and felt bad for the younger kid. "I can share, besides, i always wondered what it was like to have a younger sister."

Brody beamed at him, the sadness Angel had seen now nothing but a memory. "So now what?"

"Well we still have about twenty minutes before we have to meet the others. You two up for a little hunting?" Angel asked.

"Sure. I bet i can stake more than you." Connor said looking at Brody and rising from his seat. He held out a hand to her and pulled her to her feet.

"No way."

"Ya-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Ya-huh."

"Nuh-uh."

"Kids. Cut it out." Angel said rising to follow.

"He started it." Brody called over her shoulder.

"Did not." Connor argued.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

Angel just shook his head and followed the bickering teenagers.

TBC