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Chapter 13: The Storm The team was sitting in Angel's office. Buffy was looking depressed with Angel brooding next to her, running his hand up and down her back in a soothing manner. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the small slayer and it wasn't helping with the way she felt, like she had just lost a friend and been betrayed at the same time. It was like Faith going evil all over again. Cordelia was tired of the silence, she never had been one to stay quiet for long. “Let me get this straight, this Christian guy you befriended, he's our very own evil lawyer at Wolfram & Hart”, she summed up what Buffy had told them. “Yeah”, Buffy sighed and brooded some more, doing her best Angel-impression. “Then it's a good thing I didn't talk you over to fix me up with him. Or would it have been a good thing since I would have known who he is and...” Cordelia drifted off. “Does he know about... about your condition?” Wesley questioned, interrupting Cordelia. Feeling and looking uncomfortable, he signed at Buffy's pregnant stomach. “I don't know, it's not like I bothered to hide it when I met him, but I never told him. But...” “Evil lawyer and everything”, Cordelia finished for Buffy who nodded in confirmation. “I believe it would be safe to say that they know of Buffy's pregnancy. But why haven't they done anything about it, you would think that such an extraordinary occurrence would rouse their attention”, Wesley said thoughtfully, removing his glasses and starting to just fiddle with them, not cleaning them or putting them back on. Everyone could see he was both baffled and nervous, but Angel more than others as he heard the racing of his heart and the sound of it was bringing the demon inside him closer to the surface. For hours now he had wanted to hunt down Lindsey McDonald and put the terrible knowledge of torture Angelus had provided him into good use. The bloodlust he felt because of the lawyer and now the sound of thumbing heartbeats and rushing blood was making him edgy. “I'm thinking they wanted to sneak in under the radar”, Gunn said, turning everyone’s attention to him. “I was thinking that too”, Angel confirmed glumly. “I think I want to stake him”, Buffy grumbled under her breath. “Buffy, despite the fact that he works for a evil law firm, he is still human, corrupted but human”, Wesley chided and everyone shot him a weird look. As the realization came to him, he turned his eyes away from everyone. “Oh, you weren't serious”, he stated, clearly embarrassed. Hastily he removed his glasses and started to clean them, his hand nervously polishing the lenses with the old handkerchief. “About wanting to stake him or actually staking him?” Buffy questioned and started pouting as Angel gave her a chiding look. He felt like a hypocrite as it took all his willpower not to jump to his feet and hunt down Lindsey McDonald and skin him alive for putting that hurt look on his mate's face. “Angel, you're doing the growly thing again”, Buffy whispered to him and then he noticed the slightly frightened looks everyone were sending his way, he hadn't even noticed that he was growling deep in his chest just from thinking about Lindsey. “Are you evil?” Cordelia demanded giving him a hard look. She was one step away from pulling out a wooden cross and thrusting it to his face. “I'm not evil”, Angel answered with a sigh, but Cordelia didn't look convinced. “I'm not evil!” he repeated more loudly. “It's a vampire thing. He's just jealous”, Buffy explained matter-of-factly. “I'm not jealous”, he grumbled. “Sure you're not”, Cordelia said like talking to a child, her tone made it clear she was just placating him. “I'm not!” “We believe you”, Cordelia conceded and all but gave him a pat to the top of his head. “How about we concentrate on the matter at hand”, Wesley interrupted. “Now that we know Christian's true identity, what are we going to do about it?” “I say we go and kick his ass. Gunn and Angel can hold him while I kick him with my new high heels”, Cordelia said passionately and Buffy couldn't help but laugh. “As good as that sounds, I think we need something little less...” she left the sentence hanging in the air. “Anyway, I just want to look him in the eye when it all goes down.”
Buffy was sitting in a busy café, waiting for Lindsey to arrive. She had finally decided to confront him after avoiding him since she found out his true identity. She lifted her gaze from the table as she heard the door's bell go off and her eyes landed on Lindsey who headed towards her. “Hey there”, he greeted with one of his charming smiles. “Hey”, she answered lifting her gaze to his, offering him a smile that was hard to form to her lips. “I was surprised to hear from you”, he stated as he sat down to the table. “Why?” she asked innocently raising a questioning eyebrow. Maybe she hadn't been all that subtle with her avoidance. “Well, you said you'd be busy yesterday when I called and you were in a hurry to get off the phone.” “Oh, it got canceled”, Buffy answered dismissively, the flashed a sweet, innocent smile. “I just thought I'd talk to my friend. Cordy's so busy today, so I figured why not catch up with you. So how's the album recording going?” “It's going well, almost finished”, he answered, the lie came out smoothly. He couldn't even pick up his guitar because the sound wasn't right with his mechanical hand, it was almost like he was still wearing the plastic hand and after the first try, he hadn't touched his guitar. “Maybe you could get me a CD before it's out, I haven't heard you singing”, Buffy suggested nonchalantly and watched as he shifted uncomfortably then changed the movement into just trying to get more comfortable in his seat. “Yeah, maybe I could.” “Want some coffee? I was thinking you and Angel could meet today since we've been trying to arrange it for some time”, she suggested innocently, she watched him from under her lashes, noticing his pose stiffening at Angel's name. “Sorry, I can't tonight”, Lindsey apologized. “Oh, it's okay, he's trying to make it here now”, Buffy waved it off, smirking inside, struggling not to let it show on the outside. “I can't stay long, I have a meeting with my manager”, Lindsey stated apologetically and stood up with Buffy following him. “Oh? You're always going to a meeting or something when I suggest you'd meet Angel. It almost looks like you don't want to meet him, Lindsey”, Buffy said pronouncing his name pointedly. Lindsey froze and turned to look at her, trying to remain as calm as he could. She was staring straight into his eyes, her eyes betraying nothing. This wasn't the girl he had got to know, this was the slayer. “So you know”, he stated calmly, something he wasn't feeling in the inside. “Yeah, I know”, Buffy answered grimly, folding her arms in front of her like a shield. “This isn't how I wanted it to end”, he said and tried to step closer to her but the look she sent him made him stop. She looked at him like she wanted to rip off his arm, not just settle into cutting off a hand like Angel had. “I bet it wasn't. But how did you think it was going to end? That I wouldn't find out? You lied to me, you used me!” she hissed under her breath, not willing to cause a scene. “Buffy”, he whispered painfully and reached out for her. “Touch me and I'll rip your arm off”, Buffy ground out and quickly Lindsey pulled his hand away, she looked like she would follow through with her threat. “You stay away from me and my family, or you and anyone else from Wolfram & Hart will be the exception to the rule that slayers don't kill people”, she hissed gritting her teeth and walked past him. Lindsey didn't dare to touch her or try to say anything to her, he liked his arm the way it was and there was no need to cause a scene in a public place when there were other ways to handle it. As soon as Buffy was out of the door, Lindsey pulled out his cellphone and dialed the number. “We have a problem.” Buffy crossed the road and met with Gunn who had been monitoring the situation from his truck across the street. He walked with her around the car. “Did everything go alright? It looked pretty heated there at one point”, he asked clearly concerned. He leaned against the passenger door and looked at her, waiting for the answer. Buffy took couple of calming breaths and nodded. “I'm okay. Just threatened to tear his arm off and he backed off. Just hormones, no big.” “Okay, remind me not to piss you off till you've popped.” “Hey! I'm not that bad!” Buffy protested and Gunn jumped back with his hands held up, cornering himself between the car and a pregnant slayer. “Of course not”, he said and she shot him a halfhearted glare. He opened the door for her and her anger for him faded, with a sigh she got into the car. He pushed the door closed and ran around the truck, hopping in and heading back to the Hyperion.
Buffy and Gunn walked into the lobby and immediately Angel rushed to her. He stopped in front of her, inspecting her with his eyes and to the others it almost looked like they were talking without saying anything. “You okay?” he asked and she nodded with a small reassuring smile. “Yeah. It's not like he could take me if he tried anything.” Angel gave her a hint of a lopsided smile as if saying 'that's my girl', but soon it disappeared from his face as he heard a rifle being loaded. Before the shot fired through the silencer, he spun him and Buffy around, the dart hitting him in the back. “Angel!” Buffy screamed as he started crumbling down to the ground. The others ran to the weapon cabinet and armed themselves, Wesley reached for the tranquilizer gun as Cordelia opted for the crossbow and Gunn took Angel's battle axe. But they didn't have time to join the fight as Buffy gently laid Angel down to the floor and attacked one of the masked intruders. The man didn't even have time to reload as he was down on the ground, unconscious and Buffy was going after another one. She fought the man with fierce focus when suddenly she was grabbed from behind and she felt a needle prick on the back of her neck. She kicked the commando in front of her and thrust her elbow back, hitting the man behind her. She fought to stay on her feet but the world was quickly loosing focus and she started staggering. “Stay where you are!” Lindsey commanded the AI members as he grabbed a hold of Buffy before she crumbled down to the ground. Two masked men pointed their guns at the team as two others dragged the unconscious men out. “Those aren't loaded with tranquilizers”, Lindsey stated and handed Buffy to two men that had just entered the lobby. He dropped the needle down to the ground and pressed his hand to his ribs, the blow was quite painful. He gave a sign to the task force and without another word, the group left. “Angel”, Cordelia breathed out as soon as the guns were directed away from them. She ran to the unconscious vampire as Gunn and Wesley hurried to the door just in time to see a black van speed off. They returned to Cordelia who lifted her gaze to the two men. “Angel isn't going to be happy when he wakes up”, she stated and glanced at the vampire.
Slowly Buffy woke up and the first sight she saw was a row of steel bars. She sat up and placed her hand to her stomach, after a while stating that the baby seemed to be doing fine. She rubbed the back of her neck, her whole body felt as stiff as those steel bars surrounding her. “You know, you really didn't have to go through all this trouble just for little ole me. Cages and the whole medieval stuff really isn't my thing”, she stated and Lindsey stepped into the view, knowing she knew he was there. “Well, I would have just sent flowers but Wolfram & Hart thinks little bigger than me”, he said with a sad attempt of a smile. He didn't like the fact that she hated him, he had come accustomed to having a friend who wasn't corrupted by evil, but that didn't mean he was willing to face the wrath of Wolfram & Hart for her. She glared at him, the smile left her cold because she knew what he was. Slowly she got up from the floor, not taking her eyes off of him. “Was it all a lie? Can you even sing?” she questioned, distrust and venom clear in her voice. “It wasn't a lie and I can sing a hell of a lot better than your boyfriend.” “Well, that may be true. But you lied to me! You used me! I would love to stake you right now”, she said through gritted teeth. “I told you once before, I'm not a vampire”, Lindsey stated and Buffy scoffed, her eyes narrowing. “You're worse.” Lindsey looked at her painfully and walked closer to the cage, still keeping a good distance so she couldn't reach him. “Buffy...” he started but she interrupted him, shooting daggers at him while saying every word like they were poison. “Was it all a lie? The whole bad childhood was just a trick to make me feel for you, to feel sorry for you, to trust you?” “No, that was true. You see, that's why I have no choice, I stayed with Wolfram & Hart...” “You do have a choice! You always have a choice! You had your chance to get out but you didn't take it!” Buffy interrupted him vehemently. He shook his head and stepped closer to the bars. “No, I don't. I'm not going to be a victim anymore.” “You're still a victim”, she stated and jumped forward. Before he could react, she had grabbed him by the throat and pulled him against the cold bars. “Open the door”, she demanded. “Don't have a key”, he answered calmly, he was fairly certain she wouldn't kill him. “Guess we'll be standing here till you find one”, she stated just as calmly, her eyes showing she was serious. “You're a smart girl, Buffy, there is no way you can protect that baby forever. There are many things after it and Wolfram & Hart isn't the worst”, Lindsey said and Buffy let out a sound that was very close to a predatory growl. “You're a smart boy, Lindsey, don't ever piss off a hormonally imbalanced slayer”, she ground out and smashed his head against the bars, knocking him unconscious. Bonelessly he slid down to the ground as she let go of him. She leaned down and searched his pockets, finally sighing in irritation. “Is it too much to ask to keep a key with you”, she griped as the search turned out to be fruitless.
Lilah walked towards her car digging the keys from her purse, then she stopped and looked around as she thought she heard a noise. The garage seemed empty until her eyes fixed on the other employee walking to his car. Sighing in relief, she kept on going, pulling out her car keys and starting to unlock the door. Then suddenly Angel was standing next to her, she hadn't seen or heard him coming and it took everything in her not to jump when she noticed him. “Where is she?” Angel demanded. He could smell the intoxicating scent of her fear in the air, but despite that, Lilah gave him her best defiant look. There was no way she was going to loose her game face in front of the vampire. “I don't know what you're talking about”, she said innocently, or as innocently as she could. Suddenly Angel leaped forward and before Lilah could even register what had happened, she was pinned against the car by her throat. “Don't play with me Lilah, I'm not in the mood. I repeat, where is she?” he growled out, his face morphing into vampire feature without him even acknowledging it. He was quickly loosing control and the fear radiating off of her in waves was making his thirst for blood even more prominent. “I don't know”, Lilah whispered, this time her eyes showed her fear as well. The low, angry growl he was making was sending cold chills running up and down her spine, this wasn't the brooding vampire that shied away from anything that reminded of the demon inside him. She wasn't all that sure if this was Angel. “I have no patience to play your games. I repeat, where is she?” Angel ground out through gritted teeth and tightened his hold on her throat. She gasped for breath and tried to wring his fingers off her throat but it was in vain. He just tightened his hold around her. “In a safe house”, she wheezed out and Angel let go of her neck. She nearly fell down to the ground and she had to lean against the car to stay standing, a show of weakness she didn't want Angel to see. She tried steadying her breathing, but she could see that Angel wasn't a patient man at the moment. “A safe house in the suburbs, I don't know which one”, she explained quickly between pulling deep breaths of air. “You better pray that nothing happens to her because if there is even a hair missing from her head, I will hunt you down and you will wish you had never seen me”, Angel threatened and spun around, stalking away. As she watched him go, she pulled in a ragged breath and closed her eyes in relief. “I already regret it”, she muttered to herself and with shaking hands unlocked the car door. As she had sat down and pulled the door closed, she looked to the backseat before pulling out her cellphone, quickly dialing a number.
The whole team jumped as Angel growled and threw a book to the wall. “This is useless!” he ground out and made a step closer to the computer, but Cordelia stepped in front of him with a defiant look on her face. “Stop the growling! Throwing around the computer and crashing the place is not gonna help. We are going to find her so keep your forehead in place”, she ordered and pointed at the chair for him to sit. Grudgingly he did, still glaring at her but she didn't let him intimidate her, no matter how much Angelus vibes he was giving off. “I think we found it”, Wesley informed from the computer and quickly wrote the address on a slip of paper. Angel had already jumped back to his feet and nearly ripped the paper from Wesley's hands before he finished the last letter. “Let's go”, he announced and headed to the weapons cabinet, grabbing a battle ax before continuing to the door. “It's a good thing the sun isn't up!” Cordelia stated loudly making sure Angel would hear her but he seemed to ignore her. She turned to the others. “Is anyone else getting a Angelus vibe from him?” she asked as soon as he had walked out the door. “You don't think...” Wesley started shocked by the suggestion and Cordelia shot him a strange look. “Did you leave those big brains of yours back in the office? If that was Angelus, we'd be running screaming for our lives and there would have been a massacre at Wolfram & Hart. Please! I was just saying he's all growly and running through the door not caring if it's day or night.” “He's just concerned. And I have read that vampires can sense when the sun rises and sets”, Wesley stated, picking up a crossbow and heading out with Cordelia and Gunn. “Whatever. But I still think he shouldn't be running around like a headless chicken”, she waved it off, not willing to accept Wesley's explanation. Angel was waiting impatiently in the car for them to catch up with him and didn't look happy when they finally stepped in to the car. He glared at the people, but didn't say anything, just sped off. He slowed down as they arrived to the address and parked the car out of sight. The group sneaked closer to the house and Angel glanced through a window, quickly estimating there were at least two demons in soldier outfits and three vampires, probably more that weren't in the line of sight. “There's at least five of them on guard”, Angel informed the others. “So how you wanna handle this?” Gunn asked. He was pretty confident that this would be a good fight, nothing they couldn't handle. “We go in and get Buffy out”, Angel answered grimly and at that sprinted into run and practically crashed through the door. “So guns blazing it is”, Gunn stated and the others followed the vampire that was already fighting the guards. Wesley shot one of the vampires but it managed to dodge enough that the arrow missed the heart. With a angry growl, it abandoned the fight with Angel and attacked Wesley. He tried to shoot another arrow at it but it batted the crossbow off his hands and punched him against the wall. “Hey!” Cordelia yelled and as the vampire turned, she sprayed holy water to his face. The vampire was blinded, giving Wesley the perfect opportunity to stake him. He pulled out the stake from his jacket and seconds later the vampire was dust. Angel and Gunn were sharing the other guards, with an easy move, Angel staked the vampire he had been fighting with and threw the other demon across the room, making it crash through a window. He spun around, thirsty for more bloodshed. He spotted Gunn in a fistfight with a demon, the man was too distracted to notice the remaining vampire trying to sneak behind him. With a growl Angel jumped into the fight and with a swing of his ax he decapitated the last vampire. The demon that Angel had thrown out of the window, stepped inside the house, trying to sneak up on the group. Cordelia let out a high shriek, alerting the others as the demon tried to grab her. Angel tackled the demon to the ground before it could reach her and started hitting it. Quickly Cordelia pulled out a bottle of maze from her pocket and directed the spray at fight that was going in front of her. Angel grabbed the demons head and twisted. A sickening crack echoed through the room, making everyone except Angel grimace at the sound. As the demon dropped dead to the floor, he turned to Cordelia, wiping his face to his sleeve. “That's vile stuff”, he stated and Cordelia raised one eyebrow at him. “What? I wasn't aiming at you”, she defended herself. Angel shook his head, then directed his gaze to Gunn who was still fighting the remaining commando demon, it looked like he was just having fun and with that notion, Angel headed to the basement door, following the feeling that his mate was close by. As he pulled the door open, he came face to face a large demon and with a growl, he hit it with all the strength he had, sending it flying down to the basement. Quickly he jumped down the stairs and felt the relief flooding his body as his eyes landed on Buffy, alive but in a cage. “Hey”, she whispered with a small smile, her voice was soft but he could hear it clearly. She had known he'd find her, there was no doubt about it. “Hey”, was his automatic answer. Then his eyes turned to Lindsey who had just waken up when the demon came flying down the stairs. He was sporting nasty bruises on his face, matching the bars of the cage and a threatening growl escaped Angel just from the sight of him. Lindsey sprinted towards a table by the wall and Angel went right after him, stopping him from reaching the tranquilizer gun. Angel grabbed his arm and twisted forcefully till there was a sickening scrunch and the lawyer screamed in agony. As Lindsey was on the ground, he kicked his knee to the man's chin, effectively knocking him unconscious. Angel took a deep calming breath to get himself under control so he wouldn't fall for the temptation of killing the man in front of him like the demon inside him was telling him to do. But he needed to get Buffy out of the cage and out of the house. Quickly he looked around himself, his eyes landing on the keys tangling on a hook behind the table. He grabbed them and with long strides he was in front of the cage, opening the door. Buffy stepped out of the cage the second he had managed to open the lock and wrapped her arms around him, pressing a quick, longing kiss to the side of his lips. “It's okay, baby. Lets go home”, he whispered soothing words against her ear, smoothing his hand over her hair before pressing a kiss to her crown. His hands went to her stomach as he started to guide her out of the basement. At the door, Buffy looked back, sending a sad, disappointed look at Lindsey before she stepped out of the door, closing it firmly behind her.
Buffy tried untangling herself from Angel's limbs but with every freeing movement he seemed to just tighten his hold on her. Finally she sighed in frustration and let herself fall limply to the bed. “Angel, I need to get something to drink”, she said knowing that he was usually a light sleeper and especially now he would notice the smallest sound. “Wait here, I'll get it”, he said and started loosening his hold on her. She sat up with him, turning to him with a frustrated look. “Angel, I can get a glass of water myself”, she protested but he turned to look at her and shook his head. Clearly he didn't think so. She placed her hands to her hips. “You're never going to let me go outside ever again, are you?” she questioned accusingly. “That was the second time you got kidnapped in a short timespan, I'm not letting you out of my bed again”, he stated, then a smirk rose to his lips. “Now that I think about it, I like that idea.” Buffy laughed and playfully slapped his arm. He smiled at her but soon the smile faded and his gaze traveled down to her stomach, his hand covering the growing bump. “Are you sure you two are okay?” he asked almost in a whisper. Buffy cupped his cheek with her hand and turned his eyes back to hers. “We're okay”, she assured him. “But?” “It's just... it's just that I'm feeling betrayed and disappointed with Lindsey. I though he was a friend and it turned out that he's a evil lawyer out to get you.” Angel covered her hand with his and brought it to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her fingers. “I know. You trusted him and he betrayed that trust”, he said, his voice soft and sympathetic. She nodded, sniffing back the tears that tried to form in her eyes and were ready to slide down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his finger, his touch was like butterfly wings on her skin. She looked at the ceiling with a sigh. “Damn hormones”, she grumbled, then turned her gaze back to him, her eyes showing how vulnerable she was at the moment. “I just want to forget him tonight. Could you just... hold me right now?” Angel wrapped his arms around her and pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “What about that drink?” he asked softly even though he needed to feel her close to him just as much as she needed him. “It can wait, I just want to feel you. You're the only one I feel safe with”, she said in a whispered and closed her eyes taking comfort in his presence.
Lindsey walked into his office with his arm on a sling and a cast wrapped around his forearm. The look on his face was as dark as the nasty looking bruises. His scowl deepened as he found Lilah sitting in his chair. “Lilah”, he stated coolly, closing the door behind him and walking further into the room. “How's the arm?” she asked with a smirk, making no move to leave his chair. She didn't even try to sound sympathetic. “Good. But I doubt you came here to ask about my wellbeing”, he said and walked closer to her, his cool eyes drilling into her. “Just wanted to check if you're still alive. He wasn't a happy camper when you took his little blonde. You're lucky he just broke your arm instead of ripping it off.” “As nice as these visits are, what the hell are you really doing here, Lilah?” He was loosing his patience at the same rate as the painkillers were wearing off. She looked at him up and down before she got up to her feet and sauntered around the desk. “The senior partners are pleased, you get to keep your head as well as that arm of yours. We've found Angel's weakness and she's the key in dipping him over to our side.” Lindsey let out a humorless laugh. “If you're thinking about killing her, your plan has one big hole in it. If you kill Buffy, Angel doesn't only loose his sanity but he will have more the reason to tear down Wolfram & Hart, more so now that she's pregnant weather or not she has given birth at the time.”
Lilah glared at him and started to walk past him. “Just because you had a bunch of coffee dates with the girl, don't think you have any say or insight into the thing. Wolfram & Hart will get that kid and the slayer is expendable, our main goal is to get Angel to our team, don't you forget that”, she reminded him with a cold voice and intentionally brushed against his broken arm as she walked past him.
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