Anne didn't look up when she sensed her mother come into the room, her eyes trained on the page in front of her. Buffy watched her for a moment before walking over, sitting beside her daughter on the couch. "You should rest, honey. You're going to make yourself sick," Buffy said softly, pushing Anne's hair back behind her ear.
"I can't rest," Anne replied, her gaze still pointed down. "I can't rest when he's not here, not when I know what he has to be going through."
"Because if you let yourself rest for even a moment, that's one more moment he has to spend there—and seeing as it's a hell dimension, that could be more like several moments, right?"
Anne looked up at her mother then. "Yeah."
"I know it feels that way, but you're not betraying Connor if you don't push yourself past the breaking point. Running yourself down only makes it worse. Trust me, I know."
"I can't, I…"
Anne stopped when the door to the Hyperion opened, smiling slightly when she saw her aunt step in. Buffy stood, facing her sister. "Dawn—thanks for coming here like this."
"Not a problem," Dawn said.
Angel walked out from his office, stopping beside the front desk. "Dawn."
"Hey, Angel. Long time, no see," Dawn replied. "Heard you have a portal that needs opening?"
"Would be nice," Angel said, his hands crossed over his chest.
"What dimension?" Dawn asked.
"Vortairesh," Anne answered. "But it says in one of these books that it can only be opened once every hundred years."
Dawn waved her hand. "So not a problem. If the portal can be accessed from this dimension, then I can get it open. The trick is going to be making sure Connor's all I pull out."
"But can you do it?" Angel asked. "Can you get my son home?"
"Yes," Dawn answered simply.
"When?" Anne asked. "Do we need to wait, or…"
"I can do it now," Dawn said. "It's better to do it as soon as possible anyway. More of the energy from the last opening is around that way. Just take me to the spot where he went in."
"We can do that," Angel replied. "It's not far from here."
"Good. You and Anne come with me. It'll help me locate Connor if I have people there close to him," Dawn said.
"Let's go then," Angel said. He started to walk, then stopped and turned to Buffy. "Could you possibly not tell Laura, at least until we're back. She'll just make a scene."
Buffy stifled a grin at Angel's obvious dislike of his soon-to-be-ex daughter-in-law. "Yeah, sure. She probably won't ask anyway. She's too busy playing the beleaguered wife."
"Yeah, I'm sure she's just torn up over the whole thing," Angel muttered. "Come on, Anne, Dawn."
Dawn stopped Anne as she started out the door, squeezing the teenager's hand. "I can get him out, Annie. I promise you."
"I trust you, Dawn, it's just…"
"Don't want to hope until it's a done deal?"
Anne nodded. "Yeah."
"It'll be a done deal soon enough. Come on."
Dawn let go of Anne's hand and they followed Angel out.
*** *** ***
"The portal was right…"
"Here, I know," Dawn said, cutting Angel off as she walked to the spot where Connor had disappeared. "There might as well be a flashing neon sign that says 'Hell, next right.'" She took a deep breath. "Okay, both of you come over here."
"What exactly are you going to do?" Angel asked, eyeing Dawn warily. "I mean, no offense, but I still think of you as Buffy's kid sister, so…"
Dawn raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "That was a very long time ago, Angel. And technically, it never really happened. Besides, I have kids of my own now. I'm not exactly a child."
"She's powerful, Angel," Anne said.
"I'm not doubting that," Angel replied. "I just want to know what you're doing."
"I'm opening the portal. Duh. Were you always this dense? Wait, scratch that, of course you were." Dawn cracked her knuckles. "All right, let's pop this thing open. I want you both to think about Connor, form a clear image of him in your mind. It'll help me locate him if I'm getting impressions from people with strong emotional ties to him."
Anne and Angel both did as Dawn asked, closing their eyes and bringing forth an image of Connor to their minds. Dawn took a deep breath, connecting lighting with her two companions, and, through them, to Connor himself. She reached her hand out, a green light surrounding it as she moved it slowly through the air, searching until she found what she was looking for.
The light around Dawn's hand grew stronger, traveling down her arm as she pulled at the air until the portal began to open again, a small sliver of light forming. It grew in size steadily until suddenly, it snapped shut again, sending Dawn across the room.
"Dammit!" Dawn cursed as she pulled herself up, dusting off her clothes as she did.
"What happened?" Angel asked. "Why didn't it work?"
"They have some sort of wards up, the bastards," Dawn said. "They're serving as extra protection beyond the time-sensitive nature of the portal itself."
"Can you get through them?" Anne asked.
"Yeah, I can. It's just going to make this take a little more time. I have to break them," Dawn replied. "Angel, do you have any magic supplies back at your hotel?"
"Some," Angel said. "I never know when I might need them for one thing or another, so I try to keep some on hand."
"Good. Anything you don't have, I can find, but it'll save time if I don't have to do a lot of searching."
"Aunt Dawn?"
Dawn turned towards Anne when the girl spoke. "Yeah?"
"Did…did you feel him at all? Do you know…?"
"He's alive. I couldn't really get much more than that, but I could feel him in there," Dawn replied.
Anne let out a deep breath, a small amount of the tension seeming to leave her body. But hearing Connor was alive still wasn't enough if he wasn't there with her, and she was still far from relaxing. "That's…well it isn't completely good because alive doesn't mean he's okay, but it's better."
"He'll be here soon, Anne," Dawn said. She put her arm around her niece. "I've yet to meet a ward I can't break. Being the Key gives me an extra push there, too."
"Then let's get what we need to break the wards," Angel said. "My son's been gone long enough."
*** *** ***
Dawn wasted no time as she walked into the Hyperion, grabbing a pad of paper and writing down a list of ingredients. Once finished, she handed it to the vampire. "Angel, this is what I need. Scrounge it up."
"I'm guessing things didn't go as planned," Buffy said. "What happened?"
"Wards," Dawn replied. "Fairly powerful ones, too, but they're not anything I can't handle. Once I have the supplies I need, I can get them down in ten, fifteen minutes tops."
Cordelia took the list from Angel, scanning it quickly. "We do have most of this here. I'll help you get it all, Angel."
"Thanks," Angel replied, walking out of the room with Cordelia.
Anne was restless, on edge. She paced back and forth in the lobby, incapable of sitting still. Her parents and aunt watched her from the sofa, but said nothing, tension hanging heavily in the silent room.
Anne stopped when she heard someone coming down the stairs, frowning when she saw it was Laura and not Angel and Cordelia. "Laura could you please just…go away."
"I have every right to be involved in…whatever it is you're doing," Laura replied, waving her hand almost dismissively as she said the last part. Her eyes trained on Dawn. "And who is that? She wasn't here earlier."
"As if it's any of your business, that's my aunt, Dawn," Anne said.
"So what, you need your whole family for emotional support?" Laura asked, eyebrow raised. "And I have to say, they sure are strangely accepting of a teenager being all starry-eyed over someone clearly too old for her."
"What our family chooses to do or not do isn't any of your business," Spike snapped, causing Laura to turn towards him in surprise. "And how exactly do you think you have the right to judge my family when you care so little about your own husband? Sure, my family probably doesn't fit in with your ideals, but at least we love and support each other, which is clearly more than I can say for you."
Laura gaped at him for a moment before she closed her mouth and raised her chin. "Well, I can see where your daughter gets it from."
"Yeah," Spike replied. "I'm real proud."
"Why are you even here?" Anne asked Laura, glaring at the other woman. "You told Connor it was over. Shouldn't you be off somewhere filing for divorce?"
Laura crossed her hands over her chest. "I changed my mind. I missed him."
"Yeah, I can see that," Anne said with a snort.
"I love him, too!" Laura yelled, making Anne take a step back. "You think I don't, but I do. So no, I don't understand any of this demon stuff, but that doesn't mean I don't care about Connor. I've put up with a hell of a lot over the past ten years. Did you know the first night I spent with him I woke up to the sound of shattering glass as some sort of horrible monsters crashed in through the window? I'd never seen a demon in my life, and then suddenly there they are, trying to kill my boyfriend. But I didn't leave. I learned to deal. When I met Connor, he had no hope, no future. I gave him a life. He can be normal now."
"But he can't be," Anne countered. "That isn't who he is. Even if he wanted it, he could never really have it. The only chance he has at happiness is learning to embrace the world he's a part of and finding a place in that. If you really loved him, you'd see that."
"Stop questioning my love for my husband!" Laura yelled. "I don't need lectures from a home-wrecking slut. God, how old are you anyway?"
The room was silent for a moment until Anne cleared her throat and spoke. "I'm eighteen."
"He's twice your age," Laura replied, accepting the lie.
""Um, that's one of the weird things about our family," Spike said, speaking up. "Age differences under a century really don't raise a lot of eyebrows."
Laura glanced between Buffy and Spike. "Huh?"
"He's like a hundred years older than me," Buffy said.
Laura pointed to Spike then. "Is he a vampire, too? Like Angel?"
"I am not like Angel!" Spike said quickly. "Nothing, nothing like Angel."
Buffy patted her husband's leg. "Spike's not like Angel. And he's not a vampire…anymore, anyway."
"Anymore?" Laura asked.
"Long story," Spike replied. "You wouldn't be interested. Lots of 'demon stuff.'"
"You're all freaks," Laura said. "I can so see why Connor would rather be with you people."
"Oi now!" Spike exclaimed. "I've had about enough of you. You keep being rude to my girls, and I'm going to be forced to rip off your throat and spit down your neck. Got it?"
Laura took a step back, the look in Spike's eyes telling her she should take him at his word.
Angel and Cordelia came down the stairs then, carrying a bag. "We could find everything on the list but two things," Cordy said. "But they should have them at a store right up the road. We can get them."
"Great," Dawn said as she stood up. "Let's get going then. Cordelia, it would help if you came this time, too. I could use the extra energy."
"Sure, no problem," Cordelia said.
"What's going on?" Laura asked.
"We're pulling Connor out of the hell dimension he's in—hopefully," Angel replied.
"And was anyone planning on telling me this?" Laura asked, her question answered by a chorus of "no's" from the assembled group. "Well, fine," she huffed. "If you find my husband, just send him back to me." She stormed up the stairs, pushing past Cordelia and Angel as she did.
Choosing to ignore her, Angel and Cordy walked down to meet up with Dawn and Anne. "So we're doing this now?" Angel asked.
"We are," Dawn replied. She reached out, squeezing Anne's shoulder. "It'll be soon now, sweetie."
Anne pulled her arms tightly across her chest. "Here's to hoping then."
*** *** ***
Anne forced herself to stay still as Cordelia and Dawn sat across from each other in a circle, chanting words Anne didn't understand. Angel was beside her, and she could feel the tension rolling off of him, seeming to add to her own. She needed this all to be over, needed to be far away from this place—with Connor.
Angel glanced over at her, seeing the worry on her features. He fidgeted for a moment, then reached out and put his arm around her shoulders. Anne stiffened before accepting the comfort, leaning slightly against him.
Her attention went back to the middle of the cavern when Dawn stood, announcing, "Wards are down. Now all I need to do is pop this baby open and get Connor out." She took a deep breath, her hand glowing green as it had before. Dawn reached out with eyes closed until she found the right spot, pulling the portal open again. This time, there was no stopping until the tear was complete, a jagged line of light creasing the air.
Energy crackled around them, and Anne moved closer to Angel, her body trembling. He tightened his grip on her shoulder with an almost-bruising force but she barely seemed to notice, her focus completely on the portal.
Dawn shouted something loudly in a foreign language, the energy levels in the room soaring as she did. The portal grew one more time, the light from it nearly blinding before it closed again, the room falling silent.
Anne gasped as she saw what lay beneath where the portal had been. The figure was ragged and unkempt, and her heart clenched as she whispered, "Connor."
Connor looked up suddenly, his eyes going to Anne and Angel. He regarded them for only a moment before he snarled, lunging towards them.
*** *** ***