dlg12

~~~part 12~~~

"Thomas, come in." Holland Manners waved the dirty rodent faced man into his office. Out of habit the Holland went to offer a firm handshake, but the god awful stench radiating of the other man made him think twice about it. "I have a little job for you to do, nothing all that challenging mind you."

The small man looked nervously around the imposing office; he hated this place always had. These people always looked down on him, thinking that they were high and mighty. But in the end, no matter how clean they were or what kind of cars they drove they were the same. They were all dead inside. All predestined for an eternity in hell.

Holland cleared his throat; not liking the way Thomas was scrutinizing him. "One of my up and comings seems to have gotten himself off track, forgetting his priorities. I need to...rid me of a distraction of his."

Thomas's face stayed impassive, giving no hint whether he would take Holland up on his offer. "This is a delicate situation, and I'm sure you will be as... professional as possible. Lindsey McDonald has seemed to become a father over night, which could prove disastrous right before the year end review with the senior partners."

"What do you want me to do?" Thomas cut to the chase, not caring the why's of the job. To him the why's just was an easy attempt to ride the other person the slightest guilt they may feel. Give him facts.

"I think its pretty clear. I need his daughter out of the picture. Lindsey has always had this nasty habit of having a conscious. Constantly tattering on the line, not really knowing what he wants. I can't afford that right now." Holland grabbed a stack of papers he shoved them toward the other man. "This is all you need to know. Where he lives, his hours. He called today and said that he just hired a Nanny. If you have to take her out as well."

Thomas looked at the pictures. "Where's the Nanny?"

"We don't have anything on her as of yet. Lindsey just hired her today." Holland felt Thomas's intense stare and knew that it was no excuse. They should have everything on the girl Lindsey hired, all the way down to her DNA. "It won't matter as long as you take care of this quickly."

"I don't like going into a situation not knowing all the facts." Thomas threw the pile information back on Holland's over polished cherry wood desk and headed toward the door.

"It's one little girl, and some nobody." Holland couldn't believe that this could happening. Some piece of trash off the street was saying no to him. No one said no to him, *ever*. Thomas was almost out the door. "Fine, I'll double my original offer."

"Triple." Thomas didn't turn around, but had stopped in his tracks.

"There's no way... Fine triple. But I want this situation a distant memory. And Thomas, I want Lindsey unharmed. What you do to the Nanny and the little girl is none of my concern as long as they're taken care of." Holland called out at a retreating back.

~~~*~~~

"Oh my Goddess Cordelia you have no idea just how over active that girl is. I mean she's like Xander on a three-day sugar high. She bounced from one thing to the next so fast that it made my eyes blur." Willow leaned back her exhausted head. Cordelia sat next to her, drinking in everything hat had to do with Sophie.

"What else?" Cordelia was dying to hear it all, from start to finish.

"Cordelia!" Willow moaned. "I already told you everything. Lindsey and I spent most of the day chasing after her just to keep her out of mischief."

"Lindsey." Cordelia made a face at the mention of his name.

"He's not all that bad." Willow froze, as the words just seemed to pop out of her mouth. When was she going to learn to stop doing that, just saying things without thinking?

"Yeah right not bad in that he's evil and scheming and...and evil."

"Cordelia from what I gathered Sophie really is his daughter. His high school sweetheart was her mother. He didn't really go into much detail, but just the way he talked about her I think that he really had feelings for her."

"I care. He's made our lives a living hell. He brought Darla back to torment Angel, and for that I will *never* forgive him." Cordelia's rant was cut off by a knock at the door, cutting off their conversation. Both girls sat wide eyed when the second more persistent knock came.

"Cordy?" Angel's voice came through the door as Willow and Cordelia jumped up from the couch to stand staring at one another wide eyed.

"Cordelia are you home?" Angel's voice came again, making the girls move at once right into one another as they made a mad scramble to the guestroom.

"What are you doing?" Willow hissed. "You're supposed to be here, this is your apartment. Answer the door."

"Nah-uh." More knocking came this time, followed by the sound of Angel trying to turn the doorknob. "Dennis?"

"Answer the door!" Willow shoved Cordelia out of the room and hurried to the closet.

Cordelia considered ignoring Willow's command, but instead found herself opening her front door. "Angel! Thought I heard someone knocking." Wincing at how forced her voice sounded; Cordelia stood her ground not letting Angel enter.

"Are you okay? I was worried." Angel took a step to the right to get around the barrier that Cordelia had created. "You don't have company do you? I thought I heard another voice."

"Nope just me, all alone...no one else." Cordelia followed Angel's movement blocking him again. "What are you doing here? Something come up?"

"No just wanted to talk." Taking a step left and heaving a big sigh when Cordelia shifted too, he reached out and physically moved her. "I called Willow and I think she's still mad at me. I still think I should go see her. Make things right you know."

"NO! I mean she has school and all that. I'm sure that she'll get over this. You know our Willow will get over this, she can never stay mad all that long."

"I know, but I just feel like there was something she wasn't telling me." Angel watched the frantic look in Cordelia's eyes mount, getting an odd satisfaction that he was causing his friend so much stress. She was lying to him, looking him straight in the eye and lying. Okay so she didn't might not have said that Willow wasn't still in LA, but still she was keeping something huge from him.

"Angel get over it. Give it a few days and call her again." Cordelia jumped when Willow's phone started ringing.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Angel smiled, silently thanking Gunn for timing his call at just the right time.

"Umm...no. Listen Angel I'm really tired and I have a few leads on Lindsey I need to check out tomorrow. Se you tomorrow?" Cordelia grabbed Angel's arm and pulled him to the door. "Night, see you tomorrow."

"Good night Cordelia." Angel was barely out the door before it slammed behind him. 'Night Willow.'

~~~*~~~

Willow showed up at Lindsey's promptly at eight, armed with a huge cup of coffee and an assortment of videos. Lindsey let her in as he shrugged on his Armani jacket. "Are you sure you're ready to be alone with her?"

"Lindsey she's four. I think I can handle this." Willow laughed. Walking over to the couch Willow slipped the strap of her bag off her shoulder as she
spied Sophie peeking out from her bedroom door. "Good morning Sophie, have you eaten?"

The shook her head.

"How about you help me make some pancakes? I can show you how my friend Xander and I make funny shaped ones." Sophie nodded as she ran from her room and to the kitchen.

Lindsey grabbed his briefcase and keys and hurried to the door. "I may be a little late tonight, I hope you don't mind. I have a lot of stuff that I neglected while I was out." Willow smiled, this was a great opportunity to snoop a little while he was gone. She brought her laptop again and could download information from his computer in his home office to look at later.

"Don't worry Lindsey, we'll be fine." Willow shooed him out of the penthouse, breathing a deep sigh of relief when he was finally gone.

Her morning was a blur of activity, learning quickly that Sophie was one smart cookie. She had shown off her ability to recite the ABC's counted to forty, plus sang many songs that Willow had long ago forgotten. While pillaging through the mountain of toys Lindsey had purchased his daughter Willow had found some Play Dough. It was the one activity that had kept Sophie entertained for a good hour.

Willow had been able to get some information about Sophie's mother while they were making make believe purple snakes. It was abundantly clear that the little girl missed her mother, and Willow's heart went out to her. For four she seemed to grasp the concept of just how sick her mother was. Sophie explained about the hospitals that her mother had been to, which ones were her favorites and which ones had mean witches working
there.

"Who took care of you while your Mommy was sick." Willow wished she hadn't asked as a dark cloud fell over Sophie.

"Grammy and Gampy Donald." Sophie's dislike for the mentioned persons wasn't hard to miss.

"Your Daddy's parents?" Willow asked nonchalantly as she gathered information.

"Uh-huh. They always told me that I was evil, and that God didn't want me." Willow felt a chill go over her body as the little girl recited the words she seemed to know by heart. "I was a sin."

"That's nonsense. You're a perfect little angel." Willow gripped onto the Play Dough, squeezing extra hard as anger gripped her insides.

"Really I'm an angel?" Sophie's blue little eyes rounded in astonishment.

"Yes, you are and I should know. I have a friend that's an Angel too." Her lips quirked at her play on words, her initial anger lessening at Sophie's amazed expression.

"Really? Does he know my Mommy?"

"Oh no Sophie, he's a different kind of Angel. He lives here on earth and helps people." Willow hugged the little girl to her, vowing that Sophie was going to feel loved and wanted.

"Wow. Can he help my Daddy?" Shifting her eyes away slightly, Willow found it hard to meet inquiring blue eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"Gampy says that Daddy going to live with the Devil. I don't want him to." If Willow could force Lindsey McDonald to change his ways that very second she would.

"I'm sure that you're Daddy's going to heaven too. I think you shouldn't believe everything that your Grampy said." Willow wanted to know what kind of person told a little girl that they were evil and that their Daddy was going to hell. "I have an idea. Why don't we clean up and go to the park?"

Sophie's eyes brightened, chasing away the dark clouds from her eyes. Jumping from the table Willow had to call her back, reminding her that they had to clean up their mess first. After that chore was done, Willow grabbed the key Lindsey had given her, grabbed their jackets just incase and herded Sophie out the door.

~~~*~~~

"What!?" Cordelia huffed towards Wesley and Gunn. All the two had done all morning was give her strange looks. Every time she'd question what their problem was they'd look away muttering nothing.

"Nothing- No damn it there is something Barbie. After all that we've been through-."

"Gunn." Wesley interrupted, giving the shut you mouth look.

"No I'm not going to play this game. Why are you lying about Willow going back to Sunnydale? Angel talked to Buffy two days ago and *knows* that she doubled back." Cordelia chocked on the mouthful of coffee she had just sipped.

"He knows! Why that snake. What else does he know?" Turning to Wesley Cordelia pinned him with a glare.

"You won't get any information out of me. I think this whole thing is ridicules." Wesley picked up the book he was reading and headed for the back office.

"Fine. Gunn?"

"I'm not getting any further into this. I don't like the way things are heading here, with all this sneaking around and hiding." Gunn stood and left,
leaving Cordelia feeling rotten.

So Angel knew? And all that I want to see Willow and make this all better was just a line of crap? Well she'd show him.