All For You
Finally I figured out
But it took a long, long time
But now there’s a turnabout
Maybe ‘cause I’m trying
There’s been times, I’m so confused
All my roads, They lead to you
I just can’t turn and walk away
It’s hard to say what it is I see in you
Wonder if I’ll always be with you
But words can’t say, And I can’t do
Enough to prove,
It’s all for you
I thought I’d seen it all
‘Cause it’s been a long, long time
But then we’ll trip and fall
Wondering if I’m blind
(Pre-chorus)
(Chorus)
Rain comes pouring down
Falling from blue skies
Words without a sound
Coming from your eyes
Finally I figured out
But it took a long, long time
But now there’s a turnabout
Maybe cause I’m trying
(Pre-chorus)
(Chorus-Chorus)
It’s hard to say
It’s hard to say
It’s all for you

Chapter One - Paper Football

She had a hell of a lot of work to do, and the two inhumane morons were not making it easy on her. It had been five years since they had begun to work together, they were both at least one hundred years older than her, and yet they both insisted on acting like complete retards.
She sighed, cocking her head in frustrated resignation as she leaned her chin on her hand to watch the two demons do what no one in Sunnydale would ever believe if she told them.

From her desk, she could see the whole thing, it made her want to strangle them, and also filled her with the icky fond feeling she felt every time she had to witness something that she considered cute against her will.

They were playing paper football. Angel, the age old brooding Soul guy vamp, was crouched on his knees, his elbows on the table, his face one of fixed concentration, his hands up to make a makeshift goal post.

Doyle, the other half of the undead Beavis and Butthead, was on the other side, his tongue to the side of his mouth as he held a carefully constructed paper diamond folded and held together with the pink tape she had bought for the office. The index finger of his right hand was prepared for the shot, and the office was absolutely silent.

The finger flicked, the paper football flew across the room. Heads turned to watch it arch down, and then time stopped when it landed right down the front of Cordelia’s shirt. The men looked at each other in shock, and both scrambled to the other side of the room when they saw her face.

She was expressionless, but the deliberate way she leaned back slowly, and slid the paper out of her cleavage was unmistakable. She had had enough.

You missed, Doyle. Angel said, crossing his arms as he sat down quickly at his desk.

Nah, I think I scored. Doyle replied smugly, his face flushed from watching Cordelia’s angry show. Cordelia rolled her eyes. She knew Doyle liked to make her mad. For some strange reason, he said it made her look hotter.

Whatever.

If you two children are done with your little reindeer games, I would appreciate some help here. She grumbled, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she turned back to the computer. It’s not like I’m the one obligated to do the soul saving thing. That’s your department, Soul Guy. And you, Mr. Mentor Idiot, aren’t in the clear either. She glared at them both, and then tossed a clipboard to Doyle.

He looked at it strangely. What’s this?

Office supplies. She said

Office supplies? Me? The great mentor? Doyle? I think not. He said, shoving the list back at them.

I’m tired of doing the shopping.

Cordy? Tired of shopping? That’s a first. Angel snorted. She glared him into silence, giving him the I’ll Deal With You Later look before turning her attention back to Doyle.

Please? She asked, her face pouting slightly.

Doyle immediately looked strained, his gaze lowering to her lower lip. He answered shortly, No. But the choked way he said it made her smile. He was weakening.

Look, if you do it, I’ll do that thing you’ve been asking me to do all these years. She finally sighed. Angel felt his eyes narrow. What thing?

Doyle’s face lit up. Is that a promise? He asked hopefully.

No. She said honestly, but then leaned back, sliding up onto the desk and crossing her legs.

He wavered for a minute, and finally his shoulders deflated when she smiled. Damn, I’m weak. He muttered, grabbing his jacket. The Chore Guy is on the job. He remarked, resisting another look.

She watched him leave, a smug smile covering her pretty face. "Men are so easy." She announced, her shoulders shrugging as she leaned back in her desk, her feet propped up against the wood.

Angel narrowed his eyes. "Not *all* men. Vampires are immune." He then proceeded to drag his eyes from her long legs.

She rolled her eyes. "Please. Spike was the biggest pussywhipped boy I ever saw, and you, my friend," She laughed,"Way back, when I was trying to jock you, if Buffy had asked, you would have staked yourself."

He smirked, saying nothing. He sat up, his voice harder when he continued. "You've got to stop playing with him, Cordy. You're messing with his mind."

She froze, looking at Angel, her playful expression gone. "Doyle knows it's just a game." She returned evenly, swinging her legs off the desk.

"Does he?" He asked, his voice hard. She looked at him in surprise. Angel was never this stern with her, it was annoying.

"We've been playing it for five years." She said, getting up to move a box to the other side of the room. "If he hasn't gotten it by now, he's pretty stupid."

"He's not, he's in love with you." She paused, her hazel eyes stunned into a wide expression as she looked back at her best friend.

"Oh, hell no." She said immediately, shaking her head. "He would have said something by now."

Angel crossed his arms as he stood up, his eyes following her around the room."You think?" He said dryly. "How long did it take for you to admit you loved Xander?"

She whirled, her eyes narrowing at the mention of her former boyfriend. "That is none of your business, asshole." She bit. Where the hell did he get off?

Angel was smart, now was about the time to let it go. And yet he found he couldn’t. You're a tease, Cordy."

She froze, and then he knew he had gone too far. Her gaze on the door, she grabbed her purse and her coat and stormed out.

Oh, she was pissed. Thoroughly pissed. Angel sighed, closing his eyes as he rubbed at his temple with an index finger. And if he knew his best friend, and oh, how he knew his best friend, she would be pissed for a very long time.

He shouldn’t have called her a tease, he knew, that that word, aside from calling her a whore, was one of the worst things he could have called her. Cordelia hated to be demeaned, and he, the one guy that should have had more respect for her than anyone, did the demeaning. He knew how much she trusted him, how much she cared for him. He was her best friend, her Soul Guy, and he had acted like a first class ass. She hadn’t deserved it. Hell, most of the time, she deserved it, but not right then.

It was this thing with Doyle. It bugged the hell out of him. To have to sit there and watch her, as she gave her small, coy little smile, and curled up just a little, her nose scrunching up and her eyes twinkling as she would cross her legs and lean back so her breasts would perk up just so-

She knew what she was doing. She was driving Doyle crazy. He knew it, she knew it, and so did Angel. He used to love to watch her reduce his usually strong and sarcastic mentor to putty. Course, that was before she started driving him crazy too.

It was a frustrating conclusion to make. For a long time after he left Sunnydale, he had been completely sure that he would never ever look at another woman but Buffy. Buffy, with her blonde hair, and blue eyes, her inner strength, her ability to save the world and still come up with a good quip. That was his Buffy. There would never be anyone like her. He would always love her.

And then there was Cordelia, who had the ability to frustrate him completely, to make him want to strangle her, to make him stare at her in shock when she said something so inappropriate and brutally true that he could nothing but fall back and laugh. She had been his best friend for five years, and she had done what very few people, were able to do.

She made him want to laugh. She made him want to be near her, just to hear her annoying whiny voice, and to see her twist guys around her finger so they were panting to do everything and anything short of killing the President to make her happy.

He had begun to realize what a special woman his friend Cordelia was. He got to see what no one else did, the funny, tender side of her, the loyal serious side, the sweet, mischevious side. There were so many sides to her that she always kept him guessing, never got him bored, always made him want to kill her or hug her.

And that was just fine. He needed someone like that for a friend. But these past few months he had been realizing something else. He began to realize just what kind of a woman, she was. Even in Sunnydale, he had been so blinded with love for the Slayer he had never taken one look at the former May Queen, she was always just the annoying chick who later just kind of became Cordy, the clueless girlfriend of the guy that hated him. Even when he caught up with her in Los Angeles, she was still Cordelia, he had never seen her as he might have had he *not* been in love with the Slayer. He didn’t see her as everyone else did. She was always just Cordy to him. Then it happened.

It began one night when they were watching television late at night, he had just happened to look over and he realized her spaghetti strap had fallen over the side of her arm, leaving her shoulder bare. He just noticed it, rather subconsciously, and then suddenly, he felt himself pulled back to the scene. She wasn’t paying attention, Lucy was on, for some strange reason, she loved Lucy, but he found his concentration completely on that part of her body, he noticed the graceful curve of her bare shoulder, leading up in a line of perfect symmetry to her chin, her face perfectly profiled. Her soft brown hair fell down her back in soft cascades, and her eyes sparkled in the light emanation from the television.

At the moment, Angel realized his best friend was a very beautiful woman. Impulsively he had leaned forward to slide his thumb across her skin, and that caused her to jump so fast he had colored immediately, playing it off by grabbing her fallen spaghetti strap and putting it back into place. She had given him a look that he knew meant she thought he was insane, but she had let it go.

He hadn’t. From that moment on, he was continuously distracted with thoughts of his very sexy buddy. Oh, this was not a good thing. It would have been one thing to sleep with her when they had just gotten here, she was still Cordelia. Now, it was completely different. She was Cor, his best friend. He loved her, as a friend, he cherished her.

If he ever made love to her, that might result in a very disastrous set of events. No, this was not a good thing. His love for Buffy would be enough to sustain him in his dreams, he needed to get by whatever this infatuation was for the raven haired vixen that could drive him so crazy he seriously thought about tossing her into the nearest trashcan, if only for the sight of seeing her lovely legs and -

Stop it.

She was his friend. His very pissed friend, and with good reason.

He sighed, knowing life was going to be hell for everyone at the office if he didn’t appease his best friend. And that meant chocolates, wine, and possibly a good dose of humiliation he wasn’t sure he wanted to endure.

But he had to. If he knew his Cordy, and he knew his Cordy, she was stomping around in her apartment, making herself into a hell cat just by thinking about what a bastard he was.

Yup. He was bastard allright.

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