Silver Cloud, Bitter Lining (16/?)

Author- Midnight Faith

Spoilers- BtVS 'Innocence,' 'There's no place like home.'

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

Pairing- Lilah/Lindsey, Lilah/Gunn undertones

Rating- R

Summary- Gunn's soul will come at a price

Disclaimer- not mine… yadda, yadda

Lilah and Lindsey had spent the afternoon dozing softly together on the sofa, gently curled up in each other's warmth.

They hadn't really talked, but communicated non- verbally and through small, short snippets of conversation.

When Lilah had felt the baby move, or kick she'd gently laid Lindsey's hand across her stomach looking into his eyes for reassurance.

He'd kissed her on the cheek and held her to him.

"It'll be OK," he told her, when he saw tears glitter in her eyes, "Everything's going to be fine."

"Promise?" she asked him.

"I promise…"

She seemed to lightly fall asleep against him after that, with the tension of the previous weeks and the exhaustion of being up all of the preceding night.

He sat watching her breathing for a while. He knew she still doubted him and didn't trust him, had mixed feeling about the baby and lingering emotions for Gunn…

Trying to block out the haunting distrust he felt for her, he closed his eyes, resting his cheek against her hair. He loved her, he knew that but their relationship was too fragile for him to tell her that.

When he awoke the room was full of dusky twilight. He knew instinctively it was just before sundown.

He felt the warm weight of Lilah's body move away from him as she kissed him unsurely on the cheek.

"Lilah?" he said, drowsy confusion crowding his mind as she moved away from him.

"I'm just going… to get some fresh air," she lied rather unconvincingly, her voice breezy, "I'll be back soon."

"Do you need some company?" he asked her hopefully, "It's getting dark… it's probably not safe."

"I'll be fine… I was going to stop by Spike's crypt… say goodbye."

"I thought maybe I could take you out tonight…" he said impulsively, "To a restaurant or the movies or something…"

"I'm kind of tired…" she told him awkwardly, "The last few days have been… hectic. But we'll have time… when we get back to LA… you can take me out tomorrow night."

He pulled her back down to him, kissing her again.

"Lindsey…" she said in mock annoyance, drawing back from him, "Let me go I want to get back so… just let me go and say goodbye."

"Be careful," he whispered softly, running his fingers through her hair.

"I will…" she told him, reaching out uncertainly to touch his face, "I…"

"Remember we said we wouldn't…" he said.

"I know…"

She kissed him once on the lips before leaving the room without another word or backward glance.

Lindsey stared at the door after her and less than thirty seconds later watched Dawn sneak down the stairs and out of the door.

"Dawn?" he called down the driveway after her.

"I'll be back soon…" she yelled without stopping, "I just need some fresh air…"

He watched as Dawn stepped out onto the street, looked left then right before jogging at a steady pace up Revello drive…"

*****

"I knew it…" Dawn said angrily, slamming the warehouse door behind her.

Dawn watched as Lilah and Gunn, clinging to each other and Gavin turned around to face her.

"Oh my god… Dawn…" Lilah said, shrugging off Gunn's arm to walk towards her.

"No!" the intensity of Dawn's anger made her stop dead in her tracks, "Don't you dare touch me after touching him… you… betrayer… Lindsey loves you. He looks after you and this…" she indicated to Gavin and Gunn, "Is how you repay him."

"Wait a second…" Gunn said walking towards Lilah, grabbing her arm and jerking her around to face him, grasping her forearms with bruising intensity, "You and Lindsey are back together?" He shook her slightly with his words, letting out a tiny inhuman snarl, "After everything you're back with him. What about us?"

"There is no us…" she bit back sharply.

"You've been coming to see me… everyday."

"And you took this as a sign… as what? We'd be together for all eternity. It was only because I felt so guilty… just because you have a temporary soul now…"

"What?" Dawn said in disbelief, "He has a soul? Since when? He didn't even have a soul when he was alive…"

"It's a tonic," Gain explained, "The effects are temporary."

"Temporary?" Dawn asked, "What kind of temporary? A day, a week, a year…"

"An hour," Lilah told Dawn, "He needs shots every hour…"

"Every hour?"

"But he's still Gunn," Lilah said, taking Gunn's hand limply between hers as if to prove a point.

"Really?" Dawn asked sarcastically, "I don’t remember Gunn being allergic to sunlight."

"Dawn," Gunn said, taking a step closer.

"Just don't…" Dawn said, "Either of you. I hate you."

"Dawn…" Lilah tried, tears snatching at the corners of her voice.

"Can't you make it permanent?" Dawn asked Gavin, "Is there a way…"

"There is…" he told her.

"What?" Lilah asked him, "You said there wasn't…"

"We just didn't have the… 'Ingredients' before…" Gavin told her.

"Ingredients?" Lilah threatened him, "You make it sound like happy cookery hour with Martha Stewart."

"Fine… so what's your secret ingredient?" Dawn asked Gavin, not intimidated by him.

"Your blood," he told her flatly, "All of it."

"What?" Lilah repeated, refusing to believe him.

"To make Gunn's soul permanent… no junkie marks, no pesky Angel-esque clauses… he needs to drain Dawn's blood… the blood of the key… Look like you've got a test of faith on your hands… and you're not leaving this building until you've made that choice…"