Author's Note: Sorry it's taking me so long to update and finish this. I've had a bad case of writer's block lately, and of course it's effecting how often I post chapters for this fic. :sighs: My sincerest apologies for the delay.

I own nothing... only the plot idea.

Takes place around season two of Angel.

Thoughts and sometimes titles are in italics.

Chapter 14

"Lindsey…" Chloe could only stare at said lawyer, a baffled expression on her face that spread all the way to her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

She accepted the bouquet from his outstretched hand, eyeing it wearily.

"Um… Lindsey." She gawked at the floral arrangement of pansies, daises, marigolds, and other springtime beauties before looking intently at his face. Her features betrayed a look of pure bafflement. "I'm flattered… but confused. Very confused."

"Chloe." Lindsey looked from Ms. Johnson to Chloe and finally let his gaze fall on Chloe's amused face. "I felt horrible about what happened the other day, and-"

"You!" As if interrupting the lawyer wasn't bad enough, the fact that she scoffed and grinned almost mockingly was even worse. "You actually felt remorse for something that you're done? And here I thought the egotistical, immoral mind of bad assed lawyer Lindsey McDonald didn't have words like remorse in its vocabulary."

Another chuckle and Chloe placed the flowers nest to the bouquet Angel had brought earlier that day. "But seriously… why are you here?"

"Chloe…" Lindsey couldn't help but sigh exasperatedly.

Chloe began pacing the small room hurriedly, despite the surgeon's recommendation of limited moment, speech, and laughter. Especially the laughter, she had found that out the hard way. "What exactly are you trying to pull?"

An observer of the events transpiring before her and a little peeved at the bickering between the two adults, Ms. Johnson felt it the right moment to interfere. "Before you awoke we had a nice little discussion and your friend is in fact telling you the truth."

"Ms. Johnson." Chloe said with a sigh flopping down on the stark, white hospital bed. "Lindsey… is… I just can't…" She sighed again and added softly. "Fine."

"I shouldn't have… overreacted… like I did." Lindsey wasn't the only one who noticed that the words seemed forced, and Ms. Johnson began to wonder if Chloe was simply apologizing to 'shut her up'. "I mean, who knows the roads of redemption better than I do, right?"

Or was she?

He just didn't understand her. Not at all. She was unpredictable and random at best, a trait often gave her boss the advantage when dealing with Wolfram and Hart.

"Now that you two have worked that out…" Ms. Johnson smiled widely and refocused her attention on the TV. "Desperate Housewives is on."

"I really never meant for you to get hurt." It was moments like these where Lindsey reminded Chloe a lot of Lex. The fearless way he faced his problems head on without hesitation, and there was that way that he always looked directly into a person's eyes when he spoke to them. Luckily neither had ever managed to intimidate her.

"I'll bet." Chloe muttered under her breath. Lindsey apologizing was just a bit too odd. Sighing once more, she smiled almost warmly. "Thanks. That was extremely thoughtful of you."

Lindsey grinned and Chloe smiled a little at the gesture. Standing and gathering his coat, Lindsey turned to leave.

"I hope you know that this doesn't change anything." Chloe said seeing him walk towards the door.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Watching him, she realized that maybe, just maybe, she didn't know Wolfram and Hart's finest as well as she thought.

"Angel! That's the fifth balloon you've brought home after five different trips to the party store… in the same day!"

"Chloe likes balloons." Angel said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world as he finished tying the balloons together, placing them on a decorative weight. "Done. That was easy."

Gunn and Wesley had decided to investigate around town a little more, find out what the locals knew about the demon. Cordelia and Angel had stayed behind with research, and it was the same old, same old… they were about as close to finding information about the demon as they had been about a day ago. The case didn't have many leads and the ones that they did have had been cold trails.

Cordelia shook her head and returned to glancing through the little information that they had collected. A small, tattered burgundy book at the edge of the table caught her attention. Why hadn't they seen it before?

"Angel…" Cordeila huffed. "Why don't you just admit that you have a problem?"

"Problem?"

"The balloons, the flowers, the bears…" Cordelia said with her usual bluntness. "… the phone calls every two hours!"

She continued with a slight roll of her eyes. "You care about Chloe… we get it. Now tell her that."

"Cordelia… what…?"

"Angel, c'mon." She said with a bit of irritation in her voice at his seeming confusion as she picked up the book from the edge of the table and flipped through it slowly. "You know it. I know it. We all know it. Just tell her already! You two are driving me insane with the puppy dog eyes, and the brood fests, and the unrequited love act!"

Angel looked baffled for a moment. How had Cordelia…? Was he really acting that obvious about his feelings for Chloe? Sure he had bought her a few… things, but that was only because she had been injured and in the hospital. Not because…

"Bingo." Cordelia's unexpected rout of the silence in the stuff hotel room momentarily broke Angel from his thoughts. "For people with limited technology those seventh century monks were pretty gun-ho with the details."

The book was pushed over to where Angel sat across the table, Cordelia's finger pointing to a certain section of the text.

"It says we need a spell." Cordelia said watching Angel read over the page. "More or less Wes' department but I'm pretty sure we can get the stuff here."

"Dragon's scales?" Angel said questioning the book's listed ingredients.

"I'm pretty sure we could substitute that for… something… else." Cordeila added, apparently forgetting the speech she had given Angel a few minutes prior. "It's kinda like baking a cake right? You may not have any sugar in the house but a few cups of Irish crème coffee creamer makes the cake even better!"

Angel raised an eyebrow in her general direction, silently questioning her reasoning.

"Oh, like you've never ran out of sugar before."

Lloyd tapped his fingers impatiently against the lacquered oak of the bar counter. He took another swig of the favored human beverage.

What was wrong with him that he couldn't defeat a mere vampire and a few humans?

He stared at his hand reflexively, flexing it in the dim light of the almost unoccupied bar.

It should not have been that easy for the half breed and the humans to discover that an arrow through the heart would paralyze him.

No. Even some of the greatest warriors had not been able to figure that out and had paid the price for it.

He would have to think of something and soon.

He swirled the amber liquid around in the glass, wistfully taking another sip. A wide, malevolence grin overcame his face and he chuckled to himself quietly.

The vampire.

The ensouled one.

His smile widened, as he set the glass down harshly.

Not for long.