Title: New Friends, Old Places

Disclaimer: See prologue.

Rating: PG-13

Author: Supergurl15

Author's Note: More fluff! And just in case anyone may be wondering this probably won't turn out to be a Lindsey/Chloe fic. Preferably, I like evil Lindsey better than good Lindsey… something about the whole evil thing. It just makes him really… hot. So uh, yeah. Anywho, thanks for the reviews! You guys rock!

Oh and I'm sort of mixing legends and folklore and my own ideas to create my very own… :fan fare: demon god. Hopefully no one will mind too much.

I own nothing...only the plot idea.

Takes place around season two of Angel.

Thoughts and sometimes titles are in italics.

Chapter 10

"So… her name is Chloe Sullivan?" Lloyd began stuffing various essentials for round two against the vampire into his bag. Thanks to the lawyer from the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart he now knew more about the vampire, Angel, and his cohorts. The blond girl's name was Chloe and she was from this region. Her father, Gabriel Sullivan, lived in this very town as a matter of fact. The lawyer from the tavern, Lindsey, had been correct; though the time had charged the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart had not.

The Wolf, the Ram and the Hart had agreed to help him find some way to stay in his demon form if he managed to kill the vampire, which he had no objections to. The vampire was proving to be more than a pest, and though the human mask helped him to blend in with the incompetent mortals and grab a decent meal every now and then, it was repulsive. A god should never be made to walk around in human guise. It was a flaw, a defect, something that should have been mended when he was released from his vessel, that horrid Egyptian Urn that had sealed him away for millenniums. But thanks to the clumsiness of an archeologist he was free to roam this world once again. Not many were familiar enough with the ancient texts and spells to banish him, and those that had once been foolish enough to lock him away had been dead for more than forty centuries.

"Bested by a woman." A twisted, morbid smile stretched across his face, "Not likely, Ms. Sullivan. Before the night is over you and everyone you care for will be dead."

Hefting a steel bladed battle axe over his shoulder, Lloyd turned off the light and stepped outside the door of his hotel room. "You will soon learn, you all will."

"Clark, Lana… hi." Her eyes set on the pale blue carpet, Chloe didn't notice Angel analyzing her reaction to the raven haired girl from the barn earlier and a tall dark haired guy that was making Chloe's heart race. He could almost hear his demon growl. This had to have been Clark. The moron who broke his Chloe's heart continually, who left her at her spring formal for the girl standing next to him, who obviously didn't see the beautiful, quirky blond that was right in front of him. Wait, when did she become HIS Chloe?

"Lana and Clark just came from Smallville Medical, Lana had a broken… wrist?" Mr. Sullivan said a bit skeptically, he couldn't remember if it was her wrist or her arm, since her entire forearm was in a sling.

Lana nodded a little too enthusiastically as she attempted to stare inconspicuously at the handsome stranger from earlier. Needless to say, a somewhat stifled smirk from Chloe made her realize just how much she was failing at the staring inconspicuously thing. Who was he anyway? He was rather tall, built, and he certainly wasn't lacking in the looks department. Even the blind could see that he was gorgeous. He had the most beautiful shade of dark colored eyes that complimented his somewhat spiky brown hair perfectly. He was ghastly pale, but that little fact only seemed to add to the masterpiece that was standing before her.

"Come in, come in." Gabe said animatedly, ushering both Clark and Lana into the house.

"Well dad," She was getting a kick out of Lana's reaction to Angel. Maybe she was enjoying the situation a little too much. God, Lana could you be anymore obvious? She might as well openly gawk at him, since she's practically undressing him with her eyes! Okay, so… that little thought shouldn't be there. "We'd better hit the road."

We'd?! Did she say 'we'd' as in 'we had'!? It's okay Gabe, she's just been away from home so long she forgot that I'm not going to let her go anywhere with that boy until I've gotten some background information on him first. There's just something not right about him. "Well, I was…" Gabe fumbled over his words, searching for a way to get Chloe to stay without actually telling her he was trying to keep her preoccupied at the house. "I was just inviting Clark and Lana in. I thought the three of you might want to 'catch up', especially since you haven't been home in what… a year?"

"Oh…" Chloe furrowed her brow into a frown. How was she supposed to get out of this one? Wasn't it bad enough that Clark and Lana had mysteriously appeared at her front door? Well, maybe she did forget about Lana in her haste to escape the Kent's arrival to their own farm, but the last thing she needed was a recount of the previous three years of her life in Los Angeles with her two former friends. "Um…"

"You two wouldn't want to stay for coffee?" Gabe hurriedly added, using the age old coffee card to his advantage.

"And apple pie." Lana offered, "Mrs. Kent asked us to bring it to you."

"Sort of as a welcoming home gift." Clark said, presenting the white cardboard box to Chloe. Biting her lip, she accepted the gift from Mrs. Kent. Not Clark, Mrs. Kent.

"You know, coffee just isn't coffee without a slice of Mrs. Kent's homemade apple pie." For some reason her dad's coffee and pie comment scarily reminded her of a slogan for something… mayonnaise maybe?

Chloe's eyes nearly rolled out of her head, they were collaborating, together. That was just terrifying.

"Uh… I." C'mon Chloe just say something! Anything! "Huh. My cell phone's ringing, better get that. Angel could you, uh, help me by putting the pie in the kitchen?" She cleared her throat a little and silently mouthed the words 'back door' to Angel when her father, Clark and Lana weren't paying attention. "I'll get the coffee!" That works. Hopefully he'll get it.

She glanced out of the corner of her eye and noticed Angel following behind her to the kitchen with the pie box that she had handed him. So clearly he had caught onto her little backup plan.

"Like I've always said you can't have coffee without pie or pie without coffee." Angel could hear Mr. Sullivan say, even though they were two rooms from the hall and the front door.

"Why do you do that?" Angel said once they were out of ear shot of everyone else.

"Do what?" Taking the box from Angel she placed it on one of the wooden counter tops near the kitchen sink.

"Pretend like everything's okay, like nothing affects you. You can't kept running away and lying to them; you're going to have to face them eventually."

"I know. I know. I just." She walked toward the back door, and opened it slightly. With a huff she sat down heavily on the porch step. "Angel, do we have to talk about this right now?"

"No." With a sigh he sat down next to her. He was beginning to regret ever taking this case. It seemed like the more that he learned about the quaint little town the more he learned about Chloe's past. Just being in Smallville was ripping her in two. With every tear, every sad look, every time she spent hours locked in her room, he came closer to forgetting about the renegade demon and calling it quits. Nothing was worth her happiness. Nothing.

He wanted more than anything to be the one to make her happy, to hold her while she cried, to run his fingers through her soft, blond hair, to see her reaction when he nipped and kissed along her jaw line and neck and told her that he loved her. He did… love her. Darla may have haunted his dreams, but Chloe haunted his waking thoughts.

But he wasn't allowed to love, well, love unconditionally. He had learned that about a while ago in a place called Sunnydale with a girl named Buffy. All it took was one moment of pure unadulterated happiness and his soul was gone. "We don't."

"Again with the sighing thing?" Chloe laughed, looking at her reflection in the shiny lawn table.

She didn't feel like laughing. Why did she even try to pretend anymore? Clark, Lana. Lana, Clark. During the four year span of her high school career, Clark and Lana had found more ways to hurt her than anyone ever had in her entire life, and yes, it did hurt. No more lies, no more sucking it up.

For once she would love to be five again, running to her father, depending on him to make everything better. At five she thought her dad could do anything. If she had a problem at school, dad would always be there; when she fell off of her bike at six, dad was there helping her back up, but this wasn't a problem that could be fixed with some antiseptic and a band-aid.

This was one of those things that dad wasn't around for. Like the time Clark had left her at the spring formal, or the time Clark had practically seduced her in the Torch office and then just brushed her off like she was absolutely nothing to him, or when she found out that her mother was really in an asylum and that she hadn't actually abandoned them. But she had learned to stop feeling sorry for herself a long time ago; the water works never solved anything.

Then why were there tear drops trickling down her face?

"We should probably…" Keeping her head down, Chloe eyed a small, polished green rock on the lawn. She got up slowly and steadily, praying to God that the tears would stop, and that they would have a quiet ride back to the hotel. This walk down memory lane was killing her, and being here, at her dad's house wasn't helping matters.

"Yeah. They're probably out searching for us right now."

When she didn't respond Angel walked up to her, pulling her tightly into his embrace. With one wracking sob she buried her face in his chest and clung to him for dear life. He wondered if it was slightly wrong that he was the one comforting her as he stroked her hair lovingly. So close and yet… so far.

Seconds turned to minutes before Chloe finally lifted her head from Angel's shirt. This was the second time tonight that she had cried in front of him. Only this time she had managed to get the front of his shirt wet with her tears. "God. You must think I'm pretty pathetic." She said sniffling, and trying for one of her trademark 'I'm okay… really' laughs, it was the one that she always used whenever she attempted to bury a bad situation. Her eyes were still bloodshot and her face was clammy. Turning away from him she wiped at her eyes furiously with the backs of her hands.

For some reason she never tried to hide what she was feeling when she was with Angel. Even if she had wanted to, it was almost impossible. She only ended up telling him anyway. She had never been so… open with anyone before. It scared her, more than she'd like to admit. Not that many people could actually claim to bear witness to a sobbing, distraught Chloe without her drawn guards and her merciless wit.

"Coffee, huh?" Clark said, once Mr. Sullivan left for something that he had forgotten by the door.

Clark had been watching the hugging pair lividly from the Sullivan's kitchen window. Not only had she lied, but she was in the arms of some stranger that he-, they barely even knew.

"Hmmm…" Staring out of the same window Lana couldn't help but smile at the scene. Chloe deserved to have someone who loved her completely. The reporter had always had a thing for Clark and even though she had insisted that she was fine with the whole idea of the two of them going out, Lana had never fully believed her. It was good that she had found someone, even if Lana was more than a little attracted to him. "Are you jealous Clark?"

"Jealous?" Clark's expression changed to that of offence at the idea. "No. I just… I'm only…"

"Worried about her?" Lana smirked mockingly. "Don't worry; I'm sure she'll be fine. Not every guy that wanders into her life is out to hurt her."

Clark looked sheepishly away from Lana. Sure. Why let someone else do what you can do yourself? He knew he had hurt Chloe frequently over the years that he had known her. A lot of it couldn't be helped, though some of it could.

Lana faced the window and couldn't help from pushing back the pale green drapes and looking out it again. It seemed like one of those things that you would do after a really intense conversation. Wait. Who… is… that?

She knew the man that was crouched, partially hidden in the oak tree in Chloe's backyard.

"That's him. The guy who attacked me earlier." Lana said from beside Clark. Why was she always victim number one to the local town lunatics? Even on her vacation? "I was 'out' for a while, so I don't really remember too much of what happened. When I woke up he and Chloe were there." She said looking misty eyed at Angel.

"Chloe…" Chloe looked up from swatting away at her face at the sound of her name. She glanced at Angel and then her father who had "coincidentally" called her from where he stood on the porch the same time Angel had.

Angel knew that Chloe's father hated and distrusted him for one reason on another, but couldn't he have one moment to talk to her without someone interrupting?

"I was a little worried when you didn't come back with the coffee and pie." Her father, always protective. It was sweet, it really was, but she was surprised she was allowed to even breathe air without her dad worrying about the level of CFCs and other pollutants that could possibly harm her. "Everything okay pumpkin?"

She moved away awkwardly, still trying to get her bearings. Being slightly overprotective he might get the wrong idea about Angel if he saw her with tear trails running down her face. Especially since they were outside talking and she already got the idea that her dad thought that Angel was her boyfriend, or fiancé, or something to that effect. "Yeah dad, I just thought I would show Angel the Koi pond." She lied, but it wasn't really a lie. They did have a Koi pond and the whole reason that she was even out here was to show him the Koi pond… well, it had been the reason.

Gabe nodded slowly, still a little skeptical of the situation. He wasn't as easily fooled as Chloe thought. He could tell when his little girl had been crying. He was her father for crying out loud!

"Well this may sound a bit spur of the moment, but something's come up." Gone was the defenseless, innocent, weeping damsel in distress that Angel always ended up helping one way or another, and in her place stood the unflappable, intrepid façade, the girl who Chloe wanted everyone to think she was.

"Uh huh." Mr. Sullivan sighed to himself, he would play her little game for now, "And what exactly would this little 'spur of the moment' thing be?"

Chloe really couldn't think of anything to use as a legitimate excuse. Everything that came to mind either seemed overly sensible or ridiculously senseless.

Fortunately, she didn't have to think of an explanation that much longer as a black trench coated figure jumped from the roof of her once permanent home and landed on the ground next to the Koi pond.

The figure stood up swiftly, his deep blue eyes gleaming in the light of the full moon. "This time I will not be defeated so easily."

Chloe wanted to scream in exasperation until her throat was raw and the only sound that she could make was a soft squeaking, if any sound at all. I don't know how many more of these bad coincidences I can take. "That."