His thoughts were interrupted by a voice. "That's beautiful," Cordelia said. She smiled at him as she leaned in the doorway to the room. "Shakespeare?"

Angel looked up, shocked to see Cordelia in front of him. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning, actually. It is a sonnet tho, so you had the right idea." He looked her over, smiling. "You're early."

She nodded, coming in and sitting down at his feet. "Go on... read more? It sounds so beautiful," she asked.

"I didn't know you liked poetry," he said, looking down at her.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Angel." She smiled up at him. "My favourite poem is by W. B. Yeats... Now: Read!"

Angel's lips curled into a smile. He knew better than to second guess Cordelia but this had surprised him. "Yeats? Interesting," he said, looking down at the book. "Let me see where I was," he said, searching the page.

"'And sorrow after sorrow took the place, of all those natural joys as lightly worn, as the stringed pearls, each lifted in its turn, by a beating heart at dance-time,'" Angel read on, occasionally looking at Cordelia and amazed by the rapt attention she was paying to him.

"She's good," Cordy murmured. Normally she found Barrett-Browning a little wordy, and she was sure that was the poem from the English SAT, but his delivery made the words take on a whole new meaning.

"More please?" she tilted her head cutely.

Angel smiled. "Has anyone ever told you you're hard to turn down?" he asked, reaching down and moving a strand of her hair off her forehead.

Cordy flashed him a grin. "I get by on my looks and charm..."

"It's more than that," Angel said, his eyes reluctantly returning to the book, "'Hopes apace, were changed to long despairs, till God's own grace could scarcely lift above the world forlorn my heavy heart. Then thou didst bid me bring and let it drop adown thy calmly great deep being!'"

Cordelia had to smile at the poetic description of brooding. "Chick must have known you," she teased.

"We shared a drink once," Angel admitted. "She was interesting. You kind of remind me of her, actually. So full of life. So- beautiful."

*Angel thinks I'm beautiful?* Her eyes lit up, "Yeah... but she was all smart and stuff... Finish the damn poem already!" she urged, almost bouncing with impatience. In fact, she was making a big show of her impatience to hide the warm fuzzies his compliment had given her.

"No," Angel said, closing the book and moving down to the floor to sit next to her. "You're like her in that you're full of life, beautiful, smart and talented. And I won't let you doubt yourself."

"Oh yeah, I'm all that," Cordy said, shrugging,"but I'm not Buffy am I?" she blurted out, unable to help herself. He was getting too close, and yet - as always - not close enough.

"No, you're not," Angel said, taking her hand in his. "I don't want you to be. I'll always love Buffy, but it doesn't mean she's the only one in my heart."

"Plenty of room for Darla and Dru in there too, I'm sure." She took her hand away and got up. She really didn't want to hear about how they were 'family', or that she reminded him of his little sister. Not this time. "Just finish the poem, please?"

Angel quirked his eyebrow at Cordelia and watched as she moved across the room. "No," he said, getting to his feet and going to her. "Why do you think that? That I mean *them* when I say to *you* that I love someone else?"

She crossed to stand in the rays of fading sunlight, needing the refuge. Great, it wasn't some old ex in the past. Wonderful. That meant being nice to the chick. "I'm happy for you if you've found someone, Angel. Isn't that what family is supposed to say? Just... promise me its not Kate or Jhiera?"

Angel slammed the book down on the desk and turned to her, wincing as he forced himself to look into the sunlight. "Why won't you give yourself credit, Cordelia? You're not stupid- you know what I'm saying. Why won't you believe it?"

She closed her eyes. "You miss Buffy, Angel." The words nearly killed her. "I'm your friend, I'm around a lot.. I'm the same age as Buffy, I come from Sunnydale... It makes sense there'd be some transferrence to ease the yearning..."

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" Angel asked. "Do you think I lived 245 years and don't know how to discern between two people?"

"Its not stupid... its a perfectly understandable reaction..." Her fingernails bit into her palms as she clenched her fists in front of herself, keeping her back to Angel.

Angel stepped towards Cordelia, wincing as he stepped into the sunlight, grateful for the "indirect" loophole. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her to him, resting his head on her shoulder. "The only perfectly understandable reaction is that I fell in love with you."

Her fists unclenched slowly and her hands covered his. Her eyes closed and a tear escaped from under her long lashes. "Angel..." she breathed his name like a prayer.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked, his lips breathing his words near her ear, his hands clasped around her waist. "I love you. I can't be around you anymore without wanting to hold you."

Cordelia took a step backwards, cuing him that it was alright to get out of the sunlight. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears and her heart was pounding, a thousand contradictory emotions there. Her first words were a warning, "I'm your Seer... you can't just walk away from me if things get too much, Angel..." If he was going to do that, she'd rather he'd do it now. She couldn't walk away either - her gift bound them.

"I'm not planning on walking away from you and I'm not planning on letting you go. Our lives are bound together in our duties, and so, it seems, are our hearts." He stepped out of the sunlight and stood in front of her, his hand resting against her cheek. "There is something that I've never told you- never told anyone, but I want you to know."

"What?" she whispered, her vision a little blurry with the tears in her eyes.

"The Oracles," Angel started, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I went to see them when you were in the hospital but they had been killed. I spoke to the spirit of one before she passed on and she told me something- something which I never thought would happen."

"What?" She leaned closer, partly to make sure she could hear his voice, partly out of fascination.

"I always thought she liked me," Angel said, smiling. "The idea to take back the day with Buffy was her idea. So when she told me that she was going to do me a favor while she still could, it didn't surprise me."

Angel smiled, leaning down to kiss her; his lips pressing softly against hers before breaking out of it. "She removed the curse. I can experience my moment of true happiness, and I want to experience it with you."

Cordy's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

She closed it and tried again, "Y-"

Her eyes were wide with surprise, and there was more than a little twinkle there. "No curse?!" she managed finally. And he hadn't returned to Buffy the moment he'd found out!

"No curse," Angel said, shaking his head. "I can be with you, if you want me to," he said, grasping her hand.

"Don't be stupid," she gave him a patented Cordelia Chase 'What the hell do you THINK?!' look, before hugging him fiercely.

Angel smiled as he held her, his arms around hers, his nose nestled in her hair as they stood there for a few minutes, neither saying a word.

Suddenly, she pulled away, glaring fiercely, "You waited this long to tell me you're do-able, why?"

Angel laughed. That wasn't something he had expected her to say. "Honestly?" he asked. "I didn't think you felt that way about me. But I saw the way you looked at me as I read- and I knew. I knew you loved me too."

Cordy chuckled, "Confession: I hate that poem... It was your voice..." she smiled softly.

Angel smiled, pulling her to him again. "Then I guess you won't mind if we ditch the poem and move this downstairs?"

"Screw the poem," she grinned wickedly, briefly pulling from his arms to lock the office door.

THE END...