I don't own BTVS or Angel. I just play with them, when I get bored. I don't own the people in this story. I just manipulate them in inconceivable ways. Anyway, if Joss was a super villain he would probably be Sauron from LotR, cause he has the 'one ring' that makes him all-powerful. If I were a super villain I'd probably be Seduca off of the Powerpuff Girls with and ugly goatee and pumps. That's okay, though. I've come to accept that when life hands you crap and you just have to make... I couldn't think of anything that wasn't disgusting. So sorry. All in all, you guys are great fun and I've decided to reward you for it. Let's have a little back story, shall we? All righty...

On with the show.

::Carpe Diem- Beyond The Mirage ::

Cordelia tapped on the door, lightly, and waited for an invitation to come in. She decided to skip niceties and just go in, when she heard none. The young woman was propped up on a mountain of pillows, turned toward the far wall and starring out the window. "You must be Katie." The woman's head dipped, slowly, and rose again. Cordelia decided that it could probably count as a nod and she continued. "I'm Cordelia. Is there anything I can get you?"

"Lindsey?" The woman turned her head, so that she could see Cordelia, clearly. "Can you get me Lindsey?"

Cordelia noted the dilated pupils and the red puffiness, which came along with crying your eyes out. Cordelia shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry. He's downstairs, with Spike. They're trying to convince Angel that they aren't insane."

Katie sat up in her bed and stretched her neck, side to side. "Angel? You mean the guy who knocked Lindsey out? If that's what it takes for us to be able to leave, we're going to be stuck here forever."

Cordelia shrugged. ""I don't know. Lindsey seems pretty sane, to me. Do you mind if I come in and sit down?"

Katie shook her head and flicked her wrist at the chair that sat a couple of feet away from her. "No. Anything is better than sitting here alone."

Cordelia walked over to the chair and took a seat. "You know, Lindsey always did have a good head on his shoulders, even when his heart wasn't in the right place."

"You just described Lindsey to a tee." Katie smiled, warmly. "You must know him pretty well."

Cordelia sat back in her seat and watched the young woman's face. "Man, you've got it bad, don't you?"

Katie nodded. "Ever since the first night I met him."

"How did you two meet?" Cordelia didn't know whether she was prying, too much, and she really didn't care. Katie seemed to not take offence, in any case.

"You really want to know how we met?" Katie cocked an eyebrow and grinned.

If Cordelia wasn't interested before, she certainly was now. She leaned forward in her seat. "Lay it on me."

Katie took a deep breath and let it out, before going into her story of how she found love.

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It was a blistering hot day and it really wasn't helping that the sun had decided to shine down directly over Katie, while she did her gardening. She stuck her little hand held shovel into the dirt and dug up a weed, by its roots. She threw the weed over on her 'discard' pile and swiped a dirty glove across her forehead, in an attempt to clear away the perspiration forming there. All she really managed to do was wipe a sweaty streak of dirt across her face. What did it matter? She wasn't trying to impress anyone.

"Katie, my darlin', you better get out of this sunlight or you're going to be browner than momma's biscuits." The old woman stood in the doorway, her usually grumpy face twisted in what Katie thought was a smile. "You gonna' come inside and get you some ice water?"

Katie looked around her and sighed. To the casual observer she had just made a huge mess that some poor unsuspecting child was going to be forced to clean up later. "Momma Ruth, I need two more minutes and I'll be inside."

The old woman crossed her arms across her massive chest. She looked like a mother grizzly that was ready to attack, but Katie knew better. Momma Ruth ran a home for orphaned and abandoned children. She had a heart that had stretched to all corners of Louisiana and a type of smart sensibility that Katie had only dreamed of owning herself. "You got your two minutes, chile', but two minutes is all. This is one coonass woman who won't back down when it comes to your health." Momma Ruth gazed up at the sun and then back down at Katie. "You're already the color of rich caramel girl. White women like me ain't so lucky to be of Creole heritage and coloring. You get killed of sun stroke and we won't be able to envy you, anymore."

Katie quirked a brow and sniffed. "Mama Ruth, you are a shameless flatterer." Katie swiped her forehead, with the back of her hand and sighed. "On the name of Marie Laveau, I will never understand you."

Momma Ruth swallowed, making a big gulping noise, and cleared her throat. "Child, I thought I told you never to speak that woman's name around here. The children are sensitive to such things."

"Tell me, Ruth. Why are you so scared of Madame Marie?" Katie looked down at her hands and pulled off the gloves, she was wearing. She put them down beside her and then reached up to tuck some of her long dark hair, behind her ears. She looked back up at the older woman and smiled, lovingly. "She just wanted to make the world a better place. She wanted to help people find their happiness."

Momma Ruth's eyebrows scrunched up and became dangerously close to touching. "She was a voodoo priestess, Katie Cat, not a Greenpeace officer. You'll have lots to learn about life and living, before you can see why it's wrong to take such forces into your own hands." Momma Ruth reached down and lifted the hem of her apron up, so she could swipe the sweat off of her brow. "It's too hot for an old lady like me, to be runnin' around outside at this time of day. I'll be goin' in and I 'spect you to do the same, in less than a few moments. You hear?"

Katie smiled up at Momma Ruth and nodded. "You know best, Momma Ruth."

"Momma *always* knows best." Momma Ruth gave Katie a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and walked back inside, letting the screen door slam shut behind her.

Katie stood up and stretched her long lean frame, toward the sky. She looked up at the sun, while shielding her eyes from the direct rays. "My, Mr. Sun, how you sure do shine."

Katie jumped back, when she heard a sound like a gunshot. She glanced over, toward the noise, and realized it must have come from the other side of the seven-foot privacy fence, Mama Ruth had put up, two years before. "What, in the name of all that is potent, was that?" Katie took a few steps toward the gate and laid her ear up against it. She heard the sound of a car door slamming and the stomping footsteps of a cursing man. "Well, that sure does raise my curiosity level, a bit." She muttered under her breath. Katie took a deep breath and unlocked the fence, swinging it open and stepping out into the back alley, behind Momma Ruth's house. "Excuse..." Katie stopped to stare, for a moment, and suddenly caught herself. "...me?" She ended in a squeak.

The man stood about five foot nine and had medium length, wavy, chestnut colored hair. His eyes were... shut, but Katie was sure that they would match the rest of him perfectly. He was gorgeous... absolutely beautiful. His skin was a pretty pale color, except for the lightly darkened forearms that probably came along with a hard day's work. Katie thought of a poem she had heard as a child. "In the clear gold of sunlight, stretching their backs, -white as snow- see the voluptuous cats."

The man kicked his back tire and swore against everything holy and everything evil. Apparently, he had lost no love between him and the other forces, when his truck decided to die.

Katie cleared her throat and tried to get the man's attention, once more. "Excuse me?"

The man looked up, with what Katie would have called, a glare and huffed. "What now? Am I on your property? Do you want me to put the damn thing in neutral and push it five more feet that way?"

Katie's eyes grew wide and she shook her head. "I was just wondering if you wanted a glass of ice water." Katie took a few more steps toward the stranger and picked at his shirtsleeve. "You're losing more water than you've probably taken in, in a while. If you wait here, I'll get you a glass."

The man leaned against his truck. He jumped forward, just a soon as he touched it. It was hotter than he was. "Well..." He sighed, as he rubbed his left arm. It was noticeably darker than his right arm, since he had been driving with the window down. Of course, he wouldn't have had to do that, if the air conditioner had worked. "... doesn't look like I'll be going anywhere. For a while, at least." The man looked back at the girl and almost gasped. Her hair was a long, silky brown and her eyes were... violet? Lush peach lips curled up in a smile.

"Good." Katie couldn't help smiling at the man. She had a feeling about him and it was a *good* feeling. She couldn't remember the last time she had had a good feeling about a man. Katie turned back toward the house and stopped in her tracks. She turned back toward the young man and grinned. "What's your name?"

"Lindsey." Lindsey tried leaning on one hand, against the hood of his car, but jumped back, again. There was no way he was going to be able to look smooth, in this heat.

Katie's heart danced, as she watched Lindsey try to recover from the mental fumble. "Well, I'm Katie." She smiled, widely, when Lindsey nodded and put on a cool look of indifference. "I'll go get that water, then." She headed through the gate and ran to the house. Momma Ruth had to hear about this man!

After lots of conversation about the man's appearance and his bad luck, Momma Ruth decided that she wanted Katie to invite him inside. So, Katie took the long walk out to the gate and peaked around the corner.

Lindsey sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He was slumped down on the ground, leaning against the side of his truck. He looked at his white tee shirt and grimaced. It clung, tightly to his torso, because it was absolutely saturated with sweat. "Lovely." He muttered, as he covered his face with his hands and sighed, again. The beautiful little woman had been very nice to him and he had acted like a bear. Lindsey chuckle when he thought of the girl. Her face was streaked with dirt, as were her clothes, and it didn't take away from her beauty.

Katie grinned, for the umpteenth time, and walked around the gate, holding the ice water, in front of her. She dipped her fingers in the glass and sprinkled a few droplets over Lindsey's head. The man shivered and jumped, before jerking his head up and glaring at Katie. "You aren't really a people person, are you?" Katie asked, as she handed the man his glass of water.

Lindsey took two or three long gulps of water and sighed, after he pulling the half emptied glass away. "Why do you say that?" Lindsey laid his head back against the truck door and smiled at the beautiful girl who was serving as shade, from the sun.

Katie shrugged. "You just seem to give me more scowls, than smiles."

"You wish I'd smile at you more?" Anything you want, darling, Lindsey thought, to himself. He smiled, again.

Katie smiled back and crouched down, in front of Lindsey. "You have pretty eyes."

Lindsey eyes lit up, at that statement. "I was thinking the same thing."

"Then you're pretty vain. That's a mark against you." Katie pushed herself up from the ground and smiled down at the man, playfully. "You want to come inside? It's not really air conditioned, but we have a load of fans running in there." Katie looked back up at the sky and squinted. "It's a lot cooler than out here, that's for sure."

Lindsey thought a moment and then nodded. "Why not?"

Lindsey and Katie had spent every day together that week, until Lindsey finally had figured out how to fix his truck. They were both pretty sure that they were falling in love and neither really knew what to do about it. Lindsey knew he had to go back to California to fix some family issues and Katie was involved in... things she didn't want to tell Lindsey about. So, things weren't perfect and, as they say, all good things had to come to an end.

"Voodoo? You are into voodoo?" Lindsey raked a hand through his hair and sighed, as he paced up and down the floor of the old church.

"Not... into it." Katie tried to sound reasonable, but she only ended up sounding defensive.

Lindsey stopped pacing and turned toward Katie. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close to him. After looking into her eyes, for a long moment, he smiled. "I didn't say that I was disapproving. I was just... surprised, I guess."

Katie pushed against Lindsey's chest and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "What are you *into*?"

"What?" Lindsey was really surprised, now. He wasn't into anything... anymore, that is. He let go of Katie's arm and took a step back, so that he could have room to pace, nervously. "Well, I'm not into anything. I do have a past, as does everyone. You know, like you with your voodoo."

Katie shook her head and grunted. "It's not my past, Linds. It's my present. It's my now. It's my everything." Katie took a seat on the old pew that sat to her left and slumped down in the old cushioning. "I have a gift." Katie looked down at her fingernails and smiled. Momma Ruth had insisted on painting them a pearly white, for her date with Lindsey. Of course, she had never expected to end up in the old church. She looked down at her dress and wondered if she should have worn a higher neckline and a lower hemline. Katie smiled up at Lindsey. "Are you afraid of women with power?"

Lindsey grinned and leaned over the pew that sat in front of Katie, so that they were face to face. "What are you talking about? Women with power is a huge turn-on for me." Lindsey looked around the room and sighed. "But power doesn't have to be supernatural. You have a lot of mental and physical power."

"What if those went away?" Katie asked, quietly.

"I'd still love you." Lindsey picked up Katie's hands, in his own, and took a deep breath. You are the most understanding, sweetest person I have ever met. You're beautiful inside and out. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you here to keep me sane. You lightness and love has won over the darkness in me..."

"Lindsey?" Katie smiled up at Lindsey. He smiled back and nodded. "If you don't end that speech on a proposal, I'll put a hex on you."

Lindsey burst out laughing and pulled Katie into a hug. "I wouldn't have it any other way." He whispered into her hair. He pushed her back, for a moment, and made direct eye contact. "But no more hexes, okay? You don't have to do this anymore. It doesn't have to be our everything."

Katie looked thoughtful and then nodded. "I can't get rid of my natural abilities, but no more spells. They're a waste of energy, anyway." Katie paused and nodded, slowly. "Not to mention, chickens."



Lindsey scrunched up his nose and sniffed. "Chickens?"

Katie broke out into a grin. "I'll tell you about it sometime. Until then you could probably watch 'Interview with a Vampire' to get the gist. They have some pretty good scenes, in there."

Lindsey pulled Katie into another embrace and sighed into her hair. "That's another thing. No vampire movies, ever, okay?"

Katie chuckled and petted the back of Lindsey's head. "Whatever you say, darlin', but it seems like such a waste. No more Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, or Antonio Banderas in vampire make-up?"

Lindsey pulled back and smirked. "Antonio Banderas looked like a drag queen in that movie and you know it."

Katie nodded. "A gorgeous drag queen."

Lindsey rolled his eyes. "Okay, so about this living situation. I have to go back to California for a while."

Katie nodded and sighed. "Give me two months and I'll have everything here wrapped up, okay? Just two months to finish up with Momma Ruth."

Lindsey got up from his seat and walked around to sit on the pew, Katie was sprawled on. He pushed her over and then, somehow, managed to lay down, half on Katie and half on the pew. He looked over at Katie and smiled. "You tie up loose ends, here, and I'll tie up loose ends there, and we can figure out where we want to go from there."

Katie played with a lock of Lindsey's hair and sighed. "California?" She had never really thought about going so far west. It could be exciting, she thought.

"Katie?" Lindsey watched the burst of emotions flit across his fiancés face and chuckled. "How do you feel about kids?"

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Cordelia was stunned at the end of the story. She had never thought love could hit two people so fast and just... stick. "And that was that?"

Katie shook her head. "A couple of weeks later I was waiting for Lindsey to come out of the super market and his phone rang. Well, I let it go. Then, it started ringing again. It did that so many times that I almost chucked the thing out the window, but instead I answered. The devil was on the other line and she wanted child support. Plus, she wanted to tell Lindsey that *his* son was now a monster."

"Ahh..." Cordelia shook her head. "What did you say to her?"

"I told her that Lindsey would be back in a moment and I would tell him that she called." Katie sighed. "She didn't like that. She said that I was just another tramp her had picked up on his journey to finding himself and that I should just walk away before he got into my system. I told her he was already in my system and that I was relishing it. That pissed her off."

"I suppose so." Cordelia looked over at the clock and groaned. "It's four twenty. This is the longest day I have ever had to live through. I wonder if the boys are done talking, yet."

Katie looked over at the door, when she heard a small taping sound. "Come in."

In walked a man she hadn't seen before, with slick white hair and skin just as pale. He was dressed in all black. He resembled a sort of pretty gutter punk. "Your boyfriend will be up in a second." The man smiled. "I'm Spike. You must be the witch, who almost gave my a little burn."

Katie nodded and pushed some hair behind her ears. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, lovely." Spike walked over to the girl and lifted her chin, so her could see into her eyes. "He was right. They're definitely violet."

Katie smiled, when she realized he must have been talking about Lindsey. "Did he say anything else?"

Spike thought for a moment and nodded. "He asked if you were up for a little bit of magical scare tactics."

TBC

-Okay, my lovelies, a little bit of back-story was in order, eh? Now, is everything okey-dokey on the Katie front? By the by, flashbacks are fun to write. Oh, and I thought I should go ahead and say that I didn't steal the Carpe Diem thing from Buffy, but that was a really good episode. It was second season BTVS and it was the episode 'Surprise'. (Angel lost his soul, at the end.)



Willow: Carpe diem. You told me that once.

Buffy: 'Fish of the day'?

Oh, that is just priceless. Thanks for the reminder Imzadi. (I almost think I like your wording better than the original.) It had me laughing, out of my seat. Hehe.-

--The subtitle was 'Beyond The Mirage', which is some wonderful guitaring by Al Di Meola--

--- The piece of poem (that Katie thought of) was the first line from 'White Cats' by Paul Valery.---