Nightfall

Shadow Valley Vineyards

Sitting in silence, Angelus sat back in the chair eyeing the young seven-year-old carefully. He was more than pleased she finally stopped crying and screaming for Buffy to rescue her. After he threatened to punish her, Katie wisely calmed down but the tight frown, sniffling nose, and redden eyes did not disappear.

Angelus folded his arms over his chest and crossed his leg of his knee. "You still think she's coming?… Don't you?" He asked, not bothering to disguise his voice with his forgotten Irish brogue.

Katie wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She sunk deeper into her frown and crossed arms staring at the ground.

"Katie," Angelus tilted his head to the side and raised a brow, "Kathryn, I asked you a question. It would be wise for you to snap out of this attitude and answer me."

Still, Katie did not respond.

Angelus smirked recognising Buffy's infamous stubbornness in the girl.

Leaning forward, Angelus searched for her eyes, which were sternly focused on the ground. His smile grew as he watched her wipe a fallen tear from her eye. "She's not coming," Angelus said. "Kate, look at me."

Against her will, Katie lifted her eyes to her father.

"She's not coming for you."

"I don't believe ye." Katie held her arms tighter together as if it would make her disappear.

Angelus ran his eyes over her, "You should. There are many things you don't know about your mother and one of them is… she doesn't care about you." He told her slowly watching her eyes rise to his face. "She never did." His voice was eerily sincere. "In fact, she didn't want you at all. The only reason you were born, mo grá is because I forced her to have you. I've always wanted you—Not her."

Katie's bottom lip began to quiver. She felt her unshed tears blur her vision as she listened to her father. "I… I don't believe ye." She told him with a small shaken voice.

"You should. I would never lie to you." Angelus searched for her hazel green eyes once more. "I love you."

Tucking her chin into her neck, Katie unfolded her arms in over to wipe her tears away with the back of her hands. "Mama loves me. Sh—she'll come for me…"

Angelus rested his elbows on his knees, eying his young daughter with seemingly sincere empathy. "No. She won't."

Magic Box

Buffy threw open the shop's door and slammed it closed behind her. She stomped down the stairs breathing heavily with livid anger and panic. She had searched up and down Sunnydale for any trace of Angelus. She had followed all eight swear tunnels, which weaved around Sunnydale five times. She had torn through the Crawford mansion and every vacant mansion in Sunnydale and still, there was no sign of Angelus or her daughter.

Giles looked up from the pile of books spread across the table, since the ambush, Giles and the others have been working tirelessly to find an alternate for the Orb of Thesulah. "No luck still."

"Xander and Spike aren't back yet?"

"No," Giles replied.

Buffy pursed her lips together, "Have you found an alternative way to restore Angel's soul?"

Hating to disappoint his former Slayer once more, Giles removed his glasses and said, "Willow and Tara have been in the back trying to conjure up the energy to create an orb but… it's taking longer than expected—"

"—How much longer?"

"Hours… maybe days," Giles replied.

The room stared at the Vampire Slayer watching her reaction darken as she silently recoils his words for a moment. Her eyes lifted and focused directly on the ex-Watcher. "I can't do days. I can't even do hours. I need now."

"I know, Buffy. But we found a way but in order to create an orb like the one used by the Kalderash clan, it takes an enormous amount of energy, resources, and magic to—"

"—I don't care!" Buffy sniped with familiar desperation Giles had not heard in a long time. "A demon took my daughter. She is defenceless against him. She has no idea what he is. She has no idea what the hell is going on. I have no idea where she is or if she's hurt…" Images of Katie crying in pain because Angelus was torturing her flashed through Buffy's mind. "She needs me. And I can't find her. Giles, I need his soul restored."

Feeling the depths of Buffy's guilt and panic, Giles sympathetically nodded his head. "I know," he told her. "But in order to restore Angelus' soul, we need the orb and in order have the orb, Willow and Tara need time." He tried to re-explain.

With her bottom lip quivering, Buffy glared at the older man and said, "Katie may not have time."

Walking out of the bathroom with Cordelia, Connor looked up to see Buffy standing near the round table in a standoff with his Grandfather.

"Mama!" Connor raced over to Buffy with his arms outstretched wide.

Buffy caught the boy jumping into her arms. She let his little legs and arms wrap tightly around her. He laid his head on her shoulder and took comfort in her familiar perfume scent.

"I need to go back out there." Buffy unravelled Connor's arms from around her neck and placed him down on his feet.

"Mama?"

Buffy clenched her jaw and looked past Giles to Cordelia and Dawn standing in the background.

"We'll take care of him, Buffy," Cordelia said.

With a nod, Buffy turned away from the group and walked to the door when Connor called out her, "Mama!" He chased after her before she left the shop. Connor reached and caught the hem of her coat pulling her back. "Mama! Mama, don't go!"

"I have to," Buffy told him.

"No!" Connor wrapped his arms around her leg letting his tears stream down his cheeks.

Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Connor, let go."

"No!" The four-year-old refused.

"Connor…" she said his name with a crisp firmness. "I will not tell you again."

Shaking his head and burying his face into her leg, Connor still refused, "No!"

"Let. Go." Buffy forcefully removed his arms from around her.

The child looked up at her with large tearful eyes feeling her rejection.

Buffy couldn't take the hurt in his large brown eyes. She shook herself from his despair and refocused her sights on the mission to find her missing daughter. Without another word, Buffy opened the shop door and walked out, closing the door behind her and never looking back.

Connor stared at the closed door with soaked eyes.