TITLE: Silverfish (1/1)

AUTHOR: Tink <tinklepaw@hotmail.com / tori@cyberspace.org>

DISCLAIMER: Everyone belongs to Joss Whedon and all those XF folk who write, produce and direct A:TS, wisely defected to the show that is, from the show that was.

FEEDBACK: need a little sugar in my bowl, PLEASE

RATING: G

SPOILERS: None

CATEGORY: Doyle/Cordelia, but kinda also A/C

SUMMARY: fluff...C&D start dating

DISTRIBUTION: anywhere, ask first?

AUTHOR'S NOTES: The event at the end of "Hero" doesn’t take place in my universe, hence neither does "Expecting". This is part of a series but works as a standalone too.

Oh, and I kinda borrowed and adapted a beautiful sentence from RivKaT’s "Fugue."

DEDICATION: To my little brother David and his Angel hairstyle-in-progress!

----------

Angel was watching Doyle watch Cordelia as she fixed her hair in her new mirror. A few errant strands had entangled themselves in the clasp of her necklace and she winced as she tried to free them.

"Here, princess, let me help you out with that."

Doyle came up behind her, his hands resting gently on her nearly bare shoulders to still her, before intricately detangling her hair. When he had finished she turned her head to smile her thanks, and because Doyle didn't step back, her lips came within inches of brushing his. She appeared not to notice, but moved away all the same, back to the mirror. As if entranced, Doyle remained where he was, his eyes following her every move.

Angel cleared his throat. When he glanced in his direction Angel motioned with his eyes for Doyle to join him downstairs.

-------------

"Doyle this has got to stop."

"What?" Doyle tried his best to look innocent, but couldn't maintain it under Angel's dark glare.

"Either ask her out or forget about it, but this Mulder-Scully tension? The significant looks, stealing touches? It's getting old Doyle."

"I can't man, I can't, I'm too scared, what if she turns me down? At least this way I get to look at her and touch her. If I let her know how I feel, she'll never let me near her."

Angel growled quietly. "It's not right Doyle. It has to stop."

Doyle just looked at him in desperation. There was genuine fear in his eyes, not of the vampire, but of the guileless little girl upstairs. Ok, Angel mentally backtracked as a memory of Cordelia in a certain off the shoulder peasant blouse drifted into his mind. Maybe not guileless. Maybe not a little girl anymore either. But this couldn't go on. Doyle's eyes, and even hands, on his young assistant were bothering him beyond his comprehension.

"Remember how disturbed you were that morning when she stayed over and you thought I'd..."

Doyle nodded, shivering at the memory.

"Man, I coulda thumped you one, probably would have if I'd stood a chance!"

"Either you ask her out, or I do."

Doyle's eyes widened in horror.

"You wouldn't."

In response Angel gave him one dark look before turning to the elevator. He reached the office just as a wild-eyed Doyle burst in from the stairs.

"Cordelia!"

She looked up in surprise as Doyle rushed to her side.

"Cordy - it's getting late, why don't we uh...why don't I walk you home, not safe here, all sorts of predators in LA."

He glanced nervously at Angel where he was leaning against the door, his arms folded. Angel with casual menace, raised an eyebrow.

"C'mon Princess, while there's still sunlight so they can't _follow_ us."

He hurried a puzzled Cordelia to the door, where Angel had subtly shifted so his body blocked their exit. Cordelia tried to pull away.

"Ok, Doyle you SO need to chill. What's going on guys?"

Angel remained silent. Doyle placed a hand on Cordelia's back.

"Nothin' I can't handle *myself*. Wanna get out of the way pal?"

Angel made as if to move away, Doyle steered Cordy through the doorway, then before they could leave Angel's arm dropped between them, effectively severing Doyle's contact with her. His body followed his arm as he turned to face Cordelia, blocking Doyle completely. She was about to protest the strangeness of their behavior but something in Angel's eyes stopped her from finding the words. He reached out to her, and his hand closed over one shoulder.

"Be careful."

His voice was so soft she couldn't be sure he'd even spoken. He moved away and a very agitated Doyle was at her side again. He glared at Angel as he escorted Cordelia away.

Angel retreated inside, smiling to himself as he sat at Cordy's desk. Maybe he'd been a little heavy handed, but his approach seemed effective, they'd be a couple by nightfall. The necklace with the offending clasp had been left behind. He picked it up and draped it over his fingertips, watching the light refract from the little red stones. Suddenly his chest felt heavy and his smile felt forced. His hand closed on the necklace.

*****************

It was a gorgeous summer evening, in a city that was always summer. They reached her apartment building just as the sun was setting. Cordelia was caught up in a monologue about Angel, and his apparent blindness when it came to such important matters as new shoes, and did Doyle think Angel would be so oblivious if it were Kate's feet in question?

"Hmm, no?"

For his part, Doyle was caught up in how the rays from the setting sun sparkled off her little almost-real diamond earrings, brightening her sad but beautiful eyes...sad? Uh oh.

"I meant yes...um - what was the question love?"

She sighed. "Never mind, I think I know the answer anyway."

They stopped at the door. Cordelia fumbled for her key, almost dropping her bag onto the sidewalk. Doyle reached for it at the same time she did and their hands touched. He took her hand in his, it was now or never. She looked at him quizzically. Why did she have to be so darn beautiful?

"Cordy, there's something I want to talk to you about...about us."

He swallowed nervously. Cordelia was quiet for once.

"I was thinking...uh remember when I almost asked you out for dinner that night, on the boat?"

She nodded, her eyes clouded as she remembered how close they had come to losing him. She involuntarily tightened her hand hold.

"Well, I was wondering if maybe tonight, if you aren't busy or anything, maybe you and me-"

Her eyes suddenly widened in horror, Doyle's breath caught in his throat, his heart dropping to somewhere below sea-level. He stuttered an apology, looking at the ground, wishing it would open, even being sucked into a hell mouth would be preferable to Cordy's reaction.

Cordelia jumped back, breaking their contact and letting out a shriek of fear.

"Doyle!"

His eyes closed in pain, "I'm sorry..."

"No! Doyle! Look!"

He was suddenly aware of a strange odor in the evening air. Doyle opened his eyes and followed her gaze. He had never been more relieved to see a huge, hungry Sekado demon in his life.

************************

Doyle backed away from the demon as it towered over them. It advanced slowly, sizing them up, making an inhuman noise deep in it's body somewhere, since it didn't appear to have a throat or neck.

"Oh! Wait! I know this!"

Doyle gazed at Cordelia expectantly, the adrenaline pumping, his feet itching to run.

"Oh my goodness - who'd've thought being research girl would finally pay off! I've remembered something that is gonna save us!"

"Or get us killed if you don't remember a little quicker." Doyle muttered under his breath.

"Big scary demon not getting less homicidal, Cordy."

"Water! Water drives it away, y'know like silverfish, it'll just turn to dust! But we needs lots of water...the pool!"

"You have a pool?"

"No but the apartment building next door does."

"Let's go."

They ran for it, Doyle held her hand as together they cleared the low wall separating the apartment complexes. With a snarl, the Silverfish demon gave chase, opting simply to run through the wall in a crash of mortar and dust clouds.

It was gaining on them, but they reached the thankfully deserted pool, and jumped. They landed in the deep end and went under, still holding hands. Doyle surfaced, gasping for air as he treaded water, and grabbed for Cordelia as she came up beside him.

"Cordy? You ok?"

She nodded, as she treaded water beside him, trying to get her breath back. Doyle kept one hand around her waist, pulling her close and keeping their heads above water. Cordelia shook her hair and wondered if her mascara was waterproof.

"S'okay Doyle, I can swim..."

But she didn't try to move out of his grasp. For his part, the demon had been pulled up short by the water, and was pacing around the pool, snarling all the more.

"Looks like you were right Princess."

They swam for the shallower end, getting to where their feet just touched the bottom and no more, when Doyle stopped them.

"We shouldn't get too close to the side of the pool, our pet Silverfish might decide to do a spot of fishing."

Cordy shuddered. Although well lit, the pool was cold for the time of year. Doyle wrapped his arms around her and together they watched the creature pace hungrily.

"Should we call Angel?"

Knowing it was useless, Doyle grimaced as he pulled out the cell phone. Thanks to the water the little LCD screen was darkened forever, the circuits non-functional.

"Nice idea but we're gonna have to handle this one without our dark avenger, and hope no-one comes to check out whose having an illicit midnight dip."

Cordelia raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at him as she made to pull away from his embrace. Doyle felt his cheeks reddening

"Ah..I meant illicit as in.. it's not your pool 'n all..Uh..."

He faltered. Cordy relaxed back into his hold and sighed.

"Given my luck, it's probably the closest I'll come to a genuine midnight swim with a guy in LA. Heck I'm lucky I'm not in here with HIM."

She gestured hopelessly at the pacing demon. Doyle followed her gaze,

"Yeah well let's hope we're not in here until midnight either. Think he'll give up anytime soon? Move on to easier targets?"

"No - he's attracted to anything supernaturally powerful, it's you he wants."

"Wow, you ARE research girl all of a sudden! So - how come you didn't just run the other way?"

Cordy just smiled happily.

"What?"

"I AM research girl, huh?"

He hugged her tighter and returned her smile, feeling suddenly emboldened.

"Y'know Cordy...there's been something I've been meaning to ask, and since it looks like we're stuck here for a while-"

He stopped, his mouth dry. It occurred to him suddenly that his timing sucked. If Cordy rejected him there'd be no graceful exit, worse still, he'd have succeeded in making her feel distinctly uncomfortable with their current position, pressed against each other and shivering.

"What?"

He swallowed nervously, all this water and not a drop of liquid courage to drink.

"Well...would you like to go out to dinner? I mean, if we weren't stuck in here, chased by a demon, 'n all..."

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes. But it's gotta be classy Doyle, no Irish pub with greasy fish and potato chips. I want tablecloths, and a waiter, and a flower on the table, a REAL flower!"

Doyle's smile threatened to reach his ears.

"You got it Princess, no fish 'n chips, anything you say!"

He pulled her tighter against him, suddenly very motivated to get rid of Silverfish guy. What was one Sekado demon when he'd just managed to get Cordy to go on a date?!

"I don't know about you, but that demon isn't looking very scary right now. You wanna try splashing him?"

She nodded.

They launched a water attack that would have made free Willy proud. The demon retreated quickly, puddling black, soggy pools of dust at his feet and diminishing in size with every splash until he was out of reach of the water. Leaving Cordelia safely in the deep end, Doyle jumped out grabbing for a hose at the poolside.

"Cover me!"

He frantically twisted the faucet while Cordy held the demon at bay with more splashing, then armed accordingly he gave chase.

Silverfish fled.

"It's ok love, he's gone."

Doyle reached down and helped Cordelia pull herself from the water.

"He got away? What if he comes back?"

Doyle grinned, taking in the sight of a wet Cordelia, her blouse translucent and clinging.

"He's about a foot tall now Princess, I could pee him to death!"

She grimaced.

"Ok, if we're going to start dating Mister, we gotta work on that gross Irish humor thing, that's got to go for a start."

Doyle forced his eyes up from her chest, his stomach fluttering at her words.

"We're gonna start dating?"

"Not if this is your idea of a good time, I'm cold and I'm wet!"

"Right. Right...let's get you inside."

He placed his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close on the pretext of keeping her warm. The last thing Doyle felt at that moment was cold.

----------------------------------

Sometime after midnight Doyle got back in his car after he saw Cordelia safely inside her apartment, and lit a celebratory cigarette. He smiled to himself, still basking in the glow of her company. The evening had gone amazingly smoothly, he had made sure she'd had enough wine to laugh at his dumb jokes, and lean on him a lot on the dance floor. He'd even managed to be the perfect gentleman, kissing only her hand at the end of the night. Of course, all that self-restraint had nearly killed him, but it would be worth it in the end. He may be a kick-ass demon fighter but it was his charm in romancing the ladies that Doyle was most proud of. And his Cordy was one hell of a lady. He had to admit though, it would never have happened without certain intervention. Doyle started the car and headed to the person who he had to thank for it all.

---------

He interrupted Angel at full tilt brooding.

"Hey man, you mind if I turn on a light?"

Doyle didn't wait for a response. He flooded the dim office with electric light and bounced into a chair, unable to constrain his good humor.

"So I did it Angel! She's mine! We went on this *perfect* date, there was dancing 'n everything."

"Congratulations."

Somehow Doyle had expected a bigger reaction.

"Man I owe you one - if you hadna' pushed me to it...."

"Yeah well, just make sure you're careful with her."

Doyle's forehead wrinkled. It seemed a strange thing to say, and he didn't know how to respond. Angel stood suddenly, scraping back the chair, he stalked out of the office.

"If you don't mind Doyle, I think I'm going to get some sleep."

"Sure man...kinda beat myself, guess I'll just be on my way-"

The elevator door clanged and Doyle was left talking to himself. He shrugged off Angel's dark mood, and headed home.

Angel hit the tunnels before Doyle had even reached his car. He prowled the sewers, then immersed himself in the dank alleyways of the most dangerous neighborhoods in south central. No demons, only mundane human depravity, and no-one wanting a way out. Finally he found himself at her apartment building. He scaled the wall to the bedroom window, pressed himself to the glass, and hung there, waiting to be discovered, or for the guttering that supported his weight to crack. When neither happened, and dawn threatened to rear it's beautiful, lethal head, he dropped silently to the sidewalk and slid into the nearest sewer manhole. The dark and the filth swallowed him from the approaching rays of sun, this was where he belonged. He had walked among demons in the shadows for too long now, and she had a real life to live.

--o0o--

"I'm aware what the rules are.

but you know that I will run

you know that I will follow you

over silbury hill through the solar field.

you know that I will follow you"

Tori Amos "1000 oceans."