TITLE: Legal Hot Water
AUTHOR: Ragna (writinggoddess@aol.com)
RATING: FRT
CLASSIFICATION: Xander/Cordelia, Willow/Oz, Buffy/Angel and Lindsey/Other interaction.
SUMMARY: Lindsey switched sides; now, can he help Oz out with Angel Investigation's help?
SPOILERS: Set in season five of Buffy, season 2 of Angel with specific spoilers for Dead End (I've rewritten the ending of that episode) and I Will Remember You.
DISTRIBUTION: Any sites with my fic up; you all have unspoken permission. I write it, you can post it. Everyone else just keep my name on it and let me know.
DISCLAIMER: If you don't recognize it, chances are it's my own creation. If you do, I don't own it. Joss Whedon, Kazui Sandollar, The WB, UPN, et. al. most likely do. Serena Southerlyn belongs to Dick Wolf as she is a character from "Law & Order"
FEEDBACK: Please send it offlist and let me know it's feedback; I do rapid delete on my account due to a lot of spam.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Answer to challenge #276 at the now archive only You Got The Stones (http://www.four-am.com/stones - but it's still awesome so check it out).

***

"Wow. He lives in a hotel?"

Willow nodded. "Dawn, go inside, okay?"

"Can I look around?"

"Go ahead," came a female voice from the door. Willow turned and saw Cordelia. "It's a nice place, isn't it?"

"You live here, too?"

Cordelia shook her head. "Have my own apartment. But I stay here often enough that I have my own room." She smiled. "Hey...bygone be bygones and all that?"

"Sure." She shifted her duffle bag. "I didn't know how long, so..."

"It's okay. There's plenty of space. Angel will hook you and her up with a room." Cordelia paused for a moment. "Who is she?"

"Buffy's...sister..."

"But Buffy is an only child."

Willow shook her head. "Not anymore. I'll explain inside."

Dawn bounded back to the doorway, a smile on her face. "I like this place."

Cordelia smiled at Dawn. "Yeah, I like it, too."

***

"So she has memories of us, but we don't have any of her?"

Willow nodded. "You may get some, you may not. We...well, we don't know." She was holding Oz's hand tightly as they sat on the couch together.

Angel nodded. "Sounds reasonable." He looked at his watch. "Gunn, check to see if the sun set."

Gunn opened the door, only to see Kate Lockley standing there. "Yo, Angel, I think it's for you."

Kate walked in, looking around. "I'm not here on police business," she said, finally looking at Angel. "I just wanted to warn you that I'm the liaison with the New York DA." She glanced at Lindsey. "So he's on your side now?"

"Hello to you too, Kate," Angel said, his right eyebrow raising.

Kate shook her head. "Sorry."

"No problem," Angel said. "Glad to see you're back on the force."

Kate looked a little sheepish. "I should...apologize. It wasn't your fault, you know, that I lost my job."

Angel nodded. "Apology accepted. Now what about this DA?"

"She's here to get Daniel Osbourne extradited to New York. Seems they have a huge serial murder case out there, and they think our case might be connected."

"I didn't do it," Oz said quietly.

Kate looked at him. "You're Daniel Osbourne?" she asked quizzically.

Oz nodded. "I go by Oz."

"Angel..." Willow began. Then she turned to Lindsey. "Can they just take him?"

"They have to prove he committed the cases out there. To do that, they'll probably have to convict him out here first."

"Which, if they can't do that, then they can still use things collected against him in our case against him in theirs," Kate muttered. "That's if he did it, of course."

"Do you think he did?" Angel asked.

Kate shrugged. "I think it would have taken an animal to do that. But...if you think he didn't do it, I'm inclined to trust you. I guess." She looked at her watch. "I have to go to the crime scene again. Care to come with, since I'm guessing that's what you were going to do anyway?"

Angel nodded. "Wesley, come with me." He turned back to Kate. "Are the police going to re-arrest him?"

Kate shook his head. "Not until they have a more solid case. Just keep him here in LA, and keep him out of trouble."

***

Later that evening, Willow and Oz were up in the lobby. Lindsey was talking to Dawn in Angel's office, and Xander was staying at Cordelia's apartment that night so they could catch up on things.

"I didn't do it," Oz said.

"I know. We just have to prove it, you know? Without bringing up the werewolf thing." Willow looked towards the office. "Is he a good guy?"

"Who, Lindsey?"

"Yeah."

"I think so. Cordelia doesn't seem to like him, and Angel's got a thing with him, but everyone else seems okay with him."

"Is he going to make sure you get a fair trial and everything?"

"I'm hoping there won't be a trial," Oz said.

Willow, still holding his hand, gave it a squeeze. "Well, no matter what, I'll be here for you. Promise."

"I never should have left."

"I know."

"I was stupid."

"I know. But you did what you thought you had to do."

"You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," Oz said.

Willow smiled. "Well, then that's a good thing. Because if I was the worst thing that had happened to you, that'd be a bad thing."

Oz grinned. "I'm glad you came."

"Yeah, me too."