Title: Friendly Reflection
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em. Never will. I do make claims to Lexia whom I thought up all by myself. No help from nobody. Ok! Yes I made her up as a like, "fellow-demon-child-type" to relate to Connor, but that's all mine. Yep....anyways....
Summary: Set before Rain of Fire, as if Cordy had never left the hotel and ran back to Connor's place. Connor's coping with living alone when he meets someone who has something in common with him.
Raiting: Pg-13
Chapter 4:
Connor tried to calm his nerves as he approached Lexia's apartment. It was hard though. His palms were sweating. He was so nervous! Connor almost laughed about that. He'd never been nervous around anyone before. Not really. And now he wasn't even sure he could knock on the door.
Swallowing, he raised his fist and knocked. For a few moments nothing happened. He couldn't even hear her moving around in the apartment. Worried that she wasn't there he raised his fist to knock again, when the door swung open and his fist headed straight for Lexia's face. She caught his wrist before he hit her though.
"Nice reflexes," he commented.
"Wish I could say the same for you," Lexia teased. "So, you ready?"
"Uh- sure. Where are we going?"
"To do a normal thing," Lexia told him shutting her door and locking it. "With other people. Not demons."
"Oh," Connor said slipping his hand in his pockets. "Good."
+ + +
Connor leaned back in his chair mesmerized by the movie they were watching. Lexia said it was fantasy, with the large dragons, and being in the past and all. Connor felt it was all very real, but that's only because he'd seen similar creatures when he was a boy.
But he didn't notice Lexia watching him, not the movie, with a soft smile on her face until he reached for some popcorn. When he did he stopped. "What?" he asked suddenly self-conscious.
"Nothing," Lexia told him looking at the screen.
Connor ties not to smile as he looks back at the screen. But he gets distracted by the couple in the very front row of the theater. They're all cuddly, and kissing. Seemingly normal, but Connor senses something off. Then he concentrates and over all the other smells in the theater he can smell it. Vampire.
"What's wrong?" Lexia asks noticing him tensing.
"Couple near the front," He tells her nodding to them. Lexia looks, and he sees he concentrate as well. "The girls a vamp."
"Yep. Should we bust them up?"
"Not yet. The other people will freak out," she says meaning the few others in the audience.
As they watch the girl vamp gets up and tugs on her dates hand. They try to quietly sneak out of the theater, through the exit door. The guys laughs as his date slams the door closed behind them. Connor and Lexia don't wait; they jump up and walk to the door, feeling for weapons in their pockets. Lexia comes up empty as she opens the door. Connor hands her his and decides just to kick ass and let her do the kill. After all, it is the first date.
As the door swings shut they see the couple in a seemingly innocent embrace in a darker part of the alley. Connor and Lexia know better. Connor strides up to the couple and taps the girl on the shoulder. She growls and throws the guys body down, facing Connor all vamped out with blood smeared on her face. Connor swings a punch at her face then one in her solarplex . The vamp staggers a bit but instead of going down simply tackles Connor instead.
They hit the ground and roll with Connor ending up on top. The vamp bucks upward though, then flips her self over on top of him. She leans down to bite him but goes flying off instead. Lexia had kicked her in the head. Now she advanced on the demon.
Connor lifted himself up and all he could see was Lexia's swift and lethal kicks and punches. Lexia totally had her. But just when she was about to stake the vamp it grabbed her by the jacket and hurled her halfway down the alley. Connor jumped up to help, but the vamp was already at Lexia again, pulling her up and punching her across the jaw. The vamp kicked her chest, spun kicked her across the ribs, then pummeled her repeatedly. Then she grabbed her again and threw her.
Connor ran and tried to tackle the vamp. She kept her footing, but had to take and few steps putting them out of the alley and in front of the theater. She flipped Connor over and threw him as well, right into Lexia who had just stood back up. They crashed into a pillar and broke it open (not an actual stone one. This is mad out of clay of some sort and filled with Styrofoam. Our heros aren't hurt by this.) The vamp then takes on step forward but stops and looks down at her chest to see a stake protruding from it. She looks up surprised as she dusts.
Connor looks at Lexia in surprise. "Nice," he comments.
"Thanks," she says with a grin. They're both quiet as they just look at each other for a moment. Connor wants nothing more than to kiss her. He starts to lean forward and Lexia closes her eyes. At the last minute though, something falls in between them. They both look up and are disgusted by what they see. Hundreds of cockroaches crawl out of the hole the made in the pillar.
+ + +
"Ughgh-urg," Lexia shuddered throwing off her jacket. "That was the most disgusting, dirty, gross thing I've ever seen. I can just feel those little things crawling all over me...ughhhh...."
she wiped her hands over her arms as if she were brushing them off. "Ick."
"Are you ok?" Connor asked.
"Yeah. I will be after I delouse myself. So... this is where you live," Lexia commented looking around. They had gone to his place because it was closer . Now he was embarrassed. Why couldn't he live in, ya know a place that wasn't an abandoned wear house?
"Yeah. I know it's pretty lousy. I need..."
"Hey," Lexia interrupted. "No judgement. I don't exactly live in the Ritz. Some of the places I've stayed aren't the greatest either."
"Like where?" Connor suddenly wanted to know all about her. She was like a puzzle to him. Her crystal blue eyes, and black and gold her shown in the soft light in his "apartment". It made her more beautiful, and vulnerable seeming Though he knew she wasn't. She was strong and proud. A warrior. Like him.
"Oh, everywhere," she said flopping down on his bed. "Shelter homes, abandoned houses, factories, friends places, hotels. There was even one I stayed in about two years ago that was really creepy. It was like, the place to stay in the 50's. Unless you were famous. Then you stayed somewhere else, but that place was weird. I can't remember what it was called..."
"The Hyperion," Connor said deadpan, hating that place and everything about it.
"Yeah. You been there?"
"Sort of. My dad owns it."
"Really?" Lexia sounded surprised, hugging his pillow to her chest. "Why don't you live with him?"
"I hate him," Connor told her looking away. Lexia was quiet a moment, and Connor wondered what she must think of him now. Probably thought he was a bad person like everybody else. Then he considered telling her what he'd done. About locking Angel up in that cage for the whole summer, and was just going to leave him there. Would she understand? Or would she hate him?
"I hate my dad too," she told him suddenly.
Connor turned to find her sitting up next to him. "Why?"
"He want's me to be something I'm not. He feels I should be a devote daughter who considers his words pearls of wisdom, and without question I should take them and treasure them as if he was God," Lexia laughed. "Sounds insane, huh?"
"A little," Connor agreed.
"Yeah well, my dad comes from a very strange, and backward kind of people. They don't live in the world like everybody else does. So why do you hate your dad?"
"He lost me when I was a baby. I didn't meet him until last year. Then the man that kidnaped me, who I considered my father, he killed."
"Wow," Lexia said. "That seems a lot worse than a extremely controlling father. So what happened to your mother?"
"She died when I was born."
"Mine too."
The two teens stared at each other for a moment. Thoughts and feelings practically swirled in the air. Lexia felt a strong tug on her heart from the soft look Connor was giving her. She'd never known anyone who had as much in common with her than Connor did. Yet her feeling of happiness was overcome with a feeling of fear of how Connor would feel if he knew everything about her. What would he do? How would he feel?
Just when she was about to let the fear slip over her and close her up Connor brushed his knuckles across her cheek. A shiver ran through her body and she restrained from shaking. Connor lightly touched her tattoo and smiled.
"I feel like I've know you forever," he whispered.
"Karma," Lexia told him with smile.
Their lips meet. Connor ran his hands through her hair and down her back. Lexia shivered. She cupped his face in her hands and pulled him closer. They wrapped their arms around each other and pressed their bodies together. Lexia felt Connor's heart pounding against her own. Then she felt the sudden urge to run her hands over his body and stopped herself. She pulled away reluctantly but still had her arms around Connor.
"Um... I think it would be time for me to go home," Lexia said quietly.
"Oh. Ok," Connor said letting his arms slip away from her.
Lexia stood, trying not to let her legs shake. She reached for her jacket on the floor. Slipping it on she walked to the steel door, knowing Connor was right behind her. At the door she stopped and spun around, only inches away from Connor. Then she stood on her toes and brought her lips to his in one last sweet kiss.
"Goodnight," Lexia said quietly when they broke apart. She opened the door and stepped out closing it quietly behind her. She leaned against the door for a moment to catch her breath. She smiled trying to not to laugh and finally moved away from the door and started home.
~Sorry it took me so long to get to this part. Hope you enjoyed!~
