Parents
[possibly a prequel to a potential fic titled "The Twenty-Third of June"]
by LJ (restless_cheeseguy@yahoo.com)
To be archived at http://www.oocities.org/brigidharper/index.html
Spoilers: "Spin the Bottle" – Connor seems to be warming up to his father, if only just a smidgen…
A/N: Yes, it’s true: I’m finally coming out of hibernation…

Parents

"What is my father like?"

The question came unexpectedly. Cordelia jumped, reaching automatically for the nearest heavy object and turning to face the creature that had so rudely snuck up on her.

It was Connor.

"What?"

He took a step forward, his hands in his pockets. "You have your memories back, right? So you remember him now."

"Connor-"

"You remember him now," he repeated, setting himself gingerly on a chair opposite the bed. "What is he like?"

Cordelia sighed and sat down on the bed. "I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know what you want to know."

"Is he good? Is he a good man?" He seemed to almost choke on that last word, as if the idea of his biological father being a man rather than a creature, a thing was difficult for him to grasp.

"Yes," she told him. "That much I can tell you." She looked at her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. "Your father – Angel – he tries so very hard to be good, to do good things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but even if he wasn’t what he is, what he was, it would be the same. Sometimes even humans have trouble doing good, and their attempts don’t turn out the way they should."

Connor seemed to consider this. "He said something, when we fought. About his father."

"His father?"

The boy nodded. "Did you know him?"

Cordelia frowned. "Angel’s dad? No, of course not. He’s been dead for a really long time. Like, centuries."

"Oh." Connor looked away. "Sometimes…Sometimes I have trouble with time. I…I know hours and days and minutes, but…" Quickly, he changed the subject. "Did you know my mother?"

"Darla?" she said with a little bit of surprise.

"Was that her name?" asked Connor.

Cordelia looked at him. "Didn’t you know? Didn’t he…I mean, didn’t Holtz tell you about her?"

He looked back at her. "No. Just about him. About…Angelus. He only said that my mother was another vampire, a very evil one, and that she’s dead. Was she? Was she…evil?"

"Yes," whispered Cordelia, "but, at least at the end, she loved you."

"And she’s dead, yes?"

"She is. Oh, Connor." Cordelia stood and then knelt before the boy, taking his hands in her own. "Connor, you should really talk to Angel about these things. I never really knew Darla – I hadn’t ever actually met her until last year. And I really don’t know anything about Angel’s family. I wish I did, but I don’t. You should ask Angel. Besides, he’s your father. It’s his place to tell you these sorts of things."

Connor pursed his lips for a moment. "Do you think," he started, and then looked away. "Do you think he’d really tell me?"

"Oh, Connor, of course he would. There’s almost nothing he’d like better than for you to go to him and ask. He’d be so pleased."

"What…What would make him happier?" Connor asked hesitantly.

Cordelia smiled. "To hear you call him ‘Father’."

END