She adjusted her blue backpack so it sat more comfortably on her shoulders and strode toward the set of double doors that said very boldly that the man behind said doors was compensating for something. She figured it was the best place to look for who she was looking for.
Out of the corner of her eye, a familiar face sat behind a reception desk. "Dawn? Dawn Summers?" the familiar voice that went with the familiar face asked.
Dawn turned. Harmony gazed at her vapidly. "Hey, Dawn! Ohmygod, you've grown!"
"Yeah, thanks. And you're working for Angel."
"I know, weird, huh? So, um, what can we at Wolfram & Hart do for you?"
"I'm here to see Angel."
"Ooh, sorry. Can't do. He's in this totally weird place right now. Like, he was just mean before, but now he's like gr. Been like that since he got back from Europe. Said he didn't want any distractions today."
"I'm not a distraction. I'm here on business." Dawn walked to the double doors. "Can't say it was nice seeing you." She casually opened the door and slipped through.
Angel sat at his desk, intent on some paperwork. He barely glanced upwards. "Dawn. What are you doing here?"
Dawn snorted. "Please. Andrew babbled about your whole visit. It was really dumb of him to leave you in the apartment alone, but he's been kinda weird lately. Like, he actually had a date. With girls." She sauntered over to a chair and sat down.
"So, you're here to chastize us?"
"Us? Andrew said it was just you."
Angel's eyebrows went up. "He did? Um, good for him. Telling the truth. But I had my flunkie waiting in the car downstairs. I don't think Andrew saw him." He signed a contract and shoved the whole load of papers to the side. "As you can see, I'm a busy man, so..."
"If I was just here for the 'don't do that' speech, which you're still getting by the way, I would've just called. I'm here on Council business."
"Business? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you're mature for your age, but..."
"I'm 17, Angel. Older than Buffy was when you two started getting serious."
"You're not the Slayer."
"I don't have to be a Slayer to do this. I have an order for the extradition of Rutherford Sirk."
Angel crossed his arms. "That's going to be a little tough."
"Why?"
"Don't know where he is. Disappeared after sending me and -- after sending me on a wild Dew hunt. Might want to talk to Lindsey McDonald since he orchestrated the whole thing."
Dawn stood and gave the office a good looking-over. "So this is where heroes end up?" She smiled at him. "Not bad. We could use this kind of snazz at the new Council. But I don't think we'd get the Evil Law Firm discount."
"We're not evil."
"That's not what I hear."
Angel glowered. "If you're done..."
"I'm not. Sirk took a bunch of books with him when he vamoosed. You have 'em."
"And you want them back."
"I have a list."
Angel leaned back in his chair and toyed with his pen. "Dawn, I'm not sure how much you know about our dealings with the Council, but we've been pretty screwed over every damn time." He tossed the pen on the desk. "You'll excuse me if I think that a few books are reasonable compensation."
"Angel, that's not fair."
Angel furrowed his brow. "Not fair. Do you have any idea what's going on out there? Apocalypse. Second by second, they're winning. I've lost too many of my people to really care about what's fair anymore."
"Just one book, then. For Buffy."
Angel crossed his arms. "For Buffy or The Immortal?"
"That's cold."
"So's life."
"Yeah, like you're not. There are people dying right now, and you want to worry about petty past grievances."
"Fine. What book?"
"The Lazarey Codex."
A look of annoyance crossed Angel's face. "Oh great."
Dawn didn't take a large sip from her organic cola. She did, however, continue to gape a bit at Angel. "So you fire this custodian guy, and Harmony accidentally returns it to the Los Angeles County Library?"
"We didn't notice until just last week. There haven't been a lot of demon parasite infections lately."
"Well, there's one in a small town in Sicily, and if I don't get that book back to Buffy and The Immortal, lots of people are going to die. The only known cure is in that book. Why can't we just, y'know, get it?"
Angel frowned. "It's been checked out. Actually, it's overdue."
"So, who has it?"
"Couldn't tell you. Patron privacy policies."
Dawn shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. You run a branch of the most powerful evil law firm in the world, and you can't pull up a simple patron record?"
"Have you met those librarians? They're vicious. Besides, we have a good working relationship with them. We can't just barge in and demand their records."
"Willow could have the system hacked in five minutes."
"Willow's not here." Angel stood and walked to the door. "We have more pressing matters here than your missing book. Find a workaround. Buffy's clever like that. I have a business to keep running." He pulled open the door and held it. "Tell Buffy I said 'hi.'"
Dawn shook her head. "You really have gone over. I wanted to see for myself. Guess I shouldn't have bothered."
To Be Continued...
