August 2002

    "Angel, why don’t you wear this shirt more often?  It’s gorgeous!" Cordelia exclaimed, fingering the pale blue fabric of Angel’s long-sleeved pullover.
    "I’m only wearing it because it’s the last shirt I had that was clean," Angel said sheepishly.  "With all the cases we’ve been working on lately and the preparation for the lawsuit, I haven’t really had time to do much laundry."
    "I hope you’ve got clean socks on," she said, wrinkling her nose.  "Definitely socks, and underwear, too."
    Angel smiled nervously.
    "Oh, gross!  I don’t even want to know!" She put some distance between herself and Angel, taking up a position on the opposite side of the living room.  "Dennis, would you make sure Angel keeps his dirty vampire self away from me at all times?"
    "Cordelia, I—"
    "Oh, for heaven’s sake!  I’m kidding!" Cordelia rolled her eyes and flopped onto the couch, eyeing Angel playfully.  "So, to what do I owe this little visit?"
    "Um, I thought I was giving you a ride to work…"
    "Work!  Right, work, of course!" She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead, grimacing in embarrassment.  "I’m really not a morning person, you know?  I’m a complete wreck sometimes, I really am."
    "It’s two o’clock in the afternoon," Angel said, the corners of his mouth twitching in preparation for a smile.
    Cordelia stuck her tongue out at him, grabbed his arm, and dragged him out the door.
 

    "Angel, it’s about time you got here." Lindsey sat at his computer, typing endlessly.  "I need to get your statement about—"
    "About yet another incident in which I broke a chair that belonged to Wolfram & Hart, I know, Lindsey," Angel interrupted.  "Not right now."
    "Angel, you don’t have a choice.  We still have a mountain of separate claims to go through, and we’ve got to be in court in November." He took off his glasses and stopped typing.  "The more you keep saying ‘not right now,’ the more work I have to do under pressure, so either you stop putting this off, or I start cutting corners."
    "Funny, I didn’t expect cutting corners to be a problem for an ex-Wolfram & Hart lawyer," Wesley called from the across the lobby.
    "Isn’t that nice.  You’re a very smart man, Wesley.  You have deftly pointed out that I am no longer a Wolfram & Hart lawyer.  I’m just a plain vanilla lawyer now, which means no power, no connections, and no fallback plan.  Everything is by the book, and the only difference is that I know where they’re gonna aim and how hard they’re gonna hit, so get used to the new, unimproved me." Lindsey resumed his feverish typing.
    "Do you still want my statement?" Angel ventured.
    "Clearly you still don’t want to take the time to give it to me, so come talk to me later," Lindsey replied without expression and without taking his eyes away from the computer screen.
 

    Gunn studied the woman sitting across from him.  She was beautiful, no getting around that fact.  She was also quite often indifferent, even bordering on cold.  Her blue eyes rarely conveyed anything more than calculated composure.  Gunn considered this an asset and the main reason why he chose to speak to Kate first.
    "What if we jump ship?"
    "Pardon?"
    "Look, we haul our butts outta this hotel, we haul ‘em outta the lawsuit," Gunn whispered secretively.
    "Uh, I think it’s going to take a little bit more than that, like quitting your job," Kate whispered back in mild amusement.
    "Obviously you didn’t catch my drift.  That’s exactly what I was talking about." Gunn paused to let it sink in.  "Look, I like Angel.  As blood-sucking freaks go, he’s all right, but I’m not ready to pay the kind of price Wolfram & Hart’ll be demanding when we lose in November.  I’m thinking, and you’d be smart to start thinking too, that we get out now and make ourselves scarce before it comes time to pay up.  Wolfram & Hart don’t want people like you and me.  All they care about is getting Angel, and if Angel wants to be taken down, that’s fine.  I’m just not gonna go down with him.  I already got me a job out there, back with my old friends.  If there’s still vampires to be killed, they’ll be happy to see me back.  So, what do you think?"
    Kate stared at Gunn.  She leaned back in her chair, folding her hands in her lap.  Her face was expressionless, the only exception being her eyes.
    "I think you should leave now before you ruin the carpet."
    "What?" Gunn started to laugh.
    "Blood tends to stain," she said, steel in her tone.  "Get out.  Now."
    "What the hell is your problem?" Gunn asked darkly.
    "You may be prepared to desert Angel and feed him to the wolves, but I’m not."
    "What?  I don’t believe—" Gunn stopped suddenly, his eyes narrowing.  "I should’ve known.  I should’ve known he would get to you, too.  What is it with Angel and blondes?"
    Kate began to get up out of her chair, and Gunn backed quickly toward the door.
    "Cool your jets, girl.  I’m gone." Gunn trotted into the lobby.  "Believe me, I’m gone."
 

    Angel woke to find that Cordelia had drooled on his shoulder during the night.  His cotton shirt was soaked through.  He held her sleeping form in his gaze for a few moments.  Then his vision drifted to the empty bottles of prescription pills on his nightstand.  He remembered carrying her up the stairs to his bedroom, her body shaking uncontrollably from the seizures.  The pills had helped, but not entirely.
    He had held her until the seizures had stopped and she’d fallen asleep.  Wesley and Kate had been able to handle the vampire nest by themselves.  This was the second vision that had ended with Cordelia collapsing in Angel’s arms, wracked with the seizures.  This was the second vision, and it would not be the last.
    Angel gently stroked her hair, and he suppressed the ache that was building up inside him.
    He would let her sleep.