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Becca (cowritten by Allison)
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Date Posted: 20:32:45 01/13/02 Sun
In reply to:
Becca (cowritten by Allison)
's message, "TCO Episode 2: Laying Groundwork Chapter 2" on 20:24:16 01/13/02 Sun
Chapter 3
Lucky slowly broke the kiss and opened his eyes, hoping he hadn’t crossed a line that they wouldn’t be able to cross back. If his impulsiveness had just ruined the best thing in his life, he would never be able to live with himself.
Liz met his gaze, still in shock. Being kissed by Lucky was something she used to dream about, something she still thought of every now and then out of curiosity, but to have it actually happen was far more amazing than any dream. She felt light-headed, giddy and nervous all at once. He had been her best friend for so long, the one constant in her life, the one person she could always turn to when things got crazy, but now all that was changing.
She looked at him, wondering what this meant for them. There was something different about him now, something she couldn’t quite place. He suddenly looked more alive to her, more there. He was smiling softly, still holding her face gently in his hands. There was a light in his eyes she had never seen before. There was a flush to his cheeks that just made him that much more attractive. There was something there that she had never noticed until that moment, something new....there was a vampire coming up behind him.
“Ugh,” she groaned, stepping away from him and tensing up to fight.
Lucky’s face fell. That wasn’t the reaction he had been hoping for. “Elizabeth...” he started, hoping he could say something to explain his actions before it was too late.
“Lucky, get out of the way!” She pushed him roughly aside, intent on taking care of the intruder. He stumbled out of the way and turned around to see what was going on, sighing in relief that her outburst wasn’t directed at him after all.
Liz held up her stake and glared at the vampire. “Do they teach bad timing as part of your initiation or something?” she growled, advancing on him. He stood his ground and reached for her, but she kicked him down. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I was sort of in the middle of something back there!”
The vamp jumped to his feet and charged at her, but she was fast, and thrust her stake at him as soon as he reached her, sinking it into his chest. He exploded in a cloud of dust just as a breeze came through, blowing it all onto her. She coughed and shook her head, then turned back to Lucky, who was standing off to the side in amazement.
“Vampires are such a pain in the neck!” she grumbled, brushing angrily at her clothes to get the dust off.
Lucky started to laugh, startling her. “What?”
“I’m sorry, but that was just a really bad pun,” he said, grinning.
She smiled and walked over to him, sliding the stake into her back pocket.. “They can’t all be winners.”
“Look at you, you’re a mess,” he snickered as she approached, seeing that she was covered in dust. She reached up and tousled her hair in an attempt to get some of it out.
“Occupational hazard, I guess. That and being bitten or killed. I think I can handle a few dirty clothes considering the other options.” She sighed and looked at Lucky, switching from slayer-mode back to her normal self, who at the moment was being bombarded by a wide range of emotions in the aftermath of their kiss.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to push you, it was just...”
Lucky nodded. “It’s okay, I understand. I guess you saved me again.”
“And that’s exactly why you can’t keep following me when I patrol. One of these days I might not see it in time. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened....damn it!” she cursed, sensing another vampire behind her. She whirled around, pulling the stake out of her pocket.
“Don’t you guys have anywhere else to be?” she shouted, looking up at her target. She gasped in recognition and dropped her arm. “Angel! Sorry, I thought you were ...”
“A vampire?” he asked with a small smile. “I get that a lot.”
Liz laughed and pocketed her stake again. “I’m just kind of jumpy tonight. There’s been a lot of...” she glanced back at Lucky and blushed, “...activity... here tonight.”
Angel nodded, sensing the tension in the air. “I interrupted something again, didn’t I?”
“No,” she said quickly, then smiled guiltily. “Well, maybe, but you’re not the first one to do it, so don’t feel too bad.”
“It’s okay. I was just passing through.” He started to leave when a group of vampires appeared from the bushes. “Maybe I should stay.”
Liz’s eyes widened as they stumbled across the park for them. She wasn’t ready to fight that many at once, not yet. “Yeah, that would be good,” she gasped. Angel rushed for them, kicking and swinging, while Liz grabbed once again for her stake. She turned back to Lucky, her expression serious.
“Lucky, go home. We can talk about this later.” She kicked away a vampire as it lunged for her and sighed. “Preferably during the day.”
“But, Elizabeth, I’m not going to leave you...” he started, frightened at the thought of something happening to her.
“Lucky, you’re only going to distract me if you stay, please go. I swear, I’ll be all right. Angel is here, he won’t let anything happen to me,” she asserted, quickly thrusting out her arm and catching one of the vampires square in the chest as it rushed for her. “Go!”
Lucky sighed and backed away, seeing that she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “Be careful!”
“I always am!” she called out, then turned back to help Angel. He was doing a good job of keeping them at bay, but without a stake, he couldn’t kill them. She jumped in, staking them as he knocked them down, falling into sync with him as though they had fought together hundreds of times before. Lucky watched for a minute, feeling jealousy boil inside him. He should be the one protecting her, not Angel. How could he think she would want a romantic relationship with him, if all he could do was run away when she was in danger? He sighed and walked away, knowing that she was in good hands, hating that they weren’t his.
~*~
Buffy wandered aimlessly around town, all the vampires seemed to be staying for the night, or so she thought. As she walked her mind drifted from thought to thought, without any pattern or warning. One minute she was daydreaming about what it would be like if Angel were human again. The next she was fantasizing about Lucky, and the possibilities if he wasn’t so attached to Liz. One thing was certain, Buffy had members of the opposite sex on the mind.
“You again,” a voice cut into her thoughts. Buffy looked up, noticing she was face to face with the stranger she met on the docks.
“I guess I can say the same thing,” she retorted with a smile. She couldn’t help but notice how his eyes shimmered in the moonlight. It nearly made her swoon.
“It’s kind of late for a young lady to be out by herself,” he warned. Looking her over quickly a smile came to his face. She was attractive and carried herself with dignity, something he loved.
“I can handle myself probably better than you can,” Buffy paused, realizing she didn’t know his name. “Buffy!”
“What?” he asked, a bit confused.
“That’s my name.” Her hand shot out in greeting as she grinned up at him. “This is your turn to tell me your name.”
“Oh, it’s Jason, Jason Morgan,” he said with very little emotion.
It suddenly struck her why she was so attracted to Jason. He was a blonde haired, blue eyed, living version with Angel. Buffy groaned as the realization hit her . . .then quickly shrugged it off. While she was in Port Charles she may as well have some fun, or a decent facsimile of it.
“So . . .” she sighed, not really knowing what to say.
“You’re new in town, right? I’ve never seen you around before, strangely enough for a town that has as much as it does, we don’t have many people,” Jason explained with an ironic chuckle.
“I’m from Sunnydale, in California . . . I’m actually going to the University.”
Jason nodded his head. “Oh, then you might know Lucky Spencer.”
Buffy grinned; this town really was small. Everyone knew everyone . . .it could actually be a blessing or a curse, it all depended on the type of evil they were fighting. “Yeah, I’ve met a few people. Lucky, his friend Liz, Lucky’s brother and another girl, I can’t remember her name.”
“That’d be Emily, my sister.”
Buffy paused; she didn’t remember Emily’s last name being Morgan. “How?”
“Well she as adopted by the Quartermaines when she was young. She’s really one of the only people in that family that I associate with any longer, her and Lila,” Jason explained, noticing the look of growing confusion on Buffy’s face.
“So, you’re a Quatermaine? I thought your last name was Morgan?”
“It is, and I was . . .you see I was in an accident a few years back. After I woke up, do to brain damage, I lost all the memories of being that Jason. The Q’s couldn’t accept that I was different so I left, and I now live here,” Jason smiled, pointing to Harborview towers behind him.
“Has anyone ever told you that your life is like a soap opera?” Buffy asked with a laugh.
“No,” he said seriously.
Buffy shook her head, noticing that he didn’t exactly have the most adept sense of humor. Brain damage or not, he was still cute and Buffy was getting bored waiting for her “chance” with Angel. She didn’t know what she was looking for, so she decided to stop looking and just let life flow.
“You live here? Swank place,” she said in awe of the high rise. “What floor do you live on?”
“The penthouse,” he stated flatly.
“My fri…Cordelia,” Buffy stopped herself short, not meaning to call Cordelia her friend. “She’ll be all over you if she finds out you live in a penthouse.”
“Why? Does she like heights?” Jason asked seriously, getting Buffy to burst out laughing.
“That’s funny . . .you’re serious, aren’t you?” she gasped in shock. “Anyway, Cordy is what is called a golddigger.”
“Oh, she’s like Carly,” Jason mused.
“Carly? Blonde hair, bad temper, you know her?” Buffy asked, switching to slayer mode.
“Yeah she’s my . . . I don’t know what to call her. I guess friend, though adversary sometimes comes to mind, she always follows me around . . .why, do you know her?”
“Let’s just say we’ve met and she doesn’t like me too much,” Buffy noted.
“You know, you are the second person I’ve talked to tonight who’s new in town who knows Carly. Is she in some kind of trouble?” Jason asked worriedly. For all the trouble Carly caused him, he still cared about her.
“That’s all relative . . .who else did you meet?”
“Some guy . . .tall, silent . . .”
“Angel,” Buffy sighed. He was lurking again, she hated when he lurked, he always managed to startle her.
“Yes?”
“No, that’s his name, Angel, he’s a friend of mine . . .you talked to him, about Carly?”
“Well he and Carly had gotten into some argument I think and he managed to scare her away. Which is incredible, I’ve never been able to get Carly to leave, I should talk to him …” Jason said thoughtfully. “Anyway, I confronted him and we exchanged a few words my relationship with Carly and I left. Here I am, with you, in front of my building.”
“Here you are . . .listen, I don’t want to sound weird, but I’d stay clear of Carly. She’s . . .” Buffy thought, trying to figure out how to warn Jason about Carly without telling him the truth. “She’s with a very dangerous guy right now, you don’t want to get involved.”
“AJ is not dangerous . . .besides some people view me as dangerous,” Jason stated, in what sounded like a proud voice.
“AJ? Who’s that?”
“Her husband . . .”
“No, no, she’s not with him. She’s with a man named Spike, and he’s more dangerous than you know, so just stay clear of Carly, ok?”
“I can handle Carly, don’t worry about me.” Jason smiled as he began to enter the building. He stopped and turned to face Buffy. “It was nice talking with you Buffy, hope to see you around again.”
“Good night,” she whispered as she watched him enter the building. “I just can’t win!” she stated as she walked away.
~*~
Lucky let himself into his dorm room and collapsed on his bed.
“Hey man,” Oz greeted, glancing up from his book.
“Hey,” Lucky replied with a heavy sigh. Oz closed his book and sat up.
“Slayer trouble?” he asked simply, eyeing his roommate. Lucky had never said anything to him, but it was obvious the he was close to Liz, and that lately, he had been acting strangely. He had all the signs of a man falling in love.
“How did you guess?” Lucky asked with a wry smile. He sighed and ran a hand nervously through his hair. Maybe Oz could offer some insight on what he should do. After all, he’d been dealing with the whole slayer thing much longer, he was more experienced in the ways of the undead.
“Call it a hunch,” Oz said, studying him. “So what happened?”
“I kissed her tonight.”
Oz smiled slightly. “Buffy?” He was joking, of course, although no one would ever really notice, since the tone of his voice never changed.
Lucky laughed and shook his head. “No, Elizabeth.”
“Ah. On the road to coupledom?”
“Hardly,” he sighed, looking out the window, wondering if Liz was okay. “We never got a chance to talk about it, vampires kept showing up.”
“I hate it when that happens,” Oz mused.
“Then Angel showed up,” he continued, making a face. Oz nodded, seeing his dismay.
“He does that.”
“Anyway, this huge group of vampires appeared all of a sudden, so Elizabeth made me leave her alone with him to fight them. I didn’t want to, but she didn’t give me much choice.”
“Slayers are pushy that way.”
“Tell me about it! I’m sure Angel won’t let her get hurt, but I didn’t like leaving. He bugs me. I keep thinking that he’ll somehow charm her like he did Buffy, and I won’t have a chance anymore. Elizabeth is my best friend, I don’t want to lose her, but lately, I’m starting to realize I want more with her. But then I wonder what good that will do. I only seem to get in the way. What if I do something to distract her one night, and she gets hurt? Or worse? ”
“I wouldn’t worry about Angel,” Oz said. “He’s still hung up on the Buff and vice-versa. They’ll always have that whole tragic thing going on, and he’s not masochistic enough to take on more pain by going after another slayer. Besides, I’ve seen the way Liz looks at you. I’m good at reading people, and it’s obvious she likes you, and I don’t just mean as a buddy. Granted, she’s been thrown into a pretty dangerous line of work, and there are always going to be times when she won’t want you around to protect you, but if you’re willing to deal with that, I’d say go for it. Look at me and Will. She’s a witch, I’m a werewolf, but we still love each other. And as for causing Liz to get hurt, you won’t. Me on the other hand, well, I have to live with the constant reminder that three nights a month, I could hurt Willow if I’m not in a cage. When I get beasty, I lose myself, and don’t know what I’m doing. If she somehow got in my path, I could kill her and not even know it. Think about that, and your problems might not seem so bad.”
Lucky stared at him in shock.
“What?” Oz asked, frowning.
“That’s the most I’ve heard you say in...well, since you showed up.”
Oz shrugged and sat back against the wall, reaching for his book. “Yeah.”
Lucky smiled and shook his head. “Well, thanks for the advice. I think it helped.”
“Not a problem,” he stated simply, returning his attention to his book, signaling the end of their conversation. Lucky sighed and laid down, trying to decide what he would say to Liz the next time he saw her. One thing he knew, he would make sure it was daytime!
~*~
Liz was doubled over, trying to catch her breath. “Well, that was definitely different,” she gasped.
“Not really,” Angel responded, watching the horizon in case there were more vampires coming.
“It was for me! Where did they all come from anyway?” She stood up straight, starting to feel relatively normal again.
He returned his attention to her, sensing that it was safe. “Spike’s been siring quite a few vampires lately, and his new vamps are in turn siring their own. It’s a frustrating cycle. Between his over-feeding and the feeding that his new vamps are doing, they’re killing a pretty good number of people in a short amount of time.”
“Wow,” she breathed, looking around fearfully. “I guess it’s lucky for me you showed up when you did.” At the mention of “lucky”, she suddenly remembered what had happened earlier. “Um, do you think it’s okay to leave now? I just remembered I have to go talk to Alexis about something.”
“Sure. Want me to walk with you?” He couldn’t help it, something in him wanted to protect her, much like he felt the need to protect Buffy. It wasn’t a romantic thing with Liz, but he still cared about her safety.
“No, it’s just to the Brownstone, it’s not far,” she said, touched by his offer. Angel had always struck her as so distant and aloof, but for the first time, she was seeing a gentler side of him, probably the side that Buffy saw.
“The Brownstone?”
“Sorry, Giles’s place. That’s what we call the building. I think she’s still there doing research.”
He smiled a little. “I was actually going to head over there anyway to see if they found anything yet. I’d like to figure out why the Hellmouth came here before Spike does.”
“Oh, okay. I guess I’ll take you up on that escort then,” she replied with a grin. They walked in silence to the Brownstone, neither sure what to say to the other. Liz wasn’t exactly used to chatting with a vampire, and Angel wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, especially with someone he didn’t know very well yet
Liz knocked on the door, hoping they were still there. After a minute, Giles opened it, surprised to see them. “Liz! And... Angel?”
“Hi Giles. Sorry to barge in, but I wanted to talk to Alexis about something, and I figured she’d still be here. Is she?” Liz asked, glancing past him into the room.
“Oh, yes, she is. Um, Angel, what brings you by?”
“I wanted to see if you found anything yet,” he explained.
“Unfortunately, no. But maybe you can help. We have no idea what we’re looking for, but maybe you’d have better luck spotting it.” He stepped aside to let them in.
Liz smiled and walked past Giles into the apartment, then turned back to see if Angel was following. He was still standing outside, waiting for Giles to invite him in.
“Oh, right, you can’t... sorry, come in,” he stammered, always slightly unnerved by the man’s presence. Even though he knew Angel was good again, he would never be able to completely forget that when he was evil, he had killed Jenny Calendar, the woman he loved. Not only had Angel killed her, but he had taken great pleasure in setting Giles up to find her body in his own bed, an image he would never be able to erase from his memory.
Angel nodded and entered the apartment, his eyes quickly taking everything in. He nodded in greeting to Willow and Alexis, then paused to study the one person he didn’t recognize, Jax.
Alexis saw this and quickly moved to introduce them. “Um, Jax, this is Angel. Angel, this is my husband, Jax.”
“Angel,” Jax greeted, studying him almost as intently as he was being studied. Angel, once again, nodded his own greeting, then followed Giles over to the stack of books that they had yet to tackle. Willow was busy at the computer, but was also coming up empty-handed.
“So, how was the patrolling?” Alexis asked, hoping it had gone well. She had been nervous about sending her out alone, but Liz had refused to let her go along, saying that she might as well start now.
“It was okay, I guess, if you don’t count the huge....um, what exactly do you call a bunch of vampires, anyway? A herd, flock... gaggle?”
Giles smiled slightly. She was already picking up Buffy’s strange sense of humor. “I think a group would suffice.”
“Okay, then it was fine aside from the huge group of vampires that showed up all at once. Lucky for me, Angel showed up first and was able to help me kill them all.”
“No wonder you’re so...dusty,” Giles noted.
She looked down at her clothes and frowned. “Dang wind.“
“Just be thankful that when vampires die, all they turn to is dust. There are quite a few demons out there that explode in much messier ways..”
Liz grimaced at the image and shook her head, then turned and walked over to Willow. She had originally intended on talking to Alexis about the non-slayer part of her evening, the part with Lucky, but now that she saw someone else her own age, she decided that it would be easier to discuss with Willow. She sat down next to her and looked at the computer screen.
“Hey, Willow.”
“Hey Liz. How is your evening going?”
“Very strangely, actually.”
Willow nodded, still looking at the screen. “Yeah, I heard about the vamps. Good thing Angel was there, huh? He can be pretty handy that way.”
“Yeah, I know. But that wasn’t the only weird thing. Before all that, Lucky followed me out. I think he was worried about me or something.”
Willow chuckled lightly. “Men. Why do they always assume that because we’re girls we need protecting?’
“My thoughts exactly. Anyway, I sort of read him the riot act about it, although I kept getting interrupted by vamps.”
Willow grinned. “Dazzled him with some slayage?” She had seen Buffy in action enough to know how impressive it could be to someone who wasn’t used to it.
Liz giggled, nodding. “I think so. But then, in the middle of yelling at him, he suddenly....kissed me.”
“Aw, you got smoochies?” Willow asked, smiling. “Good for you!”
“I don’t know, I’m completely confused now. I mean, Lucky’s my best friend, we always agreed we wouldn’t go there, that we wouldn’t do the boyfriend/girlfriend thing. I always thought that was the smartest thing to do, but now, all I can think about is that kiss.” She sighed at the memory.
Willow smiled at the way Liz’s face went all dreamy at the mention of him. “Sounds like there was some serious sparkage.”
Liz blushed slightly and nodded. “Sparkage is an understatement. I just don’t know what to do now.”
“Well, since he kissed you, it must mean he likes you as more than a pal, too, so just go for it. You’ll never know if you don’t try.”
“That’s true,” she mused, turning to gaze at the monitor. “Thanks, Willow, I think I’m a little less confused now. So, did you find anything?”
“Nope, nada. Although that thing Lucky did with the camera is pretty cool.” She switched to that window and grinned as the camera slowly swept over Wyndemere. “See, there’s Spike with one of his new vamps. I just wish we could hear them.”
“Hey, that’s Stefan Cassadine!” Liz exclaimed, squinting at the screen.
“What?!” Alexis shouted, standing up and toppling all the books off of her lap and onto the floor. She rushed over to them and leaned over Willow’s shoulder, gasping as she saw the two figures standing on the parapet. “Oh my...”
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