Flesh and Blood (20/25)

Author- Midnight Faith

Pairing- Lindsey/Lilah with Cordy/Angel on the side…

Spoilers- 'Dear Boy,' 'Dead End'

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

Rating- R

Summary- Lilah and Lindsey share their good news… though it's not received well by all…

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

Warning- contains mild references to drug abuse

"Morning…" Cordy said as Lilah and Lindsey entered the cabin den, mid morning, "Good lie in? You want coffee?"

"Double yes…" Lilah said, her left hand firmly curled up in Lindsey's right to hide her new engagement ring, "Actually just before you go and do that… we have something to tell you… Lindsey and I have decided to get married…"

Angel and Cordy remained suitably and silently shocked. Even Connor, sitting on the floor and chewing on an Oreo remained quiet.

"Soon…" Lilah continued, "We called the Franklin hotel… the nice one… in Beverley Hills… it's happening on the 27^th…"

"Great, because that building has such great karma for me…" Angel whispered, almost inaudibly.

"The 27^th? December 27^th? That's like in…"

"Twenty one days…" Angel finished for Cordy, "Three weeks…"

"We know it's sudden," Lindsey said, giving Lilah's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"We want you to be happy for us…" Lilah said.

"We are…" Cordy told them, "We're just a little stunned…"

"We are too…" Lilah offered, "It's not like this was in the grand scheme of things… it's just the way it's all worked out… after everything… maybe we deserve a happy ending…"

"OK… coffee…" Cordy said, too brightly, "To celebrate…"

"Mind making mine a little Irish?" Angel asked, almost shallowly.

Lilah followed her into the kitchen, shutting the door behind them. She remained silent for a few moments, watching Cordy intently as she filled the small, portable kettle and flicked the switch on.

"Please be happy for us…" Lilah pleaded.

"I am…" Cordy reassured her, "I'm shocked… but I'm happy for you… two of my best friends are getting married before the year's out… It's like something out of 'Friends' surprisingly… don't you think it'll be weird though? If we stay as we are all of us living together with me as little miss third wheel…"

"Nothing's going to change…"

"This is taking a bit of getting used to…" Cordy said sinking down into one of the chairs surrounding the small, oak wood table.

"I know… I'm still getting used to all this too…" Lilah said, taking the chair beside her, "A year ago… I was at my lowest in like… ever. There was a different guy every night… each one of them a bigger loser than the one before… I was doing… my boss actually. I was on Valium, equally as hooked on coke a practical… I was drinking twenty-four, seven. Bacardi… Southern Comfort… anything I could get my hands on… and now… I have a baby… someone that actually needs me. I'm getting married and I think maybe I'm in love… and I have friends… it's all perfect. I mean… this wedding… the hotel's beautiful. It's going to be… well as small as it can be with Lindsey's family… and we cut out the not quite socially acceptable Uncles. And you guys… obviously… and Buffy and people…"

"I've never seen you this happy…" Cordy realised.

"Really? I'm… happy?"

"You look it… you sound it… yeah, I'd say you're happy…"

"I feel it… I mean… I think I do… this is what I want…"

"Is it? Really?"

"Cordy…"

"OK… OK… I'm just checking…"

"Anyway… how do you feel about lilac?"

"Why?"

"Because… I want you to be my maid of honour…"

Cordy's eyes welled up with tears.

"It won't be that bad…" Lilah almost joked; yet there was a hint of solemnity in her voice.

"No… It's just… of course I will…"

"I want to ask Dawn too… if it's OK with Buffy…"

"It will be… Buffy doesn't blame you for anything that happened in Sunnydale…"

"Good because you and Dawn are the people in the world I feel most comfortable with…"

"Aside from Lindsey…"

"Yeah… whatever…"

"Lilah…"

"Don’t…"

"It's just… we've only just moved in together… we haven't had one chick flick marathon yet…"

"And we will… I'll still need you… you and Wes… oh my god… Wesley."

"What about him?"

"What's he going to say?"

He's British so something… British like 'Many happy returns…' no that's for birthdays… 'Congratulations' then… he might even sing it…"

"I haven’t thought about telling him yet…"

"What's the big deal?"

"I don’t know how he's going to react… he's not exactly Lindsey's hugest fan…"

"He just wants to see you happy…"

"Like Angel? He practically had 'bad idea…' written all over his face…"

"Angel doesn't think this is a bad idea…"

*****

"This is the worst idea I've ever heard of…" Angel said in a unprecedented burst of consciousness.

"Be quiet…" Cordelia hissed, shutting the bedroom door behind them.

"They're getting married…"

"Yeah… I only heard you the first fifty times you said it in disbelief… You're going to be an usher, smile and be un… undead for the day…"

"Keyword: day. I can't go…"

"The Franklin has sewer access and an underground car park… what you mean is you won't go…"

"I don’t want to…"

"For god's sake, Angel. Connor's being more mature about this than you are…"

"Connor doesn't know Lindsey walked out on Lilah… twice. How long do we give them before that happens again? Six months… a year?"

"Lindsey's sticking around… he won't take off again…"

"I worry… about Lilah. She just needs someone that really cares about her…"

"She does have… Lindsey doesn't just care about her… he loves her… don't you see that? He's stable… he's a solid guy… in short… he's just what she needs…"

"I guess so…" Angel almost sulked.

"Just pretend to be happy for them… for me?"

"OK… but… only for you. It's not like I actually like the guy…"

"You're not the only one…"

*****

"Hey…" Cordy called through the hotel.

Angel followed her, wordlessly carrying Connor upstairs as Wesley raised a questioning eyebrow in Cordy's direction, to which in reply she mouthed 'Don't ask.'

From behind her, Lindsey and Lilah walked in, both smiling, arms around each other.

Cordy had to smile herself at the sight of them. They both bubbled over with happiness and seemed suspended in a state of permanent elation.

"Good holiday?" Wesley asked quizzically, almost suspiciously.

"It's vacation, Wes," Lilah said in mock exasperation, the pep never leaving her voice as she untangled herself from Lindsey, "If you want to get on in American society you'll have to say 'vacation…'"

He was taken aback when Lilah gave him an open, friendly hug and kissed him on the cheek.

"Are you drunk?" he asked her, only half joking.

"Actually I…" she said, adopting her more familiar closed body language, "Can you help me with some paperwork… that I left in the office…"

"Of course," he said, standing to follow her, "The fact you haven’t been into work in more than three months makes me in no way suspicious…"

"Lindsey, will you make us some tea?" Lilah asked him, as Wesley walked into the office.

Lindsey moved closer to her, reaching out instantaneously to touch her arm.

"I'll be there… if you want me to be…" he told her.

"No… let me tell him… it's best if I do this one alone…" she said.

He kissed her on the nose, earning a weak smile before she followed Wesley into the office, shutting the door behind her.

"This is ominous…" he said.

"Not ominous…" she began nervously, "Good news… for a change… I'm getting married…"

"To Lindsey?"

"No… to Elmo from Sesame Street… of course to Lindsey."

"Elmo might have been the better choice…"

"What can I say… He was too fuzzy… I'm not asking you to be happy for us… just to accept it…"

"Fine…"

"Wesley… say something."

"I don’t know what to say…"

"How about 'congratulations?'"

"Congratulations… Lindsey's very lucky…"

"You’re one of my best friends… and… my shiftless, absentee father hasn't been around since I was… since forever. I never really knew him… so… I'd really like it… if you'd give me away…"

"Lilah…" his face softened, visibly.

"Say no… if you want to…"

"I'd love to…"

"Really… it would mean a lot… to us…"

"I'd be honoured to…"

Lilah hugged him again.

"For the first time in my life… I don't feel afraid to get close to people… we'll get Hannah back won't we?"

"If it's the last thing we do…"