A.N. Tariq, I'd gladly read Consequences, but I can't seem to find it on ff.net.  If you could send me a link, I'd go read and review it:P

Gift

Chapter Five

Heartbroken

            Liberty had immersed herself in various ancient texts, looking for anything that would clue her in on Connor Johnson's new abilities.  She couldn't find anything that had powers that matched Connor's, except vampires.  That wouldn't work since Connor was, well, alive.  Liberty tossed another book on top of the text.  She allowed her thoughts to wander from Connor's gifts to Connor himself.  She hadn't been able to stop thinking about him.  He was so warm and funny and interesting.  Even though she'd met him through Wolfram and Hart, she wasn't worried about his character.  It wasn't like he was hiring a lawyer to get him out of a felony charges.  She smiled as she recalled the warmth in his eyes when he'd met her and then the depth of fear he'd displayed when he talked about the new abilities he was experiencing.  She understood that fear; she'd felt it when she was little.  She'd been so confused when she'd looked into the eyes of a demon worshipper that her mother had introduced as a co-worker.  She could commiserate with Connor's situation if she could only tell Connor about her gift.  She still didn't trust him enough to tell him, though he'd done nothing to warrant her mistrust.  It had been ingrained in her brain to never tell anyone about the gift.  People wouldn't understand; she'd been told that for close to fifteen years.  She'd been raised to both embrace and fear her gift, as contradictory as that statement seemed.

"Liberty?  Are you all right?"

She focused her gaze and found Connor kneeling in front of her, having pushed aside a pile of leather-bound books.  He looked worried, which led her to believe he'd been sitting there for a while.

"Sorry.  I didn't hear you come in."

"You looked like you were deep in thought."

"I was just remembering something from when I was little."

"Obviously not a happy memory."

Liberty shrugged, but forced a smile to soothe Connor's worries. 

"Did I know you were coming by today?"

He waved a folder in front of her face.  "You told me to come with a written paragraph about my nightmares or memories.  Remember? I did my homework."

"Yeah…gold star for you.  Listen, I've been sort of absorbed in things since you left.  I was here until one last night and I came here directly after school to start up my research again."

Connor shifted his position so he could stretch out, then lifted up the top book.

"Ancient Gods, Rituals, and Demons.  Interesting reading.  Are you finding anything?"

"Only that you have the same power as vampires.  Which doesn't help at all since you can go out in the sun and don't drink blood of any variety."

Connor laughed lightly, "And I have no fangs.  At least I didn't think I did."

Connor's hand flew to his mouth as if to check his teeth.  His eyes were glittering with mischief and amusement.  Liberty couldn't stop herself from giggling.  Connor made her feel so comfortable.  She rarely felt natural with boys.  Or anyone for that matter.

"That's awful, Connor."

"You laughed, didn't you?"

"Only out of surprise at your stupidity."  They laughed again.

"Is that your paper that you so elegantly waved in front of my face?"

"Yeah."
He handed it to her with something of an apology, "That's all I could remember.  I doubt it will help you find anything, but maybe I'm just not seeing something."
"I like to have as much information as I can get.  It might help me figure things out."

"I can only hope."

The two teenagers fell quiet, unusually so.  The silence was awkward; tension high in the air between them.  Connor took a deep breath before muttering, "Youwannatakeabreakandgrabsomethingtoeatwithme?"

It came out like one long, run-on word.  Liberty blushed prettily and lowered her head.  She indicated the books that surrounded her.

"I still have a lot of work to do.  I don't think I can."

Connor stood up quickly, looking very much like the shy teenage boy who had been rejected.

"Right.  You've got work to do." 

He fled the room and Liberty did feel guilty.  It wasn't that she didn't want to go with him.  It was more of her unnatural fear of having to get close to Connor.  He would be in and out of her life in no time.  When she solved his mystery, he would go back to his normal life at his normal college with his normal friends.  She wouldn't fit in anywhere there.  She wasn't normal.

            Connor had sprinted out of the office, but not before knocking into Mr. Angel.  Connor didn't care.  All he wanted to do was get out of the oppressive office.  He was completely humiliated.  He had been feeling weird since he'd noticed his powers.  He'd been lacking a good night's sleep since he'd started having the nightmares and he had a sinking fear that he would never fit in with his normal life again.  He was aware of an entirely different side to the City of Angels and while everyone else remained ignorant, he was forced to deal with it.  He'd finally thought he'd found someone to be comfortable with, someone who wouldn't be freaked out by his abilities.  He'd thought she'd been interested in him, but he'd very obviously been wrong.  She apparently just saw him as another assignment, another case to help earn her paycheck.  Connor finally stopped running, unsure of where he was.  He was in front of a building that seemed familiar, yet not.  A window was cracked on the top level so he jumped up to the ledge.  He climbed through the window and sniffed.  The scent seemed so familiar as freaky as that seemed.  A bed was centered in the room, sheets twisted all around.  The room was shabby, but he could see that someone had lived there.  If only he could remember who it was.  Or if he even knew the person.

            Angel knocked on Liberty's open door.  She was surrounded by her books, but she wasn't reading.  In fact, she seemed completely zoned out.  Her face had a heartbroken look to it, something that he'd seen on Connor's face when he'd sped out of the office building.  Angel approached cautiously, waiting for Liberty to acknowledge him.

"Angel?  Hey."

"Libby.  I, uh, saw Connor on his way out.  Is everything okay?"

"Mhm."

Liberty hummed as she stood up and headed to her desk chair, climbing over small mountains that she had built.  Angel slid into the chair facing her desk.

"That sounded terribly convincing."

Liberty let a small smile form before settling into her leather desk chair.

"I'm just frustrated. I'm not finding much out about Connor's case."

"Is that why Connor was upset?"  Angel asked, pretending very much to simply be a concerned CEO.  Little did she know that he wanted to know what was bothering his son.

"Not hardly.  I completely turned him down.  He asked me to go out to dinner and I said no."

A piece of black hair flopped into her eyes.  She blew it away.  She looked completely dejected and Angel wasn't sure how to react.  He didn't have much experience in dealing with teenage crisis unless monsters, blood, violence, and gore was involved. 

"You look like you wished you hadn't said no."

"It doesn't matter what I wanted. Listen, Angel, I'm busy.  I'll let you know if I find out anything new."

Angel allowed her to dismiss him.  He'd found out what he'd come for anyway.

"Just talk to me if you need to, Libby."

"I will."  She leaned over her desk, opening a thin folder and began chewing unconsciously on a pen.  Angel watched her for a moment before leaving her.  Poor girl.  He felt slightly guilty for lying to her.  He didn't want to.  He just didn't have a choice.