+    Crossing Paths    +

By Nzinga27

+ Chapter 2 +

The next morning Damion Crane and his girlfriend Theresa were waiting for Jason and Carl to return with Victoria. "Boss," Jason said as he walked in to the office. "What happened to yall?" Damion said looking at them. "Where's the broad?" he screamed. "There were 10 of them," Carl said tending to his black eye. "Oh so she wants to play tough, we'll see about that," Damion muttered, looking out the window.

"You look like hell," Lorne said to Angel as he got the baby's bottle out of the kitchen. "What happened last night?" he asked. "I lost Imhotep's talisman," Angel said as he started to feed Connor also avoiding what really happened. "Who is she?" Lorne said with a grin. "What do u mean who is she? Who?" Angel said. "Is something going on?" Wesley said as Fred turned on the TV. "Nothing," Angel said. "Tonight on Music Fever, it's the battle of the dancers, and as always your top ten requested videos. See you tonight at 6," a commercial with Victoria said. "That's her," Angel said watching. "She has the talisman," he said. "Victoria Blair?" Wesley said. "That's her," Cordelia said with a laugh. "How do you know her?" Gunn said.

Angel sighed and explained: "Some guys tried to grab her and I …" "You rescued Victoria Blair!" Fred said interrupting her. "Why didn't you tell us?" Cordelia said. "Its obvious, Cordelia," Lorne said. Angel turned around putting a pacifier in Connor's mouth. "He likes her," Lorne said. "No I don't." Angel said. "Cordy and I are going to try to be extras on Music Fever tonight," Fred said. "I'm coming with you guys," Angel said and walked out of the room. "I'm going to see her again," he said to Connor.

"What do you see?" a creature said to Victoria. "I don't know . Leave me alone!" Victoria screamed as she saw the same demon from before come towards her drawing the life out of her. "Ahhhhhhh!" Victoria screamed as she woke up from her nightmare. "These visions," she thought. Victoria closed her eyes and saw the mysterious man who rescued her. Thinking of him soothed her fears. "W hat a night," she said as she looked in the mirror then at the clock. "Oh no! I'm late!" she exclaimed and ran to the bathroom.

It was 3:30 pm. "Hey can we go? We might miss her," Angel yelled to Cordelia and Fred who were still getting ready. "Hey we won't miss your girlfriend," Cordelia said as she and Fred were coming down the stairs. "She's just a woman who has something I want," Angel said. "We know what that is," Fred whispered with a giggle.

"I'm going to wait in the car," Angel said since it was sill daylight. "You can always wear the mask," Gunn said. "No it's ok, I'll find her when the show is over." Angel said.

"Ok here we have the champion dancer Connie against the challenger Fred. Give them some room you guys," Victoria said as the show was in the last half hour. "Go Fred!" Gunn said as he started dancing. Fred started doing disco dances that had the audience in disbelief. "Well that was very historic," Victoria said with a laugh. "Let's give both of the winners a hand!" she added. "That was nice of her. I thought Fred was kind of bad," Cordelia whispered to Wesley. "Well that's it for today's show, It doesn't get any better does it? Well catch us tomorrow, same place same time. Goodnight!" Victoria said to the camera. "And cut!" a director said. "Good," Victoria thought brushing her hair back and going to her dressing room.

"Where did she go?" Wesley said looking around with the others. "I don't know," Fred replied. "Her dressing room! Duh!" Cordelia said. "Ms. Blair, we have to do a sound check for tomorrow's show before you leave," a man said. "Sure," Victoria said with a smile. "Just go into this van," the man said. Victoria walked outside, Angel saw her from his car. "There she is," he said. "Who is that man?" he thought.

Then Angel saw the man push Victoria into the van and heard Victoria's scream. "Dammit!" Angel thought as he started to get out. But it was still sunlight. He looked in the back of the car and put on his mask and ran to the car. The car backing up caused Angel to fall. Angel got up and started running to the car. Then he saw a book from the van on the ground. "Damion Crane Management," he read.

"Take me home. Take me home," the music video repeated over and over again. "This is so tacky," Victoria thought trying to look away. She was tied up. When she did Damion took her head and forced her to look. Theresa just kept looking at her with admiration. "So do you want to play the video?" Damion said once it was over. Victoria laughed and said, "Heck no. It's not the type of video that could be on Music Fever. No offense," she said to Theresa. "Damion she's just tired," Theresa said. "She's going to be dead tired in a minute," Damion said coming towards her.

"Whoa!" Jason said as he was thrown into the room by a masked man. "Who's this?" Damion said. "Boys, get him!" he yelled. The masked man successfully defeated the gang and headed for Damion. "I don't think Ms. Blair appreciates being terrorized" the masked man said picking Damion up by the collar. "Who is this fool?" Damion said as he pulled the mask off.

It was Angel. Victoria eyes lit up and had a huge smile on her face. Angel turned around and noticed the warm welcome and smiled. Victoria then saw a vision of Jason coming to Angel from behind. "Behind you!" she yelled. Angel threw Damion to Jason. "How did you know?" he began to say. "Let's get out of here," he said instead taking her hand.

"They took a cab back to Victoria's house. "This is enough to drive somebody crazy," Victoria finally said as they walked in. "What did that Damion guy want?" Angel said. "He wants me to play a music video that his girlfriend did. It's very tacky. He won't take no for an answer." Victoria said sitting down looking very stressed out. "You're safe now. Ms. Blair." Angel said. "Vicki," Victoria said with a laugh.

"Excuse me?" Angel said. "Instead of Ms. Blair. My friends call me Vicki," she said with a smile. "I'll get you something to drink," she added. Angel sighed and said "Vicki do you have a necklace … it was gold?" "It was shaped like a crescent moon?" Vicki said from the kitchen. "Yes!" Angel said. "Yeah, I'll bring it now," she yelled back. "Here you go," Vicki handed Angel a drink and his necklace. "What's your name?" Victoria said. "Angel," Angel replied. "Thanx for saving me twice Angel" Victoria said and gave him a peck on the cheek. Angel's cheeks were a little flushed. "You're welcome, Vicki. "

"You seem very happy to get this necklace back" she said wanting to get to know him. "It was a gift from a dear friend," Angel simply replied. He looked at the clock: it was 2 am. "Ms. Blair, I mean Vicki, I need to get going. If you have any problems with Damion Crane," Angel said giving her his business card. "Call me," he said looking into her eyes. "That beautiful face," he thought. "Thank you Angel. For everything." Vicki said as she walked him out the door.

"Where were you?" Wesley said as Angel walked in. Angel looked at the Talisman and remembered Victoria's kiss on his right cheek. "I got the Talisman back" Angel simply said. "You saw Victoria again?" Lorne said. "Yes I saw Vicki," Angel said looking like a lovesick boy. "Vicki?" Fred thought. "When can we meet her?" Cordelia said. "After I figure out why exactly Damion Crane keeps bothering her," Angel said looking at Connor sleeping.

The next morning, Damion Crane had a meeting with a not-so-human partner. "Who is this guy who keeps rescuing Victoria Blair?" "He's Angel, a long-time nemesis of mine," the creature explained. "Well Sirus, get rid of Angel and bring Victoria Blair and you will be paid very very well," Damion said as he shook the creature's hand.

"Well Miss. Blair you're at the top of the world. Your show is the number one music show on TV. You have adoring fans. Life is sweet!" a newswoman said during an interview. "Hey Vicki's on," Lorne said teasingly to Angel. "Yes life is sweet," Victoria agreed, flashing that amazing smile of hers. "That smile is going to be the death of me. If ever," Angel said. Watching her he can't help grinning. "No boyfriend? No prince? No rescuer?" The newswoman said. "Actually a man has come to my rescue, well twice," Victoria replied. "Oh really?" the newswoman said. "If you're out there watching, thanx Angel," Victoria said looking at the screen. "AWWWW look. He's actually turning red," Gunn said. "Quiet," Angel said.

"Should I go see him?" Victoria thought, as it was 8 pm. She walked to her car, holding some mace in her left hand. "I have to walk 8 blocks!" she cursed to herself. "I need to see her," Angel thought as he and Gunn walked to the television studio. "I'll handle this on my own," Sirus said to his fellow demons as he spotted Vicki. "Angel, look at these footprints" Gunn said. "Sirus," Angel thought with growing hate within him. "We got to get to Victoria," he said and they ran faster.

As Victoria continued to walk she felt someone following her. Then she got the vision of the demon again. She turned around. Silence. Vicki looked to her right and then her left. She turned around and Sirus turned growling at her. Victoria began to run. Sirus just walked faster. "Where's Angel?" Victoria thought as she hid underneath some trash cans.

Angel and Gunn spotted Victoria's car and Sirus' footprints. "They were both here," Gunn said. They started to look around. Then Angel heard Victoria's scream. "She's this way," Angel said as they ran towards the sound. Sirus spotted her and grabbed her by the neck. Angel spotted them and went into Vampire mode. Victoria fell trying to catch her breath and watched Angel and Gunn fight. After Sirus vanished, Angel turned to Victoria, who was having another vision of the demon. She screamed out of frustration. Angel realized that he had on his vampire face. But that wasn't why she screamed. Angel ran to her and tried to comfort her. "You have visions," Gunn said. "All the time," Victoria said buried under Angel's face, which turned back to normal.

Chapter 3