Accidental Love
Accidental Love: Part Three
Author: AngelsRebellion
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Angel/Spike (Human AU)
Disclaimer: I don’t own the characters, just the fic
A/N: So sorry it took so long to get this out. I guess time really does fly. Anyway, this is the last filler chapter, and I have to admit that part of the reason it's taken so long to complete is because I absolutely hated writing it lol. But it's done and it's here and the next part will be done next weekend at the latest.
A/N: As always much love and credit goes to bachaboska and her Spangel AU fanvid for the inspiration for this fic. I highly reccomend you go check it out and give her some love!
Summary:
Meet Angel, the new Chairman of Wolfram & Hart, who thought that he couldn’t hate his job more…
And Spike, Angel’s boss’ eccentric son, who thought that he couldn’t be more of a disappointment to his father…
A story about two men... And Accidental Love…
When the hardest thing to say is the truth… How much are you ready to sacrifice…
For Accidental Love…
Accidental Love: Part Two here
With a sidelong glance at Wesley, Angel took her hand hesitantly. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I caught your name.” Danger, Will Robinson.
The woman smiled, her white teeth flashing, and said, “You can call me Eve.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angel raised an eyebrow. “Eve. That’s…well kind of ironic.”
Wesley cleared his throat. “Ms. Madison was, er is the L.A. branch’s liaison to the Senior Partners.”
“Liaison?” Angel asked, looking between Wesley and Eve who were glaring at each other with absolutely no premise of civility.
Eve was the first to break the glaring match, Angel didn’t miss the Wesley’s small smirk, and flashed him a tight smile. “Basically I’m the middle man. Any problems you have, you tell me and I pass it along to the Partners, and vice versa.”
Angel frowned at that. “So you’re, what? My babysitter?”
“Things might go more smoothly if you didn’t think of it like that,” Eve said, although she didn’t deny the accusation.
“I find it very curious,” Wesley began, “as to why the Senior Partners would trust you to remain their liaison given the circumstances.”
Angel’s head shot up. “What circumstances?”
Ignoring Angel’s question, Eve rounded on Wesley. “The big guys trust me, that’s all you need to worry about.”
“You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not as trusting of your motives Eve,” Wesley smirked.
“And you’ll just have to get over yourself. All you have to do is your job and let me do mine,” she said. She looked down at her watch and smiled. “Look at that, I’m late for a meeting. Angel, I’ll be seeing you.”
Angel watched Eve saunter out of the room and when the doors swished closed behind her, he turned to Wesley and crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, what am I missing?”
Wesley jammed his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. He knew what he was about to say wasn’t going to sit well with the new boss and he chose his words carefully. “I understand that you are well…acquainted with Lindsey McDonald.”
Angel frowned. “Unfortunately,” he said. “Wait, is Lindsey still here?”
“Ah, no,” Wesley hedged. “Mr. McDonald has been reassigned to our Houston branch. The Senior Partners thought that given your, er history, that it would be in everyone’s best interest.”
Good. “Okay,” Angel nodded, “So what does Eve Madison have to do with him?”
“Well, up until today many people, myself included, believed that she had requested to be assigned to Houston with Lindsey.”
Both of Angel’s eyebrows lifted at that. “So they were involved romantically.”
“A little more than involved,” Wesley affirmed, “They’ve been engaged for the last two and a half years. Well, they were at any rate. I’ve no idea what her deferment here means.”
“You think she’s up to something?” Angel asked. He didn’t need anyone trying to throw a monkey wrench in his wheels before he even had a chance to get the motor revved.
Wesley shook his head. “I really couldn’t say. They may have simply broken the engagement,” he said, although his tone suggested how unlikely he believed that to be.
Angel didn’t buy it either. “Whatever it is, I want to keep an eye on her.”
Wesley nodded. “Of course.”
The two men stood in silence for a few moments, the implications of Eve’s presence and position in the law office being filtered and stored for future use. Angel was the first to break the silence.
“So this is my office,” he said as he looked around the spacious room. There was a long table at one end, he assumed it was there for meetings. On the other end was his desk. He walked over and ran his hand along the rich wood surface before circling it to admire the plush leather chair that sat behind it. He sat down and decided that he rather liked the soft material against his fingertips. Smiling absently as he swiveled to look at the wall behind him, a glint of metal caught his eye and he turned to see the steel door of what looked like an elevator. In his office.
Seeing where Angel’s attention was drawn, Wesley walked over to the steel door. “This,” he said, “is the elevator that leads to your private suite.”
“I have a private suite?” He’d most likely smack himself later for feeling excited about it, but come on…Private suite!
Wesley smiled. “Indeed. All of the department heads have one in the building, myself included. Would you like to go up?”
“Uh, yeah,” Angel said, and although it may not have been the most sophisticated response, he really didn’t care. Because he had a private suite.
He pressed the button on the panel next to the door and it instantly slid open. Inside he and Wesley listened to the tinkling music that can only be found in an elevator as they rode up. Angel wasn’t certain which floor of the building they were going to as there were only three buttons on the inside panel: Garage, Office, Apartment. As the door slid open into a short corridor, Angel made a mental note to check out the garage later. He stepped into the corridor with Wesley and watched as the other man took a piece of paper from his pocket. It was then that he noticed the key pad on the wall beside the light oak door in front of them.
“The security code to unlock the door,” Wesley said, handing Angel the paper. Written in pencil was the seven-digit code, along with instructions on how to change it if he desired.
Angel keyed the code in and heard the soft snick of the lock turning. As he turned the knob and pushed the door open, Angel’s eyes widened at the scene before him.
“Whoa.”
Light hardwood floors, high ceilings, black, overstuffed leather furniture and a huge stone fireplace made up the spacious living area. He walked further into the apartment and there was a break in the cream colored wall to his right that led to a small, brightly lit kitchen area, complete with marble topped counters, every kind of kitchen appliance, and a round table and chairs set. Out of curiosity, he walked over to the large stainless steel refrigerator and wasn’t surprised to see it fully stocked. He checked the cabinets and found that they were also stocked with food and also dishes.
“This is kind of scary,” he said to Wesley who had followed a few steps behind him.
Wesley merely shrugged as he leaned against a counter-top. “Many of the department heads find having a private place in the building quite convenient. Especially after working late into the night. In fact,” he added, “Lorne Adams, our head of entertainment, has taken up permanent residence in his suite.”
“Are you serious?”
“Oh yes, it’s really not that uncommon actually.”
“And what about you?” Angel asked curiously.
“I prefer to keep a separate apartment in the city that is unconnected with the firm,” Wesley said with another small shrug, “That isn’t to say that I haven’t spent the occasional night in my own suite after burning the midnight oil.”
“Uh huh,” was all Angel said as he continued to explore the apartment. He ended up walking down a short hallway and when he opened the door at the end of it, he was looking into a bedroom fit for a king. Or CEO.
In the center of the room sat a king sized, wrought-iron framed bed, simply sheeted and blanketed but heaped with pillows that he didn’t have to feel to know that they were down stuffed. The floor was covered in thick, creamy carpeting, the walls painted the same color as the rest of the apartment. To his right there was a door that he assumed led into the bathroom, but what really caught his attention was the wide expanse of windows that literally made up the entire left wall. The high Los Angeles sun streamed in through the windows, filling the room with bright sunlight that made flipping a light switch pointless.
“Wow,” was all he could say as he looked out over the Los Angeles skyline. He barely noticed when Wesley stepped next to him and it wasn’t until the other man cleared his throat that Angel turned to look at him.
“I was thinking you’d like the rest of the tour of the building,” Wesley said.
“Oh. Yeah, okay.”
They made their way out of the suite and down to Angel’s office once more to find Gunn and Connor waiting for them behind Angel’s desk, both wearing surprised expressions as the two men stepped out of the elevator.
“Hey,” Connor said from his seat in Angel’s chair, “very Star Trek.”
“Dude what the hell is with those doors?” Gunn chimed in, not looking the least bit guilty about rummaging through the desk drawers. “I feel like there should be a Wal-Mart greeter in here telling me to have a nice day or some shit.”
Angel threw the doors a contempt filled glare as he smacked Connor on the back of the head and tipped the chair forward. The boy flicked a paper-clip at him and perched on top of the desk asking, “Where’d you go anyway?”
“Oh. Just to my private suite,” Angel said without the slightest hint of smugness. Really.
Gunn’s head popped up from the drawer he’d been ‘inspecting’. “Dude, you have a private suite?” he asked with raised eyebrows. He turned to Wesley. “Do I have a private suite?”
“Only department heads,” Angel said, “but I’m sure we could work something out, right Wesley?”
Startled out of his comfortable silence, Wesley stammered, “Oh, o-of course. I don’t se-”
“Are you freakin’ kidding me?” Connor all but shouted, cutting Wesley off.
The three older men looked at him with varied expressions, the most dominant being ‘What the hell?’
Apparently they didn’t get it so Connor was forced to elaborate on what he thought was perfectly obvious. “You’re talking about living inside Wolfram & Hart,” he said slowly, as if he didn’t trust them to understand him if he spoke too fast.
“He’s got a point there,” Angel said, surprising everyone, Connor especially. He looked at their dumbfounded faces and scowled, “What? You’re all surprised I’m not being the materialistic one here? This is Wolfram & Hart,” he pointed out. “You really think I’m going to help its digestion by sleeping inside the belly of the beast?”
Gunn shrugged. “Gotta live somewhere man, and without Angel Investigations using the Hyperion as HQ, it just doesn’t make sense for us to crash there anymore.”
“You’re right, but I’m still not comfortable actually living here. I’m still getting used to the idea of actually working here.”
“You guys have a week to figure it out,” Connor chimed in, “And if it takes longer than a week, so what? You own the freakin’ building, it’s not like you’re gonna get thrown out on your asses if you don’t find something before then.”
“The kid’s got a point,” Gunn said.
Angel nodded. “Yeah, he’s been doing that a lot lately.” He paused a moment and added, “It’s kind of annoying.”
Gunn tilted his head and looked at Angel. “Maybe we should cut his pay.”
“I’m standing right here you know,” Connor said on exhaled breath, his arms crossed over his chest in annoyance.
“Gunn, did you just hear something?” Angel asked, his lips twitching in amusement at Connor’s glare.
Coughing into his fist to disguise his own chuckle, Gunn shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “Is there a window open somewhere? It might have just been the wind.”
“None of these windows even open!” Connor yelled in exasperation. He’d swear on his college scholarship that those two were about as mature as his little sister, and he thought even she had a few points on them. “You guys seriously need to grow up.”
Before either men could retaliate, Wesley held up a hand and took a step between them. “As entertaining as it is listening to you all snark back and forth, perhaps you’d like the rest of the tour of the building?”
All three men were instantly chagrined, mumbling agreeably as they followed Wesley out of the office and into the lobby.
As Wesley made comments on the building and employees, they reached the base of the staircase that would take them to the next level. Suddenly remembering something, Gunn caught Angel by the shoulder and said loudly, “By the way man, who was that smokin’ redhead we saw leaving your office?”
Angel and Wesley shared a groan as they made their way up the stairs, a confused Gunn and Connor following behind them.
“No, really, who was she?” Connor asked.
So Angel, with help from Wesley, filled them in Eve Madison, including her position as liaison to the Senior Partners and her relationship with Lindsey McDonald. Both Gunn and Connor agreed that she should be kept an eye on. That out of the way, they continued their tour, all the while wondering, yet again, what the hell they’d gotten themselves into.
Wesley Wyndam-Pryce included.
-Ta-