Lynn tossed and turned, her eyes closed, and only seeing what was in her head. "No, Matt!" she cried. "I said... Nicholas?? No, don't, you can't do this..."
Her eyes were suddenly open. "Matt," she murmured. "No, he couldn't... could he?"
"Lynn?" a man's voice said from her door.
She looked to find Angel standing there. "You okay? I heard you talking..."
Lynn smiled, touched that he had come to see what was wrong. "Just a bad dream," she answered.
"You sure?" he asked, stepping inside the room and closing the door behind him. "Something about Matt?"
Lynn frowned as she sat up and allowed her father to sit beside her on her bed. "You sure have an acute sense of hearing," she muttered and then sighed. "I think that... wiggy feeling has caught up with me and is invading my dreams. Kinda hard to ignore, huh?"
Angel nodded. "I'd bet," he answered. "I used to have a lot of nightmares. I still do, but they're less now. I don't tell Buffy. It'll just make her worried... she's been dealing with my nightmares and hers ever since we started going out."
"What are they about?"
He shrugged. "A lot of things. Sometimes they're possible scenarios of Buffy's death. And I'm always the one to blame. But they're mostly memories replayed over and over in my head. Past evil deeds I've committed. They play out in my head for me to feel guilty about them."
"Do you?" Lynn asked softly.
Angel frowned thoughtfully and looked down For several long moments, he didn't answer. Finally, he looked into the beautiful green eyes of his daughter "Not anymore," he said. "Buffy was my redemption. Well, you and Buffy and now this new addition to the family we'll be having. But Buffy has helped me recognize that what I did as a vampire, I couldn't control. That was the demon inside me."
Lynn raised a delicate eyebrow. "You really believe that?"
Angel nodded. "I do now."
"Good," Lynn said. "She's right, you know."
"I know."
"Oh, hey," Lynn said after several minutes of comfortable silence. "We just had that father/daughter moment we were aiming for a few days ago."
Angel laughed. "We did, didn't we?"
"I swear, as soon as this is all over, we're gonna get that damn day if I have to kill for it," she said.
Immediately, Angel's mood turned sober again. "We might have to," he replied. "What was that about Matt?"
Lynn looked at Angel for several more seconds before turning her head away. "I don't like this, Dad," she muttered. "I really, really don't. There's something about him. I can't put my finger on it. But there's really something about him..."
Angel nodded. "Come to think of it, the way his body is built... it kinda reminds me of Nicholas, or what I remember of him. He is kinda hard to forget, though."
Lynn's eyes widened. "Oh, my God, you're right," she said. "You're so right. Do you think...? No, that would be impossible. Right?"
Angel looked at her, his expression dead serious. "Maybe."
******
"For the millionth time, Giles, Nicholas showed up out of nowhere!"
"You're completely sure? Evelynn, this is important. You could be having prophetic dreams and it is crucial that you..."
Lynn sighed in exasperation and her best friend decided to take pity on her. "Giles, she knows it's a prophetic dream," Jade spoke up. "Give her a break."
Giles nodded and removed his glasses in typical Giles manner to wipe them. "Oh, dear," he murmured.
"What is it?" Daniel said from the library doors as he made his way over to them.
"I'm afraid I have some news on Nicholas," Giles said. "I did some research on him last night. He, uh, seems to enjoy discovering prophesies and then twisting them to fit his purposes. He gains power from some of these, and if your dream is any indication, we might have a similar situation on our hands."
"English, please?" Jade said.
"Meaning?" Lynn said at the same time.
"In your dream, Matt is trying to um, get you to bed, as you say," Giles explained. "And Nicholas shows up out of nowhere. It could mean that Matt and Nicholas are working together. This, combined with the information I have on Nicholas, and with this feeling you and Buffy have been getting on Matt lately, I'd have to guess that Nicholas has something planned between you and Matt that will get what he wants."
Lynn's eyes widened in realization. "He can't do that!" she cried. "You can't just twist a prophesy like that!"
"Your Mom avoided a prophesy, Lynn," Daniel pointed out. "That's why there are two Slayers."
Lynn shook her head. "No, she fulfilled it. The prophesy said she'd die and she did. It didn't say anything about her coming to life, though," she replied. "But come on, I know prophesies are tricky things, but this is ridiculous!"
"I seem to have missed something," Jade said, raising a hand as if in a classroom. "Rewind this for a sec. What does Matt wanting to sleep with Lynn have to do with Nicholas and the prophesy?"
"Well, I'm not saying anything for certain," Giles said, "I'm just giving my educated guess. And I'm still not sure what would, uh, Nicholas have to do with Matt. Or why would it be Matt he chose for that matter, but I do believe that Nicholas hopes to gain something from the heir of this 'fighter of light' and 'dark angel.'"
Jade frowned, her forhead wrinkling in thought, and she shook her head. "I still don't get what that has to do with Lynn."
"If Lynn's dream is any indication, I would say that he wants Lynn to be the 'fighter of light' and Matt to be the 'dark angel,'" Giles explained.
"And why would Matt be the 'dark angel?'" Daniel asked.
"That would be the question, wouldn't it?" Giles said.
Lynn had been quietly thoughtful throughout the whole explanation. "Guys, this is ridiculous. We're jumping to conclusions, and we have nothing to base them on. It was just a dream... and even in it is prophetic, it's stupid to think it can be taken literally. I seem to remember Mom telling me about having dreams a long time ago where Dad dies and nothing happened."
Giles nodded. "Granted," he replied. "You're right, of course. Is there anything else you can remember from this dream? Did Nicholas say anything you might consider useful?"
Lynn shook her head no. "I tend to forget details when I dream. Maybe I'll dream again tonight and I can write it down as soon as I wake up," she said. "Dad and I did talk last night. He says Matt kinda reminds him of Nicholas, and disturbingly enough, he does to me, too."
"You think Matt and Nicholas are related?" Jade asked incredulously. "That's just wrong."
"Why?" Lynn asked. "If we're right about Matt working with Nicholas, it would make sense."
"But like you said, we'd be jumping to conclusions," Daniel countered. "And we only have a dream and a feeling to base them on."
Lynn sighed. "Right. So what do I do?"
"I suggest you do nothing for now," Giles said. "We're so wrapped up in discovering what the prophesy means, we could be accusing random, innocent people."
Lynn stood up. "You're right. My God, this is so stupid. Matt has nothing to do with this..."
The bell rung, interrupting her. "Come on, guys," she told her two best friends. "Let's go to class."