Chapter Three: City of Angel's

Angel sat at his desk in his swivel chair, rocking back and forth. He was restless. There wasn't anything to do. Everyone in Wolfram & Hart had their own assignments. Gunn was out looking into a supposed Has'hik demon nest, Wesley was buried in a mound of books and Fred was probably with him, and Lorne was setting up some sort of entertainment wing complete with a casino and karaoke bar. Angel got up and decided just to wander around.

Nothing here really interested him. He'd research for necessity, not because he liked to overload his brain with tidbits about demons, prophecies, and junk like that. No, he'd leave that to Wes. He walked around every floor. He spied Lilah and considered seeing what she was up to, but didn't. He could go join Gunn, but there was still an hour and a half till the sunset. He didn't even want to think about hanging out with Lorne. Lorne got crazy when it came to singing and entertaining, Angel didn't like to be around him when he got that gleam in his eyes.

Cordelia. That was the last place Angel wanted to be. Seeing her like that, comatose, no sign of life, Angel could hardly bear it. She couldn't give him that great, signature Cordelia Chase smile and he couldn't see her eyes light up whenever she saw him. No, he couldn't go to see her. He knew Fred was right though, he should go see her. He should, but he wasn't. Not yet, any ways.

So, Angel wandered, whistling a Barry Manilow tune. He checked the clock on the wall. 6:15, then sun would set in another forty-five minutes. He went back to his office, sat back in his chair, propped his feet up on his desk and leaned back. He'd just wait till dusk.

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Fred looked over Wesley's shoulder. They were in the massive library of Wolfram & Hart. Wesley wanted to look more into the history of the First, which Angel had told him Buffy and her crew was battling. He was glad that they had made it out of there okay. Even though none of the Scoobies had liked him much, he was still relieved when news came of their victory. Wesley was reading some foreign language when Fred made a squeaky noise, which Wes knew was her way of getting excited.

"Here," she said, reading from the page. " 'And after the First Evil is destroyed, there will be a time of great peace as evil will subside for a period.' That's good right?"

Wes read along, "Yes, well, It can't be bad," he murmured.

"Unless," Fred said thinking. "It mean that evil is just gearing up for it next plan."

"Evil doesn't take a break," Angel said, appearing from the shadows in true Angel-fashion. "That'd be too easy."

"So what do you think it means?" Fred asked.

Angel picked up the large book the two others had been looking at and read it. " See," He said flipping the page and showed them a picture of scantly clad priests who were dancing around a fire. "The priests who wrote this prophecy were ancient crack pots. They'd do drugs then have hallucinations that they believed were visions of the future. C'mon Wes, you're losing your edge."

He said teasing Wesley who sniffed in his pompous English manner.

"I knew it wasn't true," Wesley said trying to defend himself.

"Right," Angel said smirking. "What did you find on the Amulet?"

Wesley shook his head. "Sorry Angel. I didn't find anything about it that we didn't already know. Plus, some of information about it has been lost and the translation's too hard. It'll take a while."

Angel raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, but now we have a whole firm dedicated to stuff like this. Get some help."

Wesley nodded and Fred smiled. "Are you going out?" She asked him.

"I'm going to go see if Gunn needs any help," Angel replied and left.

Weley and Fred looked at eashother and sighed. They both knew what had sprouted the recent dark cloud that surrounded Angel.

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Angel wandered around the city. At least he felt more comfortable here than at Wolfram & Hart. He knew he owned the creepy law firm now, but the place still gave him the willies. He had run into Gunn on his way out. Gunn said they discovered the nest and destroyed the demons easily. Angel said okay and they parted ways as Gunn enter the building and Angel exited. Angel wasn't sure, but something was definitely different about Gunn. He knew things had changed between him and Fred, but this was a changed that had occurred at Wolfram & Hart. Another reason why Angel was regretting his decision of accepting the offer Lilah had proposed.

No activity tonight. The underside had probably all heard about Buffy's victory and were calming down. Angel went back to the Hyperion Hotel. It was his home once before, back in 1952, but it was different then. Now, it had been his home for close to three years. He walked around the deserted lobby. Here's where he saw Cordy all giddy and unpacking after they moved into the grand hotel. Angel touched a spot on the wall where he had flung a Kreflak demon into. So much had happened to them here. He looked over at the counter and remembered Cordy holding baby Connor there. Conner. He still retained his memories of Connor, though no one else would. Connor was his son and as strange as it was to be without him, it never felt right when he was here. Angel was glad that Lilah had accepted his deal, a new life for Connor and he'd take over the law firm.

Cordelia's scent still lingered in the lobby. Angel closed his eyes. Suddenly, he raised his hand, knocking someone back into the ground. The smaller, hooded figure laid unmoving on the floor. Angel walked over to the attacker and lifted it's hood. "You!?" He exclaimed, looking into the face of the last blond he thought he'd ever see.



Mwa ha ha ha! I'm bad, I know. Who is it? Half of you will guess right, the other half won't. Tell me what you think. I've gotten a little bolder since my last fic. Thanks for all the feedback so far.