“Why? You gonna miss me?” he teased.

“Not likely,” she sniffed. “I was hoping now that we know you and Doyle are brothers, you’d keep him out of my way until the wedding. Men are such inconveniences during the preparation.” She sat down in the desk chair while Xander hovered near the door.

“I’ll come back,” Xander promised. “I might even help him pick out your wedding present,” he threatened playfully. Cordelia’s eyes grew small.

“If you talk him into buying me cheap perfume I’ll do more than hurt you,” she returned. “I’ll hurt your chances to have children.” Xander, Doyle, and Angel all three grimaced, and she smiled in satisfaction. “When all else fails, threaten harm to the tool that does their thinking,” she laughed out loud. “Nothing hurts them more.”

“I’ll be seein’ ye, man,” Doyle inserted, taking Xander’s attention away from Cordelia, shaking the younger man’s hand. Xander nodded.

“I won’t make a pest of myself. It’s just nice to know who my family is,” he said easily. Cordelia stifled a smirk and Xander rolled his eyes. “Come on, Cordelia, go ahead and say it. You know you want to.”

“Too easy,” she giggled. “You won’t make a pest of yourself? How far away do you think you can go before *that* will happen?” she asked innocently.

“Boy, Doyle, I really envy you,” Xander said sweetly. He paused. “No, wait, I really don’t.” He laughed when Cordelia became indignant at his mockery of her manner of speech.

“Maybe it’s time you actually left,” Angel suggested, his lips twitching into a wry grin. “I’d hate for Doyle to lose his brother so soon after he found him.”

“Yeah, I really do need to get going,” Xander acknowledged. He opened the door and stepped into the doorway. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?” The trio of unofficial investigators nodded. “Take care of yourselves. Doyle,” he said by way of good-bye.

“Xander,” Doyle returned. Xander nodded and then closed the door behind him. “Now that was one helluva weekend,” he said. Angel nodded his agreement. “It still seems se unreal. Like, one minute the kid shows up, lookin’ fer his long-lost brother, all of a sudden I’m the guy he’s lookin’ fer, an’ then we’re one big happy family an’ then he’s leavin’ again. Don’t I get enna time ta adjust?” he complained good-naturedly.

“It did happen awfully quick, didn’t it?” Cordelia commiserated. “I mean, here I am thinking that it was a miracle Xander and I ever got together in the first place, seeing as how far out of my social circle he is, and now all of a sudden he’s my future brother-in-law? It just boggles my mind.”

“Doesn’t take much,” Doyle muttered under his breath. Cordelia turned on him suspiciously, but he was the epitome of angelic innocence. Angel stifled a laugh.

The three of them started to gather their things. Since Xander was gone and they had no cases, there was no reason for them to stay in the office. As Cordelia put it, the machine could get any calls and they could work on them Monday. Doyle headed for the door while Cordelia grabbed her purse. Angel watched the two of them prepare to leave and he himself found his thoughts wandering to those convenient sewer tunnels beneath his apartment.

“I’m going to the precinct,” Angel announced, turning around to head back into his apartment.

“You’re sure spending an awful lot of time there,” Cordelia said suspiciously. “Does Kate know you’re researching more than the most recent coroner’s reports?”

Angel shook his head. “There’s nothing between me and Kate,” he defended himself.

“But ye want there ta be,” Doyle said perceptively, putting his arm around Cordelia.

“Look, I know nothing can come of it,” Angel sighed. “I haven’t encouraged Kate-or myself, for that matter. We just work well together. Especially since we clued her in to the supernatural workings of the world, her connections have been helpful to us.”

“All right, man, we just want ye ta be happy,” Doyle assured him. “We won’t push ye or nothin’.”

“I know, you’re just looking out for me,” Angel returned. He turned and disappeared into the inner sanctum of his apartment, while Cordelia and Doyle let themselves out the front door.

“We really should help the two of them out,” Doyle mused as he and Cordelia walked hand-in-hand down the streets of L.A.

“Unh-uh!” Cordelia exclaimed, tossing her raven hair. “No way!”

“Princess, why not?” he protested, looking into her eyes. “We know we’re good at helpin’ people find each other. Look how well the thing wit Xander turned out,” he offered.

“There’s one big difference between Xander’s case and Kate and Angel,” Cordelia reminded him, looking into a department store window.

“An’ what’s that?” Doyle demanded to know.

“You really think Kate will pay us for hooking her up with Angel?” Cordelia scoffed. Doyle rolled his eyes and hugged her to him.

“Princess, ye know there really are some things in life that aren’t about money,” he reminded her with a rueful grin.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Family and all that,” Cordelia said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

“Yeah. Family. The ones that make it nice ta come home at night,” he agreed. He thought about Xander and felt sympathy for both the kid and himself. Neither one had had an easy time of it. He hoped that maybe their new relationship would open doors for both of them that neither would have had otherwise. “Family is important, Cordelia, especially when ye’ve never had any. Blood is a strong tie. And sometimes that blood is the only thing that lets ye know ye’re not alone in the world,” Doyle said candidly.

“Doyle, you’re never going to be alone,” Cordelia promised him in a rare soft moment. She stopped in the middle of the street and reached up to twine her arms around his neck, unheeding of the stares of passerby. She kissed him deeply, then lay her head on his chest. “I could never leave you. I love you too much.”

Doyle held on to her tightly, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair and feeling his chest swell with love. No, he would never be alone. His love for Cordelia, and hers for him, had bound them together for an eternity.

Blood was a strong tie, but their love was even stronger.