Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
She drove. And she drove and she drove and she drove. You'd think that if there was an apocalypse with a tiny footnote in the prophecy that said only California would be destroyed, traffic getting the fuck out would be hell.
But, in fact, it wasn't. It was empty and Lilah was driving like the maniac that she sometimes appeared to be, just to get out. But then again, when she thought about it, who the hell actually read the footnotes?
Only that damn Hermione in those fucking Harry Potter books that she had read to her daughter every night. Her daughter who was sleeping peacefully in the seat next to her, snuggling her lavender stuffed bunny and a mini-stake Lilah had gotten just for her. She was the center of Lilah's world and not even Wolfram and Hart knew about her. She had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for shielding spells and more to be cast on her for her protection. From demons, vampires, Wolfram and Hart, and people. She couldn't even be touched by anything that would even consider harming her.
Of course, she was oblivious to all the magicks that were used to protect her.
She was oblivious to the fact that, for California, the world would soon end. She just knew that she and Mommy were going someplace new and fun and it would be her first airplane ride.
She was young and innocent and naive and Lilah just wanted to keep her that way forever. Five years old was the best age anyone could ever be.
But not even the darkest of magicks could keep Lucy five forever.
Lucy. Her Lucy Diamond. She would go to the end of the world and back for her but no one could know.
Lilah had named her Lucy Diamond from that one Beatles song. Lilah had always had a soft spot for the Beatles but no one could know that either.
As soon as they got far enough into New Mexico, the first stop they made was at 7-11 and Lilah gave Lucy a piggy back ride around the store and let her pick out whatever she wanted.
Needless to say, none of it was healthy but then again, who wants to eat healthy when there's an apocalypse a-brewin'? A 24-pack of Coke, an infinite number of chips and chocolate later and they were in the SUV again, heading for the airport.
Lilah had packed and stashed everything of value to her and Lucy in the backseat and trunk.
So many suitcases, so many trunks. They had owned so much and this was but a small fraction of it. It felt like starting over. To Lilah, it felt amazing. She could have a new life and a normal job and then no danger would ever come to Lucy because of how she lived pre- and post-baby. But Lilah had always protected her. The first and only person she had called when she had found out she was pregnant was a shaman from a payphone in front of Flap Jacks, one of those horrible pancake restaurants. It was like Alias only real. Lilah and Lucy watched Alias like it was a religion. Lilah wanted to fuck Irina. But of course, back then, there was no Alias.
As soon as they boarded the plane and fell asleep together, it all started all over again. Fear, running, a radical personality change, and the most terrifying of all, loving a daughter.
This was her hell. Hers and only hers. A Wolfram and Hart "holding hell". Lilah had heard of them pre-death and she mocked the fuckers that had gotten caught and stuck in them for an indefinite about of time. She never thought ahead far enough in terms of her life to ever think that she could get locked away in a holding hell. Maybe she had thought she would be an immortal snarky evil-bitch-lawyer. Or maybe not. It didn't matter now.
Nothing mattered now.