Saturday in the Park, with Issues (rp for Lindsey)

[tm_darla]

It's odd. Darla doesn't believe she has any particular attachment to Boston, or indeed other cities; if you live long enough, they all become places to leave, some more enjoyable than others, true, but she hasn't thought of any place as "home" since centuries

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[evilhandissue]

"You know smoking is bad for your health."

Lindsey had seen her walking by when he had gotten his cup of coffee at the local vendor. After what happened last night... yeah, best we not think on that.

But with that, and having to jump right back into his job that day with two meetings of past clients, a walk through the park was nice to relax with. Seeing Darla... that had made it all the better.

So yeah, he stalked her a bit, finding the right time to make his presence known. And if it kept her from putting that cancer stick between her lips, he would do so.

[tm_darla]

"And here I thought you'd enable me in my addiction," Darla says, with a small, but genuine smile. She hasn't seen him since Kara's party, and wrapped up in a rather complicated mixture of cat and mouse feelings and attractions, there is the odd fact Lindsey McDonald is one of the few people she genuinenly likes.

Besides, she's careful about being at the top of her game with most people, and it's not that easy if you have concerns that have no promising solutions. Lindsey has the advantage of already having seen her vulnerable; genuinenly so, not just acted for his benefit. Sometimes she resents this, but right now, she finds it relaxing.

"Well," she says, "in the interest of my health. How about a stroll, Councillor?"

Her left hand is still holding the cigarette, fingers twisting and twirling it, either playfully or nervously; it depends, as with much about Darla, on the eye of the spectator.

[evilhandissue]

"Not an addiction that would take you from this earth in a way that's not becoming of you." He gave her that soft smile that only certain people ever see, Darla being one of maybe three women in the past eight years that have brought it out of him.

"I'd love to. I think there's a small street fair taking place a few blocks over. Would you care to take a stroll through?"

[tm_darla]

She has to laugh, genuinenly amused, which she hadn't thought she would be about this particular subject, because her resiring by Drusilla is one of the few things she actually could have killed him for. But he hadn't feared death, and after the wine cellar, Darla thinks they were even.

"Trust you to ensure I make a beautiful corpse," she says, and nods, taking his arm. "Let's go there."

He gives her that vulnerable smile of his, and she wonders. He saw her kill. He also saw her cry and barely conscious as she tried to figure out what had happened to her while she was locked in a cage. And now he has made the transition himself.

"Lindsey," Darla says abruptly, in a switch of moods without warning he might recall from the time she smashed her mirrors, "who do you think I am? Do you think I'm human just because I have a pulse and I breathe? When you look at me, do you really see a human being?"

[evilhandissue]

Lindsey placed his hand over hers as they walked, and took awhile to think on the question in front of him before answering

[tm_darla]

"I wonder," she says, not specifying. Actually, she's wondering whether she wanted him to tell her that she was human, or that she wasn't, with the second giving her a convenient excuse for failing to get through to Kara. Excuses, excuses. She has always despised them

[evilhandissue]

"A name is just a label. It doesn't mean anything more than distinguishing the person. You'd still be the same woman no matter what your name is."

He sighed, his jaw squaring just a bit. He hated being asked about his past, but this was Darla asking...

"My mama, bless her soul, just thought that I was this big shot lawyer in an international firm, traveling around the world fighting justice. She didn't know what Wolfram and Hart really is like, and I never planned on her knowing. And my daddy... all he cares about these days is what's in the glass in front of him at the bar. There's no work out there for him anymore, my siblings are all grown and on their own, so it's all he has now. I want to think he's proud of me for getting out of there and making something of myself... but there are times I know he'd tan my hide if he knew some of what I do."

A small smile came to his lips. "Yeah, he'd probably beat me good if he knew. Not like it'd do much good now."

[tm_darla]

"It's the way fathers and sons usually communicate," she says ruefully, thinking of Angel and Connor. It's less the former vampire and more the woman from another age in her which sees this indeed as utterly normal; though she's making a joke at her own expense, she means it, too. Mothers and sons, and even more mothers and daughters, have other avenues of communication, but if you are an Aurelian, they can be just as violent. The first time she saw her son involved a young girl sacrificed. In a way, he had killed her instead of the girl, just like his father

[evilhandissue]

"It seems that way. And in the end, it worked... well, for the most part."

He stopped as Darla touched his cheek, his hand leaning into it just slightly before she pulled it away. His first thought would be that she was talking about her age in comparisson to his, and how he could have been offspring of hers if she had never been changed.

But when she mentioned the wine cellar, he realized what she meant. As he walked beside her, he stuck his hands into his pockets for warmth. "I know. And back then, I probably would not have complained. If it meant I got to be with you for eternity, that alone would have made me willing to die for it."

There was complete honesty in his voice. "I think, that's why I wasn't afraid there... I think that in some way, I was almost hoping you would, so that I could be with you." He stiffened a bit. "But you knew who you really wanted, and I wasn't him."

[tm_darla]

He really was a bit like Kara, with his emotional openness, still confessing his feelings, still offering despite knowing better. (Darla doesn't waste time considering whether this makes her like Lex Luthor. And she already knows she has some things in common with Harry Osborn, so she's not wondering that, either.) In a more frivolous mood, she might have replied differently and pointed out that wanting Angel and bringing Lindsey into the House of Aurelius needn't be mutually exclusive things, but for now, Lindsey gets an equally honest answer

[evilhandissue]

He knew her well enough to know it was a compliment and smiled at it. And not that he was glad she saw him as something above food and a ball of yarn, but because...

Angel had once told Lindsey that he didn't know Darla. And it's true. In the end, he hadn't know her completely. Lindsey doubted he ever would. But he knew enough, and that was all he needed.

"Have you ever wondered why you were brought back, Darla? This time. I mean, why after all you've done, would someone want to bring you back and not present an agenda before you?"

He might have been asking questions he had been wondering about himself as well, but seeing that Darla was in the same metaphoric boat, perhaps she could give him some insight.

He raised an eyebrow at the flowers. "Playing Orphelia now?"

[tm_darla]

"It's more Drusilla's role, but I thought Lady MacBeth was too obvious", Darla retorts. "I can do it if you want me to, of course

[evilhandissue]

"Well, you sure made my life chaotic for awhile, so I would agree with that." Lindsey laughed, then reached over to pick up a delicate gold necklace. He held it up to Darla for her to look at.

"Whatever it was that brought you back, I'm grateful."

[tm_darla]

Darla thinks it's pretty and wonders whether she should buy it for Kara. But the problem with jewelry gifts in the near future is that they will inevitably remind the girl of various millionaires with commitment issues. So perhaps she should look out for something else instead. Meanwhile, the necklace is still beautiful, so she smiles at Lindsey, raises a hand to pull back her hair and presents her neck.

"How grateful?" she asks playfully.

[evilhandissue]

He stepped behind her, carefully putting the necklace on her. Impulsively, he leaned down to kiss her bare neck a moment. Long ago, he would have hesitated, not wanting to move too fast or do something that would have been inappropriate. But with Darla, it was different...

"Why haven't you kissed me? - You've been dying for it, haven't you?"
"I didn't know if you wanted me to."
"Why should that matter? - Do you think I ever hesitated when I wanted something? Life's too short. Believe me, I know..."

Darla had taught him more than he would ever admit, things that he took to heart and used to help shape himself after leaving Wolfram and Hart.

"I can't imagine the world without you in it."

[tm_darla]

Given the way she had relentlessly flirted with him and teased him since meeting him again, Darla should have expected something like this sooner or later, and yet at this very moment, it comes as a surprise. Not a disagreeable one. She never flirts with people she wouldn't like to be kissed by, and Lindsey has always been attractive to her.

She turns around, the necklace quickly warming against her skin.

"Then you must have lived without imagination for years," she says. "Let's see what we can do to restore it."

She puts her arms around him and kisses him thoroughly. For a couple of reasons, but most of all because she feels like it, and she wants to. He doesn't taste so differently from his old self, but there is a difference; gained confidence, even more anger and loss since the last time, and yes, the bitterness of death and resurrection, which she knows just too well