Life in L.A.: Lynn Rhee
by Melissa Summers
Buffy sat on the couch in Angel’s office, waiting for Spike to arrive with Dawn.

“Relax.” Angel told her. “They’re fine. I sent someone over to check on them last night.”

Buffy looked at him for a moment and laughed. “Why? Did you want them to hate you even more than they already do?”

“Dawn hates me?” Angel asked.

“Well, no. She just thinks you’re boring.” Buffy admitted.

“Oh, but she finds Spike just fascinating, doesn’t she?” Angel muttered.

It had been an awkward night for both of them. Buffy offered to take the couch, but was given the bed. Buffy insisted on taking the couch, but was still given the bed. Only when she had threatened to punch Angel did he finally let her take the couch.

The truth was, she didn’t know if she could handle sleeping in his bed. Though the flat-screen TV had proved to be both an ice-breaker and a comfort between the two.

“Morning Angel. Hey there Buffy.” Fred greeted them as she stepped into the office. “I’m Fred by the way.”

“Good morning Fred.” Buffy smiled politely.

“Angel, there’s a Forlack demon here to see you. Harmony is with him outside, trying to calm him down. He seems really angry about something.” Fred told the CEO.

“Thanks Fred, I’ll take care of it.” Angel assured here. He turned to Buffy. “I’ll be right back.”

“And I’ll be right here.” Buffy replied. “You are allowed to leave me for periods of time longer than a minute, you know.”

Angel nodded. “Right, well, that’s good because this is probably going to take more than a minute.” He said before leaving the room.

“Well, I have to get back to the lab, but it was nice to finally meet you Buffy.” Fred waved to Buffy.

“Bye Fred.” Buffy waved back. She was in a fairly cheery mood considering she had a secure financial income.

She looked over at the window, where the early morning sunlight was pouring into the office. This alone immediately struck her as odd. Vampire + Sunlight = Ball of Fire, right? Well, Wolfram and Hart was full of tricks, she supposed. Non-flame-inducing sunlight, otter blood, a good dental plan, this place was a vampire’s paradise.

“It sure is.” Said a woman’s voice.

Buffy looked up in surprise to see a woman standing in the doorway. She appeared to be of Asian heritage, and was wearing a lavender kimono. Her dark black hair was pulled into a bun with two gold sticks through it. Large gold chandelier earrings hung from her considerably smaller ears.

“I’m sorry, what sure is?” Buffy asked.

“This place. It is like a vampire’s paradise.” The woman smiled kindly.

Buffy tensed. “How did you...?”

“I can read minds.” The woman replied. “It’s my gift.”

“Oh.” Buffy said simply.

“My name is Lynn Rhee. I am here to see Angel.” The woman indicated Angel’s empty desk.

“I’m Buffy, and he’ll be right back.” Buffy said quickly, getting up off the couch. “Here, why don’t you sit down?”

“Thank you, but I’m okay standing.” Lynn said.

Buffy continued standing stiffly, unsure if she should sit back down.

Lynn laughed. “You are clearly uncomfortable in my presence.”

Buffy shook her head. “No, no! I’m not, I just...” She trailed off, slightly embarrassed.

“It is alright. Most people do not like having their personal thoughts vulnerable.” Lynn told her knowingly.

Buffy shrugged. “Knowing people’s thoughts isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

Lynn looked slightly surprised. “You have had this ability before?”

“Yeah.” Buffy nodded. “But not under my control. If I was near someone, I would hear what they were thinking whether I wanted to or not. And trust me, there are some minds that should not be read.”

“That is too true.” Lynn agreed.

“You were right though, about people’s personal thoughts. My friends couldn’t stand to be around me. Xander tried doing math in his head just so he wouldn’t think about sex.” Buffy recalled.

Lynn laughed again. “A common personal thought between men.”

Buffy was beginning to ease up now, and sat back down. “Can you read vampires minds?”

Lynn nodded. “But you couldn’t, could you? Most people who get their ability from demons like you did cannot. What you had, I believe, was telepathy. Am I right?”

“How did you...right, mind reader. Duh.” Buffy said. “Yeah, the demon who gave me the power was telepathic.”

“There are some differences between the two.” Lynn explained.

“Um, hi.”

Buffy looked over to the doorway to find that Dawn and Spike had just arrived.

“Dawn.” Buffy got up and walked over to her younger sister, hugging her.

She turned to Spike. “Thanks for taking care of her.”

Spike nodded. “No problem.”

Behind them, Lynn laughed.

“What?” Dawn asked, looking from Lynn to Buffy. “Is there something wrong with my hair? Spike, why didn’t you tell me something was wrong with my hair!” She went from feeling the top of her head to punching Spike’s arm.

“Ow!” Spike snapped. “There’s nothing wrong with your hair, Nibbler.”

“Lynn is a mind reader.” Buffy indicated Lynn Rhee behind her. “Apparently something one of you is thinking is amusing.”

Dawn and Spike’s eyes widened, and Buffy raised her eyebrow.

“Care to share?” She asked. “Dawn you look exhausted, what did you two do? And please tell me it doesn’t involve joy riding around L.A. until the early hours of the morning.”

“No, of course not.” Spike answered.

“We stayed up late playing Crash Bandakoot is all.” Dawn finished.

“If that was all, it wouldn’t be that funny. How late?” Buffy asked.

Dawn smiled innocently. “All night...”

“Dawn!” Buffy began to scold, before turning to Spike. “You let her stay up all night?”

Spike put an arm around Dawn, and felt the familiar flutter in his chest, but ignored it. “Can you really say no to a face like this?”

Dawn put on her puppy-doggest face.

Buffy rolled her eyes. “So you caved. And you call yourself a champion?”

“Well, anyways, I believe you and I have some talking to do.” Spike said seriously, changing the subject.

Buffy nodded. “Yeah we do. Dawn, Gunn is in his office. You remember where that is right?” Dawn nodded. “Well, he’s agreed to look after you and give you a little tour of the place, so why don’t you go ahead over.”

“Sure Buff. See ya later Spike.” Dawn waved goodbye.

“See ya Lil Bit.” Spike let his arm drop off her shoulder and the girl headed out of the office.

“We can use Angel’s room.” Buffy said, indicating the elevator behind her. She turned to Lynn Rhee. “It was nice meeting you.”

Buffy turned to the elevator and pushed the button. Lynn gave Spike an amused look. He followed Buffy onto the elevator, where Buffy stood slightly in front of him. She gave Lynn a genuine smile, while Spike gave her a hugely fake smile and enthusiastically put his thumbs up.

Lynn laughed once more, which puzzled Buffy. She turned around to look at Spike, and he quickly put his hands down and looked serious.

“What?” He asked.


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