Saturday in the Park, with Issues (rp for Lindsey)
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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But he could just have this moment, and store it away in his mind with the other moments that he had shared with her. Kisses from Darla were rare, and they always left him reeling.
This one was no exception. It was gentle to the point where she was human and didn't have the added strength to push him back a few steps. But there was still power there, the power that taunted him, controlled him, and kept him wanting more of her.
The kiss only confirmed what he already knew: no matter what woman came into his life, Darla would always have some control over him.
As she whispered in his ear, he chuckled deep in his throat. "Oh trust me, darlin', I have a lot of imagination in that regards."
He then pulled back and rolled his eyes at the vendor. You would think he would have better timing than interrupting an obvious moment between them. "It's my gift to you," he told Darla, reaching into his coat for his wallet. As his fingers racked along his chest, he winced, feeling the foreign seedling in his chest react to his touch by digging deeper. But he covered it quickly by clearing his throat and looking at the man as asking for the price before handing over that amount in cash.
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"You're a generous man," she says, and they continue to stroll between the booths. The next one has a lot of plastic action figures, which normally wouldn't be worth a second glance to her, but Darla suddenly remembers Kara making her watch something called The Simpsons with her as soon as Darla had a DVD player in her possession. She also sees a particular figure among the set, and can't resist. Being silly is allowed when one feels whimsical.
"Allow me to reciprocate," she says to Lindsey, and after buying a figure for Kara, she hands over one to Lindsey. His very own Action!Lawyer figure:
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He tucked the figure into his pant pocket, not wanting to rish his jacket one again, and then held his arm out for Darla.
"How are Connor and Kara doing? They both have been pretty quiet online lately."
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"You probably guessed from her five facts entry, but Kara has been through another break-up. It's hard on her, and we're all trying to make it easier."
Some of us via arranging unpleasant fates for Mr. Luthor, who has already been through the first series of nightmares, but this is something Kara won't find out about.
"Trust me, terrorizing cities was easier than being effectual in helping a teenager. As for Connor..."
...here she doesn't actually have to edit, because her son did not tell her or anyone else about Harry's new family situation. Nor do she and Angel know he knows about Kara's suicide attempt, because he found out via Bruce Wayne (who had it from Cordelia), of all the people.
"...it's college business, I assume. He has a lot of catching up to do after what happened last year, and he actually likes to study."
She sighs. Which isn't faked, because...
"I don't know whether Eve or anyone else told you. He was arrested for the murder of the Rileys, the family he remembers having courtesy of your lawfirm and Angel's deal."
And they only got him out through Lex Luthor, who is in a position to reverse this at any time. See why Darla can't just let Angel kill Lex but has to be sneaky about revenge? A former mass murderer's life is not an easy one, if she has children.
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Lindsey remembered not too fondly the little self destructive attitude he had fallen into when Darla had left him. Not the best period of his life, one he'd rather forget, except that there was always a physical reminder of events from that time right in the palm of his hand...
Said hand being that reminder.
"Eve and I haven't really talked much since Kara's party... and honestly, we didn't talk much before then either. So no, she hasn't told me. I'm assuming that Connor is innocent of these charges. He seems to be a good kid. A bit too much like his father for my tastes, but his heart is in the right place."
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(That, and the fact Angel might just try to kill Lindsey again otherwise, and not in a fun way.)
"I thought lawyers weren't supposed to ask the innocence question?" she says lightly, then gets very serious indeed. "As a matter of fact, no, he didn't kill them. He still feels guilty of their death, though. Being his father's son, he had the idea that the ideal way to protect them would be by removing their artificial memories of him. Something went wrong with the dissolving spell, and they died instead. Sometimes... sometimes I think he's looking for a way to punish himself for that ever since."
He certainly did when she talked to him while he was in prison, and she had to strike quickly and make him angry at her to get him out of this state. There is a difference in the way Darla and Angel interact with Connor as opposed to Kara, and it's not about preference or blood connection. They can't bring themselves to use what people these days called "tough love" with Kara, who has never seen their darker sides. Connor, raised by Daniel Holtz, had known about those sides before ever meeting them, and as bitter as it is to them, they use this at times.
"Speaking of hearts in the right places, though," she says, and regards Lindsey intently, "what do you have on yours?"
Because considering she opened up to him about her concerns, in an edited version or not, she thinks he can do this about whatever caused him to flinch earlier on and then made him put the figure in his pocket in order not to touch his breast again.
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As he listened to Connor's story, he felt his jaw set. He knew a thing or two about having artificial memories, about the guilt that you have for them afterwards. For a long time after Angel had pulled him back from the holding dimension, he had woken up wondering where his wife and son were, only to have the memories slamming back into him that they had not been real, and to feel this sense of loss each time.
He had a perfect life once too. Losing it was just another torture he had survived. And Connor had tried to protect the ones that weren't really even his to protect, and failed them. Tortures people shouldn't have to bear inside...
His mind drifted back into the conversation at Darla's question, and he licked his lips in confusion. He didn't know what she was really asking, instead thinking that in relation to Connor's story, it was the metaphoric heart she was refering to. "At this point, there's not much. Just trying to get used to being back amoung everyone again."
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