Title: Be Still My Heart
Author: Becky Sonnenfeld
Email: doyleworshipper@yahoo.com
Part Four

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Cordy backed up a step, moving closer to Doyle now. What they'd just heard,
continued to bellow out its frightening set of chords. Wesley kept rotating
his position, slowly becoming more paranoid with each change. If this demon
really knew they were there, it certainly hadn't shown any hint of
advancing on them just yet. Which luckily bought them some time yet.

"Oh my God," Cordy finally uttered. "Where is Angel? We are so in need of
some serious help."

"He said he would catch up to us shortly I believe," Wesley told her. "And
besides....do remember Cordelia, that I am here at the moment. Nothing is
going to happen. Three of us should stand a pretty good-"

"We're all going to die." Cordelia began to panic. "Doyle! demon face.
Now!"

"Cordy I can't just-"

"Yes, you can! And you'll be able to fight better-"

"Look," Wesley tried again, more scared himself than he was letting on.
"Maybe...we could escape...go find Angel....and return."

"Yeah, that outta work," Doyle addressed him rather rudely. "Meanwhile,
when we finally do this return thing, the monster has moved on to a much
different area, thereby keepin' the world unsafe, yeah? Brilliant."

"Do....shutup," Wesley brought forth. "I've about had it with you, you
know. If you're going to coincide with my current plan of action, then
please come along. If not....if you'd rather stay here by yourself....then
by all means. You are fully entitled to do so. And you'll more than likely
die....a 'second' time."

"Wesley, That was harsh," Cordy told him softly. "I mean, you don't even
know the whole story behind that."

"Cordy, just go," Doyle advised hoarsely. "I guess it just shows you who
the real heroes are in the end, right?"

"No," she stood her ground. "I will not leave you here."

"Funny," he whispered. "Before....you'd do anything to get away from me."

"People change," she told him, smiling.

"I believe that now," he agreed.

"What is the matter with you two?" Wesley interrupted. "You do recall that
awful part where we're in extreme danger, do you not?"

"And do 'you' seem to recall that part where you run off like a big baby?"
Cordy returned smuggly.

"Fine.....fine.....fine," the former watcher threw his hands up in the air,
relenting at that moment. "You win. I....I just....that comment was not
necessary, you know. I probably would have complied, sooner or later. You
didn't have to be so-"

"And if the three of you talked less, we could catch and destroy this
demon," came a voice directly behind them.

"Angel, man. Great timin'," Doyle spoke up. "How'd you find us?"

"Never mind that. Have you seen it yet?"

"No. But we just heard it walking around upstairs," Cordy volunteered. "It
must be pretty big."

"You think?" Doyle quipped.

"So the question, I believe, is what are we going to do about it?" Wesley
proclaimed.

"Um....how about kill it?" Cordy answered, like it was the most obvious
thing.

"I...was aware of that, thank you," Wesley told her. "I meant some kind of
a plan...maybe...so to speak."

"Simple. We send you in to do the fightin'," Doyle muttered quietly under
his breath.

"What was that?" Wesley inquired.

"Oh. I...I just said that.....this place would be better with some
lightin'."

Cordy reached out and smacked Doyle in the arm, throwing him a rather nasty
glare.

"Yes. Yes, I suppose it would be," Wesley said matter of factly. "It is a
tad drab in here."

Angel frowned. "Doyle," he advised, referring to the half demon's sarcastic
pun.

"Sorry, man. But it was a good idea while it lasted, yeah?"

"That doesn't seem to be an issue right now. I mean, think about it. We
don't have a single clue as to what we're about to face. Doesn't that cause
even a little worry?"

"Some," Doyle nodded. "But since you normally take care of the fightin'
part-"

"You've done it before though," Angel objected. "And in a way....you won. I
don't see how this is any different."

"But it is. I had to give up everything, man. You....you were sent to Hell
and brought back....obviously because of the woman you loved. And me? I did
somethin' good....and I....I didn't really deserve what happened to me,
yeah?" Doyle turned away, sadness filtering through him. "And I know...I
was never to fond of my other half, that being the demon side of me. I know
that you....and Harry....tried to get me to feel better about it. But the
minute I even remotely accepted it, somethin' bad got in the way."

"Yeah, but the Oracles must've thought you'd be much more useful here,"
Cordy pointed out. "Otherwise, they wouldn't have brought you back like
they did."

"You really think so?"

"I know so. And Doyle. To me, you're more than a hero. You're somebody that
people can put their faith in. Somebody whom they can trust. And sure. That
needs some recognition and all that. But you won't get any, if you just
stand here doing nothing."

"She's right," Wesley agreed, having remained silent for the bulk of the
conversation. "You'll prove much more helpful if you actually put forth
some effort here."

"Effort. Great. And I suppose you do your part by just by readin' the
books?"

"I most certainly do. If it weren't for me-"

"If it weren't for you, maybe we'd all be a lot better off," Doyle told
him.

"Look. The two of you can stay here and share a pleasant heart to heart for
all I care. That's fine. But I'm going to confront this demon. If I'd known
you would be at it this entire time, bickering about absolutely nothing, I
wouldn't have even bothered bringing you along."

A moment of silence passed over them. Doyle guiltily focused his eyes
downward, his hands in his khaki pockets. Cordelia just rolled her eyes and
glared at Wesley. Wesley, on the other hand, had a smile on his face,
specifically seeming to be directed toward Doyle. Almost like he had wanted
to see the Irish half demon defeated by the thought process.

"I'm in," Doyle put forth. "Let's go, man."

"Alright." Angel started up the stairs, listening intently for any further
noise. Only now....everything remained quiet as a mouse. No more growling,
no more floor boards creaking heavily. Nothing.... It was almost as if time
had stopped with them, leading them off the path they'd been on, throwing
away all of the evidence.

"Maybe it's playin' a game of hide and seek, yeah?"

"Oh, grow up, Doyle. Really." Cordy tossed him a look.

"I think we're going to have to split up," Angel told them.

"I'll go with Cordelia then," Wesley cut in.

"Why don't you let her decide for herself?" Doyle asked him, hinting at
obvious jealousy.

"Here's an idea. Why doesn't Cordelia just come with me?" Angel was getting
impatient. He'd never comes across such childish behavior before. Since
when had Wesley cared so much about what Cordy was even doing, let alone
thinking? Well..... Maybe back in Sunnydale.....but 'now'? It just didn't
make sense.

"Gladly," Cordelia volunteered, indicating that she accepted his offer,
while showing annoyance in her tone at the same time.

"Cordy-" Doyle started.

"We're off then," Wesley told him, cutting through Doyle's ponderings.
"We'll go left, and the two of you can go right."

"Well, what if I wanted to go right?" Doyle asked him. "You automatically
get first choice?"

"I didn't say that. I was simply stating-"

"That you're a moron?" Cordy threw out, as she and Angel moved in their
separate direction, away from Doyle and Wesley.

Doyle laughed then, and reluctantly began following Wesley. Smiling to
himself, he put on his demon face. At least he could still make the former
watcher jump some few feet high in the air from shock. And that in itself,
would prove to be loads of harmless fun. All he had to do was get his
attention.

"Do you see anything?" Wesley asked then.

"Well...." Doyle paused a moment. This right there caused Wesley to turn
around and it gave Doyle just the opportunity that he needed.

Wesley jumped so high, he probably nearly gave himself a heart attack.
Well....Doyle imagined it was actually his screaming that had. The axe,
though, was mindlessly, not to mention, nervously, tossed into the air,
cascading right into a nearby wall. "Don't do that to me! I could have
swung this axe and hurt you, you know. I thought you were-"

"But that's not likely, right? I mean, you did swing the axe, man. But it's
in that wall over there, yeah? That is, unless the demon was smart enough
to bring one for himself, and it looked exactly like the one you were
carryin'."

"I-"

"Look. I apologize, alright. I just need to try and detect the demon's
presence better."

"If that's what you call it....'fine'. By all means."

"Is everything okay in there?" Angel yelled back to them. "I thought I
heard a woman screaming. Is there someone else in there with you? Did you
find someone? Are they hurt?"

"Uh... actually no. It was just Wesley," Doyle returned smuggly.