A.N.: Drabble. Set after Shells, Angel grieving for Cordelia.
Disclaimer: Joss owns everything.
He was a pillar of solitude, standing in the farthest corner of the office. She entered without making a sound, but he felt her presence. His fingers were ghosting over a picture of her and him and Wesley. He wished desperately he could have those moments back, steal any second of happiness the universe would allow him. He also wished he had never known her, never brought ugliness into her world when she should have been destined for glory and greatness. He could feel the tears pressing behind his eyelids, could taste the salt before they even fell. "Why do you grieve for her?" she questioned, pacing the floor. Angel couldn't answer her, he was too busy tried to swallow around the knot in his throat. "Your despair taints this room. " he turned, gripping the picture tightly in one hand, the other fisted at his side, his eyes were rimmed in red. "You spill salt for that which is already gone. Why do you mourn for her? She was only a vessel." Angel's hand tightened on the glass, cracking the frame in two. "Only a vessel!" he roared. "You don't know a damn thing about her!" he thought about her smile, her lips on his, the way she held him together, the way she could make anything alright. "She wasn't just a vessel. She was funny, and kind. Smart and brave. Sexy, caring...she was..." he broke off, tears racing down his face as the god-king stared, bewildered. "She wasn't just anything." he sobbed. "She was everything." "I do not understand."she stated. Angel glanced back down at the photo in his hands, at the grin on Cordelia's face. "No, " he began, sitting down into his chair. "You don't." She tilted her head to the side, studying him. They stayed that way for a long time.