Silver Cloud, Bitter Lining (6/?)

Author- Midnight Faith

Spoilers- none

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

Pairing- Lilah/Lindsey, Lilah/Gunn

Rating- R

Summary- Gunn and Gavin strike a deal…

Disclaimer- not mine… yadda, yadda

Notes- sequel to 'Southern Comfort.' You'll probably want to read that first…

"I didn’t think this would really be your scene…" Gunn told Gavin, a little slurred, gesturing to their surroundings.

They'd driven to the Irish-American bar named 'Benny's' located in the highway junction just outside of Sunnydale. It was one of those bars that was open 24 hours and Gunn suspected never even closed on Christmas day.

Gunn wryly noted the majority of the bar's clientele, and even the bartender himself wasn't exactly human. This was the only time since he was twelve, had fled to the streets and had discovered vampires and demons and everything that existed in childhood nightmares were real he hadn’t felt compelled to kill them.

The beer on tap may have been more than a little warm and not fully fermented. So much so that Gunn could still taste the acrid bitterness of the hops but Gavin had helpfully poured double shots of Smirnoff into the pints to take away the flavour… and this was Gunn's fourth glass.

"Not it's not really my scene… give me a nice Italian restaurant you have to be a professional to get into and a bottle of Chianti any day." Gavin told him, "But I comprehended it was probably yours you having been street trash for most of your life…"

"Very witty," Gunn drawled the alcohol beginning to seep into his bloodstream making his skin tingle.

"Lilah thought so too…" Gavin said, trying to evoke a reaction from Gunn, gesturing to the barman to bring Gunn another drink.

"Why aren't you drinking anyway?" Gunn asked as the barman set another beer and double vodka down in front in him. He poured the glass of Smirnoff into the beer, swirling it in the glass watching the two alcohols mix before separating.

"I want to be sober when we find her," Gavin said, feigning rawness in his voice, "I just want to be able to talk to her… to help her… to be able to get through to her…"

"You'll never be able to talk to her like I used to…" Gunn said, "We just used to sit up all night at some bar on Glendale… drinking scotch… I told her everything. She's open up occasionally but I knew I'd only really scratched the surface. Sometimes, actually most of the time she seemed so lost. And all I really wanted to be was protect her…"

"That was beautiful, very poetic…" Gavin said caustically, and then in realisation after a few seconds, "You love her."

"Don’t you?" Gunn asked him.

Gavin laughed slightly.

"People like us… like Lilah and I… we're not capable of love… she's just an easy lay that's all…"

"You’re lying," Gunn recognised, "You and her never slept together. If you had you wouldn’t talk about her like that… you'd realise having her in your arms, so vulnerable… her eyes searching yours for just… something… the way she only ever really has one expression and the way that blossoms into thousands of others. But how could you possibly know that?"

"You and I are a lot alike… You pretend we're not but we are. All you want Lilah for is her body…"

"That's not true," Gunn said, "I love her."

"But you can never be with her… you know that right?" Gavin asked negatively.

"Why? Because Lindsey and Lilah are soulmates and all that crap?" Gunn questioned cynically.

"No, because you can never be what she needs… she needs someone she can control… someone she can hurt… something neither you and I could ever be…"

"She just needs someone to love her…"

"So how is this thing going to work? We'll get to Sunnydale, find her, you'll give her a huge cuddle and you two can live happily ever after?" Gavin asked.

"That was pretty much the plan…" Gunn told him.

"I think she's find you more appealing if you walked in there with a set of handcuffs…" Gavin told him.

"You don’t know a damn thing about her…" Gunn said, battling to control his temper.

"Don’t I? Wolfram and Hart has extended physcological reports on all its employees…"

"You had some shrink analyse her?"

"We have physciatrists analyse all our employees when they join us… confessed her whole messed up life story… of course the hypnosis may have helped… Freud would've had a field day with her…"

"Tell me…"

"I'm so that information's classified… restricted to Wolfram and Hart employees only…"

"I get it… I sign a piece of paper… and you show me everything you've got on Lilah…"

"Exactly. You'll know her better than she knows herself. Every life detail, every impulse, every desire…"

"For a firm as prestigious as Wolfram and Hart they sure know how to pick the stupid ones… you think signing a piece of paper will keep me in that place? You think it stopped Lindsey or Lilah from walking out on you?"

"You're right…" Gavin told him, "But the contract I have in mind is more than… permanent…"