RATING: G - PG
TEASER: After trying to kill Buffy in Sunnydale, Faith goes to Los Angeles to get her revenge on Angel. Must have read the first two parts of my Angel series to understand this.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wrote this story with the thought that Doyle was, in fact, immortal and even though I was told otherwise later, I left it like this. Some of the things Cordelia makes fun of him about have to do with him being immortal. So for now, just pretend.
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Doyle hummed to himself as he tidied the area around Cordelia's desk. He didn't know why he was doing it, he just was. In fact, when she came in later that day, she'd probably kill him for going through her things.
He glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. It was past three in the afternoon and he had done nothing all day but walk around the office like the world was coming to an end. He had been doing that a lot lately.
It had been three weeks since Erin had left in favour of living with her brothers. They had been a long three weeks for Doyle as he sat by the phone and waited for her to call him.
She didn't call the first day like she had promised, but she had the next. She had been so preoccupied with moving in that she had completely forgotten to call him.
It was at that point Doyle decided he was acting really pathetic. Moping around the house like he was a teenage girl, waiting for a boy to call. But he hadn't done much else. He hadn't changed his simple routine. He sat in the office and he moped.
Doyle had finally convinced his landlord to give him his apartment back but he hardly went there. He feared Erin would call the office and he wouldn't be there.
Even Angel was beginning to call him pathetic and that was something that frightened the demon.
"Doyle are you still here?" Angel called from another room.
"Uh, no." He answered, hoping the vampire wouldn't come into the room and give him another lecture.
"Listen Doyle," Angel began, coming into the room, "okay, so you like her. You've seen her a few times since she left but you have to get a life. Go home! If she calls, I'll give her the number of your apartment." Angel sighed. "Better yet, why don't you call her?"
Doyle shrugged. "Because that would just be much too easy and I like to torture myself."
Angel shook his head. "Look, at least you can get a tan. Go do it. We have a million beaches here. Go!" He pushed Doyle toward the door. "Call Cordelia up and take her to the beach. You guys will have fun."
Doyle nodded. "Yeah, maybe we should do that. We could have a nice time." He smiled. "Thanks Angel."
"Uh Doyle, before you go," Angel smiled, "I might suggest putting on some clothes that are maybe your own."
Doyle looked down to see the black sweats and ratty housecoat that belonged the Angel and he grinned. "Sorry. That might be a good idea."
* * *
Cordelia tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Doyle to change into his swimming trunks.
"Let's go." She called, banging her hand on the changing room door.
"Hold on." He muttered. "It's been a long time since I've been at the beach." Doyle opened the door and walked out. "I'm not used to wearing stuff like this." He pointed to the dark blue trunks he was wearing.
Cordelia smiled. "Well, it was better than that ugly red thing you had in your closet."
"Hey, I'll have you know that's a perfectly good swim suit."
She snorted. "Yeah, in like the nineteen twenties."
"So?" Doyle challenged.
Cordelia just rolled her eyes and continued looking for a spot to sit down. "How about there?" She asked, pointing to an empty spot of sand.
Doyle nodded. "Sure."
As they walked toward the spot Cordelia had picked out, Doyle lost his footing in the sand and toppled forward onto someone. He tried to stop himself from falling but only resulted in entangling himself in his towel.
He heard the person under him grunt and struggle to move as he pushed off them and sat up.
"I am so," He began.
"Doyle?" Erin pushed her sunglasses up onto her hair. "Well, what a coincidence."
His green eyes widened and he nodded. "Yeah, it is. A coincidence I mean. Look, I'm sorry I fell on you."
She smiled. "It's okay, really." She paused and bit her lip. "I'm the one who should be sorry."
"For me falling on you?"
Erin shook her head. "No, I've kind of been avoiding you these past few weeks."
Doyle raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"
Erin sighed. "I'm not sure, really. I think too much was happening at once and I was kind of scared. I mean, I met you and I liked you, a lot. You guys helped me stop Ross and because of that I had the motivation to find my brothers and then I kissed you. That scared me. I mean, I knew I liked you but I was kind of overwhelmed by the other stuff that was happening and I backed off for a little." She paused to take a breath. "So, that's why I'm sorry."
Doyle grinned. "You don't have to be sorry."
Erin nodded. "Yes, I do. I completely blew you off. But you'll be happy to know that good stuff is happening to me."
"Really?" Doyle seated himself next to Erin in the sand. "Like what?"
"Well, I got a good job. One that I've kept for more than a week. And I actually enrolled myself in a few courses at the community college. So I'm doing good stuff for myself." She smiled. "You realize that I did all this because I met you that night. If I hadn't, who knows where I'd be."
"You can't attribute it all me to." Doyle said. "You did most of it yourself."
Erin shrugged. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. But because of all of that I've been really busy."
"I see." Doyle paused. "So, is that why I never got to see you?"
She nodded slowly. "But everything's calmed down now and I'm not busy anymore."
"Oh." He grinned.
Erin smiled. "You're going to make me do all the work, aren't you?"
He grinned again and nodded.
"Okay then, Doyle, do you want to go out tonight? Maybe we could see a movie or have dinner or something."
"Well," he drawled, "I don't know really. I'll have to check with my associate and see if I'm busy or not." He looked over at Cordelia who just rolled her eyes in response. "Seems like I'm free." He told Erin. "I'll just steal, uh, I mean borrow Angel's car and I'll come pick you up."
She smiled. "Say around seven?"
He nodded. "I'll be there. Right on time."
Erin bit her lip, then smiled. "Okay then."
Doyle nodded, "I'll see you."
He turned and began to walk away before realizing he didn't know where Erin lived.
"Uh Erin." He cleared his throat and she looked up.
"Yeah?"
"Do you think maybe, you should write down your address for me?" He asked, then smiled.
She laughed. "That might be a good idea."
Doyle smiled as Erin handed him a piece of paper and she smiled back.
"I'll see you tonight." He promised, then waved as he walked over to where Cordelia was already sun-tanning.
"So?" She asked, looking over her sunglasses at him. "What was that about?"
"I'm taking her out tonight." Doyle answered as he spread his towel out on the sand.
A smile broke out on Cordelia's face and she lay back down. "That's great Doyle. It good you'll finally get out. I mean, all you do is sit at Angel's house and mope." She glanced up to see Doyle shoot her an annoyed look. "Well, it's true." She insisted.
Doyle just shook his head and stretched out on the towel.
* * *
"Oh come on man." Doyle groaned. "Please? I need it."
Angel shook his head. "I can't believe you told her that you could take my car. Why don't you take yours?"
Doyle laughed. "You've seen my car. It's more rust than it is car. Please Angel?"
The vampire sighed. "If you hurt it, I'll hurt you."
"I know how to drive." Doyle muttered, then grabbed the car keys off the table. "I'll be back by one, maybe two."
"Be back by one." Angel ordered.
Doyle nodded. "Yes mother."
"I'm not joking Doyle."
He nodded. "I get it Angel. I'll be back by two."
Then he disappeared out the door.
"One!" Angel called after him, then shook his head. "Damn demons."
* * *
Angel, Erin and Cordelia stared at where Doyle lay on Angel's couch the next morning.
* * *
Faith drove her rental car into L.A. then slowed to a stop on the side of the road. She pulled down the sun visor and looked into the mirror, lightly touching the scar.
* * *
Doyle sat on the couch in the office. He was still trying to slow his racing heart. His body still shook on occasion, stress from the tiring vision. Erin sat beside him and softly rubbed his back every time he shuddered.
"What happened?" Angel asked.
"He drank too much, didn't he?" Cordelia turned to look at the other girl who nodded.
"And since I had to drive him and Angel's car back here, I had no way of getting home."
Angel smiled. "I can drive you when you're ready."
"Thanks." Erin turned back to Doyle. "I'd kind of like to wait for him to wake up though."
Angel nodded. "Sure."
Doyle murmured something in his sleep.
"So other than Doyle getting drunk, how'd it go last night?" Cordelia asked.
Cordelia snickered. "You might want to ignore him when he gets like this."
Doyle coughed as she said this, then slowly opened his eyes. "Oh God. My head."
Cordelia held out her hands, giving him two aspirin and a glass of water. Doyle took them from her and smiled thankfully.
As he popped the pills into his mouth, the door to the agency opened upstairs and Cordelia's eyes went to the ceiling.
"We should go up there." Angel said, then followed Cordelia to the elevator. Doyle and Erin came behind them and they all took the short ride up to the nest floor.
Cordelia opened the door and her eyes widened when she saw Xander and Willow looking around the office.
Xander glanced up as the elevator stopped and smiled. "Hey Cordelia." He snickered, "Dead boy."
"Don't call me that." Angel said.
He and Cordelia stepped into the room, followed by Erin and Doyle.
Cordelia hugged Xander first, then turned and hugged Willow. "It's so good to see you guys again." She said excitedly.
"What are you doing here?" She looked at Willow. "Don't you have classes?"
Willow nodded. "Yeah, but we really needed to come here."
Doyle stepped forward. "All right. Before we get into the death and bad, evil stuff, why don't we introduce ourselves." He smiled. "I'm Doyle and this is Erin."
Willow smiled back. "I'm Willow and this is Xander."
Doyle nodded. "All right then, continue."
Willow walked over to Angel and smiled. "How are you?"
He nodded. "I'm good. How's everything in Sunnydale?"
She shrugged. "It's Sunnydale."
"Why did Buffy send you?" Angel asked.
Xander opened his mouth but Willow held up her hand and stopped him.
She sighed. "Faith came back to Sunnydale Angel. She wasn't happy. In fact, she wanted us all dead but you know, it didn't work out that way. She said she's coming after you now. I think she blames you."
Angel blinked. "So she's coming here?"
Xander nodded. "We think she might be here already. And she's pretty pissed."
"Uh, excuse me," Doyle cleared his throat, "yeah okay, who's Faith?"
"The other slayer." Cordelia answered him. "She's a little unstable."
Doyle nodded slowly, then gasped and staggered backward. Erin grabbed his arm in an attempt to keep him up but he thumped to the ground, holding his head.
"What the hell?" Xander stared at Doyle.
"He has these visions." Cordelia told them. "They help us find people in trouble but I think they hurt him pretty badly."
"No kidding." Xander shot at her sarcastically.
Doyle still lay curled on the floor with Erin at his side. He had one of her hands gripped tightly in his and the others could see her fingers turning white. Finally, his eyes opened again and he tried desperately to catch his breath.
Erin wrenched her hand from his, then put it on her shoulder.
"Doyle? Are you okay?"
He blinked, then wiped the film of sweat off his forehead. Erin held his hand again and realized he was shaking.
"Doyle!" Angel said loudly. "What did you see?"
His lip quivered as he drew in a deep breath. "That was the hardest vision I've ever had. I saw so much."
"What was it?" Erin asked gently.
Doyle turned his eyes to Angel. "I saw a girl. Dark hair, a tattoo on her arm, long scar under her eye."
"Faith." Xander said.
Doyle sighed. "Angel, I saw her kill you."
She sighed, then pulled into the traffic again, trying to find her way to 'Angel Agency'. She laughed as she thought about the agency that Angel had started. It was the stupidest thing she had ever heard of. A vampire pretending to be some sort of saviour.
Another laughed escaped her lips, this one much mor bitter. Angel was in no way a saviour. He was a killer. It was his fault that Buffy wouldn't come over and help the Mayor with her. It was his fault that Buffy had come to kill her. If he had just died like he was supposed to, she never would have had this problem. Everything that had happened was Angel's fault. It would even be his fault when he died.
Xander sat between Cordelia and Willow and his eyes flickered nervously to Cordelia's face every few minutes.
"You look really nice Cordy." He said quietly.
She looked over at him and smiled uncertainly. "Thanks . . . you need a haircut."
Willow giggled, then clamped a hand over her mouth when Xander glared at her.
Cordelia sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry Xander. It's just . . . you know what we had and what happened."
Doyle glanced up sharply.
"It's just so weird to see you like this. I need some time to get used to it."
Doyle grunted. "She never apologized to me when she made fun of me."
Erin nudged him lightly in the side and shook her head. "They've been friends for a long time, let them talk."
"How do you know?"
She shrugged. "You can just tell."
Angel opened the door and came back into the office with a frown on his face. "So far none of the hotels have had a girl check in that fits Faith's description but they all said they'd call if someone did. We have to be on the lookout."
"Is she really that dangerous?" Erin asked.
They all turned to look at her and she held up her hands.
"Sorry, I was just wondering."
"Yeah." Willow nodded. "She's pretty dangerous. She killed an innocent man, then went beserk and started working for the town mayor who was a little evil. She tried to kill me, tried to kill Angel, tried to kill Buffy, tried to kill Xander. She really tried to kill everyone we know. She's definitely dangerous."
"So what do we do?" Erin asked.
"We don't do anything." Angel answered her. "I do something."
Doyle stood up suddenly. "No! You can't fight her alone. You were alone in my vision Angel."
"I'm not going to die Doyle."
Cordelia stood up to join Doyle. "No, he's right. I never thought I'd say this, but Doyle is right. If his vision said you'll die if you fight her alone then you will. You know how accurate he is."
"I don't want to put any of you in danger." Angel said.
Willow stood up. "I hate to say this Angel, but by pretending we're not here to help, you're only putting yourself in danger."
"And lots of it." Xander added.
"Six against one." Erin said. "What are her chances?"
Angel sighed. "I really don't know. You could get hurt."
"Quiet dead boy." Xander said, "we're here to help."
He nodded. "Fine. I know nothing I saw can dissuade you from helping." He glanced at Xander. "Although I have no idea why you want to help me."
Xander grinned. "Oh come on Angel, I don't hate you. You're just so much fun to pick on."
"Why's that?" Doyle asked.
"Because he gets so mad every time I call him dead boy." Xander glanced over at Angel. "Right dead boy?"
"Don't call me that." He growled.
"So, are we just going to wait for her to come to us?" Erin asked. "If she's as deadly as you say, maybe we should have a plan. In case she attacks sooner than we think."
Cordelia looked over at where Doyle and Erin were sitting together on the couch, her hand resting lightly on his knee. She smiled sadly. She had realized that Doyle had liked her a little too late and now he had found someone else. Cordelia wasn't jealous, she just wondered from time to time what could have happened if he hadn't met Erin.
Then she looked over at Xander and Willow. Even they had people in their lives. Willow had Oz and apparently Xander and Anya were together now. She had over heard them talking about her earlier. And Cordelia was left in Los Angeles with no one.
*Stop it!* She ordered herself. *You're not allowed to feel sorry for yourself right now. After we deal with Faith you can go home and eat a big bucket of ice cream in your new apartment. For now, be happy and helpful.*
Cordelia nodded. "Erin's right. We need to figure out some sort of plan."
"Like what?" Xander asked. "We have no idea when Faith will be here and even if we knew that, we still don't know how to stop her."
Angel nodded as he began to pace the room. "I know. We'll have to wait and see if one of the hotels calls."