CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

One Week Later

Abigail woke finding Lorne snoring lightly beside her. They've been on the ship for a week. Their vacation was half over.

She couldn't fall back to sleep so she got up, dressed quietly and left the cabin. She wondered down the hallway and down the stairs to the 2nd deck. She was heading towards an Internet Kiosk she had seen a few days ago.

Abigail paid for a terminal and checked her emails. She got one from Fred, who was asking her how the cruise was going and if she had gotten sunburned yet. Abigail replied to the email and found she got one from Bailey.

How's your vacation going? I hope you're having fun—but not too much fun! I have a schedule already for you to take a look at when you return.

Kind Regards

Bailey Tanner

She didn't bother replying. It wasn't an urgent one. She logged out of her email account and checked out a news site before her time ran out. Abigail then left the kiosk.

She had that feeling again-the feeling she was being watched. She looked over her shoulder but didn't see anyone, except for a teenager entering the kiosk.

Abigail kept walking and definitely heard footsteps behind her. She ran up the narrow staircase, nobody could see her as she was hidden from view. The follower walked calmly up the stairs behind her and she finally whirled around.

It was a man and he suddenly morphed into his demon face.

" Why are you following me?" she asked him.

The demon looked surprised for a minute. " I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." He said calmly as he climbed the steps. This unnerved Abigail and she used the barristers to swing her legs at the demon, sending him flying down the stairs. She turned and ran towards the safety of the cabin.

~**~

She didn't tell Lorne about the demon and the demon didn't follow her around again. Either she must have injured him or he got the message. The 2nd week flew by and it was time to go home.

The ship arrived back in LA. They took a cab back home and Ada greeted them warmly. " Hello, how was your vacation?"

" Wonderful." Abigail said. The couple looked so happy and in love. Much happier then they were 2 weeks ago.

" Sweetie, I have to go back and reverse this spell," Lorne said as they were back in their bedroom, " I shouldn't be too long."

" Ok." Abigail agreed as she took one last look at the human Lorne. " But to tell you the truth I was starting to miss the demon Lorne."

~**~

Two Days Later

The mail clerk pushed a basket full of office mail down the hallway. The top package is an envelope addressed to Angel. As the clerk passed the elevator, the elevator bell pinged and the back sets of doors open.

Fred stood there confused, holding a box of papers and personal belongings, looking out the wrong side. Wesley walked up to the elevators from the lobby, holding a coffee mug.

" Fred?" Wesley called to her.

" Wesley!" she exited the elevator.

" Can I help you with any of that?" he asked her.

" It's so big," she answered looking around in awe.

" It does take some getting used to." Wesley agreed.

" Have you seen my lab? It's giganamous. And I'm in charge." Fred said.

" I'm sure you'll have no trouble—"

" I don't even understand half of what they're doing. There's this machine, 6 feet tall, it makes this noise— whoompa! Whoompa! Phht! Not a clue." Fred went on.

" Well, I'm still stuck back at, "Why on earth are we here?"

" What, because we're crusaders against evil and now the law firm that represents most of the evil in the world has given us its L.A. branch to run however we want, probably in an attempt to corrupt, divide, or destroy us, and we all said yes in, like, 3 minutes?"

" Your run-on sentences have got a lot less pointless." Wesley said.

" Oh, that's so sweet. And a tad condescending." Fred replied.

"Uh, you sure I can't help you—" Wesley asked again but was interrupted by Knox. After a brief conversation, Knox took the box from Fred. She followed him up the stairs to her lab and Wesley watched them go.

~**~

Around lunch time, the gang met in Angel's office when they were interrupted by Lorne.

" Lorne!" Fred exclaimed, " I didn't know you were coming back today." She hurried over to hug the demon. He wore a very loud red Hawaiian shirt and a pair of khakis.

" It's nice to see you too kitten. We thought we'd come back a couple days early to get settled in our new jobs," Lorne explained.

" Good to have you back." Angel told the demon, pleased.

" Where's Abigail?" Wesley asked Lorne.

" I'm right here," Abigail replied as she entered Angel's office, " I had to stop by my office." She looked tan and happy.

Fred hugged Abigail also and demanded to hear about everything.

" We have to take care of business first-" Angel protested.

" Angel, sweetie, it's lunch time. We have photos." Lorne said. Over the trip, they were careful about not taking any photos of Lorne and Abigail. Lorne still refused to tell the group about what he did.

Later that afternoon, Abigail went back to her office and looked over the schedule. First she had to look through her files someone had left on her desk when the door opened.

" Don't you knock?" she glanced up to see a young woman enter the room.

Eve ignored this. " We didn't meet earlier. My name is Eve. I'm the new liaison."

" Hi," Abigail didn't get up to shake her hand or anything.

" So…you're her." Eve looked at Abigail up and down. " The Protected One. Funny, I expected you to be…taller."

Abigail's eyebrows raised, " I'm the what now?"

" Here. You should look at these." Eve handed her a bunch of files.

" Thanks, but I got my own." Abigail gestured at the two piles on her desk.

" But I think you'll want to. These are your files." Eve said and put them down on Abigail's desk.

Eve left and Abigail's phone rang. " Hello?"

" It's me." It was Angel, " I need to see you. There's someone here wanting to meet the new IT manager."

" Oh. I'll be right there." Abigail replaced the phone and left the office, Eve's files forgotten.

A few minutes later, Lorne knocked once and didn't get a reply. Knowing that Abigail wouldn't mind a visit from him, he went in only to find the office empty. There were two piles of files on her desk plus a third with her name on it. Curiosity got the better of him as he flicked through the third one. His eyes went wide. This file was about her. Her past, her parents, their deaths, everything. Then something caught his eye. There was a section dedicated to her destiny. Not many futures were written in stone, but hers was pre-destined. And she must not know. If she found out, then she'd put and two together and realised Lorne used mojo on her.

In a split decision, Lorne grabbed the destiny section, folded it up and left the office.