Connections

Disclaimer: Now I own two of them! Go me. All others still belong to Joss.

Summary: Trying to find out how everything is connected.

Reviews: You know, I gotta be honest. The reviews for the last two chapters were a little disappointing. As were the chapters themselves, I'm sure. Not that that's gonna stop me from writing this fic but it does make the muse a little fickle. And thank you very much to those who did take the time. So come on guys, you know I love you. If it's good, say so, if it's that bad, suggest fixes. Please, just let me know what you're thinking. (OMG, did that come out as needy as I think it did?) As always Readers Rock but REVIEWERS RULE!!!

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Jake eased the unconscious vampire onto the sofa, stretching his legs out and placing a pillow under his head. He ran his fingers through his straight hair. His hand shook as it drifted down the side of his face. Will was physically stronger than anyone else Jake knew and for him to be affected this way was frightening. Clenching his hands together, he tapped them against his mouth.

'Think!' He told himself as he paced back and forth in agitation. A low moan from the sofa caught his attention. He knelt next to Will.

"Will?" He could see his friend trying to regain consciousness. The thick dark eyelashes were fluttering, showing glimpses of sapphire blue. "Come on Buddy, wake up. I need to know what happened here. You're scaring me. Will! Wake up." He pleaded.

Will groaned as he forced his eyes to stay open. "I'm okay. Just had a flash of memory, kind of overloaded the system." He attempted to sit up, giving it up as a lost effort with a gasp.

"You remembered something?" Jake wasn't sure if it was a happy thing or not. "What was it?"

Will shook his aching head. "Don't know. Lots of little bits. Blood, pain, laughter, screaming and oddest of all, an Irish accent. Feelings, sensations, all mixed up together. It all has to do with that vampire, Angel. I just can't suss out the connection. It's all gone now. I can't recall anything specific. I could feel something tugging me, pulling at my mind…I don't know. It was fighting me. It was as if something doesn't want me to remember. At least not now. We need to find the people who bought the portraits. They may have some of the answers." He raised a shaky hand to his temple and rubbed gently trying to ease the ache.

He stared at Jake with pain filled eyes. "Bloody Hell, my head hurts." He gasped.

Jake stood up. "I'll get you some blood, maybe that will help."

Will nodded and winced at the action. "Thanks, Mate. It should."

Jake went into the kitchen and quickly prepared a large mug of blood for the stricken vampire. Carrying it into the living room, he was struck with the incongruity of his situation. Caring for a vampire, who would have predicted it? Six months ago he would have scoffed at anyone who dared tell him this was in his future.

The phone rang, wrenching a low groan from Will. Jake snatched up the receiver before it could ring again.

"Hello?" He snapped.

The female voice on the other end surprised him. "Susan, your idiot manager sold my paintings." He snarled.

"Jake, honey, I'm sorry. But from what he and Trevor say, he really didn't have any choice. He says you're not going to let him show any more work. Is that true?" Jake's cousin apologized.

"He told me they forced the check on him and just took the pieces." Jake admitted reluctantly. "I said he couldn't show any more of my work but I just don't know."

Susan was silent for a minute. "Jake, I'm sorry. It was my day off. I might have been able to stop them."

Jake laughed humorlessly. "I doubt it. One of them was a vampire."

"You're kidding! Like Will?" Susan was stunned. "Do they know Will?" She asked.

"Suzy, not all vampires know each other. But yeah, I think maybe they do. They said they did. They told Mr. Howard that he died six months ago." Jake had confided in his cousin just to make sure he wasn't going insane. She worked in the gallery and had convinced Jake to show his paintings. Since she lived in LA, she had assured him that the things that go bump in the night actually existed.

"And you found him four months ago. Where was he for the other two months?" Susan asked.

"Gee, Suzy, maybe stuck in that amulet he came out of? Don't you retain anything? I told you he was in Heaven. That's why he's so… quiet. If you were in Heaven wouldn't you be rather unhappy about being dragged out?" Jake was unaware of the increasingly upset expression on Will's face.

Will was feeling a sickening sense of deja-vu. The phrase 'dragged out of Heaven' was striking a very painful chord deep in his memory. Unfortunately it also renewed the stabbing pain throughout his head. An involuntary whimper escaped his clenched teeth. Jake whipped around at the sound and gasped as he saw the pain darkening Will's deep blue eyes.

"Look, Suzy, I have to go. Will had a memory flash that gave him a migraine. I gotta give him some blood before he passes out again. I'll let you know about showing the new painting, it's almost done, one or two more hours should to it. I really have to go now." The brunette lowered his voice in deference to Will's obvious pain.

Suzy made a sympathetic noise. "Poor thing, can I help?"

"See if you can find out anything about the people who bought the painting. Thanks, Hon." Jake hung up and hurried over to Will, offering the straw he'd stuck in the mug. Will sipped slowly, his hazy eyes closing almost involuntarily.

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Wesley, true to his word, made an appearance at the gallery later that afternoon. He'd been distressingly unsuccessful in his search for information on the amulet. Angel had ruled out asking Lindsey but Wes was beginning to think that maybe there was no other avenue.

He had raised his hand to knock on the manager's door when he heard the discussion taking place inside. Dropping his hand, he tilted his head to listen.

"Jake just might let you show his new painting after all. But you have got to respect his wishes. He didn't want the others sold but now they're gone and he blames you." Susan was berating her boss for his ineffectual defense of her cousin's work. She held up a hand as he began to disagree with her.

"I know, I know. You were pretty much forced into the sale. But still, why didn't you just have security show them out?" She asked acerbically.

"But you didn't see the tall guy. He had yellow eyes. But they were brown to start with and turned yellow. It scared me. The other guy, the one who wrote the check, he was just icy. I think he scared me more than the tall one. You weren't here, you don't know." Mr. Howard continued to defend himself.

Wesley allowed himself a small smile. He'd been working on his scare tactics and apparently he'd succeeded in frightening the slimy little manager.

"Oh, come on." Susan scoffed. "You've lived in LA for how long? Don't you know what you were up against?"

'Yes, please, tell him what he was up against. Do you even know?' Wesley thought to himself.

At her boss's shake of his head, Susan waved her hand in dismissal. "I'm not even going to bother. I just want to warn you, if you ever see anyone with eyes like that again, RUN. As far and as fast as you can and pray to God that they don't catch you. Oh, and you might want to start carrying a cross." With that, she turned to go.

"But…but what was he?" Mr. Howard stammered as she opened the door.

"A vampire." Susan laughed at the disbelief on the man's face.

Wes heard her footsteps start for the door and moved back into the center of the gallery, acting as if he'd just arrived. His mind was racing.

'She knows the artist and pretty well it seems. She also knows about vampires. How? Because of Spike? I really need to find out everything she knows.' His thoughts stumbled to a stop as a tall pretty woman came out of the office. He pretended interest in a sculpture next to where he was standing.

Susan paused, wondering if the handsome man standing in the showroom had heard any of the conversation in the office. She approached him cautiously.

"Hello? May I help you?" She asked.

Wesley looked at her with innocent blue eyes. He hoped with all his heart that Mr. Howard would cower in his office until he was gone.

"Well, yes, actually. My employer and I purchased some portraits here yesterday. I was wondering if it would be possible to contact the artist about them. There are some questions." Gazing into her pretty and very intelligent gray eyes, Wes abruptly opted to tell the truth.

Susan shocked the former Watcher by grabbing his arm. Glancing quickly back towards the office, she steered the stunned Brit out of the front door and down the sidewalk. Stopping at a sidewalk café, she commandeered a small table. Once they were seated, she pinned him with a piercing gaze.

"What do you know?" She demanded.