On a Sunday morning sidewalk, wishing, Lord, that I was stoned

[freelilah]

RP for WesleyWolfram & Hart's long term care facility stands across the street from a church and a playground. God knows why. Maybe somebody really likes irony

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[_wes_pryce_]

It hadn’t take him long to get Lilah a pass into this home. But he was, in fact, still puzzled as to why, in light of the new management, this home would still go about the ‘old way’s. What else had Wolfram and Hart hidden away under their cloaks of ‘need to know’. He even wondered what else Angel, the new CEO, was hiding from them. Did he know about this? Wesley was paranoid by nature, and this was no exception.

As head of the department, you’d think it would be easy to get some hours off. He had no one to report to if he did so, Angel didn’t care if he took off for a day. Hell, the vampire had no idea where his people were half the time. This, Wesley thought, was quite worrying. But he pushed it aside as he finally managed to flee from the firm and quickly drove out to the place where he’d meet Lilah.

At his arrival, he was stunned at how normal the place looked. He had no idea what to expect, but this wasn’t it. Perhaps more hellfire and brimstone, or the illusion of paradise? He shook his head at himself while he parked the

[freelilah]

"Really?" she smiled and reached for the ends of her hair. Holding it out in front of her, she said, "I was thinking pigtails."

That was a risk, reminding him of her days playing dressup. So she turned her head and nodded at well-dressed children, filing out of church and bursting into a run on the playground. "Sunday morning in the city, reminds me of a Johnny Cash song. American singer," she added, in case he protested ignorance. "There's a movie. You should see it. Has that pretty thing from 'Legally Blonde' and the gay emperor from 'Gladiator' When's the last time you went to a movie?"

This might have been interpreted, she realized, as asking him on a date. Or it might just have been interpreted as nervous-talking, and nervous-talking was so very much not Lilah. She needed to get it together.

[_wes_pryce_]

His eyes narrowed dangerously when she mentioned the pig tails. He hadn't been fooled by her looks, merely amused. But he had let his guard down just a little bit, and she moved in like a black widow spider. Had he learned nothing from their last meeting? He ought to know better.

Squaring his shoulders, he slipped the mask back on and glanced over at the children she pointed out. Not that he got the reference she made, or the fact that she was dressed in a very un-Lilah like fashion. Other then perhaps that she was telling him she was trying to fit in? Why must the woman always play cat and mouse games, why couldn't she just give him a normal answer. He was getting tired of the game.

"That was even before your time, Lilah," he replied briskly to her off center question. He nodded toward the building, hands still in his pocket as he turned toward it. "Shall we not waste anymore time? You were rather eager to get in here as I recall."

[freelilah]

"Wesley," she crooned. "Taking the time for social niceties is never a waste of time. Didn't your mother teach you anything?"

She stepped around him, toward the guard at the door, leaving him to follow. "I hope you can at least endeavor to put on a slightly more civil air for my mother. I've been telling her what a proper English gentleman you are."

Stopping in front of the guard, she whipped an ID out of her wallet and said, "Two here to see Mrs. Morgan."

"I don't think so," the guard said, not even looking at her pass. "Orders are orders, and you know damn well that's no good. These orders come from downstairs.""Wesley," she turned to him and gestured. "Talk to the nice man

[_wes_pryce_]

Wesley gave her a disapproving look. “Language,” he scolded without realizing it. “And that in front of your mother.” The poor woman may have heard her daughter. Must be enjoyable to hear your own child say that about you, no matter how…far one had gone. Wesley couldn’t help but think it showed a great deal of disrespect

[freelilah]

Lilah's mother can let loose with the best of them, so Wesley's concern for the old lady's tender ears amuses her, and she lets her expression show it. "You really don't get it do you?" she asks Wesley, speaking out loud, not looking at Dolores. "She's not here. She never has been."

She ignores Wesley's question because the answer seems obvious enough.

"Cold dead hands", Dolores snaps, pulling away from her daughter's grasp

[_wes_pryce_]

Wesley smiled at the older lady. She’s sharper then she lets people think. Slowly, he leans in to she can whisper to her without Lilah hearing. “I know. But she doesn’t and I really don’t like to shatter her illusion.” That’s all this really was. Lilah was pretending someone she wasn’t and her mother thought he was someone who was, apparently, long gone

[freelilah]

Lilah notes his hestitation and wonders, annoyed, what he thinks she's going to do. Smother the woman for the insurance money? No, the firm has certainly provided against any such incentives.

Of course, Lilah does have a plan. But it isn't going to hurt anybody. Not that she objects, in principle, to causing pain; she just doesn't see the percentages. As Wesley hits the intercom, Lilah scans her mother's bedside table and, reliably, her eye lights on a small music box, with a crystal stag on the lid. "Look, mother, remember this?" she soothes, "It's nice right." She opens the lid, and a simple, haunting Gaelic tune begins to play. As the music starts, Dolores' head snaps to attention, her eyes fix on the box and she begins to sing, along with the intricate melody, Seven knights of Faerie rode into the wood/For nine immortal ladies, delicate and goodm, Four enchanted blackbirds --And so on and so on. All right, the verse was crap but Lilah hadn't written it. She'd delegated that task to a summer intern with a few