Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Hope, Dominic, and Jocelyn.
CHAPTER 8-TRIAL AND ERROR
"We've already searched three beaches and found a whole lot of nothing," Oz said into the phone with an exasperated tone to his voice as he stepped back under the pier to get into the shade.
"Maybe Willow could be a little bit more accurate the next time that she sends us out on a wild goose chase," Faith said with a bored and anxious expression on her face as she unbuttoned her business looking top and wrapped it around her waist, leaving her wearing a beater on top, with the sun glistening off of her bare arms with a thin layer of sweat forming on top.
"We need to do this Faith, though I agree that this might not have been the best day to spend on the beach," Wesley agreed with a tired and slightly exhausted tone to his voice as he unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt and rolled up the sleeves, leaning back into the shade to get some relief from the hot sun.
"Maybe we should call it a day and come back after dark, at least then there'll be a breeze," Faith said with an unhappy frown on her face as she reached her hand up and wiped some of the sweat off of her forehead as Oz continued to talk on the telephone.
"True, but then we would be at the disadvantage, the Tavivosh demons do not see as well during the day as they do during the night," Wesley replied with a weary smile on his face as he laid his hands on either side of Faith's neck and began to slow massage her shoulders, taking great care to not unclasp the necklace that she was wearing.
"Which is why we have to stay out here until we find there nest, either that or we search them all…not find anything, and your theory is completely wrong, we go back to square one and look like fools," Oz interjected with a bored and frustrated look on his face as he hung up the phone and pulled a small handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off his forehead.
"Okay, so where to next," Faith said with a bored and tired look on her face as she reached up and laid her hands over Wesley's on her shoulders.
"The pier, Willow said that she thought that it had the strongest response of the remaining targets," Oz answered with an anxious and nervous look on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and then knelt down at the water's edge and splashed some of it on his face in hopes of cooling off a little.
"Not to be a bitch here but wasn't that what she said about this place," Faith interjected with an anxious and bored look on her face as she shook her head and looked back up at Wesley.
"I believe so, although they can't all be empty, one of the locations that Willow sensed has to be the lair, when we find it we will be one step closer to stopping these demons and bringing peace back to this city," Wesley replied with a slight shrug of his shoulders as he reached his hand up and gave Faith's right shoulder a squeeze before Oz broke in.
"That is if your theory about the Tavivosh demons is accurate, because if it's not," Oz interjected with a serious look on his face and tone to his voice as he stood back up and tried to dry his hands off on the front of his pants.
"Then we're all fucked, that or Miami will start to look real good," Faith shot back with a sly grin on her face as she turned around to fully face Wesley before casting Oz a quick glance back over her shoulder.
"Miami always looks good, but that's not the point here, Willow's trying very hard and we should be supportive of her," Oz countered with a somewhat unhappy scowl on his face as he walked out from underneath the pier and started back towards the car.
"We are supportive of her Oz, it's just that her average sucks right about now," Faith said with a damage control tone of voice as she cast Wesley a quick look before heading out after Oz.
"And yours have been any better," Oz snapped back with an unhappy scowl on his face as he unlocked the door and then opened it.
"Touché, but at least with Wes' clues we know where to look, Willow could have us looking at every square inch of coastline from Canada to Mexico all because she got a funny feeling," Faith snapped back after first throwing up her hands in mock defeat and then opening up her door as Wesley stepped up behind her.
"Willow will find the right beach, we just have to faith in her, if you two want to quit and go home then fine, but I'm not, I'm sticking this one out even if it kills me," Oz said with an unhappy scowl on his face and tone to his voice as he sat down and pulled his car door shut.
"I think we overdid it this time dear," Wesley whispered softly into Faith's ear before he got into the back seat and shut the door behind him.
"Got that right," Faith said back to him in a look through the vanity mirror as she sat down and shut her own door.
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"It's kind of karmic in a way, don't you think," Lorne said with an almost dreamy smile on his face before he took a sip from his drink.
"What is," Lindsey asked with a confused look on his face as he stopped reading an article in the newspaper and glanced up.
"Not much really, just that after all of everyone's combined years of killing demons and other creatures to whom death and destruction is the norm we've switched gears and became a place of light and hope," Lorne answered with a happy smile on his face as he motioned around the large room, which was beginning to look more and more like a nursery every day.
"I don't think I'd go that far Lorne," Lindsey said with a slightly skeptical expression on his face as he folded the newspaper in half and tried to read the rest of the story that he had been reading before Lorne's outburst.
"Well what would you say then huh, Wesley and Faith already have two children, you and Elaine have one, Connor and Jocelyn and Gunn and Fred are expecting, we've got kids coming out of our ears, if that's not a sign of the renewal of life as opposed to all of the death and destruction that we've seen then I don't know what is," Lorne countered with a fervent tone to his voice as he walked around the room, stopping briefly at every spot that Cordelia had taped out on the floor.
"Okay I'll admit that you've got a point about us having a baby boom, but isn't that what happens in these situations, people working closely together in tense situations where they can only rely on each other, a few kids here and there is to be expected," Lindsey replied with a carefree shrug of his shoulders as he stopped reading the paper and then laid it down on the nightstand beside him.
"True, but we here are not normal, are we pumpkin, we're light years removed from normal," Lorne said back with a slightly proud smile on his face as he walked over and picked up the newspaper that Lindsey had been reading.
"Look Lorne, I'd love to stay here and shoot the breeze with you but I really have to meet up with Elaine, she has a doctor's appointment today and in this heat I don't want to keep her waiting long," Lindsey said with a bored sigh as he shook his head and stood back up before he double-checked his watch.
"Oh…uh sure, I understand," Lorne said with a sad and unhappy look on his face before he did his best to smile and keep up appearances as Lindsey left.
"Where's lawyer boy off to in such a hurry," Connor asked with a slightly devilish smile on his face as he stepped out of the shadows and looked to Lorne.
"To meet up with his lady love for a doctor's appointment, and since when did you start using nicknames to describe people," Lorne answered at first with a proud and happy smile on his face before he turned and regarded Connor with a slightly confused look on his face.
"Guess I've been hanging around Spike a little to much, don't tell my dad but I think that he's beginning to rub off on me a little bit," Connor replied with a joking snicker as he walked further into the room and brushed some hair off of his ear.
"Don't let your father find that out, I don't suppose that he'd be to pleased about it," Lorne said back with a soft chuckle as he sat down in the open chair and looked up at Connor.
"What were you and Lindsey doing before I came in," Connor asked with a bored look on his face as he walked slowly towards the chair, looking around the room along the way.
"Waxing poetic," Lorne replied with a happy smile on his face as he waited to see if Connor got that he was joking or whether or not he had missed the obvious pun.
"Right," Connor said with an unsure expression on his face as he stopped looking around the room and fully turned towards Lorne.
"Okay kid, ya got me, I was trying to talk to him about how different everything has become, when I first met your pop he was all about battling evil and finding redemption, now he's seemingly up to his armpits in celebrity gala's and diapers," Lorne said with a gentle smile on his face as he threw up his hands in fake defeat and looked up at Connor.
"It must be strange for him, even though he talks big he's never comfortable in the spotlight," Connor said with a serious and somewhat worried look on his face as he checked his watch.
"He'll be alright Connor, trust me, Cordelia went with him and nothing can stop those two when they set their minds on something, they'll be back before you know it and then we can all celebrate his new permanent soul," Lorne said back with a very supportive and confidant expression on his face before he stood up and looked around the room.
"You're right, however when she's with him he tends to stick his neck out a bit to much, he gets a little to macho and I'm afraid that he'll do something stupid," Connor said with a nervous nod of his head as he smoothed out the edge of one of the pieces of tape on the floor with his foot.
"And we all know what happens when he does that, everything goes to hell in a nifty little hand basket, with us along for the ride, and I just got this suit dry-cleaned," Lorne grumbled with an unhappy and anxious tone to his voice as he adjusted his tie and brushed a bit of lint off of his lapel.
"Maybe I should have gone with them," Connor offered with a worried look on his face as he turned back to Lorne.
"Nah kiddo, your heart's in the right place but Angel wanted you to stay here in case anything comes up, you're our ace in the hole, with Wes and Faith helping the police with that rash of killings and Fred and Gunn in Texas we're a bit shorthanded," Lorne said with a calm sigh as he smiled at Connor before wrapping an arm around the younger mans shoulders. "How about we go make sure that Jocelyn hasn't maxed out all of your credit cards ordering things for the little bundle of joy," Lorne added with a carefree grin on his face as Connor simply shrugged his shoulders in reply before the two walked out of the old ballroom and back into the lobby.
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"How are you feeling," Oz asked softly with a concerned tone to his voice as he quietly shut the door behind him. He had dropped Wesley and Faith off at their house before returning to the station. After their exhaustive search had ended with nothing of any kind being found Oz had hoped that Willow would be in better spirits. She had shut herself away in one of the squad rooms, turning out the lights and playing a cd of seashore sounds to try and relax after spending much of the morning using magic to sift through the growing mountain of evidence that had been collected. Willow opened her mouth to reply but then thought better of it and shut it. "That good huh, here hopefully this will ease the pain," Oz added with a sincere tone of worry to his voice as he handed Willow a cup of a special tea.
"Thanks…I'm getting nowhere, and Kate's been on me all day for this," Willow mumbled softly with a weak smile on her face before she took a sip of the tea and closed her eyes.
"Anything I can help you with," Oz asked with a concerned and sympathetic tone to his voice as he pulled his chair up next to Willow's and began to massage her neck and shoulders.
"Not unless you're an all powerful wiccan and never told me," Willow replied with a meager smile on her face as she then turned to Oz and laid her head on his shoulder as he slid an arm around her.
"Hmm…let me check, um…nope, sorry, definitely not a wiccan, only your average run of the mill werewolf in sheep's clothing" Oz said back with a sly grin on his face before he leaned in close and gave Willow a kiss on the forehead.
"Thanks, but I don't know what we're going to do, we don't have a clue how to stop these deaths and if we don't have something to go on soon I'm afraid that the city will take this case away from us," Willow said with a sad frown on her face as she slightly pulled away from Oz long enough to look him in the eye.
"We'll think of something don't worry, Wesley and Faith went to pick Hope and Dominic up and then come in bright and early tomorrow morning, we only have a few places left to search, we'll find the demons and save the city, just like always, it'll just take a little longer than usual, now why don't we look over these files again, maybe two sets of eyes will be better than one," Oz replied with a nervous sigh and smile on his face as he gave Willow a squeeze before he let go and picked up one of the files on the desk in front of Willow and opened it up.
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"Anything from Angel or Cordelia," Wesley asked through his towel as he stepped out of the shower and started to dry his hair.
"That's a negative, Angel probably forgot to even take his cell phone along," Faith answered with a slightly worried look on her face though she hid it well before slipping a sock onto Dominic's other foot.
"Well then perhaps we should call them, Angel isn't to attached to his phone but I know for a fact that Cordelia can't go for more than a hour or two without checking hers to see if she has any messages," Wesley said with a content look on his face as he tied the towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, picking one of Hope's toys up off of the floor and handing it to her as he neared the bed.
"Queen C can't live without her creature comforts, I'm surprised that she hasn't caused Angel to go bankrupt yet with all of her shopping trips, I hope that Fred and Jocelyn are smart enough to do their own baby shopping, when we went together to get stuff for Dominic she dragged me around to at least a dozen stores," Faith grumbled with a sarcastic smirk on her face before she turned and handed her daughter to her husband and headed off towards the bathroom, yanking off her shirt along the way. While Faith took her shower Wesley ushered Dominic and Hope back to their room and was unbelievably lucky in that he was able to get them to lie down and take a nap without to much fuss. When he walked back into the bedroom Faith was just stepping out of the shower and turning the water off.
"Do you think they'll come right back or take a few days off so that Angel can get used to his newly permanent soul," Wesley asked with a curious tone of voice as he turned the lights down in the room and shut the blinds.
"Who knows with him, he'll probably surprise us all and be sitting there at his desk tomorrow morning checking the hockey scores," Faith replied with a short laugh as she grabbed a couple of towels and stepped out of the bathroom before reaching back and flipping off the light.
"That sounds like something that he'd do, though of course Cordelia would have to regale us with every single minute detail of their adventure," Wesley began to say with a sarcastic and slightly whimsical smile on his face as he walked back around the bed and stopped near the nightstand, half winking at Faith.
"Telling us how many nails she had broken and how many outfits she had ruined," Faith added as her voice grew steadily softer through her answer as she leisurely let go of one of the towels and closed the gap between herself and Wesley, gazing up at him with a curious look in her eyes.
"Or how Angel had gone on and on about how good having a permanent soul would feel and what it would mean for them," Wesley continued, almost in a whisper, before he began to trail a line of kisses up from the base of Faith's neck as he snaked one arm around her and drew her close, using the other hand to undo and slip the other towel from her body.
"Pity really, guess that means that we'll have to find a new babysitter," Faith started to whisper back with an eager and hungry look in her eyes before she tapped into a bit of her slayer strength and flung herself and Wesley back onto the bed and into an afternoon of bliss, hoping that Wesley had remembered to lock the door when he entered.
END OF CHAPTER 8