"The Bachelor Party"
Based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode "The Initiative" Written by Douglas Petrie and the Angel Episode "The Bachelor Party" Written by Tracey Stern
The following story is copyright © 2023 by Mark Moore.
Angel was sitting at his desk with his feet up, reading a book.
Doyle was pacing impatiently. "I just can't sit around here while-"
Cordelia walked into the office, wearing a stunning black strapless sheath. "While I steal into the night with my incredibly-more-wealthy-than-you prince? Makes your little life seem a tad drab, doesn't it?"
Angel got up.
"Yeah, just because he has money doesn't mean that he can make you happy."
Cordelia stared at Doyle. "I'll have you know that Pierce has a lot more than money. He has a house in Montecito, he has a Mercedes CLK 320, and a place in the Hills with a lap pool."
"Since you put it that way."
Suddenly, there was knocking on the door.
Cordelia turned to go answer it. "Well, if I'm not here in the morning, you can just clear out my desk. I'll be moving on up."
Cordelia walked out of Angel's back office and saw Pierce walking into the outer office.
"Wow. You look amazing."
Cordelia gave him a brilliant smile. "Do I?" She glanced back towards Angel's office. "Let's go."
"What's your hurry?" Angel asked her. "You didn't even introduce us."
Cordelia pointed to each in turn. "Angel, Doyle, Pierce." She took Pierce's arm. "Bye!"
"You work, Pierce?" Angel asked as they were trying to leave.
"I trade - futures and options market."
"Good. Good. Out to dinner?"
"Le Petite Renard."
Doyle nodded. "Ah, right. Nice spot. Duck is dry."
"So how late will you be?" Angel asked Cordelia.
"Don't wait up." Cordelia looked at Pierce as she led him out the door. "Don't mind him."
Angel closed the door behind them.
Cordelia and Pierce were sitting at a table in the restaurant. Cordelia was looking at him with a glazed look in her eyes.
"See, you have to study weather trends in order to make a good play in the agricultural market. Once you do, you'll never look at soybeans the same way. God, listen to me! I'm not boring you, am I?"
"I don't mind."
Pierce leaned forward. "Like today, there was some heavy trading - lean hog options. The spread dropped about 1,700 points. I mean...in October, they were trading at six cents. So you know what I did? I sold at six-and-one-eighth of a cent! Six-and-one-eighth. Can you imagine anything more exciting than that?"
Pierce's Mercedes convertible pulled up in front of Angel Investigations.
"I'm sorry you're not feeling well. I was hoping we could make a night of it."
Cordelia unfastened her seatbelt. "Me, too. I really wanted to hear the end of the story about the pigs and beans."
"Don't you want me to take you home?"
Cordelia unlocked and opened the passenger door and got out of the car. "My car is here."
Pierce got out, too. "Oh, wait, let me walk you." He took Cordelia's arm and turned her towards him. "I'm - I'm not really sure about this neighborhood."
"You're right,...it's shitty!" a vampire with topknot hair exclaimed.
Cordelia and Pierce screamed. Topknot wrapped his arm around Cordelia's neck from behind. Pierce jumped into his car and burned rubber out of there.
"Help!" Cordelia bit Topknot's arm.
Topknot screamed and let Cordelia go for a moment, then grabbed her by the hair.
Doyle aimed a crossbow at Topknot. "Hey! I'm the one you followed here. It's me you want."
"Stay close. You'll get your turn."
Doyle had trouble finding a place to aim without hitting Cordelia. Finally, he shot Topknot in the left foot. Topknot screamed and threw Cordelia down on the street behind him, then pulled the bolt out of his shoe and lunged at Doyle with it. During their fight, they rolled down the steps, and the bolt fell free. After more scuffling, Doyle managed to grab it and stake Topknot with it. Doyle looked at Cordelia as they slowly got up.
"Are you okay?" Doyle asked.
Cordelia frowned. "I'm fine. That was..." She paused, surprised. "You're so...brave."
"You think you could say that again without so much shock in your voice? You're stepping on my moment of manliness here."
Cordelia was still frowning. "I'm sorry. I'm just-"
"Surprised?"
"Grateful."
The next day, Buffy walked into the UC Sunnydale cafeteria. She got her lunch. Buffy walked over to the soda fountain and started to fill her cup with regular Pepsi. She was distracted, checking out Tara's ass as she walked by, and her cup started to overflow.
"Shit!" Buffy poured some of the excess soda down the drain, fastened a lid onto her cup, and grabbed a straw.
She walked over to the frozen yogurt machine, grabbed an empty bowl, set it down, and pulled the handle for chocolate. She watched as the chocolaty goodness fell into her bowl. Underestimating her strength, Buffy broke the handle off the frozen yogurt machine. She battled with it for a bit but then gave up and hid the handle. Buffy fled the site, the yogurt machine overflowing in her wake. She went to the register and paid for her food. On her way to Tara's table, Buffy spilled both the drink and the yogurt on the floor.
"Fuck!" Buffy crouched down and started to cry as she tried cleaning up the spill with the sole napkin that she had.
Tara immediately stood up, found a roll of paper towels, walked over, crouched down next to Buffy, and started cleaning up the spill.
Buffy picked up the cup and bowl. "Thanks, sweetie."
Tara finished cleaning and took the waste to the trash can. Then Buffy and Tara sat at the table together. Buffy started eating her pepperoni pizza, upset.
Tara took her cup filled with Pepsi and her bowl of chocolate frozen yogurt and put it on Buffy's tray without comment. Buffy looked at Tara in surprise. Tara smiled. Buffy smiled back and kissed Tara on the lips.
At Angel Investigations, Angel was sitting at his desk, looking at some papers.
Cordelia was sitting in front of his desk. "So here I am at Le Petite Renard with Mr. Armani, who could keep me in blue boxes for the rest of my life-"
"Blue boxes?"
"Tiffany's! God! And the whole night, I was bored silly. All I could think about was, if this wimp ever saw a monster, he'd probably throw a shoe at it and run like a weasel. Turns out the shoe part was giving him too much credit."
"There aren't very many people that wouldn't run. It's just human nature."
"Yeah, but, all of a sudden, rich and handsome isn't enough for me. Now, I expect a guy to be all brave and interesting. And it's your fault! Both of you."
"Well, maybe not. Maybe you're changing. That could be a good thing."
"Disastrous. And as if I wasn't confused enough, then Doyle comes along and rescues me like some...badly-dressed superhero." Cordelia sighed. "He was really beat up, but you know the first thing he asked? 'Are you okay?' I mean...that's, like, substance, right?"
"Yeah, well, there is definitely more to Doyle than meets the eye."
"So I've got to kill myself. I swore, when I went that road with you, and you ended up breaking my heart, I'd rather be dead than put myself through that again by dating within the workplace." Cordelia sighed. "Still, maybe you're right. Maybe Doyle does have...hidden depths. I mean...really, really hidden,...but depths. And I'm gonna have to buy him a mochaccino to thank him for saving my life, don't you think?"
"Well, I-"
Cordelia got up to leave. "Me, too. We'll be back in a half. You watch the phones, okay?"
Cordelia opened the door and walked out of Angel's office without waiting for him to reply.
In the main office, Cordelia walked in behind Doyle, who was reenacting last night's fight with a ruler.
"I'm the one you followed. It's me that you want, huh?" Doyle staked his imaginary opponent. "Fangs for the memories, vamp man!"
He stopped and noticed Cordelia, who waved at him.
"Hey, I was just..." Doyle paused. "That wasn't-"
"An incredible spaz attack?" Cordelia asked. "Good."
Doyle put the ruler down. "So you were..." He paused. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, um,...I was thinking...that, uh...maybe I haven't been...entirely fair to you. Maybe you don't actually have zero potential."
Doyle folded his arms. "Wow, Cordelia. Thanks."
"That's not..." Cordelia sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that I really appreciate what you did last night. And, um,...I was thinking...maybe we could-"
Doyle turned to look at a woman with long, curly blonde hair that had stepped into the office. "If you're looking for Angel Investigations, this is it. But we are kind of in the middle of something. Could you just give us five minutes?"
"Hey, Francis."
Doyle shifted and swallowed. "Harry."
"Francis?" Cordelia asked, confused.
"Um,...where've you been?" Doyle asked Harry.
"Around. Um...Kiribati...Togo...Uzbekistan...a few spots that were a...little less touristy."
"Who's Francis?" Cordelia asked, smiling but still confused.
"That would be me." Doyle paused. "Allen Francis Doyle." He paused again. "Cordelia, this is Harriet 'Harry' Dattilo...my wife."
Cordelia's smile vanished as she stared at Doyle.
Harry closed the door and walked over to them. "I'm sorry about the surprise. I would've called first, but I was afraid-"
"I'd run off? That's not my style, remember?"
"But it's mine? Is that what you're saying? Do you want me to remind you who fired the starter pistol?" Harry paused. "No, let's not, okay? Let's just hug and be happy to see each other."
They hugged, and Cordelia looked away, shaking her head. They separated, and Doyle crossed his arms in front of him.
"You look good."
"Yeah, you, too."
"You're still living it up? You know that drinking's no good for you."
"Yeah, you know me. I'm a fun-loving guy."
Angel walked in. "What's going on?"
Cordelia frowned. "Angel, come meet Doyle's wife."
Cordelia stared at him as Angel reached out and shook Harry's hand without any hesitation.
"Nice to meet you."
"Hi. Cool offices."
"Yeah, I'm a private investigator now. This is my company." Doyle gestured towards Angel and Cordelia. "These two, um, are my helpers."
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Ugh, that is-"
Angel hit her in the back with his elbow.
"Ouch!"
Angel cleared his throat.
Cordelia sighed. "You two were really married?"
Harry nodded. "Were and still...according to the paperwork."
"So it was a green card thing."
Harry looked at Doyle. "Nope, it was a 'madly in love, couldn't live without each other' kind of thing. But I guess times change, because here we are, four years later, and living just fine."
"So shall we go on to why you're here, exactly?" Doyle asked.
"Maybe we could talk alone?" Harry requested.
"Yeah."
The door opened, and a guy stuck his head into the office.
Harry looked at him. "Oh, I thought you were going to stay in the car?"
"I know, but..." He came in, closing the door behind him. "I admit it, curiosity got the better of me." He went and shook Angel's hand. "Hey, Richard Straley. I've heard so much about you." He looked at Harry. "Say, you left out the part about him being such a handsome fellow."
"I'm not-"
"Oh, no, you are! Really."
"I'm not Doyle." Angel nodded. "He is."
"Oh,...that's more like it. Not that you're not a very good-looking man."
Harry rolled her eyes. "Richard, just shake his hand."
"Uh, forgive me, I'm not quite myself. What with the wedding only a few days off now."
Doyle looked at Harry. "There's a wedding?"
"I wasn't supposed to say that yet, was I?" Richard asked.
Cordelia sat down on the couch with a smile. "No, please, go on."
Angel pulled her up off the couch and towards his office. "Cordelia, let's...let's go through those reports, hmm?"
"What? What reports? What?" Cordelia asked, confused.
Angel led Cordelia into his office.
Later, Cordelia was using the office's photocopier to make copies of Harry's signed divorce papers for her.
Harry smiled. "This is perfect. Richard wanted a moment alone with Doyle to ask him to his bachelor party."
"Bachelor party? Why, is he afraid he ordered too much beer?" Cordelia asked.
"Richard and his family wanted Doyle's blessing before he marries me. They're sweet demons. Very into good vibes all around."
"They do sound nice."
"You know, his mom told me to invite friends to my shower, but...I've been pretty much hanging only with her. You're the first girl I've met in town under three-hundred-seventy years old. Do you think you'd want-"
"Love to."
That evening, Buffy and Tara walked through the woods together, patrolling.
"Question."
"Yeah?" Buffy asked.
"While we're patrolling the woods near campus, who's patrolling elsewhere?" Tara asked.
"Amy and Harmony have the cemetery tonight."
"No, I mean...around the world. There's 'one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil', right?" Tara asked.
"Well, two girls now, but yeah."
"So L.A. has Faith, and Sunnydale has us. Rest of the world's shit outta luck, huh?" Tara guessed.
Buffy thought about it. "I'm sure there are other people hunting vampires around the world. I mean...we met that werewolf hunter, right? There's gotta be more than us fighting the good fight. The only thing that makes Faith and me special is we were 'chosen' by...whoever. Maybe the Powers That Be that Cordy mentioned. Who knows? Anyway, you're having deep thoughts tonight."
Tara shrugged. "I'm just really fucking bored."
Buffy laughed, then she saw things being thrown into a pile out of the corner of her eye. She looked and saw Sunday pouring gas on the pile.
Tara looked. "Is that-"
"Yep. That's my fun day." Buffy walked over to the vampire. "Yo."
Sunday looked at her. "Buffy?" She walked towards her.
"That's close enough."
Sunday stopped. "Slayer, give me a minute, and I will have that unfashionably-dressed body of yours roasting on a fire-"
"Well, Sunday, it's been great catching up. Really." Buffy gestured. "I'm just gonna go home...leaving you with your fire."
"My fire?" Sunday asked. "Yeah, right. Like I listen to the Sex Pistols. Eww. This shit belongs to Spike."
"Spike?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"Can you believe him? He comes back with all these big promises, not that I believed him, you know. But he could have spent one night, but no. Everything was 'Slayer this' and 'Slayer that'. He wants to kill you, y'know."
"Son of a cock, I never would have guessed." Buffy paused for a moment. "Thanks for the warning."
Sunday shrugged.
"So you guys are over, huh?" Buffy asked.
"I'm not taking him back. I just...I just want to know why it is that men always leave."
"I wouldn't know."
Sunday pitched a lit match behind her. The pile of Spike's things went up in flames.
Buffy rejoined Tara, and they headed back the way that they'd come.
"What is wrong with him? Doesn't Spike get that this is my town?" Buffy asked.
Tara shrugged. "He's resilient."
"Fine. You know what? He's worn out his welcome. Tonight, I kill him."
"You have a plan?"
"I am the plan. If Spike wants me, I go alone-"
Tara opened her mouth to protest.
"No arguments. Lead him away from the popular places and give him what he wants."
Tara kissed Buffy on the lips. "Be careful, sweetie."
Buffy nodded and walked away.
Cordelia was at Harry's bridal shower at Richard's house. They were sitting in the kitchen.
Harry was telling Cordelia about her marriage to Doyle. "It was a nightmare. Okay, maybe not at first. Initially, I really liked the way he took charge."
"Doyle?!" Cordelia asked in surprise. "Took charge."
"It was sweet. But after a while, I mean...I know how to cut my own meat, thanks. Sometimes, it felt like I was one of his students."
"That's funny, for a moment, I thought you said 'one of Doyle's students'?"
"It wasn't fun being treated like a third-grader, believe me."
"Grade third taught Doy..." Cordelia waved her hand and tried again. "Doyle taught third grade? The kind with children?"
"Yeah."
"Are you sure he wasn't just held back and used that as his cover story?"
"Francis got his teaching credentials before we even met at the food bank-"
"Okay, soup kitchen. Now, that sounds like the Doyle I've come to know and revile." Cordelia paused with a sneaking suspicion. "And you're just about to tell me he ran it, aren't you?"
"He was just a volunteer."
"Come on, girls, it's Pornographic Pictionary time!" Richard's Aunt Martha called from the living room.
Harry smiled at Cordelia. "Their ways are not...our ways."
Buffy sat on a park bench, alone, and waited. Riley walked up to her.
"Riley! What are you doing here?" Buffy asked, standing up.
"Just out for a walk. You?"
"Not anything that I want to talk about right now. Leave."
"You know, why don't I take you back to your room? You wouldn't believe the weirdos out at this hour." Riley took hold of her arm and started to lead her off.
Buffy pulled her arm out of his grasp. "Whoa! Okay...it's a free campus. Who died and made you Ross Geller?"
"I'm just trying to help."
Buffy resisted the urge to laugh. "You think I need help? Believe me, I don't. You know, if you were a real gentleman, then you would just leave. You would go far, far away...now! Shoo!"
"Are you drunk?" Riley asked her.
"Yes! Go and report me."
"I'm taking you home. Come on." Riley went to grab her and lead her off.
Buffy evaded him. "Oh, did you ever think maybe I'm gonna take you home, huh? What? You think that boys can take care of themselves, and girls need help?"
"Yeah."
"That is so sexist."
"Look, Buffy, as long as you're out here, I'm staying."
"Well, as long as you're out here, I'm staying."
They heard a scream.
"Gotta go."
"See ya!" Buffy yelled.
They ran off in opposite directions.
Cordelia's cell phone rang.
Cordelia took it out of her purse and answered the call. "Hello?"
"It's Angel. Where are you?"
"In the netherworld known as the 818 area code. Why?"
"Let me speak to Harry."
"Hang on." Cordelia got up off the couch and handed the phone to Harry. "It's for you. It's Angel."
Harry took the phone. "Hello?"
"How is your Aratuscan?"
"Rusty, considering it's a dead demonic language."
"Guess again. I need a translation: 'Ino platbrata iko iko retvan el shak'."
"What's going on, Angel?"
"I don't know yet. Will you just look into it for me?"
"I guess, um, I could check the family library."
"Thanks." Angel hung up.
Harry offered the phone back to Cordelia. "Up for some research?"
Cordelia shrugged and took back her phone.
Tara backed away from Spike, who had confronted her in the hallway outside her dorm room.
"Spike! Wh-What do you want?" Tara assumed a fighting stance.
Spike grabbed her and and threw her against the wall. "I'll give you a choice." He walked over to her. "Now, I'm gonna kill you. No choice in that. But...I can let you stay dead...or...bring you back...to be like me."
"I-I'll scream again."
"Bonus."
Tara screamed.
Spike threw her on the floor and then jumped on her, and they battled, but he went to bite her. Suddenly, he screamed and pulled away, grabbing his head. He leaped on her and drew back immediately. He tried again, and the same thing happened.
"Ow! Oh! Ow! Damn it!" Spike got up and kicked the wall. He started to pace around the hall.
Tara took the opportunity to stand up. She did a roundhouse kick to Spike's head, hurting him but not knocking him down. She ran over to her door and tried to open it, but it was locked.
Three masked figures in tactical gear ran in the hallway, wearing night vision goggles. Tara got out her keys and nervously tried to unlock her door. She heard voices behind her.
"It's on me!"
"Aah!"
"Move!"
"Bag it, tag it. We're gone."
"Sir...civilian. Could have turned."
"Leave her."
"We can't neglect quarantine, sir!"
Suddenly, the hall filled with carbon dioxide gas. Tara got the door to her room open.
"Stop her!"
A commando grabbed her. "She's contained."
Buffy arrived and grabbed his flare gun. "Contain this!"
The commando turned around and was blinded as his night vision goggles were overloaded when Buffy shot off the flare gun. The flare bounced around the hall.
"Aah!"
"Ow!"
"I'm blind!"
"What the hell was that?"
The commandos tore off their goggles. Buffy guided Tara into their room. Tara closed and locked the door. Buffy began to fight the commandos. Buffy was redirected into a wall by one of them. Buffy got up and dodged a kick, then a punch, and then reciprocated and landed a punch. She got him in a corner and landed about a dozen quickly-repeated punches on his stomach. He got a hold of himself, then punched Buffy in the face. She flew back. Buffy ran at him and was redirected into a wall. She got up and slammed him in the face with a folding chair. She delivered a roundhouse kick and flipped him over onto the floor.
He got up. "Abort!"
The three commandos ran away.
Buffy looked after them until they were out of sight, then she turned and knocked on the door. "Tara? It's me. They're gone."
Tara unlocked and opened the door, still badly shaken.
"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Buffy asked her.
Tara shook her head. "N-No. I-I mean yeah. I-"
Buffy hugged Tara. "Take your time, sweetie."
Tara hugged Buffy and was content to just be held in her arms. "Who were they?"
"I don't know."
Cordelia and Harry were looking at some books.
"That can't be right."
"What?" Cordelia asked.
"Something about ingesting past love."
"Wouldn't Doyle be your past love?"
They looked at each other.
Harry got up to talk to the rest of the party. "Excuse me, ladies."
"What is it, honey?" Richard's mother asked.
"It's about the bachelor party. Richard said having the former husband present was some sort of tradition. I was just wondering-"
"Well, they're certainly not going to eat your ex-husband's brains!" Aunt Martha replied.
Harry and Cordelia grabbed their things and hurried out.
Harry ran into the restaurant, followed by Cordelia. Angel was laying into the Ano-movics left and right.
"Stop it! Stop it right this instant!" Harry yelled.
Everyone stopped. Angel looked up.
Richard looked up over the back of the booth that he was laying in. "Hon bun? This is for guys only."
"I know what you're up to, Richard Howard Straley."
"The stripper wasn't my idea, pook. I swear."
"Not the stripper, Richard." Harry paused. "There was a stripper?!"
"You really shouldn't be here."
"Well, you shouldn't be trying to eat my friend's brains! You horrible, ugly demon people!" Cordelia yelled in anger.
A demon sat up on the bench next to Cordelia. Cordelia saw his spiky face, picked up a silver tray, and proceeded to bash him over the head repeatedly.
Angel ran up to stop her. "Easy, Cordelia. It's okay!"
Cordelia looked at Angel. "It is so not okay!" She spun around and saw Doyle with marks on his head. "Doyle! Oh, look what they did to you!"
Harry went to stand in front of Richard, hands on her hips. "I'm only going to ask you this once, Richard, and I expect a straight answer: were you or were you not intending to eat my ex-husband's brains?"
Richard looked sheepish. "In a way."
"And when were you planning on telling me?"
"I thought maybe I wouldn't have to."
"You were going to start out our life together with deceit?"
"Sort of missing the point, isn't she?" Doyle asked Angel.
"I was just trying to bless our marriage - like in the ancient teachings."
"And since when does your family follow the ancient teachings?"
"We don't flaunt our beliefs, but they're very dear to us."
Harry looked at Richard's uncle. "Oh, please, Uncle John! When is the last time you pried yourself away from ESPN long enough to spill the blood of a she-goat?"
"Are you going to let her talk to Uncle John like that?" a cousin asked Richard.
"You know how I feel about these barbaric Ano-movician customs!" Harry told Richard.
"Racist! You're nothing but a racist!" the cousin yelled at Harry.
"I should have told you. I'm sorry. But unless we complete the ritual, my family will never consent to the marriage."
There were murmurs of agreement. Harry looked at Richard, turned to look at Doyle and Angel, then turned back and took Richard's hand in hers.
"Hon bun?" Richard asked.
Harry turned away, and Richard looked at the engagement ring that she just gave back to him. As she walked by Doyle and Angel, Doyle opened his mouth to say something.
"One word, Francis, just one word, and I'll eat your brains!" Harry threatened.
Cordelia, Angel, and Doyle turned to follow her out.
Buffy walked into the computer lab and saw Jenny sitting at her desk, typing on her laptop. Buffy knocked on the open door.
Jenny looked at her. "Buffy. What's up?"
"Got a minute?" Buffy asked.
"Sure. Just running some of my students' programs. I'm happy for any excuse to take a break."
Buffy walked over to Jenny's desk and sat on the corner. "Our dorm was attacked."
Jenny was confused. "What, you mean like a frat prank?"
"No, I mean commandos wearing face masks."
"What?" Jenny asked in surprise.
"I just thought you should know."
"They were in military garb?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
Jenny thought about that in silence.
"And they were toting some serious weaponry. The thing is...I saw some guys dressed exactly like them on Halloween night. I just assumed they were in costume. But maybe they were working. I wanna know what's up. They were trying to take Tara."
"Is she okay?"
"Yeah, but I almost didn't get there in time. I was almost too late to-"
"You saved Tara." Jenny put a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder. "I'll look into it, ask around. We'll get to the bottom of this."
Buffy smiled weakly.
Later, at Angel Investigations, Doyle got up from Cordelia's desk and went to lie down on the sofa. Cordelia and Angel were watching him through the louvered windows from his office.
"So...he spoke to her."
"Yeah."
"Didn't go too well, huh?" Cordelia asked.
"I think she just needs some time."
"He's still really hung up on her, isn't he?"
"Hmm,...more than he knew, probably, yeah."
"Well, someone has to go out there and cheer him up."
Angel looked over at Cordelia, then, after a moment, got up.
Cordelia held up a hand to stop him. "Oh, please." She stood up, walked over to the door, and opened it.
Angel followed her to stand in the doorway to his office as Cordelia walked over to Doyle.
Cordelia put on a brilliant smile. "Hi, Doyle. Are you going to become loser-pining guy, like, full-time now? Because, you know, we already have one of those around the office."
"Hey!" Angel yelled.
"Hey!" Doyle yelled.
"He can get away with it. He's tall, and - and look at the way clothes hang on him. But you-"
"Okay, I think you've cheered us up enough."
Cordelia ignored Angel. "You can't live in the past. You got to move on. Let it go. Forget it. Tomorrow is another day."
Doyle sat up on the couch.
"Did I mention letting it go?"
"Twice."
Cordelia sat down next to him with a sigh. "You'll get through this, Doyle. Nice guys don't always finish last."
"You think I'm a nice guy?"
"I think it, I say it. That's my way."
"Thanks."
"Feeling better?"
"Yeah."
Cordelia smiled. "Yeah?"