Cleaning is good for the soul

[freddles]

Angel and Charles were leaving to go talk to.. what did they call themselves again? Night..something or others. Well, they were going to talk to the people who came by earlier to see what exactly was going on over at Wolfram and Hart. Hopefully they wouldn't shoo him away because of the little 'incident' with Angel sorta going off talking to

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[_wes_pryce_]

Well, if seeing Angel again had been...uncomfortable and well, painful. This is what we call...awkward. I've no idea what I'd been expecting when I came here. It's not as though I'm no longer welcome here, even if I don't feel it. Too much has happened, too much has been said and done for me to ever work here comfortably again I think.

Frowning, I take a step back from Fred who looks at though she feels threatened by me. You'd think she's used to people sliding in and out of her line of vision with Angel around. And considering he's still not wearing that bell I'd been suggesting since all eternity, I'm guessing he still does that lurking and skulking in the dark bit.

"Fred," I repeat again, mustering up a small smile as I nod at her. Carefully, I glance around, noticing the utter silence in the hotel. Now that is odd, considering there is a whole gaggle of Slayers and entourage around somewhere. "All alone I see?" Smart, Pryce. As though that wasn't perfectly clear.

"I uh...I just came by to see how everyone was holding up after the....news." A small flash of pain flits over my face before it’s gone. I wonder how long it'll take for me not to feel that small tinge of pain when I think about Cordelia. And the fact that she's gone. "So, how is everyone? Holding up, I mean." Pushing my hands in my pockets, I lean against the counter.

[freddles]

If this wasn’t awkward then I didn’t know what was. Here we were alone in the hotel and Wesley was just stopping by? It was like he couldn’t just stop by now after helping so much with Jasmine and the Beast. But.. yeah still weird. Funny how people seem t disappear around here when certain awkward situations come up. Though, it’s a good thing that certain people aren’t here right now. If Charles walked through those doors again with Angel, I doubt he’d be happy to see Wesley here again.

“Y-yeah, I think I am,” I said looking around the room a bit. “Angel and Charles went out a little while ago. Not really sure when they’ll get back.” Right, because knowing the two of them they’d storm over to Wolfram and Hart after meeting with the others. “And I’m really not sure where everyone else is.”

As we stood there I wondered if I should tell him exactly why and where Angel and Charles left. He might know something about this stuff right? After all, he’d been around the first time when they’d brought Darla back as human. Luckily, I just got to hear the colorful stories of Angel’s ‘dark time’ and everyone else’s new business they started.

“The news?” I asked. Then it hit me. Angel mentioned something to us about having gone to see Wesley first. I still wasn’t sure how I liked that, but I understood. “Well, I guess.. it’s still hard,” I said looking down at the mess I’d been trying to clean up for the past half hour. “On Angel especially.” Well, duh Fred. His best friend and son just died and possibly are being brought back from the dead as we speak. How would *you* handle it?

“He’s just been acting.. different lately.” You know, talking to ghosts, staying out all night with former slayers - though that probably wasn’t new - did I mention talking to ghosts? Clearing my throat, I looked up at him again. “H-how are you?”

[_wes_pryce_]

“Oh.” I nodded at that, not really sure what to say. And how odd was that? Fred and I used to talk for hours on end. Mostly about books, mind you, but still. We were usually able to find us a subject and converse about it for quite a lengthy time. And here I am, finding I’ve nothing to say to her. I don’t know anything I could talk to her about. Then again, I never was good with the so called small talk.

And Angel and Gunn went out. Together. They really don’t need me here anymore do they? I was a fool to think that. Sure, maybe with the Sunnydale people flocking in they might need someone to help organize. But I guess that’s all settled now. Why did I come here again? Oh right, because I cannot seem to stop worrying about my friends. Former?

“Yes it was a quite a…an adjustment for me as well.” To put it mildly. No one needs to know I spend a night getting rip roaring drunk for the occasion. Wait, did she just stay Angel was acting differently? That’s never good in my experience. Mourning yes, but acting so different even Fred would notice? That’s not good. “I’m fine,” I said, waving away the question, and focusing on the Angel acing differently.

“Angel’s acting different how? He’s not doing his usual brooding?” Last time he acted rather strange was when bloody Darla breezed into town. The mother of his child. The woman who’s son I stole. Right, in the past. Leave it there, Pryce.

[freddles]

Quite an adjustment? Well if that wasn’t putting it lightly I don’t know what was. Quite an adjustment was learning how to read prophecies in languages I’d never seen before because-.. well that was more than ‘quite an adjustment too I guess.

“Yeah.. it’s been an.. adjustment.” Sighing, I looked over at him and then blinked my eyes away. I wasn’t going to get upset again, especially now. And the fact that I felt that way? I hated it. I hated how every time I’d seen Wesley in the past year I felt uncomfortable around him as did everyone else.

He waved himself off as being fine and for some reason took an interest in how angel was doing and taking the news. I had no idea if I should tell him and if I should tell him if Angel wanted me to tell him. My eyes darted around the room for a moment before finally looking back at him.

“A-Angel? Yeah well, he still broods up in his room, when he goes out at night..but-well,” Sighing, I shook my head. Who cares what Angel wanted right now, but what he needed was more important. Wesley would be more help than I’d ever be when it came to something like this. “Yesterday when some people stopped by the hotel everything was going fine until Angel started talking to himself. Only he said it wasn’t just himself. He told Charles and I later that it was Darla.” I watched Wesley’s expression carefully, noticing the small changes when I mentioned Darla’s name. “Darla told him that Wolfram and Hart brought her back.. well, sort of. She’s not corporeal, but.. there are others who might be. Others who they might’ve *really* brought back.”

Well, it was done wasn’t it? Either way I’d probably have an upset vampire on my hands, but I didn’t really care. We needed all the help we could get with this, and I had a feeling those ‘Nightstalkers’ might not have had as much information about Wolfram and Hart as Angel was hoping.

They did come to us for information on them anyway, didn’t they?

[watcher_pryce]

An adjustment. I'm sure it has been. Now you know how I feel. Try adjusting to life again with all your friends gone. Your entire family gone. And you have to pick up your life again utterly alone. Well, there was Lilah. I miss Lilah oddly enough. Or maybe not so odd. It hurt to sever her head only to have her not explode into dust. I'd been so certain Angelus had turned her. Perhaps I had disturbed him just on time.

Yes, we've all gone through quite some 'adjustments'.

I keep trying to look casual as Fred talk. It's almost as though she's more nervous around me then ever before. It hurts, it hurts that she feels that way. It reminds me of the...incident where I chased her down this hotel with an axe. Strangely enough she was' afraid of me afterward. If only she knew that what happened there was something that was tucked so deeply away inside me I'd hoped it never would come out.

But she almost seems...

Sighing, I focus on what she tells me about Angel. My eyes narrow when she mentions Darla. Darla, always Darla. If it weren’t for her, that bitch, I'd still be working here. And things would've gone so very differently. Still, she gave her un-life and I took her son. It's a good thing she's gone, or I'd be feeling guilty toward her even more.

But it's disturbing to find out Angel thinks she's back again. It reminds me too much of the time he fired us. I certainly hope Gunn is on that case to make sure our resident souled vampire doesn't go off the deep end again.

"That's disturbing," I mutter, realizing that if Wolfram and Hart brought her back once, they may as well do it again. Wait...others? "What do you mean, 'others might've been *really* brought back? What others?" Christ, what did I miss now? I need to get a grip and get back into the game.

[freddles]

Disturbing was just a small part of what this felt like. I'd seen Angel act strange before, but talking to invisible people wasn't one of those times. None of this was normal, but when was anything around here normal? I hadn't known semi-normal since that day I read those words and ended up in Pylea for the next five years. Normal? I had enough of it as far as I was concerned. Ending up in a hell dimension for a good chunk of my life as a result of being 'normal'? I think I'll pass and go for the fighting demons and evil lawyers for a living, thanks.

Clearing my throat, I hesitated at his question. I couldn't exactly leave it at that and not tell him who exactly Wolfram and Hart might've brought back this time, could I? Even still, I wasn't looking forward to the pained expression I was expecting on his face when I told him that Cordelia might not be quite as dead as we all thought just hours ago.

"I-.. well, she never told him any names exactly, but-.." Did she even need to? Angel seemed pretty confident on who one of the 'other' people was and it was obvious who the other was going to be. Not that the two of them was all that they decided to bring back, but c'mon - Cordelia and Connor? Wolfram and Hart might be an evil law firm with millions of resources, but sometimes they did act way too predictable.

Even though it might've been predictable, sometimes that was just the thing to push our.. Angel's buttons and get under his skin the most.

I stumbled through a few more 'uhs' and 'wells' and as I looked up at Wesley, I couldn't tell if he was growing impatient with me or just curious to know who it was so hard to me to spill out there. Finally, I just sighed and shook my head, glancing up at him seriously. "If you could guess who the one person or persons would be that Wolfram and Hart could bring back to hurt Angel - and us - the most.. that's who they're planning or have already brought back." Pausing for a moment, I sighed. "I'd give you three guesses, but you're only going to need two."

A look passed over Wesley's face and I nodded slowly. He knew as well as I did who one of these someones might've been. "Cordelia and Connor."

[_wes_pryce_]

The look I gave her turned harder the more she seemed to think about whether or not she should tell me. My own brain had already provided me a list with possibilities about several 'who’s'. But I needed to hear someone else say them. To confirm my thoughts. As much as I didn't want to have them.

I also have to wonder what the hell they're trying to accomplish with it. If it is indeed true. For all we know, Connor *and* Cordelia's might've been a little too much to handle for Angel. If he's loosing it, it's not really a surprise he's seeing Darla. Or thinks he does. What better way for his guilt to manifest then by turning into the mother of his child?

But one look at Fred's face tells me that she's inclined to believe Angel more or less. She keeps on stammering through her explanation and I have to wonder how hard it can be to stay a name. Or two. Is she protecting Angel? Not wanting me to think he's lost it? They must know that if push comes to shove, I'm one of the few who will stake him if needed. A very old agreement between Angel and I. Not sure if it still holds up after all that's happened but...

Finally Fred seems to give up the stammering and turns to riddles. Though, not so much of a riddle if you're already half expecting it. I frown when she finally says the two names I've been waiting for. There have been rumors of course. My own source Brad had whispered something about Lilah. There's a woman that keeps confusing me. I'm pretty sure I killed her, yet she keeps showing up. Haven't seen her since our small tour de Wolfram and Hart though.

And wait a minute. "She? As in Darla? What is Wolfram and Hart up to." And then I suddenly realize something. "Fred? Where have Angel and Gunn gone to?" Something tells me it might just as well be that very firm.

[freddles]

Forget Angel and Charles, I felt like going over to Wolfram and Hart myself and finding out exactly was going on over there. I was tired of them doing whatever they could to ruin our lives and at times make them seem like a living hell.

I missed Cordelia and even Connor for that matter, but that didn't mean that I wanted to see them running through that door again after having been brought back by the one place that would do it for an ulterior motive. That being to get at Angel and at the rest of us. I'd love to see the both of them again, alive and well, but only if they'd never died in the first place. Can't people just stay gone anymore? After all they'd both been through for so long, they deserved some type of peace in the very least.

"Darla? Yeah, Angel said she was the one who told him what was going on over at Wolfram and Hart." If he actually did see her, that is. I wanted to believe Angel, I really did, but even before the incident in the lobby yesterday Angel hadn't exactly been doing good in the dealing department. When he explained it all to Charles and I, he'd made it sound so real but could he have just thought he saw Darla when he really didn't? Besides, the people who'd come to see Angel had mentioned something 'going down' there.

"What? Oh, they went to go see if the people who decided to drop by for a visit yesterday knew anything else about what might be happening over at Wolfram and Hart. They mentioned something about knowing there was a plan 'in motion' or something like that. They were vampire hunters of some kind, fancy type weapons. Two of them were actually.. well, two of them were Cordy's cousins."

If they found out more information or even if they didn't, I can very well see both Charles and Angel storming into Wolfram and Hart as easy as I can see Wesley standing here in front of me.

[_wes_pryce_]

So it had been Darla. I suppose since they brought her back once, they can do it again. Sure it lacks originality. But Lilah Morgan was the one who thrived for originality, not Wolfram and Hart. That firm thrived for efficiency. They didn't care if it was, as long as it got the job done. And Darla nearly got the job done. So why not try it again with a little adjustments?

And they really must be bringing out the big guns if there are rumors about Cordelia and Connor both being brought back as well. But will they be the same as Darla, whom I have to assume is a ghost if Angel isn't off his rocker. If only he can see his former sire, then she has to be a ghost. And if Cordelia and Connor are the same, they may just have found the perfect weapon against Angel and the others.

"They went where?" I looked at her surprised. There were some people who knew about what was going on? And Cordelia had cousins? I don't recall her ever mentioning her family. Other then Daddy' s 'misfortune'. Vampire hunters with fancy weapons. I think I'm going to have to visit Brad again for information.

But first I needed to know more about what Fred had told me. There was a time I could just walk into Wolfram and Hart. When...when Lilah was still alive and her sarcastic beautiful self. I wonder if I can still get away with it. Only one way to find out I guess. Who's the new CEO there anyway? Now *that* is going to be interesting to find out.

"Thank you, Fred," I nod at her, decision made. "I'll be around...err...soon. Unless you require my help with anything." Of course she doesn't. She'd much rather you left and stopped making things awkward. Yes, I think visiting Wolfram and Hart may be a good thing. What better place to get information as right at the source itself?

[freddles]

"I really don't know anything else about the place except for the card they left yesterday," I said and quickly scanned the counter. "I think Angel took it with him when he and Charles left a while ago." It had been a while since they'd left. Shouldn't they be back soon if all they did was go get information. By the looks of the weapons cabinet, it didn't seem like they took very many weapons with them if any.

"I doubt they knew much more than we do now otherwise they would've said something. Angel said that Co-.. Cordy's cousin's had come by earlier just after hearing, well after hearing he news about Cordy. They weren't all exactly the friendliest bunch."

For some reason I started to feel more comfortable with him standing here. Not comfortable, mind you but less uncomfortable. Maybe it was that we'd gotten past the initial awkward greeting of 'Hey, how are you since you've been gone and found out about one of your best friends deaths?'. It wasn't exactly a good conversation starter.

He started to act like he was going to leave already and I frowned slightly but shook it off. "Help? Oh-, well.. unless you wanna spend the rest of your afternoon cleaing up dried and sticky demon goop," I said glancing down at the ditry bucket of water and half cleaned up stain on the floor.

"And you're.. welcome." Not sure exactly what I did except tell him how Angel had been acting. Well, and about Cordy and Connor. But wait- if he was thanking me did that mean he was going out to do something about it? Probably so and I'd get stuck here again cleaning - by myself.

"A-alright. And Wesley? If you find out anything.. one way or the other.. call me, I mean us?" Sometimes I hated being the one in the dark all the time.

[_wes_pryce_]

It's probably my paranoia acting up again. But when she asks me to call them if I've any news, my immediate reaction is to ask why. But that's not how bridges are mended is it? I know they still don't trust me and they'll likely never will. I'm starting to doubt the wisdom of actually trying to work my way back into the agency.

Perhaps I should just offer my help when needed and stick to my own agency. It's working out quite nicely and from the looks of it, Angel and the others might need some help. Especially if what Fred told me is true. Which I've little doubt about, why would she lie about that? And why would Cordelia's cousins show up out of the blue and be not friendly?

Personally, I don't think they've any right to do so. Show up after everything Cordy went through *after* she died.

Taking a deep breath, I quickly push down my irrational irritation and frustration. Right, I've a job to do. Just because it's also in *my* interest things go smoothly. "Of course I will," I say curtly, raising my eyebrow at her...cleaning. Wonder why none of the Sunnydale people aren't giving her a hand. Or two.

"I'll be seeing you around then." Nodding at her once more, I turn on the balls of my feet and make my way toward the exit. Entrance...whichever.