TITLE: Can't Get You Out of My Head
AUTHOR: Blodwyn
E-MAIL: blodwyn29@btopenworld.com
SUMMARY: Someone lost something, and turns to Angel Investigations for Help
RATING: Dunno. Tame?
DISTRIBUTION: Sure, just ask first.
SPOILERS: General activity upto S3 Episode "Birthday".
DISCLAIMER: Don't own a Thing: not even the computer it's written on. Joss and Co are all Gods!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Rabid Mary Sue plot bunny needs exorcising from my brain. Hence the bizarre title :)
Can't get you out of my Head
Gunn sat perched on the counter in the foyer of the Hyperion, grinning like a kid, sugar from his donut all over his face. Cordelia scowled at him, handing him a napkin
"Clean yourself up" she instructed "and get off the counter, you're projecting a bad image to potential clients".
"Cordelia, might I point out that we don't have any potential customers." Wesley interrupted them, "and unless you want a vision, it doesn't look like we're going to get any."
"Of course Wesley" Cordelia spat at him "I would love to have a head pounding, soul splitting, agonising vision just for you! Any thing you say 'o great leader'"
"Cordy, I'm sure Wesley didn't mean it like that" Angel tried to smooth over the argument before it got any worse, and before it got loud enough to wake Connor. He was gently rocking the baby in his arms.
Cordelia sighed, far too on edge to rise to the argument.
"I'm sorry It's been a while since I had a vision, but hey, skull splitting headaches, not missed".
Gunn jumped of the counter, wiping his hands on the napkin Cordelia had given him
"It's OK Cordelia" He said, "things will pick up sooner or later"
"Well its not like someone is going to walk through the door right now" Wesley muttered, drawing everyone attention to the double doors. Miraculously they opened,
"Wow" Gunn was impressed, for about the two seconds it took for him to identify the person coming through the doors.
Sensing everyone staring at him Lorne looked up
"What!" he looked confused at all the attention "what is it? Do I have something down my shirt?" he came down the few steps to stand by the circular couch. "No it's the Hat, isn't it?" he removed the offending item. "I knew it wasn't me, but no, I had to listen to Aggie, some friend she is" he harrumphed "sent me out into the world looking like an idiot in this hat" he threw it onto the couch "so what's happening here? It feels like you were all expecting Elvis to walk through the door" Lorne wandered to Angel's side cooing gently at Connor. Gunn Grinned
"They all thought you were a client"
"Oh, Well I'm very busy" Lorne said heading for the stairs "with no bar for people to come to me, I have to go to them, it's exhausting! See you all later sweetcakes" he trotted up the stairs to his room. Gunn wandered to the couch and picked up Lorne's discarded hat,
"He's right though, this isn't really his style" it bought laughter to the group.
**********
The woman looked like she hadn't slept for a while, limp hair, and dark shadows under her eyes, at odds with the nicely tailored, but not designer dress suit she was wearing. Sergeant Richards leaned towards the other police officer on duty with him, nodding at the woman he whispered
"5 bucks says missing person". Blake looked at her for a moment
"Nah" he whispered back "domestic violence"
"Can I help you?" Richards asked the woman, she stepped upto the desk
"Um I'm not sure" she said, her voice was suprisingly quiet.
"What is it about" Richards questioned her further, she seemed to suddenly change her mind
"Actually no, I don't think you can help me at all" and she turned to leave.
From the corner of her eye she caught a yellow flyer pinned to the notice board, it was half covered by a wanted poster, but she seemed drawn to it. She had a closer look, beneath an odd scribble of something, were the words "Angel Investigations" followed in smaller print by "we help the hopeless" a phone number and address followed that. And hand written on the bottom it said, "nothing too weird for these guys". It was the word weird that stuck in her mind, her situation was certainly weird, and perhaps these investigators could help her more than the police. With a quick tug she pulled the flyer from the notice board and took it with her. She left the police station and checking the address on the flyer again headed towards the Hyperion Hotel.
**********
"Next time you can clean the weapons cabinet" Cordelia grouched at Wesley while he bandaged her hand.
"You were the one who pointed out the broad sword was dusty" Gunn argued for Wesley
"But I wasn't the one who sharpened the damn thing!" came the snippy retort
"How on earth would you cut of a demons head if it wasn't sharp" Wesley enquired "we don't all have Angels strength"
"If Connor doesn't sleep soon, Angel won't have the strength to brush his hair" Cordelia said.
None of them noticed the woman who had entered until she spoke
"Excuse me" the soft voice interrupted them
Everyone jumped, and Wesley dropped the first aid box he had just been closing. Cordelia recovered first
"Hello, I'm Cordelia, how can we help you" she said smoothly
"Angel Investigations?" the woman enquired, Cordelia nodded. "I found you flyer in the police station, I thought I'd try here, I don't think the police can help me, it's a bit... Um..." she paused
"Unusual" Wesley guessed "that's alright we deal with unusual all the time"
"Gunn, perhaps you could..." Wesley gestured to the pile of weapons on the floor, and Gunn moved to clear them away "my office is this way Miss..."
"Carter. Emily Carter, and its Mrs." She smiled "well soon to be ex Mrs. But I'm not here about that."
"Wesley Wyndam-Pryce" he returned the smile "Can I get you some coffee, or Tea"
"Oh Tea is fine. Milk no sugar, thankyou"
She sat and watched Wesley carefully warm the pot then make the tea.
"Nothing against the English myself" she said "but they do make a nice cup of tea"
"And I have nothing against the American's myself." Wesley replied, returning her smile. "But they don't"
"We do so" Cordelia interrupted "we just don't make a ceremony about it"
"Actually that's the Chinese" Wesley lectured
Gunn came into the office and stood behind Wesley. The three of them looked at Emily in silence. She shifted slightly in her chair
"So what can we do for you" prompted Wesley.
Emily looked at her hands, nervously twisting them in her lap.
"I guess you could say it's a missing person" she started "Only I don't know if he's actually missing"
She paused taking a sip of her tea.
"Perhaps you could tell us about this person you want to find" Wesley suggested
Emily looked at him
"Firstly Mr Wyndam-Pryce I want to stress that I'm not stupid, or insane, I absolutely believe this person does exist"
"Wesley" Wesley corrected "And may I say that if you were either stupid or insane I don't think you'd be here"
"Well perhaps I can get you to re-evaluate that" she looked him in the eyes "the man I'm looking for isn't human you see"
"Demon" Gunn asked
"Well duh!" Cordelia supplied "Not much else"
Wesley gave her "Not now" look
"Mrs Carter, I can assure you we are quite versed in the demonic population of Los Angeles, however more information will be needed to locate a particular one"
"Emily, please" Wesley wasn't sure whether she was pleased or not with their simple acceptance over the existence of demons. Most people either ignored or forgot where relevant.
"What would you want to know?" she asked
"Well where did you last see this person, for one, Name, age, etc. oh and a physical description"
"That's the problem" Emily sighed "I haven't actually MET him"
Wesley raised his eyebrows at Gunn
"Some sort of blind date?" Gunn wondered out loud "Sorry" immediately apologising under Wesley's stare. Best not get into a discussion of those underworld-dating activities.
"No!" Emily practically shrieked "this is even weirder now I come to say it out loud" she took a deep breath seeming steeling her self.
"I've been dreaming about him" she paused again, noticing the looks that Wesley and Cordelia were giving each other she continued in a hurry
"It started about a month ago, just after my husband left. The dreams were scary at first, a voice, and a face floating about, but after a while I found comfort in the dreams, they were coming every night, and I found so much comfort in them I didn't want to be awake" she paused sipping more tea
Wesley shared another look with Cordelia, they all knew perfectly well how powerfully dreams could effect your waking life, as they had seem the way Darla had effected angel recently. He gestured to Emily to continue
"Well even though I was upset at my husband's departure, I was not an emotional wreck, not was I drinking heavily or using anything else. As the dreams progressed I got to know more and more of this man, his voice, his personality, his taste in clothes, in music." She paused again
From a tone in her voice Wesley ventured his opinion
"Are you in love with him"
Cordelia smacked him on the arm in outrage
"Oh yes, completely" Emily didn't hesitate at that answer, but she did blush "actually recent the dreams have progressed to a more erotic nature"
No one commented.
"Dream study is not a particular area of my expertise" Wesley started
"I don't want to be studied, this is real! This is a real person. I want you to find him" Emily said crossly
"The Sub Conscious mind exists on many levels, including astral projection and dream invasion" Wesley continued without blinking "and with out knowledge of local demons it is entirely possible that he is indeed a real person"
Emily looked relieved.
"Perhaps then a physical description and a name would be a place to start" Cordelia reached for a pen and pad
"I don't know his name" Emily admitted "but I illustrated children's books for a living so I came prepared" she pulled a small spiral topped pad from her bag and handed it to Wesley.
Wesley took the pad and turn to the first drawing
"Oh My" was all he could muster
"Ah" said Cordelia
"Wow" said Gunn
"I knew it!" Emily buried her face in her hands "there's more pictures" she said from between her fingers.
And there was.
Wesley flipped the pages slowly, accompanied by various "ums" and "ahs" from Gunn and Cordelia.
Finally he closed the pad and dropped it back on the table.
"We'll take your case" he announced
"Really" Emily grinned "thankyou"
"Shall I?" asked Cordelia
"Why not" replied Wesley
Cordelia gently took Emily's arm and led her from the office. They stopped at the bottom of the sweeping staircase in the foyer. Taking a breath Cordelia yelled at the top of her voice
"LORNE" a pause then "LORNE, GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE NOW!"
"Will Lorne help us," Emily asked.
"Lorne will solve you case" Cordelia replied, then turning back to the stairs shouted again "LORNE"
"Alright, alright" came the voice upstairs "sheesh my mother could hear you all the way back in Pylea!"
Lorne came down the stairs, he looked like he had been sleeping, and was slightly rumpled.
"What is so important you had to interrupt my extremely important nap?" When he reached the bottom stair he finally noticed Emily. His eyes widened in shock and recognition.
"OH" was all he could manage
"I knew you were real" Emily whispered
Lorne held his arms out and Emily rushed into his embrace.
"I thought you were a ghost" Came Lorne's reply.
"Wait! You know her," Cordelia asked
"I've been dreaming about her for a month, it started when I moved in here" Lorne explained "because she was so unhappy I thought she was a ghost, left behind from the Thesulac demon." He looked at Emily
"I had no idea" he whispered to her
"And you didn't say anything to us" Cordelia demanded
"What did you want me to say," Lorne demanded "you have a beautiful ghost in your hotel who visits my dreams and we're having and affair?"
"Yes!" Cordelia said "NOTHING interesting ever happens around here!"
"Well you solved our only case so it's your fault!" Gunn supplied
Cordelia grinned "yes I did, didn't I" she dashed back to the office. Emerging a few minutes later with a piece of paper. Gunn caught sight of the paper and grinned, Cordelia would never change. Invoice indeed!