"Do you ever find yourself wishing she'd just die already?" Lisa asks him before taking her pick tongue and running it along the side of her vanilla ice cream cone. Doyle doesn't have to ask who she means.

"Never thought like that. Why?"

Lisa sighs. Doyle recognizes it as her I'm-Not-Happy sigh and prepares himself to listen.

"Well, I was Viewing Alem'ra Jua earlier. He kept being reckless and I was thinking, 'This is going to be it. It's over. We'll be together again.' But he was fine. And I still miss him." Her tongue shaped the ice cream into a spiral.

She has told Doyle many times that she just knows Alem'ra Jua will come here with her. She just knows that The Powers wouldn't separate their love like that. Silently, Doyle isn't so sure. He's seen The Powers not do anything to stop Connor from being torn away from Angel, despite their love. Through The View, he's watched as Cordelia loved the demon spawn growing inside her before it turned into Jasmine and put her in a comma. And he knows that Cordelia's present comma, despite what Angel does because of love from inside Wolfram and Hart, shows no sign of ending soon.

Besides, Doyle doubts that they can turn down Angel for having a checkered past but allow the remorseless Alem'ra Jua in.

"Do you ever wish she'd just die so you two could be together? Sometimes I can't help wishing his death just so we could be together again."

"At least your husband has a chance of coming, here. Wishing Cordy's death wouldn't do any good. She's human, remember?"

Lisa looks up from her ice cream; the corners of her mouth are tucked down a faction of an inch. "Didn't you say that she's demon now?"

"But she wasn't supposed to be. She spent most of her life in her natural human form."

"It may not matter; you don't know the rules for getting in here any more than I do." Lisa smiles, ignoring her ice cream as it drips onto her sneakers. "Even with the new promotion."

Doyle rolls his eyes at her sing song voice. "Would you stop? It isn't a promotion, its just... a larger role."

"But it's so cute! You have your first little assignment. You're picking up you're first newbie from the lobby. I'm so excited for you."

Doyle rolls his eyes again. Lisa goes back to eating her melted ice cream and Doyle goes back to watching her. He thinks that she may be right, maybe he should be getting excited about it, but that the chances of him feeling any positive emotion while Cordelia is stuck in a mindless comma is pretty slim.

An elevator stops in front of Doyle. The metallic doors open. A nicely dressed red demon in a black suit walks out.

"Doyle? It's time for you to fulfill your responsibilities."

If there is one thing that Doyle hates about the staff demons, its there need to talk so full of themselves. Responsibilities? He was doing a meet and greet, for crying out loud!

Leisurely, Doyle puts himself up and walks towards the waiting elevator. "See you around, Lisa," he calls over his shoulder.

He doors snap shut behind him. Leaning forward, he presses the big 'L' in the panel. The elevator comes to life and Doyle waits alone until it stops.

He hadn't missed the white nothing. It's the first thing thought that comes to him as the stands, waiting. The endless appearance of white that just seems to stretch on and on. Nope, this was one thing that he definitely had not missed.

Doyle shifts a little. There may not be time, not in a conventional sense, but there can still be a long wait. He just hopes he can get this over and done with quickly so that he can use The View on Angel again. Watching Angel attempt to handle his new agency is second best thing he could be using The View. Part of him wishes he could still do something to try to help them, but there is another part of him which is a little glad he got out before things became really complicated.

A movement catches his eye. Finally. There is a swirl of energy. A figure stands looking. And Doyle is sure that isn't breathing.

"C-Cordelia?"

The head snaps up, dark brown hair swaying. Maybe he is seeing things. Maybe he is dreaming. Maybe he's gone crazy. Maybe this is some sick side effect from using The View so much.

"Doyle?"

Or maybe it is really is Cordelia. Maybe it is really is the only one he has wanted to see again since his death. Stranger things have happened.

"Doyle, is that really you?"

He can't trust his voice so he takes a step forward, nodding.

"This isn't some trick, right? This is, like, Skip playing with my mind? Cause I gotta say, I don't think I could handle that right now."

He can do this. He can keep calm, not overreact. There is really nothing to it.

But his body isn't really listening. His body is running ahead of his mind. His hand reaches out and his thumb takes it upon itself to trace the line of Cordelia's cheek. It is as he is bending towards Cordelia that he remembers his lips have always been traitorous. It's too late to them though. They're already kissing Cordelia.

The kiss is long and deep and just perfect. Just as Doyle would have expected without the transfer of Visions and the life threatening atmosphere.

"You know, if you aren't careful, I could get used to that."

Doyle grins. He can feel how goofy he must look, but his traitor lips can't seem to care.

"So could I." He isn't even sure that made sense but neither of them are complaining.

"Come on. I'll show you around," Doyle says, not taking his eyes off Cordelia's. He takes her hand into his and leads her towards the opened elevator.

"That would be nice." Cordelia's looking at the elevator a little doubtfully. She turns her attention back to Doyle with a grin. "So, what's in this place worthy of telling me about?"

Doyle smiles. "You."

= = =Amanda= = =