Title: A Time For Peace
Author: eclectic madness
E-mail: ayallara@yahoo.com
Chapter One: Time to Go"Your taxi is here Lana."
Lana looked up from her desk. Well, it was her desk for the next minute or so, anyway. "Thanks Cindy," she said. She was already wearing her coat. It was time to go. She looked over her office once more, just to be sure she hadn't forgotten anything. The place was empty, sterile. Perfect.
"I'm really gonna miss you," said Cindy as Lana shut the door of her office. Not her office.
Lana smiled. "I'll miss you too."
"Promise you won't forget us there in New York, huh? You'll call us and let us know how you're doing?" Cindy asked.
"I promise I won't forget you," replied Lana. It had all been said before. It was time to go. She had trained her replacement, made sure everything was running smoothly before she left. Everyone but Cindy had gone home early. It was New Years Eve, after all.
Lana held out her hand. Cindy scoffed and pulled her into a hug. Cindy always had been big on the hugging, Lana thought. But she couldn't begrudge her the contact. She could tell Cindy really meant it. She really was sad that Lana was leaving, if only because Lana had been a fair boss. Lana sighed and disentangled herself from Cindy's embrace. It wasn't Lana Cindy would miss so much as the calm and the order that Lana brought to the office. It was time to go.
"Goodbye Cindy," said Lana.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Cordelia walked into Wesley's office. He was making notes, apparently about the book lying on his desk written in a language that looked vaguely Aramaic. She waited for him to notice her, but he continued writing furiously in his notebook.
"Wesley, we're bored," she declared.
"Hmm?" he said distractedly.
"There is nothing to do. No filing, no collection calls, nothing."
"That's fine"
"It's New Years and since there's nothing going on we thought it might be nice if we went out to dinner or something. I mean, its not like any of us have lives. We may as well spend the evening together."
"Uh huh."
"Wesley, are you listening to me?"
He grunted an affirmative.
Cordelia grinned wickedly. "And since its New Years and all Angel and I thought we would start the year out right, you know?"
"Alright," he said as he turned to a different page in the book.
"So we decided that now is as good a time as any to tell you all that we're getting married."
"Is that so," he replied as he reached for a similarly shaped volume from the shelf behind his desk.
"Yup. So I'll need to have a month or so off in March."
"Of course," he said as he made some more notes.
"We thought we would honeymoon in Hawaii, even though he doesn't tan well and wanted to go to Alaska. But I told him that it's traditional. Honeymoon, Hawaii, right?"
"Certain- what?!" He dropped his pen.
Cordelia laughed. "Oh, so now you listen," she said.
"Did you just say honeymoon?"
Cordelia smiled innocently. "I'm sorry? What about a honeymoon?"
"You just said something about Hawaii and a honeymoon."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Cordelia, I'm in the middle of something that may be of great importance. Would you kindly say what it is you came in here to say?" he finished with some annoyance.
"Put down the book, Wes. It's New Years Eve. Angel offered to take us all out on the town."
"It's only four o'clock!"
"Well, we need to decide now, so Fred and I have a chance to get ready. And it wouldn't hurt for you and Gunn to dress up too. It would be nice to go out and have a little normal fun, don't you think?"
"I suppose so…"
"Good. So I'll tell everyone to meet back here at 7pm," she finished and left the room.
"Cordy…" he called after her, but she didn't come back. He sighed. As he began to put away his notes it occurred to him that she might in fact be the person who really ran the office.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Here's my key, Mrs. Nelson," said Lana.
"Oh, thank you dear," replied the matronly old woman. "You're all moved out, then?"
"Yes. I'm just going to run up and check the place over to make sure I got everything and then I'm gone," she replied.
"Ok," said Mrs. Nelson, turning back to the little TV sitting in the corner of the apartment building's office.
"Right," said Lana as she went back up the stairs to her apartment. It was time to go.
Three flights of stairs. She had climbed them every day for six years. Her door was the second on the left. Not her door. She turned back and looked down at the stairs. There would be no more climbing after tonight. No more stairs that went nowhere worth going.
Her apartment was empty, sterile, just as her office had been. Not her office, not her apartment. The worn wooden floor seemed stark, the white walls staring. Perfect.
Lana sat in the center of the room. The letter lay in front of her. The glass was in her hand. The capsule lay on the letter. Her passage to freedom.
It was time to go.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fred was feeling really good. She was wearing the little black dress Cordy had helped her pick out and her hair was all done up smooth and shiny and she was even wearing perfume. She came down the stairs to the lobby where everyone was waiting. Fred smiled shyly. She was making an entrance. A good one, if the look on Gunn and Wesley's faces was any indication.
"Fred! You look great," said Angel.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Angel, the king of charm," she muttered.
He glared at her. "I heard that."
Wesley ignored that little byplay and walked over to Fred, offering her his arm. She smiled and took it, admiring how he looked in his dark blue suit.
"So, we're all ready to go?" asked Gunn. Earlier, Cordelia had pulled him aside. No one had quite heard what she had said, but whatever it had been it had been effective. He was wearing black slacks and a soft gray button down shirt.
Cordelia grinned. "Looks that way to me," she said. At first Gunn had been surprised at her outfit. The long dark maroon skirt had seemed a little tame… until he had noticed the long slits up both sides. And then he had realized that the black top with the long sleeves was not as opaque as it seemed in certain lights. Black lace bra, he'd thought, nice.
Angel was wearing black leather pants. The first time he had worn leather pants again a few months back it had made Cordelia nervous. Leather pants equals evil Angelus, right? But she had to admit they did look good on him. Still, bad memories. Not that she would ever tell him that.
"So lets go," said Angel.
They started towards the door. Then Cordelia got that feeling. Like the feeling you get when you just know you're going to sneeze, only worse. And then it was there. White-hot pain poured into her head and she cried out, falling backwards. Angel caught her, barely. Gotta love those reflexes, Cordelia thought in the midst of her pain. They all clustered around her, waiting for the vision to run its course. Finally she sagged in Angel's arms. He led her over to the couch and she collapsed.
"What is it," Wesley asked, dropping Fred's arm and catching Cordelia's hand.
"A woman. Alone in an empty room. She's swallowed something. She's dying. She's peaceful." Cordelia looked confused, trying to interpret the information the Powers had just dumped into her brain. "She's… special. Something about her mind… We have to stop her before she swallows it. We… need her?"
"She swallowed her mind?" Gunn asked.
Cordelia laughed and then winced. "No, she swallowed a pill. Or something. There isn't much time. We have to stop her."
"Was there any clue as to the location of this room?" Wesley asked.
"Yes its…" Cordelia broke off. She looked up at him wonderingly. "I have the address! I know exactly where it is."
Angel and Wesley exchanged glances. This was not standard operating procedure.
Cordelia stood up. She swayed and Gunn steadied her. "Don't just stand there. It's time to go…" she trailed off. "Time to go…" She shook her head and looked at the faces around her. "She's leaving. If we don't go to her now, we'll lose her. And we need her. I think," she finished.
They all piled into Angel's car. Just another well-dressed group of friends going out on the town on New Years Eve. Driving well above the speed limit on their way… to save a woman's life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lana smiled. It would all be over soon. At last. She could finally leave. She offered up a prayer to whatever power may hear her, to take her soul, if people were in fact endowed with such ephemeral things. She could feel the mind, but what is a soul? She shook her head. She didn't have to worry about that anymore. Her time had finally come. She picked up the capsule, the beautiful white filled capsule that was her key to freedom. Time to –
Her door burst open. Not her door, came the automatic correction. She told that part of her mind to stuff it. Who cared whose door it was, people were coming through it. Why didn't I lock the door? Wailed another part of her mind. She moved to pop the capsule into her mouth, but a hand was stopping her. It had her wrist locked gently but firmly in its grasp. The voice attached to the hand said, "You don't want to do this." She looked up into chocolate brown eyes. Lovely eyes. That didn't matter. It was time to go, said that part of her mind. She turned his words back on him. "You don't want to do this," she repeated softly. His brows came together as he tried to fight it, but his grasp loosened and she was free. Free to swallow her freedom. As she pulled her hand from his, she felt a moment of intense pain and then… nothing.
