AtS - How the Other Half Lives (1/1) - Angel, Lilah
Title: How the Other Half Lives
Author: Tonya (
_fullofgrace)
Rating: PG
Genre: Gen with Angel, Lilah
Timeline: season 4, a “missing scene” fic for “Home”
Disclaimer: The usuals. No own, no sue.
Word Count: 1850
Summary: Angel returns to Wolfram&Hart to inform Lilah that the job is done.
Nominated @ 
**********
Lilah placed her hand against the window, the sunlight lacing between her fingers, and frowned.
A glass window warmed by the late afternoon sun, and all she could feel was nothing. Just coldness against her palm and fingers. But she kept it there anyway, flat against the glass, hoping that maybe if she held it there long enough, she’d feel.
She only dropped her hand when the office door opened over her shoulder.
“Welcome back, boss,” she said as she continued to stare out the window.
“It’s done.”
She listened as the footsteps stopped right over her shoulder. “Well,” she sighed, “I figured as much. You‘re not exactly the type to do a half-assed job now, are you?” She finally turned to him, arms folded casually.
Angel growled, roughly grabbing her arms and pushing her against the window. Lilah gave a shocked exhale of breath as her back met the hard glass. “Close the deal now, Lilah.”
“Temper, temper, boss,” she smirked.
“Stop calling me that,” he replied, his tone dark as his grip on her arms tightened.
Lilah glanced down at where he held her, and the smirk slowly began to fade away.
Blood. On her arms where he gripped. On his hands.
She had known that he had gone off to kill his own son; that was the deal that he himself had offered. But she had expected the boy’s death to be something quick and painless and…less bloody.
There were many people she expected Angel to make bleed when they met their demise at his hands, herself included, but she had never bet on his son being on that list.
And for a split moment, she felt a small pang of guilt. But that moment soon passed, when she realized that she had recently died herself, but hadn’t had the luxury of a life do-over.
Angel shook her slightly, bringing her from her thoughts. “Well?”
Lilah looked up, her eyes meeting his. “Never let it be said that Wolfram and Hart doesn’t keep their end of a negotiation,” she said with her best professional smile.
His grip loosened a bit, but he kept her against the glass. “And Cordelia?”
“I told you I was on it.” She paused with a sigh. “I know how you enjoy getting all rough and scary with me, Angel, but if you’d just step out of my personal bubble for just a sec maybe we could get some work done here.”
Lilah watched his eyes study her for a moment before he finally released her with a final jerk. She casually straightened her blouse and strolled over to the desk, feeling his gaze track her every move. Retrieving a folder from the desk, Lilah turned back to Angel with a pleasant smile. She pulled herself up onto the edge of the desk, crossing her legs.
“Your precious Cordelia has been found.”
“And?” he asked, stepping up to her.
“And she’s fine.” Lilah tapped the edge of the file against her palm, and she rethought her statement with a slight twist of her lips. “Well, as fine as one can be in a coma.”
“Lilah,” he growled from the back of his throat.
“Tough room,” she smiled. She held out the file to him, and he took it reluctantly. “I’ll get you another copy as that one will be slightly--” She wiggled her fingers. “--sticky now with the blood and all.”
“What is this?” he muttered, ignoring her as he flipped it open.
“Cordelia’s spanking new file. Let’s you know where she’s being kept. What her status is.” Lilah leaned back on the desk, propping herself up with her hands. “She has the best doctors. The best nurses. The best care that your new-found prestige can buy.”
Angel flipped to a new page, reading silently for a moment before looking up. “And her condition?”
“Well, her body was the vessel for a mystical being to give birth to itself,” she replied with a tilt of her head. “It’s gonna take more than a little bed rest and a handful of vitamins to fix that.”
Angel did not say a word as his eyes dropped back to the file in his hand. Lilah watched him for a moment and sighed quietly.
She really needed to learn how not to care about these people and their damn feelings. She had had it perfected for the longest time; up until she had gotten mixed up in whatever she had had with Wesley. Now not caring seemed to be a struggle-- a struggle that she didn’t care to be involved in.
“She has the best doctors and researchers working on her,” she said as she silently cursed herself. “They’ll figure it out, and she’ll be back to bouncing perkily around here and helping you save the helpless like the good ol’ days.”
Angel closed the file, clutching it tightly in his hands. “And Connor?”
“Your wish was our command.” She hitched a shoulder in response. “He gets the chance at a second life. One where he will hopefully turn out to be less of a young sociopath in the making.”
“Lilah,” he warned.
She simply smiled and sat forward, draping her arms over her knee. “I love it when you say my name like that. Makes me all tingly.” She grinned at the rage in his eyes. “Your boy is fine.”
“And his--” Angel swallowed hard. “--his family?”
“The typical nauseating all-American dream.” She smiled as she slid from her seat and approached him, her arms crossed. “Mom, dad, 2.5 kids, white picket fence. Perfect in every way.” She paused, sighing. “You wanted him to have the life he never had--”
“And now he does,” he finished with a slight frown. He glanced down at the blood that had finally dried on his hands.
Lilah frowned despite herself. “You did what you had to do.”
Angel’s head snapped up, and for a moment, Lilah was sure he was going to wrap his free hand around her throat again. She braced herself for the assault, but he only spoke in a quiet, enraged voice.
“You didn’t give me a choice.”
“Au contraire, sweetie. It was you who made the offer, not I.”
Angel tossed the file onto the desk as he took a threatening step towards her. She instinctively took a step back, the back of her thighs running into the solid wood frame. She dropped her arms, wrapping her fingers around the edge of the desk.
“You showed me where he was. You showed me what he was doing. You knew what I would be forced to do.”
“I knew that you wanted to find Connor. I only delivered. What you did with that information was your own choice.” She hesitated for a moment before remembering she was dead, and even if he wanted to kill her, he couldn’t. “Look, you wanted junior to have a decent life, and he has that now. So a little blood was shed in the process, big whoop.”
Angel growled and held his hand up to her face, and Lilah flinched momentarily, expecting to be hit for her remark. “Do you see this? That’s my son’s blood on my hands. That’s blood from the throat I slit.”
Lilah stared at his hand before finally turning her eyes to his. “I’m sorry.”
Angel scoffed bitterly, dropping his hand. “Sorry, Lilah? Sorry isn’t for people like you.”
He moved away from her with a shake of his head. She watched as he stepped up to the window, standing in the same spot she had been lingering in earlier.
“I thought you were supposed to be this big champion,” she finally said, not moving from her spot by the desk. “Champions get it. Sometimes you’ve got to shed a little blood to get what you want. It’s how the world functions. ” She paused. “You may have taken his life, but he got a shiny new one in return. One where he’s less likely to go postal and kill you all, which some people might view as a plus. I, however, am quite indifferent to the whole killing you situation considering my recent undead status.”
“Our definitions of what makes a champion vary, Lilah,” he replied, his back still to her as his gaze never turned from the horizon on the other side of the glass.
“Well, let’s see,” she replied, slowly making her way to him. “That favorite blonde Slayer of yours? She ran you through with a sword to save the world. Your first messenger from the Powers That Be? Sacrificed himself to save a bunch of demons.” She stopped just over his shoulder, her fingers looped through the belt loops of her slacks. “Your precious Cordelia? Was willing to choose death over losing those little memos the Powers like to send you guys. Wesley? Slit throat trying to save your little rugrat. Darla? Voluntarily got herself dusted for a second time to save said rugrat.”
Angel glanced over his shoulder at her, scowling.
“Not exactly the group of people I would prefer to give that coveted status to, but I’m sure you consider them all champions in their own little ways. And each of them made a sacrifice to get the job done.” She paused with a shrug. “Comes with the territory.”
Angel stared at her, then turned his attention back out the window.
“You should thank me, really,” she said after a moment of silence engulfed them.
Angel simply scoffed under his breath.
“They don’t remember.”
Angel turned, curious. “Who doesn’t remember what?”
“Your precious Save-the-Day team. To them, Connor never existed.”
“Wait, how?”
“Your basic mind-wipe. No fuss. No muss. No memory.”
“So,” Angel said, trying to grasp what he was hearing, “they don’t remember anything?”
“Where junior is involved? No.”
“But I still…”
“You still remember him obviously,” she finished with a nod. “Catch-22. The Senior Partners couldn’t give the kid a new life if this life still existed in any form, which included any and all memories.”
His eyes narrowed, suspicious. “Then why do I still remember him?”
“Which is where the thanking me comes in.” She smirked. “Call me a sucker for the sentimental. I figured you’d be better off without the mind-wipe.”
“Why?”
Lilah shrugged. “Because he was your kid maybe?”
Angel blinked, stunned by what appeared to be a nice gesture coming from Lilah Morgan of all people.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, boss, there are a few of your minions I need to check up on.” She smiled coolly and turned on her heels, making her way out of the office. She had just placed her hand on the doorknob when he called out to her. Lilah turned to see him still standing by the window, watching her.
“Another demand from the boss man?” she asked.
“I just… I am sorry.” He hesitated, trying to find the words. “About what happened to you.”
Lilah studied him as silence fell between them. She finally nodded and spoke. “Sorry, Angel? Sorry isn’t for people like us.”
With that, she smiled and strolled out of the office, never looking back.
Author: Tonya (
_fullofgrace)Rating: PG
Genre: Gen with Angel, Lilah
Timeline: season 4, a “missing scene” fic for “Home”
Disclaimer: The usuals. No own, no sue.
Word Count: 1850
Summary: Angel returns to Wolfram&Hart to inform Lilah that the job is done.
**********
Lilah placed her hand against the window, the sunlight lacing between her fingers, and frowned.
A glass window warmed by the late afternoon sun, and all she could feel was nothing. Just coldness against her palm and fingers. But she kept it there anyway, flat against the glass, hoping that maybe if she held it there long enough, she’d feel.
She only dropped her hand when the office door opened over her shoulder.
“Welcome back, boss,” she said as she continued to stare out the window.
“It’s done.”
She listened as the footsteps stopped right over her shoulder. “Well,” she sighed, “I figured as much. You‘re not exactly the type to do a half-assed job now, are you?” She finally turned to him, arms folded casually.
Angel growled, roughly grabbing her arms and pushing her against the window. Lilah gave a shocked exhale of breath as her back met the hard glass. “Close the deal now, Lilah.”
“Temper, temper, boss,” she smirked.
“Stop calling me that,” he replied, his tone dark as his grip on her arms tightened.
Lilah glanced down at where he held her, and the smirk slowly began to fade away.
Blood. On her arms where he gripped. On his hands.
She had known that he had gone off to kill his own son; that was the deal that he himself had offered. But she had expected the boy’s death to be something quick and painless and…less bloody.
There were many people she expected Angel to make bleed when they met their demise at his hands, herself included, but she had never bet on his son being on that list.
And for a split moment, she felt a small pang of guilt. But that moment soon passed, when she realized that she had recently died herself, but hadn’t had the luxury of a life do-over.
Angel shook her slightly, bringing her from her thoughts. “Well?”
Lilah looked up, her eyes meeting his. “Never let it be said that Wolfram and Hart doesn’t keep their end of a negotiation,” she said with her best professional smile.
His grip loosened a bit, but he kept her against the glass. “And Cordelia?”
“I told you I was on it.” She paused with a sigh. “I know how you enjoy getting all rough and scary with me, Angel, but if you’d just step out of my personal bubble for just a sec maybe we could get some work done here.”
Lilah watched his eyes study her for a moment before he finally released her with a final jerk. She casually straightened her blouse and strolled over to the desk, feeling his gaze track her every move. Retrieving a folder from the desk, Lilah turned back to Angel with a pleasant smile. She pulled herself up onto the edge of the desk, crossing her legs.
“Your precious Cordelia has been found.”
“And?” he asked, stepping up to her.
“And she’s fine.” Lilah tapped the edge of the file against her palm, and she rethought her statement with a slight twist of her lips. “Well, as fine as one can be in a coma.”
“Lilah,” he growled from the back of his throat.
“Tough room,” she smiled. She held out the file to him, and he took it reluctantly. “I’ll get you another copy as that one will be slightly--” She wiggled her fingers. “--sticky now with the blood and all.”
“What is this?” he muttered, ignoring her as he flipped it open.
“Cordelia’s spanking new file. Let’s you know where she’s being kept. What her status is.” Lilah leaned back on the desk, propping herself up with her hands. “She has the best doctors. The best nurses. The best care that your new-found prestige can buy.”
Angel flipped to a new page, reading silently for a moment before looking up. “And her condition?”
“Well, her body was the vessel for a mystical being to give birth to itself,” she replied with a tilt of her head. “It’s gonna take more than a little bed rest and a handful of vitamins to fix that.”
Angel did not say a word as his eyes dropped back to the file in his hand. Lilah watched him for a moment and sighed quietly.
She really needed to learn how not to care about these people and their damn feelings. She had had it perfected for the longest time; up until she had gotten mixed up in whatever she had had with Wesley. Now not caring seemed to be a struggle-- a struggle that she didn’t care to be involved in.
“She has the best doctors and researchers working on her,” she said as she silently cursed herself. “They’ll figure it out, and she’ll be back to bouncing perkily around here and helping you save the helpless like the good ol’ days.”
Angel closed the file, clutching it tightly in his hands. “And Connor?”
“Your wish was our command.” She hitched a shoulder in response. “He gets the chance at a second life. One where he will hopefully turn out to be less of a young sociopath in the making.”
“Lilah,” he warned.
She simply smiled and sat forward, draping her arms over her knee. “I love it when you say my name like that. Makes me all tingly.” She grinned at the rage in his eyes. “Your boy is fine.”
“And his--” Angel swallowed hard. “--his family?”
“The typical nauseating all-American dream.” She smiled as she slid from her seat and approached him, her arms crossed. “Mom, dad, 2.5 kids, white picket fence. Perfect in every way.” She paused, sighing. “You wanted him to have the life he never had--”
“And now he does,” he finished with a slight frown. He glanced down at the blood that had finally dried on his hands.
Lilah frowned despite herself. “You did what you had to do.”
Angel’s head snapped up, and for a moment, Lilah was sure he was going to wrap his free hand around her throat again. She braced herself for the assault, but he only spoke in a quiet, enraged voice.
“You didn’t give me a choice.”
“Au contraire, sweetie. It was you who made the offer, not I.”
Angel tossed the file onto the desk as he took a threatening step towards her. She instinctively took a step back, the back of her thighs running into the solid wood frame. She dropped her arms, wrapping her fingers around the edge of the desk.
“You showed me where he was. You showed me what he was doing. You knew what I would be forced to do.”
“I knew that you wanted to find Connor. I only delivered. What you did with that information was your own choice.” She hesitated for a moment before remembering she was dead, and even if he wanted to kill her, he couldn’t. “Look, you wanted junior to have a decent life, and he has that now. So a little blood was shed in the process, big whoop.”
Angel growled and held his hand up to her face, and Lilah flinched momentarily, expecting to be hit for her remark. “Do you see this? That’s my son’s blood on my hands. That’s blood from the throat I slit.”
Lilah stared at his hand before finally turning her eyes to his. “I’m sorry.”
Angel scoffed bitterly, dropping his hand. “Sorry, Lilah? Sorry isn’t for people like you.”
He moved away from her with a shake of his head. She watched as he stepped up to the window, standing in the same spot she had been lingering in earlier.
“I thought you were supposed to be this big champion,” she finally said, not moving from her spot by the desk. “Champions get it. Sometimes you’ve got to shed a little blood to get what you want. It’s how the world functions. ” She paused. “You may have taken his life, but he got a shiny new one in return. One where he’s less likely to go postal and kill you all, which some people might view as a plus. I, however, am quite indifferent to the whole killing you situation considering my recent undead status.”
“Our definitions of what makes a champion vary, Lilah,” he replied, his back still to her as his gaze never turned from the horizon on the other side of the glass.
“Well, let’s see,” she replied, slowly making her way to him. “That favorite blonde Slayer of yours? She ran you through with a sword to save the world. Your first messenger from the Powers That Be? Sacrificed himself to save a bunch of demons.” She stopped just over his shoulder, her fingers looped through the belt loops of her slacks. “Your precious Cordelia? Was willing to choose death over losing those little memos the Powers like to send you guys. Wesley? Slit throat trying to save your little rugrat. Darla? Voluntarily got herself dusted for a second time to save said rugrat.”
Angel glanced over his shoulder at her, scowling.
“Not exactly the group of people I would prefer to give that coveted status to, but I’m sure you consider them all champions in their own little ways. And each of them made a sacrifice to get the job done.” She paused with a shrug. “Comes with the territory.”
Angel stared at her, then turned his attention back out the window.
“You should thank me, really,” she said after a moment of silence engulfed them.
Angel simply scoffed under his breath.
“They don’t remember.”
Angel turned, curious. “Who doesn’t remember what?”
“Your precious Save-the-Day team. To them, Connor never existed.”
“Wait, how?”
“Your basic mind-wipe. No fuss. No muss. No memory.”
“So,” Angel said, trying to grasp what he was hearing, “they don’t remember anything?”
“Where junior is involved? No.”
“But I still…”
“You still remember him obviously,” she finished with a nod. “Catch-22. The Senior Partners couldn’t give the kid a new life if this life still existed in any form, which included any and all memories.”
His eyes narrowed, suspicious. “Then why do I still remember him?”
“Which is where the thanking me comes in.” She smirked. “Call me a sucker for the sentimental. I figured you’d be better off without the mind-wipe.”
“Why?”
Lilah shrugged. “Because he was your kid maybe?”
Angel blinked, stunned by what appeared to be a nice gesture coming from Lilah Morgan of all people.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, boss, there are a few of your minions I need to check up on.” She smiled coolly and turned on her heels, making her way out of the office. She had just placed her hand on the doorknob when he called out to her. Lilah turned to see him still standing by the window, watching her.
“Another demand from the boss man?” she asked.
“I just… I am sorry.” He hesitated, trying to find the words. “About what happened to you.”
Lilah studied him as silence fell between them. She finally nodded and spoke. “Sorry, Angel? Sorry isn’t for people like us.”
With that, she smiled and strolled out of the office, never looking back.