Daughter of Darkness

Chapter 4: Not a Damsel in Distress

By Gaz Destiny

Rated: PG-13

Spoiler: Snowman

Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. 32 Flavors belongs to Ani DiFranco, I would love to be able to sing like her, but alas, I have a profound American way of singing, oh well. Amazing thing is I just found this song like two days ago, an hour or two before I posted the last chapter.

A/N: Hey look…no reviews…oh well…this story has already had it's one year birthday and there are only four chapters out, luckily I'm planning this to be a nice long story and I hope to be on the already planned Sequel by it's second birthday, if I ever make it there, I'm gonna take it down, revise it, and hold out on people for the reviews I'm not getting now. Also, I'm giving myself a deadline now, starting next Monday, and every Monday henceforth (except for every now and then when I might update early or a day late, that might happen) I plan on posting another chapter, so if you actually care about this story, tell me I like to know, and check back on Mondays.

I am not an angry girl

But it seems like I've got everyone fooled

Every time I say something they find hard to hear

They chalk it up to my anger

And never to their own fear

Imagine you're a girl

Just trying to finally come clean

Knowing full well they'd prefer you dirty and smiling

And I am sorry

But I am not a maiden fair

And I am not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere

And generally my generation

Wouldn't be caught dead working for the man

And generally I agree with them

Trouble is you gotta have yourself an alternate plan

And I have earned my disillusions

I have been working all of my life

And I am a patriot

I have been fighting the good fight

--Ani DiFranco (Not a Pretty Girl)

Emily went and got the door, pushing Claudia and Michael off into the living room, so that they could talk, though that was kept to mostly just them smiling back and forth by Arvin's presence. A moment later she joined the three in the living room with Sydney and Will in tow.

"There you are Syd, I was starting to think you got lost," Claudia said with a smile, having already dropped the accent before Michael even came in, relieved by the break in the tension.

"Traffic was terrible," Sydney told her as she and Will joined Claudia and Michael. "Claudia, you met Will before, right?"

Sydney looked at Michael, and saw that he was as shocked as she was, though the look passed immediately as did her own.

"Yeah, ice-cream binge, a few years back," Claudia nodded, completely clueless.

"I remember, you were in between hair colors that weekend," Will remembered.

"Oh, yeah, unfortunately, that was one of the worst times to meet me, a blond in oversized sweats, not an uncommon thing at the time, I still trying to figure out what phase I was going through," she laughed. Then, slipping her arm through Michael's, she introduced him, not yet knowing that he and Sydney already knew each other, "Sydney, Will, this is my fiancé, Michael. Michael, this is Sydney, and Will."

Everyone shook hands, Michael and Sydney played the parts of complete strangers perfectly, and soon they were all talking about a movie that had come out earlier that year.

~*~

"So, Michael, what do you do?" Sloan asked halfway through dinner.

Claudia stopped mid bight, paused, waiting to see what how Michael would answer. She didn't doubt that her father knew already that Michael was CIA; he'd gotten a call just after dinner started. Both he and she knew that Emily didn't like them taking phone calls during dinner, she didn't say anything, but she wasn't happy when they did, so they didn't, unless it was important. When he came back, he had this look in his eyes like he knew something, something he wasn't about to tell, his explanation for the phone call was a bank manager.

"Lately I've been doing work with the Justice Department, usually I work for the State Department, but they've had me bouncing back and forth for the last couple of years," he answered, before taking another bite of his Eggplant Parmesan.

~*~

"Thank you, dinner was wonderful," Will told Emily, as everyone was leaving.

"Thank you again, Emily," Sydney smiled, hugging the older woman.

Once Sydney and Will had said their final goodbyes and left, Claudia hugged her parts again, and she and Michael said goodbye.

"I missed you so much," Claudia said; her voice was muffled by Michael's jacket, as they stood between their cars saying goodbye.

"I missed you too," he said, tilting her head up with his hand.

He caught her lips with his, as he pulled her closer. His tongue ran over her lips, and hers parted, and soon all passion had taken over.

"I'll see you tomorrow at lunch," she said, smiling softly, when they finally stopped to breath.

"Yeah, lunch," he nodded, as she pulled her keys out of her coat pocket and unlocked her car door. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her back, kissed her lightly, and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," she told him, giving him one last hug.

~*~

A week came and went, and soon Claudia was moving into her own cozy, two bedroom, one and a half bath, with kitchen and living room, apartment on the tenth floor of a nice building not far from the business section of town. She and Michael had spent as much time together as possible, and the only work she'd done at SD-6 was nice normal desk work, which she had no problem at all with.

~*~

"So, what do you want to do tonight?" Michael asked, as they looked out on LA from the balcony of Claudia's new apartment.

"Oh, well, I know what I'm doing tonight, I just need someone to do it with," she smiled.

"And what is that?" he questioned, rising to her game.

"I was going to go dancing, there's a new club, not too far a way, I was thinking of walking down, and—I don't know—have some fun," she told him, talking as though she had no idea who she would ever go with.

"Hmm, sounds good," he whispered, kissing her neck lightly, getting a soft moan from the feathery kisses. "Mind if I come along?"

"Oh no, I insist on it," she replied, before bringing her lips to meet his.

~*~

"That was fun," Claudia smiled as they walked back to her apartment, sometime after midnight.

"Yeah, we probably should have gotten a taxi home though," he agreed, taking her hand in his.

"Oh, come on, this is fun too," she pouted playfully, as they walked past an especially dark alley.

There were footsteps behind them, and someone came out in front of them. He was wearing a white mask and holding a small handgun. They glanced behind them; there was another guy, a bit taller than the first, also wearing a mask and carrying a gun. A silent agreement passed between the two, and they instantly went into action.

Claudia sent a roundhouse at the guy in front of them, knocking the gun out of his hand, a kick to the head and he was out cold, thanking God she'd worn her pants and boots instead of her skirt and heeled sandals like she'd planned. These guys were amateurs. She checked the gun, no bullets; they'd been relying on the fear. She turned to Michael and saw him already looking at the other man's gun.

"These guns are too nice for muggers, expensive, harder to come by, there are cheaper that are just as good," he told her.

She nodded in agreement, leaving what they were both thinking unspoken, set up.

"Let's go call a taxi," he said, as she linked her arm through his.

"Definitely," she agreed.

************

A/N: I realized there hasn't been enough action, plus, a whole week wouldn't have gone by without something happening. I actually don't think this story will go on that much longer, probably about 5-7 more chapters and I might be done, then again, I'm not really sure. Please, don't forget to review, I need ego boosters.