Wolfram and Hart's New Guest

By jessebelle

A/N: I'd apologize for not updating sooner, but I figure you're not interested in a long winded author's note, you just want the story. So, I'm sorry, and here's the next chapter. Hopefully updates will be more frequent, but I can't make any promises. Enjoy!

Hermione had finally been in LA for 24 hours, and all of them had been interesting. After the sword incident, in which the sword was wrestled away by Gunn, both vampires were subdued, and most problems were resolved. Spike had moved out of Wolfram and Hart, to Angel's happiness, and had moved in with Xander's, to the brunette's disgust. Angel's office had suffered a little bit of damage, but it was being taken care of by some employees of the law firm.

Hermione herself was now in her room, officially unpacking. So far her room looked good. She'd unloaded her books, hung her clothes in her closet, and hidden her Hogwarts thing in her trunk, which was under her bed. Now she sat at her desk reading the stack of letters given to her by Tonks. The majority of them were from her boys, who decided to give her a detailed play by play of their days to make it feel like she was there. There were a few from Ginny, a couple from her Gryffindor housemates, two from the Weasleys, some from her teachers, and one from Dumbledore. That one had included a note telling her to have fun and included quite a bit of muggle money. It also stated that her tutors had been lined up, and they'd be in LA tomorrow. All she knew was that they were order members, and they'd be staying with her. Angel had already been alerted to the situation, so a few more rooms had been made up.

She was bored. Now sooner then she'd had that thought, there was a knock on her door. "Come in!"

The door opened and a dark head popped in. "Hermione?" The rest of his body followed.

"Oh, Angel, is something wrong?"

Angel shook his head. "No, I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me?" Hermione's eyes widened. "I meant to dinner, maybe a show or something. It's your first real night in LA and I figured you like to do something besides stare at your door. And since your tutors come tomorrow, you'll be busy with homework." He smiled bashfully at her. "I was also kind of hoping to get to know you, prove I'm not usually such a bad guy."

Hermione didn't' need to be convinced. "All right, just let me get changed." Angel smiled and turned around to leave, but her voice stopped him. "Angel?"

"Yeah." He turned around.

"Will you tell me more about my cousin? Cordelia, I mean." She watched his face change at the mention of her cousin.

"Yeah." He went to leave, but stopped at the door. "Do me a favor; don't invite anyone in your room anymore."

"I'm not allowed to have visitors?" Hermione voice and demeanor changed abruptly, but she was soon calmed by Angel's words.

"No, of course not. I just, don't directly invite them in." He left quickly leaving Hermione to wonder about the strange request. Filing it in her member for later, Hermione got ready for a night on the town. She was lucky she was muggleborn and had some clothes for the weather. She got ready quickly and took the elevator to Angel's office. It was there she encountered Wesley and Gunn, eating take our and surrounded by books.

"Well look who's all dressed up. What's the occasion?'

"Damn girl, you look fine!"

Hermione blushed scarlet. She had put on a pale yellow halter top and a warm colored, knee length skirt. She was used to being covered all the time, if not by jeans and a jumper, then by her school robes. She was a tad bit uncomfortable and it didn't help that her hair was piled on the top of her head and not covering her back and shoulders. She didn't normally dress like this, it was more Lavender or Pavrati's style, but she knew it was in fashion.

"Thank you. And Angel's taking me out."

Wesley and Gunn looked at each other. "You mean boss man's takin' you out while we have to stay here and do research?" Gunn looked a little surprised.

At the word research, Hermione's eyes brightened considerably. "What are you researching? Stuff for a case?" She practically floated over to the piles of books.

Wesley and Gunn panicked and began to gather the books so she couldn't see them.

"Um, no.

"Yes!" They looked at each other.

"Yes!"

"No!"

Hermione gave them a weird look and picked up one of the few books still within her reach. Opening it up she stared at the pictures; of demons. The book looked like one of their Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks. What was it doing here, and how did it relate to a case? "What sort of case are you dealing with?" She held up the book, a picture of a Fyarl demon on the cover.

"Um, well." Wesley looked for Gunn to help. Luckily with the new smarts provided by Wolfram and Hart, he was able to come up with a suitable cover story.

"On of our clients is an author. Someone's suing him, claiming that some of his characters aren't original. We're, uh, checking to see if we can find it."

Hermione, still skeptical, just nodded. She looked away when she heard the elevator, and therefore missed Wesley mouthing "Nice" behind her back.

She looked back at them and placed the book down. "Well, if you ever need any help, I'm an expert when it comes to researching and books. My friends back home think I live in the library."

Wesley smiled. "Well, I'll be sure to come to you if we need any help in the future. Now, you and Angel be sure to have a good time."

The elevator doors opened and Angel stepped out. He too was a little dressed up. Since coming to work for Wolfram and Hart, all he'd worn were business suits and ties. He enjoyed putting on his black jeans, a white under shirt, and a silk, black over it. He'd styled his hair like he had years ago, spiky instead of old looking. He was ready to go. He once again looked like "the one with the angelic face."

Hermione noticed how different he appeared. Before he had an older appearance, and while still a bit appealing, made him look middle aged. But now, dressed up, he looked quite a bit younger, and to coin her cousin's favorite saying. "Hello salty goodness."

Angel's eyes widened at bit at his guests appearance. She now looked a lot like her cousins, though thankfully more like Cordelia then Harmony. His eyes widened a bit when he heard her mumble. She'd spoken aloud, but in the lowest tones possible. It was only thanks to his vampire hearing he'd heard it at all. But id definitely connected her to Cordy.

"Wow, you look great. Ready to go have some fun?"

"You too. And yes, I'm ready to go."

"Where are you planning on taking her, Angel?"

The vampire looked up. I thought I'd take her to dinner, maybe to a moving, a club."

Wesley smiled. "Well then, have fun and try not to get in trouble.

Next to him, Gunn rolled his eyes "What are you, Angel's father?"

Wesley winced, embarrassed. "Sorry, I sometimes forget how old he is."

Next to Angel, Hermione piped up. "And how old are you Angel?"

The three men shared a panicked look before Angel answered. "25."

"Yeah, give or take 225 years." Gunn mumbled and Wesley tried not to laugh.

"You're only 25 and you run a famous law firm? Impressive."

Angel smiled, uncomfortable where the conversation was going. "Yeah, um, why don't we get going. I know Wesley and Gunn still have a lot of work to do."

"You men looking for the demon?"

Angel's eyes widened to an impressive size. "Demon?"

Hermione gave him an odd look. "Yes, demon. They told me all about it."

Angel suddenly let out a long, unneeded bread. "And you're not freaked out or anything?" Over her shoulder he noticed Wesley and Gunn making huge, No gestures. Then he heard her speak.

"Why would I be, it's only a case about a book."

Angel's eyes once again widened. "Oh. Ohhh .Yeah, it's boring, just another case. I just don't want you to be freaked out about anything. LA's a lot different then England." Hermione nodded, not totally convince, but willing to let it go, for tonight. Angel seemed to sense this and held out an arm. "Shall we?"

Trying not to giggle like her former roommates, Hermione nodded and took the offered arm. "Let's go."

They left with Angel's parting to the guys. "Wes, you're in chare. Have fun."

It was nearing nine when Hermione looked at the clock. She and Angel had been having a wonderful time. They'd gone to a little Italian place which was out of the way and not well known. The food had been delicious and Hermione had liked the quiet atmosphere. She and Angel had talked quite a bit and she discovered her first impression of stuffy lawyer had been wrong, much like his of her. They'd decided to start anew.

The icebreaker had been Cordelia. She'd broached the subject carefully, knowing the topic of her cousin upset him a bit, but then they'd begun to share stories. He'd told some stories of Cordy in high school, her first adventures of living in LA and trying to become an actress, not to mention the ones of there former job at Angel Investigations. She still hadn't figured out how a young detective suddenly ran a world famous law firm at only 25, but she'd ponder that later. The stories had lacked something though, something important.

She in turn had told the few stories she had of her cousin. The water balloon fight with Xander and Willow, who he knew, the other time she visited Sunnydale and her cousin took her to The Bronze, the times when Cordelia came to visit her in England. There were the stories of when their families went on vacations together, some including Harmony. But she also held back some things. Like the time on their vacation to Italy when she was eight. Harmony and Cordelia had teased her, the next morning the two had awoken with spotted skin. Then there was the time in Sunnydale the year before Hogwarts when they'd been attacked, by something. It was the first real time they'd bonded. Neither had known what their attacker was, but after researching later at Hogwarts, Hermione knew it'd been a vampire. But young and not knowing what it was, they'd freaked out, only to be saved by a mysterious, something. She'd been shocked when Angel had taken credit for being their rescuer, and it had brought up some more questions.

After breaking the ice, they'd moved on to other discussions. Angel had told her about some of the more, unusual cases they'd had and some of the places he'd visited. She'd shared some stories of her friends and their, after hours, adventures. Both talked quite passionately about history. They'd kept on talking on the way to the club; they'd decided to save the movies for another time. Angel hadn't been sure of going because he didn't like dancing and he wasn't sure about her age, but after assuring him she was legal, showing him her ID, and convincing him he didn't have to dance, he'd given in. Now they were at an exclusive club that Angel had taken her too. She as quite surprised that they got in, and even more shocked that she was mingling with the rich and famous. Angel, true to his word, didn't dance, but gave her the go ahead. She'd been having a blast and now knew what her roommates meant when they said she'd been missing out.

Currently she sat at the table, drinking a fruit punch with and umbrella and taking in the entire clubbing atmosphere. Angel had gone to 'take care of something.' She figured he was either in the bathroom, or hiding somewhere to get away from the noise and all the people. She was lost in her thoughts when a hand rested itself on her bareback. She shivered and turned around, expecting it to be Angel. Instead, a warm British voice dispelled that idea, quickly.

"Well what do we have here?"

When Hermione finally faced the man, she became lost in the bluest eyes imaginable….

A/N: Oh I'm so mean. I wasn't planning on leaving it like a cliffie, but it was too perfect. So who is it? Blue eyes, British? Let me know, I may change who I plan on it being. Never fear though, you'll know soon. Toodles, jessebelle