Chapter Text
It had been a few weeks since they got the confirmation that Connor was Angel’s son. Since that time Angel and Buffy had rented the house next door. Seeing as Brian owned it, it was a simple deal. Today was the first day Connor would be staying the night over there. Brian had been trying to convince Justin to go to Babylon with him, just so he’d at least get his mind off of it for a few hours. So far Justin was adamant to stay in case he was needed.
The doorbell rang, that god awful song filling the house again. He bitched and complained but right now anything that made Justin laugh was worth it. At the door Buffy waited, Brian could see the small blonde was almost as excited as Angel when they agreed last night about today. Right now, they were easing Connor into getting to know Angel. He still called him Angel, but he knew he was his dad. A very funny conversation where Connor asked if Angel was going to share Brian and Justin’s bed with them made Angel very uncomfortable. They had to explain that he was with Buffy. Since the only two straight couples Connor really knew about was Debbie and Carl, and Justin’s mom and her new husband Tucker, he was still a little confused.
There was slamming in the kitchen and Brian bit back the curse.
“Is everything alright?” Buffy asked.
“Just my mother, she doesn’t approve of tonight.”
His mother had been livid when she got back and found out that there was a really good chance they were going to lose Connor. Surprisingly, his mass going, rosary clutching mother had the same idea as Justin, grab Connor and run. Brian sometimes felt like he was the last sane person in his family. Whatever bridges Justin swore he was rebuilding with his mom, he was burning them now. She said if Connor is taken to LA she would never forgive him or Justin. Brian still had a very turbulent relationship with her but while Connor was here she was at least not screaming they were going to hell and burn for their perversions.
“Is Connor ready?”
“Yeah, Justin should be down with him any minute. You can wait for him in the living room. You know where it is, I’ve got business to attend. Brian grabbed his keys and quickly left the place, he couldn’t be there for the trade off, it was just a rehearsal for when Buffy and Angel really took him away.
His cell rang while he was at a stop light going into the city.
“What?” he answered coldly.
“It’s Mel.”
“I can tell that. What do you want?”
“The private eye we hired just gave me his first findings.”
“And?”
“And there is no Geraldo Angel living in LA or the surrounding areas but that’s not all that’s fishy.”
“What?”
“They never reported Connor missing.”
Angel looked around Connor’s bedroom. He had spent all night getting it put together. He painted the walls blue, then painted some animals on them. There was a horse, a giraffe, an elephant, tiger, dog, lion, and wolves. He also put together a trainset and track on the floor. A toybox full of toys, things the teenage sale assistant said was very popular with kids these days.
They had blackout curtains all over the house so he could go everywhere even during the day. When he heard the front door open he excitedly made his way to greet Buffy and Connor. He heard Connor excitedly chatting with Buffy before he saw them.
Buffy had Connor in her arms, a pink camo bag on her shoulder. “What’s that?” he asked pointing to the bag.
“Connor’s stuff. Pjs, extra clothes, the book Justin has been reading to him at bedtime, his toothbrush and toothpaste. His bear and a few of his toys.”
“I have toys here.”
“Angel,” Buffy said, there was a warning in her voice, but Angel didn’t know what she was warning him about. “These are the things that make Connor more comfortable, this is a big step. We don’t want to do anything to ruin it do we?”
Something Angel noticed about a week ago, Buffy had bonded well with Connor. He hated that he was so jealous of it, she just got him. Angel was trying to play catch up.
“What would you like to do?” Angel asked Connor.
Instead of answering, Connor buried his face into Buffy’s shoulder. Angel hadn’t ever seen him this meek.
“He’s just a little scared,” Buffy said.
“Scared? Scared of what?”
“It’s a new experience for him, he still doesn’t know us well.”
She said that but Connor was clinging to her like his life depended on it.
“Here let me take him.” Angel gently grabbed Connor, Buffy let go and then everything dissolved from there.
“NO!” Connor screamed, his little arms wrapped around Buffy’s neck, refusing to let go.
“Connor let go,” Angel said a little sternly.
“I don’t want you.”
Angel stopped trying to pry a now sobbing Connor off Buffy and just stood there stunned.
“Why don’t you want Angel?” Buffy asked, her voice gentle.
“Gus told me. Gus told me you’re taking me away. I’ll never get to see Daddy and Papa again. I HATE YOU!”
Angel was at a loss; he didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t at all like he thought it would be. He thought Connor would feel the connection between them that he did.
“We need to put it down on paper that this will be all of us raising him, the Kinneys and us.”
“He’s my son.”
“It’s about what’s best for Connor. He’s a little boy, not a pair of shoes.”
“Fine. But until then, I want him.”
He pulled a screaming, fighting Connor out of Buffy’s arms.
Justin watched men dancing around the floor, gyrating bodies, strobe lights and all he wanted to do was go home. At one point in his life this was how he wanted to spend all his time. But he had only been seventeen then and had thought he was so grown. He never felt taken advantage of by Brian and still didn’t. But now he did realize how much he missed. When Daphne was having Spring Break in Florida, Justin had been filling coffee cups at the diner and chasing after Brian who tried to ignore Justin. His mom, Daphne and even Brian had told him that he should do things college kids did.
But if he had a choice of being where he was in life now or someone completely different because he had lived a real college life, he would choose this one every time. He liked his friends even though he was the youngest out of the friend group except for Daphne, she was three weeks younger than him.
“Are you just going to stand here all night?” Brian asked.
“Sorry, just don’t feel like dancing.”
Brian rolled his eyes and grabbed Michael’s hand, leading him out on the dance floor.
“He’s just as stressed as you,” Ben, Michael’s husband said.
“I know. I’m not blaming him for blowing off some steam, but I can’t. What if Angel or Buffy call? I have to be able to drive home.”
“You know it took a while for Mel to not worry when she dropped Jenny Rebecca off at ours. Co-parenting is about trust. Trust that the other person wants the best for the child too.”
“I don’t even know them. Angel has that skin thing and can’t come out in the day.”
“Why don’t you go and spend time over there?”
“I don’t know. Wouldn’t he think I was watching him with Connor?”
“The reason why it’s so good with Mel, Lindsay and us, is because we’re friends as well as sharing a daughter.”
“I was thinking of something.”
“What?”
“Brett Keller called the other day. He’s got a new backer for R.A.G.E. it’s not a huge production company but they have money. I was thinking about accepting and going back to L.A., this time taking Connor. There he could get to know Angel in his own home, with his own friends and family. Angel is so tense around Connor, he feels it.”
“Have you talked to Micheal about this?”
“I didn’t want to mention it until I decided. If I don’t go Micheal will have to if we accept and you know Michael.”
“Debbie would kill us if her little boy went cross country for any amount of time.”
Justin smiled. Debbie, Michael’s mother, was a great woman. She even let Justin live in her house after Brian kicked him out. Justin finished high school living at Deb’s. Memories of dinners with her and Vic, her brother who died years ago, would come back to him out of nowhere. Them dancing in the kitchen to music from their past. It was so embarrassing…but he missed it. He felt more at home with Debbie than he ever did in his parents’ house. It wasn’t his mom; she was the best. It was all his homophobic dad. He knew before his mom outed him to his dad that he would never accept him. There was nothing Gus or Connor could do that would make him treat them like his dad did him.
“What about Brian? You’d be taking Connor away from him.”
“Only for a few months until everything gets off the ground. He can always visit.”
“Like he did last time?” Ben asked, Justin knew he wasn’t judging him, but it still hurt.
The last time he went to L.A. for the production, everything kept getting pushed back and he was having to stay longer and longer. Brian was supposed to visit but after the last extension, he canceled his flight. Brian Kinney loved to act like nothing hurt him when it was the exact opposite, he felt so much. He just pretended he didn’t because he didn’t want people to know how much he cared. Like never visiting Justin when he was in the hospital after Chris Hobbs bashed him in the head with a baseball bat in the garage parking lot in the building his prom was going on. If it wasn’t for Brian he would have died. But God forbid Brian ever let him know that he gave a damn…at least at the time. Like never visiting unless it was at night and never letting Justin know he was there.