Subject: [Forging_Ghost] Don't Fear the Reaper 11/?
From: Ajay <Redpagan20@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:38:14 -0800 (PST)
To: Forging_Ghost@yahoogroups.com, vampswithsouls@yahoogroups.com, spangel_lover@yahoogroups.com


I know it's been forever since I updated this but I've
had quite a few requests recently to do so.  I've
actually writing several chapters at once but this one
has been hell to get a handle on.  I finally added a
bit that was important to the plot although it was
supposed to come in later.  I now have to work some
scenes into these other chaps to flesh out this part
of the story.  I've known all along where this story
is going so barring hurricanes and hasty moves I
should be able to update, at the least, weekly. 
Thanks to all who have stuck w/me and to the newbies
who have written to express their appreciation.

***************************************************

Title: Don't Fear the Reaper 11/?
Author: Ajay
Rating:PG 13 some bad language
Disclaimer: Josh owns all.  I just fantasize.
Warning:  Character 'death' and Buffy bashing to some
extent.
Description: Post 'Fade Away' a wish is made, a wish
is granted and everyone will pay
Feedback:  Is there an author who's ever said 'No I
don't want feedback'?  I doubt it, so
PPPPLLLLLEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEE! 
Still archived at:  www.the-crypt.net and
www.geocities.com/Jess_Lair.  

===================================================

"Lorne?"  Cordelia's voice set the demon in motion
but, before he could disappear she continued. 
"Kevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan I am your princess
and I command you to stop."  

Lorne actually stomped his foot when his body followed
those strident directions.  Everyone else in the bar
was staring at Cordy except for Faith, who was
laughing.  Jaime looked suddenly sober and Allen sat
on a bar stool as his knees gave out.  Cordelia
crossed her arms and tapped her foot as Lorne slowly
walked back to the bar.  

He wasn't too sure about this.  His last contact with
Cordelia had not gone well.  In fact, she had died
after helping them.  And before that, well, he had
been unable to get a good read on her and Jasmine had
used her body to enter the world.  He approached the
slayer first.

"Faith, beautiful as ever."  

She popped him in the chest as she smirked.  "Big guy.
 Where ya been?"

"Long story."  He smiled sadly before heaving a big
sigh and turning to the other brunette.  They stared
at each other.  Cordelia had pain in her eyes as she
noticed the suspicion in Lorne's.  She grimaced.  With
a short nod she began to sing:  

'Be-cause the greaaaatest love of all' 

Jaime groaned and lay his head back on the bar.  Faith
turned away to hide her laughter.  Allen was happy he
was already seated.  Lorne suddenly got teary eyed and
grabbed Cordelia abruptly cutting off the next line. 
"Princess, it really is you!"

"Of course it's me, you big goof.  What?  You thought
I'd let someone hijack my body again?"  

He sat her back on the floor.  "But, you were..."

"Dead?  Yeah, I was.  It's a long story.  Why don't
you come back to the Hyperion and we can fill you in?"

Lorne was shaking his head.  "I can't face the hotel
and all the memories.  Fred, Wesley,"

"Are going to be married Thanksgiving weekend."

"They, uh, I thought,"  Lorne stopped talking.  "Okay,
but someone better explain Sid Vicious over there."

"You got it, man.  Come on someone help me lug him out
to the car."

Allen and Lorne each took an arm and carried the
unconscious Jaime out of the building.  Faith climbed
into the back seat with him while Lorne assured them
he would follow in his own vehicle.  A glare from
Cordy had him reassuring them that he was right
behind.

Allen heard Faith snort.  "What?"

"I told Angel not to come so Jaime wouldn't have to
face him.  Now we're bringing him right back."

Allen and Cordy shared a glance.  "It may be the best
thing for him.  He's always been a little reactionary
and he has a horrible temper.  It's time for him to
start working through things instead of blowing them
off."

"Huh?"

"See, if we let him, he'd just show up in a couple of
days acting like nothing happened. He ignores the
action or whatever until he can compartmentalize it in
his own head then he expects everyone else to ignore
it, too.  That never works out too well."

"Oh, boy."

He looked at Cordelia.  "Yeah."

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


Angel paced the lobby the entire time they were gone. 
His mind couldn't decide whether to worry about Spike,
uh Jaime, or concentrate on the familiar voice on the
phone.  He knew that that voice was Lorne's.  The
Pylean had to have a reason for keeping his return
secret.  Angel groaned.  Lorne had told him he
wouldn't be available.  The demon was simply keeping
his word which left him with Jaime Ross.  Or Spike. 
No, he needed to  think of him as Jaime if he was
going to build a relationship with him.  And, God, did
he just think about, what, dating Jaime?  Yeah, he
realized that that was exactly what he wanted.  

This time, if he took things slowly, didn't make the
outrageous demands on the human that he had made on
the vampire he might be able to make it work.  He
realized that he was assuming that Jaime would
actively want a relationship with him.  He would keep
trying until he was absolutely convinced the human
didn't want him.

He was surprised to hear the front doors open.  His
attention was first caught by the tall green figure
behind Faith.  Then he realized that Lorne was
carrying Jaime.  He rushed forward.

"What's wrong.  Is he alright?  God, what happened?"

The others burst into laughter.  

"Well, at least it's not one sided."  Allen stated.

"Relax, Angel cakes.  He consumed his weight in Jack
Daniels.  He needs to sleep it off.  Somebody," Lorne
emphasized that word, "will need to watch over him in
case he gets sick."

No one was surprised when Angel quickly volunteered.

"First, let's put him on the couch while we catch up,
okay?"  Cordy waited for nods all around.  "I'll go
get Fred and the guys."

Lorne nervously perched on the back of the couch where
Jaime lay.  

"Why don't you sit down and relax, Lorne."  Angel
indicated the other seats around the lobby.  Lorne
slowly slid into the large armchair.

"It's good to see you again, Lorne.  I'm glad you're
here.  Surprised, but glad."  Angel smiled at his old
friend.

Lorne gave his familiar 'how did I get myself into
this' chuckle.  "There's a story there bu..."

"Lorne!"  Fred threw herself at the Pylean.  "I'm so
happy to see you.  I've been trying to find you I
wanted you to come to the wedding.  Oh, did you know
that Wesley and I were getting married?  Anyone
surprised?   I mean I was surprised but no body else
seemed to be I guess it's true those closest to it are
the last to know.  Oh, Lorne, don't cry."  She hugged
the big man as sympathetic tears came to her own eyes.
 After a few moments Lorne looked up to see Wes and
Gunn standing by.  

Gunn had an amused face while Wes was concentrating
more on his fiancee.

Lorne gently pulled away from Fred and stepped over to
shake hands with the two men.  Then he turned to the
room in general.  "Now I'm even more convinced that I
was set up."

At the confused looks he began to explain.  "I had
traveled around after leaving LA and finally ended up
in Belize.  They're very welcoming people.  I didn't
even turn heads on the beach.  Anyway, one night at a
favorite bar a couple of demons came in looking for a
round of poker.  For a change I was doing really well.
It came down to me and a Renriqh demon.  It had grown
to a high stakes game and finally Frache had nothing
left to ante so he threw in the deed to a bar he
owned.  That would be The Rainbow Connection.  When I
found out that it was in LA I almost threw the game. 
Then I thought what the hell I knew I'd end up back
here one day just to check things out so why not have
a good reason to be here, right?"

"But, now you think it was a plot to get you to return
to California?"  Wes asked.

"I don't know.  It just has the air of something that
was planned."

Angel looked at the still sleeping Jaime.  "You're
probably right.  Several things that have happened
lately seem to have that same feeling."

Lorne looked around the room.  "So, spill.  Start from
the battle."

Wes started.  "I died.  Vail used his magic which was
much stronger than my own.  Illyria showed up and
killed him.  Then I remember being somewhere with
Fred."  He shook his head.  

"I remember all of that.  I also know that she carried
out her mission then joined you guys in the alley. 
But, I was with Wes and then we were both here."

"Yeah, I can remember hearing you guys but I never got
close enough to see you."  Gunn told them.  "I was
already on my way to the great beyond when I met up
with them in the alley.  I lasted, what?  Twenty
minutes?  Twice as long as Illyria predicted."
  
Lorne swallowed hard and looked around the lobby.  He
finally got up and wandered over to the check in desk
to remove a bottle of whiskey that he knew had been
kept in one of the cubbies.  He was getting better but
he couldn't face this without a little help.

"Well, I can see that you came away intact but what
happened to Blondie?  I mean, there have been some big
changes,"  he swirled the bottle to include the
resurrected Fang Gang, "but to find Spike, HUMAN, 
well, there's alot more to the story."

################################################

Dawn sat across from her sister at a small table in
the Sahara Beach Hotel in Monastir, Tunisia.  Of
course, the older girl was complaining about the heat,
the flies, the lack of amenities she was used to being
spoiled by; all Dawn could be thankful for was that
Buffy was not whining on and on about Spike and Angel.
She was almost ready to put the slayer on the next
plane to the U.S. just to get away from the near
constant barrage of "no one cares what Spike's last
wishes were for me.  He loved me so much..."  She'd
take the whinging about the flies and heat, thank you.

They were leaving for Algiers the next day.  She
wanted to see the Kasbah and despite Buffy's mood and
rapid descent into her umpteenth childhood she was
going to enjoy herself.  She has seen so much of the
demon world in her short time on earth.  Now she
wanted to see the real world.  She was going to take
advantage of it while she had the chance, Buffy be
damned.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

The stories in the Hyperion continued to flow. 
Allen's head could have been on a pivot for all of the
turning he was doing.  The information he had gotten
from Cordelia earlier was fleshed out as each person
contributed portions that she had not been around to
witness.  He only wished that Jaime were awake to hear
this.  Maybe he'd understand Angel a little more.

Of course, Angel was aware that Jaime had awakened and
was listening to the AI gang as they recounted their
pasts.  He seemed to pay close attention as each of
them relayed their particular interactions with Spike.
He didn't think anyone else knew the young man was
awake and he wasn't going to call attention to it.  He
was also not letting Jaime know that he realized what
was going on.  He was going to use this time to watch
the younger man at his leisure. 

"So, you're saying that this is not our beautiful
vampire, then?"  Lorne directed this question to Allen
after Faith had explained the familial connection
between the two young men.

Allen shrugged.  "All I can tell you is I've known him
for the last 26 years.  How can that be explained
away?"

Angel answered before any one else could.  "There
could be several answers to that but right now none of
it matters.  Jaime is Jaime.  That's the way he wants
to be treated and that is what we're going to do."

He paid no attention to the knowing smiles from most
of his companions.  Lorne was still confused but a
look from the girls convinced him that he would have
the story soon.

*****************************************************

As they finished filling Lorne in they were surprised
to find it was 8:00 am.  No one had gotten any sleep
and they were debating closing shop for the day when
the front door was blasted open and a young girl of
four or five came running in.

She stopped when she saw all the grown ups staring at
her.  She didn't give Lorne a second glance and he
shrugged his shoulders at the innocence of youth.

The child had fixated on Gunn, though.  She approached
him slowly, finally standing toe to toe with him.  

He looked down into her cafe au lait face.  Her soft
auburn hair nearly reached her waist and fell over her
right eye.  He smiled and bent down so he was on her
level.

"Are you lost?  Do you need help?"

The child shook her head.  "I'm looking for you."

Gunn leaned back in surprise.  "Me?  Why?"

"My mommy's showed me pictures of you.  You're my
daddy."  The little girl said confidently.

"What?  Huh?"  Gunn looked around at his colleagues.
  
Before anyone could say anything the front door banged
open again.  

"Solange!  You scared me to death.  What do you think
you were doing?"  A beautiful brunette was asking,
Gunn noticed she had tears on her face.

"I come to find my daddy."

"Solange"  The woman said sadly.  "I told you your
daddy died fighting the bad guys."

"No he didn't, Mommy.  See, he's right here."  She
pointed to Gunn.

The woman finally looked up at the stunned man.  "Oh,
my God!"

"Gwen?"  A very confused Gunn asked everything he
needed to with that one syllable.

TBC