The Hart of L.A.

Dawn was miserable, and she had absolutely no one to talk to. Her sister had tried to comfort her when she'd told her about Andrew, but now Buffy was gone. She was now pacing back in forth at Wesley's apartment. Willow had told her that she would come and pick her up after she got back from the hospital. Giles, Wesley, Angel, Fred, and Lorne had locked themselves in one of the other rooms. She was stuck out here with the hottie that was Connor. He wasn't talking much, just sort of staring at her. Andrew had gone with Riley to look for Drusilla, so he wouldn't have to stay there to talk to her. Xander was even gone, and it wasn't fair to be left there. She was so ingrossed in her thoughts that she didn't hear when Connor actually spoke to her. She turned her attention on him, them shook her head a little.

" I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What was that?" Connor got up from his seat on the couch and walked over to where she was standing.

" I said, your boyfriend is an idiot for leaving you." Dawn whipped her head around to look at him.

" What are you talking about?" Connor just shrugged his shoulders. She had to ask him again before he answered her.

" It's just an observation I'm making. Your boyfriend, Andrew, I noticed you trying to talk to him. He's an idiot, you shouldn't worry yourself so much." Dawn opened her mouth, but nothing would come out. Just who did this guy think he was? She was about to say something, but he beat her to it.

" Now, don't get mad, I'm just saying is all. You're a beautiful girl, and you shouldn't let geeks like him get you down." This was starting to make her angry, and flattered at the exact same time.

" Andrew is not a geek, he's just sort of eccentric. Anyway he's not really my boyfriend. We'd only made it official about a week ago, then that creepy guy came to that meeting, and then he decided he didn't want to be with me anymore." Connor crossed his arms.

" You mean that guy that came out of nowhere, and said we were destined to be together?" Dawn blushed to the roots of her hair, and looked around. Connor smiled at her.

" Hey, I think the prospect looks nice. I mean I did notice you when I first got at Wolfram and Hart, but I was more worried about my dad. I'd like to get to know you." Dawn looked up at him again. She was shocked! He'd noticed her, and wanted to see her! She had to fight to keep her face from showing her giddiness.

" I--I think I'd like to get to know you too." Connor grinned at her. He was about to say something to her, when Angel walked out.

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Xander was at a loss for words. He hadn't seen Cordelia in a very long time, and she had changed quite a bit. She looked like she was going to spit on him. " Alexander Harris, you aren't answering me! What the hell are you doing here?!" Xander sighed. This was still the same Cordy. " Angel asked me to come and pick you up. They're trying to find Buffy, and he's kind of got his hands tied right now. I'm just doing him a favor, and plus he's paying me." Cordelia stopped her pacing, and glared up at him. " He's paying you to pick me up? I cannot believe the nerve of him! I go into a coma, and he suddenly doesn't care?!" Xander just stood there, trying to cool his annoyance. " Listen, Cordy, I know you wanna get out of here. The best thing you can do is come with me, that is unless you'd prefer to stay here." Cordelia stopped her rant and crossed her arms. " Are you kidding? I am so not staying here any longer, I was just surprised is all. What do you mean they're trying to find Buffy? I thought she was in a coma or something like that. So not original, if you ask me." She always did that, and it made him so mad when she did this.

" Look, Wolfram and Hart put some kind of spell on her to make her commit suicide, and she's taken off. We're trying to keep her from it, because it looks like they're gonna be yet another apocalypse. We have to get her back, because we need her. It's gotta be hard, though. We just stopped some stupid demon that could end the world, and apparently there's another one poppin up here soon." Cordelia was looking at him like he'd grown another head.

" You guys just stopped an apocalypse? That's why Buffy and Oz were here! This is just fantastic! I wake up to find out that I'm getting thrown into the fray of impending death!" Xander didn't say anything for a long time. When she said that it reminded him of Anya. She'd always said stuff like that when it came to the apocalpyses they'd had. Cordelia noticing the change, touched his arm.

" Hey, are you okay?" Xander shook his head in an attempt to make the memories go away.

" Yea, I'm fine, you just reminded me of someone for a minute." Cordelia, noticing how sad he looked, didn't say anything else. Instead she noticed, for the first time since he arrived, his face.

" What the hell happened to your eye? If you're trying to impress girls, that is so not the way to go."

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Fred was a little distraught. They'd just had a discussion about this new prophecy, and she was scared. It appeared there was going to be a new demon rising soon. Now, normally that wouldn't scare anyone, cause they got that all the time. This time it looked like they wouldn't be able to stop it. The prophecy said that three of the chosen ones could stop it, but it was very vague on the how. It wasn't vague on what would happen if it wasn't stopped. Humans would cease to be, and the ones who were kept alive, would only know pain and suffering. It wasn't a very good translation, because all they had was what would happen. It didn't say when, Wesley just had a tip from one of his old watcher buddies, that it was going to be soon. That was the other thing. Wesley hadn't spoken to her since he'd gotten that phone call from the remains of the Watcher's Council. She'd tried to talk to him, but he was busy. He was going to be in close contact with this Talia girl when she got back. She should trust him, she knew this, but why the hell wasn't he talking to her? She'd exited the room right after Angel did, and Wesley was still ingrossed in that scroll. Lorne walked up behind her, and put his arm around her.

" Listen sweet pea, I know you're upset. He's just really worried about this demon that's gonna be poppin up." Fred looked up at him when he said this.

" I know this, and I don't know why I'm getting so upset! I just wish he'd talk to me. I've tried to talk to him, to be supportive, let him know I'm here, but he just brushed me off." Lorne sighed.

" I know, and that boy needs to have his butt kicked for it. Just give it time, and don't give up on him. He's crazy about you, I do hope you know that." Fred smiled. That was the only thing she was sure about.

" I know that. I think I'm going to go home now. Will you tell him if he asks?" Lorne rubbed her shoulder before releasing her.

" I will pumpkin, if you're sure you don't want to do it yourself." Fred nodded and walked out the front door after saying good-bye to Angel and the others in the living room.

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Talia was getting stir crazy. They'd been in the damn van for over 5 hours now. They'd stopped a couple of times to get snacks and gas, but that was it. Faith was taking her turn driving the vehicle. Gunn had held her for about fifteen minutes and was sleeping. Spike was reading a comic book it would appear. She really didn't want to be going to this hellmouth. From what she'd heard about Sunnydale, she really didn't want to be put in the middle of all that. She'd called her parents from Gunn's apartment the day before. Just like she'd predicted, they'd been worried sick about her. She'd assured them she was in good hands, but now she wasn't so sure. They hadn't given her a say in any of the decisions about her so far. She was thinking that once they got to Cleveland, she might just split. She'd hate to leave Charles, but it might be best. She knew that she'd only known him for a couple of days, okay weeks, but she'd grown really attached to him. It would appear that he was attached to her as well. She'd over heard him telling Spike that she was his girlfriend. It was then that she noticed that Spike was no longer reading his comic, but staring at her.

" You alright, luv? You look a little nervous." She smiled at him. He still made her nervous. She'd gone off when she'd found out that Angel and Spike were vampires. It was like that too when she first saw Lorne, but she loved Lorne to death.

" Well I am nervous, if you must know. I've just been told that I'm a person that kills vampires and other things, and now I'm being sent to there headquaters it would appear." Spike chuckled at her choice of words.

" You'll be fine, you know. We're only going to be here long enough to get Buffy, then we're out. Besides, you've got lover boy here to take care of you." She laughed at that.

" I guess you're right."

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It was a typical day for Buffy. She'd been there for three days now, and she was getting the feel for it. Rona hadn't been kidding when she'd said these things just keep on coming. It's like they knew that there were slayers in the city now, and they were rebeling. There hadn't been anyone to keep this one under control until recently, and now there were several of the slayers here. Buffy had run into Vi as well. It would seem her and Rona had set up days where one would go one day and the other would another day. Buffy didn't take days off. So far, she'd been out all three nights. She was patrolling one of the hot spots when she was caught off gaurd by a vampire. It was a female, and she knocked Buffy off of her feet. Buffy quickly got up on her feet and faced the vampire. When she saw who it was she just laughed.

" Drusilla? You've got to be just itching to die, if you came here looking for me, and I have the distinct feeling you did." The vampire just grinned at her.

" You're right, I have coming looking for you. You took my Spikey away from me, you did. The moon whispered to me that you would, but I didn't believe it. Then he went and got attached to you, he did. You've got a bad influence on our kind. First poor Angel, and now my poor lil Spike. You made him get a soul, and now I'm gonna make you pay."