It had been another busy day at AI but Cordy was now perfectly content, wrapped up in a blanket with a mug of warm hot chocolate. She reached over and opened her purse, retrieving the novel inside. Flipping it open, she breathed in and surprised to smell Angel's cologne. Oh great, she thought, now she was smelling him too. It had taken her over a month to realize why every romance hero reminded her of Angel. Why she didn't even pick up the books with blonde haired men on the cover. Why she always slipped into imagining the two of them. She was in love with Angel.

It was hopeless, in every possible way. Which is why she found such solace in reading about what could never happen. It let her be with him in a way.


Meanwhile, Angel was sitting in his office, wondering about what he had seen that day. It didn't make sense to him. Not because Cordelia had a romance novel, although he'd never thought of her as the type. It confused him that she was hiding it. Going to extremes to hide it. Cordelia was usually confident and tactless. Sure the rest of AI was all men, but it seemed far more like her to simply do whatever she wanted and tell everyone else they'd better deal with it.

And although Angel was relieved to find out it was nothing more serious (he had checked the rest of her purse to be sure) it still bothered him that Cordy was so obsessed. It couldn't be healthy. It was interfering with her work, relationships, last week they were all going to hang out at a new club and Cordy skipped to, in her words, "to have a nice, normal, night at home." He now knew what she had really been doing.

So why was she so obsessed?

Well, obsessions fill some kind of need. Right? Hadn't he read that somewhere? Or overheard some Ph.D. guy who made too much money say it? So what need could this possibly be filling?

Angel thought, and thought, and thought some more, but he ended up virtually clueless. So he decided that he needed more information. Then he could finally intervene for Cordy and they could find a healthy way for her to calm whatever need this was.

Now, all he had to do was get a hold of a romance novel.


Angel had quickly decided that the fastest way to get one of the books was to buy one. He knew Cordy would miss one taken out of her purse and Dennis was likely to tell on him if he tried home invasion. Luckily, her remembered the title he had looked at earlier that day, so he knew exactly what to get.

Soon he found himself at a quaint local bookstore. It was one he even knew Cordy went to sometimes. He found the section labeled 'Romance' and slowly started searching.

"Can I help you with something?" inquired a female bookstore employee. Or actually, looking at her nametag, she was the store's owner. It was a small store.

"I'm looking for a book titled Hopeful Desires."

"By Magery Farrington?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Let me see. Ah, here it is. Is this all?" At his nod she added, "I can ring you up over here."

As the bookstore lady proceed to check him out, her curiosity won over.

"We don't get too many male enthusiasts for this type of book." He certainly didn't look like he needed to live vicariously.

"Well, I'm not exactly getting it for me."

"Your wife reads them? Or your mother?" She didn't think his wife would need to read them either. Tall, Dark, Hot, Slightly mysterious. sigh You didn't see men like that in here every day.

"I don't have a wife. Or a mother. But you could say there's a woman involved."

It occurred to Angel that this woman might know something he didn't.

"Why would a woman read romance novels? Or not just read them, become obsessed with them?"

Ah, so there was a girlfriend. That was cute, if incredibly clueless.

"Does this woman have a name."

"Kate."

He didn't think Cordy would appreciate him telling this lady about her.

"So this Kate, she reads all the time. Maybe even when she should be doing other things."

"Yes."

"And how do you know her?"

"She works for me."

"So you see her everyday? And you're concerned about her?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I'd say you're on the right track. Here's your bag. Have a nice day."

The bell rung as the handsome man walked out of the store. Well, if nothing else, that girl should notice him reading Hopeful Desires. giggles It's a shame she couldn't give him more advice, but far be it from her to interfere with the course of true love.