Cordelia sighed as she grabbed her book off the kitchen counter top and settled down comfortably into her well-worn couch, wrapping her legs underneath her lithe frame. Today had been a tough day owing to the vision express that had collided inside her head, but she had managed to get through it. She had briefly taken care of the little girl Angel, Wesley and Gunn had managed to save and had delivered her into the worried arms of her mother. Although it had been really good to save the girl, Cordelia couldn't forget the look of utter despair and heartbreak on the face of her mother when she had come to collect her daughter. The look that told the whole world that she had just lost someone central to her being - her husband.
Today had been the first time it had really hit Cordelia. That one day, she may have that look on her face. If Angel died ...
She shook herself mentally and tried to concentrate on her book. She didn't want to be overtaken by melancholy thoughts tonight. She didn't want to brood. She didn't want to feel the utter badness that seemed to have pervaded her mind and the numbing ache in her head care of her wonderful, debilitating visions. She wanted to feel good, and nice.
She wanted to see Angel.
Cordelia sighed again. What the hell was she on? She had seen Angel every night for the past few nights, and surely there was such a thing as overdosing on luscious, salty goodness? Had things changed that much that she couldn't deal with one night on her own?
Get a grip Chase, she chastised herself.
There was a tentative knock on her apartment door and for a fleeting, incoherent moment she wished it was Angel. The thought was pushed away as she thought about the absolute ridiculousness of it - it was fantastic and glorious enough that record breaking broody boy had spent three continuous nights with her ... but a fourth straight night?
Yeah right.
She opened the door to find Angel, smiling like an idiot.
"Angel." What the heck was he doing here? Not that she was in a hurry to complain or anything.
"Cordy." He continued to grin at her as he produced two bags loaded with stuff.
"What's all this?" Surprise coloured Cordelia's voice.
His gaze fell onto the two bags as he began somewhat sheepishly. "Ah ... can I come in?"
"Sure." As if Cordelia had any choice in the matter. A handsomely gorgeous two hundred and forty-eight year old Angel standing at her very door and she wouldn't let him in?
He set the bags onto the table as he took off his leather jacket. "Are you okay? I mean, not too tired?" She shook her head. "What about vision aftermaths?" His voice dripped with concern. "Is your head hurting ... much?"
Cordelia shook her head again as she ran a hand over her tired eyes. "Not ... not more than usual." She looked up to find him scrutinising her, his eyes filled with worry. "Not your fault."
He smiled, faintly amused that she had managed to read his mind. "Okay." He paused as he started unloading the bags' contents. "But I ... I thought I should try to make you feel better. Or maybe distract you with ... stuff."
"Distract me?" Cordelia smiled suggestively as her mind raced with indecent possibilities, her eyes involuntarily roving over Angel's impossibly well constructed, finely chiselled body. What did he have in those bags? Handcuffs? Maybe that chocolate body paint? Not that she really ever thought of covering every nook and cranny of his smooth, marble like skin with chocolate and then licking ...
Her eyes met his amused ones as he caught on to her train of thought. She felt the blood rushing to her face as she blushed madly. Control ... she had to control herself damn it.
"Ah ... no. Not that." Angel shifted uncomfortably, glad that the table was conveniently covering his more obvious parts. Think Angelus thoughts, he repeated to himself.
Angelus thoughts. Killing. Maiming. Torturing. Some more killing. And then the blood sucking. Hmmm.
His mind shifted back to the present as the sheepish smile returned to his features. "Um ... I thought ... you know, you could use some company. And food, I brought food. To help you feel better ..."
She was genuinely touched. He had obviously gone to the grocery store and had actually done the shopping thing, and to Angel that was like climbing Mount Everest. She was touched that he would even go to so much trouble for her.
"Wow. Thanks." She looked over at the contents of the bag, picking one up randomly. "You brought me chicken soup?" She asked, puzzled.
His face contorted into one of helpless, puppy-eyed confusion. "I wasn't really sure what to bring, seeing as I'm, you know, not human. I figured that in movies people bring soup when the other person is feeling sick so I brought soup ... but I didn't know whether you were feeling sick per se or just down." He grabbed a tub of ice cream from one of the bags. "But I thought, hey if you don't feel sick you'd like ice cream ... maybe ..." He smiled. "Girls like ice cream I know that much, I mean, I'm not completely ... You like ice cream, right?" He trailed off anxiously.
"You are the sweetest vampire in the world ... Well, you know what I mean." She kissed him soundly on the cheek before laughing into the crook of his shoulder. "And boy do we love ice cream." She grinned as she eyed the other bag closely, her excitement building like a little girl's. "What else is in there?"
He smiled as he reached in. "Well, I noticed the other night you were out of coffee, so ..." He produced a packet of finely ground beans. "And you had no milk ... you know, for your coffee. So I bought milk."
Her brown eyes were expressive as she stood in the middle of her apartment, speechless at Angel's thoughtfulness. She couldn't ever remember another time in her life that someone had cared enough about her to notice these small, tiny details about her life. Her heart was so full at that moment she couldn't utter a sound, even if her life had depended on it. Which was great that it, in fact, didn't.
Angel continued, racing through the list of items he had gotten for her. He felt increasingly ridiculous for having put so much time and energy into this. It seemed a bit much. Obsessive, even. Maybe he was scaring her? He knew that he was scaring himself, frightened at the lengths he knew he would go to in order to make Cordy feel better. It could get dangerous, couldn't it?
"And ..." He reached for the last item inside the bag. "I ah ..." How could he put this without coming off too obsessed? "I thought you'd like to watch a movie ... if you weren't too tired that is."
Cordelia brightened momentarily at the thought of one of her favourite past times before frowning. "It isn't one of your French films is it? 'Cause I'm into foreign films as much as the next ... well, I'm not really ..."
He smiled almost indulgently as he presented her with the video. "Relax Cordy." He frowned. "Those films aren't that boring, are they? I mean I really enjoyed the one with --"
Cordelia let out an excited squeal. "The Patriot? You got The Patriot?!" Her eyes twinkled in the reflected light. "Hunk-o-rama! Heath Ledger? How did you know what to get?" She asked incredulously, half laughing and half squealing.
"I pay attention." He protested, a martyred expression overcoming his features. "You know, I've watched enough movies with you to know which men ..." he shook his head, "actors you appreciate. I'm not completely clueless."
"No, of course not." Cordelia paused as she considered. "So, how did you know what to get?"
Angel sighed. This was the part he had wanted to skip over. Didn't his demanding seer know when he didn't want to feel all ... embarrassed?
"Ah ..." He stalled. "I ... had to ask someone." He mumbled under his breath, hoping she wouldn't question him any longer. There were still many things he had yet to learn, one of which was to be okay with feeling all ... embarrassed.
But Cordelia had ears as sensitive as a cat's. She prodded mercilessly. "You ... asked someone? Like ... how?"
"I ..." How could he put it in a way that made him seem less inept at social interaction than he really was? "I ... I had to ask the girl at the video store which movies a girl would like." He said it in a rush of breath. He'd performed water tortures less painful than this.
"And ... what did she say?"
Angel stuck his hands into his pockets. This was ... excruciating. But on the upside he was actually making Cordelia smile. Which was ... good. Even if it did entail this much pain.
He definitely had a lot to learn about making Cordelia happy.
"She asked me whether you were into more ... masculine, rugged types like somebody Crowe or something, or whether you were into cute ... boyish ... types like Leo somebody, and I said that I really didn't know, but you seem to have liked that person from that Pearl Harbour movie we saw a few months back, and then she asked me which one, and I said I didn't know that there were two guys in that movie but I think I remembered you talking about that younger one because you said he looked really young and cute ..." Angel's voice trailed off as he caught the look of utter hilarity on his seer's face.
Cordelia couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst out laughing so hard she thought her sides were going to spill out from within her. Angel was so clueless ... but oh so sweet. So melt-in-her-mouth gorgeously sweet.
"Oh Angel, I love you!" She flew into his arms so spontaneously and so without warning that even his vampiric senses were almost not fast enough for him to react to it. But once in his arms he never wanted to let her go, as he buried his face into her soft, sweetly sensuous hair. This was definitely a moment to savour.
"I love you too Cordy. You know that, don't you?" He hoped she knew it. He resolved to say it more often to her. He probably didn't say it enough, what with being the serial brooder he was and all.
"You're the best." She grinned at him before grabbing the video out of his hands. She shoved it into her video player and turned around in one swift, graceful motion. "Sit down." She pushed him onto the couch. "You hungry?"
"Uh ..." He was a little hungry, but there was the blood factor ...
"Okay, I'll get you some blood." Before Angel could tell her not to go to any trouble, she had whirled about and was already in the kitchen.
"Cordy?" He got up and followed her into her small though well-equipped kitchen. "Shouldn't I be doing that? I mean, you're the one with the visions, you should rest."
"You already got me food, remember?" She put a packet of blood into her microwave and switched it on. "Besides this friendship should be a two way deal, don't you think? It's no fun if you have to serve me all the time. If I needed a slave I'd hire one ... well, I would if I could afford it ... but that's totally not the point." She looked at him almost defiantly as she placed on hand on her hip. "I'm going to be there for you Angel, no matter how much you think you don't deserve it." She paused. "You weren't talking about the friendship, were you?"
Angel shook his head, but it was good to know that Cordy would be for him no matter what happened.
The steady humming of the microwave punctuated the air. "Want me to get you a spoon for the ice cream?" Angel asked his seer.
"Sure." She smiled brightly. This was good ... a really good end to a really bad day. And she was glad that it was Angel that was making her feel good.
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