Title: Seeing Her

Author: Jozzy

Rating: G

Spoilers: Season 3 Angel

"Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as real strength."
-Ralph W. Sockman

No one sees her the way I do. They look and think they know what is inside her. But they only see small parts, never the whole. I know how perfect and divine she is but I am the one who will never have her.

Charles Gunn sat behind the front desk at the Hyperion Hotel gazing Fredd. In her arms, the small woman held Angel's infant son. The older, wiser being stared up at the beautiful brown eyed Fredd.

Gunn had been sitting there watching the two communicate for an hour now. He and Fredd had been put in charge of the baby and the phones for the night. Conner had awoken ravenous and immediately began to holler for nourishment. Once fed the little child had refused to be rocked back to sleep. Fredd had taken over watching Conner and Gunn manned the silent phones.

At first Gunn had sharpened stakes, moving from there to trying to file some client information. Giving that task up he had simply perched at the desk.

Fredd was beautiful. Gunn had reached this conclusion days before, his mind stumbling across the fact one day during their annual lunches.

It was customary that Fredd and Gunn picked up lunch for the office. Everyday to the small cafe on the corner for Cordy and Wesley. Angel and Lorne never ordered. During the hour long wait for Cordy and Wesley's food the two friends would stop by Taco Bell were Fredd would daily astound Gunn with how much she could put away.

It was on one of these excursions when Gunn had begun to fall. Fredd was shoveling a nacho into her mouth, her cheeks covered with bean dip and sour cream. Charles had finished ten minutes before and was now just cheering her on.

His sides were shaking from the deep belly laughs that racked his body. Rolling his eyes he had reached across the table and wiped off the sour cream with his thumb. Fredd had frozen the moment their skin had met, a slow blush moving up her face.

Gunn had never seen anything more beautiful.

It had taken him a couple of days to wrap his mind around the fact that he found Fredd attractive. But now that he had he couldn't stop staring at her. Only the girl's natural obliviousness had saved him from deep embarrasment.

Normally things would have been going a lot smoother than this. By now he should have asked her out. This was different though, not just because it was Fredd, but because he had out that Wes liked her too.

Wesley was probably Gunn's best friend at Angel Investigations. It had always been a rule of Gunn's not to allow women to come between him and his friends. If it hadn't been Fredd he probably would have just let Wes have her.

It was Fredd though. Fredd who laughed at all his jokes, who didn't care that he understood every three words that came out of her mouth, only that he listened, Fredd who was small and fragile and needed protection, Fredd who made his heart ache and made him forget all his rules.

He couldn't let her go, couldn't get her off his mind. When they were alone like this all he could think of was sweeping her into his arms. Actually sweeping, Gunn had never wanted to sweep a woman into his arms in his life.

So he backed off. Let things go slow, instead of the usual fast paced relationships he was used to. Fredd remained blind to his interest and he and Wes continued to fight for her attention.

Wasn't it a damn shame that he knew he could never have her.