“How’s he doing?” Cordy asked as she looked in on Angel and Connor.
“He’s good,” Angel said. “Still sleeping.” It was already 10 in the morning.
“Wesley has something he thinks you should see.”
“I want to stay with Connor. The last thing he needs is to wake up alone.”
“I can stay with him.”
Angel gave her a condescending look.
“Or Fred,” Cordy said, back-peddling quickly. “Fred could stay with him. Maybe even catch him up on some homework.”
Angel laughed despite himself. “Okay. Send Fred up.”
*
“What is it, Wes?” Angel asked as he stepped into the office. The whole crew was there, except for Connor, Cordy, and Fred, who were still upstairs.
“Karazak demons,” Wesley said.
“Kerouac?” Angel asked. “As in On the Road?”
“Karazak,” Wesley corrected him.
“Apparently they’re the newest big bad demons in town,” Gunn said.
“Bad yes,” Wesley said. “Big, not necessarily. They’re roughly four feet tall.”
“Doesn’t sound too intimidating,” Angel said.
“What’d I miss?” Cordy asked as she came into the office.
“Midget demons,” Gunn said.
“I think they prefer to be called little people,” Lorne
“The demons or the midgets?” Gunn asked.
“Stop saying that!” Lorne said angrily. “Sorry. When you work in show biz, especially in the freak show end of town, you’re bound to meet a few little people. I love those little guys.”
“Little people,” Cordy corrected testily. “They’re not all guys, after all.”
“Can we discuss the politically correct term for a four foot tall demon at a later date, please?” Wesley snapped. “There is actual work to be done here.”
“Who you think you yelling at?” Gunn said angrily.
“Guys, chill out,” Angel said. “I don’t want you waking Connor.”
Wesley and Gunn immediately fell completely silent. Angel knew they were still uncomfortable with his son living in the same building. Or country.
“It’s a peculiar breed of demon that can only eat underground,” Wesley said. “It also only eats children.”
“Again with the children eating,” Cordelia shook her head.
“Of course, first it must either lure children underground or take them there by force.”
“Naturally,” Lorne said in a sarcastic tone.
“This is good,” Angel said. “Underground. That’s my territory.”
“I thought the whole city was your territory?” Gunn asked.
“Well . . . yeah,” Angel said. “The whole city. But . . . but especially underground.”
Wes went back to business. “My thought was Cordelia, Gunn, and I would scan the larger parks in the city, see if we can find them above ground. Lorne and Angel can stay underground looking for nests.”
“Yeah,” Lorne said, raising his objections. “I have two problems with this. You see, underground means sewers and nests means . . . well . . . nests.”
“Very well,” Wesley said. “You stay here and hope that the Karazak demons don’t mistake little people for children.”
“Fine,” Lorne said petulantly as he pointed at Wesley. “I’ll play in the sewers. But I’m wearing your clothes.”
“The demons have grey-green skin and talons on their hands,” Wes said. “So . . . watch out for talons.”
“And grey-green skin,” Lorne added.
“And grey-green skin,” Wes concurred.
The team headed out. As Angel and Lorne made their way for the sewer, Angel tapped Lorne. “What’s up with Wes and Gunn? They were a little worse than usual today.”
“Apparently there’s been a shift in the Gunn- Fred- Wes love triangle,” Lorne said. The two continued talking as they descended into the sewers.
*
“Hey,” Connor smiled as he opened his eyes.
“Hey,” Fred said, half happy he was awake, half nervous about what would happen.
“Where is everyone?”
“Out fighting evil.”
“They didn’t wait for me?” Connor asked, disappointed.
“They though you could use the sleep.”
“Now I’m awake,” Connor said. “What do you want to do? Fight demons? Kill vampires? Go to the boardwalk?”
“I see you’re picking all the romantic spots,” Fred dead panned.
“That’s the idea,” Connor smiled, looking at her intensely.
“Guess I asked for that one. But . . . please don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” Connor asked. “Happy puppy look?”
“Exactly,” Fred said.
“Why not?” Connor asked. “Because I’m Angel’s son?”
Fred gripped her fist tightly. She’d told herself this wouldn’t be hard. She was just saying words and she and Connor were never really a couple. They were never even really a possibility.
“Wesley and I are dating,” she said.
“What?!” Connor said angrily.
“I’m sorry, Connor. I didn’t know you’d feel this way.”
“You knew,” Connor sneered. “Maybe we never said anything or did anything, but you knew. You knew how I looked at you. How I felt. And I saw it, too, Fred. I saw how you felt about me.”
“I . . . I didn’t-”
“Yes you did,” Connor insisted.
“Fine,” Fred snapped. “Maybe I did feel something faintly, but . . . but I have to look for someone my own age. Someone who’s responsible and mature and-”
“Better than me,” Connor suggested angrily.
“Connor, stop. It’s . . . this is better for you, too. You can find someone your own age who-”
“Why is everyone here so obsessed with age? We don’t even know how old I am, really. Besides, what girl my age would be interested in me?”
“Lots of them. That’s why you’re studying. So you can go out and meet girls your age and . . . whatever.” Fred had to admit to herself that a pang of jealousy shot through her at the thought of it.
“That’s great,” Connor laughed. “Hi, I’m Connor. I kill demons. This is my vampire dad and his demon friend Lorne. Over there is dad’s part demon girlfriend who had a baby with me.”
“Okay, stop, Connor, stop. You can’t guilt somebody into dating you.”
“I’m not trying to guilt you. I just want you to stop and think before you tell me to go find a girl my own age.”
Fred sighed and tried to say something, but couldn’t bring herself to.
“Fuck this,” Connor said. “I’m going out.”
“Please don’t.”
“Don’t worry,” Connor said in an annoyed voice. “I won’t do drugs or let vampires feed on me or . . . whatever. I just want to be alone. With fresh air.”
Fred sighed and sat on the bed as Connor hopped out the window. After a moment, when she knew he was gone, she put her head in her hands and started crying.
*
“So how do we contact Angel once we find one of these things?” Cordelia yelled as she kicked at the Karazak demon. It slashed at her and dug its talon into her leg.
“I suppose we call him on his cell phone,” Wes answered as he tried desperately to pull the screaming boy from the demons’ clutches.
“Can’t reach him when he’s underground,” Gunn shouted as he wrestled with another demon. It sat something on his chest that began to burn and Gunn shouted in pain.
“Oversight on my part,” Wes said in response to the cell phone comment.
Gunn ripped his shirt off and flung the demon against a tree. It leapt up and prepared to run at him, but Gunn pulled out his long knife and threw it hard. The knife nailed the demon in the neck killing it.
Finally, the three demons released the struggling boy and disappeared into the sewers. Wesley pulled the boy out of the sewer and heard the sounds of fighting echo up. Then, a girly scream and someone bitching about the vomit ruining their clothes.
“Angel and Lorne have the demons blocked,” Wes said. “Cordy, get the boy back to his mother. Gunn and I will-”
Before he could continue, the diminutive demons bolted from the sewer, followed by Lorne. Angel, still trapped underground, couldn’t come up. But Gunn, Wes, and Lorne made quick work of the remaining Karazak demons.
The four demon corpses lay on the ground. Cordy was holding the boy in her arms. Wes, Gunn, and Lorne stood with weapons drawn over the bodies of the four demons.
“Um, Wes,” Cordy said. She nodded her head to the people surrounding them, indicating they had a crowd.
A policeman pushed his way through the people at the park and surveyed the scene before them. He shook his head in annoyance. “God damn performance artists,” he muttered.
*
“And you saw a wanted poster?”
“No, Angel,” Wesley said quietly. “Merely a request for information. But the fact is, after the Sporting Goods store, the police are looking for Connor.”
“What are our options, here?” Angel asked worriedly.
“I’ll contact Giles. See if the council can help.”
“I can’t believe you did this!” Fred shouted angrily as Angel and Wes entered the hotel lobby. They saw she was yelling at Connor.
“I know you were angry, but Connor . . . we talked about this. About your future.”
“Damn it!” Angel yelled angrily. “He’s using drugs again? I thought we settled that.”
“I didn’t use drugs,” Connor said angrily.
“Did you hurt someone, Connor?” Lorne asked.
“No!” he said, equally angry.
“Fred,” Wes said calmly. “What exactly did he do?”
“He signed up to take the SAT’s in two weeks,” she said, flopping into her seat frustrated. “I’ll never have him ready in time.”
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