A/N: Eek! It's been a while since I updated, sorry about that. But thank you so much to those who reviewed:)
Lindsey paced around the lobby of the Hyperion. Inherently angry. "How the hell did you let this happen? I PAID you to prevent this from happening!" he screamed at Angel, his accent getting thicker as he got angrier.
"I didn't know it was a trap! I did try to help," Angel defended.
Fred stood from the place she was sitting and went over to her brother. "Lindsey, calm down. We were all fooled by the trap. Angel thought he was doing what he was supposed too."
"Yeah, or it was just another way to screw me. I can't believe I thought I could trust you."
"LINDSEY! It wasn't Angel's fault, I swear." Fred said gently.
She's right, I that. Its not his fault. It was mine. I should've stopped them. I should've kept her safe. I need to get her back, not that I know where she is but, I need to find out. I will find out, and I'll do whatever it takes to do so.
Meanwhile, over in an expensive lab near Wolfram and Hart:
Rachel sat on a table, clutching her beloved Frosty T. Bear, as tight as she could. She didn't like strangers, strangers were always in her house and taking her mommy's attention away from her, so they were very bad in her eyes, and right now there were a lot of strangers around her. However, she did know one of the people in the room. Nathan Reed, or 'the big glasses man who makes daddy do lots of work', according to Rachel. He walked over to her, "when's my daddy coming?" she asked softly.
"He's not," the man answered coldly.
"Nuh uh. He's not gonna leave me, he promised."
"Lindsey's a smart man who knows what's good for him, and what's good for him is having you gone." He turned around and faced some well dressed people in white coats, "well, come on, now, time is wasting, lets dispose of this...thing, shortly." He felt someone lightly kick the back of his leg. He turned and faced Rachel.
"Sparkles did it," she replied sheepishly, and clearly lying. It was the only thing, other then crying she could think of doing, and she wasn't about to cry.
Back At The Hyperion:
Lindsey wanted to freak out. He wanted to have a break down, but there was no way he'd allow himself to do so in front of Angel, his sister or anyone else. It just wasn't going to happen. "Do you know where they might've taken her?" Cordelia asked him.
"If I did, would I be here?" he replied.
"Hey, I was just asking is all. You work for them..."
"Not anymore," he was quick to correct.
"Okay, you worked for them, you have no idea where they could take her?"
Lindsey shook his head, "I have an idea, I have more then one. With their resources and connections they could be in a number of places, that's the problem."
Fred stood from where she was sitting, "that's good!" she exclaimed. They all stared at her. "Well I mean, too many ideas are better then none right? All we gotta do is narrow it down."
Huh. She's sweet and smart... yes, that must be where Rachel get' s it from.
"So what are we supposed to call around asking all the evil places if they're doing something evil to a little girl?" Gunn questioned.
The front door opened, "or you could just ask me nicely," Lilah said entering the lobby, with Eve behind her.
"What are you doing here?" Angel asked.
"Helping...believe it or not," Lilah answered, sounding slightly ashamed of herself.
"What'd you find out?" Lindsey automatically said.
"Is that asking me nicely?" Lilah taunted.
"LILAH!" Eve yelled.
"What? Just because I'm helping him out, I have to be nice? Then what's in it for me?"
"Who is she?" Fred asked Lindsey.
"Eve," he replied. Fred perked up.
"Oh, your Eve, HI, I'm Fred Lindsey's told me about you."
Eve half smiled, "so, you're Winifred. Nice to meet you. Wait a minute, Lindsey, why is your sister at Angel's?"
"I work with Angel," Fred answered.
"Really?" Lilah happily responded, "huh, so there is something in it for me after all."
"Where is she!" Lindsey demanded, getting angry that Rachel's problem was getting side tracked by small talk and sarcasm.
"You remember that lab we helped the firm buy out?" Lilah rhetorically asked.
Shit. I hate irony.
"Okay, so let's go to this lab then," Fred stated. Everyone in the room agreed that that's what they should do, so they grabbed an assortment of weapons, and head for the door. As they were about to leave, Cordelia stopped and grabbed her head. Angel put his arms around her.
"Is it a vision?" he questioned.
"Could it be anything else?" she replied in between her screams. Once the vision was over with, she broke away from Angel and stood on her own again, "well, that wasn't fun," she mused.
"What was the vision about?" Wesley asked.
"Ah...it can wait. You guys go ahead, my head hurts, I'm gonna stay behind," she replied. They all left. Once Cordelia knew they were good and gone, she ran to the phone and dialed a number. "Hey, it's me...you need to get here ASAP," she said to the person she called.
Over At The Lab:
Rachel was still on the table. She watched as men in long white coats prepared needles, but they weren't the regular scary needles she's used to seeing, no, these were the Super Scary needles that were hooked out to big machines. There were also several scary looking demons standing guard by the door. The door to the room opened, and Rachel did not like what she saw.
"Sorry I'm late," Lilah said walking in.
"You should be, I called you here over an hour ago!" Nathan exclaimed.
"If only everywhere in LA really did take twenty minutes." Lilah went over to Rachel, "so, is it time yet?"
"Yes, it should be."
"You know, I saw a suspicious car in the lot when I was coming in. You might want to have someone check it out."
"Go," Nathan said to the demon guards, in regards to Lilahs comment. Once they left, the doctors stuck Rachel with the first few needles and the draining of the magic began. It wasn't long though before Lindsey, Angel and everyone else, charged into the room. Rachel was very happy. However, her happiness did not last very long, because the demons came back and we dominating the fight, not to mention that the 'doctors' had more then human strength themselves.
"Separate," a forceful female voice said from the door way. Everyone one was thrown into separate parts of the room.
"Willow?" Wesley and Angel gasped in confusion and disbelief, as they stared at the Willow Rosenberg, the female behind breaking up the fight.
"Hi guys," she replied. Some of the demons tried to charge at them, but Willow stuck her left hand out, and a barrier was created. She then went over to the machines, took out a bag of blue powder from her pocket, and sprinkled it over the machine. The machine and needles disappeared.
"I like you," Rachel said looking up at the redheaded witch. "Daddy," she then called, prompting Lindsey to go over to her.
"Who exactly are you?" Lindsey asked Willow, as he examined Rachel carefully, making sure she was okay.
Thank god she seems fine.
"I'm Willow, and I'm guessing you're Lindsey, and this little cutie is Rachel, right?"
"Why are you here?" Angel questioned.
"I called her and told her she needed to get here as fast as she could, and apparently, teleportation is pretty fast," Cordelia answered, entering the room.
"Still needing more information here," Fred stated.
"The vision I got back at the hotel, usually its of something that we have to stop, but this time it was something we had to made sure happens. And the future I saw, Rachel here is Willow's brightest wiccan protégée, so I realized I had to call her and get her here to stop these psychos." Cordelia explained.
"And just exactly who are you, Willow?" Lindsey questioned.
"Well, as of now just a witch from Sunnydale who helps my best friend save the world, who by the way Angel, Buffy says 'hi' and Xander and Spike want to know how your hair gel supply is, but according to Cordelia, I turn out to be a teacher of magics to girls who have that ability to learn magic. Which is good I guess, because I didn't have a real teacher and have destroyed quite a few bedspreads and caused some wacky mix ups as a result of teaching myself." Willow answered in two big sentences, that reminded everyone of Fred.
"Okay..." Lindsey muttered.
What exactly am I supposed to say to that?
Willow lifted the barrier that was holding all the Wolfram and Hart people in a holding position. "Leave," she ordered. Every one of them listen, except for Nathan.
"Eve," he said, looking right at her, "I must say I am surprised."
Lindsey handed Rachel over to Fred, "everyone, leave us to talk," he ordered. They did just that. It was now Lilah, Eve, Lindsey and Nathan in the room.
"How long has this been going on, Eve?" Nathan asked.
"A few months," she answered.
"The Senior Partners are not going to like this."
"I don't care. I want out," Eve stated, which actually surprised everyone, including Lindsey.
She...what? She's really willing too?
"You want to give up immortality?" Nathan asked.
"Yes, if that's what it takes, I'll do it."
"Well, well, doesn't that put the commitment pressure on you," Lilah taunted to Lindsey. Lindsey just sneered at her in response.
"I'll have the paper work sent over to your place. As for you, Lindsey..."
"As for me what?" Lindsey snapped, cutting him off mid-sentence. "You can't do anything to me."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it is. After all, whatever you do, could result in certain files regarding off-shore accounts, being sent to the Senior Partners."
"How did you...?"
Lindsey looked at Lilah, "I have sources."
"Well, I guess our business here is done."
"Almost. Eve, Lilah, give us a minute alone," Lindsey instructed. After the woman left, Lindsey violently shoved his form boss up against a wall, punched him and took out a gun from his back pocket. "If you try to kill me, sue me, whatever, I'll bury you with the files. However, if you ever even think Rachel name, again? I will kill you, and that's a promise, not a threat." Having said that, Lindsey left.
"Thank's for not saying I gave you the files," Lilah whispered.
"I'm sorry, what? Can you say that a bit louder?"
"I hate you."
"Damn, you're good at flattery. So, you're really gonna stay with the firm?"
Lilah shrugged, "yeah, until my illegitimate child appears and persuades me otherwise."
Lindsey shook his head, "and I pity the unwitting male who's the accomplice," he teased as he walked away. He walked outside and listened to the conversation that was going on between his daughter, and Willow.
"Yeah I didn't like those people, like I don't like the duckies," Rachel said to her. "You made them go away. Can you make duckies go away?"
Willow shook her head, "no."
"oh," she sadly sighed. "I thought maybe you could. It would a good thing to do. Duckies are bad. They live in ponds."
Willow nodded in complete understanding, "so do frogs," she then sighed, referring to her own fear.
"Yeah, I know," Rachel sympathetically replied.
"They're scary too."
"Yeah, I know," she repeated. Frogs also happened to be on the rather long list of things Rachel was afraid of and/or disliked, but of course, they weren't nearly as high as the ducks.
"Yeah. But lots of other people like them, so I can't rid of them. I wish I could."
"Me too." Finally, Rachel and Willow had someone that knew exactly how they felt. Of course, everyone else (except Angel, who had run to the car right away because of the sun) stood around and listen in amusement, amazement, and confusement.
There was a break in the conversation, and Lindsey decided to use that to his advantage. "Look...Willow? Right?" She nodded. "Willow, I wanna thank you again, for coming and saving Rachel."
"It wasn't a problem."
Lindsey tapped Rachel's shoulder, "isn't there something you'd like to say to Willow?"
"Thank you, Willow," Rachel said.
"Just make sure you're not in a position where I have to do it again, and we're even," Willow replied with a smile.
"Oh, don't worry about that, she won't be," Lindsey insisted.
Willow nodded and then turned to Cordelia, "so, since my work here is done, wanna get some coffee before I go back, and I can fill you in on all the Sunnydale dirt? OH! I must tell you about Anya."
"That weird former demon Xander took to the prom?" Cordelia questioned.
"Yeah, they're in love!"
"GET OUT!"
"Believe me, this is something I'd never make up."
"I want to here about this too," Wesley said.
"Aight, you guys do that, I'm going to car and going to the hotel, that is, if Angel didn't drive off already," Gunn stated, "you coming Fred?"
"Yeah I will," she answered before going over to Lindsey and hugging him, which surprised him a bit. "I'll call you later, kay?"
"Sure. Stop by if you'd like. And thanks again for the help."
"It's no problem."
Everyone went their separate ways, which left Eve, Lindsey and Rachel. "So, I know you have your car here, but are you coming with us or are you going to your place?" he asked her.
"I need to go, sign papers and all. I might be by later." They walked Eve to her car, which was parked next to Lindsey's car, and said goodbye. After Eve pulled away, Lindsey unlocked the backseat of his car, and ushered Rachel in.
TBC
A/N: I was going to make this the last chapter and make it really long, but writing the second part of it is giving me trouble, so I've decided to break it up. Up next will be a Rachel/Lindsey chat about the day, the return of yet another person, and the conclusion to this story (there will be an epilogue too.) Until then, feel free to review.