Lindsey was looking quite unhappy when Angel entered his hotel room. He pretended to check the number on the door as if making sure he was in the correct room. "Linds-"
"Where in the hell were you?" Lindsey cut him off before he say anything further.
Angel continued into the room, shutting the door behind him. "I'm sure you already know the answer to that so do you want me to tell you the truth or..."
"Do you remember that conversation that we had earlier? The one where I specifically said to not go see the pretty blonde?"
"Vaguely," Angel offered.
"And yet you chose to sneak out of here and go to her."
"I didn't sneak, I walked right out of those front doors."
Lindsey pursed his angry lips together. "Do you need that leash of yours retightened, Angel? Is that what's happening here?"
Angel took the gloves and mask from his back pockets and laid them on one of the twin beds in his temporary home. "You could try."
Lindsey looked furious but also extremely exhausted. "I am so ready to be off of this assignment," he announced. Lindsey rubbed his eyes for a moment. "I know you don't care about anyone else but could you at least try to think for a moment of what kind of danger you could be opening up for her the next time you decide to pull something stupid. And, fair warning, I'm reporting this so hopefully they add on to that jail sentence waiting on you when that glorious day comes."
"I was careful," Angel snapped. "I do happen to know what I'm doing in case you've forgotten."
"Keep thinking that, Angel," Lindsey said before standing up.
OoOoO
After a long, hot shower, Angel got redressed. He knew he was to stay in tonight but that made him anxious, he didn't like just waiting around like this. He knew it was part of the job that he had found himself part of but it wasn't his favorite aspect. Angel tried to watch some tv, read and then he even tried to go to sleep early but his mind just wouldn't shut off.
He sighed before getting up again. Writing a few notes down in his journal then he picked up the phone in his room and dialed a familiar number. "What?" came an annoyed voice.
"Can I use my laptop?"
"Why are you even bothering to ask? You just do whatever the hell you want anyway." Angel remained silent. "Fine... What do you want to use it for?" Lindsey asked.
"I can't sleep, I thought I could try to find more information or even just keep my mind off of everything for awhile."
"You'll be monitored."
"I know the drill," he replied.
"Are you going to look up Buffy Summers again?"
"Probably," he answered truthfully.
Lindsey cursed under his breath.
OoOoO
Angel O'Roarke's life of crime had been an unusual one. It had started from boredom mostly, showing off for his younger sister. One day she'd dared him to steal something, he did, she thought it was funny and asked again... it started out small but as the years went on his goals became more complex. He started to get the attention of federal agents along the way. Another aspect that set him apart was he never kept any of the items, it was more he toyed with the owners, he'd take something and within six months he'd return it elsewhere and help lead them to collect. It was more about thrill seeking to him. He'd never hurt anyone either which helped when the FBI came calling.
He'd almost missed them reaching out to him. Some days he wished he'd just ignored putting the pieces together but overall it hadn't been so bad. He had met with the team and eventually decided to trade in his previous life to help them out with his skill set. He'd done six different undercover jobs with them already and little by little they were seeming to warm up to him and letting him have more freedom.
Some jobs were easier than others, sometimes that depended greatly on his "handler" he was dealing with. Lindsey wasn't his biggest fan, that had been made clear on Day One. He happened to like the Texan but he didn't let that on much. They happened to work together pretty well at least.
Lindsey was tied to their current mission but he hadn't entirely figured it out yet, but something about it was personal to him. Angel was interested in the group they were after but more after he picked up on that little tidbit.
OoOoO
Roger Wyndam-Pryce was there first thing the following morning. Angel was jolted awake by the knocking, only having fallen asleep a couple hours before. He shook his head as he got out of bed, feeling annoyed. He was usually a light sleeper. "Roger," he greeted upon opening the door. "I'd say it's nice to see you but I feel like this is not a pleasant visit?"
Roger made a face at him as he pushed his way into the room. Angel scratched his neck, shutting the door in Lindsey's smirky face. "Do we need to have a discussion?"
Angel shrugged. "Always happy to catch up on our progress, Roger. Not much has changed since our latest e-mail conversation, though."
Roger took a seat and crossed his arms. "Buffy Summers," was all he said.
"What about her?" Angel asked, cocking his head to the side.
"She's the witness from a few weeks ago, correct?"
Angel cleared his throat. "Yes."
"And what happened there again?"
Angel sighed, he knew Roger had the report and after everything had went down they'd gone over it several times, but Angel went and laid down on one of the beds and started walking him through that night he met the girl in question. He had been following a group of young men, teenagers to maybe early twenties, after overheard them talking about a "job" they had done. It sounded familiar, so he had followed them. The group were lackies if nothing else, they were acting sloppy, just out there breaking windows and small stuff like that. He was about to call it quits on them when they met up with a larger group outside of an office building several streets over from where they'd started.
Angel had watched as they quickly got ready and soon were breaking in, he had followed inside behind them. There were only a few security guards that he spotted but they'd both been knocked out. He was about to follow upstairs when she had entered from the front door. He'd barely heard the door close and stilled where he was, unsure of who it was at first. When he heard a voice call out for one of the guards he slowly made his way back to the main hallway and got a better look. She was waiting at the circular desk, looking around for someone.
He debated for a moment of ignoring she was there or trying to help her. He watched her wait for several minutes then she decided to push away from the desk and come walking his way. He wound up grabbing her and hiding with her. She'd struggled at first but once she spotted one of the guards and he whispered assurances to her she had calmed down some as they waited.
He told Roger about the time in which they spent together... as they waited there together in the dark and the short amount of time after things were clear and the intruders left.
"She called the police?"
"She and I exchanged some words, I made sure things were safe... She called it in while I checked on the guards real quick. They were alive, probably woke up not longer after I left."
"She mentioned you?"
"She left out a lot of details."
Roger reached into his pocket and looked at his phone for a moment, he began reading the police report. She had been truthful, but for whatever reason has left out some information about him which had worked in his favor in many ways. He didn't want anyone getting paranoid about the situation that had played out.
"So," Roger started. "Why did you go see her again?"
Angel shrugged again. Roger shot him a look. "I was curious," he finally said.
"You were warned to stay away after being caught looking into her, no?"
"I don't listen very well to others. You know that."
Roger rolled his eyes. "If you have some sort of... need... of the female kind... you are allowed to date or... whatever... or, if need be... I am sure we can-"
Angel grunted at the older man, cutting him off right there. "She was feisty. I thought it would be fun to go have another conversation with her. It's not that big of a deal."
"And did you go as Angel O'Roarke or did you tell her you were Liam Connor?"
"I had the mask on. I didn't reveal myself to her."
"In any way?"
Angel took his turn to roll his eyes. "I kept all of my clothes on, thank you."
"Why?" Roger asked after a brief pause. "Why go contact her again?"
Angel looked aimlessly around the small hotel room. "I thought it would be fun," he repeated.
"And was it?" Roger asked, surprising him.
Angel almost smiled. "It was," he admitted.
"Do I need to be worried about this?"
"I just wanted to talk to her, and that's all I did. I was careful, I wasn't there long, I didn't tell her anything she didn't need to know."
"And it's now out of your system?"
"For the moment," he offered.
"What am I going to do with you?" Roger asked with a frustrated sigh. "Are you going to fill me in on what you did say to her?"
"Nope," he said quickly. Angel did walking the older man through some of the previous night though but didn't go into all the details of what happened once he'd made it to her house and snuck in.
"You're going to do whatever the hell you want anyway but I am going to waste my breath and tell you why this isn't the best idea you've ever had..."
OoOoO
Shutting down the urge to disobey orders just to disobey and any personal feelings he had brewing inside, Angel set out to just keep his focus on the task at hand. Over the next several weeks, he lived and breathed the job only. And they were so close now, he could almost taste it.
Angel tried not to worry too much about what would happen after they caught the assholes. There was always a chance he'd finally be put in jail- especially after working with Lindsey, that he'd be put in some holding facility again, or a billion other options. He didn't know when the next job would be, or if there would be one, where he'd be, etc.
They had kept him close to the West side so far, only travelling to the Carolina's once since they took him on as part of the team. That didn't mean things wouldn't change. There had been whispers of getting him set up with an actual apartment or condo not long ago but he didn't want to get his hopes up. They were being careful with his state of freedom. Things like that in a more permanent sense could be years away for all he knew.
Angel walked back up to the counter at the small hole in the wall sub sandwich shop and picked up his and Lindsey's orders. He was glad to be away from the hotel right now, he needed to clear his head for even a short period of time and get some fresh air and some sunshine. He couldn't have even told you the last time he'd even been awake during lunch with the way his current schedule was going.
Angel unwrapped his as he started walking away and just a few moments later he was about to cross the street when he saw a familiar face. Angel completely stopped, ignoring the crosswalk telling him it was safe to go. Buffy Summers was quite a distance away but he recognized her right of bat. He watched her as she crossed one street to another while talking on her phone. Angel watched as she smiled at a young boy who bumped into her on accident and kept watching until she put the phone away and stepped into another store several down from where he stood.
Angel glanced toward the corner Lindsey was set up at then back toward where Buffy had disappeared to. He growled, turning back away and hitting the button. He waited until it was safe to go and eventually made his way back to the large van. "What was that about?" Lindsey asked as soon as he got inside.
"What?"
"Something caught your eye over in that direction. I couldn't see that far, though... so..."
"You will not like the answer."
"I rarely like anything you say," Lindsey countered but had a smile on his face.
Angel handed him his sandwich and got a thank you out of it. "I saw Buffy Summers."
Lindsey looked over at him. "Mmhmm. And was that your doing?"
Angel shook his head. "I haven't contacted her again. She was just... there. I saw her go into one of those stores, I couldn't make out what it was from where I was standing." He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. He had been trying to put the pretty girl he'd crossed paths with out of his head for the past few weeks and now this.
Lindsey seemed to think for a moment then he started the van and moved it closer.
"Because that's not suspicious," Angel commented after the van was turned back off.
Lindsey stretched. "No one's paying attention to us."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes. "What are we doing?" Angel finally asked.
Lindsey finished his mouthful. "You'd have been distracted wondering where she'd gone and what she was doing so..."
Angel made a noise at him. "I would not be distracted," he argued.
Lindsey waved a hand at him. "Maybe not, maybe so... but I'm in a good mood anyway and curious about the girl now, too."
"You've looked into her," Angel said with his eyes narrowing.
"There's a difference in looking someone up and actually seeing them sometimes. Plus, it makes you uncomfortable, so that makes me happy," Lindsey beamed.
"I'm not uncomfortable."
"You're nervous," Lindsey told him, taking another bite. "It's amusing. I've never seen you nervous before. It's... interesting."
"I'm perfectly fine," Angel told him but Lindsey said nothing more about it for the time being. The two men sat there eating, waiting. It wasn't long before Buffy came out of the clothing store, though. She had two small bags and she was back on the phone as she existed the large front door.
Angel glanced over at Lindsey as she was hailing a cab. "She's tiny," Lindsey commented. Angel remained silent. "Cute, I bet even more so up close." Silence. "How'd she managed to get so far under the skin of you of all people?"
Angel had wondered that his own self. He was a pretty leveled headed guy - generally speaking. But something about her had drawn him in from the moment he'd laid eyes on her. He'd been amused with her, her smart mouth... he'd loved that fire that sparked in her eyes as she'd shoved him away from her once he'd loosened his grip and spun around to look at him. He'd had a nice time sparring words back and forth with her during that first initial meeting and it'd only become more fun that second time he saw her.
A cab finally pulled off to the curb and the two men watched Buffy get into the back and soon take off. Angel grabbed a notepad from the glove box and started talking about the case and their plans for the evening ahead. Lindsey dropped the blonde and went along with it.
ButImBroken:
"A shooting star shan't fall very far, dim fireflies held in glass jars."