A Calling Who: Bella and Future!Lindsey Where: Outside Damon's apartment When: December 12 (2018)
"Lindsey waited for the girl to come out the door. He had been standing here all damn morning, and now it was the afternoon. He figured that, now that her guy was asleep, Bella would come out and actually do a few things during the day. Run some errands or something. He knew that he needed to talk to her. However, he wasn't going to be able to move quickly enough if she didn't hurry up soon. He needed to tell her that, no matter what might happen to her, staying in the future was a mistake. There was something that she needed to go back and do. Something really big to take care of.
Eighteen years and nothing had really changed. For Damon. Where she was concerned, no time at all had passed. Either way, she still couldn't seem to leave his apartment at a decent hour. He somehow always found a way to distract her. Or, more honestly, it was the other way around. But who was counting? With a large pair of sunglasses hiding her gaze and a scarf wrapped around her neck to hide the second pair of bite marks that were quickly healing, Bella exited the building and made a beeline for her car. She had a lot to do today. Most of Damon's things were packed and she wanted to find movers who were willing to work after dark. True, she could just rent a truck and she and Damon could do all the manual labor, but...where was the fun in that? She also needed to finally start returning some phone calls, if for no other reason than to get Mel off her back.
When Lindsey saw her finally exit, he stood up from the bench that he was sitting at (he couldn't just sit crouched beside her car because police tend to frown upon that) and made a beeline for her. "Bella? There's something that I need to talk to you about," he said as he closed in on her, hoping that she wouldn't either run or try to kick his ass.
At the sound of her name, Bella tensed up, and while she was ready to knock the guy into next week, she had to remind herself that the people following her these days...were usually just people. Annoying as hell, but just people. "Look, I don't know how you found me here, and I'm flattered that you're a fan or whatever, but really. There's a time and a place, dude, and ambushing me outside of my - " she caught herself, " - friend's home is so not it."
"I'm not a fan. Personally, I prefer country music more than anything." If he kept the stuff she played around, he might kill himself out of self pity. "No, I'm not following you around because I'm a stalker or whatever. This is different. I'm here more about your night job." Besides, a forty six year old man salivating about an eighteen year old girl? Weird, even in Lindsey's world.
Try a two hundred and something year old guy lusting after an eighteen year old girl. At some point, the mind refused to process anymore, didn't it? (Add in the fact that he wasn't entirely human and it surpassed weird, went right into twisted, but Bella didn't care.) "Country?" If anything, that made her speed up a little faster. Everyone knew country fans were religious zealots in disguise. She'd just pressed the button to unlock and start her car when he mentioned her "night job". Turning slightly, she forced herself to relax, though she stood ready to take him down if she had to. "Following people around is generally what stalkers do, isn't it? But who are you and what do you want?"
"No, it's called a stake out. Cops do it, too," Lindsey pointed out. "Are they stalkers?" Still, moving on. "My name's Lindsey McDonald. Back when, well, when you were past Bella, I worked for a place that your parents probably hated with a passion, but that's not a good enough reason to discredit what I'm going to tell you. You need to go back to where you came from, Bella. I kind of need you to go and help me save the world." Ugh, if Lindsey in the past had heard that, well, he'd slap himself. Or his future self. Damn, this was confusing.
"Are you a cop?" She countered, but then let him go on. Although...once he was done, she wasn't sure why she had. "Okay...aside from this all sounding incredibly crazy, this is where I came from. This is where I belong. See, I was born in the year 2000 and it's now 2018, making me eighteen. So, if you do the math, this is my time." And anyone who overheard her would think she belonged in some kind of asylum, which was why she lowered her voice considerably for the next part. "I don't belong back there. I...." All right, maybe she missed it. Parts of it. But that was in the past. Literally. "I can't go back. Bad things will happen if I do." Not that she'd let them, but...ugh. Moot point. She wasn't going back.
"Yeah, you get vamped." He knew that, too. It had been his job for a while to keep up with these people, after all. "However, if you don't, guess what? None of this happens. It all goes away because someone decided to unleash the fucking apocalypse on everyone because they didn't like humanity as a whole. So, maybe you can go back and stop yourself from being turned. Maybe not. However, if you don't go back at all, we've probably got about a week or so before we all blink out of existence."
The girl blinked. That was...a whole hell of a lot to say at once. Vamping? Bad. Maybe. They jury was still out on that one, but she was still leaning toward bad. Apocalypse? Quite possibly overrated. You never could tell until the big one finally came, right? "Uh huh. All right, and how does this have anything to do with me?"
"Because you're the one who pulls the Slayers into the battle," Lindsey pointed out, as if it were obvious. Really, when you're trying to save the world, and when it's something that you're not exactly practiced in, then you really don't have the patience to explain all the things that you have to do. "The reason why bad things like the end of the world don't happen is because you guys stop it. Not people like me. Me back then? Sure as hell can't do it alone. I worked for a place that sort of wanted to bring that around in their own time as well. Evil can only fix evil so much."
"And the other Slayers can't do this...because?" It was happening in their own time, under their own nose. Surely they'd realize it sooner or later. Unless...it was too late by the time they did. But still. How was it her problem? Maybe because the world ending wasn't really great for her future? Then again, if the world ended in 2000, she wouldn't have a future. But was it a risk she was willing to take? "I can't go back."
He sighed. She had only been here for, what, a week? She had probably just found out what happened to her and her mother and boyfriend in the future. He wondered what else she knew so far. "So...you're willing to give up saving the world and having it all end in a week so that you can prevent something that *might* happen?"
"The way I see it, this whole end of the world thing? Might happen. Might not. How can you be so sure? You've only seen it one way, right? So what if I don't go back? That doesn't mean someone else can't step in and play the hero."
Lindsey shook his head. Were all Slayers this pig headed? Really? "No, there is no might to this, kid. It will happen. You want the world to end, fine. It's on your shoulders, though. Keep that in mind when you spend the night in bed with your boyfriend. Hope you sleep well." He pulled a card out of his pocket. "You wise up? Call me. For the sake of the world, I really hope you do." He turned away.
She was the daughter of Gwen Morrison and Skylar James. Being reasonable was asking a bit too much of her, wasn't it? She took the card and watched him go, turning back to her car. She'd just gotten her life back...and now this? Figured. Nothing could ever be easy.