Only
the Beginnin
E-mail: flash911@hotmail.com
Summary: An abusive boyfriend turns out to be more than what
meets the eye when Doyle and Angel meet a girl who has first hand
experience. Disclaimer: Doyle, Angel, Cordelia and Spike all
belong to Joss Whedon and the others involved with the making of
the show. I'm in no way, connected with the show and this is for
entertainment purposes only. Erin, Ross, Kevin and Julie all
belong to me. The story idea and the story itself also belong to
me.
Cordelia Chase sat at a computer and stared blankly at the screen.
Angle and Doyle stood behind her, waiting for her to begin typing.
"Okay, business cards are easy to order but now I have to
write up flyers? What do you think I am?" She asked, turning
around and looked at the two men behind her.
Doyle flashed her a lopsided grin. "If you're going to be an
actress, you have to learn how to write too. People love multi-talented
. . . women. Just type."
Cordelia sighed and turned back around to look at the computer.
She placed her fingers on the keys and slowly began to type,
"It was a dark night in Los Angeles,"
Angel began to laugh. "Usually it's dark at night Cor."
He said, trying to hide his smile.
She rolled her eyes and deleted that sentence, then typed, "Night
had fallen over the city of Angels. Sirens blared in the deepest
shadows and people shuffled in all corners. Most of them needed
help."
"Don't write that." Doyle said. "I mean the last
line. The rest is good."
Cordelia sighed and deleted, "Most of them needed help."
Then began to type once more, "Someone watched them from the
shadows, kept his eye on them, making sure they were okay. They
could go to him if they needed help, they knew it but he was
always there anyway. Los Angeles finally had a real Angel."
She turned around and smiled. "Well? Is that good or not?"
Angel and Doyle exchanged a glance then they both nodded. "Yeah,
it's really good." Doyle began. "Now all you have to do
is put our phone number on it and the picture of the owl."
"It's an angel." She muttered, exasperated with the
demon. "I know. But whatever it is, put it on there."
Cordelia nodded and quickly typed their agency's name and phone
number then added the graphic of the angel to their flyers.
"Now what?" She asked.
"Print that out and I'll take it to get copied." Angel
said. "Then I can send you and Doyle out tomorrow night
delivering straight to the mailboxes." Both Doyle and
Cordelia groaned, thinking about the task they had the next night.
"Gee, it sounds like an awful lot of fun but I have an
elsewhere to be." Cordelia said, trying to look upset.
"No can do peaches." Doyle looked unimpressed. "You're
coming with me whether you like it or not."
She slumped back into the chair. "Fine. It's not like I have
anything else planned. You would think in a city with so much
going on that there would be something other to do than to
deliver flyers on a Friday night. But no, I'm sitting in the
hugest city in the country and I have to sell girl guide cookies."
Doyle looked momentarily confused. "We're not selling
cookies, oh! You mean going door to door."
She nodded. "Yes, brain dead. Or is it just a little musty
from sitting up there so long without use?"
"Ouch." Doyle commented, then plunked himself on the
sofa. "I really think we ought to start giving her more days
off. She's starting to not like me." "Starting?"
Angel asked, smiling at them both.
The flyer finished printing off the computer and Cordelia handed
it to Angel over the desk.
"Now, if you two don't mind, I'm going home to get some
sleep. One whole night's worth of sleep. Now there's something to
write home about." She laughed to herself as she picked up
her coat. "It's really the most exciting thing that's
happened since I got here." She grinned at Doyle and Angel.
"See you tomorrow." Then she was gone.
"Gotta love her." Angel said, before walking out the
door and leaving Doyle sitting alone.
* * *
Angel walked briskly down the street toward the copying store and
his eyes wandered to the women standing along the street corners.
"Hey." A woman approached him and began to say
something but Angel shook his head furiously before continuing on
his way.
* * *
Doyle stood outside Cordelia's apartment the next night and
banged on the door.
"I don't care if you look like a princess, just come out."
He yelled.
A door opened down the hall way and an elderly man stuck his head
out. "Shut the hell up!" He screamed at Doyle.
"Let me take a moment to think about that. No!" Doyle
yelled back. Cordelia opened the door at the moment and came out
carrying a pile of flyers.
"Angel dropped these off at my place last night." She
said, dumping them into Doyle's arms. "I don't want to carry
them."
The demon struggled under the pile of papers before he got them
into some kind of an order and split the stack.
"You can carry half." He said, flashing Cordelia an
annoyed look.
"Can we just get this over with?" She asked. "It's
really not that appealing to be walking around L.A. in the middle
of the night."
"It's only nine." Doyle pointed out.
A gust of wind rustled the papers he held and Cordelia shot him a
knowing look.
"Should we give some flyers to them?" She asked,
pointing to a group of girls huddled on a street corner.
"Cordelia, those are prostitutes." Doyle hissed,
looking uncomfortable. "So? They might need help too."
She stalked off in the direction of the girls and began talking
to them. Each girl took a flyer and Doyle watched with a pained
expression on his face. Angel had said something about this
yesterday and he could now see what the vampire meant. It was so
hard to see people throwing their lives away like this and not
being able to do a thing about it.
Doyle shook his head. "No, really. I'm okay."
"You sure?" The girl flashed him a bright smile. "You're
kind of cute."
"I'm just getting my friend." He said, smiling back. He
grabbed Cordelia's arm and began to pull her away from the group
of girls when he caught a glimpse of a girl sitting against the
building. She had short brown hair and clear blue eyes but her
physical appearance wasn't what caught Doyle's eye. The sadness
that shone through was what he saw. Her mouth was pulled up into
a fake smile even though her eyes were shining with tears.
Cordelia yanked her arm from Doyle's grasp and continued talking
with the girls.
Suddenly the blue eyed girl noticed Doyle staring at her and he
saw her blush under the bright street lamp.
"What?" She asked dully, as he walked to her side.
He smiled. "I'm Doyle."
The girl frowned at him, then shrugged. "Erin."
"Are you all right?" He asked. "You look so sad."
She flashed him her fake smile and shrugged again. "Who can
be happy doing this?"
"They don't seem too upset." He said and gestured to
the other girls.
"Well, I'm not one of them." Erin answered.
"You're not?" He looked surprised. "But I thought"
"No, I work at a real job. When I can find one."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Why are you out here? You don't look like
you belong here."
"You're scaring me." She said quietly.
"I don't mean to."
"I know."
Doyle cocked his head. "Are you sure you're okay? It doesn't
seem like you're used to this."
"Not really. I'll never get used to living like this."
"Then why are you?"
She laughed bitterly. "There aren't many other places I can
be living without any money."
"Doyle." Cordelia grabbed his arm. "Let's go. I
want to finish this before the sun comes up."
He nodded. "In a second." He turned back to Erin.
"Will you be here? When we come back this way?"
She nodded. "Probably. I'm here all night." She paused.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I-I just want to ask you something."
Erin frowned, then shrugged. "Okay sure. I'll still be here."
"Doyle." Cordelia began to pull him away from the group
of girls and down the street. "I thought you didn't want to
go near them." She said.
"Originally I didn't, but after seeing her," he
gestured toward Erin, "I had to."
"Why? What was it about her?"
He shook his head. "I-I don't know. But there's something.
It's more than just the fact of what she does. She needs our help."
"Okay, so what are you going to ask her? Hey, been chased by
any demons lately?"
Doyle shook his head. "She doesn't need saving from demons.
It's something much more human than that."
v * * *
"Who? A girl who picked up off the street?" Angel asked,
his voice raising. "You told her she could stay here?"
"Keep your voice down." Doyle warned. "She'll hear
you."
Angel glanced toward the door before lowering his voice. "What's
gotten into you Doyle? This isn't like you."
"We're supposed to be saving people right? Well, I think she
needs saving and the only way to know for sure is to get her to
trust us. And the only way to get her to trust us is to . . .
well let her stay with us and take care of her and stuff like
that."
Angel shook his head. "Or maybe you could just ask the 'powers
that be' to send you another vision."
Doyle opened his mouth to say something but his breath caught in
his throat and his head began to pound.
"Good timing." He croaked to Angel before collapsing on
the ground. The vampire rushed to his side while watching to make
sure Erin didn't come into the room.
Doyle's writhed on the floor for a moment before he stopped
moving and slowly sat up.
"I was right about her." He said. "She needs our
help."
"From what?" Angel asked.
Doyle shook his head. "I don't know. But she needs us Angel.
We need her to stay here, it's just right. I know it is."
Angel sighed. "Fine, let her in."
Doyle stood up and held onto Cordelia's desk when he swayed for a
moment. Once he had regained his balance he returned to the door
and opened it for Erin to come into the room.
She smiled as she walked in, then turned her blue eyes to the
floor.
"Erin this is Angel," Doyle said, "Angel, Erin."
Angel stuck out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."
She smiled. "You too. And I just wanted to thank you for
letting me stay here. Not that many people are very nice in L.A."
Angel nodded. "If you ever need any help, we'll always be
here."
Erin looked around the room. "Yeah, I saw the Angel Agency
sign on the door. What kind of agency do you run?"
"We help people that have demon proble-," Doyle began.
"Demons." Angel quickly cut him off. "You know,
like inner demons."
Erin nodded slowly. "So, I'm just another case?"
Doyle looked shocked. "No. I mean, most cases come to us
with problems."
"Then why did you ask me to come here?"
"I," he paused and drew in a breath, "I don't know.
There's just something about you."
She nodded slowly. "All right."
Angel took her by the arm and led her toward the part of the
building at served as his house. As they walked by walls filled
with weapons, Erin's eyes widened and she tore her arm from Angel's
hand.
"What's going on?" She asked. "What are those for?"
Angel turned to look at the crossbow and ax that were hanging on
the wall. He laughed, "I collect old weapons. They're really
quite fascinating."
Her eyes narrowed, then she relaxed. Doyle wasn't sure why, but
he thought she had seen the good in the vampire. The pure good.
"This is the spare bedroom." Angel said, opening a door.
"I'll get you some sheets to put on."
She smiled. "Thanks."
Doyle turned to her. "Why don't you go have a nice hot bath?
I can make the bed for you."
Erin smiled. "Really? That'd be great."
He nodded. "It's just through there." He pointed her
toward the bathroom and smiled as she shut the door.
"Where'd she go?" Angel asked, coming back with
blankets and sheets in his arms.
"I told her to go have a bath." Doyle said. "She's
in there."
Angel nodded. "Okay, well then you can make the bed."
He dropped the sheets into Doyle's arms, then walked away.
* * *
Erin dried her hair with the towels Angel had handed to her
through the door. He had also given her some of his clothes to
wear and she was now clothed in the too-big black sweats and tee
shirt.
She turned toward the mirror and wiped off the steam before
attempting to straighten her wet hair.
"You done in there?" She heard Doyle call through the
door and she smiled. He was an awfully nice guy and she was
surprised by his offer of a place to stay. It turned out he was
temporarily staying with Angel himself, something about being
kicked out of his apartment.
"Yeah." She called back, then opened the door. "I'm
done."
"Thank God." Doyle said, before running in and slamming
the door behind him.
Erin looked at the closed door for a moment before shaking her
head and walking to her room. Seconds later she heard the toilet
flush and Doyle walked out again, smiling.
She laughed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you needed the
bathroom so badly."
He shrugged. "I lived, didn't I?"
Erin walked over to the bed while Doyle stood in the doorway and
watched her.
"Wow." She said quietly.
"What?"
"It's been a long time since I've slept in a bed someone
else has made for me." She paused and shook her head. "In
fact, it's been a long time I've slept in a bed, period."
She turned down the covers and smiled up at Doyle.
"Thanks."
He returned the smile, then walked into the room and perched on
the edge of the bed.
"What are you running from Erin?" He asked, looking
into her blue eyes.
She looked up at him, startled with a blank stare. "What?"
"You said you'd never get used to living this way, so you
have to be running from something." He tried to sound a
little gentler. "What is it?"
"It's-" She looked at him uncertainly, "It's
nothing."
"It's something." He insisted.
"Look, I don't want to talk about it." She looked up at
him pleadingly. "Please don't try to make me."
He nodded. "Sure. I'll just leave you alone."
Erin settled herself under the covers and sighed. "Thanks
Doyle." She called before he left the room.
He turned in the doorway and turned back to her. He watched as
her form slowly relaxed and she moved slightly to get comfortable.
"Good night Erin." He said softly, before switching off
the light and leaving the room.
* * * Angel stretched as he sat in his kitchen and waited for the
others to wake up. He never really felt safe going to sleep
unless Doyle was already up. It had certainly been an adjustment
with the demon living with him, now he had a young girl sleeping
in the other room. Things were getting very weird.
"Good morning." Doyle said cheerily as he walked into
the kitchen. "You can sleep now. I'm up."
Angel stood up and yawned. "Good, I need some sleep."
"After you're gone, you wouldn't mind if I opened these
curtains would you?" Doyle asked, motioning toward the
windows.
Angel shook his head. "Just as long as they're closed
tomorrow morning."
Doyle nodded. "Will do. Now have a nice sleep."
Angel turned to walk from the room, then stopped and turned back.
"What's with you?"
"What do you mean?" The demon asked, rattling under the
counters for a pan.
"You're so cheerful."
Doyle turned to look at Angel then shrugged. "I don't know.
I'm just happy."
He shot Angel a quick grin, then turned back and thumped the pan
onto the stove.
"You've never made me breakfast before." The vampire
said.
Doyle grinned again. "It's not for you, it's for Erin."
Angel groaned. "Don't tell me Doyle,"
"Well you have to admit she's pretty."
"Yes, but have you forgotten what she's like?"
"She's forced to live on the street. Doesn't make her a bad
person."
"No, but," Angel paused, "you know what I mean."
"Fortunately, I don't." Doyle retorted. "She's
different Angel, I can feel it."
"I hope you don't feel it when she breaks your heart."
Angel shot back, then walked out of the kitchen toward his
bedroom.
"She won't break my heart." Doyle muttered, cracking
eggs against the edge of the pan.
He waited for a few minutes before calling Erin's name, then set
the plate out on the table and waited for her.
She stumbled into the room, still half asleep and looked up at
him. "What?"
He laughed. "I made you something to eat."
She glanced at the plate and smiled. "Thanks."
"You look tired." He commented.
"Well, we didn't actually get back here 'till midnight and
then I didn't get to sleep until two or so, so I'm still a little
tired." She put a piece of the egg into her mouth and
swallowed. "But it does feel great to be sleeping in a bed
again."
Doyle finished his own breakfast and took a seat beside her at
the table.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, then Erin pushed back her
plate and looked at Doyle.
"Can I tell you something?" She asked.
Doyle took a bite from his toast. "Anything."
"Okay, well I know you guys help people with . . . demons as
you like to call them. But I know what you really do. I've seen
some really bad stuff happen on the streets."
Doyle nodded, pretending he didn't know what she was talking
about.
Erin sighed. "You'll probably think I'm a basket case if I'm
wrong about you but I think I know what's going on. I've seen
them out there Doyle."
"Who?"
"Vampires."
Doyle's eyes widened.
"Demons."
He choked on the piece of toast in his mouth.
"I know they're out there."
He grabbed his glass of orange juice and began to gulp it down as
fast as he could.
"And I know that the three of you help people that have
problems with them. The vampires and demons. I think," she
paused, "I think I have a problem you might want to solve."
Doyle suddenly looked interested. "Really? What is it?"
"Well, it's the same thing that I'm running from." Erin
turned her eyes to the table and sighed. "When I was
thirteen, my parents got divorced,"
"How old are you now?" Doyle asked, realizing he had
never asked her age.
"Eighteen."
"You look younger." He commented.
"So I've been told." She smiled at him. "Anyway,
my mom went from dating sleaze bag to sleaze bag before she
finally settled down with this guy sometime last year. He seemed
nice enough at first, well dressed, a respectful job. All-around
great guy. We all really liked him."
"There's more in your family."
"I have two younger brothers, Glen and Jason. They'd be
sixteen and thirteen now. He treated us all really well. That is,
until he moved in a few months later. He got really abusive and
violent toward my mother and when we tried to stop him he'd hit
us. My brother was only twelve."
Doyle's face softened. "Erin that's horrible. But it doesn't
make him a monster."
"Would you just listen?"
He nodded slowly. "I'm sorry."
"About a month after he moved in I was home alone with him
and my mother and I heard something coming from their bedroom. I
crept down the hall and opened the door just a crack but I could
see that something was happening to him. He wasn't even human
anymore. His skin was black and shiny and he had more than two
arms. A lot more. I couldn't see how many exactly."
"But the worst part was that he had my mother wrapped in all
those arms and he was squeezing her. It looked like he was going
to kill her." Erin brushed a strand of brown hair out of her
eyes and continued. "It took me a while but I finally
figured out what he was doing. You've heard the story about how
abusive people drain their victim's self esteem right? He was
doing this literally. He was draining every ounce of self esteem
and every ounce of will power that she had. In the end, it killed
her. He fed off her pain and her fear."
Doyle listened in a trance of terror. He had never even heard of
a demon like this before but she couldn't be making this up.
"Later that week I noticed my brothers were getting weaker
and weaker. He was draining them too. And one night while he was
beating my mom, my youngest brother got involved again. I finally
did what I thought was the only solution, I called the police.
They came, but my mother refused to press charges. She kicked all
three of her kids out the next day." A bitter laugh escaped
Erin's lips. "I don't even know where my brothers are now."
"That is bad Erin."
"I found out last month that my mother was dead. Apparently
it was a heart attack. My mother who had never eaten something
bad for her a single day in her life and who had never missed her
daily exercise until he had come into our lives. He killed her."
Erin raised her watery eyes to Doyle's. "And now I know he's
going to move on to someone else. I don't want any other kids to
have to go through what I did Doyle. Please help me."
Doyle nodded slowly. "We'll help you. I promise."
She turned away from him, embarrassed by the tears that were now
running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry." She apologized
quietly.
He was beside her in an instant and Erin found herself wrapped in
a hug.
"Don't be sorry." He soothed. "It wasn't your
fault. We'll find him and we'll kill him. I swear."
Doyle stroked her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder and his
face hardened.
* * *
Angel watched Doyle move forward and hug Erin tightly as she
began to cry. He had heard her whole story and was now intent on
researching this demon, hoping he could find something before
their nightly patrol. He'd live without sleep. He always did.
Angel turned to look again at the demon hugging the young girl.
It was the first time he'd seen Doyle show any real emotion other
than his usual laid back attitude and his lust for Cordelia. It
was a new side of the demon, possibly one that could help them
when they were in danger. He had seen the way Doyle had reacted
when someone had insulted Cordelia, he wondered how he would
react if someone hurt Erin.
Angel shook his head and grinned. He had work to do.
* * *
