~~~Chapter 3 ~~~
"Okay so everything is ready?" Wesley looked around. His face drawn tight. "Willow?"
"Ready." Nibbling on her lower lip, she looked down at the spell one last time. Her eyes scanning over the words on the page. Sucking in a deep breath, she gave a shaky nod. "Just give the word."
"Alright then." Giles nodded nervously. "I suppose the only thing left is to find her. Willow can start the spell now. The rest of you should break up into groups. The spell is going to take an hour at most. The town isn't that large, so finding her shouldn't be too difficult. But you need to remember, she's going to be confused at first. Disoriented. Most likely won't comprehend the last four years."
Looking up from the paper in her hand, Willow's brows bunched. "Are you saying that she won't remember the last four years?"
Rubbing the back of his neck, Giles nodded absently. "It'll take a little while for Tess and Elizabeth to merge. That is if she allows it."
"She has a split personality?" Xander paled. His head whipped around to stare over at Lindsey. "You thought this was helping her? That Dr Heckling and Mr Hiding her was a good thing?"
"It's not like that." Scowling back at the younger man, Lindsey let out a deep breath. "Elizabeth Imogene Webber is the person Tessa Hayden Walker would've been had she never been called as a slayer. It was the best I could come up with."
"So what's to merge?" Buffy asked. "She's the same person. Evil lawyer guy just confirmed it."
"Memories mostly. Four years is a lot of time. She's met people, been through everyday situations." Clearing his throat, Giles looked around the room at the various expressions on the young people's faces. He let out a sigh. "We'll discuss this more when we have her."
"We should split up into groups." Angel suggested. "Gunn you and Fred go to the dinner..."
"Kelley's." Giles supplied.
"Where Giles saw her last." Turning to where Xander, Buffy and Cordelia were standing Angel paused. If it were the old days he'd pair up with Buffy and Tess, leaving Cordelia and Xander to go off on their own. But it wasn't the old days. Buffy wasn't his partner anymore and Tess wasn't around. Not yet anyhow. Cordelia was.
It wasn't until that very moment that the reality of the situation hit him. Being here, with Buffy and the rest it was... Alien almost. Where only a few short years ago being like this, with these people would have come as natural as...well breathing. Now he could feel the rift that divided them into two separate worlds.
"Don't waste your breath." Taking his long pause the wrong way, Cordelia grabbed her jacket. "Come on Xan. It looks like its you and me again."
"Cordy..." Wincing at the hurt expression on her face, Angel shifted as his eyes flickered to Buffy for a second before returning to her. "Can we talk for a second?"
With a dramatic sigh, she shrugged her shoulders and slowly walked over to where Angel was waiting. "You don't have to explain. Xander and I will team up, just like the old days." Flashing a less than thrilled smile at him, she turned her back on him. But Angel stopped her by placing a hand on her upper arm.
"I need you to pair up Lindsey with."
The muscle under his fingertips tensed, Cordy spun around and stared up at the vampire wide eyed. "Are you insane? You want me to team up with the Golden boy over there? Why?"
"Because Willow, Giles and Wesley will be here doing the spell. I don't trust him and someone needs to keep a close eye on him until we find Tess."
"Here's an idea," She barely gritted out between clenched teeth. " you do it." Looking past Angel to where Lindsey was standing, she let her eyes travel down his body before snapping them back up to Angel's face.
"Oh that's a great idea. I can see it now." He answered dryly.
"Why not? You've worked with him before." Feeling disgruntled over having Angel turn his back on her only hours of having Buffy around, Cordelia didn't feel like giving Angel an easy time of it. For the last four years she had been his partner. Out on the streets. At the agency. In their lives. It didn't matter that their relationship wasn't a romantic one, they were family now, and the rejection still stung.
"Cordy would it make you happy if I partnered up with him and you and Buffy went together?" Cursing himself for his stupidity, he wished there was a way to make everybody happy. Cordelia had a right to be upset with him. He was already falling into an old pattern one that didn't have a pot of gold at the end.
"No." Her pout was designed to make him feel guilty and it worked exceedingly well. The damage was already done. Turning her back on him, he watched as she walked past the ex-lawyer. "Grab your jacket Born-again. It looks like its you and me."
Lindsey looked ready to snap back with a remark of his own. But instead did as she said by grabbing his jacket and following her to the exit.
Angel wanted to call his friend back, but seeing the way she held her head, the irritated sway of her hips...there wasn't enough apologetic words in the world to make this right. "Xander why don't you go with Gunn and Fred? You know what Tess looks like."
"Okey dokey." Shrugging his shoulders, Xander smiled weakly over at Willow before following Gunn and Fred out of the abandoned building.
His eyes flickered over to the Seer again. "Cordy." Calling out to his friend he waited until she looked over her shoulder at him. "Thank you."
Her face remained unreadable for a moment. "Just find her." The lines around her mouth softened.
Not needing to be asked twice, Angel nodded silently before walking over to where Buffy was waiting for him. "Are you ready?"
His ex looked up at him, her eyes searched his. "I think the question is, are you?"
~~~*~~~
Alone. It was a state she was getting used to. After her initial struggle against the empty, cold feeling that had invaded her, it was amazing how well she was adjusting to her new life. No real friends, a family that only sent cards on holidays, no one that she really could say she was connected to anymore. She was alone from the moment she woke up in the morning, until the time she laid her head on her pillow at night.
So walking the short distance from Kelley's to her studio was nothing. Pulling her gloves snugly over her hands, and pulling at the collar of her jacket, Elizabeth walked quickly from the courtyard in front of Kelley's to the street that led to the stairs near the docks.
The wind was really picking up. The January chill cutting her to the bone. Keeping her head down, she hurried out of the courtyard and down the street. It was weather like this that made her seriously consider dipping into her savings and buying herself a clunker. It didn't need to be anything special. Just something that could get her from point A to point B and hopefully back to point A in time for her next shift.
Another gust of wind had her stumbling to catch her footing. It was weird. In the last four years of living in Port Charles she didn't remember the wind being this strong. Taking a step around an icy patch a voice startled her.
Spinning around, Elizabeth tried to swallow past the large lump in her throat. Blood pumped through her veins as her heart beat triple time against her ribcage. The small hairs on the back of her neck started to rise.
Scanning the murky shadows, she was ready for someone to jump out at her. But nothing came.
Slowly turning back around, she put one foot in front of another. Her eyes locked on the shadows around her.
"I want a normal life. One that doesn't include romantic strolls through the cemetery."
"You have a sacred duty..."
Okay that was two voices. A female and a male. The male voice had a British accent. Like the man who came into the dinner earlier. The female voice sounded eerily like her own. Logically she knew that the voice weren't coming from behind her. But it didn't stop her from looking back. Not like she could've controlled the urge. Nothing.
What in the hell was going on? Had the loneliness finally gotten to her? Was she going over the edge? One day she was a perfectly normal young woman, the next she was that crazy cat woman who heard voices.
Putting a hand to her forehead, she squeezed her eyes shut. Ten minutes. That's all it would take to get from here to the studio. If she was going to have a psychotic episode she'd rather do it in privacy of her own home. Picking up speed she went another ten feet.
"I'm an old-fashioned gal. I was raised to believe that men dig up the corpses and the women have the babies."
"Oh, I know this one! 'Slaying entails certain sacrifices, blah blah bliddy blah, I'm so stuffy, give me a scone."
"Do you want me to answer that, or shall I just glare?"
The voices wouldn't stop. Different voices invaded her head. Coming at all directions. Swimming and swirling. Starting out strong only to fade away to nothing. Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, no longer caring who saw her. Her eyes watered, her temples throbbed in agonizing pain.
Soon her legs gave out. Slumping to the groung, her hands still clasped to her head. The voices got louder, clearer.
"If Giles wants to go after the fiend that killed his girlfriend, I say, 'Faster, pussycat, kill, kill!"
"Quod perdititum est, in venietur."
Great now she was hearing voices in other languages. "Stop, stop, stop." Mumbling under her breath, Elizabeth rocked back and forth. Knees to her chest, hands buried in her hair.
And it did.
The voices ceased. One minute they were there. The next nothing but the distant sound of traffic coming from a few streets away. Taking one. Two. Three deep breaths, she slowly opened one eye. Shortly followed by the other.
Everything looked normal.
Pushing herself off the ground onto shaky legs, the first few feet were a pure test in strength. "What in the hell was that?" Asking the question into the air, Elizabeth wiped her fly away curls from her face.
Hurrying down the sidewalk, her feet pumping as quickly as they could Elizabeth was blinded by a bright flash. Tripping to the side, her right hand reached out to grab onto something to hold onto. Unfortunately the only available object was a overfilled trash can.
The loud clank of steel meeting cement made her gasp. As soon as her vision started to clear, another flash came. This time not as bright, and there was a silhouette of a person.
Home. The word echoed in her head. Her fighting instincts kicking in. Home.
Another vision popped in front of her. Two girls and a boy. Young looking. Laughing. Happy. No one she knew...But at the same time there was a pull in the dark recesses of her mind.
~~~*~~~
"This is useless." Spreading her arms out wide, Buffy stopped in her tracks. "We've been down every alley in this town. Try calling the others again."
Sighing, Angel pinched his nose in frustration. Checking his watch he shook his head. "They would've called if they'd found her. Come on lets check the pier again."
"I used to be able to sense her. We had a link." Following the vampire, Buffy bit down on her lower lip. "I can't feel anything."
Walking in silence for a few minutes, Angel looked down before he responded. "I used to be able to sense the two of you too."
"Really? You never said anything before."
"With everything that was going on I thought it was best that I didn't." Shoving his hands into his jacket pocket, he couldn't meet her eyes.
"That would explain it." Turning the corner, they headed down another street. "Getting her back is going to be weird...In a good way of course."
"A lot has happened since that day." The conversation stalled. Going into territories neither were ready to face.
"So what do we say to her when she's back. I mean is there a politically correct thing to say?"
"I guess welcome back would be a good start?"
"But that seems so inadequate. So blah." The wind began to pick up around them. Whipping back her hair.
"Looks like the spell is underway." His long trench coat flapped behind him. "We better hurry."
~~~*~~~
"So now where?" Hands on his hips, Lindsey looked down the empty street.
"I don't know." Letting out a weary sigh, Cordelia shook her head. "One of those mind splitting, brain pureeing visions would help."
"Still getting those?" What a stupid thing to say and he had said and done some pretty stupid things in his past. But the words slipped right out.
"Yeah still haven't figured out how to use that darn off /on switch." Her lip curled, as she rolled her eyes in his direction. "The closest I've come to it is my fun day of insanity. Thanks to you and that wonderfully charming law firm you worked for."
"I was wondering when you were going to throw that into my face. Honestly, I had thought it would've been sooner." His tone cocky, an irritating smirk Cordelia's palm itched to wipe off his face. "I can't take back what happened. Anymore than you can take back any crappy thing you've done in your past."
Her back straightened as her eyes gleamed with uncontrollable rage. "I may have done some crappy things in my life. Everyone has. And if they say they haven't they'd be lying. But never. And I mean never. Has one of my crappy actions put another person's life at risk."
His smirk turned into a scowl, as he cursed under his breath. "What is it going to take to get you people off my back? I quit the firm. Done. Finite. No more big evil law firm of me." Slapping his hand against his chest, Lindsey's voice got louder with every word. Frustrated didn't come close to how he felt. It went past that.
"Just because you gave up your overstuffed leather office chair and Armani suits doesn't erase all the bad you did."
"Oh this is rich." Laughing, Lindsey threw back his head and let out a rough laugh. "You're lecturing me on being evil when you're friends with one of the most twisted and sadistic SOBs that ever walked the earth."
"Oh yeah yuk it up. But I'll have you know that Angel is nothing like Angelus. But he still sees the need to atone for his alter ego's actions. Tell me Lindsey. How much atoning have you been doing?"
Standing there staring at her, Lindsey remained silent. She had him there. What had he been doing with his life? Nothing. Absolutely. Positively. Nothing. No that wasn't right. He'd done a lot of drinking. His far share of bar fights. An occasion night of meaningless sex. But nothing that was worth mentioning. Not to the fuming young woman in front of him.
"Lets keep moving." Walking away from her, Lindsey kept his head held up high. As soon as they found Tess he was gone. There wasn't any reason to let the princesses words get to him.
~~~*~~~
"Ric wants to meet you first thing in the morning." Reaching inside his jacket pocket. Sonny pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Jason.
"What's this?" Looking down at the paper, Jason felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise.
"An address. Ric said that from now on the two of you should meet in private. He doesn't trust Baldwin." With a careless shrug of his shoulders. Sonny readjusted his gloves.
"Something's not right Sonny." Seeing his friend's face darken, Jason decided to push forward. "Meeting in secret spots. The scene this morning."
"You're being paranoid."
"I'm being careful."
A loud crash near the stairs startled the two men. Jason reached for his gun as he turned his attention to where the noise came from. His stomach twisted as he watched Elizabeth stumble down the stairs. From where he was standing he could see that her hair was disheveled. Her hands pressed on the sides of her head.
"Elizabeth?" Sonny's called out.
She didn't respond as her foot missed the last step entirely. Jason was by her side before he realized his feet even moved. "Elizabeth?" He could hear her mumbling to herself. Tears streamed from unfocused eyes. "Did someone hurt you?"
"What's wrong with her?" Watching from over Jason's shoulder, Sonny looked concerned. "Is that blood coming from her nose?"
"Christ." Ripping off his gloves with his teeth, Jason wiped furiously at the red sticky substance that refused to stop. Her body started to tremble uncontrollably in his arms. Elizabeth's head thrashed back and forth. Her eyes fluttering underneath her eyelids. The wind was barreling down on them. Debris flew past him. "Elizabeth, I need you to open your eyes for me. Can you do that?"
Hearing Sonny behind him talking on the phone, Jason was ready to ask him for help when Elizabeth took a huge breath and lurched up into a sitting position. Her eyes wide in shock as her mouth opened, looking as though she were about to scream but no sound came out.
"Elizabeth look at me." She didn't seem to be aware of him. Instead she struggled to breathe. "Honey, you're scaring me." Putting his hand under her chin he forced her to look at him. "Please Elizabeth."
Her vacant eyes stared back at him. Her pupils were dilated.
"I told you there's nothing to see." Sonny's voice came from behind him again. "The show's over."
A unfamiliar voice responded. But Jason let Sonny take care of the situation behind him. All that mattered right now was the beautiful woman in his arms. She still wasn't responding. Eyes unfocused, unblinking. Her breathing was coming out in low panting sounds.
But within moments she snapped out of it. He saw the moment she returned. "Elizabeth?"
Her eyes locked on his and for a split second he thought she was about to respond. Instead she flew out of his arms and scooted on the ground to get away from him.
"You're okay Elizabeth. I won't let anyone hurt you." Concern laced through his words as he inched closer to her. But the way he looked back at him. Dark. Untrusting. Then her gaze went somewhere over his shoulder and her entire expression changed.
Her lower lip trembled. Eyes filled with tears.
"I guess I took a wrong turn." Her tiny voice sounded so sad, so lost.
Looking over his shoulder, Jason saw a tall dark haired man who's attention was solely on Elizabeth. Her words brought a sad smile to his face.
"You weren't supposed to turn." The stranger took a small step forward. His action making Jason want to place himself directly in front of Elizabeth to keep the stranger away.
"I..." Her voice cracked. "Angel." Elizabeth launched to her feet and ran down the wooden planks. Jason watched in confusion as she jumped into the man's arms. He watched as the man wrapped his arms around her in return. Burying his face into her chocolate curls. And Jason hated every minute of it.
It wasn't until the blonde female joined the other two that Jason surged to his feet. Sonny joined him by his side.
"Are you okay?" The blonde female was wiping tears from her eyes. "Don't you ever do that to us again."
"I promise." Elizabeth whispered, nodding her head."Angel I want to go home." The man set her back down on the ground. Cupping her face in his large hands he wiped at the tears in her eyes.
Jason felt a cold fury cut through him as the stranger leaned forward and placed a kiss on the top of Elizabeth's head. It was way too intimate of a gesture for Jason's taste. "Elizabeth?"
The trio stopped and turned at once. Instead of Elizabeth answering him the man did. "She'll be fine. Thanks for helping." With that Jason was brushed off.
Sonny put a hand on Jason's arm. "There's no need to thank us for helping our friend. Elizabeth if you want we can give you a lift to your studio." Swaggering forward Sonny stopped just feet from the tall stranger.
The man placed Elizabeth behind him and took a large step forward. His features were tense. "Again, thanks for helping. But it's covered now. Buffy?" The blonde stepped up to his side, her eyes cold. "Take... Elizabeth and meet up with the others. I'll be right thbehind you. No wrong turns you two." The girls headed off. The blonde had her arm protectively around Elizabeth's shoulders.
Jason watched helplessly as Elizabeth vanished around the corner. His gut twisting in agony.