Clocking Off
Author- Midnight Faith
Feedback- missangel186@hotmail.com
Disclaimer- Just a kid in Joss' candy store :) a large candy store!
Spoilers- none
Rating- PG
Summary- disgustingly sweet relatively pointless Xmas L/Li fic
Distribution- fanfiction.net, AOH, Buffy Angel Improv… anyone else just ask :)
Improv-
Notes- for Lynne at Christmas… merry Xmas honey!
"You don't look like you're wearing a carpet, mum… Lilah tell her. The sweater is cool,"
Lilah Morgan snapped her head up quickly from where she's been studying a spot on the carpet to look at her family staring at her.
"Sorry what?" she asked her younger sister, Louise, sat at her feet staring intently up at her.
"Mum's sweater… it doesn't look like a carpet right?" Louise repeated.
"Uh, no…" Lilah said looking at the pink and decidedly fuzzy sweater her uncle has sent from New Zealand, "no not a carpet."
"Drapes maybe," Lilah heard her older brother, say before drifting off again staring at the same spot on the carpet.
Family Christmas back home in Ohio. Playing 'Happy Families' with her mother, recently split from stepfather, Half-sister, Louise, brother, Jack and his son, Josh. She was having so much fun… really. Listening to her mother's regular speech about 'biological clocks, settling down and marriage.' The same speech she's heard at every Christmas and family event for the past four years.
Much as her family drove her crazy she loved them nevertheless… she wondered what they say if they knew what she really did for a living. Lawyer they knew. Nothing else. Nothing about demons, or vampires, or…
"Lilah? Lilah?" her mother was saying to her. She snapped out of her trance for about the millionth time today.
"What?" she asked
"You OK?" her mother asked her.
"Yes, I'm fine for the thousandth time today I'm fine,"
"You just seem a little distracted that's all,"
"No, no I'm good," she said forcing a smile, "long drive yesterday, long drive home tomorrow,"
"Honesty honey I don't see why you don't get a nice job in some law firm closer to home," her mother chided slightly.
"Because I love Los Angeles mum, that's why… and you know… good job, good benefits… it's… well it's nice,"
"Lilah's unhappy," Josh said from across the room. Four-year-old's were so observant.
"No, no I'm not I'm fine," she said, smiling at her nephew.
"How about we stop with giving Lilah the third degree and get coffee!" Louise said a little bit too brightly, dragging Lilah to her feet, leading her to kitchen and shutting the door behind them.
Lilah relaxed visibly.
"Thankyou so much!" so told her sister
"Mum with the whole biological clock routine again?" Louise asked.
"Oh, not since yesterday," Lilah said to her sister.
"So there's no-one then?" Louise, half pried filling the kettle and flicking the switch to 'on.'
"Nope, no-one," Lilah told her, sitting at one of the wooden kitchen chairs.
"What about that guy?" Louise asked her, leaning against the kitchen counter, "You know that guy…"
"Which guy?"
"The guy who you work with… y'know I saw you with him last Christmas at the party… mistletoe… at least three glasses of red wine…"
Lilah blushed visibly
"Oh, *that* guy…"
"And that guy has a name?" Louise teased slightly.
"What were you doing… spying on me or something?" Lilah desperately tried to change the subject.
"There was nothing else to do at you 'family' office Christmas bash so I figured… your love life was probably more ezcting than mine."
"It's not… really."
"So… that guy… is called…"
"Lindsey," Lilah swallowed visibly
"Ahhh… Lindsey pretty name… no sparkage?" Louise guessed.
"Sparkage… full on sparkage… but…"
"What?"
"He's gone,"
"Gone? Where?"
"He quit…"
"Why?"
"'Issues'"
"OK… Lilah elaborate… 'Issues' in what sense?"
"Just issues OK?" she said a little snappily.
"Sorry," Louise told her
"No… I'm sorry,"
"Was there someone else?" Louise said sitting next to Lilah at the table.
"Yes… and no. but y'know what I didn't even like Lindsey that much…"
"So it was either a love thing or a physical lust thing…"
"You know for a fifteen year old you know an awful lot about this…"
"You're changing the subject…"
"OK… maybe in it's own warped, twisted way it was a love thing…"
"I'm sorry,"
"I'm not," Lilah told her, pouring herself half a glass of wine from the nearly empty bottle on the table, "I'm over him."
"Are you?"
"Yeah,"
"But there's no-one else?"
"No,"
"So go after him,"
"What? No…" Lilah said taking a sip from her wine glass.
"Why not? You have his address right?"
Lilah nodded
"So what's stopping you?" Louise asked her, "Go after him."
Lilah shivered slightly. Dare she? Go after Lindsey? Tell him how she really felt?
"Make it a New Year's resolution…" Louise told her, "go after him, declare your undying love whatever."
Lilah nodded,
"Ok," she said… "I will…" finishing her wine she made a mental note to herself. Starting January the 1st she's drive to Oklahoma… find Lindsey and tell him how she felt… it might just be the start of the best year ever…
