I swear, some day, maybe when I'm old and gray, I will finish this story. I'm really sorry for the delay and that after the wait this chapter is so short. The next chapter will be the last, so hopefully I can force myself to do it soon.
Two weeks later they were gone, on their way to the rest of their lives in a rented sedan. Angel wondered if they would part ways or if the rest of their lives would become the rest of their life together. Angel tried to be happy that at least she wasn't alone, but he couldn't quite muster up the energy.
Their goodbye had been awkward to say the least. He had gotten so used to hoping for her return that when she finally did show up in the lobby of Wolfram and Hart, his heart had leapt for a moment before he was reminded that this first visit would be her last. She would never be a regular at the office, never again be the most familiar of faces. Well, she would always be familiar to him—he would just never be to her. Just another person who he loved beyond all reason whose happiness hinged on forgetting him.
She had looked gorgeous, hair short and curly, wearing a green sundress and the manolos she had found in a consignment store and talked about for weeks. He could almost hear his Cordelia's voice in his ear: You recognized them! You're finally figuring out the finer points of footwear now that I'm barely more than a figment of your imagination.
She had flashed him her brightest smile and if he hadn't known her so well he might not have recognized that it was the smile she reserved for strangers, for people not him or Wesley or Gunn.
"So Xander and I are off in a minute. He wanted to say goodbye to Dawn, so…"
Angel tugged awkwardly on his sleeve. "Right. Yeah. Well, good luck with everything. If you're ever back in LA…"
"Yeah. Totally." She nodded, stranger smile still plastered on her face.
A stray curl was falling over her face and Angel fought the urge to tuck it back behind her ear. "You look nice," he said.
"Oh yeah? I was a little worried I wouldn't fit into my clothes, seeing as how I haven't exactly been a regular at the gym lately."
"You look beautiful," he blurted out, wishing he could take it back almost immediately.
She didn't look too thrown by this, just took it like she always did when a stranger in a coffee shop asked for her phone number or whether she had ever considered modeling. "Well, duh. I think I need a more objective critic though." Her eyes lit up as she spotted Xander exiting the elevator. "Xander, do I look fat?" she asked teasingly.
"Cordelia, do I look stupid?" was his reply.
"Oh yeah. One hundred percent. But I figured that's what you were going for with the shirt from Bozo the Clown's garage sale."
Their banter continued, flowing as easily as it had so many years ago on those nights in the Bronze or the library. Everything Xander said seemed to be exactly what Cordy needed to hear. Angel was suddenly remembering a night in the cemetery that seemed to be a hundred years ago. "He gets to see you in the sunlight," he had said. Some things never change.
Angel was pulled out of his reverie to see Cordelia waving at him from across the lobby. He managed a half-hearted wave back, but she had already turned back to the elevators and within seconds was out of sight.