Title: End of Time (1/?)
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?"