"Your key Ms. Chase?"
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot." Cordy said and dug through her purse until she found the key to the place she’d called home for the past five months.
She handed the key over to her landlord.
"Here Mr. Carlton." She said and handed him the key.
"Where ya headed?"
"Home, to LA" She answered.
"Well, LA will be lucky to have you." He said with a smile.
Cordelia smiled back and continued out the door.
"Cordelia" Her landlord called after her.
She turned around.
"I hope you find what you’re looking for." He said truthfully, as he thought of the unusual behavior he’d witnessed in her for such a pretty girl.
Girls like her had boyfriends, but he’d seen her turn down many nice-looking guys and she always pretty much kept to herself. She always gave off a slight ‘bad breakup’ vibe.
‘Any guy that would give up a looker like that with such a sweet personality had to have been out of his head!’ Brad Carlton had always thought.
"Thanks Brad." Cordelia said, realizing that she would miss him a little.
He was really the closest friend she’d made since she’d been in Hawaii.
He nodded and smiled; she continued out the door to her awaiting cab.
The plane ride was uneventful except for the constant uncertainty that kept telling Cordelia to catch the next plane back to Hawaii. She had made friends there, it wasn’t family like she’d had at the Hyperion, but it had been nice. It would be so easy to never go back to the Hyperion again, she wouldn’t have to face seeing Buffy and Angel together. She had put Angel behind her, in the romantic sense anyway; it was the only way she could survive. She was to the point now where she could be happy for him. But going back to the hotel being pretty much the only one single was not something she was looking forward to. She knew she had to go back, a part of her wanted to go back because she missed everyone so much, but the questions that would naturally come flying at her the moment she walked through the door were going to bring up all the horrible feelings that she’d spent the past year trying to put behind her.
She got off the plane, retrieved her luggage and then decided to rent a hotel room before going to see Lorne. She needed somewhere to put her luggage and just in case Lorne gave her the ‘it’s not time yet’ speech, she had somewhere to crash afterwards while she figured out where to go from there. She still had almost fifteen thousand dollars left out of the money that Whistler gave her so she could last for a little longer.
After dropping her luggage off at the hotel, she took a cab to Caritas. It was still the same, the déjà vu when Cordelia entered was unreal, but she was different now. She wasn’t going to sing another heartbreaking song for Lorne, mainly because she wasn’t heartbroken, she wasn’t really anything anymore, except lonely. It was barely noon there so the bar was pretty quiet.
She didn’t call Fred this time; hopefully she would be able to see her and the rest of the gang in the next couple of hours and if not… Wesley and Fred’s wedding was only a few short months away and she wouldn’t miss that for the world.
"Can I get you something?" the bartender asked Cordelia as she took a seat at the bar.
"Diet coke, please." She answered.
"Make it on me." Lorne said to the bartender as he sat on the stool next to her.
"Right boss." The bartender answered and set Cordy’s drink down in front of her.
"How ya holding up?" Lorne asked her.
"I’m fine." Cordelia told him.
Lorne gave her a knowing look.
"No really, I am fine." She reassured him and took a sip of her coke.
Lorne read the huge hopeless waves coming off of her.
"Dating anyone?" He asked.
"What’s the point?" She asked quietly.
‘Bingo! Read her right.’ Lorne thought to himself.
"What do you mean?"
"I’ve been in love twice in my life, both times the Powers That Be have taken them from me. What would be the point in dating, when the Powers are just going to cause me to end up alone, anyway?" She asked, strongly and rearranged the ice in her glass with his straw.
"Who was number one?" Lorne asked.
"Well, we never really were involved and I really didn’t realize I loved him until he was gone but when he kissed me… I could tell it could’ve been something great…" Cordy drifted off.
"But…" Lorne brought her back to reality.
"He died… saving me and Angel and a lot of other innocent demons…" Cordelia said.
"What was his name?" Lorne asked.
"Doyle." Cordelia said.
A few moments of silence passed.
"I want to go back to the hotel, I’m ready." She said, looking Lorne in the eye.
"Are you sure? Buffy and Angel have been pretty tight lately. Are you sure you can handle that?" Lorne asked her.
"I’m not saying its going to be easy, but I miss being there with you guys. I used to dream of getting away from all the death and evil and vampires and things but I miss fighting. I miss making a difference… I miss having…" Cordelia got quiet.
"You miss having someone." Lorne finished for her.
"After Doyle died, I thought there was no way I could ever love anyone like I loved him and I was right. It was so different with Angel but it was still… real. Ya know?"
"Yeah I know." Lorne answered, listening to her words and the coming bomb that the Powers were fixing to drop on her.
"You told me that everything would be ok, that the Powers would take care of the dating stuff to but I just don’t see how I could even begin to get close to someone new." Cordelia reasoned.
"I never said anything about ‘someone new’." Lorne replied with a smirk.
"Ok well I know you don’t mean Angel because if you do I will smack you! I could never do that to him or Buffy! Not to mention the past year has been about getting over him! I don’t even w-" Cordelia started, angrily.
"Cordy, I don’t think its Angel they’re talking about." Lorne interrupted.
"If the name Xander comes out of your mouth I swear-"
"I thought you’d only been in love twice?" Lorne questioned.
"That only leaves Doyle and they can’t set me up with him… that’s impossible." Cordelia thought out loud.
"Is it really princess? Guess I made the trip for nothin’ then." And Irish voice said from behind her.
Cordelia spun around on the barstool and gasped.
"Oh my God, Doyle!" Cordelia exclaimed, more shocked than she’d ever been in her life.
"One and only." He said as his lips descended upon hers and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Lorne smiled.
"Hey kids, I don’t need this PDA in my bar, go get a room." Lorne said jokingly and turned to leave.
Cordelia silently thanked whatever made her get a room before coming here as tears erupted from her eyes.
"Oh and take a few months for yourselves, you two deserve it." Lorne added before leaving.
Doyle cupped Cordelia’s face as she cried.
"How?"
"Someone up there seems to like you." Doyle said with a smile and kissed her again.
~The End~
I plan to write a sequel series later!