Roller Skates and Rose-Colored Glasses

A weekday at the roller rink meant a very small crowd, which made if more difficult to stay inconspicuous than it was worth. Lindsey said to hell with it and rented a pair of skates.

If there were flaws in his plan, they were, one, that he didn't really skate very well, and spent more time picking himself up off his ass than watching the kids. Two, he'd forgotten they could read minds.

Luckily for him, two didn't come into it today, simply because Alaric and Ariel weren't paying any attention to him.

"Watch this, Oz," Ariel demanded. She wheeled a bit nearer the center of the rink and did a graceful spin and continued on her circuit, skating backwards.

"Just be sure to watch where you're going," Oz cautioned. "Be careful, Ariel, you're going to run right into..," His voice trailed away as Ariel skated out of range. Or, at least comfortably far away where she could say that she hadn't heard him.. Then, the collision occurred.

"I'm really sorry." Ariel looked at her victim, noticed he was an adult male, and gave him a dose of eyes. It usually worked pretty well.

Lindsey laughed. "No harm done, princess," he said genially, making a cautious effort to stand. "I'd like to be a gentleman and help you up, but I'd probably fall on top of you."

Ariel giggled and got to her feet with considerably more alacrity than Lindsey had. "That's okay." She smiled up at him. "Are you all right?"

"I've taken worse," Lindsey replied, thinking that was definitely no lie. "What about you, cutie-pie? I hope you didn't get bruised too badly."

Oz and Alaric had caught up to them. "Are you okay, Ariel?" Oz asked a little breathlessly.

Alaric said nothing, but scowled at Lindsey. He was just about to take a quick reconnoiter in Lindsey's mind when his sister firmly ordered him not to. He stared at her.

Before further questions could be asked, Lindsey stepped in, blissfully unaware of how close he'd come to being more totally exposed than he'd be if he were naked. "No harm done on either side," he reported easily. His eyes scanned the group. Oz, cautious. Alaric, belligerent. And Ariel, still at her most charmingly flirtatious. "Why don't we hit the snack bar and I'll get us all something cold to drink?" He asked Oz, but his attention was on the children, gauging their reactions.

"A soda?" Alaric perked up considerably. Rose didn't let them have soda pop very often.

"Can we, Oz?" Ariel turned her wiles from her new friend to her tutor for a moment. But only for a moment, then her eyes swiveled back to Lindsey. "He talks pretty."

Oz hesitated for a split second, then gave in. A soda wouldn't hurt them, and though he'd never tell her, he sometimes thought that Rose was a little overprotective. Besides, what could happen in a public place like this? Still, he felt he ought to make some sort of small show of reluctance, just to keep hold of his tenuous grasp on authority. "Just one soda, though."

&&&&&&

"Why don't we just cut to the chase?" Angel suggested, interrupting Richard's carefully crafted apology. "I don't know what you thought you'd accomplish here, but the longer you're here, the shorter your life expectancy is. I don't like men who will take advantage of a helpless woman."

"That isn't a very p.c. sort of remark to make, is it?" Richard gave a nervous little laugh. He was botching it, he knew he would. He really wished that Lindsey had been able to tag along, then, berated himself for such weakness. He was bigger than Lindsey, so if Lindsey wasn't afraid of the vampire, why should he be? "Besides, I wouldn't necessarily call her helpless."

"You wouldn't?" Angel gave him a pointed look. "What else would you call someone with total amnesia, having to rely on the nearest stranger? It sounds helpless to me. You're lucky that we got her back safe and sound."

Richard laughed again, and it sounded even more obviously nervous. "Did she ever get her memory back?" he inquired. He was genuinely curious on that score. "It seemed like such a little thing to cause so much trouble."

"I'll answer your question if you answer mine," Angel parried. "What exactly caused it?"

"The guy in the seat in front of us didn't want to give up his laptop," Richard explained. "The co-pilot insisted. There was a struggle, and the computer came back over the seat and smacked her square on the forehead."

Angel shook his head wonderingly. So the amnesia itself had been of completely mundane origins.

"And the answer to my question?" Richard prompted. He was feeling a little more at ease now, and it was making him a little bolder.

"She remembers," Angel said shortly. He rose to his feet. "Now, Mr. McDaniels, I'll have to say that you have worn out your welcome here. Don't come back here again, don't try to hire our services. He leaned over, planting his palms squarely on his desk. "Stay the hell away from my employees."

"I didn't do anything illegal," Richard pointed out in a slightly whiny voice, rising as well. He might have the law on his side, but the law was nowhere near as close to him as the vampire who was getting closer to the end of his rope by the second.

"I've been working here a number of years now," Angel remarked. "And if there's one thing I've noticed, legal and right are hardly ever the same thing."

Richard looked him in the eye for a few moments, and saw no wavering. Or forgiveness. He sighed, and started to hold out his hand, habit, more than anything, then, thought twice. "I don't suppose you'd ..,"

"Want to shake hands with you?" Angel finished. "Hardly.. I was thinking more along the lines of having my office fumigated after you leave."

"You're making too much of this entire incident," Richard protested, moving slowly towards the door. "After all, no real harm was done."

"Tell that to a pair of seven-year-olds that missed their mother," Angel snapped, and shut the door in his face.

&&&&&&&

"That's curious." Wesley put down the book he was consulting and started typing at the computer keyboard, drumming his fingers on the desktop impatiently while he waited for his information to appear. When it finally did, it was enough to send him hobbling up to Angel's office.

"Well, they need to look again," Wesley said, irritably. "According to the computer, they're in the vaults. Unless someone's stolen them."

"Keep looking," Angel ordered whoever was on the other end of the line. "I don't care if they're still here or on the other side of the world. I expect you to find them." He hung up the phone and looked at Wesley. "Now, do you want to tell me what's so special about those glasses that you have me ordering what may amount to a multi-dimensional search?"

"I was researching the spell that Rose was supposed to sing," the Watcher explained. "And I found a cross reference for Hramass, the demon that it summoned. The sooner it is fed, and the better the feeding is, the sooner it can open the portal, and the longer the portal will stay open."

"What do you mean by, 'feeding better'?" Angel guessed that was the operative phrase in the sentence.

"It evidently feeds off of certain types of psychic energy," Wesley replied. "The sort that determines, amongst other things, the appearance of a person's aura. When I read that, I remembered seeing that we were supposed to have a device in the vaults that allows non-psychic persons to see auras." He paused to take a breath. "I thought we could see just what Rose's aura looks like and compare it to a few others people's. Maybe the quality of her aura was why McDaniels took such a risk to try to make Rose the sacrifice."

"I can buy that," Angel agreed. "But why didn't you just go to one of the psychics if you wanted to start comparing auras?"

"I want to see it for myself," Wes replied with a slightly embarrassed, half-grin. "Besides, unless I completely miss my guess, Rose's aura ought to be a sight to see."

"I wouldn't doubt that for a minute," Angel said softly.

&&&&&&&

"Do we have to go now, Oz?" Ariel was giving him eyes for all she was worth.

"We were having fun," Alaric grumbled. "Why do we have to go home now?"

"Because you're growing children, and you need a nutritious lunch," Oz responded. That particular response was practically pre-recorded, seeing how many times over the years he'd had to use it.

"But, Oz," both twins whined in perfect chorus.

Lindsey laughed. "Don't hassle the man for doing his job," he advised. "I'm sure we'll see each other around, now that we've met." He tweaked Ariel's nose. "Thanks for the skating pointers, dimples." And to Alaric, "See you later, tiger."

While this exchange had been taking place, the twins had been getting ready for the trip across the parking lot. Wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, and light jackets, with their hands in the pockets.

"Is mommy afraid that they'll get skin cancer?" Lindsey asked. After all, a regular person, which he was far from being, would ask.

"Something like that," Oz half-agreed. "Nice to have met you," he added politely, and not entirely sincerely. "But I have to get these two home."

"Sure thing." Even though the formalities of leave-taking had been attended too, Lindsey stayed with the small entourage for the trip across the parking lot, and even helped Ariel into the car, which produced a fit of giggles. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd accomplished with the morning's activities, but any positive contact could prove to be useful later on.

&&&&&&

"I'm almost beginning to think that you did this on purpose, Rose," Wesley grumbled. "You know of course, that if you'd just arrived home safely as you were supposed to have done, you could have covered practically the entire Watcher's conference for me by now."

"And you could have gone yourself if you hadn't broken your leg," Rose pointed out equitably. "Stop fussing, Wesley. I took tons of notes and saved all the handouts. I just haven't had time to unpack yet."

"You had the better part of the weekend free and couldn't find time to unpack?" Wes sounded disbelieving. "What on earth could possibly have kept you so busy..," Then, he saw the fiery blush creep up his assistant's cheeks and remembered who she was married to. "Oh, er, I see."

"I'll try to get to it tonight, Wesley," Rose replied. "But I'm afraid I can't make any promises. I mean, there's dinner to make and clean up after, although the children are getting to be quite a help with that. Then, I spend some time with them. Sometimes we read, or watch television, and of course, they have to tell me about their day. Then, after baths and bedtime.., well, maybe there'll be something on t.v. tonight that Spike wants to watch. Then, I could unpack."

Wesley sighed in despair. Spike watching t.v. after Rose had been away for so long? He didn't see it, himself.

&&&&&&&

Angel was leaving his office, truth to tell, just to be leaving his office, when he saw some familiar figures crossing the lobby. One of those moved at an easy, slow walk. The other two almost literally bounced.

He made a quick blind side swoop and caught the bouncing pair up in his arms, eliciting a delighted squeal from Ariel, and a startled yip from Alaric. Then, he was brought up short. There was a scent clinging to his goddaughter that couldn't possibly be what he thought it was. He decided, for the moment, to write it off as coincidence. Besides, it had been a long time, maybe the scent he'd caught just now wasn't quite the same as the one he thought he remembered. The more he considered, the more possible it sounded, and he was about to table the whole thing until Ariel's piping voice caught his attention.

".., nice man that talks pretty," she said with a giggle. "His name is Lindsey."

His consternation must have shown plainly on his face, for immediately, Alaric asked, "Is something wrong, Uncle Angel?"

"I'm not completely sure," Angel hedged, even though, in truth, he was pretty sure. "But we'll find out. Oz." He turned to the tutor, and indicated his office with a nod of his head. "Why don't you call the executive dining room and order these guys something to eat." Then, to his secretary. "Harmony, call a meeting. The usual suspects."

&&&&&&&

The old man listened carefully to reports of the day's activities from both Richard and Lindsey. He sat digesting the information for some time before turning to his constant companion.

"Corinna, my dear," he remarked softly. "I do believe that we have reached the point where the situation could almost certainly benefit from a woman's touch." He stroked the spider cautiously. Sometimes she bit, just for the fun of it. "How would you like to go play with the vampires with souls, sweet girl?"