15

Will You Walk Into My Parlor?

Rose was a little surprised, but not alarmed, when the courier entered her office. It wasn't unheard of for certain research materials to arrive this way, but she wasn't aware of any having been ordered.

She signed for it almost automatically, then sat and watched in a half-daze as the courier left. Once the door shut behind him, she turned her eyes to the envelope in her hands.

Addressed to her personally. Not to Wesley, nor to the research department, but her, Rose Powers, in bold, black letters against the pristine white paper. And, for the first time in her limited experience, it had a return address.

"Cariadoc Stenslow," she read aloud. "President, Havoc & Associates."

"When did you start getting letters from Havoc & Associates, Rose?" As usual, Angel had entered so quietly that Rose hadn't heard him.

"When I die from heart failure," she warned. "Spike and I will both haunt you."

"I'd rather take a bath in holy water than have Spike haunt me again," Angel vowed. "Now, what's the deal with Havoc?"

"I don't know," Rose admitted. "I hadn't heard of them until Lorne mentioned them earlier today. And I haven't had a chance to open this up yet. It must be something important though, for them to send it by courier."

"Open it," Angel urged. "I've been getting some static from Havoc & Associates lately, and I'm interested in seeing what this is all about."

Rose opened it and skimmed over the brief note. "The president of the company wants to talk to me," she muttered, still reading. "It's something to do with the children, and.., a television show?"

Both faces were pictures of confusion, but Rose's was the first to clear. "Oh, now I know what it's about. There was a preview screening of a new children's show this weekend. Lorne took the twins to see it." She gave Angel a knowing look. "I'm sure you can imagine their reactions."

Angel laughed. "All too well," he confessed. "I remember the looks I got after I wasted all that money on Disney dvds." Then, he remembered his purpose for dropping in on Rose. "I got another note from the Q'xlzr demon, Rose. Could you translate it?"

&&&&&&&

"You're late," Spike observed, as Angel walked into the practice room. "I was about to give up on you. Where were you? Off in a dark corner somewhere having a wank?"

"You know," Angel said tiredly. "Some of us do have actual work to do, Spike. Work that doesn't allow us to live by a set schedule. Besides, you can work out with your own men any time."

Spike sniffed. "Bunch of poncey buggers," he muttered. "Can't a one of them give me a decent run for my money. Not even Valentine."

"Does that piss him off half as much as Peaches does me?" Angel inquired. "Because if it does, and you keep that up, he's going to go for your throat one of these days."

Spike grinned. "I certainly hope so," he replied. "Why'n hell do you think I do it? What sort of parents would hang such a prissy name on a bloke?"

Angel grinned back. "I'm not even going to touch that one, William." He waited to see if that would get a reaction, and was surprised that it didn't. He shrugged and feinted at Spike, and that, Spike fell for, so he followed up and swept him off his feet. "I do want to ask you a favor, though."

Spike looked like he was about to go into shock. "You're asking me for a favor? Will wonders never cease?" He sprang to his feet and took a swing at Angel, but his fist swished past Angel's face.

"This is serious, Spike." Angel grabbed Spike's wrist and twisted his arm up behind him. "Rose was invited to see the president of Havoc & Associates about the twins reactions to that preview. I'd appreciate it if you didn't go along with her."

Spike kicked back at Angel's knee and Angel had to release him to avoid getting his knee dislocated. "Why don't you want me to go along?" he asked suspiciously.

"Because you tend to get a little too easily annoyed when someone says something the slightest bit critical of the kids," Angel replied. "Or when you interpret something they say as critical. Rose has a much more level head than you, I can trust her."

"So you're taking it as read that she's going," Spike remarked. "Riddle me this. Why should she? And why are you so set on her seeing this ponce?"

"Havoc & Associates have been making waves lately." Angel aimed a kick at Spike's midsection, which Spike narrowly avoided. "So I asked Rose to go and see what she could find out."

"You're sending Rose on an intelligence gathering mission?" If Spike had been in shock before, then there had to be one more step between shock and comatose. "In case it's slipped your tiny excuse of a mind, Rose don't get out much. About all she knows is what goes on here. What makes you think she'll notice if something is out of place? Expect them to perform a human sacrifice or two in front of her?"

Angel shrugged, and barely missed getting a black eye. "Admittedly Rose is a little short on experience," he replied. "But she is very observant. I'll be waiting in the car for her, and I'll have her go over the entire visit from start to finish before it has time for the details to start fading."

"And what if these buggers want to hold her hostage for some reason?" Spike was liking the idea less and less. "If your little friends decide to play rough, how are you going to protect her? You can't have taught her enough in a bloody month for her to be able to hold her own against someone who knows what he's doing."

It was Angel's turn to be on the receiving end of the surprise. "You know?" he asked. "How did you find out?"

"And you're the one running this place?" Spike asked, eyebrows raised. "Because the cleaning crew doesn't come in here on the weekend. I come down here of a Monday and your scents are all over the place, what else am I going to think? Even a glum bugger like you would think of a more romantic spot if you were slobbering all over her like you did once upon a time."

"We were under a spell," Angel protested.

"And I trust Rose," Spike stated. "Which leaves the only reason for the two of you sneaking down here is you teaching my wife how to fight."

That caught Angel so off balance, metaphorically, that Spike was able to knock him off his feet, literally. "Your.., wife?"

Spike shrugged. "So, we ain't got a piece of paper from the great state of California to prove it," he said. "Can't hardly see calling her my girlfriend anymore. Not being settled and raising a family and all."

"If you want to make if official," Angel remarked, getting to his feet. "Wolfram and Hart can create the necessary documents to allow it."

Again with the shrug. "What'n hell for?" Spike inquired. "We're just fine the way we are."

"You might want to consider it, though," Angel suggested. "It might make things a little easier when the two of you decide that it's time to put the kids into a public school."

"I'll talk it over with her," Spike said. "Now, you still have to convince me that you've got a way to keep Rose safe when she walks into the lion's den. Or, she isn't going."

&&&&&&&&

"Do we have to do this boring stuff all day, Oz?" Alaric whined.

"We want to play," Ariel said. "Can't we go to the park?"

"You're going through this fast enough," Oz replied. "It's just past lunchtime, and you only have about half an hours worth of lessons left."

"But it will be too late to go to the park then," Alaric grumbled. "And we have to do this every day?"

"You would if you were in a regular school," Oz informed them. "Tell you what. Let's just keep at it all day, just like you would at school, and if you're enough ahead on Friday, we'll knock off early and go to the park."

Ariel bent over her paper intently. "What did you say that two plus two is, Oz?"

&&&&&&&&

Later that afternoon, Rose went to Havoc & Associates, arriving in high style in a company limo complete with a chauffeur who escorted her into the building, and indeed, stayed within a few paces of her at all times. Little could be told about him other than that he was broad-shouldered and had dark hair. His cap was pulled so far down over his face that someone would have to be incredibly curious, or rude to peek up under it enough to get a good look at his face.

"Ms. Powers?" A spindly little man, whose movements put Rose in mind of spiders, which did little to endear him to her, approached. "I'm Archibald Travers, Mr. Stenslow's assistant. If you'll come with me, I'll take you right to see Mr. Stenslow."

"Thank you, Mr. Travers," Rose murmured. She looked around curiously, although her powers of observation weren't as essential as they might have been, since her chauffeur was also doing his share of observing. Just thinking about the silent figure lurking behind her made Rose have to fight off a giggle.

When they reached the outer entrance to Stenslow's offices, Travers turned to Rose's escort. "If you would be so good as to remain here, sir?"

The chauffeur remained silent, but Rose filled in for him. "He's kind of a bodyguard," she explained a little apologetically. "My employer insisted."

"I see," said Travers with a barely audible sniff. "I'll see if Mr. Stenslow is ready to see you." He disappeared into the inner office.

"Was that all right?" Rose asked the 'chauffeur' in a whisper.

"Just fine, Rose," Angel replied, giving his cap another tug downward. "Keep acting like I'm part of the scenery unless Stenslow asks. He probably won't though, not with Travers giving him..," He cut himself off as Travers returned.

"Mr. Stenslow will see you now, Ms. Powers." Travers gave her the information as though it should be a cause for rejoicing.

"Ms. Powers." Stenslow walked around his desk and pumped Rose's hand enthusiastically. "A pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

Rose blushed from sheer nerves. And, she didn't think anyone had ever called her ma'am before. "Likewise, I'm sure, Mr. Stenslow," she replied. She summoned up a smile. "I'm always ready to talk about my children."

Stenslow's eyes twinkled merrily. "If I may make so bold, Ms. Powers, you scarcely look old enough to have six year old children."

"They keep me young," Rose said lightly. She could hardly tell him the truth, that she'd still look the same when the twins were twenty. And as for the children keeping her young, sometimes the twins made her feel all her eons of existence.

"Well, it's late in the day, and I'm sure you'll want to get back to them in a timely manner." Stenslow kept up his hail-fellow-well-met guise. "So, I'll get right to the point. Could I persuade you to allow your children to be subjects in future tests?"

"But they hated the program," Rose protested, forgetting diplomacy. "Why would you want their input on similar projects?"

Stenslow clicked his tongue. "But we learn far more from our failures than our successes," he answered. "We'd like to find out how to capture audiences of children like Alaric and Ariel, as well as the children in the rest of the test audience."

Angel bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. There were no other children like Alaric and Ariel. Which might actually be a good thing.

"To be brutally honest, Mr. Stenslow," Rose replied. "I hardly think they'd be interested. They never have cared for children's programming. Yours, or anyone else's."

"What do they watch?" Stenslow was genuinely curious now.

"Well, I do try to limit how much time they spend in front of the television," Rose said. "But mostly, the only things they like are educational. Oh, and MTV." And for the last, she knew she had Spike to thank.

"You have very unusual children, Ms. Powers," Stenslow remarked. "They really don't like any sort of normal children's programming?"

"You did see their comments, didn't you?" Rose asked dryly. "And by the way, may I be allowed to know what they said?"

"Certainly, certainly." Stenslow had the papers at hand, and gave them to her.

Rose scanned them quickly. All she had really been concerned about was that her son had kept a civil tongue in his head. Little did she know that what was written down had been an extremely expurgated version of Alaric's comments.

"Well," Rose began hesitantly. "I'll certainly tell the children that you were interested in their input, Mr. Stenslow. But I'm afraid that they simply won't be interested."

"Perhaps it's for the best," Stenslow admitted. "And while I am sorry to have wasted your time, Ms. Powers, I cannot regret having had the opportunity to meet such a charming lady."

Rose blushed again, then allowed Travers to escort her out with Angel shadowing her.

&&&&&&&&&

"Were you able to gather any information on Wolfram and Hart, sir?" Travers asked, when he returned to Stenslow's office.

"Not a damn thing," Stenslow grumbled. "Except for the fact that they don't trust us. Uppity damn vampire. Where does he get off sending a bodyguard along with her?"

"Perhaps that strongly worded note had an effect on him," Travers suggested, although his heart wasn't in it. It wouldn't have intimidated him, so he had to assume that the extremely veiled threat had carried very little weight with Angel.

Stenslow snorted his disbelief. "Was she wired for audio or video?"

Travers shook his head. "She went through all the detectors without a blip," he replied. "Likewise for the bodyguard."

"How goes the search for someone who knows how to remove his soul?" Stenslow barked. "That vampire is really starting to get on my nerves."

"I have all the available resources working on that, sir," Travers answered. "We'll find a way to get rid of Angel's soul."

"I can hardly wait," Stenslow muttered. "Get rid of that damned soul of his, and quite possibly there will be someone we can do business with."

&&&&&&&&

"Do you have any idea what the purpose of all that was?" Rose asked as Angel handed her into the limo.

"Fishing expedition," Angel replied, taking his place in the driver's seat. Rose was hanging over the back seat so that she could converse more comfortably. "Put your seatbelt on, Rose."

Rose complied with his order, but the puzzled frown on her face suggested that the gears inside her head were turning furiously. Finally, coming up with no answer, she had to ask. "What do fish have to do with it?"