'Into her heart? Into her heart?' the thought had been repeating in his head since right after he'd asked her to go with him. And here he was, driving Cordelia to the skating rink, and it was only getting more persistent. He'd never thought with that phrase before. And the truth was, it was a little too intimate for a friend.

He'd told himself he loved Cordy before. And although he'd never said it, he knew that he did. But you could love a friend. You could help a friend out. You could even die for a friend. But could you really long for one like that? Could you want so badly for them to think of you, for them to smile at you, for you?

His gaze unconsciously moved to her.


Cordelia was, surprisingly, a little nervous. Of course, it wasn't every day you go on your first date with your dream guy, so maybe that was understandable. 'My Dream Guy?' I really have to stop thinking like this, thought Cordelia. Apparently her long dead romantic side had taken over without permission.

'This is not a date.' she told herself. She had a feeling she was going to have to keep reminding herself of that fact. Actually, she was curious, why did Angel ask her to go with him to a skating rink? It certainly didn't sound like the vampire she knew who loved to stay inside the hotel and brood. But she trusted Angel, there wasn't any questionable motive behind this. So she was going to relax and have a good time.

To Cordelia's surprise, Angel was actually good at ice skating. Despite his childhood story she had figured he must be horrible after 200 years of no practice. Plus, vampires and ice skating just didn't seem to go together. But he was gliding along effortlessly. Unfortunately, she wasn't.

"Is something wrong Cordelia?"

Just because she was clutching the side of the skating rink with a white-knuckled grip didn't mean anything was wrong. She hadn't ice skated since a fourth grade birthday party. She just hadn't thought about it until now.

"No, I'm fine Angel, just a little rusty."

"Come on Cordelia, come away from the side."

He looked amused. She wanted to kill him.

"No, I'll just stay like this. I can go around the rink just fine."

"Cordy, come away."

"No."

The mischievous smile that broke over his face was her only warning before she was pried away from the side by Angel. She tried to struggle away from him.

"Angel, let me go."

"Cordy, I'm not going to let you fall so you might as well just relax."

"Hmph," she protested slightly but found herself giving into his demands.

It really wasn't so bad, gliding securely across the ice with Angel's arm around her waist. It was something she never would have done on her own, and really Angel seemed to have that affect on her. Giving her courage when she would have been afraid before. And she couldn't pretend that she didn't enjoy being cuddled this close to him.

It was all like something out of one of her books. The handsome man. The convenient excuses to touch each other. The semi-non-traditional date asked for out of the blue. Oh no. No, No, NO. He couldn't possible know, could he? No, it was just paranoia. Paranoia.

I mean, he didn't like her so why would he try to take her on a date? Except it wasn't a date. And he had looked so concerned recently. It wasn't like Angel to leave things alone if he was concerned. What if he had found out what she was doing on all her off time? What if this was him trying to ease her into reality? Humor her fantasies? It was too embarrassing.

"Cordelia? Are you ok?"

Angel had felt Cordelia tense. They had been having such a good time. He wondered what had gone wrong.

"I, I just want to go home Angel."