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The Shock of the Normal	By : QueenB Category: AtS/BtVS Crossovers > Het - Male/Female > Angel(us)/Buffy > Angel(us)/Buffy Views: 10695 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS), nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
It was hard to think. There wasn’t blackness around him exactly. It was more like shifting patterns of gray. There were voices and faces floating just out of tangible reach. But whenever he tried to get close to them, they shifted away in a tantalizing fashion. If he tried to relax and ignore them, the phantasms came back like an annoying child that kept pestering you when you were engaged in important work.
The faces were supposed to mean something. Wesley knew that much. There was a woman, a redheaded woman. Fear and pain were associated with her, somehow… Willow? No, not Willow. Left her behind in…Sunnydale? That was it, Sunnydale. So where am I?
There was a thread of guilt and fear, too. The baby kept crying and wouldn’t stop. Baby…baby…Connor. That was the key to it all. Connor. And with that, he remembered.
Connor. He’d taken Connor from Angel. Angel was going to kill his child and he had kidnapped the child. Then Justine had met him and tricked him. She cut his throat. The memory caused him to take a rasping breath and he became aware of the hazy pain centered in his neck. Wesley’s eyes fluttered open and he blearily took note of his surroundings.
White. White walls. White sheets. White light that stung painfully at his sensory-deprived eyesight so that he shut his eyes again tightly. But not before the woman seated in the room with him noticed.
“Oh, look who’s awake.” The nurse drifted to his side and appraised him with a cool professional eye. “Are you lucid, Mr. Wyndham-Pryce? You have visitors, if you’re up to seeing them. Just blink once if you do; I’ll tell them not to stay long.”
Visitors? There were people waiting? He couldn’t believe it, not after what he’d done. But perhaps they didn’t know. He stared at the woman and blinked.
She smiled and walked outside. He could detect the low murmurs of voices but one stood out in particular. Fred…that was it. He’d recognized that country twang anywhere. He heard her approaching his bed and a cool hand fell upon his brow. “Wesley? Can you hear me? It’s Fred. We-we were so worried about you.”
He could hear the hesitancy in her voice. He didn’t answer her. He didn’t know what to say. She must know by now. They all had to know what he’d done. Lorne would have told them; he would have told Angel. Oh god. What was he going to tell Angel about the loss of his son to the fanatical Holtz?
“Wesley, I know you’re awake so it’s no use playin’ possum. You’re gonna have to face the music sometime.” Fred’s voice was uncharacteristically stern and inwardly Wesley quailed. He couldn’t bear to lose the respect of this woman. More than the loss of trust from the others, he feared Fred’s anger the most. But he couldn’t hide forever.
He opened his eyes and met the warm gaze of the Texan standing over him. “That’s much better. You had us all worried for a while there. We’re just lucky someone found you in time.” She paused but of course he couldn’t answer her and she obviously didn’t expect a response.
“Wesley, we found the notes you left. I don’t know how you could have thought that about Angel, but I think we figured out how you were misled. Those a-holes at Wolfram & Hart had been spiking Angel’s blood with Connor’s and it made him all Hannibal Lectorish for a bit. But he’s off the baby sauce and he’s just fine now. If you’d trusted us, we could have told you that and saved you from making a big mistake.
“But--well, things have been happening that you obviously don’t know about and, well…” Her voice trailed off and she glanced at the hospital door as if expecting somebody. “I think I’ve said enough, Wesley. There’s a coupla people here who want to talk to ya.” She stepped outside and murmured in low tones with somebody just out of his visual range.
In spite of his weariness, Wesley couldn’t help but feel a faint curiosity. A “couple” of people? He could guess who one of them who would be and the dread of Angel’s rage rose up to frighten him for a moment before he decided it was too much effort to bother. Angel would be beyond angry at Wesley and who could blame him? If the vampire wanted to kill him for what he’d done, the ex-Watcher was in no position to put up a fight.
When he opened his eyes again, he beheld the last person he expected to see. Buffy Summers, his first Slayer from Sunnydale, stood before him, her arms crossed in the familiar gesture he recognized from one of their many previous standoffs. She looked even sterner than Fred but there was a hint of a smile twitching around her lips. Why? Why was she smiling? Why was she even here?
“Wesley, you’re in trouble, you know that? But we’re willing to forgive you. Though I’m thinking that maybe you should stay away from the major prophecies from now on.” She turned her head toward the door and Angel stepped in.
He moved in characteristic silence to the bed and set the blanket he was holding in his hands gently on Wesley’s stomach. “Hey, Wes. Somebody wants to say hello.”
The blanket twisted and wiggled and a baby’s head wobbled, turning to look him in the face. Wesley lifted one shaking hand to touch the infant cheek closest to him. “Hhhhhnnnhhh.” It was a mere aspiration of sound, not a word at all really. He couldn’t have spoken even if he’d been able.
Buffy crouched by his side and protectively covered the baby’s head with one delicate hand. “We got him back, Wesley. You’re kinda tired and the nurse said we couldn’t stay too long so we can’t give you all the details. Let’s just say we had magical help and a hell of a lot of luck.”
Connor flapped his hands up and down and laughed as if Wesley was the funniest thing he’d ever seen and the ex-Watcher’s eyes teared up. Angel’s little boy was back when he’d thought him irretrievably lost. He stared at the child, unable to face either adult. He wanted to beg for forgiveness; he wanted to explain. He wanted to do--he didn’t know what. There was no excusing what he did. But the baby had been returned and that was a start.
Angel picked up the child and cradled him in his arms again. “Wesley, I don’t know why this happened. But I know you’ll explain when you can. Your office will be waiting for you when you’re better. Just don’t keep us waiting too long.”
Wesley closed his eyes again. Maybe he could muster up strength to signal for pen and paper. However, when he re-opened them, Angel was gone. Buffy smiled at him and then dropped a quick kiss on his forehead.
“Get better soon, Wes. We’re all going to be taking turns babysitting and you’re not getting out of it that easy.” She hesitated and then whispered, “And I think Connor missed his uncle Wesley.” She gave his hand a quick squeeze and walked slowly out the hospital door.
The ex-Watcher wanted to call them back. The quiet of the hospital room was lonely and he would have liked being with Connor just a little longer. But because of a miracle, he would have plenty of chances in the future. He would just have to wait. But not too long.

Finis
- 7
- 8
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The Shock of the Normal