Part Four

It was the D.A himself who had turned up. Doyle had been hoping it would be Lindsey - but it seemed fate was not on his side. The Powers had well and truly turned their back on their messenger. He had been charged with -just so many things - so many crimes, and he was guilty of all of them. He didn't have a leg to stand on, so this was it. The end.

They had taken him down to fingerprinting. Once those were run, he didn't doubt for a moment that a second count of accessory to bank robbery would be added to his rap sheet.

'You'd have to burn your way in.'

'Wait! Can we even do that?' Cordelia protested.

'I can,' Doyle answered in the affirmative. She looked at him. 'Do I even wanna know …?'

'Nope.'

At the beginning of 1998 there had been another job. Same gang, and he was getaway driver again. Only one of the guys, Lenny the Rat, had been arrested the day before - drug possession or something. So they were a man down, and Doyle had had to go inside the bank this time. He'd used the blow torch to cut through the vault. He didn't remember taking his gloves off and touching anything - but perhaps he had. He had been so past caring what happened to him at that point, he had probably been that reckless on purpose - daring the universe to make his life worse, make him more miserable. He should have known - the universe would wait for the most opportune moment. Give him the world and then take it away again - that was a much better punishment than just tossing that drunken, hopeless, depressed half demon into jail back then.

Fingerprints over, he was led over to the height chart, given a plaque with his name and a number on it, and then had his mugshots taken. One forward, one either side.

Now he had been tossed into holding to wait. He lay down on the hard, plank bed, and covered his face with his hands. He remembered the last time he had lain down, warm and snug in Cordelia's bed. How good everything had seemed, just this morning, how golden.

They would have to run that print, check it against his own, and then decide whether to level more charges. Then there would be more interviews - he'd have to decide whether to talk, or whether to keep quiet. He wondered what his lawyer would advise in the face of all this overwhelming evidence. And then he'd be held on remand until a bail hearing. That could be a couple of days away - and he wouldn't be kept in the precinct if that was the case. It would mean a couple of days in a real jail. And then at some point ...he'd have to confess everything to Cordelia...

'I apologise for any discomfort you may be feeling,' Jeeves said, looking at the spread-eagled vampire - his limbs stretched taut. 'I can't begin to imagine the pain.'

'How about we switch places and then you don't have to?'

Jeeves smiled a small smile. 'Oh, my death wouldn't balance a thing, sir.'

'I die, Darla lives,' Angel clarified. Jeeves nodded. 'Then do it,' the vampire told him.

'You're sure?' Jeeves asked. 'You could just walk away - you have earned a choice. The doors are open for you, you did that. You can save yourself.'

'And Darla?'

'Oh, she would die.'

'No deal - do it.'

Jeeves looked at him in curiosity. 'May I ask you something sir? Isn't the world a better place with you in it? You can save so many people. She - it seems - can barely save herself.' Angel didn't answer, he just stared right ahead at the stakes pointing in his direction.

'You know better than anyone that the world can be a very bad place,' Jeeves continued. 'Take yourself out, put her in - how long will it be before she stumbles? Before she falls?'

'I don't know,' Angel admitted.

'No you don't. Are you still ready to give your life when she can promise you - nothing.'

Angel looked the butler dead in the eye. 'Yes.'

'As you wish.' He released the stakes and they hurtled towards Angel's bare chest.

...

Watching in the antechamber, Darla screamed, and shut her eyes…

With her song over, Cordelia left the stage and collared the Host at once. 'Well - did you see anything? - where's Doyle? - is he OK? Will I get him back?'

The green demon led her over to a table, and sat her down. 'You know I read your path when you sing? Your future - not anyone else's?'

'Doyle is part of my path - he is my future...right?'

The Host smiled sympathetically. 'Listen, my brown eyed girl, there's a lot in store for you, coming up. I'd say just over the horizon, but it's a wee bit closer than that. You're going to have to stay strong - stay true to yourself - and look after those that love you, and hope that they look after you.'

'Does that include Doyle? Where is he?' She wouldn't be distracted. She didn't care what tomorrow would bring, just as long as Doyle was in it. And if he wasn't - then she didn't care about much else at all.

'He's safe - for now,' the Host admitted, taking a sip of Sea Breeze and wincing. 'You can't be with him at the moment - but he'll explain everything in time - he isn't lost forever ...for the moment.'

'What does that mean?'

'Like I said, Cara Mia, there's a lot headed your way. Some of that is Doyle, some of that is the champ himself. There are stormy seas ahead and you'll have to navigate safe passage. So for now, just feel safe in the knowledge that your little Irish prince isn't in any immediate physical danger, and that you will see him again soon. Anything after that ...just take it as it comes. Now skedaddle on home to that hotel of yours, crumb bun, be there when Angel gets back. He - and Doyle- are going to need you.'

'So - he's definitely OK?' She wasn't even really listening to the other opaque warnings about her destiny that the Host was doling out. Her only concern was that her boyfriend wasn't dead in a ditch, or kidnapped by the government, somewhere. And that seemed to be the gist of what the anagogic demon was saying, but she wanted it clarified.

'He's safe,' the Host agreed. 'He's unharmed - and he's thinking of you. That's all I can tell you.'

She flashed him her brilliant thousand kilowatt grin. 'That's all I needed to know.'

She inhaled a ragged, desperate, breath and then Darla opened her eyes again. Angel was stood right in front of her, fully clothed once more and looking more than a little shell shocked. Jeeves was there as well, looking terribly pleased with himself. 'Congratulations!' he said. 'You've passed the third test - accepting death. I'm told no one's ever gone that far before in terms of sacrifice. Kudos.' But Angel wasn't interested in commendations. 'Pay up,' he said, rather tersely.

'Of course.' He turned to face Darla and raised both his hands so that they rested against her temples. The pair of them closed their eyes. Angel, who had been hunched over after the pain of all his trials, forced himself to straighten up so he could get a better view. But nothing seemed to happen, and after a moment Jeeves dropped his hands. 'This is very embarrassing,' he admitted. Darla opened her eyes.

'Not to mention unprecedented,' the butler continued. He looked between the woman and her champion. 'She's been given new life before - by supernatural means, yes?' Darla nodded her head, ever so slightly. 'They brought me back.'

'What are you saying?' Angel demanded, his brow lowered, as he glowered in the direction of the butler.

'I can't help her.'

'We had a bargain,' Angel said, his voice becoming more menacing. 'She's earned a second chance.'

'She's living her second chance, I'm afraid,' Jeeves said, he really did sound genuinely sorry to be unable to help. 'The fact of the matter is - there's nothing I can do.'

The walls began to shiver, and a set of stairs - leading out to the pool - appeared. Jeeves, himself, dissolved into nothingness - leaving the vampire and his dying sire alone in the antechamber.

'Angel -' Darla started to say, but she was interrupted by the explosion of his his silent fury. Keeping his face turned from her, he suddenly overturned the table of refreshments - sending the table flying, and food and crockery smashing to the floor. He then picked up an urn and dashed that against the wall, shattering it into pieces. He swung his arm and knocked all the candles and the tablecloth off the surface of the side table. They too clattered to the floor in a broken heap. Then he balled his fist and began to pound, incessantly, against one of the stone pillars - venting his rage. So much pain, so much torture - and for nothing, he had still lost, he had failed her.

As his hits became slower, Darla walked over to him. She could see puffs of dust crumbling off the pillar every time he punched it. His knuckles were raw and bleeding, but he kept hitting until - just as suddenly as his outburst had begun - all the fight seemed to drain out of him. His knees buckled and he collapsed to the floor, his head resting against the pillar, his face hidden. Darla looked on, hopelessly, at the sight of her defeated champion.

The door to Doyle's cell opened, the half demon sat bolt upright on the bed, wondering - worrying- about what would happen now. 'I guess it's your lucky day,' Randall said, standing in the doorway. As if Doyle had ever had an unluckier day! If anything, this was even worse than his twenty first birthday - and the beginning of his problems - the end of his life.

'The prints didn't match,' Randall told him. 'You're out of the frame on the second bank job.'

Doyle breathed a sigh of relief - he knew he hadn't taken his gloves off!

'Oh I know you were there, Paddy,' the detective continued. 'But I can't prove it. So there won't be any extra charges - for now. The tally rests at one count of accessory to bank robbery and four counts of grand theft auto. We'll organise a transfer to the county jail in the morning - your bail hearing should be in a few days. Sweet dreams.' He stepped out of the doorway and shut the iron door behind him. It made a deafening, clanging sound as it closed, which seemed to reverberate right inside of Doyle's soul and exacerbate his misery. He lay back down on the hard, narrow bed and closed his eyes - thinking about Cordelia.

Cordelia and Wesley arrived back at the hotel. 'Well - at least we know he's safe - that's what matters,' Wesley was saying. She put her purse down and nodded her head. 'I know - but when I find out what he's been doing - why he put me through all this worry - he's gonna be in a big trouble, you'd better believe it.' She had got over her initial relief in finding out that Doyle was alive and well, somewhat - and was now beginning to be angry that he would just disappear and not let her know what was happening. This had better not be a sign of things to come, of the way he thought he could behave in a relationship. No one treated Queen C like that - no one - especially not short, badly dressed, Irish, half demons - no matter how madly in love with them she was.

'It's getting late,' Wesley said to her, 'now that you know Doyle is safe - why don't you go on home, get some sleep? It's been a long day.' But she shook her head, 'no - the Host said we needed to be here for Angel - when he gets back - I guess wherever he is and whatever he's doing with Darla - things aren't going so good, huh?'

The two of them sat back in her dingy room, back at the Royal Viking Motel. She sat on the edge of her bed, Angel sat in the chair, right by the door. 'Maybe it would be - different,' he was thinking, hard. He had promised to save her. He had failed. And now there was only one avenue left. But he had to convince himself that this would be the right thing to do. 'We don't know. Maybe - uh - maybe because, you know, I have a soul...if...if I did - bite you…'

'No,' she cut him off. She couldn't ask that of him - not anymore, after all he'd done for her. 'Angel - I've seen it now - everything you're going through, everything you've gone through...I felt it. I felt how you care. The way no one's ever cared before - not for me.' She gave him a tiny, weak smile. 'That's all I need from you.'

'It's not enough,' he protested.

'It is.'

'How could The Powers allow you to be brought back, to dangle a second chance and then take it away like this?'

'Maybe this is my second chance,' she told him.

'To die?'

'Yes - to die - the way I was supposed to die in the first place.' They looked at each other for a moment, but then Darla turned away, drawing a shaky breath, as she did so. It was so hard to be brave - but she had to be - for him. Her boy wouldn't be strong enough to bear this if she wasn't strong for him. And she owed him that much at least - to be strong - to make this as easy on him as possible - after all he'd done for her - after everything she'd done to him - this was the least she could do. The only thing she could do for him, now. But her breath was still shaky, and she still trembled, as she contemplated the vast darkness of eternity that she was now facing. He got up from the chair and limped over to her. He sat beside her and took her hand in his own.

'I'm not gonna leave you,' he promised. She looked into his face, and bit back the tears that threatened to flow. 'Every moment you have left - I'm gonna be by your side. You're never going to be alone again.' He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards him and, with her face hidden, buried in his chest, she finally let her tears fall…

...BAM the door was suddenly kicked open and and a black clad guy rushed in, tasering Angel to the ground, before the vampire was able to react. Two more men entered and grabbed Darla, holding her down, whilst the first guy continued to taser Angel. A fourth guy taped his hands behind his back, further incapacitating him.

Lilah walked into the room then, and pulled Angel's head up so she could look into his eyes. 'You made the wrong choice, Angel,' she told him. 'How did you think this would end?'

And then he saw her… she swept into the room, tall and majestic. Her dress was blood red, and velvet, and cut low. A gothic princess. Darla saw her too, and began to struggle, but she couldn't get free. And Angel couldn't help her - couldn't reach his sire. He was forced to watch as the creation of his own monstrosity, his own creature, took hold of Darla and bit down into her neck. As Darla's heart began to slow, Drusilla ceased to drink, and slashed open her own flesh - the blood dripping down her chest - and forced Darla's mouth against the wound, making her drink. And Angel was forced to watch - as everything in his life, all he had ever done - came full circle - and forced him to pay.

A/N The next episode is 'Reunion'.