Lindsey carried Douglass to his car thinking it was safer to keep her pinned to his chest than having her walk and being free to touch and grab what she wanted, her kisses and nibbles had become more demanding and she had been able to pop the top three buttons off his shirt. He had no idea how he was going to get through this. his body was reacting to her advances but for some reason the idea of taking her like this felt like rape to him.

Getting to the car, he realized he had to unlock the door and open it meaning he had to put Douglass down which was not something he wanted to do. Sighing, he knew there was no other alternative but maybe if he was quick enough Douglass wouldn't be able to cause too much of a problem, setting her on her feet he tried to fish his keys out of his pocket.

"Lindsey...It's starting...to hurt." Douglass whimpered. "Please...do...something." Tears were running down her face as she clutched to his jacket.

"What do you want me to do?" Lindsey was at a loss, his concern for her was mounting. Horny he could understand and deal with, her in pain was not something he was prepared for.

"Touch...Me... Please." She started to shake and honestly, by this time, Lindsey didn't need to be asked twice, pressing her up against the car he
captured her lips muffling a moan from the contact, h fumbled to open the door to the backseat and pushed Douglass in and climbed on top of her.

"Lindsey *NOW*." She cried needing to have a release that would take away the pain.

He sat up and leaned against the backseat unbuttoning his pants and starting to push them down when Douglass straddled his lap again. He moaned when he felt her hot juices coat his skin, she wasted no time guiding him to her entrance and slamming down on him with all the force she could, Lindsey's breath caught in his throat as his sensitive member was engulfed inside of her. Douglass screamed, it had only taken him filling her to make her cum.

Lindsey stilled for a moment to see how she would react and was thankful when her hips started rocking back and forth against his, shifting a little he brought his hands to her hips setting the pace. Lifting his hips to meet with hers he groaned as her muscles started clamping around him once again.

"Lindsey." She whimpered, his eyes met with hers and he could see that some sort of sanity had returned, she looked uncertainly at him.

"Shh. It's okay." He wanted to comfort her. "It's going to be all right." Lifting his hands to her face he brought her lips to his kissing her as they
both found their release.

He held her until her breathing became normal again. "Lindsey I am so sorry, I don't know what came over me." Douglass could feel her face burning and she couldn't force herself to look at him in the eye, she had *never* acted that way before. 'What he must think of me.' she thought.

"I think we should go." Douglass started to lift herself off of him but he drew her close again for another kiss.

"I know it was some kind of drug that made you act that way." He watched as she looked away and nodded. Running his hands through his hair he wished that he knew what to say to make the pitiful look on her face disappear.

Douglass located her discarded panties and found them too wet to put back on. Pushing down her dress so she was decent she climbed into the front seat, waiting for Lindsey to pull up his pants and get into the drivers seat, Douglass tried to think of something other than what has just happened.

It wasn't the effect of the drug had on her, it was the fact that after finding her release the first time she had been brought back to reality enough that she could have stopped herself if she had wanted to. She just didn't want to, she had dreamt of having Lindsey night after night and she
couldn't deny herself this one time. He thought it all had to do with some kind of drug and at the beginning it was and she would never let him know
otherwise.
 

Chapter twenty-two

Spike checked his watch...again and felt like smashing something when he noticed that it had only been ten minutes since the last time he looked. Aria was still passed out on the floor and he didn’t want to move yet. He wanted to let the poor girl get as much rest as she could, he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be easy getting her out of the house.

‘I’m so bloody bored, where the hell is Willow?’ Spike picked up the phone not patient enough to wait out the entire hour to call, pushing the redial
number he waited for a moment and was rewarded with Willow’s voice.

"Hello?"

"Red, where the Hell have you been? Why did you make me carry this phone if you’re not going to answer when I call?" Spike needed to yell at someone to lessen his frustration and Willow was the poor chit on the receiving end.

"What’s wrong?"

"What’s wrong? What’s wrong you ask!?! Let me tell you that the shit just really hit the fan here." Spike stood and started pacing.

"Is Douglass okay?" He could hear voices in the background asking the redhead questions all at once. Good, at least he wasn’t the only one worrying here.

"She’s not hurt...But let me tell you she’s not herself, there was something slipped to her that has her all hot and bothered over the lawyer."

"Huh?"

"Aphrodisiac is my guess, I tried to pry her off Lindsey and she scratched my face pretty bad, they left about forty-five minutes ago."

"You let her leave with him? I’m going to stake your sorry ass!" Willow screamed over the phone, he could her a shuffle and then Angel’s voice came
over the line.

"What happened?"

Spike sighed. "Long story short, I think Douglass was given an Aphrodisiac, she was licking her way up Lindsey the last time I saw her. She attacked me when I tried to get her to come with me, I think that Lilah had something to do with it"

"Shit!"

"Oh no it gets better, I decided to do another round of the house to see if I could get someone to let me in, heard this whipping sound coming from a second story window. I climbed up a trellis-."

"You climbed a trellis?"

"Yes...The chit’s father was beating her with his belt, buckle first. Seems he thinks that his little girl knows stuff about us, mostly about Douglass
and Lindsey and she won't tell him anything." Spike continued with how he got the girl to let him in the room and that she was now passed out.

"You stayed?" Angel asked in disbelief.

"Of course I did."

"You were scared of what Willow and Douglass would do to you if they found out you left her there huh?"

"Shut up wanker! I’m stuck now, I can’t take her out the window and can’t carry her because of her back. I would also  rule out walking since she can barely crawl."

"So do you have a plan to get her out of there?" Spike paused in shock, this was the first time the poof had ever asked for his advice on anything. For over one hundred years the bloody Poof had always just demanded.

"I was thinking that Red could mix up some smelly herbal stuff to help Aria with the pain. Big bonus if it’ll knock her out, then we can get her out the
window but you need to hurry. If her father shows up I can’t do anything to protect her."

There was a long pause as Angel talked to Willow. "We’ll be there as soon as we can. What window?" Spike gave them directions and hung up the phone, now he had to wait again and he hated all this waiting.

He could still hear voices coming from downstairs which was a good thing. As soon as his back-up arrived he was going to hunt Lilah down and get some answers even if it meant dragging her to his Grandsire to make her talk. ‘What’d I’d do to get this damn thing plastic out of my head! Then I’d show these pathetic humans who was the Big Bad.’ Spike puffed out his chest and sauntered across the room stopping beside the sleeping girl and wondering how Douglass was doing.
 

Chapter  twenty-three

"No...Not again." Douglass moaned as she started to shift in her seat.

Lindsey snapped his head over to the girl sitting in the passenger seat at the sound of her voice. "Again? You mean the effects haven’t worn off?"

Douglass bit down on her lip and shock her head side to side. "I was fine after...you know...We did ..."

"We had sex." Douglass hated feeling all flustered like this, she was *never* the shy one. So why did having some mind blowing sex with Lindsey turn her into some shy an awkward girl? So what? She'd had sex with him and by the mounting pressure between her legs she might have it again. Was it guilt from having enjoyed what happened between them? It was supposed to be about fulfilling a need not an emotional experience.

If she went home what would the others think when she started panting around them? Or if she were to do things that she had done to Lindsey to turn him on?

"Lindsey you can’t take me home, I can’t have them see me like this." Lindsey was getting ready to protest when Douglass cut him off. "Can you
imagine if I were to come on to on of the guys like that? Wes would piss himself, Gunn would...I don’t know what Gunn would do, I’d have to move to Alabama if Spike and I ever...it’d be like doing something with my brother. Worst of all? Angel." The distasteful thought ran through her head. "Willow loves him and she’s my best friend. Not that he’s not good looking...nice hair, beautiful eyes, and his ass..." Douglass slapped her hand over her mouth and wished for a quick death. "See? I can not go back there."

Lindsey was going to tell her all the reasons she should go home until she started to describe Angel. Images of the blonde witch and the vampire in a compromising embrace filled his mind, the thoughts angered him, making his fingers curl around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. She was right, she couldn’t go back there, there was no way in hell he’d allow Angel to experience what Douglass had just granted him. Some primal male emotion built inside him, after what they had just shared he wasn’t going to let her crawl all over any one of her friends especially Angel.

Turning the car around in a very dangerous and illegal U-turn Lindsey headed to his apartment. Douglass was squirming in her seat again fighting the
rising sensations. This time he wasn’t going to that the feelings turn into pain, if he satisfied her needs soon enough maybe she’d be sated enough not to get to that step, he just hoped they got to his place in time. Not that having sex in his car had been a horrible thing but his bed sounded more inviting.

"Which window was it?" Willow looked at the imposing mansion and tried to battle the butterflies that had been let loose in her stomach. Spike said
they’d have to climb up a trellis and she hated heights.

"This way." Angel headed toward the wing of the house Spike had told him about over the phone, Willow and Cordelia followed a few steps behind, Gunn stayed in the car, in case they needed a quick get away. Wesley was back at the office, waiting for them to get back.

"So to get back to the subject that we keep avoiding, we are going to just have Lindsey have his way with Douglass?" Cordelia whispered. There had been an argument over whom to save first, the overly hormonal Douglass or the unconscious Aria. Saving Aria had become first priority seeing that her life was in danger but the thought of Douglass and Lindsey together and Douglass not really herself didn’t sit well for any of them.

"Cordelia, there’s not much we can do, even if we go and get her she’s going to be horny as hell." Angel whispered back. "Might as well let her get it out of her system with Lindsey, this way when she comes to her senses she can use her dislike toward him to get through her embarrassment." The two girls looked at one another in confusion.

"So what’s wrong with just grabbing her and locking her in a room until the drug wears off?"

Angel sighed. "Because some Aphrodisiacs make it quiet painful if...um..." Angel wished they could stop talking about sex, lately having to be around
Willow and knowing that he couldn’t do the things he wanted to do to her was making him edgy.

"Oh...So she *needs* to get it, or she’ll be in pain." Cordelia watched the color that stained Willow’s cheeks. "Come on Wills we’ve all had sex here.
We just don't have the side effects that Brood Boy does."

Willow looked away from Cordelia’s gaze trying to pretend that she was focusing on getting around the house with out the occupants noticing her.

But Cordelia noticed the odd look in the redhead's eyes. "You and Oz did do it right? I mean the whole Ascension thing?"

"I...well...we didn’t goalltheway." The redhead mumbled and Cordelia looked at her friend in disbelief. "We did stuff, just not that stuff."

Angel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Willow was still a virgin, he had been positive that the Mutt had taken her virginity, that was why it had been so easy for Oz to just walk away from the girl. Wolves mated for life and the little punk hadn’t made his claim, Angel hid his smile.

"There." Angel pointed to the window Spike had kept open thus halting the sex talk.

"I’ll go up first, I just hope that we can wake Aria enough to get me invited inside." Angel put his foot on the first wooden slat and it broke under his
weight.

Willow felt the butterflies start up again. What if she was halfway up and the wood broke under her? She’d surely fall.

"Well, there goes that idea." Cordelia grumbled.

"If it held Spike’s weight it will hold the two of you. I’ll wait down here." Angel watched as the girls looked at one another neither wanting to go
first.

"I’ll catch you if you fall."

Cordelia knew Willow’s fear of heights and decided to go first, taking a hesitant first step she waited to see if the wood would break. After a moment she climbed up holding her breath, she looked down only once to make sure that Angel was waiting under her making good on his promise to catch her if she fell.

"What’s taking you all so long?" Spike stuck his head out the window seeing Cordelia holding onto the trellis below him and Angel and Willow still
standing on the ground.

"The wood won't hold my weight." Angel answered back.

"Spike will you move? I’m not enjoying this Spiderman like impersonation here." Cordelia glared at the blonde vampire almost daring him to make some
witty reply, to her shock Spike moved back to let her crawl through the window.

Willow took a deep breath and was about to take her first step up when Angel’s hand stopped her. "I could hear your heartbeat ten miles away
Willow." Angel pulled her close and tried to reassure her. "I’ll be right here in case anything happens. You’re not going to get hurt." He waited for a
moment until her heartbeat slowed a little and let her go with a kiss on top of her head.

Not really feeling all that much more brave Willow climbed up the trellis, her eyes glued on the window above, when she finally climbed through the
window she collapsed on the floor for a moment. Taking deep breaths she silently congratulated herself for getting up to the second story window.

"Did you bring the stuff?" Spike was hovering over the redhead impatient with the amount of time it was taking her to jump into action.

Willow only nodded and pulled the packets out of her pant pocket. "We need to mix it with some water and get her to drink it, the second part is harder than the first." The concoction was foul and Willow knew that the unconscious girl would involuntarily gag most of it up.

"So this will take away the pain?" Spike looked at the crushed herbs in doubt.

"Yup. It’ll last a couple of hours. Have you figured out how we are going to get her out of here?" Willow was starting to feel a little better, standing
up she looked around the pretty room.

"Through the window, we’ll tie her sheets together and lower her through the window." Both girls looked at him. "It’s the only way. Way to many damn humans wandering around downstairs."

Spike stalked to the private bath in search of a glass of water, after he mixed the ingredients he smelled it and wrinkled his nose in dismay. Why did
these herbal medicines always have to smell so bad?
 

Chapter twenty-four

Angel waited on the ground hoping that it wouldn’t be much longer since he didn’t want Willow inside any longer than she needed to be. He knew getting her to come down was going to be harder on her than going up, why didn’t she just admit she was afraid of heights? Cordelia could’ve gone up alone leaving Willow to stay with him.

Looking up he noticed Willow popping her head out the window only to moan and duck back in. Cordelia's was the next head he saw and she searched the shadows for him. "Angel?"

"Right here." Stepping out of the shadows he let her get a better look.

"We’re going to lower her with tied sheets. Are you ready?"

Angel nodded and went to stand again under the open window, he saw Spike start to lower a limp body tied in sheets out the window and hoped the herbs Aria was given kept her unconscious because even with out the beating she received, being lowered this way would be uncomfortable. When the bundled package was within his reach he gathered her in his arms, Cordelia was the next to follow quickly climbing down with ease, now it was just Willow and Spike left. The redhead stuck her head out and paused.

"I...I can’t do it." Willow shook her head and started backing up, Spike stopped her retreat pushing her to the window.

"Come on witch, I know you can do it. Look at all you’ve been through this last year. What’s a Twenty-foot drop?"

"Not helping Spike." She groaned.

"Don’t make me shove you out that window." Spike sighed. The sooner he got Willow out the window the sooner he could start looking for Lilah.

Picking up the redhead he walked to the window and put her through the opening. When she realized what he was doing she grabbed on to him hooking her arms around his neck.

"Poof, are you ready?" Willow was held suspended in air as Spike leaned out the window.

"Spike I’ll...don’t you dare." Angel placed Aria on the ground quickly knowing that the other vampire did indeed plan on dropping Willow to the ground and that she had to be terrified.

"As soon as I get her separated from my neck she’s coming down."

"No! Please Spike don’t."

"Are you willing to climb down the trellis?" He saw the indecision in her eyes and knew there was only one way down for the redhead.

"Ready Peaches?" Spike detangled himself from the frantic redhead and let go knowing full well that his Grandsire would be there to catch her even if it meant moving heaven and earth to do it. Once the job was complete he turned. Time for the Bitch to speak.

‘He wont do it, he’s just trying to frighten me.’ Willow kept trying to tell herself as Spike tried to get her to release her death grip on him. ‘He’s my
friend and he’d never-.’ Willow didn’t get to finish her last thought as she felt a sudden weightlessness. She didn’t even have a chance to scream out her terror as she headed for the ground.

Angel knew Spike wasn’t fooling around and he was ready to catch Willow. Later when he got his hands on his young’n he was going to pound the crap out of the bleached blonde. It seemed like forever from the time Spike let go until Angel was able to catch his precious witch, her eyes were wide open, her heart ready for failure.

"He...He..."

"Is going to have  the shit beat out of him." Angel answered her.

"No...He dropped me." Willow blinked. "From up there."

Angel held her close and tried to sooth her, Willow pushed out of his arms. "He dropped me out of the window. From the second floor." Willow found her voice and there was no stopping her now, Angel wanted to smile at her tantrum but knew there would  holy hell to pay . He had learned something about women in the last two hundred and seventy odd years on this earth.

"Willow, we need to get Aria somewhere safe." Willow sat there looking at him as though she hadn’t a clue to what he was talking about. "We’ll get back at Spike later okay? We’ll think of something really good."

"Fine. Where is he?" Looking up the window there was no Spike. "He wouldn’t just wander around the house, would he?"

"I think that he might be looking for Lilah, he seems to think she has something to do with Douglass."

Cordelia snorted "what’s he going to do? Annoy her into telling him everything?"

"He’ll think of something I’m sure." Angel let go of Willow had headed over to Aria who was still out cold. Willow and Cordelia followed from behind.

"Seems like the Douglass disaster all over again." Cordelia looked at the broken girl on the ground.

"Hospital?" Willow questioned.

"Her Dad will find her." Angel answered, this was going to be a problem.

"Twenty four hours this time. If she’s not awake off she goes to the ER." Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest. She would not allow herself to go through that again.

Angel and Willow nodded. "We have two vampires, two witches, a seer, and an ex-watcher. Why don’t we have a doctor? I mean think of all the money we’d save on doctor bills."

"Maybe when I go back to school this fall I’ll think about pre-med." Willow answered as she leaned over the other redhead and untied the sheet. "Angel let’s get her back to our place. We can at least clean her wounds."

Angel picked Aria up and headed for the car. "What about Spike?" Cordelia asked.

"Let him walk." Willow growled. "It’s the least I can do for him."
 

Chapter Twenty-Five

He had planned on them making it to his bed but they had gotten as far as the elevator. At least there was more leg room, he let her into his apartment and offered her a drink, twice now they had had some pretty mind blowing sex and he was trying to sort through the mass of confusion the night was throwing at him.

Handing her a glass he went and sat next to her on the couch, she couldn’t look him in the eye, not that he could blame her. He still couldn’t get over the nagging feeling that none of this was right, sure he’d been dreaming about molesting her body for weeks but in his dreams she wasn’t drug induced. So even though the sex was great there was just something missing.

"Look Lindsey, I know this isn’t part of the bargain. If you want I’ll leave, all of this must be really creepy for you."

"Where would you go? I can tell you’re getting all worked up again, are you going to run to Angel!?!" Lindsey hated himself for acting like this, he
didn’t have time to analyze exactly how he was feeling but the words were just flying out of his mouth.

"No not Angel...not anyone. Stop looking at me like that, I was just trying to give you an easy out. We can barely tolerate each other and oh did I thank you for not puking on me when I touched you? This whole thing is some sort of sick joke. This last *year* has been a sick joke and to tell you the truth? I’m *not* laughing. My best friend was murdered, I was beaten silly, another friend put her life on the line for me and I can’t remember any of it. My powers are gone, powers that could really come to good use, not that Angel would let me use them if I had them. Damn spell casting nazi. Talking about spells *I* lost one of the most important spells of a life time, with out it Angel‘s soul will never be anchored. Do you even know how dangerous that is? You and your pathetic firm thinks Angelus would *work* for you, that‘s a laugh. He‘d be the one in control giving out the orders. Lindsey, you wouldn‘t have to follow the orders because he‘d kill you."

Douglass took a deep breath and Lindsey opened his mouth to cut in only to have her  continue. "Then there’s the Darla thing, you just *had* to bring that bitch back. Do you even *know* the tension just her name brings to my new family? But the joke of all jokes is having to be around you, having to socialize with people we’re out to stop from harming innocent people. I have to smile all sweet like and laugh at their sick and distorted stories all the while ignoring the barbs you send my way. Yep this horny rabbit thing is just the icing on the top."

Lindsey blinked at her, he’d never heard her say so much and if it weren’t for the fact the drug was working a number on her insides he was sure she could go on for a couple of hours. He knew the last year of her life hadn’t been all that great but she seemed to have taken it in stride and didn’t complain about it.

He watched her fight the needs he could so easily fulfill knowing that after her little speech her pride was going to fight until she couldn’t take it any more. She was amazing, her pride, intelligence, when she had spoken to one of his clients last week in French he could have been knocked over with a feather, and her loyalty made her into one of the most interesting young women he’d ever met.

The silence was almost deafening and all he could do was sit and watch as she struggled against some invisible force. Waiting until she couldn’t take any more until she needed him.

"Where oh where can the bitch lawyer be found? Oh where oh where could she be?" Spike sang to himself as he walked the halls of the mansion ducking into rooms when he sensed others near by. He was on a mission, one to know what Douglass had been given, two to stop this bloody game once and for all. He was going to find out the answers that lawyer boy needed and have the jackass out of their lives for good.

He paused a moment when he sensed someone coming down the hall, stepping into the shadows he was elated to see his target slipping into a vacant room. This was too easy, the least she could have done was make it just a little bit more fun, walking over to the door he heard her talking to someone on the phone.

"It’s me...yes the drug is working just not on Lindsey...well the idiot screwed everything up and gave the drink that was spiked to Douglass." Lilah
jumped at the sound of the door being flung open, spinning around she nearly chocked to see Spike leaning against the doorjamb.

"Did someone say my name?"

"I’ve got to go." Lilah mumbled into the phone. "How’d you get in here? I can’t see Adam inviting you in here."

"Don’t worry your little head over the trivial stuff, pet. I’m here for some answers."

‘He can’t hurt you. He can’t hurt you.’ Lilah chanted to herself as the blond stepped closer. "I really don't have anything to say to you, Spike."

"Oh, there’s lots to talk about and if I were you I’d talk fast. My Grand Sire is roaming the halls trying to find you as well, so where we both know I
can’t harm you...physically we both know that he can."

"He wouldn’t-."

"Tsk, tsk. Thought you were smarter than that, wine cellar ring any bells?"

No, it didn’t ring bells, it set off alarms that rang through her head. "What do you want to know?"

"That’s my girl. Talk fast since we never know when Angel will find us. What had Douglass acting like some hormonal tramp?"

Lilah’s eyes widened and she took an involuntary step back. "I don’t know the name of it but Darla said that it was something she and Angelus used to ‘play’ with. It was meant for Lindsey not Douglass."

Spike narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer to the frightened woman. "Why? To get old lawyer boy all hot and bothered?" Lilah’s face registered the mistake she made, by trying to get out of one bad situation she'd landed smack dab into another.

"I-I don’t know." She lied. "Darla told me to do it, she’s been helping me to secure my position at work. This was one of her latest plans." Spike
rolled his eyes, the woman was trying to weasel her way out of the trouble she was in and point the finger at Darla.

"So you laced a drink intended for Lindsey but Douglass ended up drinking it? Not a good thing for you I am thinking. So what to do now?" Spike traced a path down her cheek with  his finger.

A sound outside the door interrupted the moment, Spike pushed the woman back and crashed out the window. Sure he could have opened it but he enjoyed the sound of breaking glass plus it added to his exit.
 

Chapter Twenty-Six

"Gee Gunn, you better turn around you missed two potholes back there." Cordelia growled as she was tossed against Willow.

"You want to drive?" Gunn asked between clenched teeth.

"No, she doesn’t." Angel answered from the backseat. "I just got the muffler fixed from her last little ride to the corner store."

The tension in the car was making them all edgy, each giving a prayer of thanks when the cell phone started ringing. Willow and Cordelia made a grab for it Willow being the victor.

"Hello?"

"Red, its me-."

"I am so not talking to you ." Willow handed the phone to Cordelia.

"Spike that was...you what? Angel knows what was put into the drink...see you there." Cordelia waited a moment then turned to Angel.

"He said that the stuff that you and Darla used to *play* with was in Doug’s drink. Care to share?"

"Not really." Angel said tight lipped. "Douglass will be fine in the morning."

"We’re going to let her stay with Lindsey." Gunn, who had been left out of the previous sex talk, asked.

"She has needs." Cordelia supplied.

"She has needs? That’s just great cause I got needs too. I needs to put my fist into that asshole's face and I say no time like the present."

"She’ll be in a lot of pain if her..." Willow stalled

"Needs." Cordelia filled in.

"Yeah those...aren’t taken care of."

Gunn thought a moment. "So we just let her use Lindsey’s body until whatever she’s going through ends?"

Angel watched Willow carefully, her body was tense and he knew that the anger that should rightfully belong to his wayward grand childe was transferring to him. Just having Darla’s name mentioned sent the girl into a snit and he would be subjected to her quiet treatment, there was nothing more aggravating than Willow not talking and there went that little talk he had planned on having with her.

Lindsey held Douglass’s sleeping body close to his. She began to stir bringing him back from his day dream. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Not long." He couldn’t look her in the eyes, he had enjoyed the warmth of her body snuggled up against his. The way her curls refused to be tamed, the soft angelic smile that graced her peaceful face. He’d be lying if he said that he wouldn’t want to wake up like that every morning for the rest of his life.

Douglass sighed, when this was all over things were going to back to how they were before, he was going to hate her, she was going to have to pretend that being around him hadn’t awoken something inside her. Lust. That’s what it had to be, the only thing that it could ever be, Lindsey was incapable of any other emotion.

"I’m so sore. I feel like Spike has been pounding on me."

Lindsey made a gagging sound. "Spike? Pounding on you!?"

"You know during our workouts." Douglass’s face got red and she swung at Lindsey. "That’s sick! Not in that way you pervert. I think I’m going to be
violently ill now."

"I thought the two of you had something going on." Lindsey tried to hide his smile.

"We do, it’s called friendship. You should try it Lindsey, probably make a new man out of you." Douglass rolled over her back to him.

He snorted. "I can’t afford to have friends, it’s too tiring having to look over your shoulder all the time." His voice faltered for a second. "Besides I
have my career."

"Oh yeah, wouldn’t want to give *that* up."

Lindsey ignored her last remark. "Doesn’t being around His Holy Highness all day and night get on your nerves? I mean Mr. Angel who can do no wrong."

Douglass turned back to him and stared. "You have met him right? He broods, he's an uncontrollable  neat freak that would have made my Mom proud plus that whole vampire dominance thing is a little hard to swallow."

"And you say this about one of your friends?"

"Heck yeah. I’ve told him a few times myself, he’s my friend I take the good with the bad." She watched his face closely. "You know he was once willing to help you, be your friend."

"Sure he was, he enjoyed being able to look down on me."

"Is that what you thought?" Lindsey unconsciously  ran a hand through his hair getting uncomfortable with the direction their conversation was heading. "They were willing to help you Lindsey. All you had to do was ask."

"I don’t want to talk about this." Lindsey got out of bed and stomped into the bathroom.

"Well that went well. I just have the flare to piss him off" Douglass shifted on the designer sheets, the desire was returning... again. How long was this going to last? Listening to the shower turn on in the other room she decided that she’d take matters into her own hands, literally.
 

Chapter twenty-seven

"Where are we going to put her?" Gunn carried Aria onto the girl's floor.

"Put her in my bed." Willow said as she headed to the bathroom to get the first aid kit. Gunn went to the redhead’s room and gently lowered Aria down shifting her to her stomach, he tried to figure out how to remove the young woman’s battered dress and was relieved when Wesley appeared with a pair of scissors.

After they had the girl cleaned up they took in the damage. It wasn’t as bad as they first thought, though her pale skin was cut by the belt buckle it would heal. Welts were raised on her back and black and blue shades were appearing. "Could be worse." Cordelia tried to sound optimistic and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Why hasn’t she woken up?" Gunn asked.

"Probably the herbs we gave her." Willow bit down on her lip, they all stood around the bed in silence as the scene brought back the horrible memories of Douglass.

Angel watched as Willow’s eyes filled with tears, she was fighting hard to put on a brave front but she was too filled with tenderness for others
suffering not to be affected. Reaching out and placing an arm around her shoulders he pulled her near as Willow cuddled to his side leaning on him for support.

Wesley cleared his throat. "Why don’t you all get some rest? I’ll stay here in case Ms. Gallagher wakes up, we can all take turns taking care of her."
Angel led Willow to Douglass’s room.

"I can’t stay in here. Where will Douglass sleep... never mind, forgot about her all nighter with Lindsey." To much in a daze to even think she unzipped her jeans and slid them down over her hips and legs, she was getting ready to peal her top off as Angel’s hands replaced hers and  helped lift the top over her head.

Willow watched wide eyed as Angel went over to Douglass’s dresser and went through her drawers until he found what he was looking for, walking back to her, silently he helped her into one of the blonde witch’s PJ’s.

He led her to the bed and as she climbed in he stripped off his shirt and pants leaving on only his boxers. Willow tried to control her breathing, sure
they had been flirting for months, joking around, sharing little touches but she had just undressed in front of him as though it was the most natural
thing in the world and if that didn’t beat all he had helped dress her for bed.

Angel crawled into the bed next to her and gathered her in his arms. Willow bit back the questions she was dying to ask forcing herself to enjoy the
moment, who knew when the next time she’d be able to share a bed with the love of her life?

Spike entered the lobby and made his way to the fourth floor, he somehow knew that's where the group would have put the young woman he had saved that night. He shook his head,  he was losing his edge. First adopting a human family now helping innocents, he may help around the agency but only because of two reasons; one to keep the family from any harm and second to be able to kick demon butt. ‘I’m not like Peaches, I don’t have a damn soul to blame all this nancy-pancy crap on. I used to be the Big Bad and now all I do is run around making sure the humans are all safely tucked into their beds.’

Opening the door to the girls floor he was surprised to find it quiet, he knew they were all there, he could smell them. Stopping first at Willow’s
door he saw Wesley asleep in the chair next to Willow’s bed but although the figure did have Willow’s hair coloring it definately wasn’t the witch.

Turning around to find the others he didn’t get two feet when he heard the girl scream out from the bed, Wesley jumped and tried to calm the girl only to have her fight him.

"Wesley, watch out for her back." Spike shoved the other Englishman aside. "Come on pet, shh. You know who I am, look at me, come on open your eyes." Spike wished he could cover his ears with his hands to block out her high pitched screams. Soft he thought again, I used to love to hear these cries.

"Spike what did you do?" Willow came running into the room Angel at her heels.

"Nothing. In fact I was on my way to find you when the silly chit started bellowing like some sort of deranged Banshee."

"It must be the herbs we gave her." Wesley said from the other side of the bed. "She’s probably disoriented."

Cordelia and Gunn showed up and watched the scene in front of them, Aria was trying to curl up in a ball as though she were protecting herself from some invisible assailant. "Girl looks like she’s strung out on drugs." Gunn grunted.

"I hope we didn’t overdue the herbal remedy." Willow watched as Spike tried to edge closer to the bed.

"Come on luv, you’re safe here. We won't let anyone hurt you." Spike whispered to the girl, everyone else in the room stopped breathing as they
heard the soft voice coming from the blond vampire, Aria’s cries lessened as his voice broke through to what ever world her nightmare had taken her. "That’s it...Shhhh. I’m right here. Go to sleep, I’ll make sure your safe."

"Drucilla." Angel whispered. The group looked at him and he tried to explain. "She used to have episodes like this and Spike always knew how to calm her down."

"You don’t think the herbs harmed her in anyway do you? I mean I didn’t fry her brain with the stuff did I?" Willow asked worriedly.

Spike took off his boots and laid down beside Aria never stopping the calming words, he slowly reached out his hand and started to smooth back her hair. She resisted at first but after a few strokes she allowed him to touch her, Spike looked around the room and motioned to the door hinting for the others to leave. Without question everyone filed out letting him calm the girl back to sleep.

Lindsey wrapped the towel around his hips and opened the bathroom door, he felt a little guilty about just leaving her alone in his bed since it was
well past time for the drug to take effect. Standing in the middle of his room he blinked at the empty bed, she wouldn’t just leave would she? Hurriedly he went to the living room and let out the breath he was holding when he noticed her sitting cross legged in front of his stereo.

"I thought you left." He admitted.

"Your music selection sucks. Come on Lindsey, I know you’re pushing thirty but what’s with all this orchestral crap?" Douglass kept her back to him.

"What do you mean? That’s some of the best written-."

"Crap." Douglass switched on the radio and started to go through the stations. "You know why you listen to that stuff? It’s because it’s what is
expected of you, the suits, the car, even this depressing apartment is all about your image. Do you even know who you are anymore?" Douglass felt more at ease with him plus knowing that the effects of the drug were lessening made it easier to say these things. Who knew if she’d ever be able to again?

"I happen to like this-."

"Crap."

"It’s not crap."

"So, before you became evil lawyer what kind of music did you listen to?" Douglass kept changing the stations.

".............."

"Well?"

"Country." Douglass looked at him in disbelief.

Finally finding a song she liked she stood up and walked over to the kitchen, shifting through the cupboards she let out a sigh of disappointment. "Do you ever eat here Lindsey? There’s no junk food."

"Thought your group was into the working out and health thing." He asked, purposely avoiding her question and asking one of his own.

"If Wesley had his way I would be, he has this thought that I’m his substitute slayer or something. The way he trains me is inhumane."

Intrigued, Lindsey joined her in the kitchen. "Substitute slayer?"

Douglass wondered if she was giving too much information out but swept up in the moment she answered. "He’s making up for Faith. He was her Watcher and I guess you could say things blew up in Sunnydale so now he beats my butt into the ground everyday. It’s fun and all but I’m not a slayer."

"You’re a witch." He saw something in her eyes, he had struck a nerve.

"I used to be a witch. I can’t cast anymore."

"Do you remember any of that night?" Lindsey hoped he hadn’t pushed his limits.

"No." Douglass swept past him.

"Do you mean you haven’t searched for any answers as to what happened to you?"

Douglass started to wish they could go back to the informal conversations they were used to. It was one thing to get Lindsey to answer questions about himself and another completely to bare herself to him. "It’s kind of hard seeing that the crime scene is a couple states over and that by the time I came to the apartment was rented to new tenants. There are no leads so why bother?"

"I can’t believe you’re all taking what happened to you so lightly. Who ever did this could still be out there you know."

"Face it Lindsey it was some random act of violence. I’m not all that important that I’d have some sadistical killer after me, I don’t own anything of value except my damn Jeep and the way I feel about driving anyone is free to it."

‘Random act of violence my ass.’ Lindsey thought. Why was she just giving up on the matter? Someone had tried to kill her and she just shrugged her shoulders.

"I think the drug is fading, I haven’t felt the urge since you took your shower." Lindsey was going to question her until he realized that she must of
satisfied herself, the thought of her playing with herself in his bed made him hard.

"I can drive you home if you want."

"Can I stay over? I’m really not in the mood to face the others right now." ‘Plus I really just want one night by your side.’ she thought to herself.

Lindsey thought about it, he knew it was probably not the best idea to have her stay but the thought of her leaving didn’t sit well with him.

"Yeah, I can drive you home tomorrow. I have an early meeting." He held out his hand to her and lead her back to his bed.
 

Chapter twenty-eight

Aria opened her eyes and thought her head was going to explode, her back was on fire and Spike was sleeping next to her. She almost panicked until she saw who it was sleeping next to her. Spike. She could vaguely remember him at her bedroom window asking to come in, he must have helped her.

"If you stay quiet they'll think that you're still asleep. That way they won't all be in here playing at Mother Hens." Spike said from next to her
without opening his eyes.

"How did I get here?"

"We lowered you through your window with your bed sheets. Consider yourself lucky because I dropped Willow from your window." Aria's eyes widened. "Don't worry, Angel caught her."

Nodding she lowered her head again. "Why are you here? Next to me I mean."

"You had a little spell last night and I calmed you down."

"My head hurts like hell." Aria mumbled and put her head back on the pillow.

"That would be the smelly stuff Willow gave you to help with the pain."

"Which now explains the horrible taste in my mouth."

"You're awake." Willow stood in the doorway relief evident on her face.

"See told you to keep quiet, she's the worst of the lot of them." Spike sighed and hefted himself from the bed.

"Shut up Spike." Willow went over to the bed as Angel entered the room rubbing his tired eyes. "How's your back feeling Aria?"

Aria looked up at the other girl and felt warmth and genuine concern radiating from her. "It hurts but it's been worse."

"Worse?" Willow choked, she would never say her parents would have earned any awards at parents of the year but they had never raised their hand in anger at her. "She can't go back." Willow looked over to Angel to support her.

"Willow, it's Aria's decision." Angel saw the witch's face fall and he knew given the chance Willow would adopt every hurt and broken person they ran across.

Putting on her resolve face, Willow started to peel back the bandages from Aria's back. "Well of course she wants to stay." Aria knew if she asked to leave at that moment that they would let her, the other redhead was letting her know that she was welcome to stay. She had never had anyone on her side in her entire life, no one watching over her much less save her from one of her father's rampages. If these people didn't watch it she'd stay and never leave.

Lindsey watched as Douglass cuddled herself closer to his side, she sighed in her sleep and a small smile formed on her lips, tucking a strand of hair
behind her ear he looked at the clock and groaned. He needed to get ready for his meeting soon, he tried to memorize how she looked in his bed because he knew what had to be done when she woke up.

Douglass opened her eyes and silently watched as Lindsey dressed for work, back was his trade mark suit and tie, hair neatly styled.

"You're awake...Finally. I'm running late so you'll need to call yourself a cab." His voice was bitter and Douglass eyed him with confusion, she knew
that things would go back to normal but seeing the drastic change was unsettling.

Reaching for a wad of money, Lindsey tossed it in her direction. "After what happened last night I think it's best to cut our losses, it's not like you
and your friends have been able to get me any useful information on Lilah." Lindsey couldn't look at her, he had been rehearsing this since he had
slipped out of bed an hour ago.

Douglass looked at the money then back up to Lindsey, he was kidding right? Not even he could be this big of an ass. "I don't get it. I thought we owed you for helping us out."

Lindsey steeled himself from the self hatred that was going through him, turning around he leered at her. "Let's just say you more than paid off the
debt."

Douglass felt as though he had dumped ice water on her, shooting out of bed she slapped him across the face. "I hope you rot in hell." Stalking out of the bedroom to where she had shed her clothes the night before, Douglass was dressed and out the door.

Lindsey looked at the money still on the bed where he had tossed it at her, he didn't need to go to hell to feel any worse than he did at that moment.

Douglass sat in the back of the taxi and angrily wiped the tears that were falling from her eyes, she had asked the driver to take the long way back to her home needing the extra time to get control of her emotions.

How dare he through money at her as though she were some hooker he had hired for the night. Stupid jerk!

When the taxi pulled up to her stop Douglass paid the driver and slowly made her way to the building. It was time to confront the others and she just hoped that she was able to get them to understand that she'd had no control over herself.

The lobby was empty since the lights still hadn't been turned on, Douglass knew that none of them were early risers but someone was usually down here already just in case a potential client showed up. Climbing the stairs to her apartment she could hear voices on the other side of the door, taking a deep breath she gathered her courage and opened the door. Everyone inside the apartment stopped what they were doing and stared in
Douglass's direction. They all stayed that way for a few seconds until Willow smiled and hurried over to Douglass's side.

"Are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?" Willow hugged her friend noticing the stiffness in Douglass's body as she returned the hug.

"No, he didn't hurt me Willow. See" Douglass stepped back and raised her arms so her friend could see that she wasn't harmed.

Everyone seemed to be able to relax after Willow made the first move. "Spike and Angel explained that you were given an aphrodisiac so we know that what happened last night, you know the whole um...Lindsey thing...wasn't something you could stop." Douglass felt the walls she had built up to control her hurt and anger toward Lindsey start to decay.

"We're just sorry we couldn't do something for you last night." Cordelia walked over and hugged her friend.

Douglass felt the tears welling up in her eyes as her friends tried to let her know they understood. Guilt washed over the blonde witch and she wished that she could crawl into her bed and hide under the covers.

"Brat, is that you?" Spike called out from Willow's bedroom, a couple of seconds later he walked from the room and Douglass cringed at the ugly red
marks that marked his cheek from the night before. "About time."

When he was a few feet away Douglass reached up and lightly touched his face. "Spike I am so sorry. I know you were just trying to help me." The usual smirk on Spike's face softened and he took her hand in his and kissed it.

"No worries pet."

The room went quiet again as each of them tried to think of some sort of small talk so Douglass took a deep breath and decided to get this over with.

"Last night was just sex, it happened and it's done with. If we could not talk about this again I'd be grateful. Lindsey let me know this morning that
we are no longer needed so our obligation has been fulfilled, no more Lindsey McDonald in our lives." Douglass forced a smile, she wasn't about to tell any of them about how he threw the money at her. Not that she cared at that moment that any of her friends thought any less of him but the embarrassment of the gesture was too much to talk about yet. "I want a shower and then sleep."

"There's one more thing we need to talk about that can't wait." Angel said softly. "You remember Aria, right?" Douglass nodded. "Well, Spike found her father beating on her. He called us and we took her from her room last night, her back is pretty bad but she seems fine other than that."

Douglass's eyed widened. "Where is she?"

"Willow's room." Wesley answered. Douglass went over to the room and saw Aria sleeping in Willow's bed, her back was covered with white gauze and the skin peaking out between the white wrap looked bruised. "Oh my Goddess! The poor thing." Douglass whispered taking another step closer to the bed when suddenly a dizzy sensation swam through her head, she gripped onto the nearby dresser for support. Then, it seemed as though someone was trying to whisper in her ear, she could almost distinguish the words but the more she concentrated the less sense the ramblings made.

"Doug? Girl, are you okay?" Gunn put his arm around her waist and had her lean on him for support. "Guys, we need some help in here."

Helping her back to the living room, he sat her on the couch, the whispers vanished the moment she left the redhead's bedroom leaving Douglass stunned.

"Douglass, what happened?" Wesley crouched in front of her and he started to worry at how unfocused her eyes were. "Douglass?" Her eyes focused again and she blinked her eyes a couple of times.

"Huh?"

"You went all space cadet like." Cordelia sat down on the couch next to Douglass, a worried expression on her face.

"I'm fine, just got a little dizzy...And heard voices."

"Voices? Not voices like slaughter your friends and then go on a killing spree kind of voices right?" Douglass rolled her eyes at the brunette.

"It's probably an effect of the drug." Angel answered thoughtfully. "Why don't you go take your shower and get some sleep."

"I'm sure you'll feel better when you wake up." Willow added, Douglass wasn't so sure but she got up and got ready for her shower. Sleep came easier than she thought it would.

Spike watched Aria as she slept, she had been sleeping most of the day occasionally waking up when her bandages were changed or if nature called. Closing his eyes he tried to force himself to nap a little, just as he started to drift to sleep he heard someone enter the room, as he watched Douglass made her way in the dark to the side of the bed Aria was on.

"Douglass, what are you doing awake luv?" Spike whispered. The girl made no response that she heard anything as she peeled the sheet back from Aria's body. "Brat, what are you doing?" Spike asked a little louder.

The blonde witch started to whisper foreign words and moved her hands inches above the sleeping girl's body. Blue light glowed from Douglass's palms and washed over Aria's injured back as Spike sat speechless. The light started to fade and Douglass passed out.

"Brat?" Spike jumped off the bed and ran around to the other side where Douglass was crumpled on the floor. "Come on luv, open your eyes." Spike
gently shook her shoulder. "Willow!" Spike shouted.

The redhead followed by Angel rushed into the room, Willow ran over to Spike's side and gasped when she saw Douglass lying there. "What happened?"

"Don't know. I was sleeping and she came in like she was sleepwalking. I tried to talk to her but she started doing all this weird stuff with light
coming out of her hands and talking in tongues." Spike sputtered.

Angel walked to Aria who was awake and looking wildly around the room. As he looked down at her back he carefully undid the tape holding down the gaze and blinked a few times. Aria's once bleeding and bruised back was now smooth and mark free.

"How can that be?" Willow asked in wonder, Angel shrugged his shoulders as he looked down at Douglass on the floor.

"Did she cast a spell?" Angel's voice was low.

"I'm telling you mate it was *not* normal. She didn't even look in my direction." Spike started to pace.

Willow touched Aria's back and the other girl braced herself for the pain she knew would come but all she felt was the soft touch of Willow's finger.

"Does it hurt?" Willow asked.

"No...the pain is gone."

Willow looked back at Douglass and wondered how she had done it. "Angel, can you get her back to bed?" Angel picked up the blonde witch and took her back to bed, the way the last twenty-four hours had gone they could all wait to hear the explanation.

"Morning all." Douglass announced as she entered the living room where everyone was seated, they all looked at her... then at one another.

"What?" Looking around. She noticed that Aria was out of bed and she wrinkled her brow. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Douglass, don't you remember anything about last night?" Wesley questioned.

"Umm....apparently not."

"Brat, you walked in to Willow's room speaking mumbo jumbo and hands all aglow. You did something to Aria's back."

"Did I hurt you?" Douglass questioned worried that she had hurt the other girl.

"You healed her Douglass." Wesley walked over to the blonde witch. "When you had your powers, was healing one of them?" Douglass shook her head. "What about any family members."

"It was only me and my Mom."

"What about your father? Did your Mother ever say that he had any healing powers?"

"My Mom never really talked about my Father. She hated magic and I mean she passionately hated anything to do with magic." Douglass rubbed a hand over her eyes, she had tried waking up with a new attitude, push all thoughts of Lindsey out of her mind and act like it was just another day.

Wesley thought for a moment. "I guess this is the new power source you felt, do you know what this means?"

"That I've lost control of my body twice in two days?" Douglass answered flatly as everyone in the room winced.

"Well unfortunately yes..." Wesley muttered. "But you have the gift to heal."

"That's a good thing." Willow sat forward. "I mean Cordelia and were just talking about us all needing to have a doctor in the group."

"Yeah and now we don't need insurance." Cordelia added. Douglass nodded and breathed out..

"I just hope none of you purposely hurt yourselves cause I have no idea how this whole healing thing works." She tried to make it sound like a joke but it fell far from its mark.
 

Chapter twenty-nine

"So when's Lindsey getting here?" Max Chambers sat back in his seat and looked around at the three females sitting in the room. They were all
beauties, pure female that would make any male hard.

"He's not." The blonde purred. "He hasn't lived up to my expectations; you'll be dealing with us."

Max considered his options. He usually contracted out for Lindsey McDonald alone. He may not trust the young man completely, but he knew what to expect from the lawyer. He'd only met Lilah a few times, and admired her ruthlessness. The blonde looked fine enough, but the other brunette was as loopy as they came. "Let's see what you all have to say before I make any decisions."

"It's about this book." Darla pushed the book she had taken from Lindsey's office toward the man. "I asked for the book of Ansuz, and you gave me this." Max looked down at the book, and smiled at the memory of how he had obtained it. The book itself had been hard to find, but after a few persistent calls, he had gotten a lead.

"Listen girl, this is the book. I don't know what you thought you were getting, but here it is. Job done." Max shrugged, and watched as the blonde's
eyes registered her fury. Lilah placed a hand on Darla's arm and shook her head.

"Perhaps we're going about this the wrong way. What we were expecting was a book the contained great healing spells, for humans and demons alike."

Max chuckled, 'Women.' he thought. 'Always the same. They hear about something, they want it then demand to have it without knowing exactly what it is.' "Let me guess you heard about this almighty book through the grapevine and thought it would swell to own. Did you do any research? Did you hear that the book was bonded to the witch that owned it? The only way I could get that damn book was either to kill the bitch, or bind her powers. I almost did both, if her damn little friend hadn't shown up. It's a book ladies, nothing more. You need the witch *and* the book to get anything done."

"So the witch is alive still?" Lilah questioned.

"Yeah. Her freaking name was plastered over every newspaper in the country. That's why I took a job as far away from the U.S. that I could get." Lilah's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"Douglass, you're talking about Douglass MacArthur." Max nodded his head wondering why Lilah was acting strangely.

Darla laughed. "This is *too* easy. If we get you the witch, is there a way you can rebind her back to the book?"

Max looked at her in confusion. "It's possible; you know where she is?" Looking at the expressions on their faces he got his answer. "What are you
going to do? Just go and grab her?"

Darla shook her head. "Oh no, that's no fun. I want you to tell me what exactly happened to Douglass the night you took the book. Then we're going to come up with a plan."

"How much? I'm not doing this for free."

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll figure something out." Lilah looked over to Dru who was talking to a plant in the corner of the room. Soon she'd be able to have a conversation with the lunatic that didn't include ramblings of the stars, or the insight of some old doll.

"I'm telling you all that the guy is full of crap." Douglass slumped back in her chair, and threw the papers she had been reading onto her desk. "He
reminds me of someone."

"I'm with Douglass." Willow turned from her computer. "There are no previous records on him. I've checked the DMV, L.A.P.D., as well as UCLA were he said he attended ten years ago."

Angel walked over and picked up Douglass's discarded research. They'd been through this for days now, ever since their new client showed up. It was girls vs. guys. The girls didn't like the guy on sight, not believing a word he was said. They'd been hard at work trying to prove that their client, Mr. Turner was trying to pull one over on them. The guys had been working to get proof that their client wasn't lying.

"We can't just not help him, what if you girls are wrong and he dies. An innocent's blood would be on our hands." Wesley looked up from the book he
was researching to find information on the demon that had been terrorizing Mr. Turner.

"So by blindly trusting him, we may be falling into some trap. Does this make sense to anyone?" Cordy asked.

Gunn put his hands to his ears. "Oh my god we're back to where we started. Can we give this damn argument a rest? I swear I'm going to hurl myself off the building if this doesn't stop."

"Can I watch?" Spike asked as he and Aria entered the room. Gunn gave him the finger and Spike returned the favor. "Are we still deciding if we take on that new bloke?"

"I don't like him." Aria stated and joined Douglass who was looking through files that would help give them a lead as to who this guy really was.
Douglass handed Aria a few folders that hadn't been looked through.

"You don't like anyone Pet."

"We're wasting time here." Wesley groaned. "Are we taking the case or not?"

"Yes." Deep male voices answered.

"No!" Shouted the females.

"Why don't the guys take the case, and we'll work on something else?" Aria asked the group who sat back and thought about it.

Douglass stood and stretched; "I'm with her. Seeing that I'm the non-case working team I'm going to take a nap." Willow and Cordelia nodded and
followed her up. Aria smiled over at Spike and left him with the other males.

"I hope we're not wrong on this, they're never going to let us live it down." Gunn went to the computer Willow abandoned and started to tap the
keys. "She makes this seem so damn easy." He grumbled, hitting the machine when the screen froze.

Angel sighed. This was going to be a disaster. He just had a feeling that in the end they were going to get a big fat I told you so from the girls. Hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with that he went to work.
 

ChapterThirty

"I’m telling you they bought it." Max smirked over at Lilah and Darla. "I did as you told me to."

"Did that little bitch recognize you?" Lilah sneered.

"No, not really though I did get the impression that she didn’t really like me all that much." He shrugged, in a way he kind of hoped the girl had
remembered him, there had been back up ready to help and it had been fun torturing her the first time. She was a strong person to survive what she had gone through and hurting her the second time was going to be even better.

Lilah looked at her watch and jumped up. "I have a meeting in a few minutes. Keep them running in circles, our plan is to get the girls by them selves and take them then you and Darla can have your fun."

"I say we have a girls night out tonight." Cordelia flopped down on the couch next to Aria who didn’t look too pleased about the idea.

"I don’t know, I mean what if someone I know sees me and tells my Dad, he’d be able to find me and did that sound as stupid to you as it did to me?" Aria looked at the three other girls who tried to hide their smiles. "It did, wow. I’m in."

"Good. Willow? Douglass?"

"I don’t know, you remember the last time we went to a night club? The night didn’t go quite as planned and it took a very pissed off Angel to get those guys away from us." Willow bit her bottom lip.

"Come on Wills, we’ve got your witchy powers and Douglass with her kick ass fighting ability." Cordelia pleaded her friend but Willow looked undecided. " Unless you’re worried what Angel would do if you left his sight for, oh let’s say five seconds? Talking about that, what ever happened to that massive hotel he owns? Is it some unwritten law that he can’t sleep there ever? Cause I know our *couch* can’t be all that comfy." Willow turned bright red and agreed to go before any more words could fly out of Cordelia’s mouth. "Douglass?"

"I don’t think so..."

"Oh come on. Willow and Aria I can understand, they have that unspoken attraction to our favorite blood suckers but you and me we’re solo. Going out and clubbing is not only expected from us but is a mandatory religious experience for single women." Cordelia wiggled her brows and flashed a huge smile.

"Hey!" Willow and Aria cried. "We’re single too," Willow exclaimed holding up her hand "see, no rings?" Douglass and Cordelia snorted and rolled her eyes.

"So?" Douglass threw her hands up in defeat. "Fine but I really need that nap. I’m wiped out." Cordelia clapped her hands in glee. "Hey, you didn’t
get up until noon and it’s only four, how can you be tired?" Cordelia questioned but Douglass just shrugged as she walked into her bedroom.

Four hours later the girls were starting to get ready to go out on the town, Aria was getting ready with them upstairs, she had moved downstairs with Spike having felt more at ease with him at first, plus he gave her a protected feeling that she had never experienced. But the bathroom down there was so dim that she felt like some animal living in some hole.

The guys had left an hour ago saying they needed to ask Mr. Turner a few questions so the girls thought it best to get ready and leave before they
came back. Not exactly being sneaky or lying to their over protective friends but not really telling them the truth either. Sometimes the guys were worse than jailers and not wanting to debate on the need to blow off some steam the plan was to be gone before they returned.

"The cab will be here in five minutes, is everyone ready?" Willow called out. They had decided that instead of having a designated sober person they’d use LA’s cab services that night, Cordelia wrote a note for the guys.

Douglass walked out of her room in the black leather pants Cordelia had purchased for her, she also wore a heather blue tight fitting top. "See?  I
knew those pants were made for you!" Cordelia gave Douglass her seal of approval and moved onto Willow and Aria, Willow was in a bright colored
sarong and matching top, the outfit screamed feminine and it fit Willow's personality to a tee. Aria had opted for leather pants as well though hers
were dark blue and wore a white top, as for Cordelia she wore a bright red silk shift that hugged all the right places.

"Come on girls, let’s go paint the town red and having spent so much time with vampires, that saying no longer holds the same meaning." Cordelia
grimaced and followed the others downstairs.

"Lindsey, don’t you look like absolute crap?" Lilah smirked as she walked past him in the hall in her way home.

"Screw off!" Lindsey muttered rubbing his tiered eyes, he could have gone home hours ago but he’d end up doing the same thing he had done every night for the last month, he’d drive by her building just to see if the lights on the top floor were on, then he’d go home to his over decorated apartment and empty cupboards. He'd sit in his living room listening to the station she had last listened to, pick up the phone a few hundred times or so forcing himself not to call her. He’d done the right thing after all, after what happened the last time they had been together it could never go back to the way it had been. Having contact with her had broken down the walls he had efficiently built to block off any real emotions, it hadn’t been the sex, he could’ve gotten laid anywhere, it was when she asked to stay after the drug wore off. She had stayed because she wanted to, they even had sex before drifting off to sleep.

Lilah opened her mouth to insult Lindsey again when the clasp broke on her briefcase emptying the contents, Lindsey chuckled and was about to step on the debris when he noticed the book. Lilah went to snatch it before he could but Lindsey was too quick for her. "Lilah how’d you get this? It was in my office."

Lilah made a grab for it again but Lindsey held it out of her reach, opening the book to the first page he noticed something he had missed before, a
geneology page. MacArthur. Lindsey quickly skimmed down the page and felt his chest tighten. "What are you doing with this." He growled.

Lilah straightened herself and tried to act nonchalant. "Nothing really. Just wanted to see what the book was all about."

Lindsey’s hand shot out and brought Lilah’s arm up behind her back. "I’m going to ask you one more time. What... Are... You... Doing... With... The... Book?" Lilah cried out in pain making the young lawyer to look around to see if anyone was witnessing his brutal attack.

"I was able to get a meeting with Max and Darla wanted me to get the book for her. It was in your bookshelf." Lindsey waited for her to continue and when she didn’t he pulled on her arm bringing it a little higher so she cried out in pain.

"Lilah I’m not playing here, I haven’t slept in a month, I saw the name inside the book and if you think I’m going to just let this go you’re highly
mistaken."

"Lindsey I wont say anything."

Lindsey shrugged and pulled her to her feet. "Fine, if you wont tell me I know someone who’ll know how to make you talk." Shoving her to the elevator with her arm still wedged up high behind her back, Lindsey only hoped that Angel would be able to stop what ever Lilah was up to.
 

next