We Happy Few: Coming to Be Rescued
by Sibling
After her confrontation with Giles, Buffy stalked off to the training room. No surprise there, she's got a lot of issues to take out on that punching bag, her sister mused. So Dawn took it upon herself to summon the rest of the Scoobies to the shop. She waited until 10:30, when she knew Willow would be done with her class, then hit the conference call button on her cell phone. Xander was the first to answer, followed by Tara, Willow, Anya, and finally Spike.

Dawn repeated the story that Buffy had told Giles -- over numerous interjections about how impossible it all was, of course.

Willow asked, "How's Buffy doing? I mean, with the whole Angel-has-a-son thing?"

"She was majorly freaked. But when she heard he was in trouble, she instantly went into 'rescue' mode, and that's helping her deal. She never even told Cordy about what's going on here, just to bring Angel, Gunn, Fred, and herself, along with all the books on Connor. And she told Cordy that Connor was the first priority as soon as they bring all their books here."

She was a bit surprised when Xander was the first to respond to that. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm right behind Buffy on this one. We're getting that baby back."

There was a snort from Spike. "Bloody Hell. Now I know the end of the world is coming, 'cause I'm feelin' sorry for the Poof, and agreeing with Harris that we should help him!" Everyone on the line chuckled a little at that. "Sure, what the hell, let's save the little tyke."

Dawn finished, "So could you all come to the shop as soon as possible? They could be here right after lunchtime, if I heard Buffy right, and I think all of you should be here."

"Anya and I can be outta here in about an hour . . . and I can pick up Spike on the way, so he doesn't have to use the sewer route."

" . . . um, thanks . . . Xander," the vampire replied hesitantly, and Dawn smiled to herself. My two favorite guys in the whole world might finally be burying the hatchet!

Tara said she could take a half-day's vacation; the museum was dead quiet during Spring Break anyway. She asked Willow to meet her at the main entrance so they could walk to the shop together, and the redhead quickly agreed.

"Okay guys, see you soon." She thumbed the hangup button.

Giles looked at her. "Everyone's coming?"

Dawn nodded. "Even Tara -- she said she'd take the afternoon off from work."

Giles sighed. "I still wish Buffy hadn't acted so precipitously, asking Angel and Cordelia to come here immediately. It was a very noble gesture on her part, but there's a lot of, um, history, to be dealt with, and it's going to be difficult for everyone."

Dawn answered, "For what it's worth, Giles, everyone's behind Buffy's decision, even Spike, and he has more history with Angel than the rest of us put together."

Giles frowned. "It's not just us, Dawn. What will Angel do when he finds out that Buffy is," he paused, and made a face, "engaged to Spike? And what will Cordelia do when she finds out about Xander and Anya?"

Dawn giggled and rubbed her hands together. "Oh, Cordelia's gonna be soooo jealous! When she sees that rock on Anya's finger . . . "

Giles groaned.

* * *

When Willow and Tara arrived, a little before noon, they started helping Giles retrieve books on various demon dimensions from the shelves. Soon afterward. they were joined by Xander and Anya, while Spike joined Buffy in the training room.

Of course, everyone jumped every time the bell on the front door rang. Unfortunately, there was an unusually high number of customers that day; Anya claimed that it was due to the upcoming Vernal Equinox, which was a crucial time for certain rituals. So everyone's nerves were jangling by the time the L.A. group finally did show up, a little after one-thirty.

At first, most of them didn't even realize who had arrived, since only Willow had ever met the tall black man who opened the door, or the short, slight brunette who followed him. But the next person through the door was Cordelia Chase -- a Cordelia with shorter, lighter hair, but definitely the ex-cheerleader -- and she was leading a tall figure who was completely covered by a long black coat.

There was a long, awkward silence as the man beneath the duster uncovered his face, and the two groups stared across the room at each other.

* * *

Like everyone else, Buffy just stood there and stared at the newcomers for a while. Then she noticed that the silence was getting too long and too awkward. Great. Guess it's up to me to make nice; after all, I'm the one who invited them here.

She walked up to Angel slowly, trying to think of what to say. Calling this situation "awkward" was like calling Glory the Hellgod "unpleasant." Which brought to mind the time she had been in a situation very similar to Angel's. At least he hasn't completely zoned out, the way I did when Glory took Dawn. But there wasn't anything anyone could've said to me then to make me feel any better. When she reached Angel's side, and still hadn't thought of any appropriate words, she just laid her hand on his arm, trying to be reassuring.

He looked down at her, and as she got a closer look at his face, she was appalled at how exhausted he looked. And . . . the only word she could think of was "hopeless." He's got nothing left; he's just about ready to give up. She squeezed his arm a bit, and said simply, "We'll find him, Angel. You'll. Get. Him. Back."

He just continued to stare at her for a moment or two, and his jaw muscles worked, as if he were chewing on her words. Then his mouth firmed, and he nodded, and let her lead him over to the research table.

* * *

" . . . and if Buffy hadn't called, I don't know what I would've done. I still don't know if anything can be done, Giles," Angel finished. "Between what Lorne and Sahjahn said, I don't know if anything can reach Quortoth without causing a major catastrophe. We're talking serious dark magic here."

The Watcher frowned. "It is a grave dilemma. And I can't promise anything. But I do have the resources of the Council to draw upon, which We-" he cut himself off as he saw Angel's eyes begin to flare yellow. "Which most other people do not. If there is a safe way to reach this Quortoth dimension, they will know about it."

Dawn muttered, "I hope so. This 'tear a hole in the fabric of reality' stuff sounds a little too much like what Glory was trying to do." That caused several Scoobies to turn white and grim-faced.

Buffy was still recovering from Angel's story. The terrible twists of fate, and the things this Sahjahn had done in cahoots with Wolfram & Hart -- the faked prophecy, and making Angel drink his own son's blood? 'Monstrous' didn't even begin to describe what they'd done to him.

Now she understood why Angel looked so beaten; she only wished he'd come to her for help sooner. You owe him, she growled silently to what Angel called "the Powers that Be." He's supposed to be one of your Champions. You'd better give us a way to get him his son back, or I'm gonna start wondering who the Good Guys really are!

She noticed then that Giles was speaking again. "I'll contact the Council, and then we'll get started on our own research." He started to get up, then paused, and turned back to the table. "Angel, I think that's all the information we need from you for right now. If you insist on helping with the research I can't stop you, but I would advise you to get some rest. I . . . I can't imagine what you must be going through right now, but I can't believe that exhausting yourself further is going to make it any easier. And if . . . when we do find something, we may need you at full strength."

The dark-haired vampire looked like he was going to object, but he gave in with a nod. "Thank you. All of you," he said quietly. Then he lowered his head in embarrassment as he asked, "Is . . . is there a place in the back where I can lie down . . . out of the sunlight?"

After a moment of silence, Spike answered him. "A couple. I can show them to you."

Angel turned and stared at him. Buffy held her breath -- she had been dreading this moment since Dawn had told her about her vision last night. Angel hadn't had to deal with Spike since the whole Gem of Amara disaster. She had told Angel about some of the changes in Spike during their last couple of meetings -- although she'd glossed over the whole "Spike's in love with me" deal. Still . . .

The silence stretched on and on. Then Spike said quietly, "Come on . . . Angel."

Maybe it was the use of that name -- not "Angelus," or a spiteful nickname like "Peaches," or "Poofter," -- that got through to the older vampire. Or maybe he was just too tired to fight any more. At any rate, he nodded, rose from his seat, and followed Spike to the training room.

* * *

After Giles had made his phone call, everyone ended up in two distinct groups. The researchers -- Giles, Willow, Tara, Fred, and Anya -- searched the books on dimensions and magic for any clues on how to reach Quortoth. Rachel occasionally threw in her own comments, though she devoted most of her attention to the book of prophecy in front of her. The other group -- Spike, Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Gunn, and Cordelia -- feeling over their heads on the research end, found themselves awkwardly introducing -- or reintroducing -- themselves to each other.

Buffy quickly decided she liked Charles Gunn. He reminded her a bit of Xander, but with a bit of street-smart toughness mixed in. Maybe like a mixture of Xander and Spike? Ugh, weird thought, don't go there.

He certainly had Xander's sense of humor. He made a comment about finally getting to meet the famous Buffy, only he was expecting Xena and got Ally McBeal instead. One or two fledgling vamps had made similar comments after she got her new haircut, and they'd ended up on the pointy end of a stake. But somehow Gunn managed to make it funny.

And there was a little twinkle in his eye that said not only friendliness and humor, but male appreciation. She'd noticed pretty quickly that Gunn and Fred were "together," and she was happily engaged herself . . . but hey, he wasn't dead, and neither was she. Not anymore, at least. And it was nice to meet a guy who knew all about her and could still see her as a woman, not just the Slayer.

Dawn was equally pleased to meet Gunn, although she was mortified when she accidentally gave him a Slayer-strength handshake. He just grinned, and made a point of wiggling his fingers, as if checking to make sure they all still worked.

To everyone's amazement -- except, apparently, their own -- Xander and Cordelia's reunion was warm and friendly. The only tense moment came when Anya took a break from her research, and seeing her husband chatting with his ex, flashed her engagement and wedding rings in Cordelia's face. The ex-cheerleader took one look at them and turned to Xander with a glare.

"You jerk! You got married, and you didn't even invite me?"

Xander blinked in confusion. "Um . . . I -- I didn't think you'd want to come, Cor."

She made an unladylike noise in response. "Are you kidding? I'd've paid good money to see you all sweating and shaking in your shoes while some guy in black asked you if you were going to 'love, honor, and obey!'"

Xander just stared at her a moment, and then burst out laughing.

* * *

Gradually tensions eased, the mood lightened, and the story-swapping began. The Scoobies learned about Angel's battles with Wolfram and Hart, the trip to Pylea, and the wonderful wackiness of "Angel the Daddy." Cordelia and Gunn heard stories about Glory, dancing demons, and evil nerds. Cordelia wryly welcomed Dawn into the "Vision Girl Club," and Buffy asked Gunn if anyone had gotten blackmail videos of Angel singing at Caritas.

"Believe me, girl, you should be glad we didn't," he replied with a deep-throated chuckle. "Angel's a good friend, and there's no one else I'd rather have at my back in a fight, but the man couldn't carry a tune in a bucket."

Spike snickered at that. "I coulda told you that long ago, mate. Peaches used to sing every now and then when he was in his cups, and on those nights, he would kill more people with his voice than with his fangs." He stopped, and made a thoughtful face. "No, actually they'd kill themselves so they wouldn't have to hear his voice."

That earned him a glare from Buffy and Cordelia, and a laugh from Xander and Dawn. Gunn only looked puzzled and murmured, "'Peaches?'"

* * *

Even the story about Buffy's relationship with Spike came out, when Cordelia noticed that Anya wasn't the only one with a ring on her finger. So naturally Cordelia took Buffy aside and confronted her about it.

"Look, it's not my business what you do with your private life, Buffy. Or who you do," she added with a grimace and a roll of her eyes toward Spike. "But Angel's in a really bad place right now, and he doesn't need any more stuff to deal with."

Buffy frowned at her. "I don't want to hurt him, Cordy. But if you were listening, you know I've been in a pretty bad place myself, and being close to Spike is the only thing that keeps me whole these days. And being with me keeps him in control of his nastier demon urges. It's a little better these days, now that we're spending so much time together. We don't have to stay in constant contact anymore; it's like we're charging our batteries or something.

"But if we spend too much time apart, the spark just goes out of me, and Spike starts getting all demon-y again. And believe me, however Angel reacts to me and Spike being together, it will be made a million times worse if Spike starts shooting his mouth off. Even when he's good he can raise aggravation to an art form; when he's bad, he could make Gandhi go postal."

Cordelia gave in with a groan and a shrug. "Whatever. Just be careful about doing stuff right in front of him, okay? At least until we get Connor back."

At that, she started thinking about Connor again, about what he must be going through, and Buffy must have noticed, because she laid her hand on her shoulder and asked, "Cordy? Are you all right?"

"I . . . I just keep thinking about that little baby boy . . . he must be so scared, Buffy! And . . . " she blinked away tears as she continued, "I don't understand how the PTBs could be so cruel. To Angel, to Connor, and to me! I was on vacation, but I had a vision, so I rushed back to L.A. as fast as I could, and I was still a day late!"

Buffy looked her right in the eye. This was something she could relate to. "Cordy, I know what you're going through -- God knows, I've been in the same situation a million times myself. But no one can be everywhere, do everything. We're not gods, Cordy, we're just people."

Cordelia shook her head. "You don't understand, Buffy. I had a vision! That means I'm supposed to do something about it! But I found out later that the vision happened right when Connor was being taken! So there wasn't anything I could do, but they still made me watch what happened! Were . . . were they punishing me, for wanting a little time for myself?"

This was a new one on Buffy. She'd seen Cordelia in all sorts of moods, from relucantly grateful to all-out Queen-of-Bitchy . . . but guilt was something she'd never associated with the ex-cheerleader before. Wow . . . Angel and Willow were right. She really has changed. She frowned to herself. So what do I say? What possible reason could she have for getting a vision when she wasn't going to be able to help? She thought a moment, then realized something. "Cordy, if you hadn't had your vision, would you have been at Angel's when I called?"

Cordelia was puzzled. "Um . . . no. I wouldn't've come back to L.A. with Groo -- my boyfriend," she added, at Buffy's questioning look. "The champion from Pylea, remember? Anyway, I would've been away another week or so."

"And Angel wouldn't have answered the phone . . . " she paused, hoping Cordelia would follow her reasoning.

The brunette's eyes widened. "And Fred and Gunn don't know you, so they might not have told you the whole Connor story. And you said Dawn's vision included me anyway . . . "

"So your vision was meant to make sure all of you made it here right away," Buffy concluded. "I only hope that means we'll find something Angel missed." Buffy decided then it was time to lighten the mood a bit, and Cordelia had given her the perfect opening a minute ago. "Okay . . . so spill. Tell me all about this 'Groo.'"

Cordelia smiled, and started, "What can I say? He's tall, handsome, a champion, and he calls me his Princess . . . "

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