Hey. I'm posting much faster this time.

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own them, I just like writing about them

Feedback: Yes, please

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter Seven

There was one thing she hated more most of all. Being treated like a child. Yes she was the youngest, but it didn't mean that she couldn't make decisions on her own, that she wasn't capable of taking care of herself. Yes, she had made mistakes this year, but she had more than learned from them. Suffered from them. It was her life, and damn it, she had the right to live it the way she wanted and not have to worry about her older brother trying to lead her on the straight and narrow. His straight and narrow.

She was Lulu Spencer and was actually starting to like it when someone claimed she was exactly like her father. She might not have been able to appreciate that when she was growing up. Longed for a father to fill the empty space that had been gored into her heart from the lack of mother, the disregard of a father. Now she could respect that Luke Spencer lived his life on his own terms and didnt' give a damn what other people thought of him.

It was a bit self-absorbed but she was eighteen with no responsiblites to anyone but herself. If she didn't want to go back to PCU, why should she. She was perfectly capable of finding a job and working to support herself. Why should she live at the Quartermaines if she didn't want to? It wasn't like they really wanted her there. The only reason they allowed her to stay this long was because her father was married to Tracy and her stepmother from Hell decided to take an active interest in her life to look good for Luke.

Having Lucky call her irresponsible and selfish just like their father had hurt, especially given all the trouble he had brought to his own family this year getting addicted to pain killers and having an affair with Maxie Jones, a girl just barely older than her.

And he was supposed to be the smart one.

So she had rushed out of his apartment into the night and walked around getting angrier and angrier, until her internal rantings brought her to the docks. The last place she knew she should be this time of night. The waterfront might be peaceful now, but anything could happen down there at anytime with all the mob activity going on in Port Charles. Sonny Corinthos and Lorenzo Alcazar had a shaky truce but they weren't the only criminal families in the city.

So when the wind slapped like ice against her face, she finally realized where she was currently pouting and turned to climb the stairs and head back to the Quartermaine mansion. Though it grated.

"Hey, miss, do you have some spare change?"

The owner of that gravely voice, a tall guy who had to be one of those homeless people who stayed on the other side of the docks, because no one who could afford to would look like that. Dirty clothes that looked like he had dragged them from a garbage can. His hair was long and unkempt, the same dark brown as the ragged beard on his face.

And worst of all, she realized as he drew closer, he stank. Not just of dirt and uncleanliness, but like rotted meat. Her stomach clenched with nausea, as she tried not to put her hand over her face to block the smell. She was out here alone with some guy that could be the Zodiac killer in disguise. The last thing she wanted to do was get him angry by offending him.

"I'm sorry," she apologized taking two slow steps backward when she realized that he wasn't going to stop. "I don't have any spare change." She had twenty bucks in her back pocket but there was no way she was letting this guy get close enough to touch her.

Turning to head to the other set of stairs, she stumbled with suprise as another guy who looked like the first one's brother was there. A few inches smaller, with a stockier build, he smelled even worse. The sneer on his face said that he had no intention of pretending to be harmless.

Wasn't this just perfect? After hours spent yelling at Lucky that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, she walked right into trouble.

"Look, don't come any closer." She angled away from them both but the tall one interrupted her.

"She's going to be trouble," his voice was almost a growl, "Take her so we can go."

Before she could run, a strong hand closed around her arm, squeezing hard through her winter jacket that she could feel the grind against bone. "Stop it!" She tried to jerk away, but he yanked her forward so that crashed into his chest, nausea hitting her hard making tears swim in her eyes. Disgusted, she raised a fist, aiming for his face but he grabbed it, the force so strong that she heard a sickening crack.

Shrieking with pain, she began to struggle, until he lifted her into the air, that agony radiating up her arm. "Let me go!"

"Shut her up before someone comes," the other spoke and she heard heavy footsteps approaching from two different directions.

"Help me! Somebody, help me!" Only to have that one brief spark of hope die when she realized three more like these had decided to join them. Images of being dragged off the docks into some dark corner began racing through her mind.

There were five of them. What the hell could she do against five of them? Especially when the one was holding her in the air as if she were nothing more than a pillow and had already broken something in her hand. "Help me! Somebody, help me!" What she wouldn't give to go back just thirty minutes ago when she was walking past Kelly's and change her mind to use the payphone to call Dillon to pick her up.

Anything could happen to her with these five. They could beat her up. They could drag her off somewhere and kill her. Or rape her, and that brought forth a wave of sickness that had her choking back bile in her throat. The thought of any of them touching her that way, violating her, sent her racing past fear and right into rage and a burst of strength that was oblivious to the agony in her hand. "No! Let me go!"

Was this a kidnapping? Did Helena have anything to do with this? No, her mind rushed hurriedly, Helena wouldn't have anything to do with minions that looked and smelled like these animals. It couldn't be mob related, she wasn't valuable enough to use as leveage to either Sonny or Alcazar. The only person who might care enough about her was Jason but he didn't even work for Sonny anymore.

One of them grabbed her kicking legs and she was pulled taut, her body arching into a bow, as a hand slammed over her mouth. "Did you get the boat?"

"Yeah, had to kill one of those guards Cassadine has, but we can take the boat over to the catacomb and make the sacrifice."

Her eyes widened, as she realized what the other had just said. Even if they managed to get her on the boat, she still might have a chance to get away. She knew the caves on Spoon Island better than these five possibly could, she also knew which one would lead back to Wyndemere. She would just have to distract them long enough for her to escape.

"You know, when a woman says no, it usually means she doesn't want to play."

The five men surrounding her all stiffened in surpise at the husky but definitely feminine voice. They parted enough for her to see past them toward the slender figure standing a few feet away. All she caught was a quick glimspe of leather, dark hair and what looked strangely like an axe.

"I can't stand men who can't take no for an answer." Then there was a bitter bark of laughter, "But then, you guys aren't exactly men are you?"

A low churning growl began in one of the men and was quickly echoed by the others. "What is a Slayer doing in Port Charles?"

"Enjoying the view of the water?"

She wanted to scream at the woman to run away, to get help, but another larger and more terrified part didn't want to be left alone. A few feet away a man emerged from the shadows and her eyes widened as she renewed her struggles to warn her unaware savior. Then she realized he looked nothing like the men holding her, in fact, he stood beside the woman as though they were together.

In his hand was a mean looking gun, that she was much happier to see other than that axe. Only the woman swung that axe in an agile circle that stated she was clearly the one to be feared between the two of them.

"You should stay out of business that doesn't concern you."

"But clearly, it's my business."

And that voice sounded familiar. Like... her eyes gawked in shock as Jason Morgan stepped into view with a brunette holding a sword. A sword?

Where before the five was nervous of the woman with the axe, they clearly flinched at the sight of Jason. Of course, he wasn't the most feared mob enforcer of Port Charles for nothing. Only what was he doing out here at night with that strange woman she had never seen before? Not that she was complaining about the rescue.

Her scream of his name was muffled by the hand over her mouth. She would never know what happened next. All she would remember was the first guy's face, how it had seemed to elongate and hair growing from all of his pores. He raised his hands in the air and they stretched and contorted into paws with long hooked claws. The same rumbling growl echoed around her and then she was thrown to the ground and her head slammed against the wood.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I am not bonding with a vampire."

"We can always play a nice game of poker to break up the boredom. Got any kittens on ya?"

Dean cut a glare over at the blonde vamp stretched out lazily on the couch, with his booted feet propped on the table. A look down at his watch told him it was one forty-three, two minutes more than the last time he had checked. Sitting here doing nothing was driving him insane. He should have gone with Sammy. He could be out there killing stuff and making sure that his brother came back in one piece. Instead of trusting three people he hardly knew to do the job his father had entrusted him with.

Then he glanced over at Miranda and knew exactly why he had caved so easily about staying behind.

"That's disgusting," and he refused to laugh at the thought of kitten poker.

"Besides, can't do the bonding thing unless I take some of your blood," came the irreverent reply along with that grin a had him releasing the snort of humor. "A few years ago, I would have turned someone like you, made you do the grunt work. You know, essentially made you Spike's bitch."

"A few years ago, I would have staked your ass before you could even smell my blood," he retorted. "That is after I kicked your ass first."

"Just listen to the sounds of male bonding," came the feminine southern drawl from the table where three heads poured over the laptop the kid had in front of him. Fred and Miranda smiled at them, then each other with a look of amusement. "Don't you just love all that wasted testosterone? The two of you could actually help with research instead of trying to see which one of you can pee the farthest."

He shared a look of distress with Spike and both jumped to their feet, "We should check the perimeter of the house," Dean started to which Spike instantly caught on.

"Yeah, don't want any of those nasties sneaking up on us."

"But Stone Cold has the best security system ever made," the dork currently tapping on the laptop's keys said, "Nothing gets in here. He has cameras, motion sensors that are tweaked with magicks. He even had this major Wiccan babe come over and put a protection spell on the house. It would have to be a big bad to get-" Spinelli's voice trailed off at their glares and he dropped his head going back to what he was doing.

"Doesn't hurt to check around," Dean said again. Because there was no way in hell he was going to suffer through those thick ass tombs filled with jibberish sitting on that table. He grabbed his coat and slipped it on, trying not to look like he was scurrying away.

"I'll take the back of the house," Spike put on his own leather duster and they went for the door, only to have it fly open.

Sam and the others had returned with one addition, looking like something had taken major swipes at all of them.

Sam was soaked, hair plastered to his head and clothes stuck to his body, with a nasty bruise around his mouth and right eye that would probably be purple in the morning. He had a honey of a gun clutched in his hand that Dean definitely wanted to see and an arm around the woman at his side.

Faith held an arm close to her ribs, that axe in her grip tinged crimson and black gore and her knuckles were torn up. There was a nasty cut above her eyebrow that seeped blood down the side of her face and a bruise on her cheek that would probably be ugly by morning. She looked damp, but that could be from being next to Sam. In fact, if the two of them were any closer they would have switched places.

"I have to get me one of these," Sam grinned down at Faith, wincing as he lifted the gun for inspection. "Damn, did you see it? Just cut through that damned Therian like a knife and hot butter."

"Yeah, I saw," Faith snorted, "Right before he swatted your ass into the harbor. You need to get upstairs. Take a hot shower and change, you smell like dead bear."

"Bear?" Dean asked, catching their attention and his brother smiled at him like an idiot. "Did you say bear?"

"You should have seen them Dean, big fucking bears." Sam laughed and stumbled a bit, but Faith caught him easily and braced him back up. "And I'm not talking about Yogi and Boo-Boo. I mean like grizzly-hyped-up-on-steriods bears."

"Don't worry," she reassured him, must have seen the look of horror on his face, "He did fine. Got a little wet, and a good smack in the face, but Sam handled him self alright. Even managed to kill one."

"So says the Slayer who took down two of them," Sam drawled with sarcasm but the admiration in his voice said he felt otherwise. "Dean you should have seen her, I mean, she was out there fighting bears with that axe and kicking their ass."

It was probably just an average night for someone like Faith, but that small smile on her face told him that the petite Slayer didn't mind Sam was giving her praise. A grin spread across his face at the thought. Now wasn't that interesting. Visions of payback began to dance wonderfully through his head.

"That was nothing, you should have seen Morgan." Faith began but stopped as Cordelia stormed into the house. She didn't look much worse for the action tonight, a little ruffled maybe and extremely pissed off if those blazing eyes were any judge. "Hey Cordy, you okay?"

"I'm fine," She tossed that sword she carried against the wall, stalking pass them straight into the kitchen leaving Dean to ponder what bug crawled up her ass.

"What happened to her?"

"She got into a little trouble and Jason had to save her. Cordy was supposed to be rescuing Lulu who was doing her best imitation of Sleeping Beauty but one of the Therians went for her." Faith explained softly. "We were fighting three and Jason was working on two."

"Beating the shit out of two you mean," Sam interrupted. "I don't know what the hell that ring is on his thumb but whenever he hit one, it would spark and they howled like he was gutting them."

"Basically we were distracting them so Cordy could get Lulu away, only the second one Jason was fighting figured out what Cordy was doing and went after her." Faith finished. "She managed to cut off one of it's hands but he would have ripped her neck out if Jason hadn't gotten to her in time."

"And in the middle of all of this excitement," Spike spoke up finally, "Did you manage to question any of them?"

"No."

The pointed answer was accompanied by Jason who stepped in with a young blonde woman in unconscious in his arms. "So we have to do this the hard way." The guy actually looked like he had gone a few rounds with a couple of bears. When he adjusted the weight in his arms, Dean noted the slash marks ripped through the t-shirt he wore and there were several dark spots on his jeans that were probably from blood.

Cuts and bruises marred his face and his eyes had a bright wild look to them, like a hunter that walked dangerously close to the edge. He had seen that look in his own eyes too many times when something came too close to Sammy.

Spinelli had already jumped up from his seat and rushed over, fidgeting nervously. Reaching out a shaky hand every so often as if he wanted to touch the girl in Jason's arms but then he would jerk it back.

"Tell Cordelia to bring the first aid kit upstairs to the first bedroom. There is another one in the bathroom in the back. You all should probably stay here for the night, we need to work. There is a bedroom down here next to Spinelli's. You have to share the bathroom. There are two more upstairs and the attic. It's my office, but there's a bed. You should probably take that Spike, no windows, or sun exposure."

After those succinct instructions, he turned and walked up the stairs, followed closely by Spinelli and leaving them all stare in silence. Miranda slipped an arm around his waist and Dean looked down at the concern in her eyes. Fred had done the same to Spike. "Someone want to tell me exactly what's going on?"

"I really don't know," Faith said sincerely, "I do know is there is more to Jason Morgan than meets the eye."

XXXX

"Is she going to be okay?"

That was the fifth time Spinelli had asked him that question. Given the way he was feeling, Jason was suprised he hadn't snapped at the kid yet. Lulu was still unconscious, though no worse for her predicament tonight. A little pale, and that swelling around her hand concerned him but other than that she seemed okay. "She should be fine," he reassured the nervously pacing boy.

"What happened tonight? I mean, I thought you said it wouldn't be a problem. You've dealt with Therians before and didn't come home too roughed up?"

Should he say he'd been careless? Faith and Sam handled themselves well. Someone had obviously put a lot of training into Faith, and Sam made up for his lack with pure guts and determination. "They changed fast."

And that was an understatement. One second there was a stand off and the next they were facing down seven feet tall half man, half bears. It was one thing to fight a Therian in it's animal form, but those five had learned to control their transformations, holding it in the space between man and animal which made them an even greater threat. All the speed, strength and agression of a beast with the intelligence of a human. It was unexpected.

Lulu being unconscious had compromised an already bad situation. Cordelia hadn't been strong enough to carry Lulu away, was stuck with dragging her along the docks by the arms. He would have just killed them, if he hadn't wanted one to question. Then one had gone after Cordelia and he didn't have a choice.

She handled herself well. Taking the Therian's arm was smart. She had been ready to remove the other when it grabbed her by the neck and yanked her off the ground. He had seen the flare of terror in Cordelia's eyes, where her mind had shut off the calm rational thought, all the training tossed aside faced with a jaw full of monstrous teeth ready to rip into her and she went blank.

Should he have given her time to pull it together? Would she have done it in time?

The door swung open and she stalked in, carrying the large first aid kit he kept in the kitchen. The fury in her eyes said she was clearly still unhappy that he had interfered. The harsh words after he killed the Therian had more than stated her feelings on it. "How is she?"

The concern in her cold tone was all for Lulu. She set the kit down on the bed pushed it at him, then went to the other side of the room and sat in the dark brown recliner. As far from him as she could possibly get.

"She should be fine." He opened the kit and searched through for the tablets, took one and snapped it open under Lulu's nose, despite Cordelia's startled protest.

At the strong scent of ammonia, Lulu's eyes began to open. "What, what happened," her voice was groggy but it was good that she was coming around. Last thing he wanted was to take her to the hospital and for Lulu to wake up screaming about bears. He didn't know how much she saw, but it was best if she were here where he could control the situation.

"Lulu, it's Jason." She stiffened then, and shot straight up on the bed, scooting back, her hands flailing wildly.

"Don't touch me," she yelled, her hair flying around her frightened face, "Don't touch me!"

"Lulu, calm down," he said softly, "It's me Jason. And Spinelli's here too. I need you to calm down." He repeated the words several times until it finally seemed to register and she paused, looking at him as though he were unreal.

"Jason?"

"Yeah, it's Jason." Then he had arms full of trembling girl, her arms squeezing tight around his neck as she began to babble incohereantly. He gave Spinelli a reassuring nod, so the kid could stop pacing and sit down as he rubbed a comforting hand down Lulu's back much like he would Kady. "It's okay, you're safe. You're safe here."

"Those guys, and they were going to kill me and I was by myself and I couldn't move because they were so strong," emotion choked off her voice as she burrowed closer to him. "I couldn't move. I couldn't move."

"You're okay, Lulu and those guys won't ever hurt you again?"

She nodded really fast, then leaned back to look at him, "Did you kill them?" Then her eyes widened as she realized what she said, "Never mind, you don't have to answer that. I'm not supposed to talk about that am I?"

"It's fine Lulu," he tried to cut off her ramblings before she revealed something he prefered to remain unknown.

Lulu finally began taking stock of her surroundings. She glanced down at how she had practically climbed all over him and scrambled off just as fast, "I'm so sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean, I mean, I'm just and you," she pointed at him, "And I just. Oh, I'm sorry," she tried to make a fist, then grimaced in pain.

"How badly does that hurt?" He caught the swollen hand in a gentle grip and she winced again despite his care. "That bad hun?"

"I think it's broken," she said through clenched teeth. Now that her fear was beginning to wane, and the adrenaline was wearing off, the pain was making itself known. "That guy grabbed it and I heard something snap."

He examined her fingers one by one and when he reached the pinky she gasped loudly. "Yeah, I think that's broken. I can wrap it up for you, then we'll get you to GH for x-rays to be sure."

"Not GH."

"Lulu," he sighed, "I can't do anything for a broken hand here at my house."

"No, it's not that, I just don't want Lucky to find out." She looked at him with pleading eyes, "Tonight he already accused me of being careless and irresponsible."

"You're not careless or irresponsible."

"That's not the point. The last thing I want is for him to find out I was attacked on the docks because I wasnt' pay attention to where I was. Then he and Nikolas will gang up on me with the 'oh Lulu's'. Can't you just have someone come look at it?"

"If it's broken, it might need casting," he told her but she smiled and mouthed please making him roll his eyes and release a heavy sigh that made his ribs burn. "I'll take you to one of Sonny's doctors. He can check you out and get you casted if you need it, but Lulu, Lucky is going to see it and ask questions."

"So," she shrugged without guilt, "I'll tell him I was angry last night and tripped. I'll blame it all on him. I was so angry and hurt by what he said, so it's all his fault I fell."

Jason grunted and shook his head, "You are defintely Carly's cousin." At her bright smile he lifted a brow in censure, "That wasn't meant to be a compliment."

"She's your best friend and Kady's mother," Lulu answered.

"Yeah, thanks for the reminder, as if I need it." He wrapped her hand in the ace bandage carefully and there was silence except for an occasional indrawn breath of pain. "I can't give you anything for it, we'll have to wait and see what the doctor says. And he can take a look at that knot on the back of your head as well. I need to take a shower and change clothes. Then I'll look in on Kady and we'll go over."

When he rose from the bed, he couldn't stop the flinch of pain, nor the hand he placed to his side. Lulu's eyes widened as they saw his shredded t-shirt, "What happened to you?"

Cordelia and Spinelli had also seen a hint of the wound currently burning fire in his side. Spinelli's eyes held concern, Cordelia's ice. Yeah, what else was new. She would proably say it was his fault he was hurt because he didn't trust her to be able to take care of herself, or any of the other tirades she had treated him to tonight.

"Nothing, it's fine. Look Lulu, we need to talk about what happened tonight and what you remember." But not yet. First he wanted a hot shower, ten asprin and to assure his daughter that he was alive and well.

"I don't know what I saw, but I won't tell the police anything, you don't have to worry about that." She promised and given his past she had reason to think that's what he would be worried about. The PCPD were the last people on his mind. They couldn't find a clue if they were in a field full of clues during clue mating season.

"That's good to know," he said instead, because her brother was one of the witless cops on the force. Proven by how he had trashed his marriage and family by taking drugs and having an affair. "We still need to talk, but we'll get you fixed up and something for that pain first. How are you doing, think you can give me ten minutes to change or should we just go now?"

"No," she looked like she was in a lot of pain, but she also seemed to be handling it for the moment. "You go do what you need to do, I'll be okay for a few more minutes."

"Okay."

"Jason?"

He turned back to her, she was still very pale and this time the smile on her face was a bit shaky around the edges, "Thanks for saving me."

"No problem." Though she might not be thanking him when she discovered exactly what she was being drawn into.

"I'm just making sure he's okay." Cordelia mumbled as she walked down the hall, searching for his bedroom. This was not going to be a case of her playing Nurse Nightingale to wounded Champion. She had hung up her bandages when Angel left. She wasn't going to barge into his room and demand to tape up his injuries. She wasn't going to coddle him and push him to take care of himself.

She wasn't going to feel anything for Jason Morgan except mild annoyance.

He probably wouldn't have been hurt so badly if he had trusted her to be able to take care of herself. So she had been a little stunned when that gigantic bear thing grabbed her by the neck and looked like he wanted to have her as a midnight snack. She had already cut off one of it's arms, she would have gotten around to the other before she became the appetizer.

She did not need Jason riding to her rescue. Didn't she grow up on the Hellmouth? Didn't she help stop the sadistic mayor from ascention and eating her senior graduation class? Didn't she work with Angel stopping the big bads, even when Angel went all Darth Vader and fired her, Wesley and Gunn? Didn't she endure the visions even when they would have killed her? Didn't she choose to become a half demon so she could keep the damned things?

She did not need some Jason-come-lately playing Monday morning Champion to save her.

And no her hand was not shaking.

Determined to ignore the clench of fear in her stomach, she twisted the knob on the door and stepped inside the bedroom. At the pile of clothes on the floor and the sounds of the shower running, she guessed she picked the right bedroom. She set the first aid kit on the huge bed that looked like it probably could sleep six. It centered the room on a two step platform, was covered in a fluffy pillows, a down comforter and silk sheets all in rich cobalt that looked like some hedonistic Viking fantasy.

No, she wasn't going there. Instead she walked over to the dresser, ignoring her pale face reflected back in the mirror and began pawing through his things. Okay she was being nosey, but she needed something to do until he came out of the bathroom so she could make sure he was okay.

It was surprisingly bare, with only a few pictures of his daughter and other people that meant something to him. Someone chose a neutral color scheme for the room, lots of different shades browns and blue. Utterly masculine and strangely fitting. His gun holster sat there, a testament to the type man he was. He would toss his clothes carelessly on the floor but took care of his weapons. She lifted the knife laying there, slipped it from it's sheath and followed the gleam in the dim lamplight remembering the ease with which Jason handled it.

He had moved fast. Almost like Angel, but different, so very different. Usually Angel struggled to harness his demon, keep it leashed and under control. It was only under extreme circumstances that Angel cut loose. His soul and Angelus and his shame were so deeply intertwined that Angel had to maintain control at all times.

Jason reveled. That was the only word she could think of to describe it, that freedom, she saw in him. He cut off his emotions, yes, those cold blue eyes had chilled her to the core. He had been death in motion tonight. She could tell he was toying with the Therians, keeping them distracted until she could get Lulu to safety.

Only she had failed. Failed to execute her one simple part in the plan and needed rescuing.

She had looked in the golden eyes of that Therian and knew she was going to die. Part of her had even accepted it in that moment. And that small pathetic part that had longed for Angel for five years had wanted death. Maybe that would have brought her back to the man and the child she loved and lost. There wouldn't have been anymore fighting. No more mission. No visions.

Nothing.

Then Jason had called her name and their eyes met. She saw a explosion of emotion then. Everything had moved so fast from that second that Cordelia could swear that she had imagined it. The Therian Jason fought took a wide swing at him and he ducked and rolled firing off several shots to it's torso and she watched it burst into flame and ash.

Then he was on his feet running toward her, clutched in his grip this same blade she held. There was lots of blood, grunts of pain as Jason ripped viciously into the thing over and over. One moment she was being strangled and the next she was falling into his arms, the burning remains of the Therian clouding the air around them.

Yes, she overreacted. He had saved her and she had tried to cover for that one weak moment by yelling at him. So she would apologize now, again, thank him for covering her ass and then she would find someway to forget tonight ever happened.

"What are you doing in here?"

She looked into the mirror and found him standing behind her in the doorway of the bathroom. Stunned, because she hadn't heard him and because she was caught pawing through his things. She set the knife down and watched him walk across the room to her. Her heart was throbbing so hard in her chest, it felt as though she were back in that moment on the docks tonight. Faced with some life threatening circumstance and once again helpless to stop it.

"Cordelia?" He didn't turn her around, instead caught her eyes in the mirror while she just gaped at him. "Are you okay?"

He was gorgeous. Hair still slick with water, those damned bruises on his face, chest bare revealing a triquetra tattoo over his chest. His chest was still damp, despite the white towel hanging low on his waist. When she caught the raw claw marks on his side, her stomach turned with nausea. Reminding her all to clearly that he wasn't Angel. He was just a man, a man who had the same mission as everyone here, everyone of Angel Investigations. Fought the fight. Not for redemption but because it was his choice.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, feeling tears burn at the back of her throat. He had been hurt saving her and she had bit his head off like an ungracious bitch. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"It's okay," he lifted a shoulder and from the flinch she knew that it hurt him a little. "You were right. I should have trusted that you could handle yourself."

"No," she bit her lip, "I was wrong. I was," she looked away, not wanting to expose her shameful behavior. "I needed help and you were right there. That's what a team is supposed to do, back each other up. I was wrong to yell at you for something I've done for everyone in my family."

"Cordelia, we need to get past this griping." He placed a hand on her arm, and the gleam of silver on his thumb caught her eye. "We're both on the same side, so maybe we can agree to work together instead of against each other."

She turned around so she could see him, and those eyes moved something deep in her that she didn't want moved. Before she had even realized it, they were close, too damned close. His mouth was a temptation. If she wanted, she could have slid her hands up his chest and around his neck. A simple tilt of her head and their lips would be touching. "You're right," she choked out, scooting away, desperately needing the space. "I'll try harder."

She was running away, she knew it was cowardly, scurrying away like a frightened mouse. It mattered not at all. "I brought you the first aid kit, I thought you might need it. I can go with you and Lulu if you like, or I can just stay here with the others and work on research." Her words were flying out so fast that she was breathless. At least that's the excuse she told herself.

"And I want to thank you for helping me. That's all. That's why I barged into your room like this," she finally reached the door and swung it open wide ready to escape.

"Cordelia, wait."

And the hunger in that voice had her shaking her head, "You should get dressed, and I'll," she pointed down the hall, "I'll let you."

This time she found the strength to save herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jason watched her quickly fleeing steps down the hall and released a confused breath, not understanding quite what had just happened in this brief moment but knew that something had changed between the two of them. Unsure about how he felt about it, he turned back to the mirror, and raised his right hand to the seal over his navel. The silver on his hand hummed, resonating waves flowing through his body and the dark ink gradually appeared. The injured flesh begin knitting it self back together leaving only four bright red welts already on their way to healing.

As the seal faded, he walked to the bed for a bandage.