A/N: A big Thank You to everyone who reviewed!!
When you're a junkie, you can have a tendency to be a little paranoid. After all, one little slip could land you in jail, or a mental institution, or in this case, make you really really embarrassed.
Well, it wouldn't really be that bad, would it, she thought? I mean, unless they caught her when she was reading in the office bathtub? After all, they didn't know she was obsessed. They didn't know she had started skipping social functions, and work, and sleep, to entertain her habit. All they would really know, if they caught her, was that she was reading a book with a dark haired man with too many muscles on the front. And they were men, what could they say about it? They didn't know what all the other women did. And most importantly, they couldn't know who that dark haired hero on the cover was supposed to be.
In fact, the only way they could really know that, would be if they read the books themselves. Then they might see all the little nuances she did. But they would have to know her really well to see those. And anyway, the whole idea was ridiculous. Who would watch her well enough to know all that? And who would honestly care that much?
So her secret had to be perfectly safe. Then why didn't she feel like it was? Paranoia. It had to be paranoia.
Angel watched Cordelia he approached her at her desk. She seemed lost in thought, worried actually. He wondered what was wrong. The truth was, the more he read of her novels (he was on the third one, purse snooping again) the more concerned he became. It was completely obvious, even from the first one, that the main character in the books was supposed to be Cordelia. They were always brunettes. They were always beautiful. And more importantly, they always had an imitation of the spark that made Cordelia so special. But they were always vulnerable, always lonely.
He'd never really thought before that Cordelia could be lonely. After all, she had him and Wes and Gunn. And there was that pack of girls from Sunnydale. And she could go out with any man she wanted. But she was obviously lonely. And he was going to do something about it. Something friendly that didn't involve fighting demons.
"Cordelia, would you like to go ice skating with me?"
"What?"
"Ice skating. You know, they have an indoor rink downtown. We could go. Get out of the hotel. It would be fun."
"You want to go out of the hotel. Voluntarily. To go skate on ice with a bunch of people around?"
Angel nodded, "I used to go skating outside, as a child in Galway. Those are some of my best memories. I just thought, I'd try it and see if I still liked it. So will you go with me, please?"
She couldn't say no to that, "Fine, Fine. You don't have to beg. But now I have to buy a new outfit, just so I don't look stupid while I'm skating."
"So, is Saturday good?"
"It's fine."
'Good' Angel thought. Getting her out will be healthy and we can spend some time together like normal people. It would be nice to see Cordy in a non-stressful situation. Maybe she'd lower her guard a little. He really wanted her to let him in, to her heart. Into her heart?
Once Cordy's brain got past the "What the heck?" phase, it went straight into, "Angel just asked me on a date." overload. Try as she might, she couldn't help but be very happy about it. Not that she'd act like it was a date, because it probably wasn't supposed to be one. But her subconscious wasn't listening to her, it was busy squealing in joy and drawing little cupids.
