Collins was fine. Emotionally, physically, he was fine. It had been almost two years since Angel had died, and he was almost recovered. I mean, if the love of your life dies you're never going to be completely recovered. But the restaurant was going well, and bringing a nice profit. He was glad to have Roger and Mimi move in, because Collins was getting lonely in his apartment. But one day, all of that changed, and he realized he wasn't even close to "almost recovered."

"Will you go out with me?"

Collins blinked in shock, "I'm sorry, what?"

Robert laughed, "I said would you go out with me?"

Robert was one of the restaurant's usual customers. Collins had to admit, he and Robert got along pretty well. He was also a philosophy Professor, and he taught at the nearby college. He and Collins had had some long chats that varied from milkshake flavors to Socrates.

Collins sighed, Robert was cute, and Collins had noticed. But he hadn't been on a date since… well, Angel.

"Collins honey?" Angel managed to say through labored breaths.

Collins looked up from the magazine he was reading and grabbed her hand. "What is it?"

Angel smiled a little, "I want you to promise me something."

Collins hesitated, then replied, "Anything."

"I want you to move on. Don't become one of those widowed hermits that stays inside the house all day, then goes to the graveyard for five hours on Sunday. I want you to date, fall in love-"

"Never! Angel, I'll never be able to love anyone else. I can't hold someone else's hand after I've held yours, or kiss someone where I've kissed you. Angel, you're my soul mate. I can't."

"Promise me," she said softly.

"Angel, I… I can't," Collins said. He wanted to give Angel everything she wanted, but he couldn't make this promise. If he did, he knew he'd have to break it. He would never love anyone but her.

"Please Collins. Thomas, please."

Collins sighed. He always hated his first name, but when she said it, she could make him do anything. "I… I promise."

"Sure, how about tomorrow night?" Collins replied.

"Great! Like, 8?" Robert suggested, beaming.

Collins hesitated, Angel always had gone out at eight.

"Seven o'clock is for children, nine is for college kids," Angel said. "So we go at eight, not an hour before, not an hour after."

But Collins shook the thought from his head, and nodded to Robert, confirming the date time. This was going to be interesting.

I hope you liked this chapter! I think I'm going to try and update this every other day, and keep the multiple plots going. This Collins date thing will be fun to write, and I think I'll give Mark some more pages! Let me know what you think!