Who: Angel, Sam Winchester, and Jessica Moore. When: Backdated to Saturday, September 14th, evening. What: Searching for Connor and then probably a slight mental breakdown. Where: The forest. Warnings: TBD. Low, maybe medium for language if Angel gets really upset. Status: Incomplete, closed.
Since Connor had arrived, Angel had launched into full-on overprotective dad mode. Not so much to Connor's face, because their relationship was still sort of fraught, but he'd definitely hovered, keeping his eyes on the kid at all times even when they weren't together.
Or at least he thought he had. As it turned out, he'd failed miserably.
He had friends helping him, doing sweeps in the sunlight where he couldn't go, and he'd scoured every inch of land he could reach from underground or with the help of shady overhangs. He'd sent countless texts and voicemails, his degree of alarm increasing exponentially with each unanswered message. Sam had told him not to think about it until they were sure, until they'd checked everywhere. It was good advice, and Angel was trying to take it, but he couldn't help it: he was terrified. If Connor was gone, nothing they could do here would be enough to get him back.
Sunset came excruciatingly slowly. The moment dusk waned into darkness, Angel emerged from the shadows. Some ambient light remained, but it had dissipated enough for him to move safely, especially once he got to the forest. His heightened senses kicked in automatically, primed to pick up any sound, any movement, however minuscule. If for some reason Connor was hiding from him -- maybe his memories of his old life had finally gotten the better of him -- then he was going to have to go into stealth mode to find the guy.
Footsteps rustled leaves in the distance, out of Angel's sight, and he darted silently behind a tree for cover, just in case. Connor had wanted him dead before; he couldn't exclude the possibility that his son had reverted to that state again. But a moment later, he heard a second set of footsteps, and voices to go with them both, one male (recognizable, but not Connor) and one female (less familiar, but still clearly not Connor). His stiffened body relaxed just a bit, and he followed the source of the sounds.
"Sam?" he called out as he approached. It was stupid to get his hopes up when he knew they would have called if they'd found Connor, but he did anyway. He had to believe there was still a chance. "Any luck?"