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Name: No Pressure Over Cappuccino
Author: Rachel
Summary: This is a sequal to the fic "Patterns of Faith," (all you really
have to know is that Lindsey and Faith are a couple and living togeather in
NYC) when angle comes for a visit, Faith's gotta make some choices.
Rating: I might be throwing in some curses... but other than that it'll
probly be pg-13ish
Feedback: so far i havn't got to much of this written, so anytime somone
tells me what they think it helps to hurry things up... plus it's nice :)




My life is close to perfect now. In fact, I don't think that I've ever
felt so good to wake up in the morning. I'm back in law, working as a
prosecutor. I am the one who puts the bad guys behind bars, and aware of the
irony in that. I wonder if Lihila knows, probably, that woman always was good
at keeping tabs on people.
Faith and I have been together for almost 6 months. I always relied on
patterns before, having a routine to guild my day by. Now the only one I
follow is that every night we are always back in each other's arms. And I
couldn't be happier.
Faith still talks to Angel constantly. At times I am prone to get a
little jealous of that. I've learned to not question her dependence on him
though.
When Faith told Angel about us… he was less than pleased. In fact, I
believe when we talked on the phone his exact words were," If you hurt her in
any way I will personally make sure that it's not just one hand that you
loose this time." A little harsh, don't you think?
Things got a little complicated when he came up to NYC to visit her, but
I'm more than certain it was also to check up on me.
He showed up at our door not long after sunset, the usual frown on his
face. That frown only grew more sullen when he noticed I was the one to
answer the door, I'm sure the fact that I'd just gotten out of the shower and
was only wearing a towel wrapped around my waist didn't help matters either.
"Hello Angel," I wasn't sure what to say. We were never exactly friends,
but when I left LA we were on less than horrible terms. I still didn't like
him.
"Hi Lindsey… make anyone homeless today?" He didn't even try to mask the
disdain in his voice. I bit my tongue at that… I was going to play nice with
him, for Faith's sake. At least I got the answer of where we stood.
Faith picked then to walk into the room, and not a moment to soon.
Angel's expression immediately changed to a gigantic smile. Come to think of
it, before then I'm not sure I'd ever seen Angel smile, at least not in a
sadistic way.
She ran into his arms and gave him a big hug, if he wasn't a vampire it
might have crushed his ribcage.
"I missed you, soul boy," even though she was facing the other way I
could hear the giant smile on her face.
"You too," they finally separated.
"Where's all your stuff?"
"At the hotel, I checked in last night, but it was to close to dawn to
risk walking here."
"Still not big on bursting into flames huh," She said with a smile. Then
as an after thought, "Hotel? Come on big guy, your not gonna crash here?"
He looked strait at me as he answered, "No, I don't think that would be
such a good idea." Faith didn't miss the look and quickly dropped it.
"I was just about to go to the bar, my shift starts soon. Wanna come?"
"Yeah."
Then she looked at me, "Coming?"
I know I promised her I'd be nice to Angel, but hanging out at a bar
with him was just not going to happen. So I just answered, "Sorry, I got a
case yesterday that I haven't even looked at yet. If you want I'll stop by
once your done and do a quick slaying with you."
Angel smirked, "Don't worry, we'll have that covered."
Bastard.

~~

Faith didn't come home until around dawn, and yes… I was waiting up
for her (not that she had to know that). She climbed into bed quietly,
staying on the far corners of her side.
"Did you find a nest?" She jutted her head up quickly, stunned that I was
still awake.
"Huh?"
"You were out latter than usual, I just assumed that you'd run into a
vamp nest."
She didn't answer immediately, causing me to turn around to look at her,
"No, Angle and me just kinda walked around and talked. Dusted a whole bunch
of vamps, got all the way to the South Side."
Call it lawyer's intuition, but I knew I wasn't getting the whole story.
I also knew that it wouldn't do any good to push Faith, so I opted for the
easier road, "I've got to be up early for the office anyway, how about some
early breakfast?"
A small smile slowly spread across her perfect features, "You make the
bacon and eggs, I'll do the toast."
And with that, we both got up to enjoy the morning together.


The next night Faith had a double shift at the bar, so I was left
alone, to brood about Angle being there.
I just didn't understand why she could be so enamoured with him… and
his hair was stupid, too. Come to think of it, how does a vampire (that can't
look in a mirror) manage to pile that much hair gel into his head, anyway?
Knock, Knock. It may sound odd, but I knew who was at the door before
I opened it, everything he does seems to be melancholy and monotone.
Angle looked up at me with his dead set frown, "Can I come in?"
"If I said no then you'd be screwed, which means I'm inclined to that
answer."
Smirking, he stepped threw the threshold of the door, standing right
in front of
me, "I've already been invited in, I was just being polite." I really hate
him.
"Faith's not here."
"I came to talk to you," that got my interest, although I was trying not
to show it.
"What could you possibly have to say to me?"
Without blinking, he asked, "Are you with Faith because of Darla?" I
didn't know what to say to that, it had been a lifetime since I'd even
thought about the blonde vampire.
After a moment I replied, "Why would you even think that. Darla doesn't
have to do with anything. Come to think of it, neither do you."
Angel slowly began walking towards me, with a gleam in his eye that
reminded me of when Wolfram & Hart tried to drive him insane. "Bullshit. You
being with her is a sick way for you to get back at me, well guess what," he
pushed me up against the wall, "it's not going to work."
I consider myself a rather intelligent man, but I had no clue what he was
talking about. I didn't know what to say, so I waited for him to go on, "Is
this how it works, I fuck the woman you love, you fuck the woman I love? When
you left, I almost thought you had a shot to become a decent human being, but
I was wrong. You've actually fooled her into caring about you," He spat the
words out, almost as if just saying them was giving me to much control.
My mind was spinning. Did he just say what I had thought he just said?
I tried to think of something to say, but no words were coming. What the
hell was I supposed to say? Finally, I replied, "You love her," my voice
sounded distant.
His features softened, "More than I thought I could."
I came back to my senses after hearing that, "But you can't love her," I
was practically screaming, "I know all about you curse. What is it with you
and slayers, is it a fetish or something? All you can give her is dark
corners and stolen kisses. I can give her a life," I added with a sneer, "You
can have Darla, you can have anyone… not her."
Angle walked to the table and leaned against it, completely unimpressed
with my outburst. He spoke as if I was dumb and he was desperate, "The curse
was lifted, The Powers That Be said it was my reward for ending an
apocalypse, eventually I'll become human. But for now, I've got a fully
intact soul," he looked up at me with forced smile, "That's more than can be
said for some lawyers."
We sat in silence for what seemed like hours, until finally I worked
up the curage to say, "I won't give her up without a fight."
Without looking at me he began to walk out the door, saying over his
shoulder, "Neither will I."



        I knew that I had to look at this like a Lawyer, not a jealous
lover. Remember what Holland said, "Always be the one in control, make the
decisions that they're to weak to."
      But that was just the problem, I wasn't the one in control, Faith was.
So I did the next thing that came naturally to me, I waited.
3 hours went by, and I'm not sure if I ever moved form the spot I was
standing when Angel left, in fact I didn't move until Faith came home from
work.
Once I heard the keys jiggling threw the door, I walked into the living
room and sat down, waiting for her to come in.
"Linds… ya here?"
"Yes," after all the hours of thinking and re-thinking this, I still had
no clue what to do.
"Hey you," she said, casually coming into the room and sitting on my lap,
"bad day?"
"You could say that," I couldn't look at her.
"Was it that jackass at work again," she began nuzzling against my neck;
Faith always did that when I was upset.
For the first time I looked down into her dark eyes before saying, "I
spoke with Angel."
She looked away from my gaze, staring down at my chest, "He told you
about the kiss?"
I didn't breathe for about a minute after that, for the second time that
day my brain went completely numb.
"No," I ran an unsteady hand threw my hair, "Only that he loves you."
"Oh," tensing up, she moved from my lap to sit on the opposite chair.
"What kiss?" I tried to keep my voice level, but the situation got the
better of my.
"Look, it was nothing. He just kissed me, and I told him I was with you,
and we dropped it. It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters!"
Faith stared right at me, "I told him I love you."
"But you also love him…" There, I'd said it. The words that had been in
the back of my mind since the beginning of all those hour long conversations.
In a way I had known it all along, but just then realized it.
She barley spoke louder than a whisper, so I had to strain my ears to
hear, "I don't know anymore."
I gave up trying to blink away my unshed tears and just let them fall,
this was too much for any man to deal with. It had taken me a lifetime to
find someone to love, and now she couldn't even decide whom she wanted to be
with.
I wanted to scream, punch holes into wall, and dust Angel, but instead I
just said, "I love you," letting out a breath of air I said the hardest thing
of my life, "but I won't share you."
"Lindsey, please let me explain… the stuff with me and Angel is
complicated. For the longest time I've convinced myself that he was what I
needed, and if only-"
I couldn't listen to her singing his praises, "I'm meeting with a friend
for diner, I'll be back tonight."
And I just left her there.