| ~~~Chapter nine~~~ Lindsey leaned his head back against his newly stained beige leather couch. Damned those stupid sippy cups they were supposed to be leak proof, what a crock of shit. And what the hell did they put in Kool-Aide? He was tired, no scratch that he was exhausted, wiped out, completely and totally drained of all energy. Never in his life had he ever been so utterly depleted. Toys littered his once pristine apartment and he didn't have the energy to even contemplate how long it would take to put things in order. Moving his head enough to stare at the folder sitting next to him on the couch, Lindsey groaned. He had so much that he should have gotten done that weekend and didn't even get a chance think, let alone get any work done. There had been no time. The second he'd get Sophie situated playing with a toy or taking a nap, he'd try to sneak in a little work. But without fail, within minutes there'd be a crashing sound of yet another of his possessions being broken. Having Sophie in the penthouse was like having a force of nature living under your roof. There was no stopping the chaos, and the mass destruction left in her wake. Taking a deep breath, enjoying the precious silence Lindsey prayed that the small redhead from the cafe showed up in the morning. He needed someone to care for Sophie while he was at work, and his choices were limited on such short notice. Plus Sophie seemed to really like Willow, but unfortunately not as much as she liked Cordelia. Lindsey swore if the little girl asked one more time if she could go and see her friend 'Cordy' he was going to throw a fit. How could his daughter become so attached to a person she only spent moments with? And the questions the little girl would ask about Miss Chase was nerve wracking. Was she his friend? Where does she live? Did he ever play with her? Lindsey smiled at that last question. He had been trying to clean the Spaghetti O's out of the carpet when she laid that one on him. Did he play with her? Naughty images of the beautiful brunette ran through his mind, the different ways that he'd love to be able to 'play' with Angel's Seer. But those images were quickly replaced with images of Angel beating him within an inch of his life. Cordelia Chase had defiantly been an interesting study. She was a woman of contradictions. From the limited information he had gathered from her years in Sunnydale , and the little information he had gleamed of her life in LA. Surprisingly there was little on her years in the demon infested town. But he did know she was a child of wealth. That in her youth Cordelia Chase had what she wanted when she wanted it. She ruled her school, leaving students in disregarded heaps when they were no longer useful to her. In the end her family did end up losing everything in a very poorly executed attempt to deceive the IRS. Now what Lindsey couldn't figure out is how one spoiled brat went from queen of the hill, with faithful servants at her feet. To being concerned about helping others, to the point that she risked her life for them on a daily basis. Lindsey shook his head, he didn't have time to sit around and analyze Cordelia. What he needed to do was figure out what line of crap he was going to dish to Holland Manners. He missed half a day of work on Friday, and missed a very important meeting with a potential client yesturday. Mr. Manners could care less that Lindsey was thrown a side ball and been caught off guard. Problems outside of work were of no interest to the firm. Reaching for the folder next to him, Lindsey was fast asleep on the couch before he had a chance to read the first page. ~~~*~~~ "You've got your cell phone?" Cordelia gripped her hands together, her nerves threatening to eat a hole through her stomach lining. "Check." Willow help up her portable phone. "Lap top?" "Check." "You remember the secret code we came up with for you to call and let me know there's trouble?" "Yes, Cordy really everything is going to be fine." Willow put her jacket on, hoping that her friend was done playing twenty questions. "The second anything goes wrong I'll call. Okay?" Cordelia nodded. Taking a deep breath Willow headed toward the door. "I'll call before I come home, that way if Angel and any of the others are here I can go somewhere else until they leave." "Willow be careful, please? I know that Lindsey has helped us in the past, and that he probably wouldn't kill you...willingly. But the place he works..." "Cordelia I know. Wolfram and Hart is an evil and vile place. I'm going to be fine." The two girls hugged each other tightly. "If Angel asks if I talked to you what should I say?" Cordelia let go of the redhead. "That he can bite me." "You know that he was just worried that you'd get yourself hurt." The words sounded lamer spoken out loud, then they did inside her head. "No, Angel likes the control he has over people. Too bad for him that I'm sick to death of being told what to do." "Either way, we are going to have one enraged vamp on our hands if he finds out your still in LA." Thinking back to the night that Willow and Angel got into their little tiff, Cordelia couldn't remember the last time she felt such electricity around two people. It was like the room pulsated with it. And the sorrowful voice Angel had the two times he called since he dropped Willow off at the bus station made Cordelia wonder... nah. ~~~*~~~ Angel slammed down the phone. She had lied. Willow had never gone back to Sunnydale, in fact from what Buffy had just said, Willow had called yesterday saying that she was needed in LA for awhile and not to worry. He had called to make sure there weren't any hard feelings between them, that they were still friends. He needed to make Willow understand that he cared for her and was just worried about her welfare when he took the upper hand and ordered her home. "Women!" Angel yelled in frustration. Willow never intended on backing down meekly. He'd bet a years blood supply that Cordy was involved in this as well. Now he needed to decide what to do. He knew what he *wanted* to do. He wanted to grab Willow tie her up and drag her kicking and screaming if need be back to Sunnydale. She belonged there, was needed there. He already worried enough about Cordelia's safety that he didn't need the added stress of the redhead as well. "A-Angel is there something wrong?" Wesley stuck his head into the office. "Nothing much except that Willow never went back to Sunnydale." Angel muttered walking around his desk and sitting down. "I thought you took her to the bus station ." Wesley asked confused. "I did." Angel nearly growled. "But it looks as though she never made it there." "Oh...OH. So where is she?" Angel balled his large hands into fists. "My guess?...At Cordelia's, but mostly likely at this very moment she's on her way over to Lindsey's." "Oh dear. What are we going to do?" Wesley frowned. "What can we do?" Angel bit back. "What's going on?" Gunn strode into the office, reading the angry undercurrents in the room. "Miss Rosenberg never made it to Sunnydale." Wesley muttered. "Red's missing? Damn I liked her, she had spunk. What do you think happened to her?" Gunn leaned up against the doorframe. "Nothing. She never planned on returning to Sunnydale." Angel's mood got darker. "I swear when I get my hands on her..." Gunn and Wesley exchanged amused looks. "So what's the deal? She's at Cordy's." Gunn shrugged. "She lied to me." Gunn laughed at Angel. "She's a woman Angel, they do that. Besides did she lie to you, or did she trick you?" "She's not a woman, she's still a girl." Both men stared at Angel. "Angel Miss Rosenberg hasn't been a 'girl' in quiet some time." Wesley hesitantly replied. "What English said." Gunn nodded. "Because trust me, from where I was standing Red was all woman to me." "Her name is Willow." Something about the way Gunn talked about Willow being all woman didn't sit well with Angel. "Fine...Willow. So now what? Are you going to rush in there, all snarling? Throw her over your shoulder and force her back to Sunnydale?" Gunn challenged the vampire. "No." "NO?" the other two males replied in shock. "No, if Willow and Cordelia want to play this little game then I'll let them. We'll just keep an eye on them, and when they finally get in over their heads we'll help them out." Angel stood grabbing his jacket. "Don't let Cordelia know that we're on to them." "So now we're supposed to lie to Cordy?" Wesley frowned. "We're not lying to her, we're *tricking* her." Angel threw back Gunn's words and walked out of the office. |
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