Flesh and Blood (15/25)

Author- Midnight Faith

Pairing- Lindsey/Lilah with Cordy/Angel on the side… Allusions to Lilah/Gunn and Fred/Gunn. Some implied Lindsey/Fred. Lindsey/Kate.

Spoilers- 'Birthday'

Distribution- ff.net, Ace of Harts, Neurotica… anyone else just ask :)

Rating- R

Summary- Lilah and Fred find common ground as Cordelia gets a terrifying vision…

Notes-' Part 3/3 of a trilogy. Which also contains 'Southern Comfort' and 'Silver Cloud, Bitter Lining.'

"One hour, Lilah… then we can take her home…" Lindsey told her, leaning over to look at Hannah asleep in her arms.

"How long have we been here?" Lilah asked him, "Feels like forever…"

"Two days…"

"Two days?"

"I know… feels like longer… we're supposed to be moving into this apartment today…"

"Where is it?"

"Opposite Wes' apartment building…"

"It's pretty… all Spanish style, low rise, close to the hotel…"

"Well the first room we paint is the nursery… Stencils maybe… The little mermaid."

"Yeah… whatever you want," Lilah said distractedly, looking towards the door to see Fred standing there holding a plush, pink teddy.

She hesitated at the doorway momentarily before walking shyly over to them, as if she might change her mind and bolt from the room at any moment.

"I bought this…" she said cautiously, "For Hannah. A get well soon kind of thing… The teddy's name is Valentine, in accordance to the tag on its ear… but you can change it if you want to… I found it vaguely ironic with it being December 1^st and all… oh and by the way we bought you both advent calendars… they're back at the office. It suddenly occurred to me on the drive over that she's what? Fifteen days old now… and I haven't seen her yet…"

Lilah stood up and smiled at Fred weakly.

She tentatively took a step towards Hannah peering over the edge of the blanket to get a closer look.

"She's so tiny…" Fred said, "I'm sure Connor was never that small… she looks like a miniature… both of you."

"Do you want to hold her?" Lilah asked Fred.

She considered for a moment before saying,

"OK."

Lilah gently placed Hannah in Fred's arms.

"I'm going to see if I can find a doctor… see if we can get out of here now," Lindsey said leaving Fred and Lilah standing awkwardly in the corridor.

"We're all a little tired…" Lilah said eventually by way of explanation.

"You must be exhausted…" Fred said letting the sympathy run into her voice.

"Yeah, well I've been using Lindsey's shoulder as a pillow for the past… I want to say two days but before that…"

"How long since you've had a decent night's sleep?"

"Try fourteen years… Fred, about everything with…"

"Gunn? You can say his name…"

"I really can't… I think maybe the worst thing about what happened wasn't that I lost both Gunn and Lindsey… but I lost a potential friend in you… and I hate that… Wesley told you to come here today didn't he? Or Cordelia?"

"No… I was driving a bunch of Hannah's things between Cordelia's old place and the new apartment… and I realised what a selfish brat I was being. Connor and Hannah deserve better… they deserve to grow up in a place free from hostility and us avoiding each other."

"No more avoiding each other," Lilah said with a smile, "I wish we'd had this conversation a week ago… and then you could've moved in instead of…"

"Lindsey? Are you dreading it?"

"Yes… and no. I just think it'll be weird. Doing this whole 'just friends' thing and living together… It's all a bit too much…"

"Yeah… I have the biggest crush on him… I really just said that out loud didn't it?"

"Get in line…"

"There's a difference between having a crush and being completely in love with him… he's yours… really. You'd only have to say 'I love you…' and he'd take you back in a heartbeat…"

"We've tried it… and it doesn't work…"

"Take it from someone who's been watching from afar. Lindsey is in love with you… he has been for a long time…"

*****

"Hey… we're home," Lindsey called through the new apartment, Lilah and Fred following close behind him.

Cordy, Wesley and Kate appeared in the hallway looking a little dust smudged.

"Well, what do you think?" Cordy asked Lilah as she followed her into the living room.

"It's… white," Lilah offered, "Almost blinding."

"We'll paint it," Cordy said, "Green. We can paint the whole apartment green."

"As long as it's not pistachio," Lilah said, rolling her eyes in Lindsey's direction, but he was too wrapped up in Kate to notice, "Jade would be good."

"I thought we could get some of those framed vintage movie posters from ebay, and put them here," Cordy gestured to a sloping wall, "You know 'Rebel without a cause' and that other James Dean film no-one's heard of…"

"'East of Eden…' I like James Dean…" Lilah offered.

"But you like me more right?" Wesley asked.

"Yes, I like you more," Lilah told him, almost flirtatiously noticing Lindsey and Kate having what looked like an intense conversation in the corner of the room, "Hannah likes you more too…"

"How's she doing?" Wesley asked as Lilah handed her to him.

"Better… the doctor gave us antibiotics to give her… the syrup version. I might get Lindsey to do that…"

"I don't mind," he said from across the room, "Kate can give me a hand tonight."

"You're staying the night?" Lilah asked Kate, eyes widened and brittle, almost catty smile in place.

"Yeah… you've gotta warm the house up…" Kate offered.

"Well as long as no-one minds me going to bed for like… two days," Lilah said, "My bed is here right?"

"If you go to bed now you'll throw your internal clock off…" Lindsey told her.

"What are you going to notice?" she half snapped at him, "My internal clock doesn’t care… my internal clock is tired…"

"Yeah your bed was the first thing we set up…" Cordy told her.

"You put it together?" Lilah asked a little fearfully.

"Yeah… Kate's a dab hand with a screwdriver…" Cordy reassured her, "You'll also notice there's a tonne of boxes in your room. They're not all yours… some British guy… and Wesley will remain nameless didn't think and labelled both yours and Lindsey's 'LM.'"

"I don't care right now… I just need to sleep… where's my room?"

"Through here…" Cordy said taking Lilah's arm and guiding her through a gap between the small dining room and kitchen, "Hannah's room is straight ahead. It has two connecting doors…"

"You'll want to lock and soundproof yours then…"

"No I won’t… I'll help out with her… I don't mind…"

"You won't be saying that in a week…"

"I took the room on the right…"

"Left's good," Lilah said, as Cordy gently rubbed her hand over her forehead, "Are you OK?"

"Yeah… vision…" Cordy said, squeezing her eyes shut.

"What do you see?"

When Cordy opened her eyes they were full of fear.

"Hannah…"