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Dangerous	By : addielogan Category: Angel the Series > Het - Male/Female Views: 3801 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Angel: The Series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
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Anne hadn't
said a word since they'd gotten back to the hotel. She sat on the bed, her
knees pulled to her chin as she stared forward at the wall, clutching the cross
around her neck tightly in her trembling hands. Spike had tried to talk to her,
but she didn't respond, seemingly lost in her own private world.

"How is
she?"

Spike turned
to towards the doorway where Cordelia was standing. "Unresponsive,"
he replied.

Cordelia
walked over to the bed, sitting beside Anne and taking her hand. "Anne?
Sweetheart, I need you to talk to me, okay?"

Anne blinked,
turning to look at Cordelia. She opened her mouth to speak, but all she could
manage was a sob. Cordelia pulled her into her arms, murmuring softly and
rocking back and forth until Anne's tears stopped and she fell asleep. Cordelia
laid her back against the bed and pulled the covers up over her.

"What did
you do?" Spike asked as Cordelia stood up.

"Just
helped her fall asleep," she replied. "She needs the rest."

Spike went
over to his daughter, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "She really loves
him, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she
does," Cordelia replied. "She didn't mean for it to happen, but she
couldn't help it."

Spike's lips
turned up in a half smile. "I know the feeling."

"I didn't
see this until tonight, and by then it was too late," Cordelia said.
"If I'd just gotten the vision sooner�"

Spike put his
hand on her shoulder. "You can't control your visions, Cordy. If anything,
it was the bloody Powers that sent it too late."

Cordelia
turned to look back at the girl sleeping on the bed. "What she must be
going through right now� I told her everything would be all right. They showed me that everything would be
all right. Why would they let me see that if it wasn't the truth?"

"Maybe it
still will be. Connor's survived a hell dimension before. If we can pull him
out of this one�"

"The
demons didn't leave behind anything useful," Angel announced, alerting
Spike and Cordelia to his presence. "Maybe if one of the demons had been
left behind for questioning�"

Spike's eyes
flashed. "You better not be about to go where I think you're going with
that," he warned.

"You were
there, Spike," Angel said. "She tore them apart with her bare hands. And
unless I've grown suddenly delusional, she was slightly bumpy in the forehead
region at the time."

"She's my
daughter, Angel," Spike replied, his jaw tight. "I may have a pulse
these days, but I'm not exactly fully human either."

Angel crossed
his arms in front of him. "When's the last time you looked that much like a vampire?"

"Well,
aren't we Mr. Hypocritical."

"Spike�"
Angel said, his tone one of warning. "I'm not in
the mood to run around in circles. Tell me what I saw back there."

Spike glared
at Angel as he spoke. "When Anne was eight, Drusilla took her. Got it into
her crazy little head that we could be a 'family,' and
kept trying to turn Anne. But all it did was strengthen the demon that was
already in there. She isn't a vampire. Not completely
anyway."

"She looked
pretty damn close," Angel said.

"She has
a soul," Spike replied. "And she's alive, which is more than I can
say for you."

"Stop
arguing in here," Cordelia said. "You'll wake her up. And Angel, just
knock it off. I know you're upset about Connor, but this isn't helping
anything."

"What
will help?" Angel snapped. "My son is gone�again."

"I
know," Cordelia said. "But it isn't Anne's fault."

"He was
there trying to save her." Almost as soon as the words were out of Angel's
mouth, Spike swung, punching the larger man in the jaw, Angel's head snapping
back.

Anne bolted up
in the bed, screaming as she did. Spike ran to her, pulling her back into his
arms. He cooed words of comfort to her, stroking her hair.

"Angel,
go somewhere else. Now,"
Cordelia said angrily

Angel blinked.
"Cordy�"

"You're
hurting. I know. But taking it out on Anne and Spike is nowhere in the neighborhood of helpful. So just leave
the room. I'm going to help Anne get back to sleep, and then we'll figure out
what to do next," Cordelia said.

"I know
what to do next," Angel replied. "I'm going to get my son back."

"I swear,
if you paint one single pentagram on the lobby floor, I will stake you," Cordelia warned. "Rushing into something
without thinking has never worked for you before. Don't you think it's time you
learned from a mistake or thirty?"

"I'll be
in our room," Angel said, storming out.

Cordelia
sighed as she went back towards the bed. "Here, let me," she said,
taking Anne from Spike and soothing the girl back to sleep. She tucked Anne in
again before looking over at Spike. "If it makes you feel any better, he's
blaming himself, too."

"Yeah,
I'm blaming me a good bit as well, but I'm not going to take it out on a
sixteen-year-old girl. If he says anything to her like he said to me earlier, I
will hurt him. A lot. Make sure he knows that."

"Oh, I
will," Cordelia said. "And you won't be alone in the whole hurting
him thing either."

Spike gave her
a small, grateful smile. "Thanks."

"Are you
going to stay in here with her?" Cordelia asked.

"Yeah,"
Spike replied. "Least until I know she's calmer. I need to call Buffy,
too. Anne won't leave L.A. now, I'm sure, and she'll need her mum."

"Your
whole family is welcome here," Cordelia said. "And if Angel has any
problems with it, I'll handle him."

"Thank
you. I appreciate it."

"She's in
a lot of pain right now," Cordelia said, looking softly at Anne
"She'll need people around that she loves."

"Go on to
Angel," Spike told her. "He's hurting, too. Man had a child taken from
him. That's never an easy thing to handle."

"Let me
know when she wakes up?"

"I
will."

Cordelia left
the room, leaving father and daughter alone.

*** *** ***
Anne awoke with a pain in the pit of her
stomach, an emptiness that she couldn't seem to shake. She thought she'd been
asleep for a while, but she still felt weary, a tiredness that had set deep
into her bones. And then it all came back to her in a rush and she remembered
why.
Connor
was gone.
The tears hit her in a flood, and she curled
up in the bed, the ache she felt more than she could bear. Soon, however, she
was being pulled up into a comforting embrace. Anne looked up in surprise, her
voice breaking as she spoke. "Mommy?"
Buffy gave her daughter a small, sad smile.
"I'm here, baby."
Anne collapsed against her mother, her tears
flowing freely. Buffy said nothing as she held her, letting Anne cry herself dry.
Finally, Anne sat up, wiping at her face.
Buffy reached over, grabbed a box of Kleenex from the bedside table, and handed
them to Anne who thanked her softly. "When did you get here?" Anne
asked after a moment.
"A couple of hours
ago. You father called me right
after it happened, and I came immediately. Dawn agreed to take care of William
and Joyce," Buffy replied.
"So I guess I've been out for a while."
"Cordelia did something to help you
sleep. Thought it would be for the best."
"Wish I'd stayed asleep," Anne
said. "I wasn't hurting then."
Buffy tucked her daughter's hair behind her
ear. "We're already trying to find him, sweetie. They're working on it
downstairs, and your aunt and Giles are looking for information on the demons
in the Watchers' Library back in England. We're hoping if we can figure out
what sort of demons they are and where they come from, we can find out where
they sent him."
Anne looked down. "Hell. They sent him
to hell. No matter which one he's in, it's horrible."
Buffy took Anne's hand. "But if we know
which one he's in, maybe we can get him out."
"I feel so lost," Anne said.
"Like I've been ripped in two, but I can still feel that other half
aching." She took a deep, shuddering breath.
"I know. And I know what you're going
through, what you're feeling. I'm here for you, sweetheart. You don't have to
be strong right now," Buffy said.
"Good, because I really don't think I
can be. Not when it hurts this much just to breathe."
Buffy wrapped her arms around Anne again.
"I know, sweetie. I know."
Anne stayed there for a moment before
pulling up again. "So, um, I guess Dad told you everything, huh?"
"About you sleeping
with Angel's son?" Buffy asked with a quirked eyebrow. "Yeah, he did.
But under the circumstances, I'm not going to freak about that."
"I really do love him, Mom. I didn't
even know I could feel this way about anyone. It's like he somehow made himself
a part of me and now that's just been torn away from me."
Buffy wished she could say something to make
Anne feel better, to make that ache lessen, but knew from her own personal
experience that she couldn't. A wound like that couldn't be closed with a few
trivial utterances. But she'd do what she could do�she'd be there for her
daughter, make sure she didn't have to suffer alone the way Buffy herself had
once done. She stroked Anne's face softly. "I love you, Annie."
Anne's eyes filled with tears again, though
they didn't spill this time. "I love you, too, Mom."
"So she's awake?"
Anne's head turned quickly towards the open
door, her eyes widening and an almost-smile forming on her lips. "Rebecca?
What are you doing in L.A.? I thought you said you could never be in a place
with that much sunlight. Something about it ruining your
pasty British complexion."
Rebecca Giles smiled at her best friend.
Born only a few months apart, the girls had been friends for longer than either
one of them could even remember. "Eh, I can deal with it for you. Heard you might need a friend."
"You heard right. I am so glad to see you." Anne looked
back over at her mother. "Both of you."
"Which is why we're here," Buffy
said. "For moral support and all." She
patted Anne's leg. "I'm going to go downstairs and make sure your father
and Angel aren't trying to kill each other again."
"They've been fighting?" Anne
asked. She frowned. "Okay, when are they not, but more than usual?"
"A bit," Buffy replied.
"Angel just said a few things that upset Spike. Punches were thrown, but
nothing major."
Anne turned her gaze downward. "Angel
blames me, doesn't he?"
"Sweetie, Angel's�"
Anne cut her mother off. "No. It's all
right. I blame me, too."
"Anne, no," Buffy said.
"Don't do that. It isn't your fault."
"He went into that portal for me, Mom. To save me."
Buffy put her hand on Anne's chin, tilting
her face upwards. "Connor made a choice. He was willing to trade himself
for you so you wouldn't have to suffer. Don't hate yourself for that. It
wouldn't be what he would want."
"But I can't stop feeling this way."
"I know, baby," Buffy kissed
Anne's cheek.
"Go check on Dad," Anne said,
wiping at her eyes again. "You can make sure he and Angel aren't trying to
kill each other and Rebecca and I can talk some."
Buffy gave her daughter one more hug.
"I'll be right downstairs if you need anything at all."
"Okay."
Buffy left the room, shutting the door to
give the two girls privacy. Rebecca came and sat on the edge of the bed, a
silence following until she broke it with, "Angel's son, huh?"
Anne gave a humorless chuckle. "You
know me�sucker for doomed romance."
"No, usually you run screaming from
anything that begins to even develop the flavor
of romance. I've never seen you want to keep a guy around long enough to learn
his phone number, never mind fall in love. Then you're gone for a week and all
that changes?" Rebecca replied.
"I know. And believe me,
no one was more shocked than I was." Anne frowned. "Okay, possibly my
dad. And probably Connor himself. But that's not the
point. It just�felt right with him.
Like being with Connor made everything be the way it
was supposed to be. And then the demons that were attacking me back home in
England came after him, too. They called him my 'mate.'"
Rebecca raised an eyebrow. "Your 'mate?' So you two have�"
"Oh yeah. But not before the first time they showed up and
called him that, so it's not like the demons could smell it on us or
anything."
Rebecca wrinkled her nose. "Okay. That's
just gross."
"Sorry," Anne said. "But my
point is, these demons had been going on about prophecies, and then they linked
me to Connor. Couple that with the fact that I had this instant, uncontrollable
attraction to him, and I thought maybe we were fated or something. But now he's
gone and I'm alone feeling crazy for ever thinking something so
ridiculous."
"Hey�no. Don't think like that. He's not gone forever. He's
in a hell dimension, which is bad, but he's not dead," Rebecca replied.
"You don't know that," Anne said.
"He could've gotten killed once he got there, or even going through the
portal. Or he could've gone to a world where time moves so fast that it's been
like a million years there already."
"You're not being very
optimistic."
"I watched the man I love get sucked
into a hell dimension. Doesn't make for the optimism."
"Then I'll have to be optimistic for
the both of us," Rebecca said. "You'll find Connor, the two of you
will be deliriously happy together, and will buy a puppy."
"A puppy?"
"They're cute. Everyone loves a
puppy."
"They pee on the floor."
Rebecca sighed with mock exasperation. "Fine, a kitten then."
Anne shook her head, chucking slightly.
"You are such a freak."
"Yeah, but I made you smile a
little."
"You did," Anne admitted. She was
glad Rebecca was there. The ache was still tearing her up inside, but having
her friend there was making it a little easier to bear.
"You've got to be hungry," Rebecca
said. "What do you want to eat?"
Anne looked at her askance. "You're not
going to cook, are you? Because that has only led to badness
in the past."
"I told you that was
blackened," Rebecca said,
rolling her eyes. "It's not my
fault you've never expanded your gastronomical horizons. But no, I'm not going
to cook. I'm going to go downstairs and tell your father you're hungry, and
he's going to run out and find whatever you want, even if he has to tear up
half of L.A. in order to do it."
"It has been a while since I've eaten�"
"Well, then place your order,"
Rebecca told her.
"I don't care. Fast food will be
fine," Anne replied.
"Got it. Grease on a bun coming up."
"Thank you," Anne said, her voice
breaking as she suddenly began to cry again.
"Hey, I'm being lazy and playing on
Spike's fatherly concern. No need to go getting all weepy on my account,"
Rebecca said, though she put her arm around Anne.
"I know. It's just�" Anne sniffed.
"You're a really good friend."
"'Course I am. I'm the best. Now let me
go get something for you to eat and then I'll come back and you can cry on my
shoulder, okay?"
"Okay," Anne replied with a nod as
she let Rebecca go.

***
*** ***
Spike was on his way to get lunch at
Rebecca's behest when a tall, blonde woman in her mid-thirties walked into the
lobby. He stopped, eyeing her warily. "Can I help you?" he asked.
She took off her sunglasses, her blue eyes
fixing coldly on Spike. "I'm Laura Angel, and I'm looking for my
husband."

***
*** ***
Please, please, please review. Reviews for
this fic have dropped down to almost none at all, and that's really
discouraging. I need to know what people think of this fic and if they're still
reading. So just say something, please. Doesn't have to be dissertation, just
something to let me know you're with me�
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Dangerous