AN: Standard disclaimers always apply, okay?

10:Not a weakling

Spike could hear the sound of smacking as he strode into the gym. Cordelia had asked him to pick up Erica and bring her down to the office before midday. He could see her now, punching the heavy black bag hung up at the end of the room. There was some red tape stuck up on the bag at eye level, and Erica was hitting it directly every time. She was wearing black track pants and the same black tank top she'd worn at the school, with her hair tied back in a braid. A few wisps of hair had already come loose from the workout, but she was focussed on the bag, not her image. Her hands were wrapped kick boxer-style in long strips of material to protect her knuckles, and her feet were bare.

She hadn't seen him come in, so he stood and watched her for a few minutes. The smacking was constant as she pounded away at the bag, while switching her feet and circling her imaginary opponent. She wasn't very strong yet, but that was to be expected. She was still mortal, or close to it. Her punches were sure and fast, however. Spike was reminded of the night that Buffy had died to save Dawn, when she had hit the bag with such determination and focus.

Thinking about it, Erica wasn't too much younger than the slayer. He continued watching as Erica paused to stretch her arms, and then began kicking at the bag. Like most girls, her leg strength was better than her arm strength, and her kicks made the bag move further than it had before. She knew how to move her hips and body to put her weight into the kicks. Her flexibility wasn't bad either; she was using a few head-height attacks.

He nodded his head. He had been right. She was going to be a fighter, even as human as she was. Nothing would take her without at least some effort, even if she was caught on her own. Spike smiled. He couldn't wait until Erica showed Angel that she wasn't helpless. Or better yet, if she gave a thrashing to some creep who underestimated her. Maybe she still had a little way to go before that point, but with the look on her face right then, he knew she was determined to get there.

Just then she saw that he was there, so she finished up a combination of moves and then walked over to her bag. She pulled out a towel and a water bottle, then put the bag straps over her shoulder. "You're early," she said when Spike approached her. "I've still got to have my shower before I go anywhere." She was wiping her forehead and neck with the towel and then she unscrewed the bottle to drink.

Spike shrugged, his hands tucked into his coat pockets. "Cordy just said to get you before midday. I'll wait." Erica nodded and walked off toward the ladies' change room. About fifteen minutes later she emerged, wearing jeans, a white shirt with a kitten on it, a light blue hooded jacket and her sneakers. She was brushing her hair, and she raised her eyebrows when she saw the woman at the front desk flirting with Spike.

It seemed she'd asked him to join up, because Erica heard him reply, "No thanks luv, I get enough of a workout with my job."

"Well, what do you do?" the woman asked, her head resting on her hand. Spike handed her a card. She glanced at it and then looked back at him. "A detective agency, how much exercise would you get doing that?" she asked.

"You'd be surprised." Spike told her. He turned to Erica. "Shall we?" he asked, opening the front door for her.

"Yeah," Erica replied, walking through and waving politely to the girl at the front desk.

888

At the office, Lawson was sitting at a desk and Cordelia was sitting on the desk as they looked through some thick books. "It looked kind of scrawny," Cordelia said, "Like its skin was wrapped too tight around its body."

Lawson nodded and kept flicking through the pages. He kept glancing up at the woman sitting next to him, until he took a deep breath and said quietly, "That's a nice dress, Cordy."

"Thanks," Cordelia said, still looking at the book. There was silence for a few moments. "Look," Cordelia said at last, meeting Lawson's eyes, "just ask me to dinner already."

"Huh?" Lawson was caught off guard by her bluntness.

"The last guy who hesitated died before we got to our first date," Cordelia explained. "So do me a favour, okay? Don't hesitate."

"All right," Lawson smiled, "How about dinner?"

"I'd love to," Cordelia replied. "But not tonight."

"Right," Lawson agreed, "A demon raising to take care of. So it was brown, bony-looking and ugly?"

"Yeah," Cordelia answered. "It's a bunch of teenage kids who will raise it. It didn't look that tough though somaybe you could take Erica with you tonight. She seemed interested in the whole fighting evil thing."

"If it's going to be an easy kill, sure," Lawson replied.

"I don't think so," Angel said, walking through the front door ahead of Erica and Spike.

"What?" Erica asked, as she hadn't heard any of the conversation.

"You're not going on the hunt tonight," Angel told her, sitting down at his desk and unfolding the newspaper he'd picked up while he was out.

"And why not?" Erica asked.

"She's eventually going to have to deal with things like this on her own," Cordelia reasoned, "What better time is she going to get the experience than by watching you guys kill demons. Besides, this one will be easy, he's a weakling."

"She's already older than Slayers are when they start hunting," Spike pointed out.

"Slayers tend to die young," Angel countered. "You should know that better than any of us, you used to kill them whenever you could."

"Slayers don't get a trio of super-vamp protectors," Cordelia said.

"Come on," Erica said, choosing to ignore the comment about Spike being a slayer-killer, "I'm not going to die tonight. I'm careful, and I'll stay out of the way."

Angel gave her a hard, calculating look. Erica was going to say something else, but he interrupted. "If she's going then all three of us have to be there." Angel said, looking pointedly at Spike and Lawson.

Erica smiled, knowing that she'd won.

888

PS: I know the Lawson /Cordy bit was really short, but this fic is not revolving around them. I will add more on their r/ship later.

But then again, I won't know if that's what you want unless you REVIEW.

PPS: I haven't written 11 yet, but I already know what I'll write, so please be patient and I'll get it posted ASAP.