The ship has grow phenomenally since 'A New World.' The beautiful and resourceful 'Double Indemnity' by Jennifer Oksana has earned it's right as one of the most extensive and resourceful BtVS writer's guild sites and a fanlisting has been set up by Liz of all slay no play.

So just how do you explain the rise of the Lilah/Wesley ship?

Before season three the Lilah/Wesley fandom was non-existent. At the end of season two Lilah and Wesley together would have been unthinkable. In the season three premiere 'Heartthrob' it would still have been unthinkable. But during 3.2 'That Vision Thing' Lilah/Wesley was beginning to be seen as a 'sub ship' in it's own right. Astute and eagle eyed analytical viewers picked up little Lilah references in Wesley's dialogue and vice versa.

Then the Connor plotline escalated and so did the Lilah/Wesley ship. With spoilers leaked onto the net in April of a supposed liaison between Lilah and Wesley and the fan fic writers began to seriously take note. The genre exploded in it's own right soon after the airing of 'A New World' in the US. Writers came up with new and imaginative ways for the pair to hook up and with 'Tomorrow' and the actual hooking up the genre was complete. Fans had a solid base to build on and they had the ultimate weapon in the conviction of the ship reasoning: actual canon evidence.

The fact that the ship has been left on a cliff-hanger over the summer has done wonders for the ship. Countless POV vignettes have been written on Lilah/Wesley together and lots of speculation on where the ship could go. This is all or at least partly due to summer boredom to such an extent any writer who's anyone (and not currently tied up with other series' etc.) is writing Lilah/Wesley… with a vengeance.

Angel has been crying out for a dark pairing… and never has it had one until now. Angel pairings have been the fluff/angst of Cordy and Doyle and the general slashy-ness of most of the characters and now writers are demanding something a little different. And it's come in the form of a semi evil somewhat tamer Lilah and sombre Wesley. It's a dark ship, with a long way to go until 'I love you' and no need to get there fast. The ship is redefining the words 'casual sex' for the 'Angel' genre and letting writers explore an even darker undertone than just rough sex.

S & M, BDSM… whatever you want to call it it'd never be canon in the show but it's widely thought of in the Lilah/Wesley fandom that knives, silk scarves, handcuffs and even credit cards could come into the equation as weapons of kink. Never before in a het, no vampiric pairing have writers had the chance to explore such dark undertones and this is the appeal to long established writers and the new alike…

So does the Lilah/Wesley ship have even a hint of a future? At first glance maybe not… but one night stands are rare in 'Angel' and never without consequence or some kind of feeling no matter how dark or twisted. It was strongly implied in 'Tomorrow' that Lilah would be back for more and canon 'casual sex' is extremely likely to continue throughout the summer and this will be reflected in the first few episodes of season four.

As a pairing long term it's unlikely they have much of a future. The writer's could take the plotline down three routes: 1) the mush route. We get to 'I love you' wedding bells and such. This seems incredibly unlikely and will need a lot of development to work for this pairing. 2) The 'extended casual sex' route. One of the best examples of how this could work out is the Buffy/Spike pairing. Screwing for X number of episodes and kind of breaking it off with no real reason but no real feelings hurt. Could lead to some interesting blackmail plotlines. Or 3) the misc route. Speculation on the ship taking a new and dramatic twist that takes it off in a completely new direction. Such as Wesley joining Wolfram and Hart or the complete opposite of Lilah turning good. Often speculated on and depending on the speculation varies the likelihood.

So of course the Lilah/Wesley pairing appears a bit of a kick in the teeth for Lilah/Lindsey shippers at face value. For the first week we sulked, we whined, we ranted on message boards and in weblogs, to friends and generally used the word 'fuck' a lot and excessively. But being the cunning lot we are we bounced back and thought… 'How can we make this work for us?'

Rather ironically since Lilah/Wesley has become canon Lilah/Lindsey is on the rise. Many are writing fics set in seasons one and two taking Lilah/Lindsey as a lead. Their inspiration for essentially plotless thought trains and vignettes may be deep rooted in Lilah/Wesley take on a Lilah/Lindsey lead that differs greatly from the Lilah/Wesley genre. The ability for reflection on 'use it and lose it' casual sex is different along with action driven plotlines, angst and fluff fuelled plots and series' that extend over several months. Many interesting what if? Questions have been raised and the scope for character development in Lilah/Lindsey is huge. In other words the ship is not dead… it's far from it… it's on the rise…