Title: End of Time
Author: HumbugGirl
Email: HumbugGirl@breathe.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/humbuggirl
Pairing: Willow/Lindsey
Summary: First meetings between the pair.
Rating: PG (I’m British so expect British rating)
Disclaimer: I don't know 'em but I really wish I did... Anyone (e.g. Joss) feeling really generous with say... Spike?
Dedication: Aw, people sent me feedback when I posted on a Lindsey mailing list. They are now my gods and deserve my worships forever.
Notes: *~* Indicates thoughts.
Note 2: I screwed around with the timeline a little so don’t expect this to run in complete parallel with the series.

Part 1

It was too hot for staying indoors; especially when the stupid janitor had forgot to fix the air conditioning and your refrigerator had decided that it just wasn't going to work. Hitting the side of the offending machine in what was usually the right place Willow let out an unWillow-like curse and kicked it when nothing happened. All of a sudden getting out of her apartment was looking like a really good idea.

Angrily she grabbed her red windbreaker from its hook by the door and her keys from the sideboard. There was no way she was going to sit in a scorching hot apartment all night, on her own and with no relief in sight.

The air was stuffy outside but not nearly as dry as it had been inside. Stepping out into the night air and realising that she should really have brought a stake with her, Willow rejected the idea of going back inside to the confines of her home and set off at a steady walk. As her blood pressure feel from its angry peak and the world once again began to look a little bright her thoughts once again turned to her friends back home in Sunnydale. The decision to move away from home after graduating college early had surprised them less that it had herself. While Willow had often dreamed of getting away from the horrors of the Hellmouth, whether they be supernatural or completely human related, she had never actually thought that it would happen.

Two months she had lived in Los Angeles. Two months of being almost completely on her own with the exception of Cordy, Wesley, Angel and now Gunn as well. She was friends with them all of course, there was no way she could avoid that what with either Cordy or Angel coming around to visit every five minutes and her often having to help them out with 'cases'. But still there was something in the young woman that meant that she wanted to get away from these people who she had grown to adulthood with.

She supposed that was one of the reasons that she had wanted to get away from Sunnydale. As much as her friend meant to her there was nothing really left in the town for her what with its dangers rising up and trying to bite her on the butt every other moment.

Stepping down off the sidewalk and not really paying any attention to where she was going Willow found herself being forced to jump backwards as a car speeded past her with its horn blaring. Putting her hand out to steady herself she felt it connect with the smooth fabric of a suit and instantly snatched it back embarrassed. Looking up she found herself staring into a pair of stormy blue eyes.

"Oh Goddess, I'm sorry," she gasped drawing inwardly back on herself as the stranger's face did not soften at her stammered reply. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"No," he replied coolly, annoyance clearly showing in his voice. His hand came up and her eyes widened slightly at the prosthetic limb there. "This doesn't tend to hurt very much whatever happens to it."

Willow winced, her face growing red and bit her bottom lip. For the entire world it appeared as if she might cry. The stranger's expression barely changed showing still the hard exterior that he always seemed to show. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I... I'm sorry I snapped okay? It didn't happen all that long ago I tend to get a little oversensitive about it."

"What happened?" the redhead asked wondering why this handsome man was still taking the time to speak to her and not running in the opposite direction.

His face darkened for a second and Willow realised that she might not have asked the best question in the world. *Way to scare the guy off Wills* she thought.

"It was an accident at work," the man finally answered obviously reluctant to answer. He glanced away across the street.

"What do you do?" she asked fearful that he was suddenly going to decide to run off.

"I’m a lawyer."

"Pardon?" Willow exclaimed in disbelief. "I never thought that Law would be a dangerous career choice."

There was a hint of a smile on his face for a brief second and to her surprised Willow found herself mimicking it and feeling surprisingly relieved. Even as she watched the smile grew larger and his features took on a boyish expression. "How would you feel about getting a coffee?" he asked.

"Sure. So what your name?"

"Lindsey. Lindsey McDonald."

Part 2

It was Sunday before Willow had the opportunity to stop by the Hyperion and visit with her friends. She would have gone by sooner, she really would have, had it not been for things being so busy at work and the date that Lindsey had arranged with her on the Saturday.

Lindsey… the thought of him made her smile.

The date had been wonderful. They met late morning in the park and walked around until lunch when they had a picnic lunch while lazing around on a blanket and talked for hours. It had been so long since she had felt so connected to someone. Since, well, since Oz. Lindsey was smart and funny and he had gone out of his way to make her feel comfortable. Warm fuzzy feelings would fill her stomach and a huge grin would appear on her face every time that she thought about it.

The redhead was glowing when she entered the Hyperion. The instance she stepped inside her mood fell. The lobby to the hotel had been trashed. Up turned furniture, glass and papers were scattered everywhere across the floor and in the middle of it all was Wesley laid face down in the mess.

Eyes wide in horror she rushed forwards to kneel by the side of the man. Feeling beneath his collar Willow was relieved to find a strong steady plus there. Even as she rolled him over Wesley’s eyes opened and peered up at her from behind dented glasses.

"Wesley, are you okay? Does it hurt? Where does it hurt? Should I call an ambulance?"

"I…" He looked around the room. "Damn it! They got Cordelia."

"What? Who got Cordelia? I don’t understand."

"Stop asking so many questions and let me explain then!" he snapped at her attempting to sit before collapsing on his back again with a groan. Willow shied back from the fallen man wishing that she hadn’t allowed her shock at his harshly said words show so much on her face. "We were attacked on our way back to the hotel after lunch," the man explained. "Naturally we ran back here but on entering the foyer we discovered that they had already been here and that they had left someone to intercept us." The ex-watcher rubbed his forehead and gently tried to shake some of his confusion from his mind.

Willow grabbed hold of his arm to steady him as Wesley climbed to his feet. The man stumbled slightly as he began to weave his way across the destroyed room in the vague direction of the desk. As they reached it he leaned over and searched the other side for Cordelia. The redhead’s heart sank as she saw the distressed expression in his eyes grow even more vivid.

"Where’s Angel?" she asked, keeping her voice low having notice Wesley wince at his own raised tones. By the look of the large bump on his head he had to have a headache to accompany it.

"I don’t know," the Brit confessed. "There wasn’t time to check when we reached the hotel but he certainly didn’t intercede in the fighting even if he was here."

The witch thought for a second. "Okay, okay, we have to find Cordy but first we have to try and track down Angel. Does he still have that cell phone or did he lose it again?"

Wesley slumped against the counter relieving Willow of his dead wait. "As far as I know he still has it. Of course whether it’s working or whether he can remember how to work it is a completely different matter."

Nodding she reached for the phone. "What would Angel be doing out in the daytime anyway?" she asked carefully dialling the number from memory.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he answered. "Angel has been behaving very strangely lately. Surely you’ve seen it as well?"

"I suppose I have," she replied waiting for the number to connect. It was true that Angel had been even more brooding than usual. At first Willow had blamed it on herself and Buffy’s impromptu visit a couple of weeks after she had moved to Los Angeles to see how her friend was settling in. From the moment that the blonde had appeared in Willow’s doorway and glanced past her to see Angel sprawled on the couch, protected from the sun by the thick curtains that she had installed, things had taken a turn for the worse with the dark vampire. Still, it couldn’t be all her fault could it?

Willow pushed her self-doubts away and slammed the phone down as it continued to ring without any sign of ever letting up. "He’s not answering," she said turning back to Wesley.

"I had guessed as much."

"We should try to get hold of Gunn."

"We should be out looking for Cordelia," Wesley amended.

"Do you even know who took her?" the witch asked, her annoyance over not being able to reach Angel and his attitude increasing ten fold. "Because I don’t see a calling card!"

A momentarily smug grin appeared on the man’s face. "Actually yes I do have an idea who might have taken her."

The redhead waited in anticipation. "Well?" she asked finally.

"We’ve been working on a case lately that might possibly involve some a demon clan being fooled into serving some humans. From what I can remember of the appearance of this certain clan the intruders that took Cordelia may be of members of said clan."

"Are these demon’s dangerous themselves?"

"If you had been around recently you would know that Willow," he replied sternly.

"I came here to get away from all things Hellmouthy remember? It doesn’t matter anyway. Just tell me what you know and we’ll go from there."

Wesley appeared flustered for a second and Willow found herself waiting while he gained control again. "The demons are from southern Italy originally, there is some evidence that there was a mass emigration to North America about five years ago. When they arrived they somehow managed to get mixed up with the some rather unscrupulous human lawyers…"

"Let me guess," she interrupted. "Wolfram and Hart."

"Indeed. The demons, or rather their clan leader Cordell, were lead to believe that Wolfram and Hart would be able to secure them status among the Los Angeles demon community for a few simple favours in return. Naturally our friendly neighbourhood lawyers have managed to drag these few favours out for an impossibly long time. Their clan has never been a peaceful one and recently, as I said, we have been having an increasing number of problems with them of late."

"Might they harm?"

Wesley hesitated. "They might if provoked…"

"And if anyone can provoke someone its Cordy," Willow finished off for him. "Do you know where they might have taken her?" At his nod she continued. "Right motorcycle-guy hurry up. We’ll go find Gunn and then we’ll go get her."

Part 3

The one disadvantage for working as a lawyer, Lindsey thought as he absently leafed though a pile of papers, was that you had to work at all hours of the day and the night despite what day it was. It was Sunday and he knew that he should be at home but instead he was sat in his office with the blinds closed and a stack of paper work a mile high in front of him. That is what you get for having the day off to run around with some girl, he chided himself.

What had promised to be the start of some rather satisfying thoughts were shattered as there was brief knock at the door of his office only to have it open before he could answer and the one person he had not been looking forwards to seeing appear. There was a distinctly smug and rather irritating look on Lilah’s face as she crossed the short space between them and came to an abrupt halt in front of his desk. The lawyer leaned back in his chair, not even bothering to give her a greeting and waited for the string of comments either self-praise or of biting remarks that the woman was sure to make eventually.

"You’ll never guess what news I have for you Lindsey," she said sounding much too confident and happy for Lindsey’s taste. The bright smile on her face didn’t help either. Here goes… he thought.

"You’re quitting and taking that long awaited trip back home to the circus?" he asked putting what he hoped was the right mixture of innocence and sarcasm into the comment. He was rewarded when the grin she had been so proudly displaying faltered for a second before being quickly recovered. Not quick enough there Lilah he thought happily. Goading the other lawyer could be so much fun sometimes.

"Keep dreaming," she replied after regaining her some of her pervious confidence.

"Don’t worry, I will."

"Do you want to hear what I’ve got to say or not lefty?"

"You mean I actually have a choice in the matter?" he asked ignoring her deliberate jibe. Her expression turned serious and Lindsey could see her turning over the possibility of just leaving over in her head. "Just get on with it Lilah, unlike some people I have work to do."

Without waiting for an invitation, although by this point she should have been certain that none was going to be forth coming Lilah took the seat at the other side of his desk and leaned back comfortably into it. "Well, while you’ve been sitting around in here moping and feeling sorry for yourself yet again I’ve been working on a little something that should make the senior partners very happy indeed."

Lindsey couldn’t avoid meeting her gaze and hating what he saw there. Whatever the woman had been up to had obviously worked and it no doubt wouldn’t benefit him. "And what would that be exactly?"

"It concerns our local, all heroic, pain in the ass Angel and his little band of merry men."

"Go on," he urged. Anything that worked to upset Angel was fine by him even if it was Lilah that had come up with the idea.

"I was having a little chat with the leader, spokesman, whatever they want to call him of those Tumek demons. Actually Holland had me have a word with them. They’ve been rather restless lately complaining that we haven’t been doing enough for them so Holland wanted me to pacify them with a little deal. While I was heading down to that hellhole they call home I called in at Millitello’s to get some lunch and you’ll never guess who I saw; Cordelia Chase. It set me thinking and that lead me to a conclusion about what to do about Cordell and his Tumek demons. Answer me this where does Angel get all his information from?"

"Chase," Lindsey replied. "She’s his direct line to the Powers That Be."

Lilah nodded in agreement. "So what would tall, dark and brooding do if his little seer went missing?"

"Tear apart Los Angeles and us looking for her?" he suggested. "Oh god Lilah please tell me you didn’t…" he groaned as a thought dawned on him. "You do realise the first place that he’s going to look is right here?"

"No," the brunette lawyer answered, her voice tense and annoyance clearly showing through. "The first place he’s going to look is the Tumek nest and when he gets there then Cordell and his followers will take care of him once and for all."

Lindsey looked out at her from under his fringe. "For your sake I really hope that they do."

"You worry too much. What chance does Angel have against fifty Tumeks?"

Part 4

Wesley banged furiously on the door to Gunn’s home hoping that the young man wouldn’t be too annoyed that they had decided to intrude on him. The ex-watcher knew for a fact that Gunn had been out the night before on patrol along with several others that followed him and was undoubtedly still in bed. There was part of him knew that this was probably a bad idea. Willow however didn’t seem to want to take any notice of his objections and insisted that they involve the young man seeing as they couldn’t find Angel.

After a few moments more of knocking the door swung open to reveal an angry looking man that appeared to be rather suspicious of the two visitors. Almost instantly the British man realised that the man he was now faced with was a newcomer. The man in question simply stood in the door waiting for one of the two to explain why they had knocked without saying a word.

"We need to talk to Gunn," Willow said pushing past Wesley and the surprised answerer of the door. She walked right past him and stood in the corridor glancing for one end to the other with apparent interest. Eventually the redhead’s eyes came back to rest on the increasingly angry expression of the man. "I’m Willow and this is Wesley. Gunn knows us. Go get him and tell him that it’s urgent."

"How do I know you’re not going to attack me the moment that my back’s turned?" he asked in a surprisingly educated sounding voice.

Willow cocked her head to one side and said very seriously. "If I wanted you dead you already would be. Now go get Gunn. We’ll be waiting the main room."

With wide eyes he turned and hurried one way up the corridor while Willow grabbed hold of Wesley’s arm and dragged him the direction. "How do you know this place that well?" he asked when they reached their apparent destination, an empty room with seats and tables and some sort of practise fighting equipment at one end.

"Cordy told me about the time that she decided to save Gunn’s life on her own when she couldn’t find you or Angel," the young witch explained. "I could pretty much guess the layout from her description and besides; it’s not that difficult to figure out when you’re inside. There was only two possible routes and as the man who answered the door didn’t look back to see if we were following him I guessed that we should go in the opposite direction." She suddenly seemed uncomfortable and rubbed her hands together. "I was certain that we were going to get thrown out back there for a second," she told him quietly. "I hope Gunn’s not too mad."

"Now why would I be mad?" A voice asked from the door making them both jump. "Could it possibly be because I only got to bed about two hours ago and I’m exhausted?"

It seemed that the words had completely stuck in Willow’s throat as she found herself confronted with their half naked friend who was stood in the doorway, arms crossed against his chest in a display of authority that wasn’t missed by the other two occupants of the room. For several seconds she opened and closed her mouth before managing to sort her thoughts out enough to speak. "Cordy was kidnapped," she told him finally.

"And that has what to do with me?" was his expressionless reply.

Willow’s temper flared to life and she took several steps towards Gunn. "In case you forgot Cordelia is your friend and friends generally help each other out when they’re in trouble."

Taking in the look on the young witch’s face Gunn gave a loud sigh and slumped a little against the wall. "Okay, okay, before you give me the ‘she-would-help-you’ speech I’ll give in. I’m too tired to argue with you right now anyway. Have you any idea where the princess is?"

"Actually yes we do," she answered happily smug.

"We believe that it was the clan on Tumek demons that we’ve been having problems with recently," Wesley supplied.

Gunn nodded his head slowly and thoughtfully. "We had some trouble with them last night," he admitted. "Have you any idea why they would take her?"

"The only thing that we have been able to come up with is that Wolfram and Hart have had them do it," the ex-watcher told him. "I doubt seriously whether they have built up enough of a grudge against us to do something so direct."

The young man looked back and forth between his two visitors. "After last night don’t be too sure but I’ll take your word for it. For the time being at least."

"You’ll definitely help then?" Willow asked. When he nodded the redhead felt relief flood through her.

Obviously feeling the same way as the young Sunnydaler Wesley smiled. "You said that you had a run in with the Tumek’s last night. Are they still occupying the same residence?"

"What? Yeah they are. You want me to get some of the others and then we can head on down and get Delia?"

The witch smiled. "You’re not going to regret this Gunn," she told him confidently.

"I hope you’re right."

+++

Lindsey tightened his tie with only a little difficulty. He was constantly amazed at how easily he had begun to adapt to having just the one hand. It took a moment for him to remember Lilah’s presence and slam the door to her car. There was a satisfying thud and the frame shuddered a little. The lawyer suppressed a smile as he almost felt the irritation radiating off his partner as she glared at him.

Together they walked from the car and up to the front door of the mock façade Victorian mansion. It was large but the disrepair of the place was evident at every turn. There was a certain amount of disgust growing in Lindsey as he reached for the knocker on the door and it came off in his hand. Lilah sniggered and leaned past him to knock on the naked wood, that was complete with pealing paint.

They were met at the door by an overly imposing Tumek demon who looked down on the pair with open surprise and suspicion. After a few words and a rare smile from Lilah they were admitted and taken to the kitchen at the back of the hour. Seated at the table, his tall frame hunched onto one of the small chairs, was Cordell.

For once Lindsey was able to give the demon a smile that wasn’t too false. Unlike many of Wolfram and Hart’s clients Cordell wasn’t too disturbing to look at. At just above seven feet tall, with a slight mottling to his skin and two tiny, barely visible, horns protruding from his hair line the demon was one of the more normal creatures that Lindsey had dealt with since starting work at the law firm. Besides, the man was intelligent and hard working. There wasn’t anything that Cordell wouldn’t do to help his clan in establishing themselves in Los Angeles, which Lindsey felt he had to respect – even if he could be a pain when he was dissatisfied with Wolfram and Harts dealing with the Tumeks.

"So," Lilah began addressing the demon. "Where’s our little guest? I hope she hasn’t been too much trouble."

"My little guest," Cordell answered, placing emphasise on the ‘my’. "Is in the basement. First there is the matter of the thing that you said you would have for us if we did this."

Lindsey found himself glancing aside at Lilah. She hadn’t mentioned anything about giving Cordell anything for kidnapping Cordelia; well anything other than the firm’s promise of help. The idea that Lilah had been plotting behind his back was worrying to say the least. Shoulders tense and back straight, his jaw set firmly in place the man watched as Lilah placed her briefcase on the table and unlocked it. From inside she took a small, brown paper wrapped package that she passed over to Cordell. The demon carefully opened it and looked inside not displaying the contents to anyone else in the room. After a moments inspection he nodded and climbed to his feet, towering over the pair of humans.

"Follow me," he said and the crowd of demons around him parted to reveal a plain door that the demon had to duck under to get through. The humans followed, Lindsey waving Lilah through the door with a quick ‘ladies first’ and then stepped into the darkness after her.

It was almost pitch black in the basement; the only light was coming from through the doorway behind them. Ahead of him Lindsey could see a long set of steeply descending stairs and nothing else. The door was suddenly closed behind him and the claustrophobic darkness of the room descended, giving him a sudden desire to turn and hammer on the door to be let out again. Lindsey got himself in check. If Lilah could handle this he certainly could.

From the darkness there came a voice saying "Hey! Is someone there? My boss is gonna be so pissed off when he finds out I’m gone. It really would be best for your health if you let me go, like, yesterday." There was a half angry, half scared quality to the voice that pleased Lindsey greatly. Working for Wolfram and Hart certainly did have some very enjoyable rewards but seeing Angel’s precious seer knocked down a peg or two was another sort of satisfying entirely. Silently the lawyer thanked whoever or whatever was up there for his job.

Startled by the sudden light flooding into the room by Cordell flicking on the overhead lights in the basement, he was forced to blink. When the golden flecks of light stopped jumping before his eyes Lindsey focused on the woman tied to a chair below and blindfolded. Oh joy of joys, the dampness on the blindfold told him that the little princess had actually been crying. Did-dums, Lindsey thought as he stepped behind the seated figure of Cordelia Chase and removed the simple piece of cloth that had been covering her eyes.

"You!" the Sunnydaler snarled as, with her sight recovered, she saw Lilah for the first time.

"And here I was thinking you’d be pleased to see me," the female lawyer said dryly. "Really Miss Chase, and after all the trouble I went to, to set up with meeting."

"You had me kidnapped, you didn’t even do the kidnapping yourself," the seer pointed out. "I’m not seeing much trouble involved there for you. Oh, except for the part where Angel finds out and kicks your butt – again!"

"Now really," Lindsey said coming into view for the young woman. "Is that anyway to speak to your hosts?"

Cordelia raised her eyebrows and gave him a disbelieving glare. "I should have known you were here as well. Where you find one slime ball you generally find another is nearby after all. Honestly I’d say you were worse than Spike and Drusilla if it wasn’t for the fact that they were actually scary."

Lindsey refused to admit his ignorance as to who the pair was, as did Lilah. Like her he merely smiled at their captive, managing to put the girl in a state of confusion.

"You know Lindsey I do believe Miss Chase is trying to antagonise us."

"You may very well be right Lilah. I assure you Miss Chase, your stay with us might be very much worse. Be thankful at least that you’re still alive."

A look of horror passed momentarily over Cordelia’s face before she pulled herself together. "If you want to threaten me I suggest that you go away first and take lessons in exactly what to do because you’re bother really pathetic at it. I’m sure that Angel would be more than happy to provide," she added with a sly grin.

"Somehow I doubt Angel’s aims would match our own on this," Lilah replied. The lawyer took several steps closer to the tied down cheerleader. "And if I was you," she said after a pause. "Then I would shut up and listen."

Cordelia opened her mouth to interrupt but Lindsey stepped in first. "Miss Chase, just listen." Her mouth slammed shut at the look on his feature but there remained defiance in her eyes as she redirected her gaze once again to Lilah.

"Lindsey I didn’t realise you had that much power over women," the latter teased.

"Yes well, you wouldn’t know would you," he answered in kind. Ignoring the snort of laughter that came from Cordelia and Cordell, the dark haired lawyer easily pushed the comment aside vowing that she would take the chance at revenge later.

"I can just about promise that as long as you remain cooperative no harm shall come to yourself or to any of your friends. As for Angel, well, the last I heard he was preoccupied with other matters."

The colour in Cordelia’s cheeks heightened and she took a low deep breath. "What have you done with Angel?" she asked angrily.

"I haven’t done anything," Lilah said. "And that should be the least of your concerns right at the moment."

"And what is that meant to mean?" Cordelia snapped. "Because we have so been through the ‘you don’t scare me speech’ already and I don’t like repeating myself."

Lilah’s smile faltered and for a moment Lindsey was certain was she was going to do something stupid like slap the other woman but then it was back again. Slowly he shook his head hoping that the others in the room didn’t notice. His fellow lawyer really needed to get a better hold on her emotions – they made it much too easy to play her and it was clear that was exactly what the brunette ex-cheerleader wanted to do.

"I was just wondering what you would do if I decided to let Cordell’s followers here lose on you. From what I know they took some pretty hard hits last night from that friend of yours Charles Gunn and we all know how fun revenge can be." There was a wicked tilt of her lips to finish as Cordelia finally shrank back on her chair. Without realising what she was doing the seer glanced aside at Cordell who was stood against the wall, arms folded across his check looking imposing and swallowed despite her mouth being suddenly dry.

"What do you want?" she asked this time with none of the previous sarcasm that she had displayed.

"That’s better," Lilah replied. "We at Wolfram and Hart have decided that you are going to help us." At the increasingly confused look on the other woman’s face Lilah began to elaborate. "Recently it has become apparent that despite our best attempts to subvert Angel from his crusade of goodness he had only become more committed to his little cause. Quite frankly it’s annoying. A lot of good resources have been wasted on getting your boss back to his old wicked ways but nothing seems to work. So I thought to myself, what would really get under his skin and then I saw you."

Cordelia smirked. "So you kidnapped me? Hate to break it to you Lilah but this is not the first time I’ve been kidnapped. Such events normally end up in my getting rescued and the bad guy getting beaten to a pulp."

"This time is going to be different," the lawyer surmised. "In fact it’s going to be very different. This time there will be no rescue. There will be no beating of anyone but Angel and the rest of his little do-gooders and you are going to help."

Lindsey watched as Cordelia guffawed and nearly ended up choking. "Yeah, right, because that is something I would so do! Turning against my boss is so on my list of things to do."

A look passed over Lilah’s face that Lindsey couldn’t quite place. There was something there that he definitely didn’t like and although he knew he should say something to stop the other lawyer from getting both their arses in deep shit by messing up another equally loud part of him was screaming that if this worked, if they actually pulled off something to get rid of Angel once and for all then they were both mode within the firm for life. Not that the idea of helping Lilah succeed particularly thrilled him.

Lindsey made his decision and decided it would be best to go along with her.

"Oh trust me Miss Chase," she said. "You’re going to love helping us. Cordell, could you do me one last favour as part of our bargain and carry your guest to my car? She’s going to be taking a trip."

Cordell narrowed his eyes. "As long as it’s the last thing," he replied.

"Certainly."

Part 5

Her eyes were wide in shock. Some part of her mind that could only be described as ‘sensible Willow’ told her to wipe the expression away as she listened to Wesley curse and snarl in a very un-Wesley like fashion beside her. At the other side of her, behind to wheel of his car, Gunn muttered something along the lines of "well at least we don’t have to deal with the Tumeks."

"Thank God for small favours although where those two are concerned I’m not sure if I wouldn’t prefer the demons," Wesley said, breaking off from his startling torrent of curses.

Willow could barely focus on what the two men were saying thought as all her attention was firmly settled on the beautiful man who stood beside a large Tumek demon who was struggling to force a protesting Cordelia into the car. Every so often the man in question would give what appeared to be helpful hints and eventually Cordy was secured in the back seat. Lindsey. Her Lindsey had been behind Cordelia’s kidnapping? She had known that he was a lawyer but he had never said where exactly he worked.

A terrible thought dawned on Willow. What if he had just been using her to get to Angel? What if the whole thing had been nothing but a set up from the start? No she couldn’t believe that – not yet anyway. Not until she had spoken to him.

"One question," Gunn said interrupting her thoughts. "Why exactly aren’t we going over there already and saving her ass?"

"The house is full of demons," Willow replied as she watched a lanky dark haired woman, who might have been pretty up close, climb behind the wheel of the car. The woman leaned back over the seat and said something sharply to Cordy that made the girl quit struggling. Her eyes were drawn back to Lindsey who had taken the passenger side and was fastening his seat belt.

"How do you know that?" Wesley asked.

"Standard bad guy hide out," she answered. "Bad part of town, not many people around, those who are around probably keep their mouths shut about comings and goings. Oh plus I’m getting demonic vibes off the place."

"What?" It was Gunn’s turn to question her.

Goddess he looks good she decided as she stared at him across the street as he discussed something with the woman. She was happy to see that he looked pissed with the brunette. I am not jealous he’s spending time with her she told herself.

"It’s a witchy thing I’m developing," she told him. "Shouldn’t we be following to see where they go?"

"Sure thing," the young man answered pulling away from the curb and following the woman’s flash car up the road at a discreet distance.

"Who are they?" she asked finally when the suspense of knowing who the woman was grew too strong. Surely Lindsey hadn’t meant to trick her. He was smart. He would have known that she would figure it out eventually.

"The man’s name is Lindsey McDonald," Wesley explained. "A most disreputable young man and the woman is Lilah Morgan. They are both currently lawyers at Wolfram and Hart."

Lindsey said he lost his hand at work, she thought swallowing. That kinda makes more sense now I know where he works. "How did he lose his hand?" Maybe just maybe they would know. Lindsey had been unwilling to talk about it which at the time she had thought unsurprisingly and she hadn’t wanted to push the matter. The idea of knowing why he was one handed was appealing and she couldn’t resist asking.

Wesley appeared shocked. "I’m surprised you could see from this distance," he replied. "If truth be known Angel but it off."

She felt her face blanch and didn’t know where to look. "Why?" she asked a little weakly.

"He was trying to destroy a very important scroll at the time. Cordelia’s life depended on its recovery. Angel cut his hand off to save the scroll."

A choking feeling rose in her throat and suddenly it was difficult to breathe. "But they look human…" she objected. "How could he do that to a human?"

"You have so never met Wolfram and Hart’s finest," Gunn answered. "Human is not something I would call Lilah Morgan."

"And Lindsey is no better," Wesley added.

Willow frowned and tried to sort through the confusion that was busy running her thoughts. If Lindsey was exactly are Wesley and Gunn described him then he was like every other Wolfram and Hart lawyer and that meant that he had probably tried to hurt her friends. More than tried to, she reminded herself. He had hurt Cordy even if he hadn’t the others. And that meant he must be evil. The thought made her heartache. He couldn’t be evil. She liked him and he seemed to like her so he just couldn’t be evil.

"Are you feeling alright Willow?" Wesley asked leaning around slightly to look at her face beneath the veil of her hair.

The young witch sniffled a little and hoped that the two men didn’t notice her action. "I… I’m fine. Really I am. I think they’re pulling over."

"Isn’t that Lilah’s apartment?" the British man said as they pulled over to the side of the road opposite. "Can you really think of a more stupid place to take Cordelia? As if we wouldn’t look for her here!"

Gunn looked over at him sceptically. "We wouldn’t have if we hadn’t first known where to find the Tumek’s hideout," the young man pointed out smugly.

"Oh, oh yes of course."

"So what now?" Willow asked. "Do we do the covert ops thing?" Please no, please no, please no she silently begged. I can’t let him see me yet. I can’t let him know who I am. We need to talk but not like this. Not yet.

"No," Wesley replied. "Myself and Gunn look around while you go back to the hotel and hunt around until you find Angel. The fact that Wolfram and Hart are involved means that something larger must be going on. Angel should know about it."

Willow opened her mouth wanting to say something but was quickly interrupted by the ex-watcher’s adamant refusal to hear any arguments against his decision and Gunn’s agreement. Gee and I wasn’t even going to suggest differently she thought.

"I guess you’re right," she said not wanting to sound too eager to get away from any prospect of an unwanted confrontation with Lindsey. She waited while Gunn climbed out of his side to the car and indicated for Willow to slide over into his place.

"We’ll catch a ride back afterwards with the others," he told her pointing backwards to where another car had pulled up. "Try not to crash or scratch anything."

The young woman gave him a pointed look but nodded her head anyway. Now that he appeared satisfied that she wasn’t going to wreak his precious car he moved away and walked backwards to talk to the men in the other vehicle. A moment later Wesley followed him and Willow was free to drive away. She took one last long look at the building into which Lindsey had disappeared before starting up the engine and driving away.

+++

When Willow arrived back at the hotel she noticed that Angel’s car was parked outside. The sight brought relief to the redhead up leapt out of Gunn’s car, locking it and running inside in search of the vampire. To her distress she did not find him immediately and had to venture further into the building and down into Angel’s private rooms. She found him walking out of the bathroom, hair still damp from the shower and a towel in one hand.

"Willow?" he said. "Is something the matter?"

The witch found herself staring at him with her mouth wide open. "Didn’t you notice the mess in the lobby?" she asked.

The tall vampire shrugged. "It wasn’t any worse than usual. Why should I have?"

"Yeah!" the redhead screeched. "Cordy was kidnapped. We spent this afternoon and most of this evening so far looking for her!"

"I thought the hotel seemed rather quiet," he replied moving past her and into the living room.

"Hello? Angel? Is Angel in there somewhere?" she snapped feeling her irritation begin to grow. What was the matter with him? Why was he acting like this? "Angel are you even listening to me?"

Calm chocolate brown eyes looked up into panicked green ones. It seemed that she could see some sympathy there. "I’m listened Willow but I’m also guessing that you found her already because you’re back here. I trust you to make sure that Delia stays safe."

"We haven’t got her back yet," she confided in him. "I came back here looking for you to tell you that Wolfram and Hart have her." Even as the words came out the witch felt her throat contract and choke of her words. Not just Wolfram and Hart though, she thought. Lindsey. Lindsey has her.

At her strained words Willow felt a strong arm close around her shoulders and pull her into a hug. After a few moments Angel leaned back and looked her in the eye. "Are you calmed down now?" he asked. When she nodded weakly he continued. "Then why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?"

"Okay."

Part Six

"Now what are we going to do with her?" Lindsey asked as he helped Lilah get the struggling girl over to the sofa. The lawyer stepped away from her catch as the seer kicked out with deadly precision to make contact with the older woman’s stomach. On the way over they had been forced to gag the brunette so that her constant nattering and snide remarked hadn’t driven Lilah into too much of a fury.

"We aren’t going to do anything," she replied sitting down in a chair and watching Cordelia with wary eyes. "You’re going to go home and I’m going to finish my plan."

Lindsey stared at her in shock. He crossed his arms. "Oh no, I don’t think so. There is no way at all I’m going to leave her here with you alone. Just because you’ve managed to show off your little scheme doesn’t mean that I’m going to step away and let you get on with it. This is as much my business as it is yours now."

The brunette lawyer opened and closed her mouth several times without saying a word. She mirrored Lindsey’s pose and crossed her arms. "If you’re going to stick around then at least make yourself useful," she told him. "That girl won’t tie herself to a chair by herself. I’m going to go make myself a drink."

"I’ll have a beer," he called after her retreating back with little hope that the woman would actually pay any attention to his request.

He glanced down at the huddled form of Cordelia who stared back at him with hatred glowing in her dark eyes. Lindsey gave a lazy grin and moved off around the room in search of a suitable chair to tie the girl to. After collecting a chair from Lilah’s dinning set and carrying it over into a position where the seer would be able to view the television he hauled the girl to her feet and sat her down on it with little complaint from the girl herself. He looked at her and wondered silently whether they had accidentally hit her head on something at some point. The ex-cheerleader was behaving strangely even for her.

When she was firmly fastened in place he reached for the remote control to Lilah’s television and flicked it onto a random channel. The lawyer dropped the control onto the table in front of Cordelia.

"If you promise not to scream I’ll remove the gag," he said watching her eyes for any sign of deceit. In time she nodded and Lindsey moved to take the offending piece of cloth but kept his hand near her mouth in case she decided to change her mind. Slowly he sat down on the table keeping his eyes on her.

The ex-cheerleader made a series of comical movements with her mouth to stretch out the tired muscles. "You know that really hurts," she complained. "I don’t suppose you feel like getting rid of the ropes as well do you?"

"So you can run off? Somehow the feeling doesn’t appeal to me as much as it obviously does to you."

"Could I at least get a drink?"

Lindsey clenched his hands before him. "You’d have to ask Lilah on that one."

"What a surprise," Cordelia murmured quietly craning her neck to see around the apartment. "Well at least she has some taste," the brunette observed. "So, what are you crazy kids gonna do with me now?"

"The idea of torture is suddenly very appealing," he told her and watched her eyes widen.

"You better be joking mister," she answered with a slight stutter.

"Lets put it this way," Lindsey told her. "I am joking until you decide to piss me off some more and then I’m perfectly serious. However I doubt that Lilah would be so why don’t you keep all those wonderfully witty little opinions of yours to yourself for the time being."

Cordelia blew at a strand of hair in an attempt to get it out of her eyes. "A little help here please," she asked with pleading eyes. "Why are you giving me any help anyway? If I remember rightly, and correct me if I’m wrong, but we are mortal enemies right?"

"I don’t feel like cleaning blood out of the carpet," he offered with a smirk at her disgusted expression.

"Well isn’t this all lovely and cosy," an amused voice added causing Lindsey to glance up and in the direction of the kitchen. He frowned at the sight of Lilah but said nothing in reply. Moving with confidence the female lawyer crossed the room and took a seat near to Cordelia, but not so near that the young woman would be able to hit at her with her feet. She took in the fact that Cordelia was no longer wearing the gag with such ease that Lindsey found disturbing. The man suddenly found himself wondering whether she had been up to anything in the kitchen. It seemed suddenly that she had been away from them for much too long to be simply fixing drinks.

To Lindsey’s surprise Lilah took a glass of water from the tray she had been carrying and held it up to Cordelia’s lips. On closer inspection he also saw that there were two bottles of beer there. He found himself glanced at Lilah in confusion. What was she playing at?

Placing the glass back on the tray Lilah leaned back and relaxed. "Lindsey I think I hear your cell phone," she said startling him out of his thoughts. He stood quickly, his blue eyes focusing on where he had left his jacket. Listening he realised that he did indeed hear the muffled sound of his phone.

Reluctant to leave the two women alone together and yet realising that the phone call might be important the lawyer excused himself and headed into Lilah’s stylish modern kitchen. Pausing to see an unfamiliar number ringing him Lindsey lifted the handset to his ear and answered with a curious "McDonald speaking."

"Lindsey?" a quiet voice inquired.

"Speaking," he replied trying to place the caller’s voice. Doing so he smiled and leaned back against the counter top feeling his mood lighten instantly. "Hey there Willow. Do what do I owe this impromptu phone call? Not that I’m complaining."

"I, um, look…"

He listened to her stuttering over her words and wondered what had gotten the girl in such a state. Worry welled in Lindsey as the stumbling that he normally found so endearing continued for much longer than he had ever heard before and he found himself interrupting her. "Willow honey is everything all right? Are you all right? You’re not hurt are you?"

"NO!" she exclaimed sounding much too loud over the telephone. He heard her sigh and was about to risk another round of questions when she continued speaking. "I just needed to hear you," the redhead said nervously. "Make sure that you were okay."

Puzzled he walked to the kitchen window and stared out into the street below. For a moment he thought he saw movement there but pushed the idea out of his head. He was just jumpy from the fact that Angel’s seer was currently tied up in the other room. "Why wouldn’t I be okay?" he asked, honestly clueless as to what the girl was talking about.

"I… I don’t know," she confessed. "I just had a feeling."

A small smile played on his lips. He could almost see her at the other end of the line shrugging her shoulders as she spoke. That was one thing about Willow, he found everything about her was cute. She was pretty and sweet and perhaps a little quirky about some things with the most caring nature that he had ever come across. Never in a million years had he expected to be dating such a woman, especially not after his ‘accident’ at work.

"Let me guess," he said eyes sparkling at the notion that she had rung him just make sure that he was well. "Your ‘feelings’ are very rarely wrong?"

"Uh-huh," was the answer. "I mean, you never know do you? There are all sorts of nasty things out there that could, well, hurt you."

Lindsey found himself frowning. He wondered if he knew how close she was when she said ‘things’. "Listen, I’m fine Willow. I’m over at Lilah’s place working on a case."

"Lilah?" Willow asked, a slight trace of jealously being betrayed in her voice.

"I’m sure I’ve mentioned her before – the annoying cow who at work?"

For the second time in as many minutes Lindsey found his body tensing at the sight of shadows moving in the street below. He leaned over the sink and tried to get a better look, hoping that his suspicions were not going to be confirmed. Shit, he snarled silently when he saw a man he was certain he recognised. He was almost certain he had spotted that street kid who hung around Angel Investigations nowadays. What was he doing around here?

"Oh," he heard Willow reply. "Listen I know its short notice and you’re probably busy or something but is there some way that I could see you tomorrow?"

"Can’t keep away from me eh?" he joked, trying to make his voice sound light. Below the kid was moving across the street.

"Lindsey…" she drawled shyly. He wondered whether she was blushing at the other end of the line. "So can you?"

"Sure, how about lunch? No doubt everyone will have a fit that I’m actually leaving the office to eat for once but I guess they’ll get over the shock soon enough. We can meet up at that bistro you like so much if you want?"

"About twelve thirty?"

"Sounds perfect," the lawyer answered. "I’ll meet you there okay?"

"Perfect," Willow echoed. "Bye."

"Bye." Lindsey snapped his cell phone shut knowing that if he stayed on any longer they might end up speaking all night long. So damn sweet he thought wondering what the hell she was doing stuck with someone like him. Deciding not to question whoever or whatever had been so kind as to let him meet her the lawyer pulled himself together and moved off into the living room.

The minute he entered the room Lilah turned in her seat to face him. "What got you grinning like the cat that got the cream?" she asked, suspicion audible in her voice.

"Nothing," was his blunt reply. "Don’t look now but we have company."

"Huh?"

"That kid who works for Angel. Him and his little street gang are outside and heading in this direction."

"Gunn?" Cordelia asked hopefully. "He’s here?"

Lilah stood and went to the front door. From the table near it she picked up a jar, unscrewed the lid and began to rub the contents around the door. "They may be here," she said. "But they won’t be getting in."

"What the hell are you doing?" Lindsey demanded as he watched her open the door in disbelief. Down the corridor he could see, that Wesley man and two others marching down the corridor towards them. "Lilah!"

"You worry way too much sometimes Lindsey," she told him flippantly. "Honestly, did you think that I wouldn’t have envisioned the possibility of this happening? I’d think that you didn’t trust me at all if I didn’t know differently."

He stood and ran towards the door to try and close it before the men beyond reached it. Even as he set off the lawyer realised he didn’t have a hope in hell. "Damn it Lilah!" he shouted angrily only to have her wave dismissively in his direction.

"Da-dar!" she sang as Gunn rebounded off some sort of invisible force field on reaching the door. "Its sort of like an uninvite spell," the brunette continued as Wesley put out a tentative hand towards where there should have been an empty space only to be met by resistance.

"Good Lord!" the British man exclaimed removing his glasses and peering closer.

Lindsey watched as Gunn climbed to his feet and swung his axe at the doorway. The blade passed cleanly through but when the young man moved to follow it the same barrier stopped him again.

"Its rather neat isn’t it?" Lilah said to the would-be rescuers. "Now not only can I keep your boss out but you lot as well." She smiled meaningfully at the men. "My advice to you as a lawyer is to get out of here as quickly as you can before I call security. Explaining why you’re trying to break into my apartment armed to the teeth with assorted vicious looking weapons would not be fun."

All four men stared at her with wide eyes. "Perhaps it would be best," Wesley said turning to Gunn. "To retreat and reassess our plans."

Gunn stared at the other man with a dry expression on his face before looking beyond the two lawyers at Cordelia who was desperately struggling to get free. "So we’re just going to leave her?"

"Don’t you dare Charles Gunn!" the seer screamed. "I’ll never forgive you, I swear it!"

"Fear not Cordelia!" the ex-watcher called. "We shall return as soon as we possibly can."

"Wesley!" their captive shouted. "Damn it Wesley I did not survive living in Sunnydale to die here!"

Lindsey watched bemused as the two men exchanged looks. "We’re not going to let you die Princess," Gunn said. To Lilah and Lindsey he then turned his attention and said, "If you so much as think of harming her I swear they’ll hear you screaming in New York, got it?"

"I think I understand Mr Gunn," Lilah said. "Now if you excuse me I have business to attend to." Slamming the door shut the woman grinned at Lindsey and added. "I think that went rather well don’t you?"

"No! Actually I don’t. Not only do they now know that we have her," he said waving a hand in Cordelia’s general direction. "They also know where we have her. How long do you think it will be before they tell Angel and figure out a way past your little spell? We should move her from here right now to somewhere else and safe guard ourselves."

Lilah crossed her arms and cocked her head at him. "But Lindsey, I want them to know where she is. And by the time that they figure out how to get passed the spell it will be too late – the next stage of the plan will already have been completed."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What next stage?"

She smiled, suddenly remembering Lindsey of why some of the other lawyers at Wolfram and Hart called her the Barracuda. Whatever she was up to now he was certain that it wouldn’t be pretty. "Why don’t you just sit and relax while I work on it and I’ll let you know in due time?"

Part Seven

Willow stood several feet from the decorated glass door that fronted the wonderfully bright bistro that had rapidly become her favourite place for lunch since coming to Los Angeles. Just beyond one of huge windows she could spy Lindsey sat in a booth with his suit jacket removed, his tie loosened and the top button on his shirt open. From this angle the look of concentration was clear on his profile as he pored over a file on the table in front of him. The red head absently bit her lip as he flipped over a sheet of paper and started to underline passages and wondered what case he was working on; which demon or vampire of other evildoer he was trying to get off charges they probably deserved. Her heart threatened to fall even further than its already dangerously low level and the young witch took several extremely deep breaths to try and calm herself.

Half of her wanted to turn and run away but she knew that she would have to face a whole other set of problems. She had to find out just how much Lindsey had been involved with Cordelia’s kidnapping. The greater part of her mind wanted to believe that someone else, this Lilah perhaps, was influencing his behaviour. Despite everything that the others had told her about him and how much she trusted their judgment Willow knew that forming her own opinion was essential to her piece of mind especially considering what she was starting to feel for him in spite of everything.

Taking a moment to compose herself Willow walked in through the fancy door and over towards Lindsey. Even before leaving the hotel to go home and get ready for their date she had made the decision to be cautious, to try see how much she could gleam from Lindsey before he realised she was suspicious although she knew that might not take long. The man had constantly amazed her in the short time that they had know her with how much he was able to she into her.

He gave a start when her pale shadow fell across the table. The eyes that flew to her face were stormy, showing anything but composure and yet beautiful to her all the same. The lawyer’s posture was a protective one as he attempted to conceal whatever it was he had been studying. On recognising the intruder as Willow he visibly relaxed although he did quickly pack his documents away.

"Hey you," she said in greeting as he stood and kissed her cheek. There was a broad grin on his face as he stepped back and sat down while she moved around the table and slipped into the booth with him.

"Hi. I was begining to wonder where you had got to."

"I had a couple of errands to run. You weren’t waiting too long were you?" she asked glancing at her watch and realising as she did that she was nearly twenty minutes late. Her face scrunched into a frown that Lindsey watched in amusement. "I so sorry," she said. "I didn’t realise. You’re not going to be late back to work are you? I would hate for you to get in trouble."

Lindsey shrugged his shoulders as the waitress appeared and they ordered quickly. "Its time I gave myself a break and besides, if anyone makes a big deal I’ll think up some excuse."

Willow tried to smile but found it difficult. The image of Lindsey helping carry Cordelia out to the car the night before had decided to raise its ugly head for the millionth time so far that morning.

"Are you alright?" she heard him ask sounding concerned. The red head just stopped herself from shaking her head in disbelief. How could he seem so kind when only the night before she had seen him kidnap someone?

She came back to her senses she realising that she had been staring right through him. "Willow?" he asked again.

God she hated this. Why couldn’t she ever have a normal relationship? Steeling herself against his reply; knowing that he would undoubtedly lie Willow attempted to make her voice as light and carefree as possible. "Where were you last night? I tried to ring your apartment but you weren’t there."

The look on his face showed Lindsey to be just as confused as she had felt only moments before. "I told you, I was at Lilah’s."

"Oh," she replied feeling somewhat stupid. He had told her and she remembered him telling her but that wasn’t what she had meant. How was she meant to tell him that though? How was she meant to get the information out of him that he obviously wasn’t going to be willing to tell?

Lindsey leaned across the table and took her hand, amazed at how cold it seemed to be. For a moment Lindsey wondered whether if she was ill and was just about to suggest taking her home when he became aware that the young woman had taken a deep breath, readying herself to speak.

"I worry about you," she said finally feeling uncomfortable under his gaze despite her honesty. "I know I shouldn’t, well at least I thought I shouldn’t, but I do."

"You’re rambling," he said trying to sort out what she had said in his head.

"That’s because I’m worried. I know there’s things going on with you that I don’t know about and it worries me and I wish that you would tell me more about them."

The muscles in Lindsey’s shoulders automatically tightened a motion that did not escape Willow’s notice. She resisted the urge to pull her hand away knowing that the unconscious change in him couldn’t be good a good one.

"I don’t know what you mean," he answered bluntly. "You know that I can’t tell you anything about work; I’d lose my job."

"Its not like I’d want you to tell me about your cases," she said nervously. "I just… just want to know what you do. You’ve never told me anything."

The conversation paused as their order arrived and Lindsey leaned back in the booth while the waitress placed the plates down before them. He waited until she left before speaking again. Picking at his sandwich he said, "I’m a lawyer. There isn’t anything else to it."

"Well I think there is," she said before thinking it through properly.

Lindsey looked startled around the bite of sandwich he had taken. He chewed quickly and swallowed. "What’s gotten into you Willow?" he asked. She stared at him in silence wondering how she was going to explain.

"I-I did a bit of reading on the law firm where you work, Wolfram and Hart."

"You did what?" he laughed.

"Lindsey!" she snapped. "I’m serious."

"For god’s sake Willow, do you actually think that I would get messed up with anything, anything… criminal?" Her eyes lowered to the table, a flush of guilt passing over her face. Lindsey’s mouth dropped open in surprise at the sight. "That’s it isn’t it?"

The witch bit her lip keeping her gaze directed away from him. "Not exactly."

"What do you mean ‘not exactly’?"

Taking a deep breath Willow winced at the anger in his words and looked up to meet his eyes. When she began to speak her voice was low and suggestive of secrecy. Lindsey moved closer to her on the seat. "I grew up in a town where my life was in danger every single night of my life. The reason that I moved here, to LA, was to get away from having to spend every second glancing over my shoulder to make sure some nasty wasn’t sneaking up on me. Granted I knew that LA is the type of place that might attract some of the same dangers but it could not possible be as bad as home."

"I think I’m lost," he interrupted.

"Okay, well, the thing is, I know that most of the clients of Wolfram and Hart aren’t exactly normal." The change that came over his face told Willow that he knew exactly was she was talking about. Some of the anger disappeared and he grew very serious.

"I don’t know what you mean."

"Yes you do!"

Lindsey sighed, some despair evident in his voice. "Okay, suppose I do know what you mean. What are you going to do about it?"

"Isn’t that really up to you?"

"I have no desire to give up my job Willow. I don’t see why I should."

"But…" she began feeling at lose and wondered what she had really expected of him. Perhaps it had been stupid to bring up Wolfram and Hart, perhaps even stupider to come here at all. I should have just forgot all about him the red head thought. It would have made things so much simpler.

"There’s no buts about it Willow," he said sounding a little more gentle although she was certain that to do so must have been a conscious decision on his part. "The people that employ us aren’t always ‘evil’. We have our fair share of ‘good’ clients as well. They’re not even all… different."

"That isn’t the point," Willow said. "The fact that you’ll defend even the bad ones… Lindsey I really don’t know what to say to you anymore. I’m not sure there is anything to say."

He stood abruptly and reached for his jacket. After pulling a few bills out of his wallet and throwing them down, much to the amazement of a stunned Willow, he picked up his briefcase. "If you don’t know what to say then I don’t either Willow. I didn’t want things to be this way with us. I honestly thought that we would have a chance." That said he turned and left the bistro.

Part 10

She had searched for the better part of four hours, covering all the usual sites that they found useful and including several others that Cordelia had book marked that Willow hadn’t even heard. Even with such an extensive set of options in front of her the witch had still found herself searching even further as more and more leads turned out to be dead ends. There was little mention of the book that Wesley had found anywhere on the Internet and it seemed that the text that was mentioned in the passage was even less common. Just when she was sure that she was going to have to give up the young witch’s eyes lightened on something that stirred hope in her heart. After following several links from the original page Willow printed off a page on which there was a seemingly simple spell.

Feeling more than a little pleased with herself Willow wandered away from the area that Cordy chose to call her office and in search of Angel and Wesley. The latter of said pair was not in his office where she had last seen him and Angel was not hanging around the lobby area like he often did after sunset. Her happy mood not failing once she hunted through the hotel until she heard the quiet sounds of their voices apparently coming from outside the building. Stepping closer to the door leading to the alley behind the building that had been left ajar the redhead paused at the mention of her name in conversation wondering what they could possibly to talking about.

"You think she may have swapped allegiances so to speak?" Wesley’s crisp voice drifted in her direction.

"I never said that," Angel answered quickly. "We don’t really know anything."

"I disagree with you!" the British man replied. "And after what you’ve told us I think I have every right to as well."

"Okay so maybe we do know something but that doesn’t mean that we should assume anything. As far as we know Willow has done nothing wrong."

"He’s right Wes," she heard Gunn add and absently wondered when he had arrived. The young man certainly hadn’t entered through the front of the hotel or she would have heard him go by. "But I can kinda see your point as well. We don’t want her with us even if there is a doubt."

Willow backed away from the door disbelieving what she had just heard. The conversation seemed far more distant than it really was and there was a kind of pounding in the young witch’s ears as she leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath trying to steady herself again. What on earth were they talking? Since when had she been betraying them? Surely they realised that she would never do anything like that…

Knowing inside that she should really confront them but lacking the will to do it Willow backed away into the lobby and flopped down on the couch to await their return. She held the paper before her, staring at the information printed there and trying to decide what to do, what to say. Twice in one day she had been disappointed. Once in the reactions of a man who she had honestly felt she was falling in love with and then in people who were long meant to have been her friends. Feeling tears prick her eyes she wondered at Wesley’s words. She had thought that they had made their peace before. He had asked for her help after all. Then there was Angel, he apparently had known something that put her under suspicion and instead of talking to her about it first he had gone to the others.

Willow couldn’t understand it, he had only just got through telling her how much help she was and now this!

Making her decision she copied out the spell for herself on a separate piece of paper and then left the original print off on the counter for them to find with a note saying that she had gone home under the pretence of not feeling well. Stepping outside into the muggy night air she headed in the direction of the closest bus stop and made her way home. When she arrived she was pleased to find a note telling her that the air conditioning in the apartment had been fixed taped to her door.

The redhead stepped inside to be greeted by a refreshingly chilly atmosphere and dropped off her shopping bags in the living room before grabbing a bottle of water from the retro refrigerator. From the tiny kitchen she went into her bedroom and stripped off the best skirt and top she had put on especially for her meeting with Lindsey before climbing into the shower. The water felt glorious washing over her body and seeming to ease away some of the strain of the day. When she had woken this morning there had been no doubt in her mind that today was going to be stressful but now she could hardly believe how terrible things had worked out to be. Once again she felt tears rising in her eyes and ducked her head under the water to mask them.

Something had to be done, she decided pulling herself at least partially back together. Coming to L.A. was meant to have improved her life but lately it seemed to have had the opposite effect. It was more than reasonable to assume that something should be altered. The question was what exactly that something should be.

Feeling the water starting to grow cold she stepped out of the spray and wrapped herself n a terry cloth robe. Willow returned to the kitchen and dug out the Chinese takeout that she had not had the heart to eat the night before and decided to save. In her usual neat manner and without even thinking the redhead set everything out on her breakfast table and perched on one of the stools.

Her real problems seemed to have begun when Lindsey had arrived in her life. The thought pushed a whole mixture of feelings from her stomach that she had been trying to repress and they ripped into her mind. There was no doubt that he had been a bad influence but Willow felt she still cared for him. It almost made the witch question if there was something wrong with her. All her relationships seemed to lead to ‘difficulties’. It had been the same thing with everyone she had dated in Sunnydale and everyone she had met since moving to the city and this time she couldn’t speak to anyone about it.

Willow found herself glancing over at the telephone attached to the wall and placed down her fork. There might be one person she could ring. Having reached for the handset she rapidly dialled in a number that she knew by heart.

"Summer’s residence, home of freaks are us," a dry voice answered.

"Dawn?" Willow asked.

"Hey Wills!" the younger girl exclaimed loudly. "What can I do for you?"

"Is Buffy there?"

"She’s in the lounge with her latest Mr Muscles-But-No-Brain."

Willow heard a ‘Hey!’ in protest in the background and smiled. It was closely followed by what she assumed was the sound of the phone being wrestled away from one sister to the hands of the other. "Wills, is that you?" her friend’s voice came.

"Buffy thank goodness you’re in. I need to talk."

There was a long pause from the other end of the line.

"You still there?" the redhead asked finally.

"Sure I am. Look I hate to be a pain but can we do this later?"

"It is something important," she answered with a small nervous stutter. "If you’re busy though…"

"No, no, if it’s important then I can talk. Shoot. Buffy’s mystic hotline is ready and waiting for your custom."

Willow took a deep breath and readied herself. She knew Buffy would never contact Angel but that didn’t mean the slayer wouldn’t find some other way to intercede. "I… I’ve managed to get myself into a bit of a fix."

"How? I mean, what’s the matter? Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you?"

"There’s this guy and I thought he was good but I don’t think he is, worse yet I know Angel and the others don’t like him and ever since I found out about his being involved in Cordelia getting kidnapped…"

"Whoa!" her friend exclaimed loudly stopping her from continuing. "Cordelia was kidnapped? When?"

"A couple of days ago, and part of the problem is that we haven’t been able to get her back yet."

"And this man you’re seeing could be involved?"

"Is involved," the redhead corrected sadly.

"Okay then. Is involved. I’m a little confused so lets start at the beginning. Tell me about your boyfriend."

She felt her heart start to glow slightly. Her boyfriend. It had been a while since anyone had even remotely filled the position and the witch guessed that Lindsey did qualify. Had qualified. "Ex-boyfriend," she answered. "We had a really big argument when I sorta confronted him today. His name is Lindsey and he’s a lawyer, except I didn’t know that to begin with, and he seemed really nice."

Willow could hear Buffy take a deep breath and ask in a surprised voice, "The problem is that he’s a lawyer? I know they’re generally thought of bloodsuckers Wills but they’re not exactly evil…"

"No. I’m fine with that. The problem is with exactly which law firm he works for."

"This is the bad part?"

"This is the bad part," the redhead confirmed. "The firm is called Wolfram and Hart."

"That name rings a bell," the slayer mused. "Didn’t they hire Faith to kill Angel?"

"Yup. That’s the one." She listened for what seemed like an eternity while Buffy clearly thought it over.

"Does Angel know you’ve been seeing this Lindsey?" she asked finally.

"That’s another problem. I’m not entirely sure." Willow related the story to her friend of her having overheard the three men talking earlier in the evening. By the time that she was finished there was a lump in her throat.

"You didn’t stay to explain?" Buffy exclaimed in apparent surprise.

"I was just so mad and… and, well, upset. The last thing I wanted to do was sit down and go over it with them. I haven’t done anything wrong at all Buffy. Lindsey doesn’t even know I know Angel!"

"Which is one thing at least. The way I see it you need to somehow explain to Angel and the others what has happened."

"They’re never going to trust me again!" Willow cried. "Wesley was already suspicious of me."

"I can’t honestly see what else you can do. If we can all trust Angel again then they can certainly trust you."

"What do I do about Lindsey?" she asked weakly.

"You have to ask?" was the rather blunt reply she received.

At the other end of the line Willow bit her lip anxiously and winced at her friend’s tone. "But…I mean, I can hardly believe that he’s doing all this by choice. Really Buffy if you met him then you wouldn’t believe it either. I know you wouldn’t."

"I don’t have to give you the speech do I?" the blonde asked. When she got no reply the slayer continued. "Which is honestly more important Wills? A guy you only just met or getting Cordelia back?"

Willow felt her jaw drop. "I-I never said I wasn’t going to help get Cordelia back!"

"And I can’t see how you can if you stay with Lindsey."

"You might be right," she admitted half-heartedly.

"You know I’m right. Over the past few years I’ve realised that we can’t have half measures. Its either all or nothing for us."

"I understand. Thanks for the advice Buffy. I’ll call again soon."

"Let me know how things work out."

"Will do. Bye Buffy."

"Bye Wills."

The young witch replaced the telephone, having to try twice to make it hook onto the fitting on the wall. She stared at the plate of half eaten food before her on the table and binned what was left of the meal deciding that she wasn’t very hungry after all. The plate was left in the sink along with the fork she had been using as she attempted to busy her mind by tidying about the apartment. Everything Buffy had told her was true but it was also nothing much more than what had already gone through her own mind several times over. Willow was left wondering why she had called her friend when it had been so obvious what the other young woman would say to her.

She was startled by the sudden sound of the buzzer on her door being rung. Willow scowled in the general direction of the door and wondered who might be calling so late at night. The last thing she wanted were visitors, especially when what she really needed was time to think, and, the witch decided glancing at the clock, some sleep. Despite whatever her reservations may have been whoever was calling was persistent, pressing the buzzer twice more in rapid succession. She slipped off the stool, pulling her robe tighter when she noticed it had managed to fall open ever so slightly and sluggishly walked to the door. As had become her habit Willow picked up a cross and a knife from the table beside the door.

"What are you doing here?" she snapped.

Lindsey pulled back his shoulders and stepped closer towards the centre of the doorway. His head was bowed and he looked out at her from under long eyelashes. "Do you think its possible that we could just talk without fighting?"

The young woman crossed her arms across her chest feeling distinctly uncomfortable. "If I remember rightly then, then I wasn’t the one doing the arguing."

"I wouldn’t have felt like arguing if someone hadn’t been so… so… so snoopy!"

"Snoopy!" Willow exclaimed. "You were the one keeping things from me."

Lindsey sighed and glanced aside to where one of her neighbours had opened his door and was staring out at them with interest. "Yes?" the lawyer asked with false sweetness. "Is there anything I can do for you or are you so tired of you own meaningless life that you have to butt into ours?"

"Lindsey!" she cried grabbing hold of his arm and pulling him through the door. "I’m sorry Mr Anders," the witch said, popping her head out of the door.

The old man gave a curt nod of his head and retreated back inside his apartment. When she was certain that he was gone for good Willow closed the door and made sure the locks were all engaged. Turning back to face Lindsey, the Sunnydaler could feel herself flushing in anger and embarrassment. At a loss for words she marched past him and into the living room, certain that he was going to follow yet amazed he was there at all.

"You didn’t have to be so rude," she said finally. "Mr Anders was probably only checking I was okay."

Lindsey remained silent, flopping down on her couch and closing his eyes. Sitting on the low coffee table opposite him, their knees almost touching, Willow tried to compose herself. Placing the knife down beside her on the table she reached forwards and lightly touched his knee. The lawyer’s head jerked up and he levelled his eyes somewhere below her chin. He glanced at her face and back down again.

"What now?" she asked.

"You robe appears to have…" Lindsey waved his hand causing Willow to look down. She blushed furiously and quickly reached for the lapels to pull them across. The action caused her to drop the cross she had been attempting to hide up one sleeve. It clattered, bouncing off of the table and landing on the floor. Willow ducked quickly, trying to collect up the cross before the man could see it. As the witch closed her fingers on it another hand darted out and Willow sat up to find Lindsey staring at the carefully carved cross.

"Should I even bother to ask?" he said waving it a little.

"For protection."

Lindsey grinned a little. "From me?"

"Don’t be silly. I just always keep one near by."

"And that?" he added pointing to the knife.

"For creatures of the none vampire variety."

A curious expression passed onto his face. "Why exactly do you feel worried enough to keep weapons around?"

"Because past experience has told me that they can be useful." Willow narrowed her eyes at him. "What did you want to talk about Lindsey? I’m sort of tired and it is getting late."

The lawyer placed aside the cross. "We should talk about what happened at lunch today. I don’t like leaving things half said and done."

"I wasn’t the one who ran off in such a hurry."

His features darkened and Willow was certain that he was going to snap his reply at her. "Fine. You’re right," he admitted calmly, amazing her. "I did run off. I was angry with you and I needed some time to think without your being around to distract me. Don’t look at me like that Willow. You know as well as I do that if I had stayed around then things would only have got worse."

"I guess," she said reluctantly.

"Anyway it occurred to me that while we’d been going on about how you apparently didn’t know me that I didn’t really know you either so when I got back to the office I decided to do a little research."

Willow swallowed feeling nervous. "And what did you find out?" she asked.

"That your past seems to be as mysterious as you are."

"Oh. Was there anything else?"

"I found out bits and pieces about your friends."

Her eyes darted to his face and she licked her lips even though her mouth was dry. Lindsey watched her, studying the reaction. "Which friends?"

"One Buffy Summers," he replied. "The name seemed very familiar but I couldn’t place it."

"Couldn’t, as in past tense?"

"Yes. I remembered earlier this evening when I was talking with… with a friend. You’re friends with a slayer."

Willow shot to her feet. "I need a drink. Do you want a drink?"

"Willow."

She stopped half way to the door with her back still to him. A hand on her arm gently pulling her around made the young witch jump but she didn’t move away from him. When she ceased turning the direction of her eyes gave Willow an excellent view of the shine on his shoes and the small scuff on one just above where his little toe would be found.

"That’s why you had such a problem with my working for Wolfram and Hart isn’t it? I hear slayers can be pretty prejudiced when it comes to demons."

"Yes," she lied, thankful that he clearly didn’t know about Angel and yet horrified that he had managed to find her connection to Buffy who was only one step away from the dark vampire. Arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her and Willow found herself drawn into an embrace with him. Only a little reluctantly she placed her own about his waist and felt the lawyer placed his cheek against she hair.

"I don’t want to lose you Willow," he said. "I don’t know what I’m feeling but I know I don’t want to lose you."

The smell of him mixed with that of whatever alcohol he had consumed filled her nostrils. Her hands balled into fists, clutching at his jacket as she buried her face in his shoulder. Lindsey’s hand came up, running through the ends of her hair and down across her back while he leaned back and kissed her forehead. Stormy blue eyes met her green ones as the witch went up onto her toes, leaning against him ever so slightly, and kissed the lawyer on ready lips. The kiss drew on, deepening all the time until at last both had to draw back for want of air.

Willow took in his appearance, the same suit he had worn to lunch now looked rumpled and his tie had disappeared. The neat styling of his hair had gone making her smile as she remembered the almost compulsive habit he had of running his hand through it. There was a glint in his eyes as they reflected the smile adorning his lips. She moved one hand up and ran a finger over them lovingly.

"I don’t want to lose you either," she decided aloud.

***

She was asleep like he should be. Pale moonlight that had somehow fought its way through the city smog was falling through the uncovered window and illuminating the bare curve of her shoulder. Red hair fell closely about her features; half managing to cover her face from the angle he was looking on from. There was something childlike and innocent about her in sleep that he hadn’t been expecting but that made him smile. The young woman by his side muttered something in her sleep and shifted a little exposing a tiny amount more skin than he had been able to see before. Lindsey snuggled down closer to her until he could safely put an arm around her without waking the sleeping beauty.

Feeling wonderfully satisfied the lawyer laid back to think of all the benefits his coming here had reaped. Not only had he cleared up the mystery of how Willow knew of demons, but he had set their relationship back on track and got to spend the rest of the night, enjoyably, in her company. Praise be to Cordelia Chase and her unconscious ramblings about slayers. The moment the fledgling vampire had mentioned the slayer in her sleep something had clicked in Lindsey and suddenly he had been able to remember exactly who Buffy Summers was.

It had irked him that Willow was a friend of a slayer. Lindsey’s immediate thought had been that it was some kind of cosmic joke that someone, the Powers That Be maybe, was pulling on him. After finally finding someone that he actually felt that he could get along with indefinitely and she turned out to be a white hat or whatever they called them. The irony of his position in all of this was not lost on the lawyer.

He knew about her past now though and that would make her infinitely easier to understand. That’s the one thing I need at the moment, he thought. I have to be able to understand her.

Willow murmured something more and suddenly sat up. Her hands were clutching in the white sheets and her eyes were wide open. A feverish sheen had taken over her features as she turned slightly to look at him and for the first time Lindsey noticed the thin film of sweat that had started to form on her skin. There was a horror in her eyes as they focused on him, seeming to look at him and through him at the same time. The sensation made Lindsey want to shiver and he slowly sat up until he was sitting by her side.

"Is something wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"

A baffled expression crossed onto the young redhead’s face and she drew her knees up to her chest. There was a daunted look to her eyes as she tipped her head to one side. "Huh?" she answered, shaking herself mentally.

"I asked if you had a nightmare."

"I guess I must have. I don’t really remember." There was reluctance in the way she answered him, glancing away and looking out of the window to the building across the street.

She’s lying, Lindsey decided. Maybe things weren’t quite as perfect again he had imagined them to be. Despite several more careful questions his redheaded girlfriend wouldn’t say anymore about the subject and finally lay back down.

"Buffy isn’t going to be too happy," he was surprised to hear her say quietly.

"Pardon?"

Willow took hold of his arm, pulling him down until his head hit the pillow and then nestled close to the lawyer. "I kind of talked to Buffy about us before," she replied sweetly as he became aware of her walking her fingers up his chest.

The words made him tense a little. "What did you tell her?"

"Just that we had been having problems."

Before she had talked Lindsey was certain that he had heard a hesitation in her voice. "Then why will she be upset?"

"Buffy suggested that I stopped seeing you and I sort of agreed with her."

"And you always do what she says?" he asked.

"I asked her opinion Lindsey. She’s been my best friend for years. We always talk to each other of things like that."

"I didn’t think that things had got quite that bad," Lindsey answered quietly.

Her head tilted so that their eyes met. "Did you really?" she enquired, her voice full of wonder at his words. In return Lindsey found himself surprised at her surprise.

"Yes."

They were silent together for a few moments, neither exactly willing to speak. Lindsey was suddenly aware of how delicate the ground between them still was. At the moment it seemed that even the slightest thing might cause difficulties between them. There was a slight choking feeling suddenly and it seemed there was something heavy pressing on his chest besides the light movements of his lover’s fingers. From the moment that he had met her Lindsey had realised that Willow was in no way like the other women he had found himself dating. He had known there was going to have to be some changes in the way he that he had acted when it concerned her now that he was dating someone so different to who he normally had. Willow was so much more intelligent, more sensitive and thus, so much more likely to see through any lies he told her and hadn’t that been proved true lately. But not being able to bend the truth brought with it certain problems of its own. Already he had found that telling to truth was not going to be as easy as he supposed. There were some things that he simply couldn’t tell her and by covering those up it meant that he had to avoid other subjects that might lead to his deception being realised.

The delicate ground that they now stepped lightly upon was one of those subjects. He didn’t want to lie to her about Wolfram and Hart and what he did there but telling her of it would both endanger them both and push her further away. Lindsey was almost entirely sure that if he was to tell Willow exactly what went on at the law firm then it would take only moments for her to get on the phone to her slayer friend and have the girl in L.A. within hours. They had enough trouble with Angel without a slayer getting involved as well. Faith had been proof enough of how unpredictable and dangerous a slayer could be.

"I think I’ll go get a drink, you don’t mind do you?"

"Of course not," she replied.

Lindsey slipped out from under the sheets and slipped on his boxer shorts. "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Um, maybe a glass of water." The lawyer leaned down and pecked the resting redhead on her cheek before backing out of the room.

He closed the door to the bedroom and turned, realising that he wasn’t entirely sure which room was the kitchen. After mistakenly opening the door to her bathroom and a closet Lindsey found his way into the right room. From the fridge he got a beer and poured Willow her requested glass of water adding a couple of cubes of ice. The beer was opened and he paused taking a long drink.

By the window he noticed a pin board covered with brightly covered bits of paper. Approaching it Lindsey cast his eyes across the notes; reading them absently, ‘ring A.’ ‘find info 4 C.’ ‘collect dry cleaning’. All the reminders were similar, simple little things that might be common anywhere. One in particular made a smile spread across his face; ‘call B. with new demon stuff’. He could only suppose that ‘B’ was Buffy. There was a photograph of the slayer along with a dark haired young man and Willow all sat together in the sun. Lindsey plucked the picture from the board and turned it over. ‘Buffy, Xander and I.’

"Anything interesting?" a voice asked in the gloom making him jump. Lindsey spun around still holding the picture and his beer and saw Willow stood in the doorway of the kitchen. She was wearing a satin robe he had seen earlier in her bedroom with it belted loosely at the waist. As he watched she stepped further into the room and picked up the glass taking a sip and then returning to her perusal of him.

"Just looking."

The kitchen was so small that in just two steps she had crossed it and was standing by his side. Willow took hold of one edge of the picture and tilted it a little to look at the front. "It’s a good picture isn’t it? A friend of ours called Giles took it two weeks after we graduated high school."

"You were only just out of high school?" he asked before thinking, the surprise entering his voice. They all looked so much older, he thought taking in the tired expression on their faces.

Willow took the photograph and pined it back up. "Graduation was kinda tough on us," she replied.

His interest sparked Lindsey asked, "Why?"

"We had to blow up our high school," she answered calmly. Unable to answer Lindsey merely stood, his mouth opened ever so slightly. Willow clearly took in his confusion and explained further, "There was this huge demon with an army of vampires intent on devouring the graduating class so we thought it was our duty to destroy it and it’s followers before they had chance."

"You weren’t hurt were you?"

"Just a couple of bruises. Some people ended up a lot worse."

"I can imagine."

"Are you sure you can? I mean have you ever actually faced a demon that was well over ten times your size intent on eating you and your friends?"

There was an expression of pained frustration on her face, as if she was trying to explain something to him and couldn’t quite manage it. Sadness filled him and the lawyer quickly enveloped the young woman before him in a hug in an effort to offer comfort and understanding to them both.

"Do you know how I first discovered that demons really did exist?" she asked, her voice muffled against his chest. "I’d already known Buffy for a little while and she’d explained what vampires were and everything but it hadn’t actually sunk in entirely. At that time I didn’t realise exactly what we faced. It was when one of my best friends from childhood was turned that I really understood. Before then I hadn’t been able to comprehend what the change entailed. He was so different; the demon took over entirely."

"Vampires aren’t the nicest of people," the lawyer agreed.

"It wasn’t that. Not really. I think the part that truly shocked me was how much of a mockery of who he had been in life the demon was." Lindsey found his thoughts turning to Cordelia Chase and realised how true her statement was. The young vampire was only superficially like who the young woman had been.

He was shaken from his thoughts by the low, distant ring of what sounded like his cell phone. Pulling away from Willow and giving her an apologetic smile he went to the living room and searched through the pockets of his jacket until he found the source of the offending noise. "Hello?" he snapped on answering.

"So you finally decided to answer."

"Lilah. What do you want? It had better be important I’m in the middle of something."

"At this time in the morning? What’s her name?"

Lindsey found himself scowling at the tone of her voice. "That doesn’t really matter now does it? Get on with what you were going to tell me or I swear I’m going to put the phone down and switch it off until I get to work."

"Well you’ll have a nice surprise when you get there then."

"Pardon?"

"I had to move our guest. She’s currently examining your CD collection and not looking very impressed. Don’t worry though; Andre stopped her from throwing any of them in the bin."

"What are you doing in my office?" he replied angrily.

There was the distinct sound of a sigh at the other end of the line. "I couldn’t very well put them in my office. Yours has so much better protection from the sun and we wouldn’t want them to go up in flames after all the trouble I’ve been to would we?"

Ignoring the question Lindsey asked, "Who else knows where they are?"

"No one but us. I sneaked them into the building."

"I take it you haven’t told Holland of anything of this yet then?"

"No."

"Great, I get stuck with them for the rest of the day while you get to swan around as if nothing’s happened."

"I’m sure they will find the experience just as unpleasant as you will Lindsey."

The lawyer rubbed his forehead and tried to think. "Why did you move them anyway?"

"Mr Fear-Not-I-Will-Save-You found some way to get into my apartment. Luckily we had already cleared out and the last I saw was in my rear view mirror where they were fighting some of Cordell’s Tumek demons. I should imagine that they got out alive but I doubt that they were able to follow."

"So you took them to the next place they would think of when searching," he said with a snort of satisfaction that Lilah had managed to muck up yet again. "That was real clever Lilah."

"They’ll never get past the security," Lilah replied, obviously annoyed from the tone of her voice.

"You hope."

"I know. But you haven’t heard the best bit yet."

"And pray tell what would that be?"

"I don’t want to say over the telephone," she answered and Lindsey instantly understood. It was all too easy to find that there was a line tap on your telephone when working at Wolfram and Hart.

"You want me to come into the office don’t you?"

"Well that might be an idea!" the woman on the other end of the line exclaimed with a voice laced in sarcasm.

"Okay, okay."

"You’ll be right over then?"

"As soon as I can." He rang off without another word and angrily threw the phone down. When he returned to her Willow was perched on a stool in the kitchen at the table.

"You have to go," she said reading the look in his eyes.

Lindsey remained where he had paused trying to determine whether it was disappointment that he could see in her. "Its urgent."

"Something at work?"

"Unfortunately yes. I think I’ll shower and change at home and then go straight in to the office. Will I see you later?"

Her eyes had darkened and she seemed to draw in on herself a little. "I’m not sure. I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on. How about we wait and see how everything goes?"

"Not going cold on me are you love?" he asked with a small smile on his face. The smile was returned and the redhead shook her head.

"Of course not."

"I’ll call you later then."

"I should be in."

Smiling he crossed the room and kissed her cheek then left the young woman sitting alone in the kitchen.

Part 11

Lindsey paced the last few steps to his office door wanting nothing more than to turn around and go back home. Go back home or back to Willow’s he amended mentally. Driving back to his apartment the sight of her pale and beautiful, a little fire sprite before him with that tender look he was starting to know so well in her eyes still strong in his mind Lindsey had almost called Lilah twice to tell her to deal with this little emergency all on her own. As usual though ‘reason’ and the concept of job security had prevailed and he had continued homeward to have the world’s shortest shower to date and to change from yesterday suit and tie combination into today’s almost identical replica, only varying by being made of material of a slightly different colour. Looking in the mirror Lindsey had seen the stereotypical younger lawyer at Wolfram and Hart; good looking, neat and thoroughly groomed for success. Just the sort of presentable young man to take home to meet the parents.

Now as he stood in front of the richly coloured wooden door he took a deep breath, preparing himself in mind and appearance for the day’s work ahead. A noise at the other end of the corridor startled him, breaking the intense observation of the grain of the wood he had apparently been indulging in and causing him to spin around sharply. Walking towards him, in a slow plodding motion was one of the nighttime security guards. The man nodded briefly to Lindsey and moved on at that same pace without seeming to want an answer as the lawyer searched for his name. As the other disappeared around the corner at the other end Lindsey physically shuck himself to get rid of the pointless thoughts.

He entered the office quickly, shutting the door behind himself but keeping one eyes trained on the room the entire time. Andre lay on his back on Lindsey’s couch, his eyes closed and his hands resting on his stomach. For all the world it looked as if the vampire was dead, which of course he was, but in this state Andre was not merely dead but corpse like. The sight of him, pale faced and slack featured unnerved Lindsey causing his breath to catch in his throat. Lindsey quickly turned away from the view only to find himself staring at another vampire, curled up in the large leather chair behind his desk with a magazine resting on her knees and her eyes resting on him.

Cordelia had changed clothes from the last time he had seen her. The workday casuals had been replaced with a different, more alluring look that was still equally stylish, equally Cordelia. Maybe not everything changed when someone was turned after all he thought and strangely it gave him a sensation of hope though why he did not know. Her top was a deep red, so tight fitting that it appeared to have been poured on and had short sleeves and a high-neck. The skirt was of the same rich colour the top was made of was clearly knee length although it had ridden up when the vampires had curled her legs up to fit on the chair so that slender legs were clearly visible.

When he turned his attention back to her face he saw that a small, less than innocent smile, had formed on red painted lips and Lindsey fought to control the flush of embarrassment that was threatening. He’s been caught looking. Tut, tut. Naughty, naughty.

"We stopped by my apartment on the way over," she said, as if reading his thoughts. The vampire flowed into a standing position and slipped her feet into high-healed sandals. She moved around the desk to stand before him, every inch the predator straining at it’s caged surroundings and performed a little spin. "You like?" she asked.

"Its very nice," he replied hoping the answer would satisfy her. "You didn’t have any trouble entering the apartment?"

"Not exactly trouble, only Denis. He doesn’t seem to like vampires very much."

Lindsey wrinkled his brow trying to remember who Denis was. The ghost, he realized. She meant to ghost. "What did he do?"

"Oh the usual – threw things around, lights flickering, unnatural breezes. I was rather hurt actually, he floated a cross in front of my face." She leaned back and perched on the edge of the desk. "I think that if it had been daytime he might actually have opened the curtains." She sighed. "And here I was thinking we were such good friends."

He had quickly and irrationally glanced at the windows when she had mentioned curtains to see that the heavy blinds he had fitted for when he slept at the office when working late were indeed closed. Lindsey turned back feeling stupid. Of course they were closed otherwise the two vampires would have been dust buster food.

"I guess I’ll be moving out anyway. Andre tells me Jacob will want me somewhere he can keep an eye on me and besides, the grand high poof knows that place way too well. Oh god listen to me, I sound like Spike!" She giggled a little. "I wonder whether I should consider that a good thing or a bad thing now."

Lindsey was silent for a few moments as he thought. "How did you know that Angel had a found a way into Lilah’s place?" he asked finally.

The smile that had been gracing her lips widened. "Seems that the Powers That Be forgot to take away my visions when I was turned."

"That could be useful."

Cordelia nodded. "That’s exactly what Lilah said when she found out."

"I don’t suppose that your vision happened to tell you how Angel found a way in?"

"No. They’re not that precise. But I don’t need a vision to tell you how."

"Oh?"

"His pet witch told him how to. I’m amazed she didn’t come along with them when they came to try and ‘rescue’ me. Wills may lack in anything remotely like fashion sense but she was never one to run away as long as I’ve known her."

Lindsey tensed, his eyes turning cold. "Just how long as Angel had a witch working for him?" the lawyer demanded.

The fledgling vampire shrugged. "A couple of months I guess. Ugh, don’t look at me like that, when someone looks at you like that you just know that they’re pissed and I’m really not in the mood for anything like that especially from you of all people."

The lawyer rolled his shoulders trying to loosen them and walked to her side before none too gently slamming his briefcase down on the desk beside her. At the noise Cordelia jumped away slightly and stared at him accusingly.

"If you’re going to row can you at least do so quietly," a voice muttered. Turning Lindsey saw that Andre had rolled onto one side and was staring at them with a slightly amused expression on his face. After receiving a nod of affirmation the vampire rolled onto his back and once again closed his eyes.

"You obviously didn’t think this little piece of information would be interesting to myself or Lilah," he snapped more quietly.

Her eyes had narrowed at him. "Well considering the fact that I, or should I say my soul, wasn’t exactly a voluntary captive to begin with and that I’ve had barely a moment to sit and think since I was turned I think you should be grateful that I even told you anything at all."

Lindsey’s blue eyes shuttered momentarily and he rubbed his brow. "Lets try a little word association of a sorts shall we?"

"What?" she replied, the expression on her face showing her to be clearly confused.

"Just try and follow okay? When I say to you the word ‘witch’ what’s the first thing you think?"

"Um, okay, magic or maybe Wills or maybe…"

"Okay that’s enough. We’ll go with magic. When I say ‘magic’ what do you think?"

Cordelia’s nose screwed up slightly. "Power I guess. Look I don’t see where this is going."

Resisting the urge to sigh in frustration. "One more and then I’ll explain. When I say ‘power’ to you what do you think?"

Her face went almost completely blank for a second. "In one word? I don’t think I can do it although I guess whenever someone has power they have control or something." She paused, obviously thinking as something dawned on her. "Oh."

"Yes, ‘oh’. You had better hope that this witch doesn’t interfere, that she doesn’t help Angel too much and we end up failing because you know whose neck is on the line then don’t you?"

"Mine?" the vampire asked quietly.

"You got it in one."

She lowered her head, dark hair falling around her face and hiding it from Lindsey’s view as he suddenly realized something – she was fearful of him. As incredulous as the idea seemed to him Lindsey realized that it was true, for whatever reason the young vampire was scared of him and there was no way that he was going to do anything to change that he thought deciding that she was more likely to listen to him if it was the case.

For a second he gawked at her, wondering what to say next and eventually came out with, "Listen, if you think of anything else in the future just remember to tell one of us. After all you’ve got to remember that we could have just killed you Cordelia but instead we’ve given you this chance at a new life."

She nodded and slowly moved away from the desk until she was at the couch where she sat on the edge by Andre. The blond vampire’s eyes flickered open at the slight movement and reached with one hand to encircle her wrist. It seemed to jerk Cordelia out of her thoughts and she smiled down at him weakly, moving easily into his arms as he pulled her down into a cramped laying position next to him. Lindsey was amused to see Andre’s arm snake around her waist as they settled down. The action was comforting from the older vampire although the lawyer couldn’t be sure that was all.

"Don’t mind us Mr. McDonald," came Andre’s voice. "You just go about business as usual."

Lindsey didn’t reply, just stared at them a moment longer before walking around the desk and sitting down. As much as he had hated the idea of the two vampires being along in his office everything seemed to have been left alone. The papers on his desk were as he had left them, on attempting to open the drawers he found them locked, the filing cabinet was undisturbed and he doubted anyone had even thought to look for the safe. He relaxed a little. They couldn’t have found any of the information he had collected on Willow. There was no way he could let any of them find out what she meant to him or who she was.

Dismissing those thoughts Lindsey glanced at his watch. He was due in court at eleven for closing arguments, which he still wasn’t fully prepared for and there was the Noel’s case to prepare for – that certainly couldn’t be put off any longer. Reluctantly he reached forwards and switched on his computer bringing up the appropriate files and set about working on them thankful that the two vampires slept on quietly.

-----

A loud yawn escaped the redhead as she stretched her arms above her head and stared at the computer screen in dismay. It had been stupid letting work mount up like this, the people she was contracted to had been on the telephone half the morning asking where she had been, why hadn’t she been returning their calls, how far was the project off completion… It was endless or seemed so at least. She pushed away from the computer desk and wandered through to the kitchen from her living room deciding that it was time for more coffee. Anything to stay awake, Willow though absently. On reflection staying up after Lindsey had left had been a really bad idea.

Going back to bed had been impossible though. She had lain in the bed, covered only by light sheets, so spectacularly aware of the lingering scent of him, of the feeling of his being absent from her side that the witch had been left restless despite her exhaustion. Willow sighed and folded her arms across from stomach. He hadn’t left her thoughts all day. It had almost felt like she could still feel him touching her, still feel the way he had caressed her skin. With her eyes closed, Willow smiled remembering.

The kettle boiled and Willow reached for it only to be stopped by the sound of her doorbell. Just what she needed another interruption.

Willow walked through the apartment to the front door and opened it cautiously, peering outside nervously. "Angel?" she asked surprised.

"Hello Willow. Can I come in?"

"You’ve not gone grry have you?" she asked, wondering at the peculiar question and leaning slightly on the door ready to slam it in his face. Angel should know that he already had an invitation after all.

Amusement sparkled in his eyes and a kind, very Angel-like smile graced his lips. "No I was just trying to be polite."

"Then come in." She stepped away from the door leaving it wide open for the vampire to pass through. "Just let me go get the drapes in the living room."

"Okay," he replied closing the door.

She rushed through to the living room, quickly closing the blinds over the three large windows. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and a thousand questions had decided to assault her mind all at once. What on earth was he doing here? A moment later she turned to see that Angel had appeared in the doorway, the same serious expression she was used to seeing on his face very evident. Willow let a large grin drift onto her features hoping to soften the man’s expression.

"I was just going to get a coffee, want one?"

Angel shook his head. "No thank you."

Willow perched on the arm of her couch. "I guess I can wait too. So I guess that the spell worked. How’s Cordy doing? She okay?"

He took a few further steps into the room and slipped into a sitting position on her armchair. "I have no idea Willow. We didn’t find her."

"Why not? Didn’t the spell work?" she asked unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.

"Oh it worked but she wasn’t there. It was almost as if they knew we were coming."

"How could that be possible?"

"I don’t know – do you?"

The redhead started, straightening her back. "What’s that supposed to mean?" She watched as Angel inhaled deeply then stood and took a few steps towards her. His movements were so sudden; so calculated that Willow was hard pressed not to scoot back away from his large advancing form.

"I can smell him all over the apartment Willow," he said leaning close and taking another sniff. "And I can smell him all over you."

This time Willow did move back quickly and tried to slip away to one side only to be stopped by the dark vampire’s arm. "Please… Angel…" The look in his eyes was cold, harsh and seemingly accusing.

"Please what?"

"I…"

"You what?" He came even closer until their faces were barely an inch apart. If he had breathed Willow knew that it would have clouded about her face. "How long have you been fucking him Willow?"

"I-I haven’t," she stuttered.

She was fully entrapped between his arms now and from the look on the vampire’s face there was no hope of escape. "Don’t lie to me," he said, stroking hair back away from her face. "I know you too well. Besides the evidence that he was here recently, probably last night, is all too clear for me." Angel grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her to her feet before dragging her through to the bedroom. Once there he pushed her onto the bed and Willow yelped in surprise.

"What are you doing?" she asked astonished.

"He was here last night and you fucked him in that bed. Talk to me Willow. I want to know it all. How you met him, how long its been going on and how exactly you could put your own friend’s life in danger."

There was a desperate look in his eyes now, a kind of hopelessness that seemed to echo throughout them both. "I didn’t know who he was, I swear it Angel," she cried, tears rising swiftly to her eyes.

"How long?"

"Not long. Not long at all. He doesn’t know that we know each other. I was trying to break it off but, I don’t know, I just couldn’t do it. I-I think I love him."

Angel swept an angry hand through his hair. He had been keeping a respectful distance from the bed and now he turned to stare at her. "He’ll know Willow. And if he doesn’t know now he will find out soon. That’s the type of person that Lindsey is." The vampire moved closer to the bed and Willow shifted back quickly. She hadn’t been afraid of Angel in years, not since the whole Angelus period but now, now she could feel that old sensation of fear and mistrust growing again. To her relief he simply sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. "You have to stop seeing him. This is it. No changing your mind later on down the track. You have a decision to make, it’s either us or him."

Slowly she crossed her legs and rested her hands on her lap, staring down at them. In the distance the witch could hear her computer sounding out to tell her that she had mail in her inbox.

"Willow?" he questioned when she said nothing. The redhead glanced up only to find their eyes meeting. "You understand don’t you? He was responsible for kidnapping Cordelia. She could be dead and it would be all his fault."

"No…" she moaned, shaking her head rapidly. "He wouldn’t."

"Damnit! Will-"

"I don’t mean he didn’t kidnap her. I saw that with my own eyes. But I know that he wouldn’t kill her." Absently Willow found that she was again shaking her head. "If I could stop seeing him then I would. Honestly Angel, that’s the truth but I can’t give up on him. Maybe you haven’t seen the same side of him that I have-"

"That goes without saying I think."

She scowled at him. "That isn’t what I meant and you know it."

The vampire stood, pulling his jacket on straight. "I’ve discovered what I came to confirm Willow," he said and for a moment the witch would have sworn that she saw a compassionate look in his eyes. "I don’t like it and you know that. I’m going to leave now and what you do about this business will be up to you. You’re intelligent so you’ll know the consequences of your decisions without my having to voice them."

Willow lowered her eyes from his serious expression. "I’ve got to think," she replied because nothing else seemed to make much sense to say. She couldn’t tell him that she was choosing Lindsey over him and the gang because she was still uncertain about her lover, or more specifically about what he would do when he discovered just who she was, who she was friends with. But in her heart Willow also knew that there was no way on earth that she could just tell the vampire that she was willing to simply give Lindsey up. After all, when all was said and done, if she had really thought that they were wrong for each other then she would never have slept with him the night before. Willow felt a headache start to blossom sharply.

"Think long and hard Willow. It would be a shame to loose you to the wrong side after this long."

When she looked up again the vampire was gone. In the distance she could hear the door slam as he left. And here she had been thinking that today might be a good day the witch thought with a bitter little laugh.

Part 12

"You go with them," she hissed leaning close and breathing coffee breath all over him. Lindsey pulled his head back sharply repelled by the smell, a deep frown marring his features.

"I can’t. I…"

Lilah’s eyes seemed to smile though the look was anything but friendly. "Its not that you can’t its that you don’t want to." Glancing backwards over his shoulder Lindsey saw that Andre was helping Cordelia on with her coat. "We have to look after our investment."

"If you’re so up on the idea why don’t you do it?" he snapped in reply growing increasingly more irritated.

"Don’t be ridiculous. Just go Lefty, get it over with. The sooner you all get off the sooner it will be over."

"Now wait a minute Lilah…" he began only to be interrupted by the brunette woman angrily waving her hand around to get him to stop.

"I really can’t go. Holland mentioned something about wanting to talk to me. I think he wants an update on the Angel situation. Besides can you really imagine running around god only knows where in L.A. in these shoes? I’m not ruining them because you’re too lazy to get off your ass and do it yourself."

She turned her back on him before the lawyer even had a chance to object and said her stiff parting farewells to the two vampires before hurrying out of the room. Silence descended when the door to his office closed as Lindsey found himself being watched by the pair with unnerving stares. "I guess we’re taking my car," he said.

"We would be much obliged Mr. McDonald."

They left the offices of Wolfram and Hart, pilling into Lindsey’s car in the bowels of the building where he had parked. The lawyer found himself nervous knowing that in the back seat Cordelia had a clear shot at taking a bite out of his neck and the young man had to force himself to relax enough to drive. Surely Andre wouldn’t allow the fledgling vampire to attack him. It wouldn’t make sense. Feeling not entirely reassured Lindsey put his keys in the ignition and drove them out into the city away from Wolfram and Hart. Lilia had been right; he had to get this over with as quickly as possible.

To his surprise Andre did not direct them away from the commercial district of the city as he had expected but towards it. After parking his car and wondering absently whether anyone would mind if he stayed with it the lawyer found himself following them in the direction of a club that he had only heard about before and never ventured into for himself. The outside was painted a brilliant marine blue with a single thick band of darker colour running at shoulder height. Lindsey looked high up on the wall and found himself faced with horizontal bars of neon strip in the middle of which the name of the club, Tempus Fugit, was inscribed. The lawyer looked away shaking his head and wishing again that he were elsewhere. The rumours he had heard about this place had not been positive.

There was a short queue outside what looked like it was the main entrance to the club and two very large bouncers on the door. At first glance they appeared human but as Lindsey looked a little longer he realised that there was something very slightly wrong with the proportions of the two men. Despite being tall they had overly long arms and legs with extraordinarily broad shoulders. Lindsey realised that their necks too long, too curved to be natural. It suddenly appeared obvious to the lawyer that they were not human and he wondered how those waiting could not see it.

Andre led them; marching up to the front of the line and flashing his vampire features so quickly that even Lindsey wasn’t entirely sure he had seen them. For a second the young man became certain that he would be stopped before entering but as if sensing his fears Cordelia reached back taking hold of his hand and pulling him quickly to her side before snaking an arm about his waist and leaning her head on his shoulder. The two man-like demons exchanged a quick glance and then ushered them inside to a chorus of protests from those who had been waiting in line considerably longer.

Inside, Lindsey felt more at home than he had expected. He wasn’t entirely sure what he had been expecting from what he had heard about the reputation of the club but what he got was surprisingly normal. It was full to bursting, that he had been expecting, but the two vampires in front of him weaved their way easily through the crowds and as Cordelia still hadn’t released her grip on his hand the lawyer found himself being drawn after her. They skirted the edges of the dance floor having descended to it from the higher level, curious eyes glancing up as the trio passed by. Lindsey found himself having to shake his head to clear it as he realised that there was something strange about the club, about the music, about the people there. A wave of peacefulness swept over him and Lindsey felt contentment settling in his heart. No something was definitely wrong. Glancing around he realised that almost everyone seemed to be experiencing the same sensation; there was not a gloomy face in sight.

They were approaching a door painted the same colour of the wall to be unobtrusive and with a small sign that read ‘private’ in several languages that the lawyer did and did not recognise. He suspected that the sign was an unnecessary precaution. If it hadn’t been for their direct route towards it Lindsey would never even have guessed that the door was even there. Andre knocked twice and they waited patiently while a small shutter opened in the centre and the person behind took the time to inspect them. Even with the dance music pounding in the background he heard the bolt on the door being drawn backwards as it was unlocked. There was a moment’s hesitation holding him back before he stepped inside as age-old instincts screamed in protest that he was putting himself in danger. Only once he was inside and the door was firmly closed though did Cordelia release his hand. She was smiling, a wide brilliant grin that displayed white teeth and the tips of fangs.

Andre held his hand out to towards the fledgling vampire who stepped forwards and took it. "Amelia let me introduce you to the latest member of Jacob’s family, Cordelia. Cordelia this is Amelia, she owns this club and is an old family friend."

"I was wondering when you would get around to bringing her to the club Andre. We all heard about her embracing," the short dark haired vampire replied giving Cordelia a predatory smile. It made Lindsey want to take a step back and he wasn’t even the focus of the vampire’s attention so he could only wonder that the seer did not step away. "Welcome my dear. Any childe of Jacob’s is welcome here."

"Nice to meet you too Amelia. It’s just great to finally get to see inside this place. You’ve done a great job with it."

"Thank you," the older vampire answered and for a moment she looked unsure of herself. Cordelia’s natural self-confidence seemed to unnerve her somehow. Bright blue eyes suddenly turned themselves on Lindsey as she faced him and a mischievous gleam filtered into them. Under her scrutiny the lawyer found himself unexpectedly feeling like a piece of meat, or maybe in this case a bag of blood, and shifted from one foot to the other. "What’s this?" she asked stepping closer to him and looking up to his face at a considerable angle. Draping an arm about his waist the vampire turned back to Andre and purred, "Have you brought me a present?"

"Unfortunately not," Andre replied with a small conspiratorial smile. Lindsey wasn’t sure whether it was directed at him or at Amelia who had yet to un-drape herself from him. "May I introduce Lindsey McDonald, an up and coming lawyer at Wolfram and Hart?"

She stepped away and the movement was so fluid and her final standing position so still that Lindsey found himself doubting whether the vampire had even ever been near him. The look in her eyes had turned serious and it seemed to him that there was a very faint air of respect lingering in them, as she seemed to re-evaluate him. "We do not often have employees of Wolfram and Hart venture into the club," she said very matter-of-factly. Lindsey didn’t voice out loud that he wasn’t aware that anyone from the law firm came here anyway. When he said nothing in reply Amelia just nodded and held her hand out in the direction of the other end of the corridor that ran perpendicular to the rest of the club on the other side of the door. "Shall we go in?" she asked with a smile, reminding Lindsey that she was the hostess here and not just the owner.

Amelia lead the way down the corridor with Andre just behind her. They talked companionably about nothing particular leaving Lindsey wondering what vampires did talk about in their spare time. Cordelia was silent and hung back a little way so that she was closer to him than the she was to the two older vampires’ in front. When they eventually entered the part of the club that had obviously been their objective the other two had already gone inside. The fledgling entered before him but was immediately stopped by a hatcheck girl the likes of which Lindsey had never seen before - the difference being that most of them didn’t have tails and a spattering of scales around their eyes.

The girl took Cordelia’s coat from her revealing the red outfit that she had been wearing earlier in the day. Glancing around Lindsey decided that it would have looked more at home out in the main part of the club than in this section. The lighting in the room was predominantly red. It glowed from the walls on either side of Lindsey and from the one further away from him in the distance where the bar was situated. Intermittently there appeared lighter, yellow bulbs that lifted the atmosphere and prevented it from becoming too oppressive. There was a low, rumbling beat of music coming from somewhere, utterly different from that had been in the other section, but
Lindsey failed to see its source. It echoed out over the room, reaching the young lawyer and making him tremble as a shiver passed through him.

As the pair passed, following the other two vampires, alert eyes glanced up to gaze at them from their owner’s seated positions at tables and on couches. Slowly Lindsey felt himself beginning to pale. What the hell was this place? Some kind of vampire club obviously but he’d never been in one exactly like this. Pale faces stared out at him from everywhere, not just those belonging to vampires but human faces as well. Their eyes were a myriad of emotions, fear, ecstasy, and lust… It was almost dizzying. He found himself looking directly into the wonderfully wide green eyes of a small blonde haired girl and for the first time he truly realised what was meant when whoever had said the eyes were the windows to a person’s soul. Her mouth was a painted red oval highlighted by a fading bruise on her jaw and a thin trail of blood running down from where her lip had been bitten. The lawyer was startled into action as the girl was pulled backwards, away
from the table and into the arms of a huge muscled vampire who Lindsey was certain must have been some type of biker in life. The vampire snaked an arm about the girl’s waist, one hand reaching below the waistband of the dark jeans she was wearing and the other moving her head to one side to give him easy access to her neck. A bittersweet expression rippled onto the human’s face and Lindsey turned aside quickly feeling a flush of embarrassment threaten.

"Are you coming or are you going to spend the rest of the night gawping like an idiot?" an irritatingly familiar voice said very close to his ear.

Lindsey spun glaring at the brunette vampire with an amused expression on her face. "I’m coming," he answered shortly.

"Not yet but I bet it would be easy to find someone to rectify that problem in here."

He felt his jaw drop open as her words registered and quickly slammed it shut again. "I have absolutely no ‘problem’ in that department. Where are we going?"

"We aren’t going anywhere. I’m going to sit you at the bar with a drink and then Andre is taking me out into the main area of the club to get myself someone to eat."

"You’re just going to leave me here?" Lindsey asked in disbelief. "You dragged me out here for virtually nothing then. You could have got a cab over here. I wasn’t needed. I knew this would happen."

She sat him down on a stool using her newfound strength to keep him sat down. "For what its worth I doubt you’re in any danger in here but you probably would be in there and secondly I don’t take cabs. Not anymore at least." As he opened his mouth to object the vampire continued, "Nope. Don’t say a word. I’ve kept Andre waiting long enough."

Before he had chance to answer the brunette hurried away to take Andre’s hand as he offered it. Before they left the blonde vampire inclined his head slightly in the lawyer’s direction and smiled at him. As they left Lindsey threw a bitter smile in their direction and spun around to face the vampire bartender who was waiting patiently for his attention. "So do you have anything the doesn’t include blood as a major ingredient?"

"How about a beer?"

"That’d be great."

"This is a bad idea," a nervous voice said. It came from behind him, right behind him and sounded oddly familiar to the lawyer who resisted the urge to turn around and see who had spoken. "What with all that is going on we shouldn’t be here."

"Just because Delia has gone missing it doesn’t mean that we should let our regular duties go."

Lindsey felt himself tense. It rippled through him from the base of his spine upwards into his shoulders. Cautiously he turned on the bar stool glancing in the direction of the voices almost too quickly to register what he had seen and tried to steady his heart. It pounded in his throat making it difficult to breath and for a moment Lindsey was sure that he had been spotted. Two seats down was Angel and with him the incompetent British idiot that he called a friend.

"I disagree. The first step to making things right again, to returning to business as normal, is to find Cordelia and then deal with Willow."

There was a sighing sound from the dark vampire that almost seemed forlorn but Lindsey barely heard it. Willow. They’d mentioned a Willow but surely it couldn’t be the same one. Yet how many Willows could there be in Los Angeles?

Aware that he needed to listen to find out activities of the vampire Lindsey forced himself to listen as Angel continued. "I told you once Wes I’ve talk to Willow. I’ve made the situation very clear to her."

"She deserves much more than that being associated with that cretin of a man. No one should have got involved with someone like him. That girl should have stayed in Sunnydale."

Lindsey found himself frowning. How the hell had they found out about him and Willow? It was nearly impossible. He’d been so careful about meeting her so that neither Wolfram and Hart or any of his enemies saw them but it still seemed that Angel and his team had found out. That said, how on earth had they tracked Willow down and why hadn’t she telephoned him to about being accosted by the vampire? There were too many questions. He had to get the hell out of here and find Willow, make sure she was safe and out of Angel’s reach. After reaching inside of his pocket to find his wallet Lindsey threw a few bills down on the bar and headed in the direction the two vampires had gone. Every step that he took he was sure that one of the two men would call out his name and stop him dead in his tracks. Maybe even in the literal sense. The skin on the back of his neck began to crawl as if eyes were burning into him. As he reached the outer door it was flung open and a young man stumbled through with Andre moving after him. Like the vampire the man, hardly more than a boy really, was blonde. He turned laughing blue eyes up on Andre making Lindsey raise an eyebrow.

"Where’s Cordelia?" the lawyer asked.

"She’s still out in the club," Andre told him. "What’s the matter?"

"Angel’s here with one of his little group. I suggest we get out of here before they spot us."

Andre began to shake his head. He had wrapped a hand around the boy’s shoulder holding his upright. For the first time Lindsey caught a whiff of alcohol and realised that his proposed victim was drunk.

"When are we going to see his private room you were talking about?" he slurred leaning heavily on Andre as he did.

"In a moment," the vampire answered, then turning back to Lindsey said, "We need to feed."

"I know that but can’t you do that elsewhere?"

Andre shook his head. "There isn’t time."

Looking from one of the two males to the other Lindsey sighed. "Hurry it up then. We can’t let Cordelia go in there though. Its too early for Angel to see her yet."

"I’ll take care of this," the vampire said indicating towards the boy. "And then pick up the coats while you find Cordelia. Tell her she can make her kill outside."

Lindsey nodded, moving through the outer door. He searched high and low first with his eyes from the highest platform of the club and then by moving between the various levels all the while his mind running over what he had heard, what he now knew. It was hopeless; everywhere he looked there were more and more unrecognisable faces. Every time he though he glimpsed Cordelia’s dark hair or her red clothing it proved to be false and he was left wondering where the hell she had gone. By the time that he had made his second circuit of the club over half an hour had passed. Reluctantly he gave up his search and headed back in the direction of the vampire’s private club.

Amelia met him at the door, the look on her face hostile and annoyed. "There’s trouble," was all that she said before ushering him through. As he emerged in the room the first thing that Lindsey noticed was the lack of noise, of voices, beneath the pounding music. He stepped further into the room seeing Andre’s snack slumped against the wall either unconscious or dead, Lindsey couldn’t tell which. Cordelia was stood in the centre of the room and perhaps ten feet away there was Angel with that other man a short way behind him. Andre had edged over to stand by the lawyer’s side, an amused expression clear of his face.

"We appear to have a problem," the vampire said.

"You don’t say. How long has she been in here?"

"Arrived only moments before yourself."

"Lindsey," a voice called. "I suppose it shouldn’t seem so surprising to find you here."

Plastering a false smile on his face Lindsey stepped forwards, moving closer to Cordelia but not quite right up to her side. "I wish I could say it was a pleasure to see you Angel but…" he held his hands up in a common gesture and left the end of the sentence hanging.

"The feeling is mutual. I suppose all this was your idea."

"Actually no, it wasn’t, although seeing the look on your face I wish I could say that it was. Cordelia, perhaps we should be going now." For once the girl didn’t say anything, simply turned and headed in his direction. There was a peculiar expression on her face, too close to concern for comfort for Lindsey’s taste.

"No!" Wesley exclaimed taking several steps forwards before Angel grabbed hold of his arm.

"Wes hold on," Angel said.

At the man’s almost pleading look towards his vampire associate Cordelia laughed out loud, the sound echoing even with the music. "That’s right Wesley. Listen to what the boss man says." She stepped into Andre’s arms letting the vampire pull her close. "You wouldn’t want to rush into anything – not with all these vampire’s around. Someone, well actually you probably, could get hurt."

Lindsey retreated slowly from the centre of the room and took his place beside the two vampires. From where he was now stood he was able to see the staring contest that Angel appeared to be trying to hold with Andre. He didn’t doubt the recognition in the eyes of the two vampires.

"We will get you back Cordelia," he said a strange smile coming to his lips. "Soul and all we’ll get you back."

"Oh gee what an exciting prospect," the brunette answered, sarcasm sounding strongly in her voice. "An eternity of feeling sorry for myself. Excuse me if I throw myself on a stake first."

"Come along Cordelia," Andre said. "If you would detain them a moment while we leave Amelia I’m sure Jacob would be most appreciative."

"Naturally Andre," Amelia answered. "Its goes without saying. I hope we see you again sometime soon."

Andre smiled. "Certainly."

He left taking Cordelia with him. Unable to resist Lindsey gave a smug grin and then exited quickly. The pair was outside the club waiting from him before the lawyer caught them up. Cordelia was snuggled in her coat leaning against Andre once again had an arm wrapped about her waist. He was whispering something very quiet in the younger vampire’s ear that Lindsey was unable to hear and she nodded occasionally making him all the more curious.

The lawyer approached them carefully, making sure that he didn’t make too many sudden movements.

"We have decided that it is no longer safe to stay at your offices," the blonde vampire said. He held his hand up to stop Lindsey from speaking. "There is no room for negotiation. The deal still stands but we shall stay closer to Jacob, at his home."

"I don’t suppose there is anything I can do to change your mind is there?"

Andre shook his head. "None. I have already contacted Jacob and he is expecting us. If you would be so kind as to take us to Jacob’s house I would be most grateful."

"I…" he gritted his teeth wondering just what the vampire would say if he said no, actually I’ve got to go find out what’s happened to my girlfriend so if you could make other arrangements that would be great. He could suddenly see what would happen if he left them and Angel managed to catch up with Cordelia. "I suppose so."

He only hoped nothing had happened to Willow while he was delayed.

***

"Hi this is Willow…"

"Willow?"

"…I’m not in right now but if you leave a message then I’ll get back to you as soon as I can."

Lindsey sighed tapping on the steering wheel impatiently while waiting for the beep of the answer phone to pass. "Willow? Willow honey if you’re there then pick up." He waited a moment longer, staring at the clogged traffic ahead in distain. "Sweetheart! Will you watch out where you’re fucking going!" he yelled suddenly. "Shit, Willow, not you. I’m heading over to your place but I’m stuck in traffic with some lunatic who keeps trying to overtake when it is so obviously impossible."

"Wait don’t hang up!" she voice suddenly cried down the other end of the line. "Lindsey, is that you?"

"You’re there. I thought you weren’t going to pick up."

"I was asleep. I’m sorry."

"It doesn’t matter," he said quickly. "I want you to pack a bag for a couple of nights. I thought that we could go away and spend some time together."

"That’s sweet but I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve been neglecting it lately."

Lindsey smiled wondering whether or not he had been the distraction. "I’m sure it can wait a bit longer."

For a moment she hesitated then he heard her say, "Okay, but I’m going to bring my laptop with me so that I can keep an eye on things."

"Brilliant," he exclaimed. "I shouldn’t be long. I’ll pick you up and then we can head over to my place and I’ll sort myself some clothes."

"It’ll be good to spend some time together," she said quietly and he thought he detected a hint of nervousness in her voice. "I… I think there are some things that we need to talk about."

"I guess we do. I know about Angel."

"Oh goddess," she murmured down the other end of the line. "You’re not angry?"

"No, why would I be? Its not your fault."

"I suppose so." She was quiet for a moment and Lindsey wondered whether he should say anything. "How did you find out?" Willow asked finally.

"I overheard him talking. I’m going to have to go, the battery on my phone is running low."

"Okay. I’ll see you soon then."

"I won’t be long."

Part 13

Looking at him Willow knew that he was being deliberately vague. He hadn’t told her where they were going, only smiled and taken her bag from her then helped her down to his car. But it was more than that. The brief snippets of conversation that they’d shared had been strained leaving Willow wondering whether he was angry with her or not. After all he had said that he knew about Angel and despite whatever else he had said she couldn’t believe that he would be willing to just forget about it so quickly or so easily.

"I’d really like to know where we’re going Lindsey," she said finally as he turned yet another corner in silence. From where she was sat Willow saw a smile turn up the corner of his mouth.

"It can’t be a surprise?"

"I’ve generally found that surprises come attached to bad things in life."

That caused him to glance aside at her. "Okay, I think I can understand that considering. I thought we might stay with some friends of mine for a little while. Don’t worry its perfectly safe."

Puzzled by his last statement Willow asked, "So who are these friends?"

"Well the man how owns the house is called Jacob. It’s a lovely place; it has a pool and everything." Lindsey paused. "There is one thing though…" he began and a look like concern passed suddenly onto his features.

"What?"

"Jacob is, well, he’s sort of a vampire."

Willow choked on the quick intake of breath she took. "What?! Lindsey he either is or isn’t a vampire. There’s no in-between."

"Okay he is."

"Oh Goddess you’re taking me to a vampire’s lair!" she exclaimed feeling panic spread through her filling her body to her finger tips. "Stop the car I want to get out."

"No, listen a moment let me explain."

Willow found herself shaking her head. "What do you mean explain? There’s nothing to explain. I should have listened to Angel."

He appeared startled and the expression on his face turned to show irritation. "Do not bring him into this. That man, and I use the term ‘man’ lightly, knows nothing about me. I would have thought that you would know me better than he does. We are sleeping together."

"Don’t throw that in my face."

Frowning he asked, "What?! I though you were happy about that… that part of our relationship."

She ducked her head slightly not wanting to look at him. The darkness outside seemed to have started to draw in, becoming almost suffocating as it did. "I was."

"You’re not anymore then?" he asked softly and to Willow he sounded hurt. It was strange. She’d never really thought that he could be hurt.

Putting her hand to her face she replied, "I don’t know. Can I go home?"

Lindsey shook his head. "We’re practically there now. We’ll talk about it more then. You’ll come around when you hear what I have to say."

"I can’t go into a vampire’s lair."

"You won’t be in any danger."

"Lindsey…"

"No! I don’t want to hear anymore. This is for the best."

Willow settled back into the leather seat, sliding as low as she could. This couldn’t be happening. Why was he doing this to her? The witch found herself going over all the time they had spent together, all the time that they had spoken, looking for any clue. The only thing she could come up with was his discovering about Angel. She suddenly felt like hitting herself. Lindsey might have said he was okay about Angel but that didn’t mean really he was. It dawned on her how stupid she had been to get into the car with him. He hadn’t seem angry though and appeared to be genuinely concerned about her safety. Willow forced down a frustrated sigh. What on earth was going on?

Abruptly Lindsey turned the car and she found herself being driven along a long road lined with expensive looking homes. High walls and plants surrounded each house giving the area a strangely green look for the city. It was only a short journey until Lindsey slowed the car and pulled up in front of a pair of high gates. He leaned out of the window and pressed a button in the intercom. "Lindsey McDonald here to see Jacob."

There was a pause then the small white box crackled. "Mr. McDonald, I had no idea that you would be calling again quite so soon."

"Andre, I need to see Jacob right now."

"Is there a reason for such secrecy or can you tell me why?"

"I’d feel better talking to Jacob first."

"Very well," the voice, Andre replied. "Come up to the house." The gates clicked and whirred open and only a moment later Lindsey accelerated up the driveway.

"I thought you said these people were friends. They didn’t sound much like friends. They sounded much too formal to be friends."

"Call them associates then."

"Business associates? As in Wolfram and Hart business associates?"

"Yes."

Shaking her head Willow murmured, "I don’t believe this."

It was Lindsey’s turn to sigh. "When we get in there keep quiet and let me do the talking. I know the way these people think."

"I know too. They kill people. It’s not a hard thing to figure out what they’re thinking when they’re looking at you."

"Willow…" he said in warning tones.

They were met outside by two vampires, neither of whom Willow recognized. The smaller one came forwards and shook Lindsey’s hand while indicating to the other that he should take the bags that Willow was carrying. She gave them up reluctantly as on was a satchel she was carrying her laptop in. The shorter man was evidently Andre, he greeted Lindsey with an expression similar to that of indifference though the look he threw Willow was one filled with curiosity. Willow found herself resisting the desire to turn away from his gaze and met the vampire’s eyes fully.

It was Andre who showed them inside, leading them though a large ornate foyer complete with floor to ceiling marble and into a study. The walls in here were lined with books with the exception of one where there were heavy velvet curtains hanging. Willow supposed that there were windows behind there somewhere. A desk was towards the back wall from where they were currently stood in the doorway. On opposite wall there was a fireplace that had apparently never been used and between the two features two fine couches were situated.

"Jacob," Andre called and the tall man seated behind the desk looked up. "Mr. McDonald is here – with a friend."

"I can see. I must say I’m intrigued Mr. McDonald."

"I believe I can understand that. May I introduce my girlfriend, Willow. I have a favour to ask of you." Jacob’s eyebrow raised but the rest of his face remained motionless. Lindsey evidently took that as a signal to continue. "It would help me greatly if you would put us up for a few days, until this business with Angel is over."

A brief change came over Jacob’s face. "You want to stay here?"

Lindsey nodded. "Yes."

"Very well. I believe there are some spare rooms available. It’s a pleasure to meet you Willow."

Willow twitched involuntarily towards Lindsey who misunderstood the action and wrapped an arm about her waist. "You too, sir," she replied and then felt instantly silly.

He smiled at her. "You may call me Jacob." The vampire tipped his head again to one side. "I’m Mr. McDonald has explained to you our special circumstances. You are acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of vampires?"

"I am."

"Good. Andre, is your sister occupied?"

"She is," the small blonde vampire who had not strayed far from Willow’s side answered."Why don't you give Willow a brief tour then while I talk with Mr. McDonald then?"

Andre nodded then turned to Willow and motioned for her to move ahead of him out of the room. She found herself glancing at Lindsey who smiled encouragingly, his eyes sparkling, letting her know it would be all right. Still she found she was nervous as she walked off with the vampire, her body distressingly tense and constantly on edge. He paused to tell the vampire who had taken her bags to take them up to a room then headed off in the opposite direction. They went through a sitting room, passed a pool, through a games room, then a conservatory and the kitchen. There was a door leading down towards the basement that Andre firmly warned her away from then took her upstairs pointing out which rooms were out of bounds and which she could go near. Finally he stopped outside one of the dark hardwood doors.

"There are tennis courts outside," he told her. "You’ll be able to see them during the day. We have human staff that tends to the house during the daylight hours. They will be informed of your presence and instructed to tend to your needs. If you need anything else simply ask one of the minions. They may be a little crude but such is the way with minions as I’m sure you understand. They will be warned to be on their best behaviour however."

"Thank you," she replied unable to keep a slight stutter out of her voice.

"You’re welcome. At the moment however I must depart. I still have other duties to attend to."

"Oh, okay. Bye."

The moment that Andre had gone Willow hastily opened the door and scrambled inside. She flickered on the light switch without really looking at the room and then spun to look back at the door only there was no lock. Frantically she glanced around the room, unsurprised to find it decorated in the same beautiful dark woods and colours she despaired when she realised that there was no way to block the door either. After moving to the window and finding the leap out of it considerably too dangerous she crossed to the only other
unchecked way out of the room. The door led to a small elegant bathroom.

Willow went back into the bedroom. Besides her own small collection of luggage there were a small black suitcase, a satchel and a carry case for a laptop. Lindsey’s things, she thought with a frown. Of course his things would be in here; he’d introduced her as his girlfriend after all and anyone would presume that they were sleeping together. We are sleeping together, she reminded herself, though he certainly wasn’t going to get lucky tonight.

Strangely nervous she moved to the bed and sat down. The mattress was wonderfully squishy and the rough texture of the bedspread beneath her hands was wonderful. Oh goddess what was she going to do?

She felt like she had been sat there forever when the door finally opened a crack. Lindsey’s voice was suddenly there, happy and polite sounding as he said goodbye to someone. There was still the lingering sign of a smile on his lips as he entered and it once again widened when he saw her seated on the bed. "Isn’t this place great?" he said shutting the door behind and coming further into the room.

"You could call it that," Willow replied coolly as she watched him pick up his bags and move them to the bed. He started pulling things out and laying them on the bed.

"Don’t be angry with me," he said not looking at her. "This is the lesser of two evils."

There had been something angry in his voice that made Willow stay quiet. For the first time ever she found herself afraid of him. Lindsey moved about the room putting his clothing away. Finally he put his laptop on the table in front of the large windows then began putting her bags on the bed beside her. "Put them away." When she hesitated he added, "We’re going to be here for a while Willow. Do it or I will."

Feeling dejected and angry the redheaded witch crawled off the bed and unpacked her clothing. She ended up by placing her computer alongside his. Each step of the way she felt his eyes on her and when she faced him having finished the task set he was leaned back against the headboard, ankles crossed. At the expression on his face Willow crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don’t know why I bother."

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"Every relationship I have turns out to be a disaster."

"This is a disaster?"

Willow let out an explosive sigh. "You associate with vampires!"

"And you’re friends with a slayer."

Her eyes widened. "Shh! What if someone hears you?"

After giving an exaggerated shrug he said, "Then we’ll probably get killed."

"Damn it you’re not helping!"

"Listen," he said glancing at his watch. "It’s after four. It’ll be dawn soon. Why don’t we go to bed?"

Narrowing her eyes Willow answered, "Why don’t you sleep on the couch?"

He smiled then and she could hardly believe what she saw. "Because, honey, you and I both know that you’ll want me beside you to scare of the bogey men away."

She scowled knowing almost instantly that he was right. The idea of sleeping in a house full of vampires with no one within arms reach was disturbing and frightening. Without replying the witch grabbed hold of her night things and hurried into the bathroom. She took her time, regretting every moment the sleek, dark red silk camisole and shorts set she had packed. By the time that she emerged from the bathroom Lindsey had already changed into a pair of pyjama bottoms leaving his upper torso exposed. She paused in the doorway
to admire the view of his shoulders and back then caught herself. If her lover observed her then he would take it as an invitation. Ignoring him when he glanced back Willow hung up her shirt and folded the rest of her clothing into a pile. She didn’t want them too far away in case it became necessary to dress quickly. Next she climbed into bed, pulling the covers up high and laying so as her back would be to Lindsey when he got in.

The main light to the room clicked off and seconds later the witch felt the bed move as he climbed in. Bedside lamps, operated by a solitary switch remained on. Once again the covers shifted and Lindsey’s hand snaked over her hip and onto the flat of her stomach. She wanted to pull away; to show him just how unwelcome his attentions were but another part of her knew that the lawyer was doing this to get a reaction from her. Willow remained very still, hardly breathing and waiting for him to withdraw.

"Willow, Willow, Willow," he murmured moving her hair aside and placing gentle kisses on her neck and shoulder. "I’m falling in love with you." Her entire body tensed and she felt him roll away and a moment later they were plunged into darkness.

Willow spent the rest of the night in a fitful sleep. As the sun edged its way around the heavy curtains she woke from feeling more exhausted than ever. The room was hot, stuffy with the curtains still drawn tight. Even so the first thing she noticed was Lindsey’s absence from the bed. Sitting up she saw he was not in the room at all and from listening carefully she gathered that he was not in the bathroom either. The concern that had flooded through her on the discovery passed quickly. Why should she be worried about him when ‘friends’ evidently surrounded him?

Climbing out of bed the witch walked over to the window and flung the curtains open, bathing herself and the room in bright sunlight. After opening the window she took in several long draughts of air before glancing at the clock. It was nearly midday; she couldn’t believe she had slept so long! At least she knew that the vampires couldn’t be everywhere now.

Willow showered and changed into a dark purple cord skirt and pale lilac t-shirt. Cautiously she opened the door to the bedroom and peered out into the hall and finding it empty she left, hurrying down to the kitchen. This room too was deserted. Absently Willow wondered where all the human staff members were that Andre had talked about but then decided that she was rather relieved that she wouldn’t have to face them.

It didn’t take long for her to hunt down something to eat. The witch found herself some bread and toasted it. In the refrigerator she found some butter after the disturbing discovery of several bottles of blood. Willow supposed she should be happy that they apparently didn’t feed off fresh food all the time. Before sitting down at the table she poured herself a cup of black coffee from the pot percolating on the side. The meal was frugal but surprisingly filling and after she had finished and cleared away her pots the witch grabbed an apple from the fruit basket.

It was nearly an hour since she had first ventured outside of her assigned bedroom and come down into the kitchen and for the first time Willow felt marginally secure in the house. It helped that she hadn’t seen anyone else yet though she supposed that wouldn’t last forever. Taking advantage of the situation though the witch made her way from the kitchen and into the hallway. From there she walked across to the door that lead to Jacob’s study only to find it locked. Apparently there was one place Andre had failed to tell her that she couldn’t go into.

She turned, mildly irritated that she hadn’t been able to get inside and let out a startled cry, leaping back and colliding with the door. "Goddess! Cordelia!"

Her old friend was stood before her, very still and with a small close-lipped smile on her face. The woman’s eyes sparkled with something
that resembled mischief, as she appeared to study the redhead. "I knew I recognised that scent," she said.

Willow frowned at her choice of words. She wasn’t wearing any scent. Instead of replying to the strange comment she ignored it and said, "It’s so good to see you! We were all so worried. I can’t believe you’re here."

"Really? You can’t have looked very hard."

"What do you mean?" the witch asked, more than a little taken aback by the abrupt tone that her friend had taken.

"Lets face it, there were only a small number of places I could have been."

Willow lowered her eyes. "I can understand why you’re angry but we were looking for you. It wasn’t easy."

The woman in front of her made a huffing noise causing the witch to look up. Cordelia took a step forwards until there was scarcely room for either to breathe. "Then what are you doing here? Looking for me? I don’t think so. You weren’t exactly being very stealthy and I don’t see Angel rushing around either and lets face it he’s the only one who has a hope in hell of being any where near successful."

"Cordy!" she exclaimed in shock feeling her friend’s words sink into her and flinching under the torrent.

"You know something Wills, it’s about time you grew up. Seriously, you’re meant to be an adult now and you really don’t behave like it. Here you are obviously out enjoying yourself when you should be out looking for me." The brunette shook her head slowly, her dark eyes dancing and flickering mischievously. "I’m hurt, really I am."

"What are you..? Are you feeling okay?"

"How about you tell me how I should feel? You’ve always done that very well in the past. Get a life Willow or you’ll end up like Buffy, always sticking your nose in every where. We both know how irritating that is."

Her eyes wide with incomprehension Willow replied by saying, "Listen I’ll apologise non stop for a year but only when we get out of here. I’m guessing you’ve been here longer than I have so have any idea how to get out? I’ve had a look around but I’ve drawn a blank so far. Is there some way out from the gardens do you know?"

Cordelia cocked her head to one side and crossed her arms across her chest. "And what if I don’t want to leave?"

"Huh?" Willow replied, the confused amazement she felt clearly evident in her face.

"You know for someone who is meant to be so smart you really are dense sometimes. Shall I spell it out for you? I don’t want to leave."

"Why ever not?"

The glint Cordelia’s eye grew larger and she gave a little laugh. "Poor stupid Willow."

"Cordelia," a familiar voice intoned from behind the brunette. The young woman visibly jerked and moved aside to reveal to Willow her lover. Lindsey, dressed in pale jeans and a dark grey t-shirt, stepped forwards casually, though cautiously. "I thought you would be asleep by now."

"I was. But this little something woke me up."

"Well I’m here now so why don’t you go back to bed?" he suggested though there was an air of command in his voice.

A scowl drifted onto Cordelia’s face. "Oh I don’t think so. There’s something going on here and I want to find out exactly what that is. Don’t you feel even the slightest bit curious as to how I know her name? Or do you already know…"

"I assumed you asked her," he replied.

"Nope. Guess again."

He looked past the brunette to Willow. "What does she mean?"

Confused Willow answered, "You don’t know? I thought you knew."

"Is this to do with Angel?" he asked them, glancing from one girl to the other. At the look in the man’s eyes the witch found herself glancing aside away from him. Finally Lindsey concentrated all his attention on Cordelia.

"Am I the only one who gets what’s going on around here? Jeez! Lindsey meet Willow the witch, best friend of the slayer and latest employee of Angel Investigations. Willow meet Lindsey, evil lawyer and general jack arse ninety percent of the time. Congratulations guys you’ve both been screwing the enemy though I can see by the look on Will’s face here that isn’t entirely a surprise. Tell me, did Angel tell you to fuck Lindsey or was it simply an infiltration mission you made up on your own?"

"I…" Willow began to say only to be interrupted by Lindsey.

"You work for Angel!" he exclaimed in disbelief.

She stopped and faced him still confused by why Cordelia had said anything and even more so by the way she had said it. Stood there, bafflement piercing her, Willow began to wonder very seriously what it was she was missing. "I didn’t know who you were," she said very quickly. "When we met that is. Then when I did find out I tried to break it off but it was so very hard and you were so very insistent… I didn’t know what to do."

"That business in the café," he said, realisation finally hitting. "Then what was the stuff with Angel about? I thought he’d threatened you!"

"You mean you didn’t know that I knew Angel?"

Shaking his head, anger and disappointment flitting across his expression Lindsey replied, "I heard him talking about you with that British man at the club last night when he found out about Cordelia."

"Wait, what did he find out? I mean, we already knew that it was you and that Lilah woman who’d had her kidnapped."

Cordelia giggled loudly. "Oh this is just too funny," she said. "You’d think after all these years Willow the witch would recognise a vampire when she saw one."

Willow turned to her friend, horror seeping over her face and into her soul as random thoughts and memories began to click into place. "You… You’re a vampire!" she gasped feeling tears well up into her eyes. Backing away slowly she added, "Oh Cordy! I’m so sorry."

"I don’t see why," the vampire replied following the young woman until she was backed up against the wall. "You’ve no idea how much fun all this is. I’m thinking you will do soon though." The last was said with a wicked little smile and Willow found herself fighting for control over her own body.

"Cordelia!" Lindsey snapped again. "Get away from her. This is my business to deal with."

"Hardly, Lindsey. I wonder what Jacob will say when he finds out you brought a witch and a cohort of Angel’s into his home."

"Damn it Cordelia I want to speak to Willow alone. Now leave!"

"No! You can’t order me around here."

He spun on her, eyes blazing.  "Don’t think I won’t have you staked. We have a prime candidate for replacement right here."

Willow saw shock drain Cordelia’s face and for the first time the vampire didn’t seen so sure of herself. "You wouldn’t do that."

"Wouldn’t I?"

"Andre wouldn’t allow it, Jacob wouldn’t."

"Just because you’re sharing a coffin with Andre doesn’t mean you’re anything more than a means to an end. Remember Cordelia, your entire purpose here is to precipitate Angel’s downfall. Now get out of my sight!"

To Willow’s amazement the fledgling fled. "You’re got her well trained," she said bitterly then wished she hadn’t at the expression on his face.

"Did you start this affair to infiltrate Wolfram and Hart?" he asked very directly.

"No!" she exclaimed. "I swear I didn’t even know who you were when we first met."

"Will Angel come looking for you?"

"I… I don’t know. We didn’t part on the best of terms last time I saw him. It’s entirely possible he won’t know where I’ve gone. But he will be looking for Cordelia."

"I assumed as much. Are you really a witch?"

She nodded. "My abilities are somewhat erratic. Sometimes it seems I can do anything and then at other times I can’t make anything happen."

Lindsey let out a long sigh and rubbed his face with his hand. "Lilah’s going to find out all about you now. That’s unavoidable unfortunately. She’ll probably want to use you as bait of one kind or another and I think Jacob will probably agree with her. Unless you feel like becoming some vampire’s lunch I’d go along with them if I was you."

"But…"

"Damn it Willow how could you have been so stupid!" he exclaimed and marched out of the hall.

Willow stood, still with shock over what had just happened. She let out a gasping cry of any mixture of emotions, anger, frustration, fear and horror broke over her in one huge crashing wave and tears rolled down the young woman’s face as she collapsed against the wall behind her. There was an uncomfortably feeling that she had just sealed her own fate. Slumped there the witch began to weep in earnest and wondered again and again exactly how the hell she was going to get out of this one.

Part 14

It had taken a while but Lindsey had finally found someone to open one of the spare rooms on the floor they occupied so that he could use it as an office. The man he had found had at first seemed vaguely amused until Lindsey had made it blatantly clear he was not actually moving out of the room he had been sharing with Willow but instead just wanted somewhere to work. Still it was clear to all that they didn’t really want to see each other very much. The lawyer spent much of his time working in the room set aside where Willow rarely dared to venture and when he went to their room on a night he often made sure it was after she had gone to bed and was asleep or at least pretending to be so as he knew she undoubtedly did on those occasions when she was still conscious. Little of her day to day activities
were known to him although he did know she spent time working because of the steady pile of papers that had begun to mount up on the table in their room. Sometimes though he would glance out of the window and see a tell tale flash of red as she wandered though the gardens one of the human servants not far behind.

On the main however Willow avoided everyone. The only person who seemed to be able to seek her out successfully was Cordelia. She did this deliberately and took great joy in startling, upsetting and frightening the young witch. Lindsey almost felt sorry for her so drastic was the effect on her. While on the outside nothing seemed to change he note that she would flinch
occasionally when spoken to and that furthermore she no longer seemed so confident when speaking and these small alterations baffled him. On some level the woman he had known seemed to be disappearing before his very eyes.

So it had been for nearly a week. After Jacob and Lilah discovering the truth and their stern reproach, Lindsey had found himself even more under suspicion than he had ever been before. He found that his every word was questioned and that Lilah paid even less attention to him, her already icy manner growing more so. Despite the change though Lindsey was certain she had no mention of her discovery to the senior partners at the firm. If she had then Lindsey had no doubt he would already be facing disciplinarily action. The question, of course, was why she wasn’t saying anything. Lindsey already decided with little trouble that she had to be plotting something.

He paused while reading as a quiet knock came at the door to his makeshift office, half wondering whether he had heard anything at all. A moment later, although he made no reply, the door opened a crack and he saw a red head of hair peer cautiously around the edge of the frame at him. On seeing him she stepped further inside, shutting the door and muffling the sound with her hand. The expression on her face when she turned to him was nervous and after appearing to potter around the room for a couple of moment she sat on the edge of the bed and watched him.

"What is it?" he asked finally.

"I need to get an outside telephone line."

"What for?"

"I have some work I completed that I need to get off to a client before they fire me."

Leaning back in his chair the lawyer replied with, "Can’t it wait?"

"No it can’t. I’ve got to get the work to them somehow Lindsey or I’ll loose my job and seeing as I don’t figure I’ll be getting out of here anytime soon that’s the only way I can think of."

He watched the frustration on her face deepen; feeling his irritation grow at the thought that she so easily affected him even after what he now knew about her. "I can’t say when you can leave. The decision has been somewhat taken out of my hands and I doubt Lilah or Jacob would like the idea of you being able to contact the outside world. They seem to be rather suspicious of you for some reason."

"Please. Lindsey I’ve got to do something to keep my mind busy and without the line it just seems futile." She stood and came towards Lindsey until they were barely inches apart. "I feel like I’m going to go mad sometime soon."

"Don’t be ridiculous," he replied shortly looking up at her, as she stood, green eyes large and sad.

"I’m serious! Really I am. I’ve never been cooped up so long in my life."

"You’re hardly cooped up sweet!" he exclaimed. "There’s the house and the gardens at your disposal. I really don’t see the problem."

"Says the person who gets to leave anytime they want!"

Lindsey threw his papers onto the table and stood. "Don’t you think your position is a little too precarious to judge others at the moment?"

"Is that a threat?"

"Of course it isn’t. I’ve no desire to threaten you Willow. But you’ve got to realize that you’re basically a prisoner of war."

"I’ve been taken prisoner before."

"Then you should know what things are like."

"I thought I was your girlfriend," she answered and there was a slight whine to her voice that he had never heard before. It was disconcerting.

His voice deliberately cool Lindsey said, "Isn’t that comment a little below you?"

Her face reddened with barely suppressed anger and she spun on her heals and left the room, slamming the door as she went and leaving Lindsey wondering what had gotten into her. For a moment he felt a twinge of guilt that he had been so harsh with her and made a note to look into finding a way for her to have supervised internet access. After doing that the lawyer turned his attention back to the problem he had been working on.

After the incident at the club the other night Angel had taken steps to make sure the club never opened again. When the flames had finally been beaten back one of the survivors had been noted saying that the dark vampire who set it had been in an unstoppable rage. The same had been repeated several times all over town and each time the survivors had described the same vampire. To Lindsey’s concern though the two men who were also reputed to work with Angel were missing from all reports and in his mind that meant only one thing – they were up to something. As always the question was what and it was to this endeavor that Lindsey had decided to work at. The documents that he held in his hands were ones that the firm’s retainer private eyes had made for turn on the movements of the two men and on information they had collected in the past. While Angel continued his fiery reign of terror the two others had taken to spending much of their time at Willow’s apartment. He wondered what Willow would think of the news and half considered hunting her out to question her on it. The memory of the earlier display of dramatics on both their parts discouraged his thought.

At lunch time he left his room and descended into the kitchen where a meal had been left warming for him by one of the invisible day servants that haunted Jacob’s residence. As there was only evidence of food enough for one and dishes left drying on the sideboard by the sink he concluded that Willow had already eaten. When he was finished the lawyer remained a while enjoying the afternoon sunlight that seeped around the edges of the curtains. As this was a room that was infrequently visited by the vampires the curtains in
question were thin, letting light in easily.

He was broken from his thoughts by the sound of a terrible cry, rippling out through the house and sinking into his very muscles making him tremble. Lindsey started to his feet in surprise recognizing the voice which had uttered the dreadful noise and hurried in the direction of the door. When he arrived, a pale young man with a solitary set of bite marks upon his neck was waiting there looking nervous. Before long another appeared, somewhat older than the first, and disappeared behind the door begging that the others wait outside. From the corner of his eye Lindsey saw Willow emerge, watching them curiously.

"What happened?" she stuttered out, keeping well back against the opposite wall.

"I don’t know yet," he replied wishing she was not here at the moment. The agitated way in which the servant was acting clearly denoted that something was the matter and not knowing what made Lindsey nervous. It was a light that he did not wish Willow to see him in.

They waited in silence for considerably longer and once or twice Lindsey thought he could detect voices from below but could not make out what was being said. Eventually the door opened again and the elder servant reappeared, his eyes exceptionally wide and with fear set deep within them.

"Well?" Lindsey asked impatiently before the man could make any mention of what he had discovered.

"It’s nothing. It’s Miss Cordelia. She was dreaming sir. A bad dream sir."

Lindsey nodded his head in satisfaction and turned to Willow who muttered, "A vampire having bad dreams!" and turned to stalk off to disappear back to wherever she had last been hiding.

***

He had relented though she did not know why and had made it possible for her
to contact the outside world. It was a welcome relief although the contact
was limited. In spite of an ever watchful eye hanging star like over her
shoulder the witch had risked everything to cast a momentary glamour over
her computer to hide an email she decided to try and send to Angel
Investigations. Whether or not she had been successful was unknown to her.
There certainly hadn’t been any sign that they had received it though she
supposed, with a sinking feeling in her heart, they might have given up on
her as a bad job and decided not to help her at all. As often as that
thought came to her Willow tried to dismiss it. She had to have some hope to
hang onto that the captivity would soon be over. Each night she kindled that
hope and fuelled it with her memories of the true and honest Angel. She had
not rejected him when his darkness had ventured forth years ago and she
tried to trust that he would treat her in the same manner now.

Willow climbed out of bed past the sleeping form of Lindsey who did not stir
in the slightest at her movement. Quietly she went to stand between the
curtains and the glass and opened one of the large windows to the cool world
outside.

A rustling sound woke her from thoughts that had been preoccupying her mind
and the witch started and glanced around at the room behind her. Nothing had
changed. Lindsey’s face was still, visible even with the paleness of the
light. She indulged herself while she had the chance to without being
observed and took in the sight of him. For a moment Willow let herself
forget that they were here and just enjoyed the sight of him.

"Willow!" a voice hissed making the girl jump again. "Damn it, turn around
again."

"Leave me alone Cordelia," Willow answered after the initial shock of seeing
the vampire clinging to the wall outside her window. The vampire pushed her
pale white hand inside before she had a chance to finish.

"No, we have to talk."

"I don’t want to speak to you."

"Well we have to!" the brunette exclaimed, adjusting her position slightly
and raising Willow’s curiosity as to how exactly the fledgling vampire was
holding on. She had one hand on the windowsill but there didn’t seem to be
any other things for the rest of her to hold onto.

"No I don’t. Take out your hand and let me close the window." To emphasize
her point the witch pulled the window to a little more.

"Listen to me!"

"No."

"Wills, don’t behave like a spoilt child. I was always the one who pulled
that off best."

"You are not the Cordelia I know. Leave me alone. I won’t put up with your
abuse any longer." A hand touched her shoulder and Willow leapt with a yelp.
To her surprise it was Lindsey that stood by her side. "Get her to leave me
alone," she pleaded with him, seeing however that the same cynical look had
entered his eyes. Seeing it Willow reached and clasped his hand tightly.
Lindsey looked over his girlfriend’s shoulder.

"Go away Cordelia. She’s obviously tired and doesn’t want to speak."

"Willow you’re being silly. I only wanted to talk a while. Why did you go
and bring him into it?"

"I didn’t. I only want you to leave me alone. For good." She turned, passing
Lindsey and half bringing him along with her as she did until she remembered
their hands were still entwined. As she climbed onto the high bed and tucked
her knees up to her chin the witch heard Lindsey saying something to the
vampire outside.

"Perhaps you should climb back down to earth Cordelia. If you’ve anything to
discuss I’m sure it can wait until later. Now if you will excuse me, Willow
and I are going to return to bed."

Lindsey didn’t wait a moment longer before roughly closing the window and
forcing the vampire’s hand away. Although she didn’t hear any further sound
Willow was certain that the brunette had gone away. "Thank you," she
murmured as he approached the bed and climbed back in.

He smiled at her kindly, almost cheekily, then reached a hand forwards to
draw her down beside him in the bed and into a laying position. She went
somewhat reluctantly but did so all the same. His leniency in getting her
internet access and the way he had just come to her rescue had resulted in a
mellowing of her hostile feelings towards the man. Feeling hypocritical in
her inconstant emotions she rested her head on his shoulder and head a
little contented sigh erupt from her lover. The arm about her tightened
marginally.

"Why didn’t she come in the door?" Willow asked suddenly as she thought it.

"Huh?" the man’s sleepy voice came. "Oh, I don’t know."

"There has to be a reason. Even though she’s a vampire now there has to be a
reason. Dead or alive Cordelia is not prone to being illogical."

"Willow, have you really known her long enough while she’s… whiles she’s
been dead to tell that?"

Her brow creased into a frown. He had a point. How on earth would she know
how the demon inhabiting her friend’s body would act? "No there has to be
something."

"What does it really matter anyway? Try to get some sleep. If there is
something then you’ll be able to think about it clearly."

Somewhere in his speech she was aware that there had been some devastating
logic and truth be told she was feeling more than a little tired. He didn’t
say anything else though to help her and moments later she aware of the fact
his breathing had steadied and turned rhythmic with sleep. She too must have
drifted off because some hours later she was woken by the sound of someone
moving in the room. Keeping very still she glanced at the window and
determined it was still dark outside. Concentrating on the room Willow tried
to determine where the noise had come from. A hand reached blindly out to
her side told her that Lindsey was still laid in bed and had not moved. She
began to tremble with fear, half suspecting she already knew who was in the
room and silently begging that they would do away again.

A hand clamped over her mouth suddenly and Willow let out a muffled scream.
Before she could struggle and wake Lindsey an arm was about her shoulders
and she felt herself being dragged from the bed. She slipped, hanging half
on and off the mattress and tried to concentrate. Rapidly she began to draw
in energy from the outside world and flung it all at her attacker in one
concentrated blast. There seemed to be a gasp by her ear and then the person
who had grabbed her went flying across the room, landing in a heap with a
thump. Unsupported Willow fell to the floor. Above her the bed moved and the
room flooded with light as Lindsey switched on a lamp causing her to blink.

"What’s going on?" he asked. "Christ is that Cordelia?"

As her eyes focused Willow saw that it was indeed the brunette slumped
against the wall. As she watched the young vampire shook her head to clear
the fuzziness away. After a moment she sat up a little and Willow scampered
to her feet.

"Why on earth did you do that?" the vampire asked.

"You were dragging me out of bed!"

"Wait a minute what did you do?" Lindsey asked.

"She threw me across the room."

"How?"

"Don’t ask me, ask you witchy girlfriend. She’s the one who did it."

"It was telekinesis," Willow explained. "But don’t you think that’s a little
beside the point. She attacked me."

Cordelia shook her head. "I was just trying to talk to you."

"You call putting a hand over my mouth ‘talking’ to me?"

There was a quick knock on the bedroom door and it opened without waiting
for anyone to answer. Andre put his head around the door. "What is going on
in here?"

"Nothing," Willow answered quickly, surprisingly at the same time as
Cordelia. A frown appeared on Lindsey’s face but he quickly covered it.

"Everything is fine Andre," the lawyer said. "We just had a little accident.
It was nothing."

The blonde vampire turned to Cordelia. He came further into the room dipping
down beside her. "Are you okay?"

For a moment the fledgling looked startled then smiled brilliantly at the
man. "I’m just fine honey. Want to help me up?"

Andre nodded and stood, drawing up the tall woman with him. Even stood she
refused to let go of his hand with that broad smile still lighting her
features. Cordelia slipped an arm about his waist and leaned her body into
him. "We’ll finish that talk later," she promised Willow before letting
herself be led out of the room.

When they were gone Lindsey turned to her. "You can do that?"

"Do what?"

"Throw people across a room."

The young woman found herself nodding. "I normally just throw stakes at
vampires though."

"Good God!"

"You’ve been told time and again I’m witch Lindsey. I really don’t see
what’s so surprising about it."

Sitting down he said, "I guess I had to witness it for myself. Do something
else."

"Like what?"

"Erm, float something. Can you do that?"

"Yes." Willow turned, looking for something that she knew she could be
safely levitated. Finally she settle on a glass of water on her bedside
cabinet and gently floated it over to him despite the wave of exhaustion she
felt wash over her. When she stopped it Lindsey reached forwards and plucked
it out of the air. As he did she let out a thankful sigh of relief.

After a moment Lindsey seemed to pull himself back together. He put the
water back on the night stand. "Is something the matter?"

"Using magic always makes me a little tired."

He accepted this without further comment. "You need to be more careful.
She’s definitely up to something."

The witch reframed from answering in the sarcastic tone that his words
suggested in her. "Perhaps I should just talk to her and get it over with."

"No and if you find you have no choice but to be around her then ensure
someone else is in the room with you at all times."

"If you think that’s best," she replied and hated herself for sounding as
meek as she did.

"I do. I don’t think they’ll hurt you while I’m around so I’ll keep near you
as much as I can manage. Unfortunately I’ve got to out for a time tomorrow
so you’ll be on you own. I promise I’ll be back as quickly as possible."

A sudden feeling of fear welled up in her and Willow began to draw gasps of
breath. She moved to kneel before him and take his strong hands in her own
slender ones. "Why do you have to go anywhere at all?" she asked. "Just stay
here with me."

There was a softening of his eyes. "I’m sorry. I can’t."

"But what if something happens? What if they try to..?"

"I can only promise that’ll be as quick as I can."

The sincerity in his voice was something Willow could not dispute. She
nodded reluctantly. "I have a feeling I’m going to hold you to that
promise."

***

From Jacob’s house he drove though the bright early afternoon sunlight in
the direction of Willow’s apartment. The investigators he had working for
him had reported something the night before that Lindsey was trying not to
get nervous about. Late in the afternoon the two men, Gunn and Wesley, had
given up their mysterious vigil at his girlfriend’s home and headed back
towards the headquarters of Angel Investigations with self satisfied smug
smiles on their faces from the look of the photographs he had received. More
worrying was that news that Angel seemed to have stopped his impromptu
fireworks show and had calmed down enough to think rationally. Lindsey knew
the vampire was dangerous while on rampage but he also knew he was
considerably more dangerous when he had time to think and plan through his
actions.

However he had decided to take the opportunity to have an unobserved look
around Willow’s apartment, having lifted her keys from her bag to do so.
Hopefully she would never find out.

The thought of her alone at Jacob’s brought a worrying feeling into
Lindsey’s gut. At first he hadn’t been certain but now he was that there was
something outside his control going on in that house. Silently he gave a
little prayer to a god he had long since ceased to believe in that his
little witch would be okay. If he knew one thing from this mess it was that
he didn’t want to give her up. Eventually one of them would crack and accept
the other’s life choices. Which one of them that would be he had no idea.

Having parked his car in front of her building Lindsey climbed the steps
between floors to reach her corridor. He wandered down it cautiously, hoping
that no one would look out to see who it was. The thought of another
confrontation with one of Willow’s neighbours was not a particularly happy
one. There was a deep seated feeling of foreboding screaming in him as he
stared at the outside of the door. The last time he had been here was to
foolishly drag Willow off that God forsaken place where he had left her. Now
the door seemed to stare at him accusingly. Shaking himself and realising
how stupid he was being Lindsey opened the door quietly. He was still
concerned that they might accidentally have missed the return of one or more
of the Angel Investigations staff.

There was no sound from inside and Lindsey entered, intending to make a
quick circuit before leaving. On entering the sitting room though he stopped
suddenly. The furniture had been cleared away from the centre of the room
and the locked cupboard that had always stood closed against one wall lay
open. Inside there were row after row of books, some stacked on top of each
other and others on their own wrapped in the deepest black velvet. Draws lay
open betraying their contents, items of magical paraphernalia, some that
Lindsey had only heard of before and others that he had seen in action were
sat within. It seemed Willow was more accomplished as a witch than she had
been letting on.

In among the various contents though there was clear evidence that certain
things were missing. He could see six empty patches on the shelves where
books had once lived and there were boxes laid open where other things had
been kept. Turning back to the room Lindsey saw one ornate box laying on the
floor which he picked up. Trying it in one of the gaps he was not surprised
to find that it fitted perfectly. Picking it up again Lindsey opened the
small brass, no gold, catch and flipped open the lid. Inside there was a
nest of blue velvet that had obviously held something spherical though as to
what that something was there was no clue. Puzzled he replaced the box where
he had first found it and went to search the rest of the apartment.

Little seemed amiss in the bedroom where only one or two draws had been
opened and likewise the bathroom was relatively undisturbed. The lawyer went
from there into the kitchen where once again signs of occupation were
clearly evident. Plates and glasses in the sink showed that someone had been
here recently but that did no concern Lindsey. No, it was the huge, noxious
smelling cooking put that concerned him. Looking into it he saw no meal had
been prepared in it recently and wondered what on earth Gunn and Wesley had
been up to.

A noise from the living room startled him though on his return the lawyer
saw that nothing had changed. Looking at the space that had been cleared it
was now blatantly obvious to him that someone had been performing a ritual
of some kind. The question was what that ritual had been.

Baffled he turned, just in time to see something flying at his head. He
raised an arm to protect himself but it was too late. The blow struck and
the last thing Lindsey saw as he slumped to the floor was a pair of combat
boots.

Part 15

It seemed like he’d been gone forever. More than once Willow had found
herself wondering whether he hadn’t deserted her to her fate in Jacob house
but the witch always dismissed the thought. He had seemed so sincere. She
had to be certain he would return.

She hadn’t dared to venture out of her room since he had left for fear the
vampires would attack her. To add to her protective measures she had opened
the curtains fully and let the light stream in. Unfortunately it was getting
later and soon the sunlight would disappear and with it her safety net. Her
magic might help her fend off the attack of two of three younger ones but
the witch was well aware that against the combined efforts of Jacob and
Andre she would not be able to stand for long.

At six o’clock there came a tentative knock at her door. When she said
nothing the human servant standing on the other side announced he had
brought a meal up for her and entered before she could make any reply.
Startled Willow stood dumbly while he set down the tray, her stomach
rumbling in appreciation of the smells emanating from it, and preceded to
close the curtains. Snapping out of her trance like state Willow said, "No I
want them open."

"I doubt Miss Cordelia would appreciate that," he replied and at his words
that the room was safe the brunette entered. The vampire all but ignored the
man who she waved in the direction of the door before taking up position on
the room’s couch.

"Eat up Willow," she said gesturing towards the food. "I can tell you’re
hungry."

Willow sat before the food and began to pick at it. "What do you want?" she
asked barely able to keep the sound of her nerves from her voice.

"To talk; there are some things you need to know but I also need to ask some
questions first."

"And if I don’t want to answer?"

"You will, but I’ll give you a little encouragement anyway. I have my soul."

Willow’s mouth dropped open and she quickly slammed it shut again. "I don’t
believe it," she murmured.

"Look at me," the vampire said leaning forwards. "Really look at me. I’m as
worried about all this as you are. I’m scared Willow. I had to watch all the
things that demon did while it had my body and even now I feel it raging to
get free."

The witch studied the other woman. There were little things about her, the
softening of her eyes and lips, the way she sat… Little things that told her
that this really was the true Cordelia. She swallowed. "How? When? Oh
Goddess Cordelia!"

"The other day. I felt something rip through the demon and then there I
was." She shook her head sadly. "The next thing I knew that Andre guy was
climbing into bed beside me trying to calm me down. I didn’t know what to
say…"

"So you said you had a nightmare."

"It was the only thing I could think of."

"You did the right thing." Pausing she moved to embrace her old friend. "I
can hardly believe it. I’d almost given up. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?"

"I’ve been trying to," the brunette said and Willow suddenly reddened at the
thought of all the things she had done and said to get rid of the vampire
over the past couple of days.

"What are we going to do?"

Cordelia shrugged. "I don’t know. Andre watches me constantly like I’m a
baby or something. I’m not really free to move around that much."

"Same here," Willow confirmed. "If it isn’t Lindsey watching me then one of
the staff members is. I think I managed to get an email off to Wesley
without being detected but he and I weren’t exactly on speaking terms when
we last talked."

Frowning Cordelia asked, "What happened?"

"They found out about Lindsey."

Looking uncomfortable the vampire said, "I’ve been meaning to ask about
him."

Understanding Willow nodded and reluctantly asked "What do you want to
know?"

"Well… What are you doing with him for a start?"

"I met him a few weeks ago and we started to date. I didn’t know who he was
at first and by the time I did it was too late." She lowered her head not
wanting to meet her friend’s eyes, scared of the disappointed she knew must
be lingering in them. "I don’t know what I feel for him only that it’s
something."

"Shit."

"That’s one way of putting it," the redhead laughed and heard a little
chuckle erupt from Cordelia as well.

The brunette’s expression turned serious. "Are you going to tell him about
me?"

"No, I don’t think so."

The answered seemed to satisfy the vampire. "So I guess we should get
working on how to get out of here."

Willow smiled. "It’s so good to have you back!" she exclaimed wrapping the
other girl in a hug.

***

There was a voice breaking through the edge of the haze. "You shouldn’t have
hit him so hard," it accused. "You know you’ve probably given him brain
damage. We’ll never get anything useful out of him now."

"Shut up Spike," a female voice replied.

"All I’m saying is that you should have let Rupert do it."

"Do be quiet," a third said.

"You all know I’m right."

"Spike!"

"Okay, okay…"

Lindsey became aware of the smell of smoke. Someone had lit a cigarette. He
kept still waiting and trying to gleam something else about his captors.

"You know you’re the one who deals with Willow when she comes home and finds
everything stinking of smoke," the female pointed out.

"I opened the window didn’t I?" Spike again, obviously the smoker. "His
breathing changed. He’s waking up."

Lindsey heard leather creaking and suddenly he was being pulled into a
sitting position. "Come on burglar boy. Wakey wakey."

"He doesn’t much look like a burglar Buffy," the third voice said.

Before he realised what he was doing Lindsey’s eyes shot open. He dizzied
for a moment but the sensation passed and he heard himself say, "You’re the
slayer?" The small blonde woman in front of him appeared to be startled.

"You really haven’t done a good job of keeping your identity secret have
you?" The speaker was the cigarette smoking Spike and looking at him Lindsey
saw a lean man, not especially tall, with white blonde hair. Everything
about him seemed to emanate hostility. Beside him was another taller
somewhat older man with a stern worried expression plastered on his face.

"Shut up," the slayer said to Spike. "Who are you and what are you doing
here?"

"You’re Buffy Summers, Willow’s friend?"

"Yes, now answer the questions."

The lawyer took the time to glance around at the serious faces of the people
assembled there. "Very well, my name is Lindsey McDonald and I’m Willow’s
boyfriend. I came here looking for her. Now, as to you, who are you all and
what are you doing here?"

"You’re Lindsey?" Buffy asked and this time when she spoke her voice seemed
a little unsure.

"You’ve heard of me I take it."

"Willow did mention you."

"I’m sorry," the older of the two men interrupted. "This is actually
Willow’s boyfriend?" At the nod from the young woman he removed his glasses
and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "Good lord. My name is Rupert Giles.
You seem to know Buffy and that is Spike. Spike, release him."

"Wait a minute. Willow told me that this guy isn’t completely legit and
there’s still the question of finding out where Willow is."

Lindsey resisted the urge to glare at the blonde and instead settled for a
blank expression instead.

"You could always try torture," the blonde man suggested.

"I don’t torture people Spike. That was always your speciality if I remember
rightly." She turned back to Lindsey. "Where’s Willow? You might as well
tell me."

He looked her steadily in the eye. "I have no idea what my girlfriend has
been telling you to give such a negative impression though I can assure you
things have never been better between us. Any problems that we have, we are
well prepared to rectify the situation between the two of us. As to where
Willow is currently… well as far as I know she’s fine."

"You know where she is then?"

"Of course I do. However that does not necessarily mean that you need to
know. Now, I suggest you untie me. Willow described you as being fair,
considerate people. People who are brave and self sacrificing. She did not
describe you as being kidnappers. Perhaps when you have released me then we
will talk some more."

Lindsey put his head back so that it touched the soft leather of Willow’s
couch, taking in their startled faces, and waited in silence. A moment later
Buffy appeared to pull herself together and moved with the familiar ease and
grace such as he associated only with vampires and slayers, to untie the
bonds that held him. The lawyer stretched and found it took considerable
effort not to let out a relieved sigh.

"You’re Willow’s friend so I won’t make any fuss about you being here but I
would ask that you reframe from hitting any future arrivals over the head."
He stood very cautiously not entirely certain that his legs would support
him. "Remember to lock up on your way out. I must be going now."

He moved to go but quickly found the blonde man stood in his path.

"You said something about answers," he reminded him.

"Possible answers," the lawyer corrected.

"She’s our friend," Buffy replied. "The only reason we’re here is because I
called half a dozen times over the past week and never got an answer once.
If we know where she is then we’ll all feel considerably better…"

"And you’ll go away?"

"If she’s safe then there is no reason for us to stay," the older man, Mr
Giles offered.

Lindsey nodded in acceptance. "We’re currently staying with a friend of mine
as sort of a getaway. Things have been rather stressful lately and we both
felt the need to relax. That’s all I can tell you other than that she’s
fine. The people we’re staying with aren’t exactly the type that would
appreciate a slayer dropping in."

Buffy raised a suspicious eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Slayers have been known to slay first and think later. These people are not
evil, merely cautious."

"I still don’t like it."

Lindsey shrugged. "Willow went there willingly. No one forced her to go and,
well, we both know that if she really wanted to leave somewhere then nothing
would stop." He glanced at his watch. "Now if you will excuse me I really do
need to be going." Without another word he turned to leave as he approached
the door though a voice stopped him.

"If a matter does arise that would need our specialist skills you will
inform us won’t you Mr McDonald?"

"If the occasion does arise Mr Giles then I shall consider."

***

They’d talked for hours and all the time Willow felt herself becoming more
and more assured that this really was the Cordelia she had known growing up.
The experiences she had gone though while the demon had controlled her had
obviously deeply disturbed the young woman and even as they sat together
Willow had seen frequent darkening of her eyes as memories haunted. As much
as possible Willow tried to steer conversation away from anything that might
bring back memories to the other girl.

It didn’t seem long though before Cordelia had to leave and Willow found
herself left alone again. This time there was nowhere near the same level of
daunting fear that there had been before. The witch was certain that her
friend would be able to step in and successfully sort out any threat to her.

It was nearly ten o’clock when Lindsey stepped into the room. His face was
pale and drawn and Willow felt an instant rush of concern well over her on
seeing him. The look of weariness on his face told her it would be best to
remain quiet though, at least until Lindsey decided he felt the need to say
something. She watched as he went and poured himself a tall glass of water,
drinking it down quickly. As he placed the glass back down the witch saw
that a droplet of water had been left clinging deliciously to his lower lip.

"Did everything go okay?" he asked after appearing to collect himself. "Did
they try anything else?"

Willow began to shake her head and then changed her mind. Someone was bound
to mention something about Cordelia’s extended visit to him sooner or later.
"Cordelia came by again."

A rush of concern appeared on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I mean, it turns out she really did want to talk. I think she’ll leave
me alone a bit more now."

"Good."

There was a pause. "How was your day?" she asked.

"Uneventful," he answered with a small smile. Suddenly he came towards where
she had been sat and pulled her up into a hug. After tensing initially
Willow relaxed herself into the embrace, enjoying the man’s quiet strength
that seemed to envelope her. Slowly she brought her own arms up to wrap
around him. "We’re okay aren’t we?" he asked her. It was barely more than a
whisper and Willow wasn’t entirely sure he wanted an answer from her.

"I think we are," she answered and realised, that in spite of everything
that had happened, that she thought it was the truth.

Part 16

When the clock struck two there was a scream. It was closely followed by
someone shouting. Lindsey jerked awake from his slumber thinking that maybe
someone had attacked Willow again. His fears proved unfounded however by the
sight of his girlfriend stood beside the bed quickly pulling on clothes over
her naked frame. For a moment he sat still in shock then quickly climbed out
of bed and began to pull on some clothes himself aware that wherever she had
decided she was going to go he should really follow.

"What’s happening?"

"I don’t know," she answered already moving towards the door.

Lindsey followed, feeling oddly disorientated. His brain was still feeling
foggy from sleep and the effects of being hit on the head had only dimmed
marginally since he had arrived back at Jacob’s. He followed Willow down the
corridor and out onto the main landing, his ears becoming aware of the
familiar sounds of fighting drawing nearer. Glancing over the railing he was
startled to see a cloud of dust forming in the air and behind it the small
blonde woman he had met earlier in the day appear, her features a map of
concentration. He darted his eyes from side to side and felt them widen in
surprise. He spotted Spike and Giles fighting near each other and then at
the forefront of the battle was Angel. In each case the man was engaged in a
fight with either a vampire or human servant.

"Fire!" he heard Willow exclaim and turned just in time to see a bright,
glowing ball erupt from her outstretched hand and fly down on a collision
path with the slayer and the vampire she was battling with. Just before the
burning orb hit them the slayer staked the vampire and the blonde’s eyes
widened. She ducked, covering her head with her arms but the flames covered
her all the same. To Lindsey’s amazement they passed over harmlessly and
suddenly erupted over the vampire that had been moving in for the kill
behind her. The slayer gave the redheaded girl a grateful smile.

There was no time to think. Lindsey found himself being pushed out of the
way as a pair of human’s dived towards Willow who was readying herself to
create another fire ball. Even as they flew into her Lindsey heard himself
shouting a warning. Willow turned at last minute catching the brunt of the
attack front on. In a pile of flailing limbs they flew though the air and to
his horror they landed near the top of the stair case, teetering on the edge
for a moment before rolling down. The lawyer ran to stop their descent but
found Angel had already intercepted them. With an impressive display of
strength the dark vampire lifted one man and tossed him against the wall
where his neck made a loud crunching noise as it broke. The other attacker,
a young woman found herself flying down the rest of the steps, shrieking
loudly as she went.

Angel stood the shaking Willow on her feet, checking her quickly for any
sign of damage. At something the vampire said Willow chuckled, answering
with, "Don’t fret Angel. I’ve taken worse before." She looked towards the
approaching Lindsey, her eyes wide with concern and for the first time the
lawyer saw the huge bruise blossoming across half her face.

"Christ," he murmured taking her face in his hands carefully.

"It really doesn’t hurt that much. Not at the minute at least. It might
later."

A hand closed around his upper arm yanking the lawyer away from her. "Where
is she?" Angel snarled into his ear. Lindsey found himself staring dumbly.
Over the vampire’s shoulder he saw that Gunn and Wesley had appeared and one
glance told him that the others had also begun to gather together, their
battle having petered out. At their stern faces surrounding him Lindsey
found he was lost for what to say.

"We don’t know," Willow answered for him and at that moment Lindsey had
never been so grateful in his life. Thoughts of what their reaction would
have been to him speaking those same words fluttered through his mind. He
had no doubt that their reaction would not have been as understanding.

"Did it work?" Wesley asked and to Lindsey there seemed to be a nervous
sound to his voice.

The redhead nodded. "I think so."

"Thank God!" the British man exclaimed as relief flooded over his face. "Do
they know?"

"The last I heard they didn’t know. But I haven’t seen her in a while."

Angel appeared to be thinking, his face marked by concentration and a
serious expression. "They know we’re here so they’ll have holed up
somewhere. Jacob will keep Andre close to him. He won’t risk losing another
childe and from what I gathered the other night Andre won’t let Cordelia
stray far, even less so knowing that I, I mean we want her."

The blonde Spike chuckled, his eyes dancing with amusement. "Reluctant to
tell them why Jacob’s involved in this Angelus?"

"I can tell them later. There isn’t time now," the dark vampire snapped at
the man.

"Jacob’s going to be pissed at you."

"Wrong William, Jacob is going to be pissed at us."

"You haven’t called me that in years," Spike said and there was an odd
softening of the hostility in his voice.

"Family reunions are really sweet and everything but shouldn’t we be looking
for Cordelia?" Buffy said from her position at the base of the stairs.

"She’s right," Angel agreed.

"He might be in his study," Willow told them. "But they also have this
underground vault. You’re sure they won’t have fled?"

Angel shook his head but it was Spike who answered. "Jacob’s been waiting a
long time for a chance like this."

"Okay then," Buffy said. "Study first, vault second. Can you lead the way
Willow?"

"Sure."

"Good."

"Everyone please remember to keep an eye on him," Wesley said pointing at
Lindsey.

Buffy nodded, adding, "Let’s get going. I want to get this over with as
quickly as possible."

They moved, settling into a seemingly natural formation with Willow in the
lead beside Buffy and Angel and Spike flanking them, standing slightly back
from the two women. The others lined themselves up and Lindsey found himself
sandwiched between Giles and Wesley. He found himself trembling, not quite
believing what was happening. Willow motioned silently to the door then
stood back. The slayer nodded then gestured for Spike and Angel to get into
position on either side of her. When the rest were at a safe distance the
blonde woman mouthed a silent countdown then powerfully kicked the door in.
As the lock broke, the wood splintered sending a shower of shards flying in
all directions.

"You could have simply knocked," Jacob’s cultured voice came. "We would have
opened the door for you."

A dry smile came over the woman’s face. "Somehow I doubt that. You know who
we’ve come for?"

They entered the room as a pack giving Lindsey a clear view of the scene
within. Jacob was at his desk again with Andre standing just to one side.
The younger vampire had an arm about Cordelia’s waist and there was a
distinctly uncomfortable expression on her face. There were numerous others
stood about and Lindsey became aware that at least two others had moved into
the doorway behind them. The others didn’t seem the least concerned. Instead
they were focused solely on their immediate surroundings. Lindsey could
almost feel the slayer assessing the room.

"Indeed I do," the vampire answered, a smile to match the woman’s on his
face. "You found your witch I see and Mr. McDonald too. I assume that you
are with them against your will Mr. McDonald. Perhaps you would like to
stand to one side; after all, you have become something of a neutral party
in all this." Taking that as his cue Lindsey edged to the side of the room.

"I would hardly say that," Wesley interrupted. "I would say he was very much
involved."

"Not anymore," Angel said keeping his eyes steady on Jacob.

"I’m glad you recognise it," Jacob replied. "I admit I’m surprised to see
you here Spike. What on earth is William the Bloody doing in the presence of
a live slayer?"

"Making sure I never have to look at your ugly mug again," was the blonde’s
sarcastic reply.

Jacob chuckled. "You really don’t ever change do you? Oh well, on to
business. I want Angelus and Spike in exchange for letting you all live."

"Very well," Angel answered.

"No!" Buffy exclaimed. "We do not negotiate. It’s very simple, you give us
Cordelia and then I kill every last one of you."

"I admire you bravado slayer and perhaps it is not entirely unfounded
knowing what I do of your reputation but I believe this time you will find
matters somewhat out of your control."

"Don’t count on it."

There was the sudden whistling sound of an arrow travelling through the air
and a mist of dust as it struck home. "He twitched," Gunn supplied with a
shrug at the inquisitive glances from the others. He reloaded the cross bow
coolly. "Anyone else feel like twitching?"

With a smug smile Buffy focused on Jacob. "Let’s just do this," she said and
flew at a minion.

From where he stood Lindsey watched as Angel launched himself into the air
with a massive leap towards Jacob. The other vampire shifted avoiding the
initial attack and dropping into a defensive stance. Spike had already
dispatched one minion and moved onto Andre. The two blondes fought with a
series of stunning fluid actions, attacking and counterattacking with
surprising ease. Cordelia found herself pushed to one side and as a minion
took hold of her arm to guide her away she spun, lifting the weaker vampire
off its feet and tearing it throat out with vicious fangs. As the dust
cleared she could be seen to move towards Giles who had a female minion
clinging to his back. With only a moments hesitation she tore the attacker’s
head from her shoulder then embraced the startled looking human. Wesley and
Gunn fought back to back, the younger man now swinging an axe back and forth
while the other grappled hand to hand with his assailant. His eyes found
Willow who wielded a stake towards a vampire’s heart, successfully finding
her target. On seeing the lawyer she rushed towards him and grabbing hold of
his arm dragged him towards the only unblocked escape route.

"Go!" she said, a desperate plea in her eyes. "Get out while you can."

"What about you?"

"I can’t leave them. Damn it Lindsey go!"

He saw the desperation in her eyes grow stronger and found himself glancing
over her shoulder into the room. It had seemed they had been on the verge of
winning but more and more vampires were streaming into the room. He barely
heard the sound of her begging with him again but nodded all the same.
Leaning down quickly Lindsey embraced the redhead and kissed her before
turning and running from the room.

Pausing at the base of the stairs he remembered his brief case in the room
above along with the laptop computer. Both were filled with files essential
to work. The lawyer bit his lip and listened to the sound of the distance
fighting. It didn’t seem to be getting any closer. He took the steps two at
a time and hurried towards the room he had used for an office. Methodically
he gathered up papers, stuffing them back inside the appropriate files. A
thought suddenly dawned on him; the sounds had stopped. For a second
everything seemed perfectly quiet and Lindsey went to the window to look out
and see whether he could see what had happened.

Then the world exploded.

***

She turned not wanting to have to watch him leave, only happy in the thought
he was getting out of danger. As she did she saw the figure of Andre making
to leave and Spike surrounded by a circle of minions came to her attention.
Buffy moved forwards, dispatching them and working beside the vampire to
clear a path to the struggling Cordelia only to find Wesley had already
moved to help her. As a vampire lunged at her Willow extended her hand and
willed a ball of fire into existence. The vampire touched it and was
consumed. She headed towards the others, blocked momentarily by Jacob
sailing through the air closely followed by a speeding Angel. The dark
vampire engaged again and seeing the opportunity Willow tossed her stake to
Angel. He caught it, balancing precariously to do so and eventually toppled
backwards. Jacob followed, diving towards his unprotected neck and not
seeing the upraised stake. It plunged home and for a moment he continued to
stare wide eyed at Angel. Then the ancient vampire crumbled to dust and a
scattering of fragmented bones.

Angel glanced at his watch as if something had suddenly occurred to him then
leapt to his feet. "Everyone out!" he roared and suddenly they were
retreating. Willow found herself swept along, bewildered until they stood
outside in the night air panting from breath. The few vampires that followed
were easily dispatched and the witch found herself being pushed into a car.

"What’s happening?" she tried to say but instead found herself cowering as a
huge ball of flames suddenly erupted from the house. Spike climbed behind
the wheel and floored the accelerator. A dread feeling washed over Willow as
her eye lighted on something terrible. "That’s Lindsey’s car," she cried.
"He’s still in there. We have to go back for him!"

Buffy stared at her, sympathy filled eyes meeting her own tear filled ones.
"He’s dead if he was in there Wills."

The truth sank in painfully. "Oh Goddess," the redhead moaned and promptly
fainted dead away.

***

Willow was vaguely aware she was rocking, very slowly, back and forth. One
thought revolved in her head. He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s actually gone.
Somehow she couldn’t quite make herself believe it. It wasn’t possible. A
whimper escaped her and the witch felt a cool arm encircle her shoulders.

"Shh," Cordelia muttered in her ear and drew the girl into a comforting
embrace. The vampire placed a gentle kiss on the weeping girl’s head and
tried to think of something to say that would help her.

"I’m sorry Willow, I really am," Buffy said kneeling down on the step below
where the other two were perched. The lobby of the hotel was oddly quiet
despite all the people gathered there. They all stood around watching with a
mixture of concern and guilt painted on their faces. "There was no way we
could have stopped it."

The redhead found herself looking up at the slayer. Her eyes were rimed with
red, sore from tears that had long since run out. "You did that?" she asked
softly. It was the first coherent sentence Willow had spoken since they left
Jacob’s house and Buffy nearly let out a relieved sigh at the sound of it.

"Spike set up some explosives before we entered the house. He and Angel
agreed that it was time to take care of Jacob and all his flunkies once and
for all."

Willow nodded dumbly, the truth not entirely setting in. They’d killed him.
They hadn’t meant to but ultimately they had and the witch couldn’t help but
feel the tiniest bit angry towards them all. All of them except Cordelia
that was. There was no way she could blame her. The young vampire couldn’t
possibly have known that her redheaded friend’s boyfriend was going to end
up getting murdered.

"Cordelia," a quiet voice said and Willow found that Angel had moved to
stand near them. He’d somehow managed to place that mask of invulnerability
he owned back on his face and was once again business like. "Perhaps now
would be a good time for us to get you something to eat."

"I’m not sure I can," the girl answered and as she did her voice trembled
slightly.

"For Gods sake don’t start off like the poof," Spike said taking hold of the
younger vampire’s arm and drawing her to her feet. "That takes years of
practice." The blonde wandered off with Cordelia in tow and after glancing
back at the still seated Willow once Angel followed them.

Buffy moved up to take Cordelia’s place. "I know you probably don’t want to
think about this right now Wills but what are you going to do?"

"I hadn’t thought. There hasn’t been time to. I-I don’t want to stay here. I
want to get out of L.A. for a while. I can’t be here."

"How about coming to Sunnydale for a while?" the slayer asked. "It’s been a
while and I’m sure Dawn would be happy to see you."

"Yes, perhaps that would be a good idea," Wesley added in cool tones. Willow
glanced up to see him stood with arms crossed and an icy disapproving
expression on his face. In that instance she was certain she would never
regain his approval.

"I’m sure that Wesley meant is that we all in Sunnydale have missed you and
would be happy to have you visit for a while," Giles said, his voice clipped
and irritated and his eyes glaring at the other man.

"A break might be a good idea," Gunn offered with a shrug when Willow looked
in his direction.

"I-I don’t know… I… Okay then. I’ll need to collect some things first from
my apartment."

Buffy smiled that smile she always gave when she was certain of something.
It the reassuring one that always reminded you that this was the girl who
saved the world every day of her life. It was her job to make things better.
"This is going to be just what you need."

***

Sunnydale was almost completely as she remembered it. The air was clear and
fresh and the sun beat down as a constant from drawn until dusk. During the
day when Buffy was at the university and Dawn was in school she took to
taking long walks all over the town, reacquainting herself with it,
generally not returning home once all day until just before her friend would
be due back. They would take turns cooking then all sat around the table
eating together like a family such as the redhead had longed for during her
childhood. Sometimes Anya, Xander and Giles would drop in and it would be
like the old days, almost as if she had never left at all.

By far the most frequent visitor though to Willow’s surprise was Spike. The
vampire dropped by virtually every evening and would sit with them or
accompany Buffy out on patrol. Willow fancied that she caught a tender look
in his eye whenever he saw her friend. She never questioned Spike on his
feelings knowing the vampire was probably having enough trouble dealing with
them on his own.

With her computer and work gone Willow found herself at a loss as to what to
do, worrying that her entire business would go under before she had any
chance to save it. Giles had suggested that she might spend some time
helping out in the magic shop to help her take her mind off things and
Willow found herself considering the proposition seriously. She needed
something to do to keep from dwelling on the idea that Lindsey was gone from
her life forever. Only now did she find herself realising how much she had
cared for him. Her stay in Sunnydale had lasted nearly a month now and each
day Willow felt the ache growing steadily stronger.

"Willow!" she head a familiar voice call. Turning on her seat at the centre
island in the kitchen she saw Buffy at the back door loaded down with
shopping. Putting a smile on her face Willow rose an opened the door for
her. "Thanks."

"Hi. Need any help?"

"No you’re okay. I got it. How was your day?"

"Fine I guess. I went down to the shop to see Giles and Anya. They have some
new books in I wanted to take a look at."

"Cool. Things have been really busy there lately so I’m sure they
appreciated the help."

"Why are you grinning so much?" Willow asked suspiciously eying up her
friend’s seemingly amused expression.

"I’m not," the blonde protested, half turning away to hide the smile on her
full lips. She began to pull things out of the brown paper bags and placing
them on the counter top before her.

"Buffy!" the witch exclaimed.

"It’s nothing. I swear okay?" she paused and turned to Willow. "Can you do
me a favour and lock the car? I forgot to. Of course it might have been the
shopping getting in the way…"

"Okay, okay. But you are so telling me what’s got you all cheery when I get
back."

Buffy just smiled and handed her to keys. Shaking her head and maintaining
her own smile Willow left the kitchen and headed through Buffy’s dinning
room to the front door. As she stepped outside her mind was preoccupied with
whatever Buffy was up to and the witch barely noticed the car parked at the
curb. The late afternoon sunlight bathed the street and Willow soaked it in,
feeling the glory of nature all around her. After checking the doors were
all locked the witch found herself spinning to face the street as the sound
of a car door being opened rang out. It took her a few seconds to register
what she was seeing and in that time the figure had already crossed the yard
to stand in front of her.

His arm was bandaged and there appeared some kind of wrist support binding
it but other than that and a slight reddening of the skin on his cheek there
was nothing obviously wrong with the man. Willow leant against the car
behind her, while her mouth hung open in disbelief.

"Willow?" he asked. "Are you feeling okay?"

No I’m not, the redhead thought. Because I’m sure my heart isn’t meant to be
in my throat. Aloud she heard herself say weakly, "Lindsey?" Suddenly there
were tears welling in her eyes and a painful choking sensation as a sob
erupted from her lips. "Oh Lindsey!" she cried flying into his arms and
hugging him close while silently swearing never to let him out of her sight
again.

"Shh," he said. "Don’t squeeze too hard sweetie, my ribs are still sore."

"How is it possible? There was an explosion… I could have sworn you were
still inside."

He nodded. "I was. The blast threw me though a window. I landed outside and
the next thing after that I really remember is waking up in hospital. I was
going to come sooner but I couldn’t work up the courage to. I wasn’t sure
how you felt about me. Then I saw Cordelia and she kicked my ass into gear
and here I am."

"You dolt!" she exclaimed taking his face in her hands and laying kisses on
it. "I love you."

He smiled brilliantly at her. "Good because otherwise I would have made this
trip for nothing. I love you too."

A thought dawned on her. "Buffy knew didn’t she? Oh how could she do this to
me?"

"Don’t be too hard on her. We ran into each other while she was shopping. It
took a lot to convince her into letting me see you."

"Oh thank goddess you’re alive."

"Alive and free. As far as Wolfram and Hart are concerned I’m dead. I was
taken into the hospital as a John Doe and I cleared out my apartment. My old
life’s gone."

Eyes wide she asked, "But what are you going to do with yourself?"

He shrugged. "I’ve got a little money put by so I thought I might go
travelling for a while. You know, see something of the world."

"But what about us?"

"I was rather hoping you’re come with me."

She grinned and suddenly kissed him. Their foreheads touching she said, "I’d
love to."

THE END