I do not own any of the characters from BTVS or ATS. They are in much more
capable hands thank goodness.
Thanks to Maliek and MysticWolf1 (for all four) and whistergirl your reviews are keeping me motivated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walking down the corridor to Lorne's office Ariane was silent, trying to understand what had just taken place.
"Did I do something to displease him Lord Lorne?" She asked eventually.
"No starfish, you didn't displease him. Angel's a complicated guy. It's sometimes difficult to figure out why he does things. In fact it's sometimes nigh on impossible." Lorne was angry, no, angry was too calm a word for it. Lorne was livid. He had never come across a more gentle, sensitive, thoughtful and kind-hearted soul in his life as the one he touched yesterday, the one walking at his side.
He had seen what her life had been with that monster that had handed her over like a piece of meat. The years of torment, of being made to feel useless and hideous. He understood why she had been unwilling to look at herself in a mirror. Lord Meenotuk and the rest of his associates had convinced her she was monstrous, that the very sight of her was offensive. In their culture there was no greater insult.
He could tell just by looking at her she thought people must be mad to not be repulsed by her form, but she was so grateful that she refused to allow it to cloud her perspective.
"Don't worry about Angel, I've got lots of great stuff to keep us busy." He smiled down at her making a silent vow to take the man to task about this as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Entering his office Lorne called his small staff together to introduce Ariane. She graciously shook hands with all of them smiling and attempting to pay complete attention to everything Lorne and the others were telling her. Yet she couldn't seem to stop her thoughts from returning to Angel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're unbelievable."
"Should I take that as a compliment?" Angel asked, his voice conveying his disinterest. He looked up from his papers, his eyes flashing a warning to Spike.
"Not unless you like being a cold hearted, selfish, arrogant bastard."
"You're calling me arrogant, that's rich. What did I do this time?" Angel scoffed.
"You dismissed her like she was nothing, no not nothing, less than nothing."
"What would you have me to do, sit her down ask her what she wanted to do? She's been here five minutes, she doesn't know what she wants, so I made up her mind for her." He shrugged unconcerned with Spike's opinion.
"You sent her away with a complete stranger."
"She's with Lorne."
"Yeah, who she only met yesterday?"
"She only met me yesterday."
"But she knows you. You don't get it do you. She didn't just show you a vision Angel, thought transference is a two way street. She read you, and judging by just how good she is I'm guessing she knows everything about you."
"That's impossible, she didn't have time."
"With all the crap you've seen over the years, you think that's impossible? No Angel you just don't want to believe it."
"So what, you think I should go charging after her, tell I made a mistake and invite her to share my office?"
"If you've got a decent bone in your body you'll at least check on her to see if she's okay."
"Maybe later, I'm busy." He stated, returning his attention to his desk.
"What did Buffy ever see in you?" Spike asked before disappearing.
"She. Spike!" Angel yelled at the empty room, then picked up the now empty glass that Ariane had given him and threw it across the room in frustration, smashing it against the door.
He got up from his desk and walked to the window and looked out on the street below. He heard the door open as Harmony stuck her head in to check everything was okay.
"Out!" He yelled not turning from the window.
"Touchy, touchy." Harmony commented closing the door.
How could he explain it to Spike when he couldn't even explain it to himself? That he was feeling the same feelings Spike had admitted to, of being drawn to her, He had only felt this way once before, the day whistler had shown him Buffy for the first time. That was a road he wasn't willing to travel again. If he could have, he would have sent her a lot further away than Lorne's office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lorne had offered her a room at his place until they could find something suitable for her elsewhere. It was a blessing to be away from the offices, it was so loud there, so many people all vying for attention.
"Penny for them?" Lorne asked leaning casually against the doorframe of his spare room. She looked lost sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor.
"Pardon me?" Pulled from her thoughts, she was unsure how to answer.
"It's a figure of speech sugar, you are offered a penny for your thoughts. There's another, a problem shared is a problem halved. It means tell me what you're thinking about and I'll try to help."
"You do not need to concern yourself with me Lord Lorne."
"Remember what Angel told you about the Lord thing, it goes for me too. Just call me Lorne, and honey I know I don't have to concern myself with you, but the thing is I want to." He sat down beside her and placed an arm gently around her thin shoulders.
"What's to become of me?" She asked simply.
"As of now that's up to you. Life's what you make it and all that. Look on the bright side, you don't have to spend your days cooped up with Mr Morose."
"Did I meet him today?" She enquired, not up to speed with sarcasm.
"Yeah babe, you just call him Angel. He's not big on the whole sharing his feelings gig, he holds on to them like a security blanket." Ariane looked back at Lorne nodding, following less than half of what he had said verbally but getting it loud and clear in other ways.
"He is.," Dipping into Lorne's thoughts to find a word to explain what she was thinking, she finally settled for, "Deep."
"That's an understatement, he's unfathomable. Not to say he's not a nice guy and all, just way too detached at times."
"I perceived that during my offering, though his mood seemed to change after he returned from his quest. He seemed to have recovered something long lost and much lamented, but upon rising this day he seemed to have returned to his previous manner."
"You think he's lacking direction don't you?"
"That is not for me to venture." She uttered, unsure if she should be so bold.
"Don't worry sweetie pie as far as I'm concerned you're right on the money. If you ever want to give up working for the greater good, you could make a fortune on the Vegas circuit. Hell you could even go national." Lorne grinned to himself amazed that so much power could be crammed into such a small package.
"I just know I'm going to love working with you." The two smiled at each other. For the first time Lorne could actually see Ariane relax.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a restless night in her new lodgings Ariane was tired but looking forward to her first real day at the office. Following a quick but refreshing shower, she and Lorne shared breakfast together. Ariane opting for fruit juice as she admitted to being too nervous to actually eat anything.
She dressed in another pants suit, this one a delicate shade of shell pink, teamed with a cream satin blouse.
Lorne had told her as they walked to his office that they would be working with a group from the research department that morning. He said it was important that a firm like Wolfram & Hart had every member of staff evaluated on a regular basis.
"Let's just say it's not uncommon for them to 'change allegiances'." He said diplomatically.
"Oh." Was all she could think to say.
"Don't worry, it'll be a walk in the park, and you'll meet Wesley."
"Wesley?"
"He's one of the original crew, Angel Investigations as it was before we went up in the world." Lorne indicated his plush office as if for emphasis.
"That's a matter of opinion." Spike smiled at Ariane, he still couldn't believe what a change of clothes could do for a girl. "You look good enough to eat, and I should know." He commented, undressing her with his eyes.
"Good morning Spike." She smiled back at him, her smile seemed to light up the whole room.
"Wow." He sighed. She looked at him confused. "That's the closest I've come to a sunrise in decades."
"Impressive isn't it." Lorne smiled back.
"I don't understand?" She looked between the demon and spectre trying to figure out what was so interesting.
"It's your aura honey, when you smile something radiates through it like sunlight." Lorne informed her, "I noticed it yesterday."
She blushed uncontrollably wondering if she would ever become accustomed to people not looking at her as something distasteful. A voice from behind Lorne interrupted her thoughts.
"Lorne I'd be grateful if you could get this over with as quickly as possible. I've just returned with some very interesting volumes of the Slethmar prophecies and.." Wesley's attention was drawn to Ariane, "And we haven't been introduced, my name is Wesley Wyndam-Price, I'm head of research here at Wolfram & Hart." He announced taking her small hand in his.
"God grant you a fine day, my Lord." She stated. Taken aback by his swift redirection she had returned to her traditional greeting.
"May I return the blessing ten fold." Wesley replied astonished. Ariane was surprised to hear the customary response.
"Wesley.."
"Oy, watcher, you can let 'er go now." Spike muttered concentrating and poking Wesley sharply in the ribs.
"What, oh yes, sorry." He stammered releasing her hand immediately.
"Wesley, this is Ariane, she's the new.er" Lorne couldn't quite think how to describe Ariane's position.
"Angel got 'er as a gift the other day and didn't know what to do with her, so he farmed her out to Lorne here." Spike explained, not one to be held back by false politeness.
"It wasn't quite that brutal, but at least you got the basics right. I guess I should be grateful for small mercies." Angel walked almost silently into the room, hands dug deep in his pockets and stood with his usual casual air and waited for the conversation to resume.
"We should be getting to work or Wesley will never be able to study his dusty old Sloth Tar prophecies." Lorne sighed trying to redirect the conversation. He placed his hands on Ariane's shoulders and physically turned her toward the door.
"Slethmar prophecies." Ariane corrected, "it's a little known collection of texts thought to be from the Mayan culture, but in reality they predate the Mayan's by more than four decades." Wesley's eyebrows shot up as he listened to her explanation.
"How did you know that?" He asked, "Some of the researchers don't even know that."
"I was permitted to study many cultures during my service with Lord Meenotuk." She replied innocently.
"Fascinating." Wesley commented, lost in Ariane's captivating blue eyes.
"She's more than just a pretty face, ain't she Angel? Makes you wonder what else she can do? I'll bet that fat freak didn't have a clue what she was capable of." Spike and Angel stood watching as the three others left Lorne's office.
"Makes me wonder if anyone has a clue what she's capable of." Angel commented a slight frown creasing his brow. Just how many more surprises could this girl throw at him?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm working as fast as I can on this so I'm sorry if you're feeling it's too slow. So what do you think so far? Let me know please even if you don't like it. Thanks for your time.
Just Another Angel
Thanks to Maliek and MysticWolf1 (for all four) and whistergirl your reviews are keeping me motivated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walking down the corridor to Lorne's office Ariane was silent, trying to understand what had just taken place.
"Did I do something to displease him Lord Lorne?" She asked eventually.
"No starfish, you didn't displease him. Angel's a complicated guy. It's sometimes difficult to figure out why he does things. In fact it's sometimes nigh on impossible." Lorne was angry, no, angry was too calm a word for it. Lorne was livid. He had never come across a more gentle, sensitive, thoughtful and kind-hearted soul in his life as the one he touched yesterday, the one walking at his side.
He had seen what her life had been with that monster that had handed her over like a piece of meat. The years of torment, of being made to feel useless and hideous. He understood why she had been unwilling to look at herself in a mirror. Lord Meenotuk and the rest of his associates had convinced her she was monstrous, that the very sight of her was offensive. In their culture there was no greater insult.
He could tell just by looking at her she thought people must be mad to not be repulsed by her form, but she was so grateful that she refused to allow it to cloud her perspective.
"Don't worry about Angel, I've got lots of great stuff to keep us busy." He smiled down at her making a silent vow to take the man to task about this as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Entering his office Lorne called his small staff together to introduce Ariane. She graciously shook hands with all of them smiling and attempting to pay complete attention to everything Lorne and the others were telling her. Yet she couldn't seem to stop her thoughts from returning to Angel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're unbelievable."
"Should I take that as a compliment?" Angel asked, his voice conveying his disinterest. He looked up from his papers, his eyes flashing a warning to Spike.
"Not unless you like being a cold hearted, selfish, arrogant bastard."
"You're calling me arrogant, that's rich. What did I do this time?" Angel scoffed.
"You dismissed her like she was nothing, no not nothing, less than nothing."
"What would you have me to do, sit her down ask her what she wanted to do? She's been here five minutes, she doesn't know what she wants, so I made up her mind for her." He shrugged unconcerned with Spike's opinion.
"You sent her away with a complete stranger."
"She's with Lorne."
"Yeah, who she only met yesterday?"
"She only met me yesterday."
"But she knows you. You don't get it do you. She didn't just show you a vision Angel, thought transference is a two way street. She read you, and judging by just how good she is I'm guessing she knows everything about you."
"That's impossible, she didn't have time."
"With all the crap you've seen over the years, you think that's impossible? No Angel you just don't want to believe it."
"So what, you think I should go charging after her, tell I made a mistake and invite her to share my office?"
"If you've got a decent bone in your body you'll at least check on her to see if she's okay."
"Maybe later, I'm busy." He stated, returning his attention to his desk.
"What did Buffy ever see in you?" Spike asked before disappearing.
"She. Spike!" Angel yelled at the empty room, then picked up the now empty glass that Ariane had given him and threw it across the room in frustration, smashing it against the door.
He got up from his desk and walked to the window and looked out on the street below. He heard the door open as Harmony stuck her head in to check everything was okay.
"Out!" He yelled not turning from the window.
"Touchy, touchy." Harmony commented closing the door.
How could he explain it to Spike when he couldn't even explain it to himself? That he was feeling the same feelings Spike had admitted to, of being drawn to her, He had only felt this way once before, the day whistler had shown him Buffy for the first time. That was a road he wasn't willing to travel again. If he could have, he would have sent her a lot further away than Lorne's office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lorne had offered her a room at his place until they could find something suitable for her elsewhere. It was a blessing to be away from the offices, it was so loud there, so many people all vying for attention.
"Penny for them?" Lorne asked leaning casually against the doorframe of his spare room. She looked lost sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor.
"Pardon me?" Pulled from her thoughts, she was unsure how to answer.
"It's a figure of speech sugar, you are offered a penny for your thoughts. There's another, a problem shared is a problem halved. It means tell me what you're thinking about and I'll try to help."
"You do not need to concern yourself with me Lord Lorne."
"Remember what Angel told you about the Lord thing, it goes for me too. Just call me Lorne, and honey I know I don't have to concern myself with you, but the thing is I want to." He sat down beside her and placed an arm gently around her thin shoulders.
"What's to become of me?" She asked simply.
"As of now that's up to you. Life's what you make it and all that. Look on the bright side, you don't have to spend your days cooped up with Mr Morose."
"Did I meet him today?" She enquired, not up to speed with sarcasm.
"Yeah babe, you just call him Angel. He's not big on the whole sharing his feelings gig, he holds on to them like a security blanket." Ariane looked back at Lorne nodding, following less than half of what he had said verbally but getting it loud and clear in other ways.
"He is.," Dipping into Lorne's thoughts to find a word to explain what she was thinking, she finally settled for, "Deep."
"That's an understatement, he's unfathomable. Not to say he's not a nice guy and all, just way too detached at times."
"I perceived that during my offering, though his mood seemed to change after he returned from his quest. He seemed to have recovered something long lost and much lamented, but upon rising this day he seemed to have returned to his previous manner."
"You think he's lacking direction don't you?"
"That is not for me to venture." She uttered, unsure if she should be so bold.
"Don't worry sweetie pie as far as I'm concerned you're right on the money. If you ever want to give up working for the greater good, you could make a fortune on the Vegas circuit. Hell you could even go national." Lorne grinned to himself amazed that so much power could be crammed into such a small package.
"I just know I'm going to love working with you." The two smiled at each other. For the first time Lorne could actually see Ariane relax.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a restless night in her new lodgings Ariane was tired but looking forward to her first real day at the office. Following a quick but refreshing shower, she and Lorne shared breakfast together. Ariane opting for fruit juice as she admitted to being too nervous to actually eat anything.
She dressed in another pants suit, this one a delicate shade of shell pink, teamed with a cream satin blouse.
Lorne had told her as they walked to his office that they would be working with a group from the research department that morning. He said it was important that a firm like Wolfram & Hart had every member of staff evaluated on a regular basis.
"Let's just say it's not uncommon for them to 'change allegiances'." He said diplomatically.
"Oh." Was all she could think to say.
"Don't worry, it'll be a walk in the park, and you'll meet Wesley."
"Wesley?"
"He's one of the original crew, Angel Investigations as it was before we went up in the world." Lorne indicated his plush office as if for emphasis.
"That's a matter of opinion." Spike smiled at Ariane, he still couldn't believe what a change of clothes could do for a girl. "You look good enough to eat, and I should know." He commented, undressing her with his eyes.
"Good morning Spike." She smiled back at him, her smile seemed to light up the whole room.
"Wow." He sighed. She looked at him confused. "That's the closest I've come to a sunrise in decades."
"Impressive isn't it." Lorne smiled back.
"I don't understand?" She looked between the demon and spectre trying to figure out what was so interesting.
"It's your aura honey, when you smile something radiates through it like sunlight." Lorne informed her, "I noticed it yesterday."
She blushed uncontrollably wondering if she would ever become accustomed to people not looking at her as something distasteful. A voice from behind Lorne interrupted her thoughts.
"Lorne I'd be grateful if you could get this over with as quickly as possible. I've just returned with some very interesting volumes of the Slethmar prophecies and.." Wesley's attention was drawn to Ariane, "And we haven't been introduced, my name is Wesley Wyndam-Price, I'm head of research here at Wolfram & Hart." He announced taking her small hand in his.
"God grant you a fine day, my Lord." She stated. Taken aback by his swift redirection she had returned to her traditional greeting.
"May I return the blessing ten fold." Wesley replied astonished. Ariane was surprised to hear the customary response.
"Wesley.."
"Oy, watcher, you can let 'er go now." Spike muttered concentrating and poking Wesley sharply in the ribs.
"What, oh yes, sorry." He stammered releasing her hand immediately.
"Wesley, this is Ariane, she's the new.er" Lorne couldn't quite think how to describe Ariane's position.
"Angel got 'er as a gift the other day and didn't know what to do with her, so he farmed her out to Lorne here." Spike explained, not one to be held back by false politeness.
"It wasn't quite that brutal, but at least you got the basics right. I guess I should be grateful for small mercies." Angel walked almost silently into the room, hands dug deep in his pockets and stood with his usual casual air and waited for the conversation to resume.
"We should be getting to work or Wesley will never be able to study his dusty old Sloth Tar prophecies." Lorne sighed trying to redirect the conversation. He placed his hands on Ariane's shoulders and physically turned her toward the door.
"Slethmar prophecies." Ariane corrected, "it's a little known collection of texts thought to be from the Mayan culture, but in reality they predate the Mayan's by more than four decades." Wesley's eyebrows shot up as he listened to her explanation.
"How did you know that?" He asked, "Some of the researchers don't even know that."
"I was permitted to study many cultures during my service with Lord Meenotuk." She replied innocently.
"Fascinating." Wesley commented, lost in Ariane's captivating blue eyes.
"She's more than just a pretty face, ain't she Angel? Makes you wonder what else she can do? I'll bet that fat freak didn't have a clue what she was capable of." Spike and Angel stood watching as the three others left Lorne's office.
"Makes me wonder if anyone has a clue what she's capable of." Angel commented a slight frown creasing his brow. Just how many more surprises could this girl throw at him?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm working as fast as I can on this so I'm sorry if you're feeling it's too slow. So what do you think so far? Let me know please even if you don't like it. Thanks for your time.
Just Another Angel