Honorable
Sons: 27
by Josie_h
Notes
Connor remained blissfully asleep as Willow padded quietly down the hall and stood expectantly at the door of her hosts. She smiled at the tableau they presented, two beautiful male bodies as one in their repose, entirely relaxed, intertwined, the epitome of longtime lovers.
Spike stirred first as always, kept the link quiet as he frowned a little at the intruder to their sleeping quarters, then followed her to the kitchen. En route he noted the tense shoulders and fists clenching the edges of her oversized t-shirt come nightgown.
“’Sup Red?”
Willow stepped close to the vampire. “I think I know why they want Connor.”
“What …? Oh? OK… An’ here’s me thinkin’ y’ just paid us a visit t’ see me gorgeous self minus me daily attire.”
“So..??” Spike leant idly against the pantry wall as Willow moved to set the electric kettle and make tea. She kept her hands busy for a moment then stilled. This was too important.
The next part came out all at once. “I-think-that-they-want-to-breed-from-him!!”
Spike turned on her instantly in game face though uncannily calm. “They were goin’ to what?”
Despite her power, experience and friendship with the vampire Willow squeaked a little before breathing hard and repeating the message. “They are intending to breed from him…. Oh Godess Spike…. I suspected and then when I …. Spike there are plans… a farm of sorts… a harem…. drugs to keep all the subjects ‘pliant’…. stimulants that would assist the ‘follow-up’ sessions…. They even have four slayers on their list of ‘prospective mothers’! And Dawn….”
Spike was immediately in game face, yet Willow still saw the flash of pain and worry fly across the vampire’s features. Despite the predator’s fangs and threatening snarl, Spike looked like a worried parent and tired spouse. The vampire stilled for a moment and lost a little control over the link. Angel stirred as a result and headed for his mate, though thankfully Connor simply rolled restlessly in his bed and remained asleep.
Willow was in the middle of pouring a chai tea for both herself and her favorite blonde when Angel emerged at the door. The larger vampire snaked a loving arm around his mate, pressed his entire body against Spike’s, then nuzzled the neck of his mate with an affectionate purr. Spike’s lack of response was all telling. Scenting his mate’s extreme distress and detecting Willow’s accelerated heartbeat, Angel stepped back from his ministrations, spun his partner and demanded in a more formal tone than was usual, “Childe?”… He noted the distress on Spike and Willow’s faces, “Hmm, it is our full blood son no doubt. What is amiss?.... Spike?”
The fact that this was truly a ‘family’ matter did not escape Willow, nor did the deference the blonde gave his mate under such strained circumstances, “They, bloody Wolfram and Hart, they… are planning on breedin’ from Connor, Sire.”
Angel stared from the witch to his mate and back. “The legend of the day-walkers…. Idiots!! They have *that* wrong for a start!.... Oh….” Angel turned to welcome their wiccan friend, “F’iaid…. Apologies… I’m sure we woke you?”
“I am honored to be included…. And I wake when my partner is absent.”
Willow smiled then took her F’Iaid’s hand to kiss it, “There is a way forward. But before I recommend it I need to… ummm… is Connor still asleep?” Both Angel and Spike checked through their link and more traditional ‘heartbeat’ methods. The two nodded in unison.
“Connor’s situation is unique… Wolfram and Hart are oblivious of your continuing existence, by all accounts, so their assessment of Connor is independent of any contact he has had with you and I must say, the information they have on him is historical mostly and the recent material is rudimentary at best.”
“Channeling your inner Giles, Red?” Spike’s attempt to lighten the mood fell rather flat, but Willow’s “Indeed,” accompanied by a cheeky grin, before returning to her previous serious demeanor gave him the impression that at least one person had appreciated the effort.
“He needs to be paired…. And paired with someone strong enough to….” Willow faltered and fell silent, taking refuge in her partner’s arms for a moment.
“Strong enough for what, Witch? What haven’t you told us?!” Spike was suddenly *very* serious and not only his eyes burnt amber but also Angel’s.
Surprisingly, it was the older vampire who fielded the question. Angel’s voice was almost a full purr, “He must take a consort strong enough and worthy of carrying the pure Aurelian line.”
Spike reacted as expected, “Oh brilliant!!.... What are we?..... The princess and the bloody pea???! Well sod that….. and sod the Grimm brothers…” He pointed directly at Willow and F’Iaid, “And sod every other bloody fiction writer, and every bloody wiccan and seer while we’re at it …. Anyway… how soon?! And where the *hell* does *any of this* leave our lad here?!” The blonde vampire moved to throw an arm around his Sire spelling support, camaraderie and familial connection in the simple move, “ ‘Cause our boy ain’t deservin’ of any purgatory! He’s not a ‘test case’ for any humans, or a bloody ‘golden child’ for the demon world to play with! We can’t marry ‘im off to some unknown blue blooded bint like some royal marriage of convenience… We’d be no better than the other lot!!!” Spike continued staring sightlessly in an act of open appeal to the bathroom ceiling as though it might provide the answer. “We owe nothing! Connor certainly owes *noone* C’mon Willow… F’Iaid…. How…??”
“Nothing will be forced. But Connor *must* partner.”
“Oh bugger that! What?” Spike stared at Willow and F’Iaid gold rimmed eyes. “Ol’ Da and me here need to start advertising? ‘C’mon down if you would like to marry, BYO demon dowry?”
“He had already partnered.” Angel’s look of distress seemed to span well beyond their current conversation, then whispered quietly to Spike, “Cordy.”
Spike felt an overwhelming sense of anguish and grief through the link and gasped at the ferocity of the emotions. Despite his rapid improvement of health, Spike knew his Sire was far from fully recovered and carrying the grief of losing all but two of the people he had ever cared for in the last battle and the year preceding it bore heavily
“Cordy died pet. We both know that…. She said goodbye to you…”
F’Iaid was not so conciliatory, “Her pairing with Connor was an aberration, initially from the desperation of two lost people in the midst of an apocalypse, but utterly driven by the opportunist other world entity she carried… the one that killed her and drove your son to ….”
Angel was on his feet in game face, pain obvious even in the feral features and tears beginning to run from amber eyes. His partner matched his state of distress, finally rising to confront his two wiccan friends … Willow in particular, “Back off!.... Enough with the past, witch!... You’re upsettin’ now it’s me ol’ sire….. What is it the lad has to do!? ‘Cause I for one am *not* playin’ matchmaker!”
“There is no need.” F’Iaid was calm as ever but squeezed her redheaded friends’ hand as she noted high anxiety around the room.
“Waddya mean no bloody need!?? You just said yourself the lad, needs marryin’ off or some sod from a law firm is gonna show up to do it for us!”
“What’s going on? Dad? Willow?” Connor was standing at the door looking decidedly disheaveled and rather puzzled.
Willow took a deep breath then stepped back into the foray grabbing Angel’s right hand and Spike’s left she gave them both a squeeze and looking across to their young friend quietly stated, “Can I have a moment with Connor please? I think this will work out…..” Angel and Spike nodded reluctantly.
Willow was more than aware of the serious task at hand, and of the waves of anxiety now rolling from the young man whose hand she grasped. Tugging Connor she led him out of the apartment and onto the lawn below their balcony. She stopped just before a large oak and pulled Connor to sit beside her on the gentle slope. Willow watched with more than a degree of empathy as the now worried and rather miserable young man slumped beside her.
She squeezed his already tense hand as a sign of support as soon as they began to relax onto the grassy spot, then waited.
Connor’s voice was strained, far huskier and higher than usual, as he addressed the wiccan.
“So I heard the last part… Willow I’m just a guy… with some… unusual parents… Ahhh Geeez! What am I? Some sort of prize bull for the demon world?!”
Willow quickly grabbed the young man’s hands then pulled him into a warm hug. She kissed his hair and whispered… “Oh Sweetie! Nothing like that! No!.... But…”
At the last statement Connor pulled from her grasp scrambling backwards in an attempt to escape and deny the words. Willow simply reacted as she might with a frightened child, remaining on the ground and speaking in quiet, consoling terms.
“No honey….. No! But you may have to choose a partner who also has a magical or demon heritage. Just to be on the safe side… but you knew that already, didn’t you.” Willow leveled a knowing stare at the youth.
“Um… well yeah… I guess. Kind of hard to get with the whole my real Dad’s a vampire gig without that and… um… Listen… I *do not* want a girlfriend with scales or a tale! Geez!!!” Connor spun and leveled decidedly golden eyes on the elder wiccan.
“This is not about that sweetie,” Willow looked as the innocent Willow of high school for a moment, but there was a feel of magical power that accompanied her presence and Connor’s real nature responded to it. His eyes turned an even brighter shade of yellow as he growled… “So what is it about, exactly?”