Connor froze at the sound of her voice, glancing between the now-separated Angel and Anne before growling at Angel.
"He saw me touching you," Angel said, though he didn't look over at Anne. "He thinks I'm threatening his mate."
"Yeah, I got that," Anne said. She stepped towards Connor, unafraid of him even with the feral state he appeared to be in. "Connor? It's okay. I'm yours…"
Connor looked her over, taking a step forward before grabbing Anne and pulling her close to him. He inhaled, breathing in her scent before relaxing, heaving a deep sigh.
Anne felt Connor relax against her, his body slumping slightly. She held him close to her, cooing softly to him as he began to tremble. She could smell blood on him, both his and others', and she knew that things had been as rough for him as she feared—and that he'd been in there much longer than the couple of days it had been in the outside world. "You're home now," Anne said softly, though she had a sinking suspicion Connor couldn't understand the words. "I've got you now."
Connor started to slip to the ground and Anne went with him, cradling his head against her chest. She could tell now that he was crying, albeit softly, and she stroked his hair and back, her heart breaking for her lover as she knew she couldn't give him all the comfort he needed after being trapped in that place for so long.
Angel watched the pair, fighting the urge to go to his son. He knew Anne was who Connor needed now, since despite the obviously large amount of time that had passed for him, Connor knew her—be it from memory or instinct. Angel felt Cordelia come up beside him, gripping his hand.
"You have your son back, Angel. You can be a little happy about that," Cordelia said softly.
"He's still hurting, Cordy. And he's…"
"I know. But he's back. That's a start. We'll take care of the rest in time."
Anne could feel Connor's confusion, fear, pain…everything. He felt like a part of her even more now than before, and she ached with him. She wasn't sure how much time passed while she held him, her focus narrowed down to the two of them, the cavern and the other people there seeming to fade away. "I love you," she whispered against his hair, pressing her lips against him.
Connor looked up at her, his eyes the same as always behind his shaggy hair. She pushed the dirty strands back so she could see them better, wanting to look into their blue depths. "Let's go home," she said, hoping he could understand her, even if it was only a little. She took his hand, guiding him to stand with her. He did, though his legs were shaky, and Anne let him lean on her, supporting him.
"His leg's been injured," Angel said, pointing to a blood-covered patch on the crude, animal skin clothes Connor wore.
"Not just his leg. His chest smells strongly of his blood, too," Anne said. "I think he's been in a recent fight. Which is more probable than not, considering. I'll take care of him when we get back to the hotel."
"You'll need help," Angel said. "He's…"
"I can handle it," Anne told him. "He's confused and he's scared, and we have no clue how long it's been since he was last around other people. I'm not trying to keep him from you, Angel, I just think it's best that we keep everything as low-key as possible right now until he has a little more time to adjust."
"I don't…" Angel took a step towards Anne and Connor, then stopped as Connor growled low in his throat.
"There's also that," Anne said.
Angel held up his hands, backing away from his son. "She's all yours," he said, standing next to Cordelia and taking her hand. "See? I'm with this woman here. Er, unless this is a problem, too…"
Connor relaxed then, seeming to be much more comfortable with Angel by Cordelia. Still, he stayed close to Anne and kept an eye on Angel, making sure the vampire stayed back. Anne rubbed Connor's shoulder. "Come on. Let's get out of here, yeah?" She helped him walk, leading him from the cavern with Dawn following.
Angel lagged behind, watching them leave. "Why is he treating me like a threat? I'm his father. I'm not going to…"
"He's confused, Angel," Cordelia said. "He obviously knows who Anne is, and he's responding to you being the only other male in the room—plus you were near her which, seeing as he's in a rather feral state, couldn't have made him happy. He'll get over it when he doesn't feel like his claim on Anne is being challenged."
Angel sighed. "I was just hoping that it wouldn't be like this. I knew it was a possibility that he would be different when he came back, but I wanted him to be the same as when he left. I wanted for things to work out for once, for something to be easy."
Cordelia rubbed his back. "I know you did. But we'll get him back to the way he was. I'll start looking into it, see what can be done to get him out of the state he's in. And in the meantime, Anne's going to take care of him. She's willing to give him whatever he needs. He'll be fine. Let's go back to the hotel. You need rest. And when's the last time you ate?"
"I don't know. Sometime before all this started, I guess. I've just been so focused on getting Connor back."
"And now he is," Cordelia said, linking her arm with Angel's. "There's nothing we can do right now. Anne's got Connor, so you can relax for a bit. We can decide what we're going to do to get him back to normal after we've all had time to rest."
Angel looked down at the woman beside him. Sometimes he wasn't sure how he'd get by without her—or how he managed to for over two centuries for that matter. "Yeah, okay."
Cordelia gave his arm a squeeze and walked out of the cavern with him.
*** *** ***
Buffy, Spike, Rebecca, and Laura were all waiting in the lobby when the others got back. Laura gasped when she saw Connor, moving towards him only to stop when he gave a warning growl.
"He's feral, Laura," Angel said, coming in with Cordelia shortly after Anne and Connor. "Probably best just to stay back."
Laura blinked. "Feral? How? I don't understand."
"He's been in a hell dimension without human contact for years, quite possibly several decades—if not longer," Anne said. "Tends to make you go a little off your bird."
"But I spoke to him a few days ago," Laura said, her brow knitted. "How…"
"Time can go all wonky in other dimensions," Anne said. "The last one he was in made him go from a baby to a teenager in a matter of days. What, he never told you that?"
"He told me about Quar'toth, but…" Laura took a step towards Connor again and he growled louder, baring his teeth.
"Stay away from him," Anne snapped. "I'm his mate, and I can take care of him." She took Connor past Laura and up the stairs.
"What the hell is going on here, Angel?" Laura yelled. "Why is my husband like that?"
Angel sighed, weary of Laura and her constant inability to grasp what he thought should be obvious. "He was in a hell dimension, Laura. We've told you that like a million times."
"And I'm just supposed to understand? You all knew he was going to be like that, didn't you?" Laura was screaming, her voice high-pitched enough to make Angel and Spike both wince.
"We knew it was a possibility," Angel told her. "You can't really predict what'll happen to someone in a hell dimension, though. It all depends on where the person is exactly and on the circumstances."
Laura put her hands on her hips. "Well, is he going to stay like that? Am I married to a wild animal now?"
"Can we not do this right now?" Angel asked. "I'm tired and I'm hungry, and the last thing I want is to deal with you."
"He's my husband, Angel!" Laura yelled. "I want someone to explain to me what is going on! I want some solid answers, not just a bunch of things thrown at me that I can't possibly understand."
"You can't understand them because this isn't your world!" Angel yelled back. "Besides, earlier you didn't want to know because you didn't deal with 'demon stuff.' Now that's changed?"
"I want my husband back!"
"Yeah, and I want my son back!" Angel roared, making Laura stumble slightly backwards. "You took him from me ten years ago, did everything you could to make him part of your life instead of mine. Well, guess what—he doesn't belong there. There's not a damn thing you can do for him right now, so why don't you just go."
"I'm not going anywhere," Laura said. "Not without Connor. If that…other dimension has made him crazy, then this is the last place he needs to be. Let me take him some place where he can get real help."
"You are not leaving this hotel with my son," Angel ground out. "We know how to help him—you don't."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that? Let Lolita play nursemaid? He needs medical attention, Angel!"
"I know that! I understand what's going on here a lot more than you do. And yes. Anne is going to take care of him. She's who he wants to be with right now, and trying to separate them wouldn't be safe for anyone."
"This is insane. You're all insane." Laura shook her head. "You can't keep me from him. If need be, I'll take legal action."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" Angel asked, his arms crossed over his chest. "What are you going to say? That the husband you left is staying with his father and doesn't want to see you anymore? Yeah, I'm sure the police will just run to take care of that for you."
"This isn't what's best for him!"
"You don't know what's best for him!"
"I do!"
"I've had enough of this," Angel snapped. "Cordelia, get me some blood and bring it upstairs." Angel stormed past Laura, going towards his room.
Cordelia cleared her throat. "I'm just going to…get that for him," she said, hurrying out of the lobby.
Laura turned towards the other four people remaining. "Well, don't you have anything to say?" she snapped.
"No, I think it's all pretty much been summed up," Dawn replied. "We're good here."
Laura turned away in disgust walking back up towards her own room.
*** *** ***
Anne led Connor into the bathroom, letting go of him as she went over to the tub. "I'm going to get you cleaned up, okay?" She turned on the water, checking the temperature before stopping the drain and going back over to Connor. "Okay, I need to get you out of these clothes now."
Connor didn't say anything, but he seemed to understand what she was doing and helped her undress him. Anne winced when she had his chest bare, seeing that he did in fact have a rather nasty wound injury there. She touched it softly as she asked, "Got attacked, huh?" She looked up, meeting Connor's eyes, seeing the way he was watching her intensely. Anne stroked his cheek, a lump forming in her throat. "I missed you. I know it was only a couple of days for me, but I really, really missed you."
Connor took her hand from his cheek, pressing his lips against her fingertips. The gesture was so gentle that it brought tears to Anne's eyes, her emotions swelling inside of her. Connor gave her a half smile, reaching up with his free hand to wipe the tears away from her eyes.
Anne cleared her throat, taking a step back. "I need to clean you up and get these wounds taken care of," she said, feeling better when she was talking even if Connor wasn't going to say anything in response and probably didn't understand her anyway. "So the rest of these clothes have to go." She helped him out of his boots and pants, throwing them on the pile with the other things. "I hope you don't mind if I just…burn those or something," she said, eyeing the skins. "They're kinda rank. Okay, into the tub with you now." She helped Connor into the bath, grimacing as the clear water turned dark almost immediately with dirt and blood.
"Maybe a shower would be better," she said with a frown. She guided him up again, noticing the puzzled look Connor gave her. "Yeah, I know I'm probably confusing you, but I've never actually had to do anything like this before. My mom's better at this sort of thing, but you're mine to take care of, so I'm gonna do the best I can."
Anne let the water out of the tub and turned the shower on, washing the grime out of the bottom before trying to coax Connor back in. He glanced between the running water and her skeptically, hesitating. "Right, so not a lot of running water where you've been. Well, this will probably make cleaning you easier anyway," Anne said as she began to remove her own clothes. Once undressed, she stepped under the spray and motioned for Connor. "Come on. It's all right"
Connor stuck his hand under the water for a moment before joining her, relaxing as soon as the water ran over him. "See?" Anne said. "Feels nice, doesn't it?"
Connor pushed his wet hair out of his eyes, his gaze traveling down to Anne's chest. He reached out slowly, taking hold of the cross she wore, turning it over in his hand.
Anne placed her hand over Connor's. "Do you remember that? It was yours. You gave it to me before…" Anne trailed off. "How about I just get you cleaned up? I'm guessing it's been a while since you lasted washed your hair."
Connor let go of the cross when Anne spoke again, pulling his hand back. She picked up a bottle of shampoo, squeezing a generous amount into her hands and working it into Connor's hair. He started to rebel at first, but she put her hand on his shoulder, coaxing him to calm down.
He'd obviously kept himself somewhat groomed since his hair wasn't nearly as long as it could be and his beard was trimmed, but his hair was still a tangled mess. Anne knew the easiest thing to do would probably be just to shave it off and wait for it to grow back, but she'd always liked Connor's hair too much for that, even if she knew it would only be gone temporarily. She could cut off most of it and then just use enough conditioner to work the tangles out of the rest. The beard, however, could go.
Anne bathed Connor carefully, sure to pay extra attention to his open wounds as to get any dirt out of them. Connor stood still as she did, letting her do what she needed to do without complaint. It warmed her to know that he still trusted her, no matter how long they'd been apart for him.
When she finally had him clean, Anne turned off the water and led Connor back out of the tub, getting a towel she'd set out to dry him off. "See? Isn't that better, being all clean?" she asked, smiling softly at him. Connor smiled back at her in response, and Anne took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Anne got a towel for herself, wrapping it around her before leading Connor to the bedroom and having him sit on the edge of the bed. She pulled out a first aid kit, wrapping the wounds on his chest and leg, noting that they looked like claw marks from a very large animal, and wondered what it had been. It made her ache every time she thought about what Connor must've had to face every day, how hard things must've been for him. She wished that if he'd had to go through that, that she could've at least been there with him, made it so he hadn't had to suffer alone.
When she had his wounds tended to, Anne gave Connor a pair of his sweatpants from the clothes he kept at his father's, helping him put them on before slipping on a t-shirt and a pair of underwear herself. She smiled at Connor again, taking his hand. "Okay, let's just do something about this extra hair of yours and then we'll call it a night, okay?" she said, leading him back into the bathroom, Connor following her without hesitation.
*** *** ***
Anne wasn't sure what surprised her more, the fact that Connor sat still and let her cut his hair and shave his beard or that she actually did a decent job of it. She'd only nicked him with the razor once, and aside from a slight hiss of pain, he hadn't responded, hadn't gotten upset by it.
She knew that was probably because he was used to much, much worse, and she hated to think about that.
The sun was beginning to rise by the time she led Connor back to the bed. "We should get some sleep," she told him as she turned down the sheets. "I doubt you've gotten a good night's rest in a while."
Anne started to get into the bed but stopped when she felt Connor's hand on her shoulder. She turned, her breath catching in her throat as she met his eyes. His arm went around her waist, pulling her against him. Anne trembled as Connor's lips descended on to hers, a growl sounding low in his throat.
She gave no objections as Connor picked her up and tossed her on to the bed, growling again as he covered her body with his own. It had to have been years for him since he'd felt the touch of another person, and he needed this as much as he needed anything. Connor ripped off both her shirt and her panties, taking his mouth away from hers to nip at her neck and shoulder as she gasped to air.
Connor pulled away long enough to take off his sweatpants before he was on top of her again, pushing inside of her body without preamble, Anne didn't resent the lack of foreplay, wanting nothing more than to give Connor what he needed then. She moved with him, digging her nails into his back, cries and moans sounding from her.
Connor came with another growl, this one louder than the ones before. The feel of him jerking inside of her brought Anne to climax as well, her nails digging deeply into his shoulders and drawing blood.
Spent, Connor collapsed on top of her, his head nestled between her breasts. Anne held him close against her body, running her fingers through his hair. "I love you," she whispered, her hand grazing his cheek. "I'll love you through my last breath and beyond."
He looked up at her, his blue eyes seeming to search her face. Content with what he saw there, he smiled softly before moving up, lying on his back and pulling Anne into his arms. Connor pressed a gentle kiss against the crown of her head before closing his eyes, drifting off to sleep in the arms of his long-lost mate.
*** *** ***