Southern Comfort (16/?)

Author- Midnight Faith

Spoilers- none

Distribution- FF.net, AOH anyone else just ask :)

Pairing- Lilah/Lindsey, Lilah/Gunn

Rating- R

Summary- emotions only can complicate an equation…

Disclaimer- not mine… yadda, yadda

"OK… let's take a break…" Gunn said breathing heavily.

Teaching Lilah the right way to stake a vampire on a lazy Sunday afternoon, in the sunlit lobby of the Hyperion had been more strenuous than Gunn had expected.

Still he knew it was pretty much essential if she wanted to accompany him on patrols.

He hadn't let her go again after she's gone with him the first time, almost a week ago. Especially as she'd spent the large majority of the patrol screaming and running away and Gunn hadn't been able to kill anything because he was too busy chasing after her and trying not to get them both slaughtered.

Early the next morning they'd talked and Lilah had told him she felt responsible for a lot of the evil in LA and just wanted to help balance out all the harm she'd created. Gunn had tried to tell her it wasn't her fault but after a while gave up trying to convince her otherwise he'd aversely agreed to help train her on the condition she promised to try and sneak off and kill anything without him.

The entire week had been horribly tense for all of them. With the case less than a month away, they'd run into problems when their key witness outside of Angel Investigations had gone missing and turned up three days later, dead.

"You're getting better," Gunn said to Lilah as she sat on the sofa.

He looked up at him cynically.

"You’re just saying that," she told him.

"No I'm not… you're holding a stake the right way up now…" he teased.

She smiled.

"And you should see the bruise you gave me where you kicked me yesterday," he said, rolling up the sleeve of his T-shirt to show her a purple bruise forming there.

"Really? I did that?" she asked him.

He nodded.

"Cool," she said, "I mean not because you're hurt… just because I actually hurt something in a positive way…"

"I still think you're a natural…" Gunn said, sitting beside her, his arm sneaking innocently behind her and across the top of the sofa.

"No… I'm not," she said unpretentiously.

"You're so graceful…" Gunn said, "Tell me that's not natural talent."

She shifted slightly on the sofa so she faced him.

"When I was younger I used to go to dance classes," she told Gunn, a hint of melancholy in her voice.

"So what happened?"

"When my mum got sick… My dad couldn't handle it and split. So all our money went to mum… and I didn't go to dance classes any more…"

"Lilah…" Gunn moved his arm around her shoulders.

"No… don't…" she said moving out of his reach.

"Is that why you ended up working for the employers from hell?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Everyone at Wolfram and Hart had a story…" she told him, "It's just we never talked about it. No one ever used to talk there at all…"

"So you like here better?" Gunn asked.

Lilah shrugged.

"I have to survive…"

"Yeah but we talk here don't we?"

"Not really… I mean… me and Angel or me and Cordy will go five minutes. All I really say to Fred is 'good morning' or 'good night.' Wesley just doesn't talk to me at all…"

"You missed two people out…"

"I know… one is you and I'm not talking to you about Lindsey…"

"Why not? We're friends aren’t we?"

"I don't know? Are we?" she said with a smile.

"I think we are…" Gunn told her, "I really hope you do too…"

"I have a hard time… trusting people," Lilah told him, surprising herself with her recent honesty.

"I want you to trust me…" Gunn told her, "I'm not going to hurt you or jump you or anything…"

"So… you don't want to… jump me?" Lilah said flirtatiously.

"It's not… that I don't want to… it's just…" Gunn said visibly bristling.

"I'm only teasing…" she told him.

He smiled, relieved.

"Come on," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him up from the sofa, "I wanna bruise you some more."

"OK," he said, handing her a stake, "But don't kick me too hard… I don't want a trip to the emergency room tonight… I want to take you out on patrol and then buy you an ice cream…"

"Really? You think I'm good to patrol with you?"

"Absolutely…"

Lilah flipped Gunn to the floor, using a technique he'd shown her yesterday, and pinned him down by his arms.

"OK… definitely ready for patrol… as soon as I get the feeling back in my spine…"

"Oohhh… I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?" she asked concerned.

"No… no I'm fine," He said.

"Anything broken?" she asked, running her hand down the side of his face.

"Nothing except my ego…" he told her, putting his hand up to hold hers at his face.

The door opening and Lindsey walking in shattered the moment.

"Lindsey," Lilah said, concealing the guilt in her voice, leaping over to him, "Want me to pretend to stake you?"

She wove her arms around his shoulders, snaring his lips in a burning kiss, to rid her of near dishonour.

"Actually," he told her, breaking the kiss, "I was kinda hoping it would be the other way round… and less pretend…"

"Sorry honey it's gonna have to be later tonight… I'm going out to kill some evil things…"

"Promise to be careful?"

"I promise…"