Roomates -- For thelovelorne

[fredless]

With a nervous sort of energy Fred moved through her apartment, checking the seabreese ingredients she'd purchased from the small package store up the street, making sure the new stero she'd just gotten that afternoon was indeed working. And she wasn't really nervous, that wasn't it. But the excited energy that seemed to hum in her ears certainly felt a lot like it. And sounded? A lot like Lorne.

The moment they'd connected on the phone it felt like she started talking about her extra room, how lovely Boston could be, and offering him a place there, if he wanted it. It was a little bit after her ramble they finally got to his actual plans. But they worked together...and everyone was going to be that much closer. Cordy seemed to be doing at least a little better, and would be home soon. Angel was back. Wesley smiled now, on successive days that built up one after the other...and now Lorne. Only Charles was left, somewhere that she couldn't reach.


But mostly, it was better. And right. Fred wondered if everyone else noticed it too, and she paused at the couch to softly pet the two kittens that were sleeping there in a warm jumble of fur. Maybe it was just the part with the two years, how sundenly and sharply two different lifetimes could be thrown into sharp relief. Because that's what it felt like. Cordy'd been gone, and Fred had felt that wear on all of them. Angel and Wesley worked so much that she'd hardly seen them at all, except for the current crisis they were all needed for. And a crisis was just that, tiring...wearing. Through all that, though, she and Lorne had kept the little things. The small laughs, and quick lunches. And Fred realisied she'd been looking for big moments for her friends back then, something huge and warming to reassure their choice. Until some days she never saw them at all.

But now, even if they were seperate sometimes. Most of the time. Fred felt...it was going to be ok. For all of them. Each and everyone of them stood in bright contrast to the lonliness they'd all known months before. Years before. And it was hard a bit, to know she hadn't really been a part of those happenings, or at least there to see it, and record in somewhere, internally. But...it was better. And that made it worth it.

For the longest time latel, her mind had made it about the hotel, and what had been lost. But now, with Boston, Fred had finally been able to remind herself. About the wonder of the people who'd been in it. One of which, who'd be knocking on her door any minute. A door that lad to a still sad, undecorated apartment.


Lorne was going to tsk at her, but then he'd set it to rights. Not because she couldn't do it on her own, be because he'd want to help. But that's what friends did to spaces, helped make them go away. Especially....them.

Fred waited with a smile.

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[thelovelorne.livejournal.com]

Lorne took off his sky-blue fedora and double-checked the number on the apartment door in front of him against the slip of paper he fished out of the inside pocket of a suit in a particularly bright shade of violet. He nodded and put the paper back. Reaching down to lift the heavy Louis Vuitton valise, he knocked on the door. Behind him came a muffled grunt. Lorne turned to shake his head at the cabbie-- or rather, what of the cabbie was visible behind the other six pieces of his matched luggage set.

"Oh, don't be such a baby, it was only a couple of flights."

The door swung open and Lorne spun to see Fred's smiling face. His own split into a wide grin, and he dropped the valise to smother her in a hug.

"Freddikins! Oh, someone give me a few good spanks, 'cause I think I'm having a heart attack! It's so amazing to see you again!"

Once he released her, Lorne swept his way into the apartment, planting himself in the center of the living room while the cabbie chugged his way inside. "Oh, just put those anywhere," Lorne told him, then handed him a discreetly folded bill before the exhausted man left the room.

Lorne hugged her again, then stepped back.

"Let me look at you, peaches. Oh, you're such a sight for sore eyes, I can't tell you."

He then glanced up at the apartment and coughed. "Speaking of sore eyes..."

Lorne turned slowly, taking in the place. "Hmmmm..." The walls were bare, the floor was bare, the light fixtures were all but bare, and he could only hope that the cupboard wasn't bare, too. "Uh-huh..." The only thing in the whole place that really grabbed his attention was the wide, plush moss green pillow-back couch against one wall.

"Well... I like the couch," he offered. "It matches moi." Lorne's smile widened again. "Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart, I have gotten here just in time, haven't I? Well, fret not, because just as soon as you grab your shoes and hat, you and I are going on a shopping spree, and we're not stopping until our little abode is ab fab!"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_fredless/]

Fred just stood there, post hug, watching as Lorne surveyed her apartment quietly. Truthfully, she had meant to do more with it, especially considering how lovel it was without any help at all. But she just ahdn't...

And was it her imagination, ot had Lorne turned a particuarly pale shade of green?

But he loved her couch, and for some reason that made her love him all the more.

"Lorne," Fred called his name for no reason at all, launching herself at him for an all new, extended hug. She finally pulled away, and slipped on her shoes just like she'd been ordered.

"I don't have a hat?"

[thelovelorne.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that's no big deal. We'll just pick one or two up for you, sweetie."

The hugs were great, and the happiness was even better, but Lorne figured that just being able to be around his most favoritest person in this world, or any other dimension, was the best part of all. Grinning, he took Fred's hand.

"I hope you've been doing your cardio, roomie o' mine, because we're jumping down the rabbit hole, and we're not stopping until we've hit every shop in Wonderland!"

*****

It took two cabbies this time to bring the bags and packages up to the apartment, and it wasn't even everything. There had been, to Lorne's slight frustration, a few pieces of furniture-- a funky glass and wrought iron coffee table, a refinished bookcase that looked like a priceless antique, and a few pieces for his own bedroom-- that had to have deliveries scheduled.

The bags and boxes were scattered around the living room, ready for the grand redecorating. Lorne, however, dropped himself onto the cushions of the green sofa and sank into it.

"Ooh, my southern belle, please tell me there's something tasty in that kitchen of yours to soothe a parched throat."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_fredless/]

Fred own arms were overloaded, and carefully she carried her own boxes and bags, depositing them on her bed. She hadn't had any winter clothes at all, but now it seemd with Lorne's help, she might have more than she could ever need. But he had particuarly encouraged a soft green, wool-lined coat. Fred hung that one up first, before returning to the living room.

"There's water, and soda, and I also bought you all our particular neccesities. I'm not sure exactly what to do with them, but they're there."

[thelovelorne.livejournal.com]

The next few hours were a blur of cocktails, fabric throws and more than a little judicious use of a stapler to keep it all hanging together. By the time it was done, the apartment's living room looked like the lush, eclectic, front room of the trendiest club in the city. Which, considering that if Lorne had any say in things, he would know all about.

Adjusting a lamp on the end table beside the couch, Lorne stepped back to consider his work, made a last tweak, and clapped his hands together.

"Lambchop, I don't think this place could look any better."

He put an arm around Fred's shoulder and smiled.

"Welcome home."