The One Who Was Lost

If you asked Cordelia, she'd still insist that "The Chase Agency" had the best ring to it, but then is that really any surprise? She liked the name Wesley had chosen, despite it not including her own, and despite the British spelling he insisted on using. (What was with Brits and their extra "U"s anyway?)

Though she would have had issues with his freeway sign. Five cents? Clearly Wesley shouldn't be allowed anywhere near their fee schedules.

"Now all we need are some paying clients," Cordelia pointed out as she followed him inside. "We can start putting up the flyers tomorrow. And the web site went live this morning, so our marketing's got a good start."

She just needed to do a final check on the flyer before making the copies. After that whole debacle with Angel's flyers having the wrong phone number, she was being extra cautious.

From:

"I'm with the cheerleader on this one. Money. Money sounds like a right good idea 'bout now," Spike announced as he walked quite ceremoniously inside, finding Wesley's desk and propping his feet up on it as he sat down. "Oh, and where's my X-Box at? Thought I told you t'bring it here so's I can play Guitar Hero in between savin' the world and all."

If he'd looked carefully (which he never did), he would have noticed that the front desk he'd brushed past had a small (very very very small) nameplate on it. With his name. Well, with "William" on it, because if this was going to be an up and up company, then he knew good old Percy wouldn't have wanted "Spike" listed as the receptionist.

Not that Spike had noticed, naturally.

"Oi, where's my blood at? Someone go get me my cup of blood. Maybe mix a little coffee in it or Wheatabix, for old times' sake and shit."

From:

Gwen stepped across the threshold carrying two bottles of champagne. What was a grand opening without champagne? Or a party without a celebration? Not that this was a typical party, but it was a celebration... for Wesley. There would also be fodder for teasing and button pushing she was sure.

Like who got the bigger office space. Her lips curled into a smirk. This was going to be fun.

"Paying clients won't be a problem." Gwen assured Cordelia. "As long as you don't mind where the money came from, I have a list of prospective people."

From:

Lindsey followed in last, hands deep in his pockets but keeping very quiet and to himself. He still wasn't all that comfortable with the agency idea, but right now it had two things going for him.

One, Cordelia was a part of it, so if the agency was busy, it would keep her in LA and not from going to New York because of Kara-induced guilt trips. Lindsey was for anything that kept his girlfriend on this coast, that was for sure.

And two, it kept him doing something. If nothing else, he could focus his energies into whatever assanine job Pryce threw in his direction. For the past few months he had really been looking for something to hit, and this might give him a reason to.

Oh look, a reason. Lindsey rolled his eyes at Spike as he sat on the edge of his desk. "You have two legs. Go find some yourself."

From:

"Thank you for taking care of that, by the way," Wesley mentioned to Cordy. "I couldn't make heads or tails of what some of those site designers were saying."

He then turned to smile at Gwen. "To a point, we might. Especially at this stage, we can certainly take things case by case."

Spike's entrance and Lindsey's clear chagrin at being included in the group were par for the course Wesley had expected. But then, he hadn't intended for either of them to constantly play nice, and that was the point. That didn't mean he wouldn't have a bit of fun.

"Now, now, Lindsey..." he said, still smiling. "Spike's going to be doing quite a bit of legwork for us, no reason for him not to rest up a bit now." Wesley nodded to Spike. "By the way, this office is actually mine. Your desk is front and centre. With the telephone and headset, near the coffee maker. Now if you'd just find a bucket for Gwen's champagne, please. That's a good man."

From:

Cordelia was already walking through the office towards her desk, and was pretty much ignoring most of the conversation. She'd already heard enough of Lindsey's grumbling about the agency that she'd stopped listening, and Spike's demands for blood didn't matter. The only vampire she ever fetched blood for was on the other side of the country.

"As long as they pay, and we're still doing good, I don't care where you find them," she said to Gwen as she passed by her. "Money is money."

That's the one thing about Cordelia you can always count on. Even with half the Osborn fortune, she's still as mercenary as ever.

When she got to her desk, she dropped her purse into her chair and headed back to where the others were gathered in time to catch what Wesley was saying.

"Oh, that's William. I saw the name plate and wondered who else we'd hired." She grinned at Spike and leaned a hip against Wesley's desk. "I don't like my coffee with too much milk. For future reference."

From:

Spike lit up a fag, then frowned at Lindsey, followed immediately by a glare at Wesley and a scowl at Cordelia. "What the sod all are you goin' on 'bout?" Honestly. He flicked the match to the ground and walked over to the front of the office and saw the nameplate finally.

"WILLIAM? I don't get a bloody last name?" He slammed it down hard on the desk and looked around it. All things considered, there weren't any daft unicorns or pink shit like Harmony used to have. He tilted his head a bit (since that was how you could usually tell he was thinking), and remarked, "Headset's too small, mate." Snapping his fingers as if a light bulb went off, he dashed over to the coffeemaker, turned it on, then ran back to Wesley's desk and blew a nice curly-cue of smoke into his face.

"Right then. I still get t'go out on missions. I'm the only one 'round here other than Sparky whose got any sort of protection against the Big Bads of the world." Magical tattoos? Visions of the future? Dusty Watcher books? Pfft.

"You need me." He paused, then smirked. "And you better buy me a nicer phone, else I'll make your life just as much a livin' Hell as I did with Gramps."

The last bit could have been directed at anyone, really.

From:

Gwen laughed as she went to get a bucket for the champagne bottles and glasses to use. Yep, this place was entertaining all ready.

As she stepped into the doorway between the kitchen and the large area she heard Spike talk about making their lives a livin' Hell. Gwen turned to grin over her shoulder at him. "Oh, I'm counting on that, Spike."

The kitchen was small enough to find things easily and Gwen found something that would work to put the champagne in. She left a bottle in the kitchen with ice around it then returned to the main area with other bottle and glasses. "Who's up for a celebratory drink?"

From:

Ok, Lindsey had to give one to Pryce. Making Spike the secretary was a wonderful idea. He would never say that out loud, cause hell, someone might mistake it as Lindsey actually liking something Pryce did.

But yeah.

He waited until Spike was just about to sit down, then while looking at Gwen and her champagne, waved his hand and focused his TK just enough to move the chair out from under the pompous vampire's ass. Only one around? Lindsey thought not.

"I'll take one," Lindsey said with a smirk, not because he was all celebratory, but because he was waiting to hear a crash from behind the desk.

From:

Not that Wesley was under the impression Spike couldn't defend himself against the assembled sarcastic might of the group in the office, but a solid round of "kick the vampire" was not the activity for which everyone had come that day. He placed a foot behind Spike's office chair, hoping it would be in time to keep the vampire from falling to the floor. Hoping, but not trying especially hard.

"I'd be happy to put your last name on the plaque, Spike, but... no one seems to know it, and I am certainly not going to have the agency's administrative coordinator referring to himself to clients as 'William the Bloody'. As for your equipment, feel free to order yourself what you need-- within reason-- with everyone else's requests." Wesley nodded, adding, "And yes, when the need arises, we'll make use of your... particular talents."

Taking a glass of champagne with a smile to Gwen, he looked at the others. "Now, I suppose all that's left is to make yourselves at home. A few leads are opening up, so I hope to have our first cases lined up soon."

From:

Cordelia had been with Lindsey long enough by now to spot when he was using magic, and narrowed her eyes at him when she saw his hand wave. Not that she had a problem with him messing with Spike, but pushing the vampire on their first day seemed like going a little too far. She might have even said something, but Wesley intervened, apparently having noticed as well, and she relaxed. Good to know he was on the ball like that.

Determined to keep the atmosphere light, she took a glass from Gwen, more to keep up appearances than out of a desire for champagne. She sipped at it carefully and told herself one glass wouldn't mix too badly with her medication. She'd had more than that in the past with no ill effects.

"Leads are good. Are they the kind of leads that can pay? Cause those are the kind I like." Another sip, followed by a bright smile as she leaned against Wesley's desk. "For one, they give us money. And for another, they're usually easier than the kind the Powers send our way."

Speak of the devil (devils?): she'd barely finished talking when a vision crashed over her, giving her none of the advance notice she'd been getting for the past few months. Before, she'd been able to feel them coming so she could make a quick retreat and suffer through in privacy. It would seem she'd reached the end of the PTB's patience, and they were taking matters into their own hands. She'd waited too long to tell everyone what was going on, so no more secret visions for Cordy. This one was going to be nice and public, whether she liked it or not.

She cursed softly as the champagne glass slipped from her fingers and shattered at her feet. Grabbing her head, she slouched against the desk in a vain attempt to stay on her feet, but the vision was too painful. If somebody didn't catch her, she was going to be following that glass to the floor rather quickly.

ooc: Hope it's okay that I went right into this. I was going to rethread so the two parts could play out independently of one another, but Wesley's tag led into it so nicely, I did it here. If you'd rather I rethread, let me know and I'll fix it. :)

From:

Spike was trying to think up a good and proper last name to have on his name plaque as he sat down very easily, not noticing everything that had been going on. Well, that wasn't entirely true -- he'd noticed Gwen and the alcohol and was about to ask her for a glass since vamp constitution was a bitch, so he knew he'd better get started drinking right quick, and then it happened.

The "saving the damsel-in-distress" part of him kicked in once he watched Cordelia. That was his trouble, really. Any bird that needed his help got it, whether they liked it or not. After the glass fell to the floor, Spike was up and holding Cordelia in an instant, frowning down at her.

"Luv? What's wrong?" He looked up at Lindsey with an accusatory glance, although he knew the man more than he knew the girl. "What the bloody hell is goin' on here?" Sure, he knew she was the one who got the visions after that half-demon he'd met once had died, but he'd never been there to witness any of them. He looked over to Wesley, stroking Cordelia's hair softly as if to soothe her, then to Gwen.

"Will somebody get some help for her, here? Pills, doctors, something?" His voice was a little bit bordering on frantic, but then again, the last time a woman had acted this way, she had died and her body had been taken over by a god-king.

Not again. By God, not again.

From:

In an instant everything changed. There was entertainment, then there was a healthy dose of what the hell. The latter fell into the what the hell category. Spike's preternatural reflexes got him to Cordelia's prone body before anyone while Gwen set the champagne down on the nearest desk.

Her gaze flicked between everyone in the room before landing on Lindsey. "Okay, what the hell? Do I need to call 911 or is this a normal thing, Lindsey?"

From:

Lindsey couldn't move as fast as Spike, but he moved pretty damn fast the second he saw something was wrong. He knelt down beside Cordelia and Spike, worry and pure confusion in his eyes.

"I don't know what's happening!" He said to both Spike and Gwen because this was his first time ever seeing Cordelia have a vision like this. She had been hiding them from him since they had come back.

"Cord, baby..." he grabbed her hand since Spike was holding her to the point that he couldn't even comfort his own girlfriend. "I don't know what to do..."

From:

"As a matter of fact," Wesley said in reply to Cordelia as he turned away, looking for his notes. When it hit Cordelia, he was more than happy at Spike's presence, as the vampire's speed kept Cordelia from forcibly hitting the floor. Panic took over the room, radiating from everyone present. Everyone except Wesley himself, though the massive surge of surprise and concern was not such a different reaction. He shrugged off his jacket and bundled it under Cordy's head.

"Let her down, Spike, and put your jacket under her feet to elevate them," he instructed, forcing his voice to remain calm and even.

Now that there was room, Wesley moved to Cordy's side, kneeling opposite Lindsey. Wesley's hands were busy taking Cordy's pulse and running over her face. "Cordelia," he said gently, then raised his volume a touch. "Cordelia, can you hear me?"

He raised cold blue eyes at Lindsey. "Tell me you didn't know," he said through a tightly clenched jaw. "Tell me you didn't know the visions were back like this."

From:

Cordelia hadn't heard all of the questions around her, too busy focusing on the vision so she wouldn't miss anything. She'd found that as they got more painful, she had to concentrate harder to catch everything. But she'd heard bits and pieces of what the others were saying, and knew her sudden collapse was generating a fair amount of confusion and panic. Just great.

Wesley's words were the first to cut through clearly once the vision passed.

"He didn't know," she said before Lindsey had a chance to answer. "No one did. Damn it." She raised both hands to her head, certain it was about to explode on her.

"Drugs. Please. In my purse." The initial burst of pain from the vision was taking its time subsiding, making it hard to form complete thoughts. There would be a small aspirin bottle in her purse for anyone that looked, with a jumble of prescription painkillers inside.

Finally, she opened her eyes and looked around. As much as she loved to be the center of attention, she really wished they'd all look somewhere else right now. She'd forgotten how much she hated having visions in front of other people. Her only consolation was that she was pretty sure she didn't scream too much this time.

"The demons..." Cordelia started to sit up, determined to act like everything was fine and tell them about the vision, but her head throbbed in protest. Clenching her teeth against the pain, she closed her eyes again and stayed where she was. She felt foolish laying there in the middle of the floor, but until the pain eased a little, she couldn't move.

She squeezed Lindsey's hand and hoped he wouldn't be too furious with her for keeping this from him.

From:

Since Gwen was the only one not gathered around Cordelia she went after the purse and the pills. She noticed the aspirin bottle and the painkillers. Since she had no idea which ones Cordelia needed she grabbed them both.

Gwen brought the pills and a glass of water to Cordelia. "Damn. I'm glad I only got struck by lightning. At least I don't have to put up with that crap."

She'd never heard that Cordelia's visions were hurtful just that she'd had them.

From:

Spike began pacing after he let Cordelia down like Wesley had said to. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his duster as he tried to think of something useful to do, but Sparky came by with the pills that the cheerleader needed and he sighed a little in relief.

He ran, suddenly, back to the coffeemaker because it was done brewing, and Spike came back with a mug for Cordelia -- sure enough, exactly like she'd asked for it, without too much milk. "Here," he offered, shrugging a bit and ignoring completely that he'd just done his new 'job' perfectly.

"Demons? What demons? The hell is she goin' on 'bout?" Spike looked at both Wesley, who seemed to know what he was doing, and Lindsey, who he was ready to punch even though Cordelia had said he hadn't known.

From:

Oh, Lindsey was furious all right. Or he would be when the concern adrenaline from the pure fear and panic settled down into the pit of his stomach. He also didn't like the fact that everyone else knew what to do or what was happening, and he was being looked at with accusing glances.

He glared back at Wes, not liking the tone of voice, but Cordelia had answered for him so he didn't bother to say anything. How could have even know that this was a vision? She might have told him what they had been like, but except for the one time in the hospital when she was still under Voca's curse, he had never seen her have one.

Cordelia's visions had always been Lilah's focus, while Angel had been his.

Squeezing her hand back, he settled himself down on the floor a bit more comfortably. Though he did give her a look that showed he wasn't happy with her at all.

From:

She wasn't surprised by the look, but would have to deal with it later.

Cordelia took the pills and water from Gwen with a murmured thanks, then struggled to sit up so she could take them. She dug two painkillers out - one a fast-acting mild one and the other a stronger, but slower prescription. Mixed together, they tended to work pretty well, taking off the edge quickly to let her function again while she waited for the good stuff to kick in.

Once she'd washed them down with the water, she started to lay back again, but stopped when Spike appeared with the coffee. It smelled heavenly, and she took the mug with a smile that was only slightly pained.

"Thanks." She sipped carefully. "For the coffee, and the save. If you hadn't been so fast, I probably would have faceplanted into that glass."

Not a fun thought.

"Anyway, the vision." Yes, she was avoiding the subject of her headache. She'd gotten so good at pretending they didn't exist, why stop now?

"There were a bunch of demons - maybe 4 or 5? It was dark, so I couldn't really tell. They were in this building, something industrial, with machinery around. A plant or a factory or something. And they had this kid on a table. A boy, but not real young, just not quite at puberty yet. I couldn't see his face, cause they had a bag over it, but they had some weird symbol drawn on his chest and one of the demons had a pretty nasty looking knife. I'm thinking some kind of ritual. It's in a couple of nights, so there's time to stop it. Oh, and I smelled rotten eggs. I don't know if it was the demons or the place, but it was pretty strong."

She took another drink of the coffee to steady herself. "As soon as I can get up, I'll draw the symbol for you. The green pill should be kicking in soon. It's usually pretty fast. Once it's working, I'll be able to think again."

From:

OOC: Sorry for the delay!

"Cordelia was-- is, it seems-- a seer," he explained quickly to Spike. "The Powers That Be send her visions of evil or wrongdoing that it is our job to prevent or avenge. What they are not supposed to do is affect her so powerfully physically anymore. But then, I'm not up to the status quo on the situation."

Wesley knew that Lindsey would bristle at the very near accusation, but frankly, Wesley couldn't care less. If the man had known about Cordelia's condition and had been doing nothing to resolve it, any thoughts of truce would have vanished completely.

He helped Cordy sit up, then listened carefully as she detailed the vision, trying to catch every word as best he could. It sounded very much like so many visions he recalled from the old days of Angel Investigations, and despite his concern for his friend's predicament, Wesley couldn't help the surge of déjà vu at that moment.

"Don't rush," he told Cordy. "You've given us a great deal to go on already. Just concentrate on getting well, and once we've taken care of these demons, we'll figure out just how to address your abilities flashing back to this unwelcome status."

From:

"I know what she is, you ponce," Spike sneered at Wesley. He'd heard all the stories about Cordelia from Angel many, many, many times when he'd been stuck as a ghost and trapped at Wolfram & Hart. With nowhere to go, he'd bugged Angel enough that his gransire had told him more than he'd really wanted to know, but he'd been bored at the time.

"I'll get the demons," he offered, since he wasn't a researcher and he sure as hell wasn't going to sit around answering phones while there were Big Bads to stop. Plus, he was fairly brassed off at the moment -- not really at anyone in particular -- but it was frustrating to see Cordelia act liek that, despite what good old Wes might try to say to make things sound fine and dandy.

Or despite what the cheerleader herself said, he realized as he watched her pop pills like candy. "Not a problem, pet," he answered her when she thanked him for the coffee. "There's more where that came from if you need it."

Spike, protector of damsels in distress at your service.

From:

Gwen jumped on the demon hunting bandwagon right behind Spike. The tension between Cordelia and Lindsey could be cut with a knife and no way in hell was she sticking around for that particular drama. She felt bad for Wesley, but eh he knew she was a survivor and that included couple drama. "I'll go with Spike." She gave Wesley a sympathetic glance, and silently promised to make it up to him later.

"Once we know what the symbol looks like I can get in touch with some of my contacts. They might know something. Sulphur smell is common, but warehouses aren't. Especially not around where they can do human sacrifice without rent-a-cops seeing it. We can check out abandoned factories. Can't be too many of those in LA."

From:

"If you three go, I'll stay behind and take Cord home so she can rest."

Lindsey looked at her with the and you can tell me what else you've been hiding from me look, then looked up at Wesley with eyes that suggested for the birtish man to agree with him.

From:

Wesley nodded at the others. It was a solid division of their efforts. He reached out and gave Cordelia one last pat on the the shoulder. "Let him take care of you," he instructed gently, "and we'll let you know when we have answers. You're going to be fine." His last look at Lindsey gave him enough assurance that she would indeed be in good hands for the time being.

Walking to the book shelf, Wesley slipped a pair of leather-bound volumes into his satchel. He unlocked his desk drawer and drew out a pistol. Checking that it was loaded, he holstered the weapon, shouldered his bag and turned to Spike and Gwen.

"All right, then. Let's go to work."

From:

"Just a sec."

She wasn't going to argue against Lindsey taking her home, even though she knew there was bound to be a fight once they got there. But Cordelia didn't want everyone to run off before she could give them all the information she could. Her head might be killing her, but she wasn't going to shirk her Vision Girl duties!

"Let me draw that symbol for your before you go." She struggled to get up enough to reach for a pad of paper and pen on the desk next to her, then quickly scribbled her best interpretation of the symbol she'd seen in the vision. When she was done, she held it out to whoever wanted to take it and slouched back against Lindsey.

"That's the symbol I saw on the boy. I wish I could describe the demons better, but they were in the dark, and they had these cloaks on with hoods. All I could see were red eyes."

Which didn't narrow things down very much, she knew.

"I'll call if I remember anything else."

From:

Gwen walked over to Cordelia and took the symbol she'd drawn with a smile of thanks. She glanced down at the drawing but the symbol didn't mean anything to her. Her hand reached over and gave Lindsey's shoulder a squeeze before moving back to join Wesley and Spike.

"Thanks, Cordelia. This helps a lot. If you need anything..." Gwen's gaze swung to Lindsey, encompassing them both. "just call." She nodded toward the door. "Ready?"

From: