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Part 3

"Hi. Mind if I join you?" Fred asked, stopping next to the occupied table in the Wolfram & Hart cafeteria. In one hand she held a bag containing her lunch and in the crook of her other arm, a stack of folders that she had been preparing to read during her lunch hour. When she saw Elise sitting there alone, she quickly revised her plans; some female companionship in a largely male work environment was a much more appealing way to pass the time.

"Not at all. In fact, I'd love the company and I could use a break," Elise replied with a smile, nodding to the chair across from her as she gathered the books and papers scattered across the table and put them in a neat pile.  

"Working on a new book?" Fred asked curiously as she sat down, looking at the notebook full of scribbles next to the sleek iBook.

"Yes. Well, some plotting anyway," Elise answered as she jotted one last note before saving the file she was working on. She closed the iBook and pushed it aside.

"I really loved 'Dark Rising', though I was unable to sleep for days," Fred offered as she unwrapped her sandwich. "It gave me chills. I know it shouldn't have after working here, given everything, but it still did."

"Thank you, I think," Elise replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, it's definitely a compliment. It was a great book. What's the subject of your next one?" The slender brunette inquired, then amended politely, "That is, if you don't mind me asking."

"My editor has the final edits for 'Dark Wolf' so that will be the next one to actually hit the shelves. As for what I'm working on next... well, I'm actually thinking of doing something about a vampire slayer."

"Oh, um, oh." Looking decidedly uncomfortable, Fred shifted and dropped her gaze. "Er, I don't know if you know... oh."

"Fred?" Elise interjected, reaching out and touching the other woman lightly on the arm. "I know about Buffy, and perhaps more importantly, I know about Buffy and Angel."

"Oh, thank God." The head of the Wolfram & Hart Science Division visibly relaxed. "I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to bring it up. Cause you know, awkward. I mean with you and Angel... well, you know, together."

Elise gave the other woman a warm smile. "Theirs is a truly beautiful story, what I know of it so far, though quite tragic. I'd love to immortalize it in print. Of course, I won't publish it unless he's okay with it, so I'll show it to him first - once it's done, that is."

"That's really, really nice of you. And understanding too, I mean since you and he... well, I guess I thought the two of you... well, I don't really know about you two. How's that going? It is... going, right?"

"Angel's wonderful, really. He and I... well, I don't know what really right now. I guess you might say we're just playing it by ear."

"Is that good?  I mean, is that what you want?"

"It's good. Definitely good," Elise affirmed sincerely. "But about the book. something in my gut that says I have to see this through; that this is a story that I have to tell. but I want to wait until it's been written before I tell Angel about it. I know it's a painful subject for him, so please-"

"Oh, I won't tell him," Fred interrupted with a hand gesture to indicate that her lips were sealed.

"Thank you. It's not that I'm hiding it exactly. I just don't want to constantly rub an open wound, you know?" 

"I understand."

After a moment, Elise asked, "You knew her, didn't you?"

"Buffy? Yes, I did. I mean, only for about three years. when she came to Wolfram & Hart after Sunnydale, you know, exploded."

"Ah yes, I had read something about that. That's when Spike returned here as well, right? In ghostly form until he became corporeal?"  Only yesterday Elise had come across articles about Sunnydale's rather abrupt disappearance from the California map, along with some annotations by someone at Wolfram & Hart about Spike's return.  She had planned to ask Wes who might have documented the information, but she had yet to find the opportunity to discuss it with him privately.

"It - Buffy staying here - was awkward at first," Fred's gaze slid away from the novelist. "But then everything was great, until, well, until she disappeared."

"Why awkward?"

Returning her gaze to Elise's face, Fred leaned over and whispered, "Well, there was Buffy and Angel being ex for one, then there was the whole thing between Buffy and Spike. And too, I had thought that Angel and Cordelia... well, I thought that they would get together eventually."

"Cordelia?" Elise's brows lifted curiously. The bit about Buffy and Spike didn't surprise her. She had heard a rumor or two around the office about it; rumors she planned to follow up on in the near future.

"Cordelia Chase. Oh, you probably don't know about her. She and Angel. I guess some of us, well, I thought that they were a couple."

Picking up her pen and pad of paper, Elise made a note of the name; it was one that hadn't come up before in her months around Wolfram & Hart. "But they weren't?"

"No, they weren't. And even if I had been right about them, it wouldn't have happened. Cordelia was in a coma because some evil thing had over taken her body," Fred explained thoughtfully. Her memories of exactly what happened to Cordelia were so vague, and she often felt as though there were more to it that she should know or remember. Shaking away the unsettling feeling, she continued, "But anything I saw or thought I saw between him and Cordelia was more like friendship, or at best, a brother-sister type thing. That was pretty obvious after Buffy showed up here, as was the fact that Angel was completely head over heels in love with her. Her being Buffy, I mean."

Elise took a sip of her now tepid tea before adding another note on her pad of scribbles.

Fred took a bite of her sandwich, then continued thoughtfully, "It's not like they got together right away or anything like that. Mr. Giles, a friend of Buffy's, along with some of the Slayers in training, stayed here for a few months before they all went to England.  Anyway, in those first few months Buffy and Angel would go out on cases together, and eventually it became pretty clear that they were getting to be more than just friends again. They'd come back holding hands, or we'd catch them kissing when they thought no one was around. Then one day there was a big argument between Buffy, Angel, Wes and Mr. Giles about Angel's soul and how they could or couldn't." The physicist paused and looked at Elise questioningly. "You do know about that, right?"

"That being Angel's curse?"

"Yes. Good, because I wasn't sure. I mean, I don't know who knows what or what they think." Fred stammered awkwardly, twisting her napkin between her fingers. "I don't even know much about it myself."

"It's fine, Fred. I understand - enough at least." Elise smiled reassuringly. "Do continue. That is, if you don't mind."

"Okay. So, um, one night not long after that whole big argument, Mr. Giles, Wesley and I'm pretty sure Willow, all hung around Angel's office while Buffy and Angel were upstairs in the penthouse. Mr. Giles kept pacing up and down the halls, and every time the elevator doors would open, they would all jump up nervously. They didn't come out and say anything, but I'm pretty sure that they were worried about Angel losing his soul and so had magic on hand to do something about it if necessary. Which, it turns out that it wasn't. Necessary that is." Fred chuckled, "Of course, you know that yourself."  

"Yes," Elise said, picking up her now empty tea cup and looking at it distractedly. She wasn't entirely comfortable disclosing personal details about her relationship with Angel, even more so in light of the current conversation.

"Anyway," Fred continued, breaking the awkward silence. "Buffy stayed when Mr. Giles left with the Slayer trainees for England, and Willow stayed. I guess Willow stayed because Buffy stayed. Well, that and Angel gave her a job as head of the Information Sciences department. She's really amazing with computers."

"I see. Did it work well, the two of them working here at Wolfram & Hart?  Buffy and Angel, I mean?" Elise prompted, twirling her pen between her fingers.

"Oh yes. They were a really great team, though they'd argue pretty often during work." Fred smiled and shrugged. "We all got used to that."

"What do you mean, argue?"

"Oh, not serious arguments, really. Both of them were strong, protective type people - so he'd tell her to wait and she wouldn't, or she'd tell him not to take such risky chances and he would. Or it would be who was going in first. And they'd get into a fight about it, especially on the more dangerous cases.  Though, they always made up." The slender brunette trailed off, clearly embarrassed. "Once I accidentally walked in on them in Angel's office after one particularly loud argument. I certainly wasn't expecting... let's just say, they might have argued, but there was a lot of passion in their relationship as well."

"I've seen a photo or two of her. She was very lovely," Elise murmured, uncertain whether she wanted to hear any more intimate details about Angel's past relationship than she already knew.

"Yes, she was beautiful. She was also much stronger and more powerful than you'd think after seeing her because she was so petite. She trained harder than any of the guys. I don't think any of them ever beat her in training exercises."

"Do you mind if I ask. what was she like - as a person I mean?"

"Um, she was... she was strong. Funny, too. She'd make these comments before slaying something... you know, puns... sort of taunting the bad guy or demon. I could never do that, at least not like she could. It was like she was never really afraid. She had such confidence. She was crazy about Angel, too - you could just tell. And they were very sweet together. I never really saw Angel smile, or even laugh so much, as he did when he was with her. He was lighter, happier when she was here. It's just so sad about her miscarriages... and then her just disappearing like that. I thought Angel was going to go crazy for a while."

"I feel bad for both of them," Elise murmured softly, still struck by the sense of loss that she imagined that Angel must still feel.

Fred nodded somberly in agreement. She nibbled absently on her food as she thought about the events of a year ago.

"So where is Cordelia?" The brunette novelist asked after a moment, reminded when she glimpsed the name she had written on the pad in front of her only a short while earlier.

Sighing, Fred set the remaining bit of her sandwich down and took a drink of water before answering. "She died, three or so years ago now."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Elise replied sympathetically.

"Thank you," Fred answered meditatively. "Cordelia. she was Angel's seer, before we had all this." With her hand, she gestured to their surroundings. "She was also one of the first friends that I had. here. When I came back from Pylea." Taking a deep breath, she pushed away the horrible memories and changed the subject. "You know, she came from Sunnydale as well. She and Buffy even went to high school together! Small world I guess. Or maybe it just is when you're involved with the demon world."

"Maybe that's true," Elise nodded slightly in agreement. "Cordelia was a seer?"

"Yeah, she had visions for supernatural things, things that Angel would then follow up on. It's how we got a lot of our work in helping the helpless back then, before Angel became the head of Wolfram & Hart."

"I see. And you said Buffy and Cordelia went to school together? Were they friends? Was Cordelia a seer then as well?"

"I don't really know, but I don't think so - about either thing. The few times Cordelia mentioned Buffy it wasn't in a particularly nice way. In hindsight, I think maybe she was a little jealous of Buffy, and of Buffy's relationship with Angel."  Fred paused and gave a small almost embarrassed laugh. "Of course, I had a little crush on Angel myself when I first met him. He was my hero, and well, he looks like he looks."

Elise chuckled. "Yes, he's quite something, isn't he? I can't imagine too many women that wouldn't feel the same way."

"Maybe it's the vampire thing and not being able to see his reflection for so long, but I honestly don't think he's aware of how attractive he is."

"That's true," Elise acknowledged agreeably; Angel was uncommonly modest.

"As for Cordelia being a seer. I'm pretty sure that she wasn't one in high school. She got the visions from Doyle not long after she and Angel both came to Los Angeles. Sorry I don't know much more, that was before my time."

"No, actually that's quite a lot. You'd be surprised how sometimes the smallest details make the biggest difference," the novelist said as Lorne waved at them from across the room. "I may have some more questions as I fill in the blanks. That is, if you don't mind?"  

"Ask away. I'll try to help any way I can," Fred returned cheerfully, before popping the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth. "It's exciting to think that I might be contributing to a published novel."

"Well, hello there, lovely ladies." Lorne declared as he pulled up a chair. "Did I hear something about a published novel?  Does someone have a new book in the works? Because I know some people over at Fox that I'm sure would be interested in some ideas for a television movie. One of their networks cancelled their best show so they desperately need new ideas. I'm sure I could hook you up, just say the word."

"Hello, Lorne," Elise said with a half-smile. The green demon had been offering for weeks to set up talks with some of his contacts in the entertainment industry; it had become something of a joke between them now. "And this is just in the idea stage, so not quite ready to pitch to your network contacts - if that was even in the realm of possibility, which it's not."

"Hi, Lorne," Fred greeted as she shifted over to make room.

"Think about it though, my caramel apple dumpling. You have some great ideas - or so I'm told. As soon as I have some time to read, I'll check them for myself."

"I'll think about it," Elise returned, her voice playful. She had only a slight interest in turning her books into movies or television programs, but it wasn't something that she wanted to pursue anytime soon. And too, too many wonderful books that she had read had turned into travesties when converted to the screen medium; it was as though something that could only be captured in imagination was lost in translation. Then there was the fact that the author often ended up with little to no control or influence over the end result - though Lorne said that with Wolfram & Hart behind the specifics of the contract, that wouldn't be the case.

"Oh, you should," Fred encouraged. "That would be so exciting."

"Maybe," Elise mused politely before changing the subject. "So Lorne, what's the latest gossip from the entertainment world?"

"Well, there was this one little incident over at the Mondrian involving a certain tall, dark and hunkesque actor..."

"Marcus Hamilton left a package for you on your desk," Harmony said immediately as Angel stepped out of the elevator and into the Wolfram & Hart foyer.

"More orders from the Senior Partners telling me how to run things, no doubt," Angel replied sardonically, striding down the hall. "Do they ever send anything other than more ridiculous orders and demands?"   

Keeping pace beside him, Wes smiled. "There's the occasional mystical object or absurd, but still binding, contract, but then that's why they're around, isn't it? And it serves," he added blandly, "to keep things interesting."

Angel glanced briefly at his companion. "Things around here are interesting enough without their 'help'."

"Quite true."  

"If only one of these little gifts came with a clue as to their motives." Angel said as he pushed open the door to his office.

"They'll get careless eventually."

"It's been more than four years, and we still don't know anything more about why they turned this place over to us," Angel casually remarked, turning the package over in his hands before tossing it to Wes.

"Maybe not, but we've done some good in that time. Even you have to agree with that." Wesley examined the oblong parcel carefully.

"Maybe," Angel murmured, his attention distracted as he shuffled through the other papers that had been left on his desk with the mail, along with his messages.

"I think I'll have the lab open this one," Wes surmised as he turned and retraced his steps toward the door. "Afterwards, I'll be in the library. I have some work to do on the Grabok demon case."

"So how is Elise?" Angel asked without glancing up.

"She's fine. Busy, it seems, working on some new idea," Wesley casually noted. "You haven't seen her?"

"No, not lately," Angel replied, his expression shuttered. "Not since... not for several weeks now. Would you tell her that I'm still planning to see her for dinner tomorrow night? That is, if she's still interested."

"Will do," Wesley said, opening the door.

"And let me know what you find with that." Angel nodded toward the object in Wes' hand. Several other similar such packages had wreaked havoc in the office. One had erased Angel's memory temporarily; another had nearly turned Wes into a controlled zombie right out of 'The Manchurian Candidate', while another had paralyzed Spike for days. In all cases Marcus Hamilton denied knowledge of any effects, claiming that he was simply the delivery person or that the material had been mishandled. "We don't need another problem right now. The Sowell case is turning out to be more to handle than we expected," Angel went on. "You do have the reports on the family?"

"I do. I still think the wife is behind it."

"Agreed. Now we just need a way to isolate her and prevent further harm."

"I still think it's somehow telepathically cued. I don't think she intentionally brings forth those malicious entities."

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way we have to stop it."

"Agreed," Wes affirmed just as he slipped through the doors and down the hall. 

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