starlit_desires | Ficlet: Hard to Breathe (Reply)

Title: Hard to Breathe

Pairing: Lilah/Gunn interaction

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and company.

Notes: written for brokenharlequin . Set in between ATS Seasons Two and Three.

“It’s getting harder to breathe,” Lilah said as she tried to fan herself.
“Try not to talk,” Gunn said in response.
“This isn’t my fault.”
”Didn’t say that it was.”
“You’re acting like it.”
“How? By telling you to conserve your energy by shutting up?” Gunn asked her angrily.
“You don’t have to be rude.”
”Look Lilah, I ain’t being rude. It’s just too hot in here,” Gunn said as he stood up and kicked at the elevator door.
“Like that’s going to solve anything?”
“Would you rather I kick you?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Lilah replied icily.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t,” Gunn said as he sank back down to the floor.
The two were silent for a few minutes before Lilah started rooting around in her briefcase.
“Want some?” Lilah asked as she handed Gunn a water bottle.
“Thanks,” Gunn replied before drinking some of the water and handing the bottle back to her.
“They should get the elevator up and running soon.”
“This happen often?”
”Only when there’s a problem in the building?”
”Like one with Angel?”
”Angel has only shut down the building once or twice. Security generally lets him come in now.”
“Why?”
”It works to my advantage when Angel wants to talk.”
”I see,” Gunn said shortly.
“Look you have to realize that I am doing my job.”
”I’m surprised that you can sleep at night.”
“That is so clichéd, I thought you could do better than recite that moral crap that Wesley and Angel are so fond of spouting.”
“It’s what I feel.”
“Sure it is.”
”Look Lilah, don’t act like you know how I feel.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t presume to know how working for Wolfram and Hart makes me feel.”
“Fine.”
The silence descended on the two of them once again, while the two thought about what the other had said. Gunn knew that he was being overly harsh on Lilah, and if he had been in her position, he probably would have accepted it just to keep his sister safe. Gunn had only started slaying vampires because he didn’t have the opportunities that Lilah had obviously had. Meanwhile, Lilah was thinking about what it would have been like to have been in Gunn’s position. She shuddered in distaste as she about his life on the streets of L.A. Just as they turned to face one another again, the elevator slowly rumbled into life preventing them from saying anything else, or even doing anything else. Lilah slowly stood up and ran her hand through her hair as she composed herself; she had come to close to kissing him and that wouldn’t do.
“Thankfully, it was getting to be suffocating in here,” Lilah said as he stood up.
“Yeah,” Gunn said as he handed her back her briefcase.
‘Thanks,” Lilah said coldly.

**END**