| Chapter Five Lindsey was dreaming. Like every night, nightmares controlled his sleeping hours. It was just one of the prices he paid for his six figure salary. Most people would dream of sick and twisted demons chasing after them. Not Lindsey, he dreamt off losing everything he achieved within seconds. Of being forced back into a life he had detested, a life where food was scarce. Bills were never paid, and homes were taken away. His dreams were filled with sickened siblings he had to watch die night after night. Never being able to help them as the gasped their last breaths. To Lindsey being poor meant more than not having the funds to just survive, but not being in control. Being so powerless that he had to stand by and watch as the people and things that Lindsey loved were ripped from him. Thrashing around Lindsey twisted in his bed, the midnight blue silk sheets wrapping and twisting around his bare waist. He hated these dreams and the harder he fought against them, the worse they would get. It wasn't until an unfamiliar cry broke through the haze of his dream state that allowed him to break free of yet another night of torment. The cry echoed through his head again, and something started nagging at the back of his mind. It was the head splitting scream that brought Lindsey jumping out of his bed, dazed and confused. Stubbing his big toe on the edge of his nightstand, Lindsey let out a steady stream of curse words. Another scream echoed through the Penthouse and it dawned on Lindsey that it was his new little guest. "Sophie." Hobbling to the guestroom, Lindsey tried to clear his head of the dreams that held him captive every night. Walking into the room and turning on the light, Lindsey was relieved to see he had stopped Sophie just as she was filling her lungs to let out another ear shattering scream. Tears streaked down the little girl's face, and it made Lindsey's heart skip a beat when he saw the terror in her little blue eyes. "You turned the light off!" Sophie glared at Lindsey and sniffed back her tears. Lindsey looked blankly back at the little girl, sure he had in some way done a great injustice to the tiny tot, but for the life of him couldn't figure out what. "You were sleeping." Lindsey took another step toward the bed; afraid if he got too close she'd start screaming again. "Mommy always kept a night light on." Sophie looked so lost in the huge king sized bed, and Lindsey felt like slapping himself upside the head. Of course a four-year-old would have a nightlight. Especially seeing that she was in a new place. Looking around to find something to use to light the room slightly, Lindsey walked to the walk in closet and turned the inner light on. Shutting the door slightly. "How's that?" "I want a nightlight!" Sophie wailed. "Mommy got me a pretty horsy nightlight." Tears started forming again in her eyes. "I'll buy you one tomorrow, okay?" Lindsey started to leave but Sophie stopped him again. "Will you sing for me?" Lindsey groaned and looked over at the little girl. "Sing?" Sophie nodded and patted the spot next to her on the bed. "Mommy used to sing to me." 'She would too.' Lindsey thought. Molly had the prettiest voice. He used to sneak into her choir practices at the local church just to hear her sing. "What do you want me to sing?" Lindsey gave in; knowing the quickest way back to bed was to just sing to his daughter. "I want... umm." Sophie put a small finger to her lips. "The Wheels on the Bus." "The what on the huh?" Lindsey looked back at her puzzled. "Maybe I should pick a song." Sophie thought about that for a moment then nodded. Lindsey thought a moment of a song suitable for someone so young. His mind drifted back to songs his mother had once sang to him. Of her voice that would sooth him to asleep. Sitting on the edge of the bed he started a little unsure, with a song his mother once sang. After the first few lines the words started coming back to him, and he got so wrapped up in the song he was surprised to see that Sophie had drifted off again. Reaching out tentatively he brushed the chestnut locks off her face, and smiled to himself. Relaxing against the headboard Lindsey continued to stroke the little girl's head. Within minutes both father and daughter were asleep. Both slept without nightmares. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Willow stepped into the hotel lobby well after three in the morning. She'd had first stopped by Cordelia's place when she arrived in LA, and had been surprised to find the apartment empty. So Willow thought she had three choices. One stay here at Cordelia's doorstep, in the middle of the night, in the middle of LA until the missing brunette showed up. Two try to convince Cordelia's ghostly roommate to let her in, but seeing that this was her first time here she really wasn't up to an encounter with Cordelia's ghost alone. Three go to Angel's hotel and see if for some reason Cordelia was still there. Three won out and here Willow was staring at Cordelia who was surrounded by newspapers, engrossed in some article. Could this really be the former May Queen that she was staring at? The girl from Willow's High School days that had tormented her at every given breath. "Cordelia?" Cordelia jumped at Willow's soft voice, and looked in the direction that it had come from. "Willow? I thought you were coming tomorrow." Standing from her position at the table Cordelia stood to welcome the little redhead. "Well it is actually tomorrow." Willow smiled as Cordelia tried to rub off the black residue the ink from the papers had left on her hands. Cordelia looked back at Willow a little puzzled then looked at the clock hanging on the wall next to Angel's office. "I guess I let time get away from me." Looking back at Willow Cordelia couldn't help but smile at the other slayerett. "Look at you! I must say Willow you're all grown up. See you stopped shopping at Sears." Willow looked down at herself, at the printed wrap skirt and matching top. To her this was how she'd been dressing for over a year now, but the last time she and Cordelia had seen one another Willow was still donning the pastel fuzzy sweaters, and overalls. "Yeah, Buffy threatened me will violence if I didn't let her help pick out my wardrobe for college. So liking my health the way it was I agreed." Cordelia nodded and shifted a little uncomfortably. It was the first time either girl had stood face to face since Graduation Day. Sure they had talked on the phone, and emailed on another. Cordelia had convinced Willow that the whole Xander thing was water under the bridge. Willow forgiving the major bitchy ways of Cordelia's School days. But that had been over the phone and internet. "Thank you for coming. No one else seems to think that this is some big deal. They all left hours ago. Gunn and Wes went to some party in Gunn's old neighborhood. Angel is on patrol." Willow walked to the desk Cordelia had been working at. "So what kind of evil are we fighting?" Cordelia beamed at Willow, thankful to have someone there to help her. Picking up a picture, Cordelia handed it to Willow. "This vile and pathetic loser." Willow let out a low whistle. "Wish the demon population back in Sunnydale looked like this. Fighting the forces of evil would be a little less... icky." "What do you mean?" Cordelia looked back down at the picture of Lindsey, trying to see if there was something she missed. "Have you lost your eyesight?" Willow's eyes popped open. "He's not bad on the eyes." "Lindsey? Well I guess he's not the ugliest thing walking on two legs, but that's pretty much all he has going for him. He's evil Wills, that evil with a capital E. Lindsey Aaron McDonald works for Wolfram and Hart. The unholy corporation I've been telling you about. In fact he's the guy that helped bring Darla back...the one that Angel chopped the limb from. He's bad Willow." Willow laughed. "I said he wasn't bad on the eyes. Not that I want an introduction. " Cordelia made a face at Willow and plopped back down at her desk. "Anyhow, I ran into this really adorable little girl today at the mall. She had been playing by the water fountain alone." "Where were her parents?" Willow took a seat at the empty desk near Cordelia's. "That's what I thought! So I was talking to Angel about his abuse of my shopping abilities when the little girl hurt herself. I was the only one who seemed to care. Oh Willow she is so small and sweet. Her name is Sophie and she said that she was four. Well at first she said nothing but that her Mommy said that she shouldn't talk to strangers, but I warmed her up with an ice-cream cone." "What kind?" "Huh?" "What kind of ice cream?" Willow slouched down in her chair, enjoying seeing a different side of Cordelia. Who would have thought that her friend liked children? "Pink bubblegum." Cordelia imitated Willow and got more comfortable in her chair. "That used to be my favorite!" "Mine too and Sophie eats it just like I did by picking all the gum pieces out first. So anyways the mall security had announced that Sophie was missing, she and I were near the fountain again. She said that her Mommy was in heaven, and that she was with her new Daddy." "New Daddy?" Willow fought the drooping of her eyelids. "That's what I asked when next thing I know evil-lawyer-boy shows up. It tore me apart to let him take her. I don't even know if he is her Daddy... Father. Willow we have to make sure that nothing happens to Sophie." Cordelia yawned and barley registered the sleepy agreement from Willow's direction as they both fell asleep. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An hour later Angel found the two girls asleep in the chairs in awkward positions. Walking over to them, he crouched down beside Willow and watched her sleep for a moment. She had always had such a peaceful expression while she slept. On his nightly rounds back in Sunnydale he had always made it a habit to check on each of the slayerettes, making sure that they were all alive and well before he turned in at night. He even checked in on that idiot boy Xander, knowing that if anything happened to that loud-mouthed obnoxious teen the others would be heartbroken. Willow was always his last stop. He loved to stand and just watch her face. He needed help. Standing he couldn't decide to wake the girls up, or leave them be. "I saw that you know." Spinning in Cordelia's direction, Angel liked ashamed at getting caught staring at the redhead. "Saw what? I haven't seen her in awhile." <Stupid, that was just a plain stupid thing to say. > Cordelia smiled knowingly at Angel and stood up to stretch. "Well just as long as you don't get all broody I can deal. I mean the powers have super glued that soul of yours to you. So at least there's no Mr. Tight-Leather pants to worry about. And after the last two blondes Willow is an improvement." "Cordy, it's not like that, we're talking about Willow here. Sweet innocent Willow." Angel looked annoyingly over at his Seerer. "You want her." Cordelia pulled on her jacket. "Now do I tell her that you were staring at her, or do I..." "What do you want?" Angel asked. "I want your help in keeping Sophie safe until we find out what Lindsey's up to ." "Deal." Angel took one last look in Willow's direction, and disappeared before Cordelia had a chance to wake her. |
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