Job's Plight.

Lilah Morgan, Head of Special Projects at Wolfram and Hart, paced outside the double doors of Conference Room 101 with a heavy heart. She did not want to be the bearer of this particular piece of news, especially since this law firm tended to the take the phrase 'kill the messenger' literally. However, in this case, delegating the task to someone else would not be the lesser of two evils.

Checking her watch for the fifth time Lilah sighed in frustration. Why had she not seen this coming?

The case had started off so well......

Forty-eight hours earlier.......

"So, Angel told you everything?"

Buffy moved her chopsticks back into the take-out box she was holding. "Yep, everything."

"Even when he was human for a day?"

"Yep."

"His Shanshu?"

Buffy smiled, leaning back into the topic of conversation's arms, in which she had been relaxing in most of the day. "That was kind of a non-issue, but yeah I knew."

"Darla?" Cordelia tentatively asked last.

"Even that."

"Well, colour me stunned." The seer popped a bit of Chinese in her mouth, swallowing it before continuing. "You're taking it all rather calmly."

"I know," the slayer replied, "but I don't really see why I need to be angry or upset about it. We both did some unconscionable things in the past. But none of it should matter if we love each other."

Angel nodded in agreement. "Sounds corny, but its true. We have a chance to make this work, and neither of us wanna lose that."

"Er, hi."

The group turned from where they had congregated to welcome the new arrival. "Fred," Wesley began, "you coming to join us?"

"Thought I would try." The young woman made her way into the circle, looking shyly around at everyone.

"Hi," the slayer began, holding out her hand, "I'm Buffy."

"Nice to meet you," Fred replied, shaking her hand. "Wes filled me in."

"Me too." Buffy came out of Angel's arms. "We saved some take-out for you." She led her off into the kitchen area of the hotel. Cordelia turned surprised eyes to recently shanshued.

"Look, I've been hinting that Fred needs a friend that's a girl ever since she got back," Angel replied, "and you haven't taken it."

"Hello," said a voice suddenly, "which one of you is Mr Pryce?"

"Whose asking?" Gunn replied as the gang turned to face the newcomer.

"He's Gavin Parks," Wesley commented in a deadly tone. "Of Wolfram and Hart."

"I'm here to deliver a list of fifty-seven city codes which this building is violating; including earthquake proofing, asbestos and termites." He laid the thick pile of paper on the circular seat nearby. "You should also be aware that I have filed a copy of this with the city planning office."

"Gee, fifty-seven," Angel deadpanned. "Is that a lot?"

Gavin Parks merely stared at him. It was a brief contest, Angel emerging victorious, as the attorney closed his briefcase and delivered his parting words. "We'll be in touch."

Gunn waited until the door was closed before commenting. "You know, for a recent ex-vamp Angel, you still can do the role."

"Its a shame," Cordelia remarked, as Buffy and Fred came back into the room, "why is it only villains know the true value of good chinos."

No one had time to formulate a reply on that, as she suddenly stumbled, a vision hitting her mind. After it was over, Cordelia slowly sat up, muttering to herself, "I thought they wouldn't be like that anymore."

"Cordelia?" Angel, who had been close enough to hear her, queried. She seemed to come back to earth then, and quickly got up. "I'm fine, its nothing. There's this coin you need to find. In a herbalists. A demon with er, five claws."

"On it," Buffy replied, grabbing a city directory and flicking through. Wesley walked over to the books, selecting a volume to flick through also.

The seer quietly slipped out to a bathroom. Inside she cautiously lifted up her top to see the deep cuts that had accompanied the first vision she had had for a while. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she softly uttered to herself, "what's happening to me?"

It was only the boys in the end that went to fetch the coin in Cordelia's vision. Buffy, who was still recovering from coming back from the dead, together with Fred, saw the seer back to her apartment.

Cordelia came into her living room, fully into her role of fake exhaustion, only to find one occupant as a pose to two. "Where's Fred?"

"Rediscovering the wonder that is your tub of peanut butter," Buffy replied, looking at her host carefully. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Cordelia answered breezily. "There's no need for you two to be here, honestly."

The comment might have worked, had not another vision decided that the timing was right to kick in. Cordelia collapsed to the floor screaming. Buffy called out to Fred, as she took out her mobile, ready to call the guys. Just as the latter crouched down beside them both, the torment passed, burns appearing on her head.

Buffy stared in shock at the sight for a moment, before opening her phone again. "This isn't right," she said to Fred. "The visions aren't meant to hurt her anymore."

"Do we call someone?"

"We can't explain this to a doctor. We need to find out why this is happening."

"You mean like asking the powers?"

"Exactly. But first we have to find out a way of contacting them."

"Why don't we trace the source?"

"Trace the source?"

"Lorne. He could."

Buffy directed her to Cordelia's home line. "You call him, I call the guys."

When Angel, Wesley and Gunn had arrived back from the herbalists with the coin in hand, Lorne was already in with Cordelia, preparing to trace the visions through a reluctant seer. Her insistence that the Powers were responsible however, was getting no support.

"I agree," Angel remarked to his mate after she had explained her theory, "but can they actually do that?"

"I've heard its possible," Wesley said, as he looked at the artist impression of the new item they needed to retrieve. "I think I know what these do now, but I need to go back to the Hyperion to confirm. It also looks like that the demons we killed to get this were actually on our side."

"Damn," Gunn muttered, "its so hard to tell these days."

The Host returned from the bedroom. "Well, you were right, its not the Powers. The Charmed Ones took care of the damage that their visions do. These are definitely of the man made variety. I suggest you guys start looking at your enemies for the root of this vision problem."

Angel nodded in thanks. "I'll go and get that key. Then pay a visit to a certain law firm we know."

It was what happened next that had annoyed Lilah Morgan the most. She had prepared everything so well........

After parking the two limousines at the meeting place, she stepped outside to face Angel standing in front of the car which held the man she had wanted him to retrieve. Then with a single glance, she had turned to motion her weapon to withdraw the pain and injuries they had inflicted on Ms Chase. She watched the car as Mr Pryce dialled a number on his cell, listened for a moment, before putting it away, and nodding at Angel.

Lilah watched him as he retrieved the client out of the car and handed him over. She saw Billy to the second limousine, closing the door.

Then, the entire plan went to hell. There was a sound of something slicing through the wind, and Lilah turned to see a piece of pipe thrown through her physic contact by Angel. Barely had she time to recover before the sound occurred again. She turned to the other car, her worst fear coming to the fore.

Another piece of piping was through the head of Billy. From the other side of the limo the person responsible popped up from where she had been in wait since the cars had arrived in the meeting place. "Hi," she had begun. "Just thought I ought to let you know I'm back. Nice meeting you."

"Don't ever come to us through Cordelia again," Angel then delivered, leaving Lilah to watch stunned as they left the scene.

The doors of Conference Room 101 opened, revealing her most recent enemy in the firm. Lilah silently groaned. "Parks," she muttered in acknowledgement.

"They're ready to see you now," the new attorney assigned to Special Projects seemed especially smug.

Lilah tried to pay no attention as she walked inside. "I came to inform you of a piece of news which has recently come to light concerning Angel." She reached inside her briefcase and drew out a large photograph, turning it so it could be viewed by her superiors, trying not to rejoice inside so soon as she saw Gavin Parks gasp in surprise. "It seems we have a problem with our main objective."

The photograph was blurred; a shot of someone firing a crossbolt, the face obscured. It had only two words as its heading. Unknown Player.

"Seriously, thanks you guys for not listening to me," Cordelia began, laying out the plates before the rest of Angel Investigations.

"Is this safe to eat?" Wesley asked with a smile. The seer shook her head in exasperation. "Yes, don't worry. I just thought we should use this large kitchen that we have for once." She turned to the others. "Er, guys, just because neither of you have eaten much since his Shanshu and your death reversal, doesn't mean you can inhale. Its disgusting."

"Sorry Cor." Buffy smiled at them all. "Its just they're good, and its kind of late."

"It is," Angel agreed, pushing the plates away and grabbing her hand. They rose from their seats. "Goodnight."

Leaving the rest to shake their heads, the two human warriors made their way upstairs to their rooms. Inside, conversation and everything else was soon forgotten as they moved in the ancient and oft repeated ways of celebrating love.

Afterwards, as they lay in blissful exhaustion among the sheets of the bed in their suite of rooms, the two needed no words to be exchanged about how each other felt. For they both felt the same thing.

This was completely and finally, right.

Two hours away, there lay a town that had seen so much suffering over the past days. Its unknown saviours, still recovering from the fights and injuries, gathered around a marble effigy in one of the graveyards.

"It didn't work."

"Don't worry Willow. We can try again."

The wiccan nodded determinedly. "We will bring her back."

Little did they know that they already had.

The End.
To be Continued In.......
Shades Of Grey.

© Danielle Harwood-Atkinson 2021. All rights reserved.